Off-Season: Week Two

What does a runner *do* during the off-season?

Okay, most of us still run and maintain some semblance of base mileage. Two and a half weeks after my epic first marathon, I'm feeling a little blase about running at the moment. Yes, I'm trying to run every other day for a minimum of three to five miles, and I did run a low-key 5k last weekend. But my mind and body is telling me to take it easy and enjoy the off-season.

So. As mentioned in my previous post, I started my 'extreme body transformation' last week. Since this exercise program is so 'extreme,' I've already lost 10 pounds and shred 3% of body fat off my post-marathon/chocolate-cake consuming self.

I wish.

While those 10 minute ab sessions make me feel like I *should* be a lean flippin' machine, I've yet to be completely chiseled into a cut Greek goddess. The one thing that I am concentrating on while doing those bouncy plyometrics (burpees=yuck) and endless one-minute push-up intervals is how I deal with pain.

Although I experience different types of pain, I really think that ab pain is the worst. Flutter kicks, planks, crunches, v-ups, and a plethora of other ab exercises condensed to 10 minutes without any breaks = hellacious.

Because I hate ab pain so much, I've made it my mission to learn how to accept and embrace it.

So far, I haven't succeeded. Yeah, I can run for four hours and I have a passionate love affair with speed workouts (and really any other running workout that makes me want to ralph), but ten-minute ab sessions do me in.

New goal for off-season: CONQUER AB SESSIONS and YEARN FOR MORE. Hopefully, with that attitude, I'll be extremely transformed in no time!