Fail

Wow, so that "I'll be posting regularly about my training" business totally didn't happen, huh?  I've been in summer school up until Saturday, and was run down with assignments, exams, and general business/craziness/AAAAAH!  But, I've still been good with training (though, admittedly, I haven't been following the plan to a T because of the busy/crazy/etc-ness)

Here's what's going down.

Running:  Still happening, though training has been slow (read on for everything else going on instead...).  My last run was about a week ago, but so far, I've done well in tackling hills and getting my cardio endurance up.  Now that summer school is (FINALLY!) over, I have much more time to go for longer runs, and the weather has cooled enough to allow me to be out in the afternoons (often the only time I have available, and this summer was just WAY too hot!).

Cross Training: Lots!  And really, doing cross training can only help to improve my running, since my issue seems to be mostly cardio endurance, not so much muscle endurance/stiffness/tiredness.  Boyfriend and I signed up for a Groupon at a local gym that focuses on bootcamp-style workouts.  They also have something called "personal co-training", which is basically like having a personal trainer, but the cost is split between many people.  Our Groupon gives us 60 days worth of bootcamp and 12 personal co-trainings.  We just activated it this week, and have already gone twice - one bootcamp, one personal co-training.  And so far, we love it :)  It's a massive butt-kick, but feels amazing (well, except for all that soreness a few hours later :P).  The sessions give us a really good mix of upper and lower body work, core strengthening, and cardio, and your heart rate is elevated for the majority of the 1 hour class.  I'm actually really looking forward to seeing how this affects my running, since the last time I did a boot camp, suddenly long runs were way easier!

Other cross training: I've decided to take up swimming again.  When I was younger, I swam constantly and loved it to bits.  I even competed for a while.  But by the time I was a teenager, somehow I just ended up stopping, but I always liked to swim when I got the opportunity.  I've decided to get back into it on a somewhat regular schedule.  There are a couple of community centres nearby that have indoor pools and cheap adult lane swim time, so I will be going on weekends to get some nice low-impact-high-cardio activity.

So I promise that I will get back in touch sooner than later to let you all know how it's going!

Meanwhile, a vegetable of the month is coming.  It's a veggie of the mid-month now :)