My routine the past several weeks has been to drop off Brock, my 4 yr. old son, at school and head straight to the gym. Most mornings my mom comes to work out with me! I am so proud of her and how hard she is working!
This mornings work out went fantastic! I just love the energy of the gym and seeing people work to be the best physically they can be.
Today I started on the bike. I find I hurt less while running if I do some sort of cross-training before I jump on the 'mill. I rode "hills" on level 7 for 10 minutes. Man, this really gets the heart rate up and legs nice and warm. I covered 3.3 miles. As soon as I finished with the bike, I immediately went to the 'mill. I ALWAYS walk before I run. It is so important to make 100% sure my muscles are completely warmed up. I walk anywhere from .20 miles to .30 miles. Today I walked .30 on and incline of 3 and speed of 4.0. As .30 approached, I lowered the incline to .05 and set the pace at 5.5. Everything I have read about running says you should train slower than you want to race. Also, you should be able to have a conversation while running and not totally out of breath. If you are then slow down a bit. You are less prone to injury if you train slow. And you all know I don't want to go down the injury path anytime soon!!! I slowly increased the incline during my run. The highest I reached was an incline of 3 and when I reached it I started to slowly come down. My speed stayed the same until the last half mile and I slowly increased it to 6.5 at the end. I read yesterday that it is best to keep your stride short rather than long when you sprint at the end. Again, you are less likely to injure your muscles or joints that way. I normally would have lengthened my stride quite a bit but today I kept it short and it felt good! When I finished my run, I walked for roughly .30 miles. I ran 2.2 today and was so happy that I had no knee pain! It is so hard for me to keep the mileage down, but I figure if I can slowly build up while cross-training, I'll be stronger in the long run. I committed 25 minutes to weight training after my run. Including abs, legs, and arms.
My ultimate running goal for this year is to run in the St. Jude Half Marathon this coming December. Last year I was able to walk in the St. Jude 5k race and I had just been cleared by my doctor the day before of my hip injury. I was on cloud 9 and so beyond happy to be able to participate in the race I had originally planned on running before my injury. I plan on competing in several 5ks and maybe a 10k or two before then. I get so excited when I think of running the half. I watched my sis last year run it and it was beyond motivating! I am so proud of her for reaching that goal!!!! We plan to run it together this year, along with some friends and my hubs!!! CANNOT WAIT!!! SO, I want to train right - slow and steady -
Recap of today...
Feb. 15, 2012
'mill - 2.2m run/incline from .05-3
cross-training- bike - 3.3m/ hills ; weights
notes - run felt strong! slowly increased incline and had a nice kick to the finish. Kept strides short :)
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