WEIGHING IN on the WEIGHT ROOM and other topics...

I left the weight room a few hours ago and can't help but feel:

• on a RUSH to be back at it consistently
• satisfied to have put up some heavier loads than last session (still not squatting my body weight, but doing high rep)
• amazed (still) at Abby's video of herself doing 9 (yes 9!) consecutive pull-ups
• and also curious...to see if I'll be able to hit my easy pace time zone tomorrow...or if I'll be too sore with DOMS.  Here is an interesting link to an article on DOMS that I read recently.

I believe that to reach my full potential, I need to be using the weight room or doing some other type of forms/plyometrics similar in design.

I may have mentioned this before on here, but I was very fortunate to go to a larger high school that had a no-nonsense weight lifting class offered for PE. This is a skill I enjoy and hope to keep using well into my white-hair years-- to keep from being the hunch-back of Small Town. For now, I hope it gives me the power I need to build more speed.

How much can it help? I am not really sure what the answer to that question is.

If I were a man, I am not sure I would be in the weight room at all. I might do as Pfitz suggests, and just offer my legs up to hill work. (Don't worry- I still do plenty of those- just not as repeats for strength training.) After all, men have to worry about such things as testosterone and I am pretty sure I don't have much of that!  (Last I checked anyway).

So, since building massive amounts of muscle is out of the picture, I am free to use the barbells and dumbbells and other machines to develop balanced muscles in both legs, hips, abdomen, arms, etc...
I must confess this is of concern to me, since I tore a hip running hills in late '09 4 months after Levi was born. Part of me thinks that my body might have been (and could still be) off-balance from carrying a baby on one hip (my left) most of the day.

Will I be able to hit those paces tomorrow? Maybe. . .. For the first few weeks I was back at the weights, I cannot tell you how fatigued I felt during running- even on my easy days. It wasn't until after the next couple of runs got fresh blood through my legs, (and all those upper-body muscles I forgot I had) that I felt relieved. Just in time to do the next weight workout.

I may be a little sore at first tomorrow- or more likely on Saturday for my (short) long run.  Regardless, I have been in it now for 4 weeks and I will stick with it until my taper. (Then I am not really sure what to do! I am guessing to ease up) The fatigue seems to be going away in the upper-body, and the legs feel like what (I imagine) normal marathon training stress should feel like. This gives me hope for a big dividend in store!

For my running readers: How do you like the weight room?  How do you work strength training into your running schedule?

My pattern is to lift after a hard work out, like a tempo or intervals and/or when I know that I don't have that type of run the following day.
I do a variety including lunges, squats, calf raisers, bench press, lat pulls, bent row, upright row, arm curls, cleans, shoulder press. The other days I try to do some basic stuff, like ab work, push-ups, chair dips, no-weight squats & lunges.

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I didn't mean to make this entire post about the weight room. Oops! Blah!! Hope I didn't lose you!!

In other news, my husband has recently declared he will be doing a 5k "soon" and is running on the TM downstairs!!

This is very exciting, as he used to run a pretty decent mile, but at present weighs 210 and would like to drop about 10 pounds. He doesn't think he can get much below that number "without feeling the effects of starvation" as he put it.  Haha.

So the training is on! His and her schedules: me in the morning, he after the kids go to bed.

I must also mention that he thinks the TM must have some sort of "break-away" feature on it to keep a 215 lb guy from running fast. Well...I should say he can run fast, but the belt slips.  It has never given me any problems, ??? though the screen is a bit tough to read. Maybe I need to go test it out to make sure he didn't break it =D.

This gets me to thinking about the Biggest Loser show. (And here is where you find out how sheltered a life I live- I saw my first full episode (ever) of BL online this week.) I am now caught up and will watch the whole season. You just can't help but root for each and every one of those people to succeed!

99 days to Boston and First 2 weeks recap

Thanks to Dawn, I am now counting down the days to Boston! It's one thing to say there are 14 weeks left, another to look at the diminishing number of days. Eek!

Picture Nathan drew of me outrunning a race car :) .
( If you are wondering..I asked him what that is he drew between my legs and he says it was just a mistake. Whew!)

I purchased my airfare for the trip shortly before Christmas, and will fly into a nearby out-of-state airport at the request of my hostess, Amy. Amy is a friend of mine (via my sister) from my "Portland days" (i.e. a year at Concordia University post-grad for teacher training) who has an adorable little boy and just happens to (conveniently) live in Massachusetts in the Boston area. :)

A little comparison (I can't help it) based on limited experience:
The last two weeks of training have called for some major adjustments in my body. I have to back up to explain a bit..
   A year ago, when training for my first marathon- Eugene- I chose a 4 day training plan. This was deliberate, as I had a 6 month old when I began training for that race and knew it might mean plenty of missed sleep with baby craziness. I weaned him while training and he started teething (night time fussiness)- I was glad to have three days a week where I could sleep until the kids got up.

