Winter-Time Grinding

It's cold out.  And getting colder.  So instead of track workouts, trail runs, outdoor plyometrics, and unending yard-work that helps keep me stay in shape during the warmer months ... I'm confined to the home gym and treadmill on most days.

However, I did enjoy the rare opportunity to complete an outdoor 10 mile Tempo Run this morning.  Here are the splits ...

8:32, 7:26, 7:00, 6:57, 6:48, 6:41, 6:42, 6:41, 6:27, 8:38

Not super-super fast, but respectable during the winter months and colder air.

After my uptempo Tuesday and Thursday runs, I typically also get in a leg strengthening workout.  I started doing leg workouts after my hard runs early last year ... and I LOVE IT!!!  My muscles are warm and loose, which really seems to help minimize DOMS in the following days.  The only downside is I have to be careful not to try to lift too much weight as my legs are usually pretty wobbly after a fast Tempo or Speed workout.

For example, I free-squatted the most weight I've put on the bar in a while this morning, and the four sets were only 8 x 120 lbs, 8 x 140 lbs, 8 x 160 lbs, and 8 x 170 lbs.  I know ... laughable from some of you heavy weight lifting people.  But I'm really only focused on long lean muscle ... not linebacker quads that slow me down.  Plus ... I'm 47 years old.  In my opinion there's not much to gain, and a whole lot to lose, by loading up the bar with too much weight.  I'll increase the load a little in the coming weeks, but I'll probably not venture too much over 200 lbs during the multiple reps.  I'll never win any weight-lifting awards ... but wanna race? Lol.

Hopefully being much stronger will help with the Spring running, and most importantly, continue to keep me healthy all year long with all the miles I log.  Have a great week!

Be the fire.