February Check In
Today I am linking up with A Change of Pace and alyssagoesbang to check in on the monthly goals I set for February: strength train every day and only take the stairs.I will be the first person to admit that strength training really is not my thing. Running 5-6 days per week? No problem, I'll get it done. Adding in even one measly day of strength training each week? You can expect that to last 2-3 weeks tops. I know that strength training is important for preventing injury and reaching my full potential, but I can never make it a habit. Even with the added motivation of StrongBody Streak, after two weeks my dedication to this goal began to fade.
On the plus side even with my multitude of missed days, I have noticed some measurable results! At the beginning of the month I could not do any pushups (other than modified knee pushups), now I am able to do 5 full pushups (no modifications!). I have also increased my plank time from :30 at the beginning of January to 1:15.
I was much more successful in taking the stairs every day. So far I have had only one day when I used the elevator instead of the stairs. It was the day after a hard speed workout and climbing stairs was so exhausting that I had to admit defeat and just take the elevator. It was clear that my legs needed a complete rest day.
March Goals
In many ways March can be seen as a continuation of February. I'd like to continue taking the stairs, because why on earth would I go back to being lazy?! I don't feel like this has fully transitioned to being a habit, but hopefully another month will do the trick.Instead of a daily strength training goal, I am altering my goal to be 15 minutes of injury prevention work every day. This will definitely still include strength training, but on days when I need to focus on recovering from a hard run it might be focused on foam rolling and stretching or yoga. Variety is the spice of life, right? This also ties in nicely to my goal for the year: do the work.
"Train hard, but smart. Rest when needed. Eat healthy, drink more water,
get plenty of sleep.
Put in the miles. Put in the cross training. Get to
the starting line healthy and prepared.
Hopefully run some PRs, but if
not evaluate what went wrong and learn from it."
wow, congrats on your progress! push ups are no joke, i really need to get back into doing them. i used to be able to do them, but now i can barely do the knee ones. i like to do a body pump class for my strength training, but it's so fast paced that i don't really get the chance to focus on the push ups. good luck with continuing in march!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kristen!
DeleteI have been rethinking my strength training lately. Seems like it is leaving me too sore with not enough recovery time. Or I'm just getting old. Hard to tell! haha Good job and running all those miles in your training week!
ReplyDeleteYep it sounds like it might be time to restructure your strength training. I feel like it can be hard to walk the line between "I'm doing enough strength training to get results" and "Too much! Too sore to run." Good luck finding that balance.
DeleteGreat job on the plank and pushup improvements! So awesome!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kristina! I'm excited to start working toward that 2:00 plank.
DeleteI'm with you on hating strength training. I tried for a bit but I found that the best way for me to get any strength in at all is to do it with my yoga practice using my body weight. I'm definitely seeing a massive difference in core and upper body strength. If traditional strength workouts isn't for you, maybe look into an alternative method like yoga or kickboxing or something you enjoy more! But this month, way to make the effort and accomplish your other goal too! Good look carrying your momentum through the next month. Thanks for linking up!
ReplyDeleteSince I started going to physical therapy I restructured how I view strength training too, and I now view it as more of "injury prevention work" like you said. I used to be really good about hitting the weights at the gym or at home a couple times a week, but I really let it fall to the wayside when I was half Ironman training last year. I haven't been able to get into a good rhythm with it since then, and when I got injured and started PT I really wanted to focus on doing exercises that I knew I needed to do as opposed to some generic strength training plan.
ReplyDeleteI started going to a boxing gym about a month ago and working with a personal trainer, so half of the session is strength training and the other half is boxing. I just realized when I was there the other day that that seems to be the key to me actually doing all the exercises I hate but know are so crucial! I just can't motivate myself to strength train on my own (and I used to be able to! I don't know what happened) so for now I'm really enjoying having someone push me to do it a couple times a week. Same thing with PT, I used to feel ridiculous spending that money on things I totally could have done at home...except I wouldn't do them at home for whatever reason. Now that I've "graduated" I'm worried I'm going to fall off the wagon!