I'm not talking Prefontaine.
Or precalculus.
Or even preschool.
Right now, I'm all about pre-marathon training.
That's right. Because 18 weeks of training just isn't enough! Heh, heh.
I'm calling December my pre-marathon training month and hoping this period will accomplish two things. First, it will (I hope) stop me from slacking off during this whole holiday season, allowing me to start my training plan with a decent mileage base. Second, it will (I also hope) stop me from running too hard (too fast, too much), so I can begin training refreshed, recovered, and no longer injured.
A fine balance.
The loose plan for the month is to run 2-3 times during the week (4-5 easy miles each run), long on Saturday (8-12 miles), easy on Sunday (4-5 miles). I'll supplement my runs with 2-3 yoga sessions (thank you, exercise tv!) and specific strengthening/rehabbing exercises for my left hamstring/knee/calf.
Five days in to the month, I'm on track. Yoga has been treating me well and showing me where my (very obvious) imbalances of strength and flexibility are. I ran 8 enjoyable miles with my friend Amanda on Saturday morning. Even though it was really cold, and our route was really hilly, we had a good time. I haven't run with her in ages so it was great to catch up!
Sunday was a nice-and-easy 4+ miler and today I have my sights set on an hour of yoga after the kids go to bed. Unlike the (many) other times I've tried to get into yoga, I'm actually looking forward to it!
What about you: Do you enjoy yoga? Do you think it helps with your running?
Thanks for stopping by -- have a great week!
~ Felice
Monday, December 5, 2011
Pre.
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18 comments:
I just recently found your blog and am loving it! I'm in a pre sort mode right now as well. I've decided to run my first half marathon in April and found a good 12 week training program I'm going to follow, which starts at the first of the year. So December is my Pre-training month too! Just trying to run consistently and build up a mileage base to be ready to start tackling the increases that will start to come in January.
Sam
http://runcookreadblog.blogspot.com
That's great! I have never even tried to do yoga at all. Do you have to be very flexible to do it? Don't know much about it. Awesome you are doing a pre training segment. I am doing a 12 week pretraining plan before an 18 week training plan for a May Marathon. Look forward to hearing about your progress. Take care.
I enjoy a gentle-type of flow yoga and I think that really helps my running. But to be honest, I have never tried HOT or Bikram yoga. I will though! I just feel it stretches everything out. The longer distances we run tend to shorten up our muscles so we aren't as flexible which leads to injury.
Thanks, Sam! Good luck with your half! It's exciting to run your first one.
Kenley -- I'm not very flexible but I think the yoga is helping. What marathon are you running in May? I'm doing New Jersey.
Jessica -- I'm mostly doing the gentle flow stuff but would love to try the hot yoga sometime.
I've done yoga and enjoy attending classes, but there are none local that I enjoy now. I do my Rodney Yee Power Yoga sporadically, I should do it more... I usually go to pilates instead of yoga, but alas I've been skipping that too!
I love yoga but definitely don't go as often as I should. I actually went this morning and my shoulders are already feeling it :)
I'm pre-half training so it's 3-4 miles 3x a week & 5-8 on the weekend. I try to do yoga once a week. I'm not very flexible at all. I don't know if it helps but it can't hurt. I always feel good when I'm done (in a very different way than running.)
I don't love the yoga but I need it. I do my best to get my stretch on at least 1-2 times a week. I don't like classes because I get too competitive and miss the point. 10-15 mins by myself works the best to supplement my training...
I love yoga. I'm not sure whether it's helping my running or not. I'd like to think so.
I love yoga - I go every Monday after work. I can definitely tell when I don't do yoga - I start to feel weaker.
I really enjoy yoga. The nice thing is I've taken enough classes that even when I don't feel like going to a class I can still practice for about 30mn at home and feel like I achieved something.
I do feel it helps with the running, strength training and flexibility are the top two things I feel that I gained from it. And it's gentle enough to be a great cross training option.
Felice, it's Elisa.....I miss being able to do yoga since my shoulder froze last year. I have been doing it for years. Yoga helped me with strengthening my core, my balance, and my serenity
I enjoy Rodney Yee, and almost anything Gaiam. I have tried flow yoga, and hot yoga.....but due to low blood pressure, I tend to get too dizzy. First thing I want to do when my shoulder is healed is a downward facing dog!
Nameste.
Elisa -- I hope you get to do some downward dogs soon! I definitely feel that I am getting stronger in my core and I know I'll need that to power through the marathon. I'm trying to do planks, too, and I can see that I'm stronger in just two weeks!
I LOVE yoga! Until I picked up a second full-time job and pretty much stopped having time to workout, I was going to a 90 minute yoga class 9 or 10 times a week and totally loving it. FYI for people who asked.. you really don't need to be flexible, honestly. What I would recommend though for anyone nervous to try it would be to check out the pose guides on websites like yogajournal.com just to get an idea of them so it's a little less "wait, what am I supposed to be doing now?"
Thanks, Kim! I agree about the flexibility issue. You just stretch as far as you can.
I love yoga! It really helps with balance and centering. I hope you can find it helpful to your running and life. :)
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