Battle Royale: Pilates vs. Yoga

(Disclaimer: This post includes absolutely no technical information on pilates or yoga. I am not a trained instructor. I’m not even particularly skilled at yoga or pilates. I have done zero research on the practice of either activity. I’m just someone who happened to take a pilates class on Tuesday and a yoga class today, all in an attempt to center my zen, calm my chi and keep my right shin from cramping throughout the day.  You’ve been warned.)

A few years ago Madonna made the erroneous decision to rap in one of her songs. As I recall, she rapped “I do yoga and pilates.” I decided to do both this week, since my gym offers classes during lunch. I’ve been working out with my trainer and have started running more with my new shoes, so I thought one or both classes would help stretch, tone and center me.  Here are my thoughts:

Pilates sucks. It was hilarious how bad I was at this! I thought I’d done pilates before but about 10 minutes into the class I realized it had always been a pilates/yoga hybrid. Piloga anyone? The reason this pilates class sucked, and why I now believe all pilates classes suck, is because I have the core muscles of someone who loves Pizza Hut. My abs are sponsored by cheese puffs. I did my best to lower myself down slooooowly, and then curl back up slooooowly, but the result was a lot of grunting and ungraceful rolling around.

Yoga rocks! This is a truly unfair comparison as I’ve been taking yoga classes on and off since college. (In fact, I took yoga for credit my senior year.  Shout out to my liberal arts college – Go Panthers!) So, I’m vastly more familiar with the moves and know what to expect. I love yoga! I love how it can be really relaxing at first, then super hard. And then how at the end we basically get to lie in a dark room and get REALLY close to taking a nap. I love that I’m encouraged to think about my energy, exuding positivity and calming my inner voice – all kinds of hippie stuff! It’s the best.

So, there you go. My super professional, highly scientific comparison of the practice of pilates and yoga. Namaste. 

Let's pretend that I look this cool doing yoga.



30 Days to 13.1 Miles

I awoke this morning at the ungodly hour of 4:30 a.m. with the panicked realization that today was September 21. If today is your birthday, then by all means you should be excited.  But, this date fills me with dread as it is officially one month until our half-marathon.

Where in the heck did this year go?!  When Dru and I wrote our first blog posts on January 5, I can still remember the fear I felt thinking about running 13.1 miles. Sadly, 8 months later I am still filled with fear!  This is for a variety of reasons.  Let me share them with you.

1. The farthest I have run in the past month is 6 miles. That is not even half of a half.
2. The farthest I have run in my entire 8 months of training is 9.3 miles. That is not even double digits in miles.
3. Last week when I ran my shin pain was so bad that I limped home…after only being able to run a mile. I actually shed tears. People stared. Ok, just one guy. Clearly he is a jerk.
4. Yes, I got new shoes.  But, now I’m so nervous about messing my shins up and not being able to run the ½ in St. Louis that I’m scared to do any training runs.

Clearly fear has taken over – both mentally and physically. Instead of getting up and running this morning, which a good runner would have done, I laid in bed and tried to let the sweet sounds of my dog snoring beside me soothe me back to sleep. 

It did not work. 

I am officially freaking out.

No sleep problems here.

This is great...I'll tell you why!

I am really getting into this "guest blogging" bit.  Firstly, because it gets me off the hook from actually writing my own thoughts about running, which, let's be honest....are getting pretty blah.  I  have come to the conclusion that I shouldn't write any more posts until I have something REALLY exciting to talk about.  Lastly, I love it because it's so interesting to read other people's thoughts on running and how it relates to them and you and life and so on.  But that notion leads me to believe we should have thousands of followers by now.  Sadly, we do not.  But, it's not because of our lack of wittiness or our failure to be awesome.  I think it's the actual running part that turns people off.  Touche non-readers....I was turned off from running for about 30 1/2 years of my life.  I get it.

Anywho, that being said.  I would like to introduce our newest guest blogger, Carol Walter.   I give Carol 1/2 credit for me signing up for the 1/2.  (I would like to assign credit to the other person who convinced me to do the 1/2, but I will do so when he guest blogs too...ahem, @Ken).  Back to the story.  On one of our short Saturday morning Salem Running Club excursions last winter, Carol was coming off of, what I believe was an extending running high, from just completing her first 1/2, supporting St. Jude's in Memphis, TN.  She and her family have been loyal supporters of this race and their cause for several years.  I digress, but I say it was an extended high, because several weeks later, she was still so excited she convinced me to kind of/sort of/almost think I could run 13.1 miles too by saying, "if I can do it, you can do it."  Yes, I am that easily convinced of things at times.  I'm actually surprised more people don't take advantage of my naivety, but Carol did, unknowingly, and I think I might be grateful (eventually) if I live through this adventure.

So, in the words of Carol...

As the “slow, old running partner” with Dru, I want to add my thoughts…..like you can stop me – HA! 

First let me say that Dru is awesome.  She is an inspiration and keeps me going and laughing most mornings at 5 am.  Since her half marathon is in October, and mine is in December, she is ahead of me in the “long runs” so the group often runs with me and then past my house to drop me off while they run further.  I’d say “off into the sunset” but since the sun isn’t even up yet, that won’t work.

