Do you know what’s super lovely about rest? Actually resting.
Train Like an Athlete 6 Week Training Plan Review
I just finished Jess Allen’s Train Like an Athlete 6 Week Training Plan, and I promised to put together this Train Like an Athlete 6 Week Training Plan Review post for y’all.
First, upon completing the program, you’d think that maybe I took “before and after” photos to share. Spoiler alert: I didn’t. My goal had nothing to do with aesthetics, though I do feel that some of my muscles got more defined (shoulders, quads, and upper back namely). However, all I wanted was to feel stronger (and be able to run trails/hills better). Overall, I accomplished that. If you follow my Instagram Stories, you can see any “progress” you’d be looking for, since I share a lot of these workouts daily there.
Train Like an Athlete 6 Week Training Plan Review
Click HERE to save this post for later.
The program breaks down as such:
- 6 weeks
- nothing but bodyweight and dumbbells required
- 5 workouts a week with no repeats
- 20-30 minute workouts, max
Train Like an Athlete uses functional movements with minimal equipment to help you create an athletic physique and perform to your potential. You will complete 6 weeks of constantly varied programming using only a set of dumbbells. One of the best features of this plan is that you can repeat it and continue to challenge yourself by increasing the weights or the speed that you complete the workouts.
Although workouts are only 20-30 minutes in length, they require focus and intensity. While the workouts are intense, be sure to scale to your ability. Remember, there is so much variety in the program that you will be able to repeat workouts later to measure progress. Workouts will target different training goals like metabolic conditioning, HIIT (high intensity interval training), strength/balance, and overall conditioning to maximize your time.
You are prescribed 5 workouts per week. This allows you to insert rest days or optional training when it works best for you. Work hard, but listen to your body!
What I Liked
- Variety. You know the feeling. You start a new 6-12-week workout program, but by the 3rd week, you’re bored to death because it’s the same workout week after week. For some goals, you might need a program like that, but not for my current goals. There is never a workout during the 6 weeks that is repeated, which meant that I looked forward to every single one.
- Minimal Equipment. I used 3 things the entire time: these dumbbells, my own body weight, and our treadmill. That said, you could get by with even less. Review the program to see the size dumbbells you’d mostly use. For me, I typically always used 20, 22.5, 25, and 30 pounds (I could have stuck with just 2 of those weights, though, if needed). You could also run outside for the days she has the 400m sprints included in the workouts. Or if that wouldn’t even work, then maybe just swap it for something else like jump roping or another high intensity (short duration) activity.
- Minimal Space. The only thing that took up any kind of space for this program was the treadmill, which, again wouldn’t be critical to have. I did these workouts in small spaces sometimes, and it didn’t affect the quality at all.
- Minimal Time Requirement. I think the shortest workout I did was around 10 minutes, and the longest was about 35 minutes. Barely any are 35 minutes, and on average, I spent 20’ish minutes per workout.
- Plenty of workouts. Do the math. 6 weeks of 5-per-week workouts. That’s 30 different workouts for $67, which means that each workout cost me $2.23 (but that doesn’t include doing multiple rounds of it). I don’t have a gym membership (we spent our time, energy, and money building a home gym). I work out, currently, 100% at home, so $2.23 is nothing.
- Full Explanations. Each move has a direct clickable link to Jess showing how to do it on YouTube. Once you click the link there are no long, drawn-out demonstrations. She just gets right to it so you can understand the exercise in 10 seconds or less.
Here is an example of a workout. You can save this workout for later by clicking HERE.
What I Didn’t Like
Nothing. Honestly, there was nothing about the program I did not like. I wanted to find something I didn’t like, but I couldn’t come up with anything so I won’t even pretend there is something I didn’t like.
Would I recommend it?
100% YES! How can you be certain that I’m legit on that? Actions speak louder than words. I have already started the program over, ready for round 2! (Math again, friends. This means that each workout has now been reduced to about $1.12 per workout.)
I kept track of what weight I used for each workout and how long each took me to complete during round one.
This time, the goal is to see if I’ve improved. My plan is to (mostly) keep the weights the same, but see if the reps in prescribed time or time on the whole improves.
After just the first 3 workouts, I will say that everything has improved from round one. I have shaved minutes off from the first round, and no before/after picture could be more proof in the pudding. Stonger, friends, stronger.
