You Can Do Hard Things!!

My Wednesday workouts have always been my FAV.O.RITE!!!  Today’s KYT (kick your trash) was quite possibly the hardest one I’ve ever done.  I knew as I was typing it up that it was going to be brutal…I would have it no other way!!!  My clients have accused me of being “high” or just plain “hating” them!  They can rest assured that I am actually extremely nice to them, apparently I hate myself ;) 

This is how you should feel after a great workout...DEAD ;)

I love pushing my body beyond what it wants to do and that is exactly what KYT workouts are all about.   These workouts are meant to be done as FAST as possible.  I am a true believer in a slow and concentrated movement but in these workouts I go as fast as I can, being sure to use correct form.  Not only was my heart going to beat out of my chest, I was sweating like crazy and I looked like I had rouge on :) I left it all on the gym floor and nearly tossed my cookies…a few times!

To give you an idea of how hard today’s KYT was it consisted of a total of 225 push-ups, 180 lunge jumps (with arms straight over head) and 180 step-ups with shoulder presses.  Those were mingled into 9 HARD strength movements.  All done in about 45-50 minutes!  It was FAST , it was HARD and most of all it was AWESOME!!!

I finished that beating and then did an hour long spin class, it was a great workout.  I knew following all of that I was going to have to get my 3 mile run in.  If it’s on the schedule it must happen!!!  I knew it was going to be ugly.  3 miles is nothing, I can do that in my sleep.  Except for during a taper!  I did 3 slow miles and thanked the heavens that it was over.  I know it is completely normal to feel this way during a taper and quite frankly I brought it on myself.  On Monday, I was supposed to do 4 X .25 mile repeats.  I wasn’t about to run around the track so I decided to do a 4 mile loop and throw the .25 sprints in along the way.  That is the way to do sprints!!  I felt AMAZING, it was actually a good confidence booster for me. 

Throughout the day I started to worry because I have always heard that hard training runs make for a great race.  Did I feel too good?  Was I doomed for race day?

After Tuesday’s HORRIBLE 3 mile run, that I was certain would never end, and this morning’s 3 miler, that was almost as bad, I think I will be just fine come Sunday!  Phew, that was a close one!

Sometimes (or every Wednesday in my case) it’s good to push yourself HARD and it is going to hurt and you will be miserable (unless you are like me and you enjoy that kind of thing) but that is how you get stronger.  That is what it takes to get results!!!  Don’t get me wrong I push hard in all of my workouts but KYT’s are a special kind of hard.  They are not for the faint of heart ;)

You can’t just go through the movements you have to push hard and get a full range of motion!!!   Doing tiny movements isn’t going to do much for you.  The more muscles you can activate the more calories you will burn.  Moving quickly from one exercise to the next will keep your heart rate up and, again, you will burn more calories!  And you can take that to the bank…or whatever. 

Believe that you CAN do hard things and then DO them!!!

Sometimes, or every race day, I wish I could push myself as hard running as I can during a killer workout!  I don’t know what it is, I can kill it at the gym but as soon as running gets hard I lose all confidence in myself and die a little in side ;)  So come Sunday my goal is to not give up on myself!  I want to push through those San Francisco hills and apparently...WIND and have a great race!   Whether I PR or run a 4 hour marathon, I really just want to “enjoy the journey!”