Iron Rogue: Half-Marathon Training Recap: Cadence Workouts, Push-Pulls, Kyle's Krusade, etc.

Half-Marathon Training Recap: Cadence Workouts, Push-Pulls, Kyle's Krusade, etc.

Sunday: I had a 16km run to get done, and I was looking for new ways to stay entertained. Audiobooks have been suggested often, and I downloaded an app so that I could digitally lend them from the library, but I haven’t gotten it to work yet, and the whole concept doesn’t really inspire me. I did, however, find that my Slacker Radio app has a series of stations called ‘Fitness’ which are all good workout songs, sub-divided by musical genre. The one I ended up using was ‘BPM Workout’ - a station with all songs having a tempo between 150 and 190 beats per minute. Ideal for keeping a good cadence! Coincidentally, the next day, I found an article in the paper explaining how the right tempo music aids runners in keeping a good cadence and how an app maker is seeking to capitalize on this concept. It’s an interesting read (as all Alex Hutchinson articles are).

Monday: I ran 5km for Kyle’s Krusade. You can read about it (and how I got a new PR) here. Please consider joining or simply donating.

Tuesday: I was back on the Trifecta Tuesday bandwagon, and started it with a swim. I was inspired by the idea of tempo music-driven workouts, yes even swimming. Stay tuned for Part 2 of that series, where I do a little analysis. I rounded out my Trifecta with Yoga and a Plank for 1 minute 48 seconds as part of Erica D. House’s Killer Core Plank Challenge.

Thursday: Having taken a rest day on Wednesday, I didn’t know whether to cross-train on Thursday or run. I hadn’t packed winter gear, and given how I hate treadmill running, I figured I would do both. I broke up what was supposed to be 8km in two halves. After 4km I did a 2 minute plank as well as the following strength workout.

I used this machine to do an exercise dubbed ‘waterskiing’ by Katy from Fit In Heels with a little extra. I configured the rope to have a lower angle than the one shown in the picture

30 Pushups,
Back on the rope machine - pulling down as if climbing the rope: 1 minute.
20 pushups with a twist kick again from Fit in Heels.
12 assisted pull-ups on the machine. I did these pyramid style; starting with 60 lbs of assistance till failure, then 75 lbs of assistance, then 90 lbs.

from blogilates.com

16 ‘Scorpion’ Push-ups.
20 Bent-over Rows (35 lbs)
20 Incline Dumbbell Press (35lbs)

Then back on the treadmill for what was supposed to be another 4km, but due to an accidental button press (and a little fatigue and motivation failure) I stopped after 2.6km

Sunday: We went out of town for the weekend. The plan was to cross-country ski which we did, but getting a late start and with the Lightning Kid unexpectedly and inexplicably objecting loudly for most of the trail. An hour’s worth only gave us 5km and I wish these apps could appreciate that I’m pulling nearly 80lbs of extra weight along when they calculate calories and such...