Weekly Sweats: Iron Edition

In this week's fitness news, I ran 20 miles and got in 3 weight workouts.  But there's so much more to say than that.


I'm linking up with the Weekly Run Down, please head over to Kim and Deborah to check it out.
 
Now I'm fully recovered from half marathons and colds, I've decided to take a break from distance and focus on speed from until mid Jan/early Feb when I start training for my next half.  As much as I love distance running, there's something really freeing about "just" running 3-4 miles that I'm really digging right now.  And I'm also channeling some of the extra energy into weight lifting, and that's a nice change up as well.

Monday: no running, I needed the break since I ran on Sunday.  Weights at lunch.

Tuesday: 4 treadmill miles: 1 mile warm up, 4 x 0.5 miles fast/0.25 miles recover.

Wednesday: 3 treadmill miles easy, weights at lunch.

Thursday: 4 treadmill miles: 1 mile warm up, 6 x .25 miles fast/0.25 miles recover.  The funny story here is that when I first woke up I thought it was Friday and was dreading the hill workout that I had planned for that day.  What a relief when my head cleared and I realized it was "only" Thursday and "just" another speed workout day.

Friday: 3 treadmill hill miles, weights at lunch.  I hadn't done a tready hill run since before the half but my body snapped back to it fairly easily.

Saturday: 6 miles outside in crazy sunshine.  One thing that I love about winter running is that there's no time pressure to get out the door early.  It was high 20's when I woke up and I lazed around until later in the morning when the temps got into the high 30s.  And oh yes since I'm just running 6 instead of 10 that makes it easier to go later as well.

Sunday: off.  Yes it would be nice to get outside for another run, but I've realized that it's also nice to start Mondays with a good sweat (I've said this a billion times before on the blog, but I do not run outside on weekday mornings from Sept - March b/c it's just too dark to see where I'm going)

Weight Lifting Roundup
Lifting has been going really well lately.  I'm still doing the pay for pushup thing that I talked about a last month and I've got a bit of extra upper body strength to show for it ("a bit of extra" = a long way to go but so much better than I was).

I'm not an expert in anything let alone weight lifting, but these things are true for me:

• I learned a long time ago that being a runner makes some kind of a weight lifting routine mandatory.  I can get away with "all run and no lift" for a while but eventually it makes for fatigue and injury.   I'll occasionally skip lifting for a week here and there but no longer than that.
• It's too stressful on my body to run and then lift.  If I'm going to run and lift in the same day, first of all it has to be a shorter run (4 miles or less) and the only way to make that work is to lift first and then run, or run and then wait several hours before lifting (i.e run in the morning and lift at lunch).
• There are only so many times that you can do the same lifting routine.  I'm going to list some of my all time favorites, and the reason that I don't do any of these today is that I've done them a billion times, my body knows them and just doesn't respond to them now like it did before.  Yes it's a fair bet that any routine that I do will have similar exercises (squats, lunges, etc) but there's something about it being the same workout that doesn't work for me after a while no matter how much I increase the weights.  I'd say after 2-3 months it's time to move on to something else.

An issue I've run into with blogging about my weight lifting routines is that I only want to share links for stuff that's really good.  There are a few instances on this blog where I've tried a routine for a few times==>thought it was the greatest thing ever==>shared the link==>after a few more times realized that it wasn't right for me==>backtracked, so that's why I rarely share specifics anymore.  I try to alternate between a "real" workout that someone's posted on the internet and my own made up routines of exercises that I like.

So here are some all time favorite lifting routines from the internet and elsewhere:

• Peanut Butter Runner Total Body Dumbbell Workout.   This was the workout that got me back into the game a few years ago when I'd gotten lax and bored to tears with all things lifting related.
• Jari Love Ripped to the Core DVD.  Yes I'm recommending a 10+ year old DVD, used copies start at $1.49 or check your library.  This was the first routine that I did many years ago that got me into lifting in the first place, and also the video that got me doing "boy" pushups.  I saw changes in my body from doing it and felt that it made me a faster runner.
• PB Fingers 10 to 6 Workout.  This gets my award for all time favorite workout and it changed my body for the better.  If you do just one workout from this list, I really hope it will be this one.
• PB Fingers Body Weight Tabata.  A set of three 8 minute routines, still my go to for a vacation workout.
• Laura Norris Quick and Effective Strength Workout for Marathon Training.  I did this workout for a few months this summer, and it was great for my legs.

Your Turn
What are some of your favorite weight workouts? (p.s. please share the links)  Runners, do you struggle to get the lifting in?