I know I have said this often and I know that my follow-through has been less than stellar.
In case you missed it, I joined a new team at the end of June. I am really excited about my new venture with OCR Racing with this team but at the same time, I am worried.
I am a runner… have been for years. Back in my college days, I strength trained a LOT. In fact, I always strength trained instead of doing any sort of cardio… that is now reversed (for the most part)… go figure
My attempts to balance strength training and running have been futile. I usually do well until my running starts to go above 3 miles a day and/or 15 miles a week. Then running takes over and strength training pretty much stops. Just running and not strength training can get me through road races but it will NOT get me through an OCR.
Well, in all honesty, it might. But I also know that an OCR is more physically demanding than a road race and it will require the use of muscles not usually used in a road race… more specifically, I will need to use my upper body.
I don’t consider myself exceptionally weak in the upper body but I can hardly call myself strong either. And more to the point, running gives you strong lungs but not necessarily strong muscles. As such, my lower body could use a lot of work as well.
My first OCR will be September 27th and I have a 10 mile road race on November 8th. I have to train for the 10 miler and at the same time I have to train for the OCR. The OCR is around 8 miles, so luckily that will fit into my training for the 10 miler nicely.
But I HAVE to strength train. I know that my team is behind me and they will support me and make sure I finish. Knowing all of that, I also know that I can’t just show up on race day and expect to have a good race. More so, I don’t want to feel like the weak link on the team. And I am POSITIVE that none of them would make me feel that way but I would make myself feel that way.
Sure, I have bagged plenty of races where I just didn’t care about my time (usually because it was too damn hot for me to care) or I ran with a friend who was slower than me. But I am not part of a team when I do that. It is my race and my race alone.
And, truth be told, if I do not strength train for this race, the likely-hood of being sore for days after is really rather high. I do not expect to be able to complete all the obstacles, the rope climb currently being my biggest fear but I also don’t want to fail at all of them either.
In order to be (and more importantly feel) slightly successful, I need to strength train. I have a vague idea of what to expect on the course and what muscles will need to be used so I know what to work on.
I have two months. Not enough time to reach all the goals I might have but enough to prepare myself a bit. Most importantly though, I will have to remain consistent for the next two months. I have to find the balance between strength training and my running.
Strength Training officially starts next Tuesday… Anyone out there want to help keep me honest?
It Never Gets Easier - You Just Get Better 
It’s always a dilemma for me how much strength training to do vs. running. I just dropped down from four strength training days to three in order to squeeze in more miles during lunch. I guess you really have to strength train since you will be doing an obstacle race. Good luck!
I am thinking one of my rest days will turn into a full strength day that way I can do a little less on the running days and maintain a long run which is a day I will take off from strength training.
We shall see how it goes… Thanks!