Before I started running last year, when I just exercised at home, I was used to doing lower, upper and total body workouts during the week. This was a mix of a lot of different cardio, strength and core workouts,but since I started running, that has been my main focus.I haven’t been doing a lot of strength training anymore, and when I do, I have been focusing more on upper body because I want to give my legs a break. 

It wasn’t until after one of my knees started hurting after long runs that I realized this was a mistake. Because running requires so much work from your lower body, it needs to be strong and that requires work outside of the track. Runners have strong legs, but this doesn’t just come from running, you have to strengthen them to be a better runner. I wasn’t doing this because I wanted to give my legs a break on days I wasn’t running and mostly focused on my upper body, which is still important but not so much for running. 

Because I was running, I had stopped doing as many HIIT, Kickboxing, strength training, core, and even yoga videos as I used to. When I did do strength training videos,I mostly focused on upper body. After a few months of doing this and as my running routines started getting longer, one of my knees started hurting after long runs and 5k races. At first I thought it was just a one time thing, but then it happened again and again. That’s when I decided to do something about it and realized that it was my own fault.

When you run, you can’t just focus on that, you have to take care of your whole body to protect yourself and avoid injuries. So after reading a little, I decided to start my Apple Fitness routines again, and because these are not new to me, I began with two 20 minute HIIT and Lower Body Strength videos, and two ten minute core and Yoga videos. 

My knees did not hurt during or after this or when I ran on the track yesterday. I realized that I have to keep doing HIIT and all the other workouts I was used to doing in addition to running, not one or the other. These other cardio and strength workouts help my lower body stay strong, which helps me endure the force running puts on my legs. These also have to be strong to increase my endurance and power while running and reduce the risk of leg injury by making joints and muscles stronger. 

All of these will help me get stronger and slowly this will hopefully help me complete all of these races I signed up for faster and make the two 10ks a little easier. 

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Published by mariacristinasanfeliu

I’m an aspiring writer still looking for exactly what I want to write about, with a lot of creativity, imagination and desire to write. I studied Writing and Rhetoric at Syracuse University where I explored many different sides of writing through my classes and extracurricular activities in order to narrow my search for an identity as a writer. I have written for Citrus TV Noticias and La Voz magazine, both of which gave me the chance to explore different mediums in which to write in. Through Citrus TV Noticias I also gained experience in translating from English to Spanish and vice versa, which is also something that I would be interested in working on since I am fluent in both of these languages. I was also an intern at Syracuse University Press where I got hands on experience in what goes into actually editing and publishing a book. Through out the last four years I have faced a lot of challenges, which helped chape the person I am today. After being in a tragic car accident, being in comma, having a Traumatic Brain Injury, and being in therapy for over a year, I am a new me, willing to face challenges and knowing how to deal with them. I want to write about my accident and life after it to help others, show them it can be done and help in any way I can.

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