Dru started running with me when I was training for my second ½ last March.  When I asked if anyone wanted to start run at 5am there was only one crazy person – DRU- who said yes.  I should have known then she was nuts! (Like the rest of us). PS – in light of the other “guest bloggers” I already have a 13.1 sticker on my car….and my husband and I always laugh how we run 5 miles then circle the Wal-Mart parking lot to find a close spot. 

Dru and I talk about important things like shoes (we both share the passion) and kids, and family and bathroom needs.  You KNOW bathroom needs always come up in running.  We now speak in “code”.

Then there was the morning I heard her scream from behind me and thought sure someone had abducted her.  It was the big dog – see previous blog posts.  Just know that she can yell really loud in a scary low voice that scares very large dogs and probably most the people sleeping in their beds in the surrounding houses.

I recently have re-injured an old stress fracture.  It is so nice to have running buddies who miss you when you’re sleeping in.  J  No, really the support is wonderful and I missed them too.

Running is a disease and it is great when you find others who share that disease with you.  Thanks Dru for being the best running buddy ever!!

Here’s to your HALF!  You still have to run with me every morning; the only difference will be that sticker on the back of your car in my driveway at 5 am.

Let's Try This Again

A 6-mile run was on the training schedule for this morning so I set out to run the same route that I attempted, with disastrous results, a couple weeks ago. Let’s see how the runs compared!

Timing: I learned my lesson last time and set my alarm to run in the morning. What was really nice about this was I didn’t have to get up until 8 a.m. because a cold front blew into Dallas last night!  So, I was able to sleep in a bit (which I love!) and still get up and get in a run. Better Run: TODAY!

Training: While I haven’t done any other fitness activities in the past two weeks besides run, I can tell my endurance is a bit higher. And, I’m going to start working with a trainer at my gym on Monday.  We had our assessment meeting last week and he told me to eat more carbs. The next day I ate two chocolate croissants and a banana nut muffin. So far I am really enjoying working with a trainer!  Better Run: TODAY!

Desire: I was definitely driven to run farther and faster today, but the one factor that hurt my desire to run was the weather. As I said, a cold front blew in last night at approximately 9:30 p.m.  (we were all very excited about this and counting down the minutes!). The temps were gorgeous but the wind was very blustery!  For about 2/3 of my run today I felt like I was running in a wind tunnel….which is very hard! My pace was slow, I felt like I was running through water, and it simply took more work to get through each half mile.  I found myself missing the heat that I’ve grown used to running in…go ahead, call me crazy.  Better Run: TIE. I like the cooler temps, but that wind kicked my butt and made it hard to stay focused.

Other thoughts on today’s run vs. the last run:

-I didn’t see a lizard but I did see a group of men playing cricket. I found this very charming.

-During one of my short walk breaks (after battling a particularly brutal burst of wind), a girl ran past me wearing just a sports bra and tiny, spandex running shorts. She may have been a Runners World model, she made running look so effortless. Why do girls like that run by me when I’m walking?! 

-It’s time for new shoes. A few months ago I complained about horrible shin pain, and at the recommendation of some of my blog readers switched back to an old pair of shoes. That worked for a while. But, the pain is back which means a trip to the shoe store is in my near future. Maybe I’ll get some of those $59 Saucony’s AJ mentioned!

Ask and you shall receive...GUEST bloggers

So, at the beginning of this journey, I posted that perhaps we should/would have occasional guest bloggers.  Well, that fizzled, sort of.  But, as my brother and soon to be sister-in-law and company were running 10 miles this morning, we had a lot of time to talk about random things...like blogging.  Side note, I think what I'm most excited about running a half marathon is all of the QT (2.5 hours by my current pace estimate) I will get to spend talking to and catching up with Erin.  So anyway, without further ado below are AJ & Megan's perspectives and insights on their training leading up to the 1/2 thus far. 

AJ:

Just  44 days and 122 miles of training before we can put the “13.1 Sticker” on our vehicles. I will start to park at the front of lots instead of the back parking lots after that so everyone knows I ran 13.1 miles!!!! Feeling good after this morning’s run…did 10 miles with Dru and Megan and still had 3 miles of gas left in the tank I believe. New running shoes are on my horizon…between the sides being blown out and retaining larger amounts of sweat in the soles, it’s time to splurge and get the $59 pair of Saucony’s instead of the $39 pair of New Balance’s.

MEGAN:

Dare I say, I love the irony in running 13.1 miles so that you can have a sticker that says “13.1” miles, so you can then park in the front of the grocery store parking lot and show it off. I’m pretty certain those people with “13.1” stickers on the back of their vehicles have no excuse for parking close to the front door. If you can run 13.1 miles, you can walk from the back of the parking lot J All joking aside…I had a great run this morning! You might be surprised to hear what constitutes a great run…I had a Charlie horse in the left side of my back, my sports bra rubbed two bloody holes in my back where the hooks are located, and my big toe nails appear to be pulling a “Dru Howard” and are bruised. And it was actually a good run. Do you want to know why?!?! Because neither of my knees or hips felt like they had gravel in them today and I could carry on a conversation while running. I really did have a great run, though. I kept thinking to myself after we were done…it is 7:00 a.m. and I just ran 10 miles before most people have gotten out of bed J



There you have it.  A great 10 mile run had by all.  And it felt better this morning because our friend Carol was back in action, after nursing an injury for the last week.  It was good to have her back...even if for only 2 miles (on Dr's orders).  But, we did miss Ken.  Hope he's feeling better soon and we'll have the whole gang back for our Friday morning long runs soon.

