Crossfit and Running

Hello everybody!!!

When preparing for a marathon or half marathon, typically I have some weightlifting sessions during the week to strengthen the legs to keep the whole body in good shape. My heaviest lifts in the main 3's (deadlift, bench press and back squat) were 135 pounds in all of them, didn't have any particular motivation in lifting heavier than that, just reached that weight and didn't improve any more. I was careful to have my "leg day" at least two days away from the speed/tempo workout and everything was fine with that. I haven't had any injuries (yet) and managed to get better times from competition to competition. I am fairly organized when it comes to running and I like to prepare doing spreadsheets with the pacing that must be done and program it in my Garmin. I won't run faster or slower to keep it real and avoid hitting the wall.

In Venezuela, the political and economical crisis led to postpone or even cancel the races that were programed for the past 100 days of protests. And since I don't have any motivation to run without any personal record to break on a race, I listened to a friend's invitation and started in a Crossfit box.

All I knew about Crossfit is that it has weightlifting involved, high intensity exercises with little time, kipping pullups and that it was really easy to get injured. I was far from reality! I have been going to the box for one month now and I have seen improvements in my weightlifting and short distance running. Now I manage to deadlift 205 pounds, bench press 155 pounds and back squat 165 pounds thanks to some tips given by the coach and pushing harder than before. In the running department I shaved some time of my PR in 1k from 5:00 to 4:25, my mile from 7:58 to 7:42 and 5k from 26:32 to 25:19. Due to the fact that the bread and butter of Crossfit involves high intensity exercises such as box jumps and ball squats I am sure that my lactate threshold has improved. I also discovered that I really enjoy the gymnastic exercises (pullups, rings, handstands) and once again it made me push harder to improve.

For now I can only see the benefits from a sport that claims to have the fittest of the athletes. I cannot lie, still have the fear of an injury, but for now I try my best, being careful with my technique and enjoy the jurney. Let's see how everything goes when I start racing again in 10k, half-marathon and marathon!!!!