New Routines

Yesterday afternoon I did a run on the treadmill.  However, I am switching my approach to the runs to that promoted by "Coach Jenny".  She advocates running by effort level, not pace.  That means that sometimes you'll end up running a little slower, and sometimes a little faster.  I'm going to be following her plan for prepping for my next half-marathon, but I thought I could start using it now, before the Marine Corps Marathon 10K.  So I ran for the prescribed 50 minutes at an easy pace - I could talk the whole time.  I did 10 minutes at 5.8 mph, 10 minutes at 5.9 mph, 10 minutes at 6.0 mph, 10 minutes at 6.1 mph, and 10 minutes at 6.2 mph.  This came to 5.0 mi in 50:00 min.  Also, this will help my body get used to going faster toward the end - I hope.  The run was in fact much easier than I have felt them to be usually.  My hamstrings did not hurt much.

This morning I did the first workout of Stage 3 of NROLW.    Each exercise was 3 sets of 6 reps, with 105 sec of rest in between.  105 seconds is really long, so I usually ended up doing about 90 sec.

• One-armed dumbbell snatch:  this is like the push-press move from the last stage, but it's only one arm at a time.  I felt like I "got" this move, and it was actually kind of fun.  I used 20 lb (you only use one dumbbell) for the first set, but moved up to 25 lb for the next two sets.
• Dumbbell single-leg Romanian deadlift:  I used 12 lb per hand for this move, since the book specified "light weight".  I think the idea is more balance rather than strength.
• Barbell bent-over row:  I did use my barbell for this one.  I used 53 lb.  I may be able to increase this weight next time.
• Dumbbell single-arm overhead squat:  This is a weird move.  I used 12 lb for the arm overhead and 25 lb for the lowered arm.  I didn't feel this much in the squat.  I felt it a bit in the shoulder.  Where I really felt it was in my lower back.  When I squatted, I had a hard time keeping my back flat.
• Dumbbell incline bench press:  I used by stability ball for this one.  I used 28 lb for the first set and increased to 30 lb per hand for the next two sets.
• Plank on stability ball:  This is a repeat move from the previous stage.  However, I'm trying to increase to 90 sec per plank.  I did that for the first round, but only did 60 sec for the next two.
• Reverse wood chop:  I used a 12 lb dumbbell for the first set, but that was way too light.  For the next two sets, I used 20 lb, which was better.
• The workout ends with a sequence of body-weight moves:  24 squats, 12 lunges per leg, 12 lunge jumps per leg, and 24 squat jumps.  You're supposed to time it and rest for 2x that time and repeat.  Well, it took me 4 minutes to do the sequence.  No way was I waiting 8 minutes doing nothing.  I waited 4 minutes.  I really was easier the second time through with the big rest break.

I enjoyed this workout more than the Stage 2 workouts.  It's pretty long, though, because the rest breaks are so big.  It took me about 75 minutes to complete.  I burned about 225 calories.