Last Chance!

I have a couple of people who have yet to claim their prize in my 12 days of Christmas.  I am giving the winner of the 1st day of Christmas until tomorrow (December 29th) at noon to contact me otherwise your prize will be gone.  Whitney@FrenchFryRunner please contact me asap!! 

Monica, the winner of the Stocking full of GU has until Monday (December 31st) to contact me otherwise her prize will be gone.

Consider this your last chance ladies :)

I want to add one little thing into this post that I feel is very important.  Cross training!!  I have heard many people question the importance of cross training.  Of course we all love running...DUH who doesn't ;)  The problem with only running is that you will create muscle imbalances.  Pretty much EVERY injury is the result of a muscle imbalance.  When you do the same movement over and over you create overactive muscles and under active muscles.  I don't want to get to technical here because I know people will stop reading because they are bored out of their minds.  Google muscle imbalances in running and you will get some good information.  Just rememeber that working muscles that you DON'T use when running is good :)

If you are running and not strength training or doing some other form of cardio on a daily basis you are asking for an injury.  When strength training you don't only work your quadriceps right??  No, you work your quads, hamstrings, glutes and calfs.  You have to work ALL of your muscles not just your favorite.

How many times have you seen a meat head at the gym whose shoulders are totally rounded forward?  I've seen it a lot and do you know what it means?  It means that said meat head loves to work his chest but doesn't work his back.  Not only can muscle imbalances lead to injury but serious posture problems.  I see so many guys who go to the gym and work their chest every single day, not good!!  And I know we've all seen the guys who have HUGE upper bodies but bird legs, aren't they attractive?!?

Cross training is also good because your body needs a break from running sometimes but maybe you still want to get your sweat on.  I love a good spin class.  Not only can I get an awesome workout but I am working different muscles which is a good thing!  Road or mountain biking is good fun too!

This picture was taken at my last road race.  It was the Skinny Tire Event in Moab, I believe it was 72 miles.  It was a great time even though I had pneumonia, which I'm pretty sure I have again right this very minute.

This was my first road race which I think was 50ish miles???  It was a super good time.

See Niccole and I even got to pose with the big bad wolf, that equals FUN!!

I haven't rode my road bike in quite sometime because I read a book (The Long Run) and I have been horrified of biking ever since.  I also HATE dogs that chase bikes.  People need to learn how to put their doggies on leashes.

I have promised myself that I would do an Ironman one day, a full Ironman at that.  So it seems that I need to hop back on my bike and jump in the pool.  That was a little tangent but hopefully you are getting my point.

Talk to any physical therapist and they will tell you the importance of cross training...it's science people!

Do you cross train and if so what do you do?

I love doing spin and one day I will get back on my bike and learn to swim :)