healthy laps

Fitness Lap of the Week – Plan Your Workouts in Advance!

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It is so easy to get off track and unmotivated to workout at this time of year.  It is still cold and dark out when we wake up, and cold and dark when we leave work.  We are ready for the sun and for spring weather!

I normally work out in the morning, but recently I have been finding it really hard to get up to my alarm at 5am when it is so dark and cold out!  My warm bed is much more appealing. 🙂

I find that planning out my workouts for the week is a tremendous motivator.  I usually plan them out a month at a time, but leave myself rest days and the ability to switch days around if needed.  By planning out my workouts in advance, when my alarm goes off in the morning, I am more likely to get out of bed in order to check off that workout!  I hate looking back at the end of the week and looking at all of the workouts that I “missed” (and my husband hates hearing about it)!

For my monthy schedule, I usually stick to the basics and then each week I re-evaluate my schedule and plan in more detail.

Monthy Schedule

Weekly Schedule in more detail

M – Rest or cross train

T – Speedwork: 8×800’s with warmup & cooldown

W – 5m easy run / full body weights

Th – 1 hr spinning class (sometimes this ends up being a rest day if my body needs it!)

F – 6m tempo run / upper body weights

S – 4 mile pace run

S – 9 mile run

Now, this schedule might look quite daunting to some, but I am training for a half marathon that is in 4 weeks, so I need to keep my mileage up!  In a normal week when I am not training for anything, I try to plan 60 minutes of cardio 5 times a week and 2-3 days of weights.  I feel better when I workout!  It helps combat some stress and anxiety and frustration, and boosts your endorfins!

After making up these plans for so long now (because it really works for me!), I have a sense of which days I want to do certain workouts.  Since I do my long runs on Sundays, I like Monday to be a rest or yoga day.  By Tuesday my body is well rested, so I plan speedwork.  Wednesday I need more rest after the speedwork, etc.  Some weeks I switch things up, but I follow the same basic routine.  The biggest thing that I have learned is that as much as your body needs a workout, it also needs REST!  Rest is just as important, if not more important, than your workouts in order for your muscle to come back stronger and leaner!  My weeks normally look like this:

M – rest after long run, or some light cardo (yoga or walk)

T – speedwork!

W – easy day

Th – tempo run or spinning

F – tempo run or spinning (sometimes a rest day if needed)

S – pace run (or skiing in the winter or cycling in the summer)

S – LONG RUN DAY!

I really think that planning out your workouts for the week will motivate you more!  If you want to get stronger then you should make a weight routine the most important on some days with light cardio.  If weights are not your thing, then focus more on cardio with light weights.  It is all up to your personal preference of how you workout, but trust me, creating a schedule for yourself will motivate you and get you in shape for the summer months!

If you need help creating a schedule, let me know! 🙂

Filed under: Laps of the Week, Running Laps | Tagged: tip of the week | 4 Comments »