Now with more pain!
I don’t think you can have a good workout plan with out retweaking it a dozen times. After working out with it last week I started seeing room for improvement. The old plan had a few problems, and I tweaked them along with adding a tighter lifting schedule.
The runs were alternating days every week and were pretty confusing, also there were weeks where I would cross train, rest, cross train, then run, which is a much longer break from running than I intended to take. I prefer breaks between runs to be no less than two days. I restructured the running days so now I run every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. This is the first running program I’ve done where I only run three days a week instead of four, but with all the lifting and cross training I think this will keep my joints happy and prevent my runner’s knee from flaring up.
Originally I intended to just workout however I felt each cross-training day, but I quickly realized that without structure I’m not really targeting anything and I don’t push myself nearly enough. I mixed up some P90X and P90X+ workouts, the structure is very similar, especially in the beginning. I’m substituting plyometrics, yoga and kenpo for running and I’m only doing legs and back the first few weeks, because I don’t want to overuse my legs when I start adding miles. As the training program goes on I’m mixing up the workouts even more, to keep my body guessing as to what’s coming next.
I rely on P90X as the base for my lifting because it’s easy for me to turn it on and follow a structured workout. I push myself a lot harder with the videos, I know when I turn them on I’ll do all the exercises and give them my all. When left to working out on my own, without the videos, I tend to cut corners and try to finish them as fast as I can.
In the mornings, I’ll do the videos and in the evening I will cross-train with my wife in the gym. Each cross-training night I plan on circuit training, alternating between jumping rope, hitting the heavy bags and throwing around the medicine ball. On running days I’ll just run.
As with all training plans, this is just an outline. I plan on sticking to it as best I can but I’m not afraid to tweak it again if I’m not getting enough rest or if for some reason I don’t feel challenged enough. For now, this is the most challenging thing I’ve ever put together – I’m obsessed with recording my progress so I’ll report back to you on how well it’s going.
Blood, Sweat & Beer 