week 2!

Well I went and bought some biking shorts. Unfortunately, not the ones with the padded seat, but ones long enough to cover my legs and prevent chafing on the bike. Apparently, the situation that I talked about in my previous post was a bit more serious than I thought.

I had broken the skin on a sizable portion of my leg, and it was bleeding. Bleeding. From riding my bike. I realized the severity of it when I tried to walk around at church the next morning. Walk. I was so embarrassed. And so uncomfortable.

The thought of running the next day, and/or even trying to bike, made me feel even more miserable, and so at the risk of humiliating myself, I told the nurses at the doctor's office of my predicament, and my need to continue training. They kindly gave me a band aid pad and some tape to wear under my shorts the next time I rode to make sure it healed as quickly as possible. As soon as I left work, I bought my shorts.

They are Underarmour, and let me tell you, that was the best $24.99 that I've ever spent. I wore them tonight when I went on my run, and it was as if I was wearing nothing. I must admit that I was nervous about hitting the gym in spandex. You know, the kind those girls with chicken legs wear (no offense if you have chicken legs...I just don't). Before I left, I asked my roommate Tiffany if she thought people would think I looked funny. She laughed at me. That certainly solidified my fear. But I went anyways, sporting the spandex. Much to my surprise (although it shouldn't have been), I fit in very well in my spandex, and no one seemed to notice. It is, after all, a gym.

It was probably the most pleasant run I've ever been on. My shorts weren't moving around in weird and unnatural ways; they weren't getting drenched in sweat; it was quite delightful. I followed my run with a swim, and felt great afterwards. I ran at the new pace I've been finding that is quite a bit faster than what I've managed before. I've always thought myself a rather slow runner, and have run sort of laboriously at my slow pace. I've heard of people who just "fall into" their pace - the most comfortable rhythm, gait, and stride that is the easiest on your body. Apparently I've been running too slow and making running much harder for myself, ironically. It will take some time to get used to running faster, and to build up cardiovascular endurance to be able to keep the pace, but it's a heck of a lot more fun to run fast :).

After my workout tonight, my roommate Tiffany (also an ex-cross-country runner), stretched me using the very effective method of "PNF stretching," short for Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation. I've been stretching a lot as I've been training and have found that I'm not as sore the next day, and when I start my workout, my legs are already more flexible from the day before. I don't stretch much before I train since I always warmup by starting out slow, but I've found that stretching extensively after each session helps my legs recover faster and better.

So next time you workout, take 10 minutes after to stretch out and cool down! It might be painful while you're doing it, especially for you inflexible folks, but you'll feel great afterward, I promise.

Thanks for keeping up with my training! Any comments, feedback, questions, words of encouragement, advice, etc. is welcomed! I'm new at this, too, so I'll take all the help I can get! Tomorrow, something to look forward to, I'll be utilizing my glorious spandex for my bike ride. Get excited.