Questions? Let me know! Happy to answer.
p.s. Jess did not pay me to write this. She did not gift me the program – I bought it on my own, and I would recommend it over-and-over again. And here she is – meet Jess!
Xox,
SKH
Trail Hog Survival
My second Brazen Trail Race held the theme Trail Hog Survival.
Around mile 9, I overheard a guy say, “It’s just survival at this point.”
I really could not have said it better myself.
Trail Hog Survival
Don’t let these next two images fool you. They were taken before the race when I had no clue as to what was ahead!
Let’s set the stage for all of you who do not live out in this area of California or who have never run in the mountains and/or run in general.
The temperature that morning during the race was 103-105 degrees. Garmin told me total distance covered was 13.7 miles. The website said we would climb 1,800 feet (though a guy I know told me he recorded upwards of 2,200 feet).
Unless you’ve done a race like that, it’s hard to imagine exactly what that combination would feel like. I had zero clue because even the day before when I knew what it was going to be, I thought it wouldn’t be that big of a deal.
Wrong.
I had two goals for this race coming off of my first trail race ever, and that was to beat my time (since the overall climb was less) and not stop for pictures, water, food, or anything else.
Not only did I not hit either of those goals, but I was far from hitting them.
This race took me about 10 minutes more to complete, and I had to stop at the last aid station for probably a good 3-4 minutes because I needed electrolytes and some salt stat.
The race started fine….for about 2 miles, and then it all quickly went downhill. I won’t even for a minute pretend that I “have no idea why” because throughout the entire the race all I could think was, “this could have been prevented” or “there is no way this could have been prevented.”
It broke down (literally) as such with 5 main things….
- Hydration. This one both could have and could not have been prevented. I was not properly hydrated going into the day, and then on the course, I simply could not catch up with how much water and electrolytes I needed. I knew it was going to be rough with the heat, so the night before, I went out and bought a CamelBak. Even though it held 2.5L of water, that was gone within the first 5-ish miles probably. It wasn’t until the very last aid station (around mile 11) when I was able to temporarily re-hydrate. It was the first aid station I stopped at, and during my time there, I downed 3 glasses of water and 2 electrolyte glasses of water. (I also had a handful of salted nuts because my skin and hair were covered in salt, and my body needed it desperately.)
- Heat. This one could not have been prevented. I’m typically chronically cold, never warm. But for the past month, I’ve felt constantly too hot. Even still, I had zero clues to what being too hot and running a (climbing) half marathon too hot would feel like. The heat was absolutely brutal. What made it even worse is that most of this course is not shaded. I would be running for what seemed like miles (or wait, it probably really was miles!) in pure sun and heat. Even my legs felt like they were burning (which was confirmed after when I saw a heat rash on them). I was so hot that I started getting chills. During those moments, I’d run super slow or just walk. But no matter what, I could not escape the heat.
- Trails and hills. This one could have been prevented. Trails and hills are what trail running is all about, so if I am to get good at this, I really need to run more on trails and get in better shape for hills, hills, hills. Trail running in California is no joke. Technically Trail Hog is one of the lower climbs I’ll do through New Years, and yet I know that even climbing all of 1,800+ feet was hard. Yes, yes, yes, I do realize the heat had a lot to do with it, but part of getting better with trail races is to get better at the uphill (and downhill, for that matter).
- Bandana. This one could have been prevented. I will wrap a bandana around me somewhere for the next trail race. On three separate occasions during Trail Hog, so much sweat got in my eyes that I was temporarily blinded and it stung like crazy. I’ve never experienced that before, but the sweat while running for hours at a time is so real.
- Sleep deprivation. This one could have been prevented. I told you in my August 2017 recap that I’ve been having a crazy amount of energy (maybe too much) these past few weeks. While I like to think of it as a good thing, where it has affected me is in my sleep. I’ve gone a few weeks with no more than 7 hours a sleep a night, and that works for neither my training + races nor will it work to help keep SIBO at bay. I felt so tired on the course that day, sort of dizzy and faint all around, and I know the sleep deprivation went into that equation. (I’ll have you know that finally on Sunday night I reached my 8-hour sweet spot again.)
