Much needed workout...

A fairly quick and painful 3 mile run followed by some of the most miserable core work I've ever done. I will say, however, that it was much needed. Getting out some unexpected emotion and engaging a little bit of pain. Being able to turn up the music, shut down my brain and just run through it, run it out and let go of it...that's why I'm an athlete, so I stay sane.

I managed to get 2.2 miles in before I accidently hit the "stop" button this time - it's a new record. I fluxed between a whopping 5.5mph and 6.0mph (though the plan calls for something like 11:15 miles...even I can't run that slow effectively). In the middle was experiencing a bit of IT band tightness, an ache that was getting slowly worse. I walked for about a minute (this is when the treadmill played the joke) and then resumed running. Felt fairly ok - aside from the fact that I was on a treadmill. I imagine the thing took about 32 - 35 minutes total but I really have no clue.

Let me give you a heads-up on the world - if you ever, EVER hear a PT say "Prone Pike Press" you should run, very fast, very far and in the opposite direction of the sadist bastard. It's this evil thing involving a Swiss Ball (that you roll onto looking only slightly like a beached whale) until your shins are on the thing and you're in a push-up position. You then Pike upwards, bending at the waist, until only your damn toes are on the ball. Breath, Wash, Rinse, Repeat. x10. Evil, Evil Bastard. Cuss a few more times and then do 3 sets. Clearly it's important to control the motion, and to not let your butt/back go past parallel with the floor. What they don't tell you is that your biceps will feel like jelly, you'll forget how to breathe and you'll have to engage every single muscle you don't realize you have to keep your self from face-planting. I'm also willing to guarantee some almost-handstands completely by accident. I figure this might be a teensy bit easier with feet more than a half centimeter apart - but I'm not that smart. Oh, and if you're feeling extra-special, throw in 3 sets of planks on bosu balls for 1 min. each.

Evil, sadist, masochistic, ridiculous roommate bastard. Tomorrow's swim practice could be interesting, to say the least.