I was curious the other night looking at my Nike+ landing page just to see how many times I ran between when I did the first half marathon distance in January to this last one I did a couple weeks ago. Keep in mind I go the the gym religiously three days a week to do my CrossFit workouts. And while I knew these workouts were helping me all-around, I wasn’t really sure about how much until I looked at that page.
I only ran 11 times from January 15-April 20.
The race was on April 28. There were two times I ran 7 miles. The other runs were all between 1 mile and 3.1 miles. That’s it. Eleven times.
The rest of the time I was working on getting stronger in every part of my body. My grip is stronger. My legs are stronger. My abs, my back, my arms, my neck. You name a body part. It’s stronger.
What I learned is that running is a full-body sport. It isn’t just my legs that are sore after a good long run. It’s every part of my body. My back was a pain during the recovery process. And while my calves and shins got the brunt of it, my back and shoulders were pretty sore that next day, as well.
The stronger your whole body is, the stronger your run will be.
So my advice when you’re training for a half marathon? Work your muscles. Do the runs that will get your stamina up, but work your muscles. Get stronger.
I never knew how much of running was a full-body sport until this half marathon.
After a good run, what parts of you hurt?
**Don’t forget to come back Tuesday for some big announcements! I can’t wait to share them with you!!!
