Weekly Rundown- I’m Getting There!
Ah, Florida… you can be so cruel. My husband- along with thousands of other runners, no doubt- is lamenting the fact that this weekend’s weather couldn’t have happened last weekend, when the Ft. Lauderdale Marathon and Half took place in the humid 80 degree (plus) temperatures. This morning was dry, breezy, and in the 60s. I took advantage of the beautiful day to do some rare trail running! But first… I’m joining up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Rundown! Here’s how the week played out. Monday Day off, as usual. But I will mention that I did the Somatic Movement exercises for plantar fasciitis every day this week, as I talked about in this post. Tuesday Ran 3 miles, followed by Gauntlet Plank workout. It’s come to my attention that the eleven plank variations in this workout don’t include a side plank- so I added that in. Wednesday Ran 3 miles, followed by walking lunges and more planks. Thursday Ran 3 miles. Did not do any strength work, due to the Incident of the Lost Cat (she showed up innocently at the door two hours later, as if nothing had happened.) That’s okay… I don’t like strength work anyway. There! I said it out loud. Friday Oh, darn. Day off of running so I did… strength work. The instructions for the Somatic Movements I’m doing- to reset and loosen the muscles in my low back, calves, and feet- include the advice not to do any intense stretching or strengthening exercises, for the time being. Well… I’m not sure if any of my strength training could be considered “intense,” but just to be on the safe side I stuck to all bodyweight exercises this week. On this day I did the Runners Touch and pushups. My current pushup routine is to do 54 of them (matching my age- next month I’ll have to go to 55!) – not all at once, but in sets of ten, divided between regular pushups, diamond pushups (your hands are making a diamond) and… my arch-nemesis, tricep pushups. I was really sore the next day! Maybe I need to do pushups more than once a week. Saturday Ran 3 miles (again) followed by Gauntlet Plank workout (again.) Sunday Ran 6 miles! SIX! Hooray! I went to a trail I discovered by accident last spring. I’m still trying to figure it out. I know that if I continued out on part of the trail I would be in the Everglades, but I’m not sure how far it goes. I also haven’t figured out an official access point to these trails, one that doesn’t require me to park in an empty field next to a “No Trespassing” sign and duck under a barrier. My husband pointed out that I could probably find a map of these trails somewhere… I COULD, but I could also just keeping trying to figure it out on my own. That seems like more fun! The portion of the trail above was disappointingly paved, but most of my run was done on dirt or packed gravel, and my foot really liked that. You would think stepping down on an uneven surface would be bad, but it somehow feels good. Maybe it’s helping to release the tightness in that foot. That was the week! My foot is holding steady, and I increased the mileage a bit. Anyone else have any fun trail adventures? Or was it all treadmill? I know the weather in Florida seems unfairly beautiful, but the tables will be turned in a few months. We have our challenging season as well!