Runner's high?

Did I say I couldn't do the elliptical today? Yes, I believe right here I said I was too sore from yesterday.

Apparently not so, as I just ran 38 minutes on elliptical. I call it running because I get my speed up to 6 mph or higher which is considered a jogging pace. And it feels like running.

Anyway, here's what happened:

WARNING: there is a brief but mild TMI in this. You'll know it when you read it.

Having decided I was too sore for more than a cursory warm-up on the elliptical, I set to my new project: Seeing What I Want To Use The Core Ball For.

I did some hellish horizontal crunches which I'm sure I'll pay for in soreness tomorrow. A few others from the pdf I downloaded, none of which I liked, and then I did some of my free weight sets sitting at about 45 degrees back. I was still getting this feeling like I was still not satisfied with my workout, I didn't feel like I'd really done anything.

So, because I liked the feeling of them, and because I felt like I needed to work out more, I did another set of 50 of those scathing hard crunches, laying flat back on the ball. I had also done my baseline free weight sets already, prior to the core ball.

In the midst of all this, I took a 45 minute break and ate a garden burger with grilled onion, sauerkraut and extra sharp cheddar with mustard on organic sprouted-grain bread. Two of them in fact, because I knew I was hungry and it was already after 6 pm, and I am trying not to eat at all after 8, and there could still be time for a small snack in there somewhere.

At any rate, I said to myself, "I need to work out some more after I eat," figuring I would do some more sets with the core ball. I do like it, and as I am getting more comfortable with it, I am finding it more and more a useful tool.

I did try that. I did some backward extensions (which are wicked hard...) and a few more crunches, and was still not getting the sense of it being sufficient. So, I hauled myself up off the floor and said, "Fine, I'm gonna try to run again."

Got on the elliptical. Took me about 5 minutes to warm up all the way, then I got up to my 6 mph mark, and logged 31 more minutes. And after that, I felt that satisfaction I was after.

I find that about the 10 minute mark or so is when I start to feel really awesome while I am on the elliptical -- what I call running, or jogging, or jimbing (jog-climbing.) Once my heart rate gets to a certain point where I feel like my breathing is synchronized with it, I find I can run really smoothly and it feels effortless, and I have bursts where I run a lot faster and harder and those bursts of energy feel even better, like I really feel like superman. I said it in another post. I'm pretty sure it's "Runner's High," which is the endorphin  release you experience particularly during prolonged cardio. (Apparently "runners high" and endorphin-induced euphoria have evolutionary roots also.)

Anyway, I wasn't expecting it to actually feel good. Like, when I get that burst of energy, I really feel like I can do anything and I feel like, "Hell yeah!" I don't feel like I've worked out really until I get to that point. At least it didn't give me a boner this time; that's happened twice and I was kinda worried it would happen every time. (Googled that. Normal.) So, that is what I was missing, I wanted that endorphin bath. Now I get it, I understand what all those voices are talking about when they say working out "makes you feel good." The general good feeling afterward too is quite awesome.

Who knew.