Weekly Workout Recap : Running Unplugged

Monday - REST (Pub quiz night! We came last but won chocolates)
Tuesday - Crossfit 7-8am
Wednesday - Run 2miles
Thursday - Crossfit 7-8am
Friday - Crossfit 7-8pm
Saturday - REST
Sunday - Run 4miles

I'll skip through this week's Crossfit sessions with just a quick mention of the fact that I'm starting to love the strength workouts!

Crossfit workouts are either timed, so you try and finish as quick as possible or do as many reps as possible, or strength based, where you keep increasing the weight until you find your maximum for a particular number of reps of a certain exercise.

I'm definitely better at the second option!

I think it's because I haven't really been doing any high intensity exercise up till now - just long slow cardio runs really. Therefore I get out of breath much quicker and start to feel sick, so end up having to back off. I'm sure that will improve, but for now I'm loving the "strong woman" feeling I get from lifting heavy weights!

This week saw 2 strength workouts with squats and deadlifts - 2 of the simplest moves too, so I didn't have to concentrate so much on technique. I managed 40kg on a back squat and 55kg on a deadlift! Yeow! 🙂

On Sunday I drove to Bushy Park with the intention of running 4miles, but realised when I'd got there that I'd forgotten my headphones! I'd even downloaded a new audiobook so I could just plug in and zone out, and get the miles over with.

I was all set to be annoyed and grumpy for the whole run but decided to use it as an opportunity to practise running without any music or distractions. I think it's easy sometimes to get dependent on it, and I know I worry that I will get to the stage where I won't be able to run without my iPod or phone. More and more races are also banning personal music devices from being used, such as the London Duathlon (for obvious reasons!) so I decided that it would be good to give my run a go without for a change.

Plus it was such a gorgeous day, I couldn't stay grumpy for long! Not many people get to run in glorious sunshine through such a lovely landscape, getting eyed from close-up by royal deer 🙂

Don't get me wrong, the run was hard work - partly because I'm still slowly working my way back up to 10k distances, but also because without my music/audiobook I could hear my heavy breathing and pounding footfalls and notice how difficult it was. I actually took the opportunity to pay attention to my body however, and tried to apply more concentration to my form. I broke the run into 2mile sections, with 5mins in the middle to stretch and have a drink, and it actually went really well.

I was a dead sweaty mess by the end of it! 🙂 But I had proved that I can run without being connected to an electronic device all the time, and enjoyed just appreciating my surroundings and letting my mind wander onto random things. I still think that there's definitely a place for music in my training - a strong bass and great rhythym lifts my mood and my feet, and is great for speedier sessions, but I will be taking the time now and again to run "unplugged".

Do you rely on music to keep you going? 🙂

Beki x