Hills, Hills, Hills (ATM Training)

After running the Army Ten Miler several times, I have learned that if I want to be less miserable on the 14th Street Bridge, I need to train for hills. You may not think that bridge is hilly, but when you are crossing it one stride at a time, you get to know the steepness to every ramp and incline!

After my long weekend of extra workouts at Fitbloggin I was worried that my legs might not be up to a week of training, but they seem to have held up.

Monday: Strength Routine
AM Dog Walk: 1 mile
Strength: I modified my strength routine to give my legs a bit of a break, but I added 3 sets of 12 Crossfit-style “air squats” that we learned at te Fitbloggin Crossfit workout. Yowzie!

Tuesday: Neighborhood Run (5 miles, 49 min, 9:44 pace)
My legs were ready to run and the 50F temperatures made it a perfect fall run–although it was really dark at o’dark-thirty.

Wednesday: Strength Routine
AM Dog Walk: 1 mile
Strength: I was back to my full strength routine, replacing the single-leg squats with those Crossfit-style “air squats.”

Thursday: Hill Repeats with Tiger Lilly (4 mi, 5 min)
After a warm-up, I did 30 min of hill repeats on a long hill in my neighborhood. I ran up hill for 2 minutes and then walked downhill for 1 min. When I reached the top I ran back to my starting point and did it all over again.

Friday: Long Run (10 mi, 1:36, 9:34 pace)
I walked out the door knowing that I wanted to run 8-10 miles, but I wasn’t committed to 10 miles–my legs and glutes were still feeling the hill repeats from Thursday. Since my usual hilly neighborhood route is a loop, I didn’t have to decide until I got back close to home. When I hit 6 miles, I knew I could do 9 miles, and when I hit 9 miles close to home, I decided to go for 10. I felt pretty good when I finished, but I took an ice bath to help my legs recover from my hilly week!

Saturday (Light Strength)
Elliptical: 10 min warm-up

(An elliptical with a built-in fan at the top–brilliant!)

Strength: I was disappointed that the hotel gym didn’t have any free weights, but I did my plank routine and the exercises that Amanda (@runtothefinish) posted for strengthening your glutes to ward off ITB injury.

Do you strength train to address muscle imbalances? 

Did you see the interesting post on the #plankaday trend on Katie’s Healthy Heddleston blog? What do you think?