i totally feel like a creaky old lady recently. i've been riding 2x per week, usually tuesdays and thursdays, and running monday, wednesday, friday. or, at least, i usually manage to run 2 of those days, sometimes all three. anyhow, i've been noticing a definite creaky crankiness in my body when i get up in the morning. i'm 28. not supposed to be creaky yet! now, i would put this down to "all the exercise" except that even though i'm supposedly doing some exercise 5 mornings a week, it's really not that vigorous. so with the running, i'm half way through the plan* to get up to running 30 minutes (i'm at the run 8, walk 2, repeat 3 times stage). i've been at that stage for over a month. haven't increased because i haven't been consistently doing the required 8/2, what with being sick, and being out of town, and just being a lazy bum. so anyway, point is, it's not really that much running.

the plan, to get any lazy ass running 30 minutes straight in 10 weeks:
week 1: run 2 minutes, walk 4 minutes. repeat 4 times.
week 2: run 3 minutes, walk 3 minutes. repeat 4 times.
week 3: run 4 minutes, walk 2 minutes. repeat 4 times.
week 4: run 5 mintues, walk 2.5 minutes. repeat 3 times.
week 5: run 7 minutes, walk 3 minutes. repeat 3 times.
week 6: run 8 minutes, walk 2 minutes. repeat 3 times.
week 7: run 9 minutes, walk 1 minute. repeat 3 times.
week 8: run 13 minutes, walk 2 minutes. repeat twice.
week 9: run 14 minutes, walk 1 minute. repeat twice.
week 10: run 30 minutes.
you should be running 4 days per week. if you are *really* sedentary, like you can hardly walk up a couple flights of stairs, you should start out with a couple weeks of 30 mins of walking, to get you ready to run 2 minutes. you may repeat week 9 if you want. you should start and end each run with a few minutes of walking, to warm up/cool down. i have used this plan before to go from a mostly sedentary blob to an active runner. it is how i trained for my first and only race, a 5k during my 4th year at uva.

then there's the riding. it really is hard on at least some of my muscles. most obviously, my inner thigh muscles. but also my butt muscles. in the past, when i've ridden regularly, i've totally gotten over the sore-muscle stage. 'course, i suspect that now, with 2 lessons/week and a real trainer, i'm working harder than i ever have in the past while riding.

this realization that it's almost certainly the riding, not the running, that is making me creaky and sore, is a bummer. i so much don't like the running. the reason i do it is because it's cheap and easy and oh so convenient. i mean, you can't get much more convenient than lacing up the shoes and heading out the door. no going to the karate gym, or the rock gym, or the regular gym. no going to the tennis courts or the swimming pool or the soccer field. plus, i want to be a "runner." one of those people who can casually talk about their weekend 10-mile training run. though, i clearly don't want it enough to actually make it happen. i would really love for it to be the running that is making me sore and worn out, and to therefore be able to say "i've got to take today (this week, forever) off to let my body recover. i've been overdoing it with the running." but, the truth is that i have not been overdoing the running. i have most likely been UNDERdoing the running. sigh.

even with the constant soreness, i have to admit it feels good. there's something so gratifying about having sore muscles. it means i used my body. me! used my body! pushed it past the comfort zone. made it stronger. so actually, it's probably a good thing that it's the riding and not the running that's making me sore. because i love the riding, so i'll just deal with the soreness. but if it were the running, i'd so be giving it up, and it's true that it's good for me. and, i'll even admit that on mornings when i've run, i do feel better all day.