planks

Weekly Run Down – Mother’s Day Edition

May 10, 2020 by Michelle 32 Comments

Wishing all my fellow running moms a big Happy Mother’s Day!

Another week of the “Corona life” is a wrap. A couple more races on my schedule for this year were postponed or canceled, leaving me with just a few fall holdouts. At this point, I’m taking it all in stride and keeping my expectations very low. On the positive side, I’ve got more time to strengthen my hip and rebuild my mileage base with zero pressure of a goal race on the horizon.#glasshalffull

Here’s a quick rundown on this week’s workouts…

Monday — Bosu & Bands workout and Family Plank Challenge Day 4
Tuesday — 3 miles, plank day 5
Wednesday — 1-hour physical therapy session, plank day 6

My son is taking this family challenge seriously!

Thursday — PT exercises, plank day 7 and 20 minutes of yoga via Peloton
Friday — 5 miles with the first 2.23 dedicated to Ahmaud Arbery. My heart was so heavy during this run. Thankfully I got to walk and FaceTime with Kim in the afternoon which definitely put a smile on my face. Day 8 – plank challenge.

Saturday — Strength training, including two workouts from Marcia’s new YouTube channel (Lower Body Burn followed by Iron Core Tabata). It was great to have Marcia as a virtual workout buddy!

Sunday — Virtual 5K for the Un-canceled Project. When I received an email from Run the Edge at the beginning of the week announcing that they were extending the Project for a second round through the week of June 21st, I knew this was something I wanted to do for a little extra running incentive.

I also signed up for the Zooma Run Club, which seems like a great group of women – I’m sure this will also be a source of fun motivation.

How was your week? Are things starting to open up where you are?

I’m linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Run Down.

Filed Under: #UnCanceledProject, planks, Weekly Run Down

November Goals

November 1, 2017 by Michelle 22 Comments

It’s a new month and with race training temporarily on hold, it’s time for some new goals!

Move every day! — 30 days of movement – be it a run, a walk, time in the gym or on the yoga mat. I will move every day!

#RunNovemberChallenge – When I saw Jessy’s post, I knew I wanted to do this. It fits perfectly with my daily movement goal, and I like that I can mix running and walking.

Strength Train 3x’s/week — Strength work must be a priority. Period.

150 minutes of planking — Last time I did 5 minutes a day was back in April. And, while I’m a big fan of planks, I’ve been inconsistent in my planking lately so I thought it would be fun to challenge myself with a time goal.

I’m already eyeing some early 2018 races, so I’m hoping these goals will help to set me on the right track.

Do you set monthly goals? What do you have planned for November?

Filed Under: #RunNovemberChallenge, goals, no training plan, planks

5 Benefits of Planking

April 21, 2017 by Michelle 39 Comments

If you’ve been around here for a bit then you know that I’m a fan of planks! In fact, one of my goals for the month of April is 5 minutes of daily planking (and no…not 5 minutes straight – I break the 5 minutes into intervals).

Everyone can benefit from strengthening their core – especially runners! So if you haven’t jumped on the plank bandwagon yet, I thought I’d share with you some of the benefits of planking!

Target many muscles in one exercise: Planks engage every core muscle from transverse abdominus to the rectus abdominus; from the external obliques to the glutes.

Big payoff, small investment: Planks don’t require a lot of time, but can offer a big payoff by strengthening so many key muscles relatively quickly.

Improved posture: By engaging and strengthening all of those muscles, planks will help improve your posture. As your abdominal muscles activate they share the burden with your back muscles of holding you upright. When your abs are stronger, you sit and stand with your vertebrae stacked – so the added benefit is you’re less likely to develop pain in your neck and shoulders from slouching. Who doesn’t want to stand (or run) taller?

Increased flexibility: Planks help to increase or maintain flexibility by expanding and stretching the muscles around the shoulders, collarbone, shoulder blades, and hamstrings.

Better movement: By strengthening your core, planks help your stabilization and train your body to move better as a unit – your muscles work together, which means you move more efficiently overall.

Why runners should add planks to their routine #runchat #fridayfive Click To Tweet

I’m linking up with Rachel from Running on Happy and Lacey & Meranda from Fairytales and Fitness for the Friday Five link-up!