Yoga's NOT for Sissies and Elliptical Intervals are EASY

The next time someone laughs at you for counting yoga as a workout; you look at them right in the eye with a straight face and tell them, "Yoga is NOT for sissies!" The P90X yoga workout is an hour and a half long and I promise you that if you can even semi keep up with the people on the disk, you will be dripping sweat. Your entire body will be sore (a good kind of sore) after the workout, legs, arms, abs; you name it, it'll be sore.

After yoga, like I said, I was sore...everywhere. I decided to do an "easy" workout so instead of strapping on my Vibrams and taking to the outdoors, I decided to do intervals on my elliptical. Intervals used to be my most difficult workout, the fact that I now view it as my least intense workout, says something about how difficult jogging outside really is. Don't get me wrong, by the third round of intervals, I was dripping sweat (the whole dripping sweat thing seems to be a pattern), but using the elliptical causes the least amount of impact on my muscles.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Student Refugee Program. (Re: The Death of my Fat)

10K Walk in 2 Hours

I promised myself that Sunday would be my long jaunt day. I say "jaunt" because I didn't actually run, I walked. I completed 10K in 2 hours which is the pace that the army members training for the Nijmegen keep. I figure that's pretty good for li'l ol' me. I decided to actually tackle part of the city circuit I mentioned in Testing the Waters. I managed to find my way to the first km marker and then get myself completely off track. I eventually happened to stumble (almost literally) upon the 5km marker at about the 5K point. I'm pretty sure that the next time I tackle the circuit, I won't get off track. Did I mention that it was raining and windy and really just utterly nasty outside on Sunday? By the time I had done about 3K I was completely soaked. By the time I had done 3K my right heal was also already hurting. You see, I get a blister - sort of - it's more of a pocket of skin with nothing inside it - on my right heel. The other day it opened and I peeled off the dead skin (gross, right?!). Now I have a blister (or whatever) on the new skin where the old skin used to be. Ugh! I've sort of been limping a bit ever since then. You know what would make me feel better? A donation! 


As I hit the 8K mark, I came across a beautiful Monarch (or what I think was a Monarch) butterfly struggling to move. She was beautiful, but if an insect can look forlorn, she did. I think her leg was hurt, poor thing. At the 9K mark, when I was pretty much ready to die and my feet were on fire, I saw three deer just calmly grazing in the bushes. They were majestic and brought a beautiful end to a grueling 10K. I told them they were pretty because I had to (I know; I'm weird). They just stood there and stared at me, watched me intensely as I walked by. 


A hot bath complete with Epsom salts was a relaxing end to a my first long jaunt. 

Shin Splints

On Wednesday I jogged 3K and walked 2K alternating jogging and walking. My left shin was a little sore, but I really wasn't too concerned. I've never had shin splints before. Thursday I pushed myself to jog for 5 laps straight around the track (the most I've done in the past is 3 in a row). My left shin was pretty sore for most of the jog, but I figured it would loosen up...eventually. After 5 laps jogging, I did one lap walking and by this point I was in so much pain that I basically limped around the track. I did some stretching afterwards and proceeded to sit down and contemplate whether I could actually make it back up the hill to my apartment (about 1K). My leg was throbbing and shooting random bits of pain from my ankle to my groin. I actually thought I might vomit, just to give you an idea of how much it hurt. I didn't have my cell phone with me to call anyone so I sat and contemplated going inside the Sportsplex and asking to use the phone or just sucking it up and climbing the hill. Because I'm me, which means I'm not a princess, I sucked it up and climbed the hill. After two hours of laying on my couch and attempting to rub out the pain, I was back to a semi-normal feeling in my leg.

Advice from a friend: just push through the shin splints, they'll ease up.
Advice from the Mayo Clinic: know when to rest; at the first sign of shin pain, take a break.

My advice: make me feel better by donating to support the Student Refugee Program.

Conclusion: Strength training tonight as opposed to a jog.

