john18061806I run cross country at my high school and run in brooks. 5k XC PR is 18:44, not too impressive but working on shaving that down to beat my teammate who has an 18:21. He's a sophomore, I'm a senior, and he's the number one guy on our team, propriety is my priority- in fact my team has an off day wednesday but I'm doing a half-marathon run instead of resting. Enough of my little story/running resume... On to you.
42 miles a week is really impressive for a new runner. I'd recommend switching up the lengths, speeds, and styles of your runs for both fitness and enjoyment reasons. Some days you should run longer distances at a slower pace- maybe 10 or 12 and up. Some days you could just do mile repeats with short periods of rest in between (don't stop moving though). Hills workouts are hell but do wonders for your running- at least from my experience. Feel free to just run 6 miles too and just see how fast you can do one. You should sign up for a 10k which is 6.2 miles, it would be a good fit for you. Also Push-ups, sit-ups, planks, and other core/upper body strengthening exercises can prevent injuries by distributing the impact across those muscles more- just repeating what an assistant coach who regularly does ironman triathlons said, she's a boss. Anyways, have fun running, it's a great way to get rid of stress while challenging yourself at the same time!
Thanks a lot! I feel like switching up distance and rigor might be a good idea, seeing as I run the same route every time. As well, I actually do a calisthenics exercise everyday which goes as follows:
60 inline push ups (feet on chair)
60 weight shakes for forearms (two 20 lb free-weights)
15 curls right arm/ 15 curls left arm (two 20 lb free-weights)
30 curls both arms (two 20 lb free-weights)
60 ab pulse-ups (two sets)
2 sets of forty second chair holds (20 second break in between)
25 weighted pushups (two 20 lb free-weights)
80 curls both arms (two 20 lb free-weights)
15 wide grip pull ups
15 underhand pull ups
15 overhand pull ups
15 parallel bar pull ups