In two days time this experiment will be over. The race would have been run and either I accomplished my goal time or I didn't. My goal for this experiment is to achieve a PB on the Kaveri Trail Marathon without losing any lean weight. Other than the race time the other results from this experiment can be measured now.
The result is simple: the marathon training has impacted the body building. My weight has remained steady as has my lean body mass. That's been a positive outcome but my body building has been affected. While I don't think the running itself has impacted the body building there are two clear affects preparing for the marathon has had on me.
Firstly, my clothes are hanging on me a bit more which suggests I have lost some mass. That could be nothing more than a lose of muscle pump you get from doing a weights session. The clothes aren't hanging really lose, only enough for me to know that I have lost some mass. Secondly, and more significantly, I have lost some strength. The reason for both of these outcomes is simple, I haven't been able to do strength training like I thought I would.
Throughout the last few months adding in 2-3 runs a week has pushed out my strength training sessions. I thought my schedule could fit in the extra runs without sacrificing my 3-4 strength training days. I was wrong. Life has been busier than I expected and adding the runs into my routine meant something had to go and since running has been the priority the strength training has progressively moved to the back of my priorities.
I tried to change my strength routines to full body workouts and that worked for a while but the closer I have come to the marathon the more time I have been giving myself to fully recover from the running. This has been especially true over these two final weeks . I am so conscious of getting injured that I am under strength training to ensure I don't hurt myself. The hip problem I had (have) put some fear into me and made me cautious.
It appears, to me at least, that the greatest impact preparing for the marathon has had on my strength training is that I was not able to balance both training routines at the same time. This is something I can learn from and seek to improve and plan for. This is just round one of the experiment after all - there's always next year.
2 sleeps to go.
Firstly, my clothes are hanging on me a bit more which suggests I have lost some mass. That could be nothing more than a lose of muscle pump you get from doing a weights session. The clothes aren't hanging really lose, only enough for me to know that I have lost some mass. Secondly, and more significantly, I have lost some strength. The reason for both of these outcomes is simple, I haven't been able to do strength training like I thought I would.
Throughout the last few months adding in 2-3 runs a week has pushed out my strength training sessions. I thought my schedule could fit in the extra runs without sacrificing my 3-4 strength training days. I was wrong. Life has been busier than I expected and adding the runs into my routine meant something had to go and since running has been the priority the strength training has progressively moved to the back of my priorities.
I tried to change my strength routines to full body workouts and that worked for a while but the closer I have come to the marathon the more time I have been giving myself to fully recover from the running. This has been especially true over these two final weeks . I am so conscious of getting injured that I am under strength training to ensure I don't hurt myself. The hip problem I had (have) put some fear into me and made me cautious.
It appears, to me at least, that the greatest impact preparing for the marathon has had on my strength training is that I was not able to balance both training routines at the same time. This is something I can learn from and seek to improve and plan for. This is just round one of the experiment after all - there's always next year.
2 sleeps to go.
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