Weekly Rundown- It’s Fall! (Florida Style)
Hooray! I always say we have a change in our weather by the third week of October- and this year was no different. It wasn’t cold, but we had some cooler mornings. Instead of 90s, we had highs around 80, and I’ll take that! Thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting this rundown- let’s see how the week went. Sunday Ah, Sunday! I had such a great trail run! It was in the 70s and cloudy for most of this run, and the whole thing felt easy. I ran 8 miles and really enjoyed it. Monday Alright, back to the hard stuff. It was Day #10 in Caroline Girvan’s Iron Series, back and biceps. My biceps were so trashed by the end, I had to go down to 5 pound dumbbells for the finisher (how embarrassing.) Tuesday In the morning I did Day #11 of Caroline Girvan, which was legs. This was a Lunge-a-Palooza! Other than some squats in the beginning and some calf work at the end, it was all lunge variations. Ouch. In the afternoon I got out for a quick 3 mile run. Luckily, I got this run in just in time before the DOMS from the morning workout set in. Wednesday Day #12 of Caroline Girvan, which was chest and triceps. Doing her workouts three days in a row insured that my entire body was sore. Fun! Thursday AH! It was our coldest day of the week- 61 degrees when I went out for my run. Brr! I ran 4 miles, and forgot to take a picture. I’m kind of mad about that because I was wearing my favorite “winter” tank top. Ha ha… yes, I have summer tank tops and winter tank tops- you can tell I live in Florida. It actually stayed in the 60s all day and was overcast and rainy. I was able to wear my long sleeve fall shirt- wearing a long sleeve shirt in October doesn’t happen every year! Friday Caroline Girvan Day #14- posterior chain workout: glutes, hamstrings and back. Then in the afternoon I got out for another 3 mile run. It’s kind of ironic that I wrote a whole blog post about how much I love my morning runs, and then this week I ran twice in the afternoon… it’s just the way things worked out. Our weather warmed up a little and it was 80 degrees for this afternoon run- but cloudy and breezy. It felt good! Saturday OFF! This is the second Saturday in a row where I took a day off, and I’m liking it! Again, I slept for eight hours. After work we watched Baylor win their Homecoming game, yay!!! We’ve had a couple tough games lately, so it was good to see them win again. Sunday On tap- a run to the beach! It’ll be 9 miles, unless I decide to add a little extra and make it 10. I haven’t done this run in a while and I’m looking forward to it. One other thing I added this week was a tiny bit of plyometrics. In this post I talked about the things I learned from Stacy Sims’ book, Next Level, and one of them is that plyometrics are really important for keeping muscles and bones strong after menopause. I have to be really careful here because of my “difficult” foot (wait- you didn’t think my plantar fasciitis was gone, did you? No no no… I still have that.) I just did ten jump squats after my runs- baby steps! If my foot can handle it I’ll progress to a more advanced plyometric routine, eventually. What’s your ideal running temperature? – In the winter we’ll get down to the 50s (sometimes) and I enjoy that, but I think my favorite is low 60s, like we had on Thursday.
