My love/hate relationship with cross training

I have a love/hate relationship with cross training. I have days when I would rather do ANYTHING but run. I have days when I would rather run and do nothing else. I know that to train properly sometimes you need to throw in another activity. Overtraining certain muscles can cause injuries in others. I neglected my quads after Ragnar and irritated my IT band. I ran my first half marathon wearing a knee brace to try and cut down on the pain.

I've been trying to integrate at least one other type of activity into my workout routine. It's tough when you have a training plan that suggests you run 5 days a week AND have small children and things to do most days of the week. This week, I managed to cross train TWICE. That never happens. I've been loving the trampoline class at my gym. I try to work it into my Monday schedule. I did half of a kickboxing class today. I only made it through half because I had errands to run.

How do you cross train?

Day 1 Cherry Blossom Training part 2

Like I said in my previous post, I knew a run wasn't going to happen this morning between the rain and the snotty-nosed kid. I was scheduled for 2-4 miles according to the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler Intermediate Training Plan, so I put in 30 minutes on the exercise bike this evening at a moderate effort for me. That was 7.25 miles. I HATE the exercise bike, so this was a struggle for me. I hate the way my butt hurts when I get off of it. I always feel like I walk weird up and down the stairs. 

So, I don't like a training plan where I have to run 5 days a week. I prefer to run 4 days with a long run on Saturdays instead of Sundays. I might have to alter the plan a little bit. I want to do Zumba and kickboxing once in a while. 

Will altering my training plan screw me up too much?