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Entering into the mix: CrossFit

Entering into the mix: CrossFit

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I am a lousy cross-trainer… and especially these days, now that A is in my life, because if I have an hour to work out each day, then I’m gonna run.

I’m a runner.

Running is what I do.

Running is how I will become a better runner.

Faster.

Fitter.

More efficient.

(etc)

Unlike many other marathoners, I’ve been super lucky (if you want to call it that) in that I haven’t been sidelined with injury related to my mileage.  The worst I’ve had, which sucked, was IT band syndrome back in 2008, and that was how I found out that 50 mpw was about the maximum that my body at the time could handle.

At any rate, at the insistence of a friend, I decided to check-out CrossFit.  I started my foundations class last week at Windy City CrossFit, and basically, the foundations class is an hour, for 3 days a week, for four weeks.  It’s hard to describe– it’s like weightlifting meets interval work meets anaerobic fun meets jump roping meets IDK what else.

It’s basically like adult recess, and I love it so far.

I’ve got to figure out how to swing this and marathon training, especially once I begin training for NYC and Houston, but I’ve got time.  Until then, I’m enjoying learning about this new area of fitness and well-being and am meeting a ton of cool people in the process!

More to come…

That High

That High

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An injured running buddy (hi, Erin!) recently wrote how sick she is of cross-training because, among other reasons, she misses the runner’s high.  At first, I didn’t dwell on her point– merely agreed and kept reading and responding to her email.

After cross-training for most of this week — intentionally taking some time off from running intensity and high volume — I’m beginning to agree more and more with Erin’s remarks.  Both days this week, after I completed a sweat-pumping spin class, by hours later, the thought of what I had accomplished that morning had already left my mind.  I don’t think it made me sleep any better, eat any less, etc.

That just doesn’t happen with me when I run.  When I run, of course I feel it while doing it — the fun, the ease, the sometimes pain or minor annoyances — but I DEFINITELY feel it afterward, pretty much all day long.  I’m convinced that I sleep best on the nights where I run home from work.  My mornings, when I run, are super productive.  The days when I have class and I run prior to make me feel like I’m spot-on with all my comments and analyses.  And of course, the beloved runners’ high … don’t need to elaborate on that one here!

I just don’t get that from cross-training.