Lately I’ve really been struggling to balance running, cross training, and strength training. My 2 last weeks of training for the Philly Tough Mudder have been quite a ride!
But before I get into it, let me remind you that The Love Run Half Marathon in Philadelphia will have $60 registration on 9/16/15 only until midnight, and if you sign up between 10 am and 3 pm, you’ll enter a drawing where you could get 1/2 off that price! Be sure to check it out!
Since it’s Wednesday I’m linking up at Wild Workout Wednesday with Annmarie at The Fit Foodie Mama, Angelena Marie at Angelena Marie: Happy, Healthy & Balanced, Michelle at Fruition Fitness, and Nicole at Fitful Focus!
[bctt tweet=”Time to get serious about Tough Mudder Training – it’s no joke! #sweatpink #wildworkoutwednesday”]
Tough Mudder Training Recap
Tough Mudder Workouts Week 2:
Wednesday 9/2: I went for a 4-mile early morning run in the swamp-like heat and humidity. My shins didn’t feel great and my right knee was in pain, so it was a slow go. I did some hip strengthening exercises later in the evening.
Thursday 9/3: We went back to the Parkour gym to work on training for Tough Mudder. We did a lot of moves and learned more techniques to help with being efficient on obstacles. We leapt, crawled, jumped, and hopped. We also did a little bit with pullups…man, that didn’t go too well. We also did some variations of pushups and I realized that I have really lost my strength over the summer. The good news is that I was able to climb up a 7-foot wall! The bad news is I felt some really unpleasant pain in my left calf muscle and left knee. I really have to be careful not to hurt myself.
Friday 9/4: I had my second early morning weekday run, tackling 4 miles and humidity. Both of my knees were hurting but subsided a bit after the first couple of miles.
Saturday 9/5: We landed in Nebraska! That evening I had my first summer Nebraska run on a gravel road. There were lots of hills and I ran into a deer – that was a first! I walked a couple of times because I started to feel pain in my calf. The sun started to set and Bret worried about me so he found me running and followed with the lights on! It gets dark out there!
Sunday 9/6: I set out on another evening run but it didn’t go well. We actually ran with Bret’s parents’ dog, Bo (or Beau?). He kept jumping into any water he could find and going through the fields of corn and soybeans. It was fun and the sunset was amazing…
Monday 9/7: I did my 6-mile long run in the morning before we headed to Kansas City. Unsurprisingly, it was VERY difficult. I did a ton of walking and some Jedi mind tricks to distract myself from my calf pain…like focusing on pain elsewhere haha. It took nearly 90 minutes to finish!
Tuesday 9/8: A much-needed rest day! We did do some walking at the Negro League Museum (which was fantastic!) and the American Jazz Museum (eh, it was okay).
Week 3 Workouts:
Wednesday 9/9: While I probably should have had another rest day, we set out on speed work. We were in downtown Omaha/Council Bluffs, Iowa. So I got to run in two states – fun! The speed work went great and I experienced no pain. I had 5 miles, with 3 miles of intervals of 9:10 pace/walking.
Thursday 9/10: Can you believe I ran again? This run was barely a run, my body was completely done…
Friday 9/11: Finally a day of rest! We had a busy morning taking care of things for the wedding, so there was no time to squeeze in a run.
Saturday 9/12: No running, it was wedding day! Such a beautiful ceremony and reception!
Sunday 9/13: We were back in Philly, so I saved my 7-mile long run for more familiar territory. Surprisingly, it went relatively well. My knees felt better and my calf had no flare-ups, thank goodness!
Monday 9/14: Rest day.
Tuesday 9/15: Rest day.
Tough Mudder Weeks 2 & 3 Report Card:
As you can see, I did a LOT of running over the past 2 weeks, which is great, but I really need to step up the strength training. I tried to do pushups, clam shells, leg raises and other various things when I could remember, but it wasn’t nearly enough. I also didn’t give my body enough time to properly rest during the week.
