Operation = get stronger

It’s hard to believe it’s been almost a month since my last race.  Even harder to believe it’s been that long since I’ve ran double digits.  It’s crazy to think there were only a handful of Saturdays from January to June that didn’t involve a double digit run.  I go back and forth with sitting around missing the long runs, to being so relieved that I don’t HAVE to run that far right now.  The heat and humidity play a huge factor in the whole “not wanting to” thing.  I will slowly start building a base back for half marathon training in August, but right now short and sweet wins the race.

My goal after the half marathon in June was to scale back the running (a little bit) and focus on strength training.  So far, so good!  I truly enjoy strength training, and challenging myself in a new way.  I’ve always been a bit intimidated by weights, mainly because I’ve just never had a solid amount of strength, especially in my upper body.  

My challenge to myself was to make it to two Body Pump classes per week, and I’ve been successful!  I usually go to class on Wednesday and Friday evenings.  I lift separate muscle groups on the other days using a series of workouts from different sources, but mainly bodybuilding.com.  

I FEEL a difference already.  I still do girl pushups (on my knees) but I can do lots of them, and get nice and low.  I will work up to my toes, and rock those like no other!  I challenge myself in Body Pump by adding weight on different tracks.  When I’m lifting on my own, I take minimal rest between sets, and work with some supersets to really fatigue my muscles.

Strength training thus far has not only made me feel stronger, but I’ve been running stronger as well!  This week was the first I’d noticed some new “get up and go” in my legs.  Oh, and my metabolism is through the roof!  There are so many resources and workouts out there to keep myself challenged and interested in strength training.  I don’t plan to give this up anytime soon!  I’ll keep ya posted!