I’m proud of the finish, although it was a tortoise pace for me, and not for reasons you might expect. I’m proud because of that tortoise pace.
The ambulance had to come, and I saw people on stretchers. I saw a man on the side of the trail (over 1/2 a mile from the aid station) who was in very bad shape and had to wait for medics to get it. Ryan told me people were dry heaving at the finish line. Others collapsed upon finishing or had to be rushed off for quick medical attention.
I could have run faster, but it would not have necessarily been better or stronger because it would have taken me out of anything physical for quite some time.
My health has been so great for such a long time now that I didn’t want to put myself in a position to ruin all the hard work I’ve done for a race like that where it was more survival than setting PR’s.
Shortly after the race, a guy I know messaged me, “Well I really hope that you don’t let this one race discourage you from any of the Ultras.”
Nope. Not stopping. Not even for a moment did I think I’d never do one again. In fact, I got home and within 24 hours had signed up for the next…..Goonies on October 21 with a 13.1-mile course and gain of 2,734 feet. With less than 7 weeks to go, I’ve got a lot of training (and sleeping and eating!) to do. The training strategy for these next 7 weeks includes more overall weekly mileage, at least one day a week on a trail or hill somewhere (or at the very least a hard running, not walking, session on the treadmill), a full day of legs, and WOD’s to fill in the gaps.
Did I mention how much I love, love, love trail running? Even in the awful heat, and even though I have to refer to this race as the Trail Hog Survival race, I had so many moments out there saying, “Thank you, God. Thank you for all the beauty in nature you have created.”
Because it really is something incredible.
Where are my trail running friends at?! Have you ever a run a race in heat like this? How do you structure your weekly workouts? What has made the biggest difference for you in getting better, faster, and stronger on the trails?
Xox,
SKH
Running is a Metaphor for Life
Every single time I run, I learn something new about myself or about life in general. Running is a metaphor for life, and I believe deep down that that’s what keeps me going, tells me I’m never going to stop.
Shortly after the I finished the Livermore Half Marathon yesterday, I posted this on Instagram,
One run can change your day, many runs can change your life.
For a few weeks now, I have been battling an ankle/calf injury. I decided last week to give in and not run (or really do much of anything) for an entire week with the hopes of at least making it to the finish line. Between that and the extra help of KT Tape (p.s. I totally need some hot pink KT Tape now, too!), compressions socks that a friend borrowed me, and a wrap around my ankle, my ankle/calf held up just fine.
I did get mild cramps (I’ve talked about how running – on certain days – induces these for me HERE) around mile 2-3, but luckily when I slowed down and breathed for awhile, they went away and never fully developed.
Ironically, the two things I was most worried about were ultimately not what held me back from the PR that I was (and always am) shooting for. Around mile 5-6, my quads started burning badly. It started before 2 miles of awful hills (miles 7-9) and by that time (mile 9-10-ish) they just felt almost numb so somehow my body went on autopilot. But because they were so tight, sore and achy, I had to stop – FOUR times to be exact – for a super short time, so that I could “squeeze” them with my fingers to work some of it out.
Yes, yes of course it helped. But I had to stop FOUR times. My heart hurt a little as I crossed the finished line, and saw the time because it truly wasn’t that far off my PR (Nike Women’s in San Francisco, 2009: 1:48:30). (And for the record, I was like 26 when I did that with no children, no injuries, perfect training, and had a major Nike support system leading up to it.) If I didn’t have to stop, I would have PR’d, barely, but still would have. Here were my final results from yesterday.
When you run long distance, you learn something very quickly….there is a lot of time to think. I told a friend I’d think about the impact of running on health while out there on Sunday. Honestly? It was the first race where I feel my mind didn’t really want to think and overthink, but instead just be right there, with my breath, and the strides, for the moments.
But after, I returned to my thoughts, and they all came down to the fact that running is a metaphor for life.
5 Ways Running is a Metaphor for Life
Click HERE to save this for later.
- The battle is with yourself. I love this quote, “Running is nothing more than a series of arguments between the part of your brain that wants to stop and the part that wants to keep going.” (unknown) Because it’s true. Do I think running is competitive? Of course! But I think the real battle is deep within. When your body hurts or you’re not sure how you can crank out one more mile, the only person you compete with is yourself. I love what Kara Goucher says about the inner voice, “My inner voice has always been a struggle for me. If I don’t work on it, it will be quite self-defeating.” These voices and this battle show up in life daily.