I’m very upset that my workout at the Parkour gym caused a potential injury since that’s exactly what I thought training was supposed to prevent! Thankfully the pain has subsided, but my knee is still a wild card. It feels like something got tweaked with a ligament or something so I’m nervous. Fingers crossed that it’s nothing serious…
I get really stubborn when it comes to race training. I refuse to take a break, but I really blew it this time around. Why do I always forget to tell Coach Kristy when I’m going on vacation? Ugh…we could have easily moved things around. I think I’ve finally learned my lesson!
These past 2 weeks get a C+…I barely passed. I will be training much smarter moving forward! And I’ve got lots of cross training classes starting next week that are going to FINALLY get me back in the groove. Can’t wait to tell you about it!
Any suggestions for great workouts for the core and upper body? Are you ever stubborn when training?
Looks like two good weeks of training to me, except for the injury of course. Sometimes it can be so hard to squeeze in a run when you have so many other errands to run, but you did good! It’s amazing how fast you lose strength when you don’t maintain your training routine. I have been neglecting my strength training as well over the Summer. I have to get back on it, too.
Were you running in humid conditions in Kansas? Maybe that’s why your runs felt so hard. I’m anxious to hear about the Tough Mudder–I have to admit that is something I won’t do because I’m afraid of injury!
Honestly, I think it was the back to back running, the hills, and the gravel. Humidity actually wasn’t a problem, much better weather than I had in Philly! But yes, maybe a Spartan or Warrior Dash is a little less frightening than the TM – but I know you’d crush it because you’re so strong!
A Parkour gym sounds awesome!! Though I’m sorry it may have caused an injury! Is this your first Tough Mudder?
Yep, this is my first Tough Mudder and I have NO idea what I’m doing! I just don’t want to kill myself before I even get to the event!
You’ll be great! If you can run a 5K and have some upper body strength, you’ll rock it!
Upper body is what I so desperately need! LOL
Wow that is a lot of training. Way to go. I am working on strength too. Running is great but I think we tend to forget about the rest of our body. Glad you had a good trip
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Thanks Heather! Yes, it’s so easy to neglect your body when you focus too much on running!
Great job with the running, you’re rocking i! I think something as simple as bodyweight work for upper body moves can be really effective and easy to fit in no matter where you are! Pushups are definitely a fav or mine 🙂
Annmarie, my pushups are pathetic now! I definitely need to start working those every day!
I’ve never tried Parkour sounds so cool! You so got this
Thanks! 🙂
That Parkour gym sounds really cool. Not so cool is the calf pain. Hope the Jedi mind tricks channel healing energy to whatever’s wrong!
Thankfully my calf is feeling fine now!
Don’t be so hard on yourself! I think you did a great job training while on vacation.
Thanks Jen, I do appreciate that!
I used to be VERY stubborn with training, and I now have an injury I’ve been dealing with for over two years now to show for it haha. I’ve learned from my mistakes…for the most part 😉
WIth regards to upper body and core activities, I saw some push-ups mentioned above and I’d have to agree. Push-ups going into a side plank are also fantastic and are kind of like a double whammy. Work to keep your core engaged while you do EVERYTHING and you will continue to strengthen it without doing any direct core work!
Thanks, Ariana! Sorry you’re still dealing with an old injury. Push ups to a side plank would challenge the heck out of me…I’m getting excited to work harder on my core strength! 🙂
I am SOOOO excited to hear how the Tough Mudder goes for you. I’d like to do a race like that, but I am hopelessly klutzy…so there’s a very good chance I’d get injured. Upper body strength…do you do planks? There are so many variations on planks, it’s hard to get bored with them. And push-ups…even doing them on your knees is better than not at all, and you can go a lot deeper (closer to the floor) so you work the muscles differently than dong them on your toes (if you want some variety).
Thanks for the tips! I should increase my pushups so doing them on my knees would be so much easier! And yes, I do need to do more planks…I used to be pretty good and now I’m so wobbly!