Not Confusion...but Confusing. I've started hanging out with the owner of our newly opened indoor climbing gym, who happens to be a mountaineer, rock climber, runner and fledgling swimmer and she's been positively mopping the floor with me for about a month.
It's awesome. And a lesson in humility. And a continuing lesson in "Shut Up and Do It".
We've been doing run sprints, workouts with weight vests, the dreaded burpees, twists, cleans, squats...the eternally embarassing "ankles to the bar" where you hang from a pullup bar and try to raise your legs up over your head...I look a bit like a broken Marienette as I try to get my feet all the way up there!
So far it's an awesome experience and I am enjoying the workouts but, it is certainly doing weird, weird things to my overall fitness in some ways.
-For one thing, my distance running has gone all to hell. She's been holding me to a "race pace" 5k mentality for the runs--and for me right now it's either Distance or Faster, not both. So--I've been working on the shorter stuff.
-My upper body strength has increased and my core feels stronger but you can't tell any of it by looking at me..so, maybe I'm still just in the "beginner gains" arena of noticing improvement because I've finally learned how to use everything correctly?
-The issue that I was having with my ankle and arch has totally cleared up, which is awesome. So, big positive there!
-All of my cycling muscles have been neglected, so the first few bike rides of the season have been pretty brutal.
Without doing a full body analysis, all I can say is that I feel like I'm stuck in some sort of weird stasis. Like I'm on the verge of getting stronger, faster, etc. And also like I've set my cardio back about 6 months.
While the training has added a level of fun and competition to the idea of working out, it's also been hard for me to rectify the hardcore training mentality that she applies to everything while keeping running enjoyable.
I finally hit a point where I was enjoying running for the sake of running. I was enjoying it for the comaraderie and the simple act of getting out and doing it.
I feel like mentally I might still be too tender in some ways to be able to look at running as this intense, dedicated, Training with a capital T thing and not just end up tucking my tail and hiding.
I've never done any sort of functional/cross-fit training before so I don't know if being stuck in this limbo stage is normal or if I need to push harder or maybe do the opposite and take some more intentional rest days to allow my body to rebuild.
I know that I'm going to stick with it for as long as possible (money and time depending) and see where it takes me.
I've been snowed in with Life and Work ever since seeing Eric in Denver for the book signing event and haven't had a chance to really sit down and digest all of it just yet but I'm setting aside some time for myself this weekend to prepare for the hectic weeks I have ahead and really dive into the awesome information in the book.
I also haven't figured out my Cool Impossible just yet...it's brewing (c:
Comments
This is a great post and ALOT here. I will be interested to see how you might start answering your own questions after diving into The Cool Impossible. Sticking to the theme of athleticism from the book, I will say to you, ask yourself how you feel and let this be your guide during this time.
More is not always better, better is better.