Chafing Nipples

The other day I went to Sport Chek to buy some kind of fancy watch/pedometer/heart rate monitor to help me track my training progress. I ended up buying a 925 Solo Heart Rate Watch. It's pretty super now that I know how to program it...well, mostly know how to program it. I've determined I can cover about 3K in 30 minutes. That really isn't good at all, but this is me, a non-runner, attempting to run so it's a decent start. The salesman was pretty good except for the fact that he seemed to want me to buy this little Nike pedometer that you put inside your shoe and could sync to your iPod. The technology seemed pretty cool, but 1) I didn't like the idea of having to have the little chip in my shoe and 2) I wanted something that I could look at and use to track my progress while I was running not something that I had to plug into my computer when I was done. Anyway, it's about time that I get to the title of this blog and explain it. I told the cute young salesman that I was training for a half marathon. After securing the sale of the watch he asked me if I had heard of Body Glide. I had no idea what he was talking about so he proceeded to show me. "It's really good for the type of long distance running you are planning to do. It helps stop chafing, especially of the nipples." <insert incredibly awkward glance between us> He quickly tried to recover by saying, "I guess that's really mostly for men, the nipples anyway, but it's good for other areas of the body too." I bought some to basically end the conversation and have actually used it on my arms. So far, my nipples seem to be just fine. 


Come on now, you laughed or at least smiled, didn't you?! If so, you should donate!

Plyometrics a.k.a. Imma kick your panties off!

Plyometrics basically means Jump Training. The last time I did the P90X Plyometrics workout I could barely walk for about three days following the workout. I also wasn't training for a half marathon.

I've determined that my main issue with long distance running is that my legs get sore really quickly. I don't get out of breath and I know how to take care of side stitches, but my leg strength just isn't cutting it. I figure plyo at least once a week will help build my leg strength considerably.

To start, the ten minute warm-up is enough to make me reconsider doing the workout even once a week. There's another fifty minutes after that to get through. Just for fun and games I'm going to share with you the names of the exercises (or torture techniques) that comprise the P90X Plyometrics workout.
Set 1:
Jump Squats - 30 seconds
Run Stance Squats - 30 seconds
Airborne Heisman - 30 seconds
Swing Kicks - 1 minute
...and then you do it all over again!
Set 2:
Squat Reach Jumps - 30 seconds
Squat Switch Pickups - 30 seconds
Double Airbourne Heisman - 30 seconds
Circle Run - 1 minute
...and one more time!
Set 3:
Jump Knee Tucks - 30 seconds
Mary Katherine Lunges - 30 seconds
Leapfrog Squats - 30 seconds
Twist Combo - 30 seconds
...repeat!
Set 4: 
Rock Star Hops - 30 seconds
Gap Jumps - 30 seconds
Squat Jacks - 30 seconds
Military March - 1 minute
...again!
Set 5:
Run Squat 180 Jump Switches - 30 seconds
Lateral Leapfrog Squats - 30 seconds
Monster Truck Tires - 30 seconds
Hot Foot - 1 minute
...you guessed it, once is never enough!
Bonus Round
Pitch and Catch - 1 minute
Jump Shots - 1 minute
Football Hero - 1 minute
...as you can see these are all 1 minute exercises so I guess no repetition is necessary.

Let's see, I did the workout on Friday; it is now Sunday and it hurts to sit. It hurts to stand. It hurts to touch most parts of my legs and butt. I should be all healed up just in time to do next week's workout. Seriously, that in and of itself deserves a donation!

To quote Tony Horton, creator of P90X:
"If you're doing plyometrics you can jump higher and run faster and your heart and lungs are going to kick the panties off of any body else who tries to get out there without it." - Talk about motivation!

Testing the Waters

It just so happens that Brandon has a City Loop Trail that is 20K in length. Remember, a half marathon is 21K. I determined, using Google Maps, that the approximate distance from my apartment on Braecrest Drive to the start of the trail at the Riverbank Discover Centre is 2K. That much math is simple enough for this Arts student so 2K to get there, 20K to complete the trail, and 2K to get back home is 24K. If I can do that (in under 4 hours), The Strip at Night doesn't stand a chance. Yesterday, I jogged the 2K down to the start of the trail, took a look at the starting point, and turned around and jogged back home. I just started training on Sunday, people. Did I mention I'm not a runner?! City Loop Trail, you and me have a date, just not quite yet!


Important B's Bits:

• For every $1 donated, I'll donate $0.10 - which means if I reach my $5000 goal, I'll donate $500. 
• I plan to tweet/facebook during the run, so I'll shout out to a top donor once every kilometer. My top 21 donors will be extra special!

Ready, Set, Go...

Here's the deal: I'm running a half marathon (21K) and raising money (hopefully $5000) for WUSC's Student Refugee Program (SRP). 

The SRP changes the lives of students living in refugee camps by providing them with sponsorships to come to Canadian post-secondary institutions to study. For the first time ever, Brandon University WUSC is bringing TWO students in the fall of 2012. It's a huge deal, but it also comes with considerable cost. 

You can read more about it, including where (Vegas), when (Dec. 2), and Fun Facts (they really are quite impressive) on my other blog: Brandy's Bustlings.