Just do it!

Just do it! It’s so cliché but so true.

Yesterday, I did some aerial yoga at home. I worked on conditioning/strength and my flexibility. Both have taken a backseat to my running. I would probably even go to more classes but my running has made me a bit tired overall. So my aerial yoga has hit a bit of a lull. I need to get on that and keep improving my yoga vocabulary. Doing aerial yoga at home is nice because I can invert fully and use gravity to help me stretch. I’m frequently stiff when getting out of bed between getting older and myalgia. Doing some gazelles and downward facing dogs really gets me stretched out and ready to face the day.

This morning, I went for a run at the gym. Snow and rain fell last night and a quick look at the roads this morning showed somewhat slippery conditions. So far, I’ve made it with no serious injury and I’d like to keep it that way.

I got there earlier and I was able to park closer. As I was walking in, I wondered if it was ironic that I wanted a close parking spot to the gym entrance. Shouldn’t we all be parking as far away as possible in non-inclement or freezing weather? Mostly, everyone there was fit. There were “normal” people there but a lot of the people seemed very serious about their workout. There was a large turnout for the step class. It was encouraging to see all these people working hard to be fit or get fitter so early in the morning. It pushed me to sweat.

The run itself was hard. Not because of anything in particular but I couldn’t find a good, relaxed pace. I felt like I was breathing thru a scarf. Legs never hit a rhythm. Part of me wanted to quit, and do something else. Anything else. But I kept reminding myself to suck it up and enjoy my Netflix.

I still ran well. It was my second fastest pace. Maybe that’s why it was so rough. The only other time I ran that fast was during the Frosty 5k. I upped my speed running and ran a whole quarter mile at 7:00. My current plan is to slowly start increasing the length of my “sprints.” I’m also considering changing treadmills for my weekday gym visits, ones that have programs that have hills. This should help me with my road running.

I’m hoping some of this new treadmill running will translate into road running. The two are different and the same. I guess we’ll have to see.

In the meantime, I am waiting patiently for my dinner with friends tonight. Good food and good company.