I am not feeling funny today at all. Or creative. I sucked all my funny juice out and I need to refuel I think. See none of what I’m saying is amusing. I’ll stop now. Or not. It’s my blog and I’ll make it suck if I want to. Please don’t stop reading. I’m about to tell you all about how much fun I’m having running through pure hot liquid air (?) every morning. It’s great. I feel like superman. Like post kryptonite superman.
Anyway, I am kind of going with the lack of air and just breathing what’s around, the best of what’s around (reference?) and then coming home happy that it’s done for the day. I’m sticking to the pre-marathon plan I wrote about here and it’s going well and I’m actually feeling well, much better than I was 3 weeks ago. Here’s what my days have looked like:
Mon 7/7: 5 miles 9:15 avg pace
Tues 7/8: 5 miles total, 4 at 7:45 pace (goal MP)
Wed 7/9: 6 miles 8:54 avg pace
Th 7/10: 4.2 miles with husband 9:30 avg pace (his pace!) Here I got to “coach” him which was fun
Fr 7/11: Rest
Sat 7/12: 9 miles 8:45 avg pace
Sun 7/13: 4.4 miles, first half uphill second downhill 9:12 avg pace
Mon 7/14: 5.6 miles 8:56 avg pace
Tu 7/15: 5.2 miles total, 4 at 7:50 pace. Supposed to be more like 7:45 for MP but weather made that too much.
My plan is to do basically the same thing for the next week and a half or so before transitioning into a marathon training plan for Philly that is still yet TBD! I will be working on a general plan for myself over the next week that will be based off of both my own experiences with what works for me as well as the RRCA course I completed in June.
In addition to the running I listed above I have also been really consistent with 60-80 pushups a day and a plank of 2 minutes or longer. My almost-7-year-old daughter has forced me out of my comfort zone with planking lately since she is now up to 4 minutes! I don’t get it. I mean she is really thin so maybe it’s that she doesn’t have to hold much weight up. She keeps setting a new goal for herself and then crushes it. If she winds up doing 5 minutes I’ll have to just let her win. Update A few hours after I wrote this she did 6:30. Insane. No way I’m beating her now!
So much of planking seems to be mental! The other day when we were both at 3 minutes she said “I’m not going to die, it’s just exercise” and that might just have to be my new inspirational motto when it comes to strength because I can really be a baby about it. Believe me she did not hear that from me, my son was obsessed with Jillian Michaels (long story) for over a year and I’m guessing her go-to line was taken from Ms. Jillian. Whatever works I guess!
So I’m really not lying about being a baby when it comes to strength training. I’m seeing results from doing pushups and that is motivating but every single day I try to talk myself out of doing them. I make excuses like “My muscles need rest to get stronger” except that really doesn’t apply to me because I’m barely doing anything to begin with! The other day on my run I was thinking to myself “do runners really need to do pushups?” and so I decided to google that when I got home. I have what I call “googlescapades” on a daily basis, and this was the topic of the day. So what I found was even more interesting than what I was looking for. I found an article talking about how your pushup form can tell you a lot about your running. Cool, right? Here’s the article and a quick excerpt:
“You’re probably wondering, “But how can good pressing mechanics improve my running?”
Pushups tell us a lot about how we run. It’s important to have good posture when performing the pushup in order for the shoulders to be strong and stable. A “soft” butt and belly destabilizes the pelvis, the low back arches, and our shoulders become unstable. Remember, you play how you practice. Runners who perform “soft” pushups with overextended posture also tend to run soft and overextended. This disconnection contributes to a whole host of problems, including low back pain, IT band pain, collapsed arches and a clipped running stride. Performing a better pushup addresses these issues.”
If you are a runner who does pushups, or really just any runner, I highly recommend checking out the article. I am going to apply the priciples to my pushup form since form is really, really important with strength exercises. Some food for thought because no doubt I can see a lot of what I read applies to me.
How is your summer running going? What kinds of exercise/running related stuff do you google?
“Running through pure hot liquid air” sounds about right! But at least you are seeing improvements…which means you are adjusting to the weather!
I need to start doing pushups again. Last summer I did 50 every day for a month, so I want to get back to that. Thanks for sharing that info!
Very slowly adjusting, and I don’t like it one bit 🙂 I much prefer adjusting to cold!
haha – you managed to be funny, but I could ‘read’ that you weren’t pleased about any of it 🙂
This week has been interesting – the temperature has dropped from humid and mid-70s on Monday to 48 and low-humidity today. I am happy to be back to running after vacation.
And I know you are competitive, but seriously – with your daughter?!? haha I wonder what the weight density between you and her looks like? 😉
It is kind of a mystery why she can plank so long, we are not sure but physics much be playing into it! Honestly I just do them with her so I have motivation to pass 2 minutes! Like I said, I’m a baby with strength! I am looking forward to a little dip in temp for a couple of runs!
Wow! A 6:30 plank. That’s impressive. My sisters and I used to have pushup contests that became pretty intense. It still occasionally happens during family get togethers, but I don’t usually win. Both of my sisters (even my twin) were blessed with a lot more upper body strength than me. I’ve been forcing myself to do pushups on a regular basis and I’ve seen great results. I’m a lot stronger than I used to be…but I still hate doing them!
I hate them too nice to hear I’m not alone! Pushups work really well only if you DO them of course, and do them right. But at least it’s something that I don’t need a gym for that is really effective!
Girl, I am not enjoying the heat at ALL this summer. It is making me run so slow and it’s making me NOT want to do long runs. I did 11 yesterday and it sucked the whole time. I mean, even the first mile sucked!
Yeah not my bag either that’s for sure. I just don’t love it like I do in cool and even cold weather. But somehow I think I SHOULD since it’s summer and more people are outside!
So true about it being mental.
Here’s my favorite quote from once of my past cycling instructors:
“You’re mind gives up before your body does!”
Guuu.
That made the work out even worse because of course we pushed ourselves harder.
You’re an animal Michele! Keep pushing it!
Yup totally. Getting through summer runs feels harder even on the easy days. And right now even though I’m not pushing it too much I know soon enough I’ll be back in training mode and I’ll need to be psyched up for that!
I hear you on the weather! I’ve only been able to run once or twice outside a week so don’t think bad thoughts about me=) It’s because of my hubby’s training schedule and my sons baseball practices at night. Anyway, it’s miserable. I’m a winter runner for sure. I may do a full in Dec which means I’ll have to start training before it really cools off here ha!
If I didn’t hate treadmills so much I would do that more! But at least at my gym it’s not even air conditioned well enough to make a difference. You have a lot to work around and you are making workouts happen anyway which is a great thing 🙂
This ended up being funnier than you thought it would! Wow a 6:30 plank?!? That’s incredible! I can do 2 minutes tops. I’m a huge advocate of strength training. I do it 2-3 times a week & do a lighter cardio workout after like elliptical or swimming. I can tell a difference in my running when I do not do it.
You are good about strength! I will get there, reading about peoples workouts is inspiring me to do more. The 6:30 was insane. My husband wanted to make her stop thinking she would get hurt! It’s forced me to get my daily 2 minutes up to at least 3 though!
1. Your daughter is a boss and I’m adopting her exercise motto
2. You’ve convinced me to start doing push-ups after every run.
She surprised all of us with her unusual talent! I usually do my pushups in the evening when my son plays in the bath – I tried doing them after runs but was lazy about it. Once I got consistent they were easier to tackle both mentally and physically 🙂