About two years ago I discovered Crossfit. It's an amazing way of exercising your entire body, getting your weights and cardio both in at one time. I worked out for about a year, loving all of it except for the runs. I hated running. So after a year, I decided to embrace the part I was hating the most. I quit Crossfit and starting running exclusively. I followed training plans for a half marathon and then actually ran a half marathon! I was hooked! I loved running and I love racing!
Fast forward 10 months and I've decided I need to add weight training back into my workouts. I have been having some hip pain and even a bit of knee pain which I'd never experienced before. I debated between yoga and Crossfit and decided that Crossfit offered me both range of motion and strength. Plus the gym where I worked out is offering Crossfit Endurance. It's a class built for runners! They give you a program depending on your goals and it's all about, you guessed it, running!! Woo hoo! Now I will be doing some form of Crossfit five days a week. The Endurance classes focus on speed training, something I hadn't been doing.
I did my first Crossfit class today after not lifting one weight in the past ten months! Let's just say, Wow! I'd forgotten how it feels to be a beginner. I know I'll be sore tomorrow, but I purposely scaled the workout down a little so that I'd still be able to run tomorrow. But I am so excited to be doing something new again. That is one of the things I've discovered about myself. I will never be one of those people that can say I've been doing one thing for 5 years or 10 years. I love variety. I love trying something and feeling like I've mastered it enough to be ready to move on. And I think that's why I was ready to add Crossfit back into my schedule. I don't want to burn out my love of running. I want to have enough other variety that I still look forward to my running days.
How about you? What do you do to keep things fresh? Have you been running for years or are you a newer runner? Do you do anything else or do you just run and are okay with that??
I'm just a new runner and still no cross training of any sort yet. Looking for that second something I can use for days when I'm "resting" because since I've started running, I always seem to have this want/need to have something to do most days.
ReplyDeleteYou are way ahead of me then. When I first started running, I craved my rest days and didn't want to do anything! Now I'm finally ready to change it up. The program I'm on now shortens my runs but makes them more intense. Plus the crossfit is helping me with my flexibility. I was starting to have a lot of hip pain and not looking forward to my runs. That's awesome that you want to add something already!
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