NORL - Lifting workout #1 done!
Thursday, May 23, 2013
So during marathon training (which went fabulously!), I started lifting. I kinda tapered off (mostly out of laziness) about 2 months before the marathon. I never did much leg work, either, which I should have! I've heard about the New Rules of Lifting for Women (NROL) on SP for quite some time, but didn't want to get into a new-new routine during training. I finally bought it for my Kindle on Tuesday afternoon. I printed out the first workout but didn't have time that night. Wednesday it was!
I started out with 30 mins of cardio - 1 mile run (~10 mins) and 20 mins on the elliptical. The run was GREAT. I had to stop myself from doing more. I actually told myself I would stop at 1/2 mile, but my knees felt great and the run in general felt awesome. A dinky little mile is so short after a marathon. ;-)
I jumped into the lifting afterward. 5 exercises, 2 rounds each. Sounds easy, and it didn't feel crazy hard at the time. My shoulders and legs are little sore today, though, so it worked. The first 4 workouts are only 2 sets of 5 exercises, so I wonder if that's enough? (Well, this workout alternates with another one, no idea what it's like yet!)
The NROL suggests 3 days/week, so I'm going to stick with that the best I can. I'd like to continue running 3-4 days/week, which is a bit of a drop-off from my 5-6 days/wk. Somehow I'll adjust to not running 150+ mile months lol.
There's a section on efficiency that really made sense to me. Last year's marathon training was tough. I was always hungry and had to eat a Gu on 8 mile runs and 4-5 servings on my 20 mile runs. This year? No food necessary under 13 miles and 1-2 servings was enough on 20 mile runs (sometimes I had Gatorade, though). The difference was my body getting used to it. No more crazy insane hunger for 2 days after running 20 miles (or a marathon). Just another day where I could eat a little more. I need to do something different, not just run more, more, more.
That and I LOVE being strong. I love flexing my muscles a little too much!
What about you? Cardio gal/guy or pumping iron gal/guy, or happy mix?