Happy Friday!
Wasn’t The Office hilarious last night? Definitely one of the best episodes of all time.
It is Beeee-u-tiful outside today in Southern Ontario! What a mood booster. :) I am hoping to get outside today for a run on my lunch break. Spring is on its’ way!!
I had this great Purple Monster for breakfast:
It included: Spinach, hemp milk, Manitoba Harvest Hemp Protein powder, Amazing Grass Wheatgrass, BEET, frozen banana, tsp maca, ice.
Strength Vs. Cardio:
Yesterday I decided to do my strength workout before my run. I was inspired by our conversation the other day about benefits of doing strength training first or cardio first.
The majority of you thought that you should train first what you want to work on the most. So if I am training for a half marathon, I should run first and ensure that I can run strong.
After thinking about it some more, I decided that variety is best for me right now. Why not mix it up? Some workouts I will run first and some workouts I will strength train first. I think that will keep my body challenged and always guessing. Mind you, I often don’t do both on the same day, but occasionally I do (maybe once a week?).
I also probably wouldn’t strength train on a day that I had scheduled a difficult speed work session. I think that is setting my body up for injury.
Yesterday I decided to try my strength training first and see how I did on my run afterwards. I always used to do my run first and then strength second so this was going to be a challenge for me…
The Strength:
I did the Booty Camp Fitness DVD Advanced level which is a 55 minute full body workout. It includes a warm-up, stretching, leg workout, arm workout, core workout, plyometrics, and a cool-down + stretching. It whoops my booty. After the video I was doubtful if I was going to be able to run, but I was actually surprised once I got going. I decided to start off the run at a really easy pace and see how I felt.
The run:
Mile 1: 6 mph, incline 1% (I felt great so I upped the speed to make it more challenging)
Water break
Mile 2: 7 mph, incline 1%
Water break
Mile 3: 7.5-8.5 mph, incline 1% (very hard mile)
Total time: 26:34
I actually felt pretty loose and my muscles felt much warmer than they do when I normally start a run. I think this is a sign that I need to warm-up longer when I do cardio first!
Another option is to strength train only my arms on run days.
Health News Round-Up
It has been a while since I did a Health News Round-Up! Months, in fact. I thought I would bring it back as a weekly feature to the blog.
Here are some health related posts that I enjoyed reading this week:
- Seven Reasons to Strength Train – Fit Sugar
- When Exercise Goes From Good To Bad – Hangry Pants
- Pros and Cons to Indoor Vs. Outdoor Winter Training- NY Times
- Ginnifer Goodwin Has Big Love For Veganism – Fit Sugar
- What’s Better: Fresh or Frozen Produce? A Quiz – Savvy Eat
- I Want To Go To Switzerland (And Eat Cakelike Cornbread) – Have Cake Will Travel
- The Big Birth Control Question – Healthy Tipping Point
- Is It Necessary To Eat Fruit On An Empty Stomach? One Doctor Weighs In- NY Times
- The 10 Laws of Injury Prevention – Runner’s World
- Mashed Cauliflower Recipe – Health Foodie
- Canadians Are Heavier, Wider, Weaker- The Globe and Mail
- Deb’s Lower Calorie Almond Butter – Via Eating Bender
- Is It Possible To Live Without Genetically Modified Organisms? – A Month Without Monsanto
- Girls On The Run’s Molly Barker – Fit Bottomed Girls
What were some of your favourite stories, articles, or posts this week?
I’m off for a very busy day of work. I hope you have a wonderful end to your week!
Insist on yourself. Never imitate.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Wow! Thank you so much for the link! I did not know you read my blog… I feel honored. haha :)
your blog is fab! :)
The office was HILARIOUS!! Loved it! :)
how funny was pam taking the wrong baby?!?!
Glad you liked my recommendation of the NYT article about indoor vs. outdoor training. :) It only confirmed for me what I knew intiutively.
I go back and forth about cardio before weights or weights before cardio. Sometimes I need the cardio (or feel like I do) to get energized enough to do the weights. I think it’s about listening to your body too. It’s not as hard to do cardio before an upper body workout. I know that if I do legs first, then the cardio needs to either be a short burn it all out HIIT workout or something like an easy, steady run.
Such cool finds- thanks for sharing!!
I love the magazine Body + Soul and I checked out their website this week and did some reading on seasonal winter foods. Some very fun ideas in here!
http://www.wholeliving.com/photogallery/immunity-boosting-foods
Glad you found the strength training didn’t make you sacrifice energy during your run! Since I’m usually so crunched for time, I only do one or the other. Though, oh how I would LOVE to be able to do an hour of strength and then go for a 3 mile run. Sounds fabulous!
Yes! I’ve missed your health news round ups! I’ve been so bad at keeping up with food/nutrition news (and, uh, world news, too haha) lately so I can’t wait to look through your faves.
I loved the Office too! That episode and Pam and Jim’s wedding are two of my top favorites! Great treadmill run, you are such a speed demon =)
“Another option is to strength train only my arms on run days.”
This is what I do. If I try to work my lower body and then run, my legs tend to feel like bricks!
Thanks for the health news! It was very informative! It looks like I missed your post yesterday so I didn’t weigh in :P I always do my strength training first if I’m doing both strength and cardio. It takes 15 minutes before your body starts burning fat. Until that point you’re burning carbs (or worse, muscle). So, by doing strength training first, you are setting yourself up to retain muscle mass and burn fat during cardio. Then again, on long run days I don’t strength train and only do my runs (like you said, to prevent injury and because my main goal is to increase my endurance) so it all depends on what you want out of your workout.
I loved this post this morning on Joyous Health about the colour of poop!!
http://joyoushealth.wordpress.com/2010/03/06/what-the-colour-of-your-poo-says-about-you/
Hmmm thank you for trying out the working out before running plan. So…from your results, do you think I can assume that if I wanted to work on my legs without being over-fatigued, I should do weights AFTER cardio? I kinda enjoy winding down with some weights after a sweaty run…is that…not so good?
And thank you for those links! I got a chance to check out some awesome blogs and posts. You’re the best Ange!!
I don’t think there is one right answer to this. It really is an individual thing and it will likely also vary day by day according to how your body feels. Just take it as it comes and play around with it until you know how you feel. :)
Thanks for those links Ange! I really love finding new blogs.
Yesterday I tried working out early in the morning (6:00 a.m) with strength training, then coming back to the gym after work (6:00p.m) and doing a cardio workout. I ~think~ that it made my run a little less enjoyable. My legs and bum were really tight and didn’t loosen up the way I’m used to. Next time I’ll try the reverse – I’ll let you know how that works!
Wow! That was one fast run, and one hard core strength workout!
And I definitely agree with not doing lower body strength training on run days – or at least hard run days. If i’m just going to run 3 miles at an easy pace (for all three miles) lower body work usually doesn’t affect the run much, and vice versa.
Thanks for all those links! You’re awesome :)
Thanks for the great links!!
Great articles, I will have to check those out!!
I always did my strength after I ran.. girl you rock! I can’t imagine running after a big strength training session. I can hardly move sometimes!
That is one hardcore workout! Love the picture of you running, I wish I looked half as good during my workouts!
I love reading Milemarkers from Kristin Armstrong on Runners world!
Heck yah to the “month without monsanto” blog! The food company that I’m writing for did an interview with her. It’s such an interesting challenge and really eye opening! Ummm the office was AWEsome..Dwight cracked me up a LOT and yeah it was just all around funnnnnneeeee ;) Have a great weekend!
p.s. you look WAY too good while working out!! :)