So What's Next?? Plan for the Rest of the Year

Oh Pittsburgh Marathon, please come back soon!

Happy Monday!

So as some of y'all read on my recap from the EQT 10 Miler, I had a ton of knee pain following the race, and having a lot of difficulty with walking up and down stairs. I've taken this past week to work on strengthening, RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation), and preparing myself mentally for the remaining days of 2017. 

And what do these coming days entail? Setting up for Spring training!

I've decided to utilize Matt Fitzgerald's Racing Weight Quick Start Guide. 

The book is super user-friendly and allows me to keep running, add strengthening exercises, and eat a more wholesome diet geared for strengthening while also losing some excess fat stores that have scientific evidence for slowing runners down. 

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But Crystal, you aren't fat. You're at a healthy weight now. You don't need to lose weight.
(insert whatever comment you will)

I am doing this for me. This is my goal, not yours.

I am not happy with my body fat percentage, and it is higher than what is optimum for peak performance. I know I could eat better and train better. I have big goals for 2018 and I want to do it in my best shape, and this is the approach I feel is best. 

So now that my little mini-rant is over, I invite you all to journey with me as I tackle on the last few weeks of 2017 with this plan. 

But jokes on me... I will be doing this during Thanksgiving and Christmas - the pressure is on to stay on track. I will forgive myself a little, but will also be mindful of how much I do indulge.

The Goal:

to prepare my body in a healthy way for the coming training cycle via:

eating wholesome

eating timely

with a strengthening workout plan

all found in Matt Fitzgerald's book

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The Plan:

The book provides training plans for Runners, Cyclists, Swimmers, and Triathletes at both low and high volumes. I will be doing the low-volume running plan initially, with yoga and my PT exercises added to the mix. If I feel that I can do more, I will incorporate/adopt the high-volume one.

Some of the strength exercises require things that I don't have at home, and I'm going to try to go to the gym when I have those strengthening days. If I don't, I will modify based on the muscle group I am missing out on. But let me be honest a second - I loathe the gym. I don't know why, but I spend 5 minutes there and I'm ready to go home. So I'm hoping that blogging this will keep me accountable!

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I'm really excited to share this with y'all and hope others find it useful as many of us are finishing up our Fall race season and getting ready to turn the leaf over into the next cycle.

If you are also interested in this plan, I would suggest following up and also reading his Racing Weight: How to Get Lean for Peak Performance book. The second book really goes into great detail about the food you consume as well as how to eat during training so that not only do you get leaner, but also prepare your body fuel-wise for race day! It's a great transition!