Winter Workouts and a February Mini-Goal
At the beginning of the year, I said I wasn't setting specific workout goals because it's just too hard during a pandemic to know what sort of workouts I'm going to be in the mood for. I didn't want to set a bunch of goals and lock myself into something that I suddenly had no desire to do.
So instead, I just committed to some sort of regular movement.
In January, I took on a four-week strength training challenge through OpenFit. I've come to really appreciate lifting heavier weights during the pandemic, and I was excited to see what four weeks of focus on just that would do in terms of my strength.
While I'm somewhat limited in what I can do with upper-body weight lifting because of my shoulder, I was still really excited that by the end of January, I was regularly able to do squats, lunges and other lower body-focused exercise with much heavier weight.
Even some shoulder-friendly upper body exercises showed improvement.
I did start to miss running a little bit in January though, while I focused so intently on strength training.
So in February, I decided I wanted to try to find a better balance. I wanted to continue to build my strength because I know it will prevent running injuries, but I wanted to make time for more running.
Mixing the two has always been a challenge for me because I find myself favoring one often at the expense of the other, or I try to do too much don't leave enough recovery time.
So my mini-goal for February is about finding some sort of balance.
I'm doing OK on that front, but the weather hasn't been so helpful -- especially on the weekends when I'd prefer to get outside for runs.
I don't have a treadmill so the only way for me to run is outside, and we've had a lot of ice this month.
Despite that I did manage to do two runs each the first two weeks of February, and I think about three strength training workouts each week.
I'd like to try to get in another run (ideally on the weekend). I'd be happy with a balance of three strength workouts, three runs and at least one day of pure rest.
We'll see how things go the rest of the month and if the weather cooperates enough to let me do that. We've already got another ice storm in the forecast for later this week, so who knows.
Thinking longer term, if in-person races come back in the fall, I'd love to run an in-person half marathon. It's hard to say that that's a goal for the year because I don't know where things will be pandemic-wise in the fall, but it'd be nice to have a real race to look forward to for some extra motivation.
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