Tuesday, September 22, 2009

It's Raining, It's Pouring ... My Workout Just Got Boring

Flash flood warnings and storm threats prevented me from venturing outside for my seven to eight mile "quality" run this evening. Bummer. My previous planned was to run to an extremely steep and intimidating hill (about two miles from my apartment) and do some hill workouts and then run home. It sounds pretty horrible but I was actually looking forward to it. It's something new and a workout I've been thinking about doing for awhile. Since it was pouring too intensly for that, I changed right when I got home from work and headed to the fitness center at my apartment. A fast-paced forty-five minute elliptcal workout allowed me to break a good sweat, feeling like I got a sufficient workout. Even though I don't mind the elliptical, I'd rather the feeling of covering some ground and not being stationary. Oh well - you adapt and move on! FYI (because I don't think I've said it yet) I took yesterday off after running my long run on Sunday.

From experience ...
On another note, one of my biggest challenges lately have been drinking enough water. For some reason I get on these soda kicks - or anything with flavor. It is diet soda at least, but still ... not good when you are running and working out as frequently as I am. Drinking water has been a forced action for me lately. When I do get enough of that good ol' H2O I feel significantly better when I'm training; I even feel lighter. If you don't consume enough water, your body holds onto all the liquid it gets because it basically doesn't trust that it will get much more throughout the day (the simpler way of putting it). Well, put two and two together - that makes you bloated and gives you the feeling of carrying extra unnecessary weight. Soda also contains a great deal of sodium, which causes bloating as well.

That leads me into the fun fact I wanted to share with you! Next time you hit the pavement, max out at the gym or get a good sweat with a small home workout - grab a beer afterwards to rehydrate! Yup - a beer! "According to a research, a glass of beer is far better at rehydrating the body than water after exercise. The sugar, salt and bubbles in a pint may help people absorb fluids more quickly, the study claims." (Source) FoxNews only claimed it was slightly better than drinking a glass of water but hey - ever little bit helps, right? (Source) This makes sense when race organizers offer beer once you cross the finish line. I've heard that some races even offer a beer during the race but I can't imagine that. Beer isn't something that I would want to push me to the finish line; however, I would run faster to get to the finish line for that beer ... for the hydration of course! :-)

Hopefully the rain takes a hike so I can possibly fit in that hill workout tomorrow. If it's not raining too hard I have no problem running in the rain - even makes me feel like I'm working a little harder. But today was just too ridiculous to do anything outside. If I do get to do it, I'll definitely be sharing and hopefully I'll even get the chance to snap a picture of this monstrous hill to share as well!

Talk to you soon! Have a great night!

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