Getting more sleep vs. getting more milesSince Eugene (May, 2010) I have worked up to running 6 days a week. I do NOT feel fully adjusted to that yet- and might prefer to do a double once a week and run the same mileage in 5 days- but will see how things go. Tiredness /sleep remains my main obstacle to training. I am entirely at fault here and am sure getting to bed earlier would help!

Running "easy" on long runs
Another factor in running 6 days a week is that I am running the day before my long run and my legs are feeling the fatigue from it. When training for Eugene, I had a rest day both before and after my long run, which made me really look forward to those long sessions! And then I could recover from them too...I think I missed that today.

My legs felt tired almost from the get-go. But my pace surprised me. Somehow I ran the 18 miles in 8:06 pace - above my current easy target pace. Usually I am a slow "easy run" runner (compared to my race times)- so maybe that's a good sign. :) Or, maybe I am too concerned about making my projected easy paces. I am not watching my watch much, though- 2 or 3 times in 2+ hours. I am just trying to go by "feel".

Getting stronger:
Yet another adjustment for me right now is the RETURN TO THE WEIGHT ROOM. Ugh! Here, I will not try to impress you with the numbers from the weight room. They are way lower than high school or college...but high rep. (Go to Abby's blog if you would like to see some impressive strength training! :) ) JGF can also testify to the mystery of the weight room - and I think she sympathizes with me right now.
I LOVE weights and what they do for me, but I had not anticipated how drained it would make me feel ...tired legs, tired upper body, DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) that hits about 36-48 hours later and lasts going into my next hard workout.

Please!!! Can I get a massage?! I've been trying to hit it three times a week, but may have to either scale back to two, or just go (even) lighter than I have been. ***This will probably become another post soon***

Distance graph bars go up in two mile increments. I have NO idea how to get the numbers to show up without changing my background. Haha!... Oh well.

After the past two weeks, I am ready for a REST DAY!!!!

Have a great Sunday, all!

Strength Training-- P.O.W. Style!

P.O.W. stands for "Pushed Out of the Weight room" in this case. Up until about a month ago, I was able to use the local high school's (very small) weight room. And trust me, I was glad to have those free weights (and whatever machines worked) available. When I say small, that doesn't completely describe it. It has a 7' ceiling and no windows. 

The 8-man football team gave it most of its use in the last decade. I was driving, running or riding my bike there at least twice a week over the 20 weeks before Eugene. After the marathon, I eased back into it. But on the third visit, I was met with a lock that wouldn't turn. The school had re-keyed the weight room. groan (Yes. I had my own key.)...[That's a lot of emoticons for one paragraph]

What had been a community weight room was now closed and the secretary courteously informed me that the school could no longer keep the doors open to everyone 21 and over (insurance problems). What was I to do? (I live 30 miles from a real gym) I did the only thing I knew I could do. I decided to work out at home.

My hope is really to get a weight set at home (and a treadmill), but for now I will stick to the POW style workout system to try to stay in the best shape I can under the circumstances.

The POW system breaks down to some basic exercises that hit all major muscle groups. You can do them with or without added weight or resistance. I usually do them right after running and stretching so I don't get busy and forget to later.

Push-ups. I had been doing girl-style push-ups, but just recently switched to regular and try to crank out 20 in a row. These work out pectorals, lats, triceps and shoulders.

Lunges. I do these walking. I always feel it afterwards, more so if I put one of my kids on my shoulders. I do 20; if I put a kid on my shoulders I only do one set. If I do it with no weight, I do 2 sets. Guaranteed to create buns/hips of steel. Works glutes, quads

Squats. Same as lunges, except not walking.

Calf raisers. standing on a step with your heels off the edge, (or even on the floor), lift and lower your whole body up and down staying on your toes. Hold weight or put a kid on your shoulders for more weight. (notice a kid theme yet?)

Ab work. Sometimes I just do crunches/cross crunches lying on the floor. Sometimes I lay on the coffee table (use a towel under your back/buns) and hang my legs off the table. Then I hold the sides of the table (above my head) and lift my legs up and down slowly. Or I may twist while doing this and bend my knees to my chest.

Chair dips. Putting my hands on the seat of a chair to my sides, while sitting, 1 I lift myself off the chair and to the front. 2 I then lift below the chair and up again to seat level (repeat step 2 several times). I usually put my feet on another chair across from me while doing this, and keep my legs straight. Good for triceps, lats

Arm curls. For these, I use elastic bands made of surgical tubing. You can buy a cheap set at any fitness store, though. I much prefer free weights for these, but the tubing works pretty well. I fasten it to a heavy chair, hold on with each hand and curl my arms up. I do a few sets of 15-20. This is pretty much just for biceps, a little shoulder.

Shoulder/military press. Similar to arm curls, except that I hold the tubing in each hand and push up, over my head.  This works the shoulders, as the name implies.

This all takes about 10-15 minutes total, and (not including the abs and push ups) I do them after my more strenuous run days so I have time to recover for the next hard run.