- Pain vs. pain. There are two kinds of pain. One that means don’t go anymore or you’ll get hurt. The other means this is hard, really hard. We experience the same types of pain in life, and it’s so important to know the difference and to make decisions based on the type of pain.
- There will always be someone faster and slower than you. And in life, there will always be someone smarter, more successful, taller, thinner, funnier, prettier, etc., etc. than you. But their circumstances, both in running and life, are also different. They don’t share your same journey. And this then wraps back to number 1 – the battle is with yourself.
- Every day is not a PR. Do I always go into a race hoping to PR? Yes, of course. But with running, just as in life, not every day is a PR. And in fact, it should not be because if it was, all those PR days would be meaningless. If every race, and every day, was a high, that’s all we’d ever know, and it would no longer be extra special.
- It’s about training, not the race. I kept on seeing all these signs on the course, “You’re almost there. Get to the finish line so you can be done.” But in running, and in life, there isn’t really ever a finish line. If I didn’t view running as a journey to the next race, I’d never enjoy the running process. Setting a race goal is absolutely important, but just like in life, once we hit that goal, we don’t just stop what we’re doing altogether. Instead, we arrive in those moments, and then keep moving forward to the next.
I don’t run for the abs (because I’ll **never** have them). I don’t run because it always makes me feel 100% (because it doesn’t, recovery is still fairly hard for me). I don’t run because I think it’s the best and most optimal way to overall health, vibrancy, and wellness (because it’s not – I don’t care what anyone says).
On the best of and worst of days, running is there.
I run because running is a metaphor for life, and in my life, the emotions run wild when I wildly run.
p.s. What’s next? I’m spending this week getting my body back to feeling great. Today I have a massage scheduled, and then I’ll be doing weight training, biking, and walking the rest of the week. My super-fast and talented friend Carrie is helping me move forward to the next race and suggested the week off of running (at least until the weekend when I can potentially do a few miles). I’ll spend the week building my next training schedule for the next race, The San Francisco Half Marathon (though, I do wish I were doing one in June. I had my sights set on San Diego Rock ‘n Roll, but I’m not sure that date works in our schedule). I know for sure that I don’t want to do a full marathon any longer. I really love the half marathon distance, and I believe that with the appropriate shoes, analysis of my stride, appropriate rest and recovery, and training schedule, I will PR and then PR again, and again:)
Xox,
SKH
Week 5 Bigness Project
It was a hard week for me, but nonetheless, on Sunday I finished week 5 Bigness Project, the 14-week hybrid strength training journey I’m on.
- Click HERE for the recap of Week 1 Bigness Project.
- Click HERE for the recap of Week 2 Bigness Project.
- Click HERE for the recap of Week 3 Bigness Project.
- Click HERE for the recap of Week 4 Bigness Project.
Week 5 is the same as week 4 with regards to exercises, sets, and reps.
And honestly, it wasn’t even the lifting that made my week so hard. In fact, most lifts, I continue to feel stronger.
Week 5 was a major struggle on the running circuit, though.
I am starting to feel like an elephant with rollerblades on when I run, and this is not to correlate elephant with “I feel fat.” The correlation is just that my legs feel heavy, and my training runs feel awkward and harder than usual.
I improved zero with respect to running this past week, except maybe a little improvement mentally because I had to.
The beginning of the week was just very average, but by Friday on through to week 6, I just felt so off.
I don’t want to make excuses because I try my best to avoid that, but on Thursday I had to do a 12-hour SIBO breath test strict diet followed by a 15-hour complete fast. And on Saturday when I woke up for the weekly long run, my never-a-friend aunt flo came to visit.
The SIBO test re-triggered my SIBO, and if you want to know the truth, I spent most of Saturday (yes, even along the way during my run) after the long run and all of Sunday in the bathroom.
(enter sad, sarcastic face) It’s so awesome that I can’t even describe it to you.
But this is a blog about doing life fearlessly while living with autoimmune + SIBO (more on all of this soon, hopefully tomorrow).
And again, I’m not making excuses. But I also know that for me, super strong runs barely ever happen unless I’m near 100%.
