Weekly Rundown- The Curse of the Glutes?
Oh, hello! Welcome to the Weekly Rundown, hosted as always by that dynamic duo, Kim and Deborah. There was a bit of drama this week, but why would it be any different from any other week? Let’s get right into it! Sunday I did Day #4 of Caroline Girvan’s Iron Series, which was a full body strength workout. This is where The Incident occurred. During the first round of lunges I felt an ominous pulling sensation in my left glute, just to the side of my sacrum. ARRRRRG! Can I do ANYTHING without hurting myself? And I’ve only done lunges about a gazillion times (I used to do Matty’s “Lunge-a-Palooza” class!) I tried switching to bodyweight lunges, but even that was too much… that left side was f*cked. I did finish the workout, (leaving out all lunges) but I was not happy. Had I been struck down by The Curse of the Glutes (a term Kim coined to describe a mysterious wave of glute/hip problems people are having this fall)??? As the day wore on, I realized the one thing I couldn’t do was step up on my left leg. We don’t have stairs in our house, other than one step down into the garage. When things like this happen, I suddenly become aware that I go in and out of the garage about 9000 times a day (the washing machine is out there, as well as the recycling bins and the cats’ litter boxes, and we have a garage freezer.) Luckily it’s only one step, so I quickly learned to only step up on the right leg. SIGH! Monday The big question… CAN I RUN??? Although that left side was still achy and I still couldn’t go up that step, walking didn’t seem to make it worse so I headed out, hopefully, for a run. PHEW! I really wasn’t sure until I took those first few running steps. Sometimes walking doesn’t hurt, but there’s something about that moment where you have to balance on one leg and stabilize your hip muscles that can be hard on the SI joint… but it was fine. I ran 3 happy, happy miles. Tuesday Back to Caroline Girvan! Luckily for me, Day #5 was biceps, triceps and abs. Good, hard workout. Wednesday No school today because of Yom Kippur, so I got to do my longer run early in the morning. AND, it was only 71 degrees! I know that’s not exactly chilly, but it’s quite a bit cooler than what I’ve been used to. I ran 7 miles and it was… easy? Definitely easy compared to the last couple 7 milers I did in the heat, that really wiped me out. The heat never used to bother me, but it seems the older I get, the less I can tolerate it. Kind of a problem since I live in Florida! But for now I’ll just appreciate our little cool down, and look forward to even cooler weather in a few weeks. Side note- when I woke up this morning my arms were SO SORE from the previous day’s workout. I have to laugh at myself- let’s see, I lift heavy things on purpose until I’m horribly sore. Something is always hurting- do normal people live like this? Thursday Day #6 of Caroline Girvan was a “quad” workout, but when I previewed it, I realized it was very lunge heavy, including multiple sets of Bulgarian lunges (where your back foot is elevated.) I was still very, very nervous about that left glute/ SI joint, so instead of doing this workout I did one of her abs classes. Then after work I decided to pop out for a quick 3 mile run. Yes, it was hotter (82 degrees) but there were a lot of clouds and this run felt pretty good! Friday Okay… I’m going to try the Day #6 class. I did a long warmup, and then did the first round of lunges with only body weight… and it was okay! A little achy when I first started, but I could tell it was going to be fine. I did go lighter with the weights, but the class was still hard. I’m not used to Bulgarian lunges. Saturday 4 mile run! I got out nice and early, as the sun was rising. My favorite time of day to run. Sunday On tap…. sleeping in till 8:00 and then rolling out of bed in time to watch the Chicago Marathon! The waffles are already made- all I have to do is warm them in the toaster. I can’t wait to watch the marathon, and I’m so excited for everyone running it! Later in the day I’ll do Day #7 of Caroline Girvan- it’s another upper body workout and luckily my arms have finally recovered from the last one. So, in spite of the rocky start, I had a really good week of running. There was lots of foam rolling, and I used the hypervolt every day at work. For a couple nights I also forced myself to sleep only on my back- I don’t really like that, but I think it helped that left hip a lot. Now I’m feeling like things are pretty much back to normal. How was your week? Have you been a victim of The Curse of the Glutes? Are you watching the Chicago Marathon?