Well, I ran ARMY on Sunday and while I did not PR even close, I did something I haven't done all year in a race. I felt good. While I am back on my toes, I'm dealing with a little shinsplint issue, but I feel good. Now, it's going to be about losing a few pounds (I've gained 5 pounds since my last marathon and a total of 10 pounds over the last 5 years! Yikes) and getting faster.
Saturday evening, before the race, my step-daughter found my wheel in the basement. You know the old stomach wheel that you use to do ab work. Well, she asked what it was and I realized I had stopped doing that workout when I got married, as my husband hates clutter and doesn't want it out and I like (no, love) to leave everything out where I can see it so I remember to use it.
Anyway, I tell her, lets bring it up to the family room, because maybe I can add that back into my ab routine. So, I show her how to use it and Tim laughs because I start from my knees and he said I needed to have my knees off the ground. I never was able to accomplish that when I used it daily, so I was flat on my face first try.
So, Tim got up to show me and he was flat on his face. He then did 3 from his knees. He gave it back to me, I did 10 reps and it felt hard. Katelan could only go 1/2 way down, but kept doing it. Tim and I told her, "Whoa, little girl, now, we're ATHLETES, you need to be careful that you don't overdo it and wind up sore the next day".
I went on to say how I do different combinations totaling 1000 reps of sit up/ab work 4 X a week, so my stomach can handle it. (Yes, I had the nerve to brag, but in my defense, that was prior to seeing the light that the assholes at ASIorders shone on me)
Now mind you, I did 10 reps. The next morning for ARMY my lower stomach was, SORE. That night, OMG, it was VERY sore! Monday morning, even more so. So, yes, you guessed it, I have added the wheel back to my routine. The lower stomach is something that I have really noticed a decline in over the years, so maybe with the addition wheel, I can get that thing in shape again.
Another thing I've decided to change is weight lifting. I was a huge weight lifter prior to getting with Coach George and kept it up for about the first year with him. When training for Disney, I just ran out of time/energy and started doing these little weights at home and off the machines. I ran the 5kP R of my life during that time, and gave the credit to backing off the gym, but maybe it was more the abundance of training than it was dialing down the weights, that led to my success.
Last year, I started lifting for two weeks, when the pinched nerve in my neck came back. So, I backed off the gym again. Well, I'm back and I'm back to doing the same old routine, but I've cut the weights down about 20 pounds. Which is okay, because I used to be crazy. So, I started lifting again two weeks ago, but instead of 3 times a week, it will probably only be 2X, we'll see how this works out.
The other thing that has changed is protein, I used to keep a food diary and write down all my protein, making sure I got 80-100 grams of protein a day. I was lean... In training for Disney, that went down to prob 50-60 grams, but again, I was running well so I didn't mind. Then this spring, it happened. Costco stopped selling my beloved balance bars. That was 30 grams of protein out of my diet a day. It's also 400 calories, so you would think I'd be dropping weight. No such luck. So, I am now having a muscle milk shake once a day to get the protein back.
I feel better already, I need to feel strong when I run, and lifting and protein help with that!
Anyway, I tell her, lets bring it up to the family room, because maybe I can add that back into my ab routine. So, I show her how to use it and Tim laughs because I start from my knees and he said I needed to have my knees off the ground. I never was able to accomplish that when I used it daily, so I was flat on my face first try.
So, Tim got up to show me and he was flat on his face. He then did 3 from his knees. He gave it back to me, I did 10 reps and it felt hard. Katelan could only go 1/2 way down, but kept doing it. Tim and I told her, "Whoa, little girl, now, we're ATHLETES, you need to be careful that you don't overdo it and wind up sore the next day".
I went on to say how I do different combinations totaling 1000 reps of sit up/ab work 4 X a week, so my stomach can handle it. (Yes, I had the nerve to brag, but in my defense, that was prior to seeing the light that the assholes at ASIorders shone on me)
Now mind you, I did 10 reps. The next morning for ARMY my lower stomach was, SORE. That night, OMG, it was VERY sore! Monday morning, even more so. So, yes, you guessed it, I have added the wheel back to my routine. The lower stomach is something that I have really noticed a decline in over the years, so maybe with the addition wheel, I can get that thing in shape again.
Last year, I started lifting for two weeks, when the pinched nerve in my neck came back. So, I backed off the gym again. Well, I'm back and I'm back to doing the same old routine, but I've cut the weights down about 20 pounds. Which is okay, because I used to be crazy. So, I started lifting again two weeks ago, but instead of 3 times a week, it will probably only be 2X, we'll see how this works out.