Wednesday, February 01, 2012

Treadmill and crunches = good combo

I wouldn't go so far as to say I've "fallen into a routine," but I've noticed that I tend to naturally follow my treadmill C25K runs with 60-80 Swiss ball crunches. It works out pretty well, and I'm in and out of the gym in less than 45 minutes. And I feel great when I'm done!

I finished Week 3 of C25K today. Less than 60 days now until the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler. Honestly I don't know if I'll be up to 10 miles by then. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to handle it from a cardiovascular standpoint, but I'm still just worried about doing too much too soon and getting another stress reaction in my metatarsals, like I did back in aught-nine. But we will see how I feel a couple weeks before the race; if I can't handle it, I'll drop down to the 5K and shoot for 30 minutes.  :-)  (OK, 35 minutes.)

Today's C25K didn't feel quite as easy as a couple days ago -- my body is likely still rebuilding from the 9 mph I threw at it! -- but I did keep the treadmill between 6 and 7.5 mph on the running portions, I didn't have too much tightness, and I felt pretty good overall. It's still hard to believe that in just two weeks I'll theoretically be running 20 minutes without stopping! That's what the program calls for anyway. We'll see if that happens.

I'm not sure exactly how high my pulse got while running, but just after finishing the last 3 minute run it was around 170. Yesterday I ordered a Polar heart rate monitor, so starting with my next run I will be able to monitor my heart rate continuously over the treadmill. I enjoy heart-rate training, as it lets me know quite naturally when I should pull back, and when I can push harder.

My new job starts tomorrow and I am super pumped... it's back to a journalist's life for me! I won't be able to workout tomorrow, and maybe not Friday either, but I will hit it again on the weekend and I'll try to figure out a way to incorporate fitness into my daily routine once I actually have to leave for work every day by 8:30!

(Say what you want about unemployment, but I will miss the lazy mornings and 11 am workouts.)

Here's a picture from today between sets on the Swiss ball! Good runs + good crunches = happy Matt!


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