I realise that I haven't updated my PB Blog in a while, having had a really disappointing run in London, I took a few weeks off training. However, after a few days I was chomping at the bit to make myself even better and I have taken this new enthusiasm into my training over the last month and a bit and really enjoying running again.
After any big race, especially the marathon, you always feel a bit flat and it takes time to get back into your running, The first 2 - 3 weeks when I come back from marathon training are some of the most horrible running weeks I ever have. Whereas before the marathon you feel like you are floating on air, the legs just feel heavy and really do not want to work!
Anyway, you get through it and I have had some good results these last few weeks, lowering my 10k pb to 34:32, and hopefully there is a bit more to come.
Onto POWERbreathe, I am still using the product, especially on race mornings as part of my warm up routine.
However, I have started to incorporate the POWERbreathe into my core workouts that I do. I can tell you now that you have never felt pain like trying to do a plank, whilst breathing through the K5! It is insane! Sometimes, I don't even get close to taking in a full breath!! I think if you saw me doing it you would think I was insane!
It has made my core workouts a hell of a lot more enjoyable, and I think I am getting a lot more out of them now than I ever did before, as I am working so much harder. When I can easily manage 10 press ups with the K5 in, I will tell everyone who cares to listen about it!!
To do these workouts, I have created a custom 60 breath workout on the K5 Breathe-Link software, and then just keep using the K5 whilst i am doing my core. When I finish the workout, I just start it again and keep breathing. I have set the load to 80cmH20 for all the breaths. This is now where near the maximum I can do for a normal 30 breath session, but it doesn't need to be! What I find really interesting is that there are some core exercises which aren't that much harder with the K5 in, and some that make breathing almost impossible!
When I get a bit of time, I will put together some of my favourite core+PB workouts to share with you all!!
Until next time…..keep working that core!