Good morning! I’m heading home for Thanksgiving this afternoon and I’m PUMPED. Two of my classes got canceled yesterday and one got canceled today, so I think even my professors are ready for break! I’m excited to get to spend time with my family and do some holiday baking.
Sometimes, people I know who see me out running ask me how far I run every day and I never know exactly what to say since it depends so much on the day. I started tracking my mileage in a little notebook after a running injury a couple years ago so I could keep better tabs on it. I decided to share last week’s runs with you, too, in case you’re curious!
Mon: 5 mi easy @ 8:26 pace
Tues: 7 mi @ 7:56 pace with Riley and Kristen
Wed: 7 mi @ 7:42 pace with Riley and Savannah
Thurs: Rest day
Fri: 3 mi easy, no idea of the pace since I didn’t wear my running watch
Sat: 8 mi (6.2 mi @ 6:57 pace for 10k + 1.8 miles from my warm-up and cool-down with Kim)
Sun: 5 mi easy @ 8:39 pace
Total: 35 miles for the week
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This week, I started a new goal because I’ve had the hardest time recently motivating myself to strength train. I like to run, stretch, and then move on with my day. I know it’s really important to strength train as a runner, it’ll help me not get injured, it doesn’t take that long, blah blah blah, but getting myself to do it consistently has been tough.
So, my new goal is: to do more squats, lunges, and push-ups than miles.
That means that on a day where I do 8 miles, I’ll try to do at least 9 squats, lunges, and push-ups. Obviously 9 is a tiny number of reps, but this has been working really well for me mentally so far. My struggle has always been to just start doing it, and once I start, I’ll keep going and maybe even add some core work in, too. Some days, I really will just do the minimum number of reps, but having the plan to do it every day has made it become more a part of my routine. (And of course, if I do some other kind of weight workout, that’d count instead.)
Questions:
Do you struggle with being motivated to do strength training and core work?
Do you lift weights at the gym?
I have in the past when I went to the gym more, but now all of my workouts are running outside, hence the lack of motivation to strength train…
Are you doing any cooking or baking for Thanksgiving?! Yes! I’m making homemade mac n cheese and a hummingbird cake <3
Confession: I HATE strength training. But you are so right…it’s really important for us as runners. It even helps you get faster š When I ran in college, I got a massive flexor injury because I half heartedly did strength training and then couldn’t compete. Since then I try to attend 2 classes per week (BodyPump or Boot Camp). I didn’t run as much on those days…but saw a big improvement in my recurring injuries. If UNC is anything like FSU or USC, they may have classes for free.
2 days per week sounds like a good plan! UNC does have several free classes every day but I’ve never gone to one because I love the flexibility of being able to just squeeze a run in when I have a free hour instead of having to plan to go to a class…but that may just be my cop-out š I’ve heard great things about BodyPump and I would love to be stronger. I just need to put the time in!
After reading your blog I really want to find some running buddies. With only two weeks of the school year left it might have to wait until next year.
YES! I hope you can find some great running buddies next year š They make it so much easier to roll out of bed on those early/rainy/cold mornings. They also make the time fly by!
I found my running buddies through mutual friends and some are girls that I just happened to meet in classes/other places. I’ve seriously started conversations with people when they look like runners and had them turn into good friends!