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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!
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).
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.
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?
