I am a Rogue

Jonathan's Christmas/birthday present to me was a training program through Rogue Running in Austin. This is a four day a week training program for beginning runners or those who have run before but have taken some time off. It involves two core workouts, a speed workout, and a long run - all led by coaches. Since I participated in team sports from 2nd grade through college, I find it very motivating to exercise in a group and have someone wiser than myself telling me what to do : ) Rogue should be very glad of this, because it makes them money!

The program started on January 8th, the day after my 29th birthday - motivation enough to jump start my running! Since my training group is so big, the coaches divided us into two groups, asking us to choose which group to go into: the newbie never-run-in-my-life group and the I-can-run-3-miles-without-stopping group. I chose the more advanced group, but soon found out that most of the folks in the group were more like I-can-run-10-miles-without-stopping people. So, as usual, I was at the back of our long run. But hey, I ran three miles that day - which is more than I would have done on my own were I not with a group : )

I was out of town for the next week, and since I was in Chattanooga with 8 inches of snow....I didn't run at all. : (

I went to my first core class on Monday, and it was pretty awesome! I haven't done a workout like that since I was on the crew team at the University of Aberdeen. I'm going to list out what we did for those of my friends who are interested - everyone else can just skip it : )

Circuit:
a) Jumpies/Star Jumps: start by standing, squat down with your back remaining perpendicular to the ground(don't bend forward) until your fingertips touch the ground, jump straight up with your arms straight above your head.
b) Push-ups
c) V-crunches: start by laying down flat on your back with your arms extended behind your head, keeping your legs and arms straight lift them up to touch your toes (you are making a V with your body)
d) Weighted Squats: hold a medicine ball or other weight (I used either a 10 lb or 8 lb weight), squat down without bending forward until your legs form a 90 degree angle, like you are sitting in a chair, then stand back up
e) Tricept Dips - Sit on the edge of a chair or a bench, walk your feet out in front of you so your legs are straight, lower your body by bending your arms so they make a 90 degree angle (that is much harder to describe than I thought it would be - hopefully you know what a tricept dip is).
f) Bicycle crunches

Do 7 circuits as follows: each exercise 10 times, then 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, and another 10 times. Between each circuit rest for 30-60 seconds.

This is an example of a workout that I would NEVER do on my own, but I did it 110% with 40 other people and a coach. Thank you, Jonathan for my present!!! Needless to say, yesterday I was very sore, but sore in a good way : )

Then last night, I had my first speed workout. The coaches stressed that we are easing into this training program and not to go out to hard. No need to tell me that : ) Our work out was a mile warm up run, and we ran to a neighborhood where there were four cul-de-sacs next to one another. The speed workout was to easy jog from the main street to the turn around, then pick up the pace a bit to run back down the street, then easy jog to the next street and continue for four blocks. No stopping - the rest periods were the easy jogs between the faster running. Then we had our "cool down" mile run back to where we started. I never feel like my cool down jogs actually cool me down : ) Despite being tired after the workout, I felt so good about myself and my ability to run the whole thing without stopping to walk. I also met two other girls who run at about my pace. One went to Texas State and one grew up in San Marcos, so we talked a lot about the little town, restaurants, bars, etc. on the run. I'm looking forward to running with them for the next 10 weeks!

Thankfully today is a rest day : ) I'm still sore, but I feel good, and I slept like a log last night!! Although I have only been at it for about a week, I can truthfully say "I am a Rogue!"