Week 5 Bigness Project
Click HERE to join along the journey via Instagram (+ I put a ton of food + my workouts on Instagram Stories, too!)
Monday: Off! Just a long walk.
Tuesday: Leg Day, Quad Dominant, followed by 3 x 1200’s paced at 7:37.
Wednesday: Chest and Back. Later that day I did 7 miles at 8:21/pace.
Thursday: Leg Day, Hamstring Dominant.
Friday: Off!
Saturday: Long Run (13.62 miles at 8:23/mile pace). I did this run in the vicinity of where the March 26 half is at. It was hilly, and I realized that I am nowhere near in good enough shape for hills. Back to the drawing board.
Sunday: Arms and Shoulders, and then a long walk.
This week, week 6, is actually just a cut week for lifting. By “cut,” I mean, there will be no lifting (most likely). (I’ll resume week 6 either next week or right after the half, depending on how I’m feeling.)
I’m heading to Expo West on the official blogging team.
It’s supposed to be “peak week” for my training since Saturday will mark 2 weeks until my next half marathon. My goals are to run, run, run through it all, and just work through my mental challenges.
This is just a bump in the road, and definitely not a battle to quit.
Xox,
SKH
Week 4 Bigness Project
On Sunday I finished week 4 Bigness Project, the 14-week hybrid strength training journey I’m on.
- Click HERE for the recap of Week 1 Bigness Project.
- Click HERE for the recap of Week 2 Bigness Project.
- Click HERE for the recap of Week 3 Bigness Project.
During week 4, many of the exercises get an added set. The notch is turned up during weeks 4-5, but I had to listen to my body.
After last week and the awful quad burning I got during my runs, I reached out to a super strong runner I know from way back in the day when I worked at a health and fitness club. She gave me three main tips, all of which I implemented immediately. They were as follows:
- Don’t overdue the strength training leg days so they are so burned out you can’t run.
- Run at least 1-2 slow miles almost every single day, just to keep them going.
- Slow down the long run.
Results? A much better week for the old quads! I never felt that deep burning sensation, and yet, quite honestly, not too much changed.
I kept the arms and shoulders + chest and back according to Bigness Project plan. On the leg days (both quad and hamstring dominant), I reduced the amount of sets from 5 to 2-3, depending on how much it would work the parts of my legs that were overworked (i.e. squats).
Most days I ran, but slowly. In fact, I made note that on those days I was even singing to myself. Running and singing…..ah, bliss.
And last week’s long run was significantly slower than the prior week. I ran 11 miles, pacing at 8:33/mile.
Finally, I actually started foam rolling. From my How to Build the Best Home Gym blog post, I quick ordered the PROCIRCLE Foam Roller, and it’s just lovely. We keep it in our room, so throughout the day and at night before bed, I’ll roll a little. The grooves in it really help dig into the quads (and my lower back). I highly recommend it!
Week 4 Bigness Project
Click HERE to join along the journey via Instagram (+ I put a ton of food + my workouts on Instagram Stories, too!)
Monday: Off!
Tuesday: Leg Day, Quad Dominant, followed by 2 easy miles paced at 8:59/mile.
Wednesday: Tempo Run. A total of 5 miles with the middle 3 around 8:49/mile.
Thursday: Leg Day, Hamstring Dominant, followed by 1.5 miles slow and 6 x 400 sprints.
Friday: Arms and Shoulders.
Saturday: Long Run (11 miles at 8:33/mile pace).
Sunday: Chest and Back, followed by 2 stroller miles (with my main man Zay) paced at 8:42/mile. I actually had planned to do like 3-4 miles, but the BOB wheel was about to fall off. Such a pain, even though Isaiah thought it was funny!
I am trying yet another new thing this week to see if it will help my training even more. I’ll report back next week!
I feel like I continue to see such positive changes, both mentally and physically, and after talking to a friend this past weekend, realized that I really don’t want to be a year-round marathon training bug. I just don’t think I have it in me to be a marathoner, and that’s okay because this is my journey.
I do, however, kind of feel like I want to be a year-round half-marathon training bug. Doing so still allows me to do things like the Bigness Project, and gives me a sane(r) schedule. Plus, I really love the 10-mile mark!
Tell me: Do you prefer half or full marathon training? And why?!
Xox,
SKH