Bulgarian Split Squats

DCtoPgh — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:32:14 GMT

Because my training had been progressing successfully with faster and easier runs, I thought that I'd incorporate some core work into my routine. Since I was at the gym I decided to throw in some Bulgarian split squats, demonstrated in the video below:

Even though I have strong legs, these are hard. I should have known better when my boyfriend, who pushes vans in the desert for a leg workout, recommended them to me. I did two sets of 8 on each leg with 2 5-pound weights. As a result, I have been unable to walk for the last two days. I've been the kind of sore where I tripped because I couldn't lift my leg high enough to keep my stiletto from catching a crack in the sidewalk. I've been the kind of sore where the pain woke me up at night when I was sleeping. On Wednesday, after a session with a client I went to stand up and couldn't without using my arms to push me up out of the chair. Those Bulgarian split squats put me in my place and showed me who was boss (not me).

Even though I was sore, I decided to get my runs in, hoping they'd help me loosen up. My 6 miles on Wednesday night were a complete and utter disaster. I knew my legs were shot but it was hot so I wanted to run through the park because there are water fountains. One of my favorite trails (Panther Hollow in Schenley Park) has a long, steady uphill that I usually run from the bottom up. Since my legs were so dead I thought I'd take the "easy" way out and run it downhill. Nope, that didn't work at all. In fact, my slowest mile was the downhill part because my quads were already shot. My pace for this 6 mile run was slower than my marathon pace from last year! It was the first bad run I've had in well over a month so I chalked it up to a bad day and figured it was due.

That, however was just the beginning. On Thursday I went running with my friend Steph who ran XC in college and qualified for Boston on her first marathon. Steph can easily place in local races and hopes to BQ again at Chicago this year. Let's just put this in perspective by saying that her planned marathon pace is about my 5K PR pace. We ran together because a) my tempo runs could be very slow recovery runs for her) and b) she knows the trails in Frick Park, which I've never run on and wanted to learn. I made a few critical mistakes: 1) Do not plan tempo runs on trails. 2) Do not run on new, technical trails on days where you can barely get out of bed. This run was abysmal. In a 3.5 mile run I had to stop twice to walk, which is uncharacteristic of me and terribly embarrassing in front of my very accomplished runner friend (who, I should mention, is the nicest person in the world and wouldn't be the type to judge). My "tempo" run which should have been about 8:45 pace ended up at a 10 minute pace. In some ways I think I'm being hard on myself because I was recovering from a tough few sessions and the terrain was more technical than I've ever run before, but it is disappointing to not meet goals that you've set for yourself.

What I've learned:

Bulgarian split squats are a great workout, but if executed should probably be left for Thursdays so I can recover with a rest day on Friday.
I love the trails in Frick Park! They are so beautiful and I can't wait to run there more.
I love running with other people, the time goes by so much faster. Steph and I blew through mile 1.
I need to be less hard on myself and keep in mind that external factors can effect my running and that bad days will pop up. And when bad days do pop up, you can only learn from them and move forward.

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Bulgarian Split Squats