Next Level- Three Things I Didn’t Know
You know the saying, “The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago; the second best time is now.” I really wish I had taken menopause more seriously, in the years leading up to, and when I was going through it. I never had hot flashes or mood swings, or any other symptoms. All that happened is that I gradually stopped having my periods, and who would complain about that? I used to joke that menopause was the best thing that ever happened to me. Yes, of course it was- except for those PLUMMETING ESTROGEN LEVELS. In Next Level, Stacy Sims explains that estrogen promotes muscle growth and strength, regulates inflammation, controls body temperature, and is critical for maintaining bone density, among other important functions. She says we need to change up our training to make up for the loss of estrogen we experience after menopause- and she specifies that “The typical one-dimensional stress that you put on your bones by running and lifting isn’t going to cut it.” ACK! Now I think that a number of problems I’m having (the most obvious being a loss of bone density) are caused by menopause. If I could go back, I would have started doing these thing in my 40s. But now I’m 56 and ready to plant that tree! The book covers supplements, nutrition, hormone therapy, sleep, but the main focus is exercise. There are three key components of training post-menopause- and they may not be what you think. First up… running. Sims is all for running, but says that it’s important to incorporate high-intensity sprint interval sessions into your training. When you do SIT (sprint interval training) your body pumps out human growth hormone and testosterone, which increases lean muscle. SIT also decreases cortisol, and less cortisol means less stimulus for putting on body fat. SIT also triggers an anti-inflammatory response. Long endurance exercise can actually increase cortisol, so it needs to be balanced with short, strong high-intensity training. Of course, it doesn’t have to be running. Sims says it may be easier to incorporate sprints on a bike, or even kettlebell workouts. She gives several examples, including tabatas and hill repeats. Next up- strength training. Sims says “If you do nothing else, do this: lift heavy sh*t!” She says light lifting and even moderate lifting- in the 10-12 repetition range (which is what I’ve been doing)- aren’t effective enough. Heavy lifting- six reps or less with as much weight as possible- will replace the muscle and strength building stimulus that you lose as estrogen declines. Again, she explains how to do it safely and gives a warmup routine, as well as examples of “heavy lifting staples”- squats, deadlifts, and bench press. Those first two I was vaguely aware of- I’ve definitely heard the hype around HIIT and knew that there were reasons for heavy lifting- but the third was new to me. Plyometrics! Okay, plyometrics aren’t new. But I didn’t know that (according to Sims) they’re essential for keeping your bones and muscles strong. What’s fascinating to me is that plyometrics actually trigger epigenetic changes. That means when you jump, hop, or bound, certain genes are turned on that stimulate cells to improve power and the composition of the muscle. Studies have also shown that jumping just 10 to 20 times a day significantly improved bone density in the hips. And no- running isn’t as effective (boo!) It’s too similar to the normal stress of walking. Jumping in different directions sends messages to the bones that they need to remodel to get stronger and handle the stress. So obviously, tomorrow I’ll be sprinting, followed by 20 minutes of plyometrics, and then doing a heavy lifting session. JUST KIDDING- I would probably end up in the hospital. But I will be transitioning into these activities SLOWLY. After reading this book, I understand how important these activities are, and I definitely need some help. If you’re in your 40s I would beg you to get this book and start preparing yourself. If you’re post-menopausal like me, it’s not too late! Please check out this book- we’ll get strong together. I’m joining My First 5K and More, Running With Attitude, Run Laugh Eat Pie, Runs with Pugs, and Zenaida for their Fit Five Friday linkup- thanks ladies! Do you do heavy lifting or plyometrics? If you’re post-menopausal, have you experienced bone or muscle loss, or weight gain?
Yes… But I Ran.
This Sunday, after a stressful week, I went for a trail run. I got out early to beat the heat, I had my hydration vest with a water bottle, nothing hurt, and it was a beautiful run… just what I needed. After I came home, showered, and ate breakfast, I was sitting on the couch reading blogs. My cat came to sit on my lap and I lay my head back and started to doze. This is the life!—— “MOM!!!! You said you’d help me with science fair!” NO! NO! Nononononononononoooooooooooo!!! It’s the DREADED SCIENCE FAIR PROJECT. I don’t know about you, but our family has always hated science fair. We’re just not good at it- something always goes wrong with the experiment, and we’re terrible at putting the board together. We’re musical, but not visually artistic (as you will soon see.) Years ago, this humorous science fair board was making the rounds of the internet, and it definitely sums up the experience! Okay, fine. My daughter had already conducted the experiment (the “half-baked idea of dubious merit.”) We got to work printing, cutting, and gluing… and finally came up with this beauty: It really wouldn’t be so bad if the title didn’t look like a ransom note. I suggested we put some music notes on for decoration, but my daughter felt it was better not to draw too much attention to her board. Okay, fine- it is what it is. And what it is, is DONE. I went from working on the science board to baking a cake, to doing laundry, to making dinner… many times during the afternoon I thought “This was not how I wanted to spend my day off,” but then I would go back to that trail run. I felt like part of my mind was still there and I experienced the same pleasure as I had while actually running. Even my little “injuries”- a spot on my shoulder where my hydration pack chafed, and a wound on my leg from a prickly plant- were reminders of my morning adventure. The feeling is strongest on the days I do a trail run, but any run will do it. No matter what I’m faced with for the rest of the day, I can look back to the morning and think “Yes, but I ran.” Thanks to Kim and Zenaida for hosting Tuesday Topics! Are you a morning runner? Do you feel like your morning workout stays with you for the rest of the day?
