I bought a new pair of gym trainers and after a short break-in period I’m quite happy with how they feel. This freed up my running shoes for outdoor running and about a week ago I did a trial run to see if they were still fit for the task. I ran to the marina and back, about 6km. Seeing how I haven’t run for a long time I figured a little pain or discomfort was to be expected and I did get a little sore in my ankles and knees, but this was nothing major. I was able to run the whole distance without resting and to my surprise I felt that I had gained a considerable amount of uphill climbing power.

I haven’t done a lot of running in the past few years but I’ve been thinking that I may benefit from some low intensity steady state cardio every now and then, to serve as active recovery. When you spend a lot of time doing cardio on an Elliptical trainer or do a lot of spinning and then go out running it becomes quite obvious how much more of a full body workout running really is. And I’m not just talking about the core musculature here. Since running activates more muscles, it feels like it also stresses the central nervous system harder in kind of the same way squats and deadlifts do compared to more isolated exercises. Running also puts a lot more stress on the joints and the connective tissues which isn’t a bad thing if you actually want to progressively build up the stability and shock resistance of those joints.

Some of my favorite classes are gone from the summer group training schedule at Sats Jakobsberg. Seeing how I’m not particularly interested in doing Body Pump three days per week for the next five weeks I need to find some alternatives. Besides running I will try out a class known as “Cross Training”. I don’t know much about this particular class, besides the fact that some guys who do a lot of Body Pump seem to enjoy it a lot. I will find out if I like it on Wednesday…