Leg Strengthening and an Easy Run

Last week, I asked my colleague, a PE teacher, to suggest some exercises I can do to strengthen my hamstrings, quads, and glutes. She suggested four exercises, some with weights and some without.

For my hamstrings, she had me do deadlifts. She started with 65 pounds, which I am pretty sure is very light. I thought it might have been a little bit too heavy to start. She then suggested just using the bar, which weighs 45 pounds. She suggested three or four sets of 12 with the heavier weight, and as many reps as possible for three minutes with the lighter weight.

Also for hamstrings and glutes, she suggested butt raises with an elevated leg. You lie on your back on the floor and put one leg, bent, on a sold chair. Raise the other leg straight into the air and lift your rear off the ground. Again, three sets of 20 or so. Ouch!

A simple squat with a 26-pound kettle bell is what she recommended for my quads. I got the weight too heavy Friday and only managed six. She recommended three sets of 12.

One other thing she gave me to do was scissor lunges. She didn't say how many, but she said my legs will burn. I am familiar with those from Jillian.

All in all, she recommended doing these things three times a week. I am thinking of doing them Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Mondays I already do lunges and squats with Jillian, as well as riding my bike up the high school trail, and Fridays I am trying to keep as a rest day before the weekend's back-to-back long runs.

Meanwhile, I had a nice run in Grand Ridge yesterday. Now that I am increasing my mileage on the hard weekends, I have dialed back my easy weekends to 10 and six miles for Saturday and Sunday. It was great to run at a faster pace and still feel energetic at the end. I had hoped to run it in 2:10, so I was pleased when I ran 2:06. My watch measured short on the return, but even if I went the extra .14 mile, I would still have been 2:08. I am improving! I took a video just for extra practice with the GoPro. I may post it later.

~LTR