Weekly Rundown- The Garmin Doesn’t Lie
Well… not my favorite week. My daughter (or rather, her hormones) decided to go berserk, and although I know it’s just a phase, it’s not really fun to have someone angrily criticizing you all the time. Meanwhile, our car woes continue- now my husband’s car is in the shop, and they’re telling us he needs a new hybrid battery (to the tune of $5500.) I’m starting to think the universe is trying to tell us something… maybe join an Amish community and drive a horse and buggy from now on? I like horses. On top of all this- or maybe because of it- I couldn’t seem to get a decent night’s sleep. Every night before I went to bed I thought, “I’m too tired to work out tomorrow. I just want to sleep in.” But then I figured I would feel even worse if I didn’t exercise, so I just got up and did it anyway. At this point I’m sure you’re pretty excited to hear about this thrilling week of workouts, so let’s get into it! Thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting. Sunday I’m slowly working my way through Caroline Girvan’s Iron Series on Youtube. There are 30 workouts in the series, and I do one on the days I don’t run. This was Day #7, shoulders and triceps. Another good, hard workout. Monday After a very brief (and slight) cool down following Hurricane Ian, our heat and humidity are back! The humidity is especially overwhelming. I did a 3 mile run- I’m still “jeffing,” doing run/walk intervals of 4 minutes running/30 seconds walking. And oh yes- my hamstring is still achy. But the glute issue from last week is gone, so I’m happy. Any running is better than no running. Tuesday Day #8 of Caroline Girvan was a glutes and hamstrings workout. My hamstring aches during the deadlifts, but I think it’s helping more than it’s hurting. At least that’s what I’m telling myself! Good workout. Wednesday For a while I was trying to do my long runs on Wednesdays, but I now realize I was out of my mind. Wednesday is my day off, but I have to take my daughter to school. At that point it’s just too hot to start a long run. I’ll try that schedule again when our weather cools down, but for now I’m moving my long run back to Sunday. 4 mile run, followed by some crunches on the stability ball. When I was doing Peloton I would do a short core class on running days- now I just do some basic core moves on my own. Thursday Back to Caroline Girvan! Day #9 was a full body workout. While I was doing it I thought this one was a little easier- instead of focusing so much on one or two muscles groups, the misery- er, effort- is spread around the body. But Friday morning I woke up sore all over, so I guess it was harder than I thought! Friday Another 3 mile run followed by some core. I somehow managed to hit the sweet spot of the morning where the humidity dropped slightly but before the sun heated everything up too much. It felt good! Saturday Well, I finally decided to sleep in. I work Saturdays, so if I want to work out I have to get up pretty early… and I didn’t. Instead I slept for EIGHT HOURS. I seriously can’t remember the last time that happened. I had vague plans of doing Caroline Girvan later on, but, well… Yes, I ended up taking a nap on the couch with my cat. No regrets! I needed a day off. Sunday On tap…. a trail run! This is the first time I’ve actually been excited about a run or workout all week. It’s going to be a long(er) run of eight miles… or so. Maybe a little more if everything feels good. That’s the week! I’m hoping next week will be a little calmer, and my Garmin won’t tell me to do breathing exercises. Serenity now! Do you take a day (or days) off during the week?- I used to always do my long runs on Sunday and take Monday off, but somehow I’ve gotten away from that schedule. Does your Garmin warn you when your stress levels are high? – I’m not sure if I like this or not!