Timing is everything!

I seriously JUST got this email.  It seems that the writers/editors of WH are far more sure of my ability that I am.  Bravo WH, bravo!

Yes, You CAN Run a Half Marathon!

If you think runners are half crazy, you're right—they're crazy for half-marathons. And women are leading the pack: The number of people who've finished a half-marathon (13.1 miles) has more than tripled since 2000, and a whopping 59 percent of finishers are women, according to Running USA's 2012 State of the Sport report. So if you're looking to join these rockin' half-marathon-running women, here's your guide. Click to see the 10-week training plan, race-day advice, and more!

Sound the Alarm!

One of my most favorite things is when Dru and I actually get to talk on the phone. We email all the time, and have fun “liking” or commenting on each other’s FB pages, but to find the time when we are both 1. free and 2. able to answer our phones is pretty hard. For one thing, Dru is raising two tiny members of society, both of which started school this year (don’t even get me started on how old I feel knowing that her son Kash is in kindergarten now…I remember meeting that little guy in the hospital the day after he was born!!). Secondly, she’s got a whole household of people to pay attention to.  I just have my dog, but somehow I never pick up the phone and call her. Clearly I am a rotten friend.  But, a good dog owner.

So, it was a joyful occasion last week when we got to connect via phone!  That joy was quickly diminished when she proclaimed, “I’m so excited to see you in 6 weeks!”

WHAT?! HOLD UP!! OUR RUN IS IN 6 WEEKS?!?!  (This was my face...)

 Luckily Dru was off by 1 week. We had 7 weeks left to train. (This was my new face...)

So, with (now) less than 7 weeks left to train, I’m getting serious about it.  Instead of sleeping in one extra day, I got up and ran 4 miles on Labor Day. Ran 4.5 two days later. This Saturday I’m hoping to hit 6 and keep inching up so that by the weekend of the 15-16^th I am at 8, which will put me on track according to the training sheet Dru gave me.

The alarm has been sounded.  The run is in a month and a half.  I will be ready. Oh yes, I will.   

7 Weeks!

Okay, I will admit that I have been HORRIBLY inconsistent with my blogging, but please know that my running is much more consistent.  So, as I ran my longest distance to date this morning, I told myself I would also find 20 minutes to blog about it or something more interesting should there be something more interesting to happen.

So, getting down to business, the past few training weeks have consisted of me running about 4 days a week.  Shorter runs on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and a longer run on Friday.  Last Friday I cut my long run short but technically my distance runs are ahead of schedule so I didn't feel too bad about that.  This past Friday, Hurricane Isaac rained us out, so I did my distance run of 9 miles this morning instead.  It was still raining, but more of an annoying mist that, in the end, turned out to be not so bad for keeping me cool.  And if it's going to be humid, I would just as soon run in 100% humidity/rain than 98% torture. 

I got up an hour before our run and drank some coffee, ate some breakfast, and mentally prepared myself.  Not sure that was necessary as coffee sloshing around during a run does NOT feel particularly great.  But anyway, it was a fairly good run for me until about mile 6, when I got a side stitch (which doesn't ever really happen to me so it was a really weird feeling).  I actually got rid of my side stitch by walking for about 30 seconds and slowing down my breathing - thanks to some guidance from my running pal, Ken.  At 8 miles, my Nike+ Running app told me I had run 8.75 miles (grrrrr....the GPS on my iPhone is an entirely different frustration of mine, but one thing at a time) and by the time I REALLY got to 8.5 miles, I was ExHaUsTeD!!!  So, I did walk/run intervals the last 1/2 mile.  Again, I wanted to feel disappointed in myself, but I was too tired to care.  I still finished under 11minute/mile so mission accomplished.

It was also strange to run an hour later than normal, on a day that is typically my "off" day, and without 1/2 of my posse.  It is strange to me how accustomed my body has gotten to my routine so it's probably good to get it out of its routine. 

I'm still undecided about whether to run tomorrow morning or take Labor Day off, but for now I'm focusing on the ribs I'm about to eat, the 8 chocolate chip cookies I just ate, and the Boulevard Wheat that will really be the icing on my celebratory cake later this evening. 

Oh and the Rock 'n' Roll St. Louis 1/2 marathon is only 7, yes 7 weeks from today.  That makes my stomach a little nervous just thinking about it!  Until I really looked at the calendar and realized 49 days is not far away at ALL, I was just feeling like it was going to just be like a little party and everyone would be cheering us on as we partied along down the street and we would look and feel like super athletic models crossing the finish line then we would party some more and it would be a great deal of fun.  However, today I picture this...

So, until my next blog...happy running and the official count down is on.