I've been rounding out my weeks with some cycling - on the days I don't run, I either hit the bike for 45 minutes or, if it works with my schedule, I take a spinning class. I prefer the spinning class, since I get a better workout and push myself a little harder. Plus, I don't have to think about anything - I've got someone telling me what to do, how hard to go, when to turn it up and when to turn it down. I went to a spinning class last Friday morning, and, unlike the last time I tried it, I took it easy on the resistance. I focused on getting a decent cardio workout, and taking it easy on the legs. While I didn't get as much of a workout as I probably could have, I still got my heartrate up, worked up a good sweat, and felt it in my legs here and there. I was a little achy the next day, but nothing major, so it was good.

And nothing follows up spinning like moving! Especially when one is moving into a 3rd floor walk-up, and gets to carry a lot of her (surprisingly heavy) stuff up to the 3rd floor. Wow. Also, I realized that while my legs were taking the abuse like champs, I have absolutely no upper body strength and/or staying power (my arms were "done" long before all of my stuff was in the apartment). Something to work on.

Sunday was a day of relative rest - there was the Ikea trip with walking and heavy lifting, but nothing major. Monday, though, was awesome. When I signed up with the gym, I got a free session with one of the trainers. We talked a bit about my goals, and what I'd been doing, and I said, "I've pretty much only been running for the past 8 months - I want to work on cross-training and maybe some strength training." To which he said, "Duh. You need variety!" So we made an appointment, and he promised to deliver an hour of ass-kicking variety.

Monday afternoon, I showed up at the gym, ready to go. We started off with some kickboxing - nothing fancy like Billy Blanks-esque moves or anything. We did a few sets of different kinds of kicks, then a few sets of different kinds of punches. The idea was to have some anaerobic work, and I think we accomplished that. Plus, it was way fun. He had these pads on his hands that I was punching and kicking, and they made a very satisfying noise on contact. It was pretty awesome.

From there, it was off to do some strength training. We didn't use any actual weights - it was all with resistance bands or body weight (i.e., squats and push-ups). Plus, they were all done on some sort of ball or BOSU, so there was a balance aspect involved. They were hard, but they were fun, mostly because they were different. However, the next day? Muscles in my abs I didn't even know I had hurt.

Then, we were done! As far as my arms and shoulders were concerned, I was spent. However, aerobically, I felt like I was just getting started, despite the fact that I was covered in sweat. When Brian, the trainer, informed me we'd been working for 53 minutes? I was shocked. It couldn't have been more than half an hour! 53 minutes? Really? Wow.

We ended with stretching, and, wow. The stretching alone would almost be worth the money it would cost me to work with him on a regular basis. I lied down on a table, and he moved my legs around, stretching out my legs and back and it was just fantastic. With a few exceptions (*ahem*hamstrings*ahem*), I'm fairly flexible, so it can be hard for me to get a really good stretch going by myself. However, when all I have to do is relax and someone else does the work? Wonderful. I haven't been that stretched out in years. If I had the extra money, I would almost pay him just to stretch me out like that once a week.

Overall, it was a good workout. He said I did pretty well for someone who hasn't really done anything besides running, and was definitely impressed by my kicking and punching ability. (So, if I ever wanted to kick someone's ass, I totally could. Or something.) Sadly, until I win the lotto, I'll have to settle for working out on my own. But it was good while it lasted.

Tuesday was a brief 3-mile run at the gym, and Wednesday involved more "lifting", as I assembled my new IKEA desk. Today and tomorrow will be 3-mile runs at the gym after work, and I'm going to try and get a 6-miler in over the weekend. That'll give me 15 for the week, which will be the most I've run since the marathon! We'll see how it goes.