Let's Talk Training

I haven't done one of these posts in about forever so I figured now that race day is on Sunday then now would be a good time!  Lol!  One thing that I always strive to do...and please know that I am in no way perfect at this...is to balance strength training and running.  I find that this has kept me relatively injury free for the past 16 years that I have been running.  Even as a catcher for many many years I have focused on strengthening my legs to prevent any injury to my knees, so transitioning this into running injury free it made sense.

My goal has been to get in at least 3 strength training sessions each week and 3-4 runs varying in length.  Now because I have an hour from when the gym opens to when I need to leave, this sometimes means that I am doing either a run or strength training at home.  For my half marathon training I have been following the "Own It" plan from the Train Like a Mother book.  Now I'm not certain I am going to "own" Sunday's race but I really like the intensity of the plan!  For strength training this month I have been following the workouts from my BeFit calendar (stay tuned for a giveaway next week!).  I feel like I go through waves with workouts.  I try to vary them but I am much better when I have a plan to follow.  After this race I'm planning on cutting down my miles (for a bit) and focusing more on strength and speed work.  Here is what last week looked like for me (It was my last week before tapering for this weekend's race):

Monday: 3 miles easy...Did these on the treadmill at the gym and then added in Dynamic Strength for two rounds

Tuesday: 4 miles (2 mid miles at race pace)
Wednesday: I rode the bike for 20 minutes to warm-up (actually wake up I mean) and then Cardio Extreme for 2 rounds.
Thursday: 5 mile ladder workout...I had forgotten how much I love ladder workouts!  Added bonus is that it helps make the miles fly by!
Friday: Another bike session to warm up and then Total Body Shred for 2 rounds.
Saturday: 10 miles...I met up with my friends at Marathon Sports on their "field trip" to my area to run!  I LOVE running with others especially when I have had a lot of solo long runs!  I can only talk to myself so much!

Sunday: REST....well as much as you can when you have chores and children!

Do you work in strength training into your week?  How often?  What does it look like?

I also wanted to share that I was featured on the Fit Mom Strong Mom page as today's Strong Momma!  I'm excited to be a part of this group!  They were so cute in sending me a fun good luck charm for this Sunday's race!