and i thought i was in shape.

Well I'm not. Not as much as I thought. Good shape that is. True I have tapered off of running a lot of miles every week, but even still I thought with the running I was doing combined with hot yoga and some swimming made for a fairly fit FWR.

Then I started weight training two-three times per week. And a steady stream of core work four times a week. My friends? I've. Been. Schooled.

The thing is this. I thought running would cover all my workout needs. I assumed I could continue to shove 2200 calories worth of delicious foods into my mouth, run 4x a week, go to yoga twice a week and I'd be golden. Turns out in my case that isn't how it works. I let myself indulge and slack on workouts through the holidays. Telling myself I'd start training for my half marathons sometime in January and my weight would get shed and my body would tone up. All while consuming said calories. Because ya'll know about my little addiciton to cheese, right? It's my favorite food. I tried to break up with cheese. That didn't work.

So. In my quest to run my ONE goal race this year, in April, I decided I have to give it all I've got. I resigned myself to my new, not so toned body and decided to start strength training and doing core work. Because I know that while miles and speedwork are important to my racing? I've also learned that it isn't enough to get me where I want to be. I need to get stronger, my legs need more muscle, my core needs more strength, all in order to pummel my goal race this spring. A 1:45 half marathon. So, my not so in shape body and I started in.

I started with the training of the weights and the core work a month ago. I saw zero progress for three weeks. All while being beat down by the exhaustion that comes from weight training and cross training far more than I've ever done before (i've incorporated spinning and elliptical into my new rotation). I have been sore almost daily since I started my new plan. I am exhausted every night and excited to fall into bed by 9:30p. But I am loving it. I love having my ass handed to me. It's a new challenge, and I'm having fun with it. Something I never thought I'd say. Me, the girl who hates weights.

Wanna know my secret? It's not even a personal trainer! I researched the shiz out of weight training plans and weight circuits, like the good little nerd I am. I pull from what I find online and from my arsenal of workouts given to me by previous personal trainers. Then I make a weekly plan. I like to mix it up. Especially with core work.

I warm up with some intense cardio on weight/core days. Then comes the good part. The part where I hoard weights and exer balls into a private corner of the gym, all while glaring at anyone who comes near my sweet precious little workout lair. And I do my thing. For at least 30 minutes. After which I can barely lift my arms, my legs are shaking and the thought of going to hot power yoga later that night makes me whimper. But I go to hot yoga anyway. Because dammit I am on a mission. And I fall into bed happily exhausted. And sore.

So there you go. Weight training and core work is kicking my butt. But I love it. And finally, after a month of dedication and work, it's paying off handily. Along with a new and improved lower calorie diet... most days anyway. I didn't count that entire bag of tortilla chips I ate Saturday. ON MY OWN. The new approach is working, I'm losing inches (if not weight) and can visibly tell I'm toning up. This all seemed to pay off in my speedwork today, too. I'm finding my easy running pace keeps inching down, while my speedwork doesn't exhaust me the way it did before.

Make no mistake, I still have a lot of hard work to do the next few months to prepare for that ONE GOAL RACE for my year. But I'm excited and nerdily interested to see how far I can go with my new and improved running strategy. Run less, cross train more.  Have ass handed to me regularly in hot yoga and with weight training.

Done and done. Stay tuned. I plan to write about some upcoming races, that will be mostly for fun and adventure. And I plan to write weekly about my half training listing out my workouts. But work is crazy busy and I am teaching college classes again. Which means blahgging time is at a minimum. Regardless, I will make an attempt.