Excellent Workouts this Week!

The week before last I had a bad week and wasn't recovering from my runs well, so I upped the amount of protein in my diet and am recovering really well now. Feeling great!

Sunday had a 10 mile run that didn't go so well, but I pushed through. My legs were really tight (especially my hamstrings) and it was pretty cold along Lake Michigan (I was in Chicago), but I pushed through. To break it up a little and loosen up my legs I did high knees, butt flicks and some grapevines and strides. That definitely helped! And my Luna Gels gave me a second wind at mile 5, but my muscles still were tight! I managed to average a 9 minute pace still though, which is great! Ended up taking Sunday & Monday off to recuperate and stretch.

Yesterday had a great cross training day too! My swimming is getting faster due to all of this training, which is great! Legs felt a bit tired so I skipped spin to rest them up for my speed workout.

Which brings me to today. My workout was 4x1600 at 7:28 pace, with 800 recovery between each mile. I did all 4 with ease. The last one I was getting bored of being on the treadmill, but other than that, I wasn't physically tired. After that I lifted weights for an hour, and managed to do 45 pushups (none of those girlie knee ones either - real ones on my feet! Yeah!). All around, a great workout. I'm excited to do the Frosty 5k this Saturday. My goal is to finish in under 22 minutes.

Jaime

Great Speed Workout!

I have been a little lax in my blogging lately, so thought I better get back on it! I haven't been as lax in my training, so don't worry! I have taken a few extra days here and there off when I haven't felt 100%, but I have not missed a single long run, so I'm feeling good about that.

Today's workout was 6x800 at a 7:00 pace. I did all 6, but dropped it down to a 7:30 pace because I wanted to make sure I finished them all. I did! I am very proud of myself, since that's the first time so far in my training I've completed an entire speed workout without feeling like crap. The last one was hard, but I finished! I think next time I might be able to go a 7:15 pace, but not quite at 7:00. I feel good about the workout though, which is important. After the run I lifted weights for about a half hour, focusing on some leg presses, Bulgarian squats, pushups and pullups. Get in, get out. I'll probably be a little sore tomorrow!

Also, I've been noticing after runs that my back and hamstrings are super tight. I talked to my former trainer at the gym, and he diagnosed it as my hip flexers being too tight. I didn't think he was right, but then he had me do a stretch and man, I could barely even do it they were so tight! So, a new addition to my workouts is to do a few exercises to stretch and strengthen the hip flexers!

Tomorrow is 6 miles. Hopefully it's decent enough out for me to go outdoors because I've been on the treadmill the last few days after we got about 7 inches of snow. I'm ready for spring. 2 weeks and I'll be in Puerto Rico!!!!!

RES (Run, Eat, Stretch) (it's the equivalent of Jersey Shore's GTL - Gym, Tan, Laundry)

Jaime