Easy Run And Some StrEndurance

Posted by Steve ()

April 1, 2009

Just a steady run today with a few 30 second striders thrown in to mix things up a little bit. The run was a bit blah with nothing terribly exciting to report, but I guess it’s another 5 recovery miles to add to the log.

On a positive note, I did decide it was time to kick start some strength work. I think reading about Mark’s plans over at the “On the Trail of a Welshrunner” blog has provided the motivation to add some variety to my training. It can only be a good thing in terms of my marathon and triathlon training, right?

To start with, I knocked out Week 2, Day 1 of the Hundred Push Ups plan. The workout looked easy on paper, but to be honest, I struggled a little to knock out the latter sets. To continue the strength theme I dusted down my StrEndurance DVD and prepared myself to tackle the 23 minute workout.

Strendurance is a 6-workout DVD, designed to be performed repeatedly over the course of 12 weeks in a set sequence. The high intensity strength workouts are 20-30 minutes in length and designed for endurance athletes from a variety of sports. The goal of the endurance athlete is not to ‘bulk up’ with unwanted mass, but rather to boost one’s muscular capabilities and the Strendurance program, according to their web site, accomplishes this goal!

The program suggests you perform workouts A through F, 4 to 6 times over a 2 week period. Tonight would be the first attempt at Workout A, which on paper looks pretty easy, but in reality is quite a challenge. After a brief warm up, you start off with three sets of the following with no rest between reps:

20 seconds of push ups
20 seconds of upright rows with dumbells
20 seconds of jumping jacks

Yeah, I know, sounds a piece of cake doesn’t it? Normally I’d agree, but there’s something about this 3 minute block of exercise that is really challenging.

The second set is a combination of squats, shoulder presses and mountain climbers, and is definitely no easier than the first set. Luckily you get some rest before moving on to a set of core work (crunches/lower back extensions) and “flicks” to keep the heart rate elevated.

The whole workout doesn’t even last 25 minutes, but at the end I was pretty beat up. I’m sure I’ll adjust to the speed and combination of the exercises pretty soon, and if I can make it through the whole 12 weeks, I know I’ll be a better, fitter athlete.

Here’s a preview to the Strendurance series of strength/endurance exercises I found on YouTube. Enjoy!