I lettered in four sports in high school, transitioning rather easily from volleyball to basketball to tennis each year. (I subbed softball for volleyball my senior year.) But once all that ended running became my primary form of exercise. Throughout college I'd hit the "Bear Trail" -- a 2-mile loop around Baylor's campus -- several times a week. When college was over I traded the Bear Trail for the sidewalk track around my large apartment complex at "The Village" in Dallas. Then we moved to rural East Texas, and the high school track was the only safe place to get in a good run, so Zach and I would go there several times a week.
In all that time I did a little strength training, but I didn't have a plan or knowledge of how to get the most out of strength training -- or really even understand why it was important.
After giving birth to Drew I used breastfeeding and training for a 10K to lose weight, and it worked really well. The 10K was the longest I'd ever run, and it was a challenge for me because I'm a decent, but not great, runner. I finished my first 10K in about 58 minutes.
5Ks are really more my speed, and I entered and finished many races of that length around the 30-minute mark. Zach and I were always interested in improving our times, and we worked in some interval work to see if that would do the trick. We shaved 10 seconds off here and there, but nothing to write home about. (On a side note, I was also interested in gaining some muscle tone in my legs, but it never really happened...I just figured it wasn't meant to be.)
Fast forward a couple years. I had just given birth to Kate, and was not looking forward to the prospect of pushing TWO jogging strollers around the block. Instead, we bought P90X as a way to work out at home without the kids.
Midway through our first round of P90X Zach's school sponsored a 5K, and we went ahead and entered despite the fact that we had not been running for more than two months.
I finished that 5K in 27 minutes and change. No official training. No logging long hours on the pavement. No sore knees and ankles. I'd been doing plyometrics/cardio twice a week, strength training and yoga the other days of the week.
Nearly three minutes shaved off my best 5K time.
Running is awesome exercise. It only takes shoes, the road, and desire. But if you are really interested in improving your times, protecting your body from wear-and-tear, and becoming a well-rounded athlete, you must cross train. P90X provided us with the schedule, the routines, and the science to change our body compositions so that we could run faster and perform better. And it's still working, three years later. (AND I finally got a leg muscle a few months ago!)
Check out this video of Tony Horton talking about how P90X and cross training is helping marathoners improve their fitness and finish times.
And if you're interested in how to fit P90X into a marathon training schedule, check out this article by Steve Edwards.
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Workout of the Day
P90X One on One Vol. 3: UBX
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