Oops, I forgot the weight training.

Wouldn't you think someone who can finish a marathon (26.2 miles) would have strong leg muscles?  Doesn't it seem logical someone who can easily run a sub 2 hour half marathon (13.1 miles), and not experience any leg discomfort afterwards, must have strong muscles in their legs.  Along the same lines, wouldn't you think someone who can swim a mile (freestyle), without stopping, would have decent leg and upper body strength?  If you answered yes to all 3 then you and I agreed until recently.

Each week I have been doing the following as part of my workout:

1. Speed run (3-4 miles) as fast as I can go.
2. Swim 800-1000 meters at a comfortable pace.  One or 2 days.
3. 10-15 mile bike ride at a comfortable pace.  Usually includes 1 tough climb.
4. Tempo run (5-6 miles) at race pace (9:09 per mile).
5. Long run (8-13 miles) at about 30-60 seconds per mile slower than race pace. 

When I was training for the January marathon, my long runs were much longer (16-20 miles).  OK, I have slacked off a little!  To me, it seemed all of the bases for triathlon training were covered.  Not an extreme amount of working out, but enough that I thought my legs were in good shape. 

Anyway, after reading a blog post by my friend Steve Gupta, I realized strength training was missing from my routine.  Last year, it was a regular part of my routine and I'm not sure why it was dropped.  Perhaps, I was too focused on running, not getting injured, and the marathon.  My knees have been bugging me lately and I thought the strength training might help.  Also it couldn't hurt to develop a little upper body strength.

For me, strength training meant pulling out the Body For Life plan (http://bodyforlife.com/library/exercise/weight-training), that worked so well for me in the past.  For upper body, the workout includes doing the following for each muscle group (chest, shoulders, triceps, back, biceps):

1. Pick a weight and do 12 reps.  Rest 1 minute.
2. Increase the weight and do 10 reps. Rest 1 minute.
3. Increase the weight and do 8 reps.  Rest 1 minute.
4. Increase the weight and do 6 reps.  Rest 1 minute.
5. Decrease the weight and do 12 reps.  No rest.
6. Increase the weight and do 12 reps.

I took it easy on the weights since this was my first lifting in a while and felt the workout was fairly easy.  After the workout my muscles were tired and my heart rate was up but no soreness.  My muscles felt a little bigger and I felt a sense of accomplishment!  Wow, things sure changed over the next couple days.  My triceps and biceps were very sore for about 4 days after the workout.  So sore, raising my arms over my head was difficult and my wife got tired of hearing me whine.

Then to add to my misery I decided to add in a lower body strength workout (quads, hamstrings, calves, abs).  The selected exercises included squats and lunges.  I'll just say that I couldn't do very many and my hamstrings and abs screamed for about 3 days afterwards.  Needless to say, strength training will now be part of my regular weekly workout routine.  I'm really hoping that I'm not so sore after this weeks strength training workout.