A few weeks ago I talked about adding more strength workouts to my weekly routine to improve my running, just doing one or two ten minute videos a week wasn’t enough. Shortly after I started adding more strength to my weekly routine, I noticed there was a new Apple Fitness program called Four Weeks of Strength for Runners hat immediately caught my attention. This program is made up of two weekly twenty minute total-body strength workouts with a different focus, like stability or core strength, each week. 

Being a little over a week away from my first October race, I decided to finally start the program at the beginning of this week. Sadly, I quickly realized that this probably wasn’t the right time to start this program because I fell again during my long run on Saturday morning. Even though the floor in that area is cracked and uneven, it was my fault because I was walking when I fell I wasn’t paying attention where I was going. I should have been more careful, especially since I was still just starting my run; I had finished about a mile and a half of my 6.5 miles that day. 

I shouldn’t have even dared to pick up a dumbbell two days later, but I was just thinking I wanted to start this program so I went ahead and started the first video that used heavy dumbbells.

It didn’t even cross my mind when I started the program that maybe holding ten pound dumbbells (that’s heavy for me) with a bruised hand would hurt or that I wouldn’t be able to do push ups because I do them on my knees and my knees hurt. If pushing down with my hands on the dumbbells wasn’t painful enough, this was a push up followed by a row with each dumbbell. When I couldn’t take it anymore I grabbed the eight pound dumbbells. Using dumbbells that weighed less was better than not doing anything or hurting myself more trying to overdo it.

I felt a lot better yesterday but I was still careful and after running I only did a short body weight strength video. I didn’t want to grab a dumbbell yet and hurt myself more. That helped a lot because my hand doesn’t hurt unless you touch it and I can barely see the bruise any more. I just finished doing the second and last video for this week without any problems.

I hope it continúes to go just as well next week. 

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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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