It seems that training has breezed by lately! I am in week 10 of 12 of half marathon training and in week 5 of 6 of the #returntoolympia bodybuilding.com challenge. I am also in physical therapy to treat my rotator cuff, but turns out both shoulders are unstable.
HOW DO I BALANCE HALF MARATHON TRAINING WITH A FITNESS CHALLENGE?
- Schedule all runs and workouts a week (or more in advance). I combed through several half marathon programs and settled on one I randomly found because there were four scheduled runs per week and I liked that the creator factored in some lifting. Other programs didn’t account or recommend much cross training and either had 3 days of running or 6!
- Be flexible with training. There are days when I felt like I JUST CAN’T! So I either made it a rest day, made the run a recovery run, or just lifted and figured out the rest of the week as needed. Speaking of flexibility…DO YOGA.
- YOGA! I do some form of yoga almost daily on my own but I go to a studio once a week. I plan to go more after the half marathon is complete. I really miss practicing with a group and being guided by a teacher. I also miss teaching yoga. I believe yoga has prevented injury during this tough training period.
- Cherish the rest day. Lifting 4 days a week plus 4 days of running is no joke but it worked for me and I don’t feel overtrained. Sure, I had days I felt fatigued but luckily those days fell on my rest days or I made it a rest day. Missing a run or lifting session won’t throw anything off but injury due to lack of rest or fatigue will set you back! REST!
- Eat healthy and often. My goals isn’t to lose weight. I wanted to see what would happen with my physique without dieting. I don’t want to lose any muscle from running so I made sure I ate enough!
- Have fun.
RUNNING RACES: As of now, I have completed 4 races and have one per month up until Thanksgiving. I am deciding if I want to participate in the Double G challenge in December or a 10 mile race. I love running in the cold! I can’t wait for fall/winter…boy, do I miss CT weather.
FITNESS/YOGA/DANCE/ETC: I’ve earned the AFAA Group Fitness certification in May (I took the exam a couple of weeks before we moved) but now that we’ve settled in and unpacked, I am going to start searching.
I plan to attend some workshops regarding dance, yoga, barre, and pilates. I also really miss dancing and performing and will actually perform in October! Once this half marathon passes, I plan to implement a lot of different cross training.
That’s my update but the fitness challenge ends after this week and the half marathon is less than a couple of weeks away.
Are you training for anything specific?
