Saturday, September 19, 2009

Spin or sleep in?


So this is my dilemma: Should I take Sunday off, sleep in as late as my kids will let me, laze around bed with the newspaper and then treat myself to a crispy-around-the edges, gooey-inside spinach feta omlette? Or should I get up at 7 am, throw on some Spandex, speed to the gym and elbow my way to the front of the reception desk at the YMCA to get my spin bracelet, and then sprint up the steps in time to claim one of the bikes that isn't broken?

I know, it's a tough call. The spin class sounds so tempting, doesn't it?

My Team in Training marathon training schedule suggests I work out 5 days a week, not 6. (I used to do 7--until someone told me that never taking a day of rest was a clinical symptom of insanity.) It also suggests I cross train. Unfortunately, cross training with my schedule is really hard (well, maybe my logic's a bit warped: running 6 days in a row=easy; driving to a gym 3 miles away from my house to do a less grueling workout=hard). So I thought I'd skip the second day of rest and make it a cross-training day instead by sweating it out with hard-core spinning Sue, who is the West Broward YMCA's answer to Jillian Michaels.

But I have to say...the past week, I've pretty much been following Team in Training's suggestions instead of just running myself into the ground, and I feel pretty good. I ran between 3-4 miles on the weekdays instead of 5-6 and did the team long run (6 miles) in 55 minutes. Right now, nothing aside from a few toe blisters hurts and I'm not starving, exhausted or hallucinating due to dehydration.

Which makes me think maybe I should let someone else elbow their way to the front of the line to claim the unbroken bike.

The fact is, I don't need Jillian Michael's help to run this marathon, as I am not, contrary to how I bloated might feel when the occasional bad case of PMS strikes, a contestant on "The Biggest Loser." The friendly cancer-fundraising mentors at Team in Training have been doing this for years, and they seem to know what they're doing.

So maybe I will sleep in tomorrow. True, I'll miss Sue screaming, "If your quads aren't on fire you're not working hard enough!" but seeing my kids standing bright-eyed in their PJs by the side of my bed does seem like a nicer way to spend a Sunday.


1 comment:

  1. I definitely think you should listen to your TNT members! You will eventually burn yourself out or get injured. My dad was a hard core runner - ran the nyc marathon year after year. He had both of his hips replaced last year and he told me if he could do it all over again he would have rested more and not run every day like he did for years.

    Sleep in! I'm sure your body will thank you! :)

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