Muscles

So its study week for exams, and I have been diligently spending the majority of my time swotting.  I haven't been getting out to run as often as I would like, but I have been making the most of the Les Mills group classes at the gym, as well as the treadmill to keep on top of some exercise.

The result of these great-fun classes is that I have been hobbling around for the last few days, with sore everything (except for my quads, these seem to be strongish already).  Particularly the upperbody workout, has made my arms feel leaden and useless, but I figure that working on different muscles sets, and improving core strength will be a great way to improve general running form - I hope!

The first class I did was the aptly named Body Attack - a fast paced aerobics style class that was heaps of fun, and very popular, I had to be careful not to fling a limb or dancersize into anybody close by.  I really enjoyed this class and found it pretty easy to manage coordinating kicks, runs, arm flinging and dance steps.  After Body Attack, I headed straight into a CXWorx class which is all about core strength - and mostly involved torturing your abdominal and quad muscles.  Yesterday I did a Body Combat class.  This was challenging as I have never really done any martial arts type exercise before, and required a bit more coordination than I usually have to muster while running.  But I can definetly see why people enjoy martial arts, the moves were really powerful, and it was quite enjoyable to punch and kick for an hour, I must have had a tough day studying, because I apparently contained a lot of pent up agression.  After the class, I spent an hour on the treadmill, with the incline set to steep-and-sweaty, before finishing with some fast paced running.

I always feel like I am keeping up in gym class...the reality however is somewhat more disturbing

I suppose that this has been the least conventional week of training that I have had for a while, but it is nice to do something different while I have the opportunity, and also a good way to make use of these long dark evenings.

It is the final Xterra Wellington race this weekend, and I am really excited.  The course looks amazing, and it feels like a long time since I have been out among some beautiful scenery.  I hope that the weather is stunning - fingers crossed.  This will also be my last race in the North Island for a while, so I hope that it is brillant.

Bring on the Weekend!

Some of the weekend running awesomeness to look forward to - photo Xterra