Thursday, February 23, 2012

Three Things Thursday: Speed, Planks, Push Ups

#1 Speed Work: I dabbled in a bit of speed this week. I ran 3 miles at half marathon race pace on Tuesday with an average pace of 10:20. It had been a while since I've averaged below an 11-min/mi pace, so it was a little tough but totally doable. I was sure to stretch well after. I felt fine this morning, so I tried 400s at the track. Since it's been a while and I just ran a marathon less than 2 weeks ago, I kept the goal a bit conservative but nailed it. I again stretched well and my legs feel really good. I'm going to take it a little easier next week as I taper for the half marathon next Sunday. If the weather cooperates, I'm going to attempt an aggressive goal. If not, I have another the following week :)

#2 Planks: On Monady, I tried this plank workout (or rather fitness test) that Steve in a Speedo posted where you alternate between standard and side planks every 3 breaths for as long as you can. If you can last 9-10 minutes, your core is strong. I gave up after 5 minutes. I probably could have pushed myself to do the whole 10 minutes, but it had been weeks since I did any core work and I didn't want to press my luck, plus I was getting bored and had to get ready for work. It was a great workout for sure. My abs were sore for days and are finally back to normal today. I'm going to give it another try soon, but probably after my next 2 races. I sure don't want to race with sore abs. I also found this other combo plank workout recently that I may try too.

#3 Push Ups: Now that marathon training is over, and my wrist pain went away, I want to start a strength routine that's more than just yoga. So yesterday after yoga I did a bunch of push ups of different types (standard, wide, narrow, spades, negatives, staggered) and a few planks. After adding up the fit deck cards from the various push ups I did, I saw that I did a total of 40 push ups (all on my knees to not put undue stress on my wrist). I struggled a little during, but was able to finish them. I'm certainly paying for it today. My arms and shoulders are really sore. I'm going to start the 100 push up challenge again soon, but on my knees because I don't want to aggregate my wrist for fear of not being able to do downward dog during my yoga routines :)

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