Why I Strength Train (and you should too)

If you saw my tweet last Sunday you already know that my brother celebrated a running milestone. He ran 12 miles without walking. And he did it well under 2 hours with me chatting his ear off. That’s huge! So very proud of him. We are just a few weeks away from hitting his PDR (personal distance record) and before we know it he will be running 26.2 miles. You know just a few years ago he was running a 12:30 pace..but I’ll let him share his story with you as soon as he is ready.

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Strength Training

I haven’t talked about strength training in a while. Truth is that I had to reduce my lifting/squatting/get strong days during my Ojai training cycle due to time constraints. Now that I have a little downtime before Boston madness begins it’s back to focusing on getting and remaining strong.

Hardcore

Strength training is one of the single most important aspects of my marathon (and any other distance) training. I injure easily and, as many of you know, I had several frustrating training cycles. I learned to depend on strength workouts to keep my body strong and ready to run. The result? I’ve remained injury free and have seen improved finish times.

Today I want to share a workout (or two) and encourage you to give it a try. Building a stronger core (and booty) will help support the muscles you use to propel you off of the ground. If you incorporate strength training into your weekly workout plan you will become a more efficient runner. Want to get faster? Strength train. Want to remain injury free? Get strong.

A few years ago I posted about my medicine ball and core workout. Now let’s get into a few circuits.

Workout #1 Total Body Workout : 3 rounds with 10 seconds of rest in between each exercise:

Jumping Jacks (1 min)

Squats (1 min)

Push ups (1 min)

Bicycle Crunches (1 min)

Mountain Climbers (1 min)

Hip Raises (1 min)

Plank (1 min)

Weighted Twist (I use a medicine ball or kettle bell) (1 min)

Donkey Kicks (1 min)

The above circuit can be done using only body weight. In lieu of a weighted twist you can sit on the floor in a c-position and do rotating knee touches. Your obliques will thank you!

 Workout #2 Glutes (Remember operation get my booty better?) This takes me 20 minutes or so and is courtesy of WHM.

Click here to review a glute circuit I use.

I continue to practice yoga (love!) and have also started to incorporate insanity workouts in my routine. I actually like them a lot more than I thought I would.  A spot in my garage is being turned into a little home gym/workout space since I am heading back to work next week. Yup, BCOD workouts (not just runs) will be happening. I will also be back to tweeting about office workouts! Yup, the office push up, lunge and desk dip challenges will be back in full effect.

As I come across workouts I like I usually put together a routine and can share here if it wil help some of you out. I also like to take workout from WHM/MH and load them onto my iPod and take them to the gym with me. This is a great option for those of you who are like me and need a set workout.

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Do you strength train? Why or why not?

~ I used to be intimidated but after I switched gyms a few years ago my fear went away 🙂

4th of July 15k and a bunch of other stuff

Last week I ran the Coronado 15k for my 3rd consecutive year. I was really excited for this race as I really felt like I was ready to easily break 1:10. Yeah it’s always humid but the course is flat as a pancake. Running 7:20’s should feel easyish compared to the constant hills I am used it. Plus, I was around 1:09 at the 15k point at RNR and that was with some uphill. This should be a big PR.

Should have been.

It wasn’t. It was actually brutally hard.

I was up a 4 a.m. with a headache the size of Texas. Made my way down to the bay by 5:4o a.m. and battled all of San Diego for a parking spot. Finally got situated 1.5 miles away and ran to the start. I never complain about a warm up 🙂

The race was supposed to start at 7 but didn’t end up starting until 7:30. As soon as the gun went off I just couldn’t find a groove. I went out way fast. At the .75 mark I was at a 6:55. I put on the breaks and got myself down to 7:15ish but just felt off. Every step was a struggle.

Each mile I got slower and slower and felt worse and worse. I haven’t felt this bad during a race in a long time so I just kept trying to remind myself that running is fun. It didn’t feel fun but sometimes we can trick our minds. I talked to a few people around me and just kept hoping to see that finish sign.

Finally, mile marker 8 appeared and I knew I could hang on for another 1.3

I crossed the finish line in 1:10:32 (a slight PR, 4th in my age) and then got backed up in the marked off finish corral line not realizing that the timing mat was in the middle of a sea of people. I had never seen that before. This race still collects the paper hang tags (from the bottom of the bib) so there is always a back up at the finish. By the time I actually got across the timing mat I think I ended up with an official time of 1:10:38? Times are still unofficial. I wonder how many people were mad about that? Not a big deal but that could send some serious competitors right over the edge lol!

Runners battling to see their finish time

I was so happy to be done. 9.3 miles felt like 30 that day. At least the view was pretty and I got to sport my Red, White and Blue!

I made the 1.5 mile jog back to the car. I knew the parade was getting ready to start so I needed to get off of the island ASAP if I planned on spending time with my family that day!

On my way home my headache came back with a vengeance. No matter how much I drank I felt thirsty…and hungry…and miserable.

I sucked it up and got myself together for a family cook out but should have known that head cold 2013 was coming on. Such a bummer because I love the 4th of July!

I took the 2 days following the race off to just reset and get better. It felt so good to just let myself recover.

The following Sunday I got back on the road with my brother. We ran 11 sweaty miles and celebrated yet another week of 26.2 training.

He is crushing his training plan. I should ask him to write a guest post on his past race experience, weight loss and his road to 26.2. He has an incredible story y’all.

What do ya think Joe? Yes? No? Maybe?!?!

Next race is coming up on August 4th. I am running the SF Giants Half and CANNOT WAIT!!! I’m bringing the eye black back. Hey, you can take the girl out of NorCal, but you can’t take the NorCal out of the girl. Even LD is running. I can’t wait to be “home!”

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Life Stuff

I officially accepted a new job and start on July 22nd. I am nervous, excited and well, I don’t know. Indifferent maybe? This opportunity fell into my lap and I feel very lucky so maybe it’s just nerves. Or maybe it’s because I worked for my last company for so long and change is scary. I didn’t look for this job, it found me. When opportunity knocks I have learned to open the door and take a chance.

Better go dig out the high heels. Wish me luck!

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Have you transitioned to a new job? Was it difficult?

Anyone else race during the past few weeks? I need reports people!

Next up…strength training and how it helps a runner out.