Why good form is important

Remember how I pulled something in my upper back doing a heavy deadlift? Now I know why. I bend over too far away from my body when lowering the barbell, which puts too much strain on my upper back. I should lower the barbell while keeping the barbell sliding closely along my legs. Anyway, lesson learned. When the weight gets heavier, form matters even more. I have to take a break on deadlifts for awhile as my upper back heals, but at least I know how to change it later.

Anyway, in 2 weeks, I start training for the CARLSBAD HALF MARATHON! It's a winter one, so it's perfect for me. I'm going to go with a 16 week training program, where I increase my long run by 1/2 mile each week. Nice and slow. I do 3 runs a week. One is speedwork, another is a mid distance tempo run to build my lactic acid threshold, and the third is the long run to build my endurance. This way, I have time to still do 2-3 days of strengthening (split into upper body and lower body) a week and reserve a full day for resting.