Weekly Rundown- Back to the Trail
Ah, what a week! In addition to the usual shenanigans, I had to complete 24 hours of online CEU classes in order to renew my massage therapy license. To be clear, I had two years to complete these classes- I just “chose” to do it all in the last week (eye roll.) One of the classes I took was “Foundation Concepts of Core Stability,” and it reminded me how important the pelvic floor is. After my daughter was born, I couldn’t run five steps without peeing. I knew a lot of women had this problem so I didn’t take it seriously (I remember going to races wearing a pad, thinking that solved everything.) Eventually I read an article in Runner’s World that made it clear this is not okay. Your pelvic floor is a really important muscle of your deep core, and if it’s not working, then the rest of your body won’t work properly either. I found a pelvic floor rehab online, did the exercises, and the problem got about 80% better. Then I stopped doing the exercises because, to be honest, they’re incredibly boring (basically like kegels, combined with other small movements, coordinated with breathing.) Now I’m thinking maybe my pelvic floor needs a touchup- I’ll find those exercises again and add them to the list. Enough about urine! Let’s get on to the Weekly Rundown, hosted as always by Kim and Deborah (thanks, ladies!) Here’s how the week played out: Sunday Leg day at the gym- focused on squats and deadlifts, with calves and abs thrown in as always. My husband and I went together, and he was my photographer. Monday 4 mile run! This run felt pretty good- it’s always nice to have some clouds. Tuesday Upper body day at the gym. Bench press, lat pulldowns, rows, overhead shoulder press, and abs. I was scrolling through my phone to find my photo from the day, and there isn’t one! Oops- I guess I forgot. Wednesday 9 mile run on my old favorite trail! This is the trail I ran on while training for my 50k, and I hadn’t seen it since April. It was great to be back, but it was a little overgrown. Thursday Off! When fitting together the puzzle pieces of workouts this week, it made the most sense to make this my day off. Friday I started the morning with leg day #2 at home. I have mixed feelings about these at-home leg days. On the one hand I’m doing a lot of things I don’t get to at the gym- things I haven’t done in a while, and it’s been eye- opening. For example, on this day I did side planks with a leg lift, and I could easily do ten on my right side- but on the left side I could barely get through five without resting. Hmm! On the other hand, I feel like I should be at the gym twice a week working on my squats and deadlifts. Sigh. After I dropped my daughter off, I went out for a 3 mile run. Saturday 4 mile run before work! Sunday On tap for today: back to the gym for leg day. And in the afternoon, my daughter and I are finally seeing Barbie with some friends! It was a good week- I fit almost everything in. I didn’t get to do my treadmill hill workout, so that (along with two gym leg days) is on the schedule for next week. We’ll see how that works out! How was your week? Did you get the monster heat wave? – I think the midwest was hotter than Florida. Have you ever done pelvic floor exercises? Do you have any to recommend?