Not as strong as I thought was

I'm writing this in pain today....well not so much pain but excruciating soreness! Let me explain how this happened....

My friend Sarah and I started running together after work 2-3 days a week when we both entered the "real world" and realized that we couldn't stay trim and fit without working out like we used to be able to do. Sitting at a computer 8+ hours a day wasn't cutting it. I never enjoyed running until we started running together regularly. We trained and ran the Gate River Run 15k after a year or so of running together but I still NEVER had any desire to run a marathon. A half-marathon, maybe if Sarah wanted to but nothing more. Then when the economy got really bad we stopped running as much and right as we were getting back into it, Sarah found out she was pregnant. Long story short, we stopped running, got busy and were out of shape again. When I found out my aunt was relapsing with lymphoma, Sarah was at the end of her pregnancy and I was itching to start running again. So I signed up for Team in Training to train for a HALF marathon and raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. After a few weeks I realized that training for the half wasn't going to be the challenge I was hoping to endure for the sake of my aunt and my donors so I decided to train with the full marathoners in TNT. Then I decided to actually run the FULL marathon in San Francisco. After the marathon I was on the sidelines, resting and doing a little yoga till my hip was healed and I got back into running in January of this year.

I trained for the Gate River Run again, snowboarding trip and to reduce my time in 5k races from January to April along with studying for my PE exam (even more of a sore story there!). Even though I wasn't running or working out over 3 days a week to concentrate on studying, I was in shape. I also started a "new" job. In April, I started working with my previous employer again and with Sarah. We both keep joking that they hired me back so that she could have someone to run with again. Hopefully that isn't the reason but it's been a nice bonus!

In June, I started training for the Chicago marathon and helping Sarah get back into shape. I'm working out or running 6 days a week now and she runs with me 2 of those days. It's been kind of a joke that our goal is to take advantage of the free week of gym membership at all of the gyms in town so we don't have to pay for a real membership for awhile. Last week there was a LivingSocial coupon for 5 fitness classes for $15 at one of the local gyms and a friend also gave us week passes to another gym where his wife works. So far so good on that goal! We have at least 4 weeks of gym membership for $15 so far....Another running joke is that I'm now Sarah's coach!

This week Sarah and I decided to do a TRX class at the gym with our LivingSocial deal. The website said Intermediate which we thought we were at least in intermediate shape. We get there and there are about 30 straps that split into two with handles and loops at the end attached to a metal pole on the ceiling. The instructor begins right away without stretches or warm ups. We begin with plank push ups where you put your feet in the straps and hold yourself up in a plank position and dip down in a push up. You do these for one minute, rest for 8 seconds, do another set for 45 seconds, rest for 8 seconds, do another set for 30 seconds. Rest for 15 seconds before your next set of three drills. Plank position again with 45 sec. of push ups, then 45 seconds of mountain climbers in plank position, then knee pulls in plank for 45....that's one set. Repeat 2 more times. I'm not going to go through the entire HOUR long routine but that is pretty much what it consisted of with 15 second breaks in between. Turns out, we aren't in intermediate shape! I couldn't walk, run, bend, MOVE for 2-3 days. I did manage to squeeze in 8 miles on Sunday morning but it wasn't easy.