Weekly Rundown- Not Bad, Just Different
Well, it was a week! A week with some big gym workouts, and… pool running. You might remember last week I mentioned a little pain in my shin- by the end of the week it was bad enough that I decided to take some time off. That meant no July 4th 5K, but that’s okay. If I really, really wanted to run that race I would have done it, but it wasn’t important enough for me to run it with a sore shin. I’d rather take a little time off now voluntarily, than be forced to take a lot of time off later. Of course there’s still plenty to talk about! Thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting the Weekly Rundown. Let’s get right into it. Monday 45 minute pool run! Looking on the bright side, I’m incredibly lucky to have a pool in my backyard (it’s a Florida thing.) If I were going to say something negative, I would say pool running is REALLY boring. To break up the monotony I did intervals of hard “running” and listened to a podcast (obviously!) Tuesday I went to the gym with my son! We don’t usually go together because we’re on different schedules. But because of the holiday, our paths aligned. I did his “pull” day with him, and it was hard! Wednesday I went to the gym with my son AGAIN, and this time I did his leg day workout. It’s different than what I normally do, but I felt like a change. His workout is all machines- calf raises, leg extension, leg curls, adductor, abductor, and then he finishes it off with the most grueling sets on the hack squat machine you could ever imagine. Here’s how low he goes: We discovered that you can actually adjust this machine- who knew? (My son said, “Well, I knew, because I read the instructions.” Oh.) But even racking it on the low setting, it was only possible for me to go down this far. You guys, this is HARD. We did the same weight, and my son did sets of FOURTEEN. I did sets of five, and on the last one my son challenged me to do six, which I could barely do. I’m still going to do most of my squats with the squat bar, but I’ll incorporate some sets on the hack squat machine. You can get down LOW and work to failure in a way you can’t with the bar. At my suggestion, we finished with abs and low back. My son wasn’t into it, but he humored me. Thursday Another 45 minute pool run. Again looking on the bright side- it’s HOT here. It’s pretty nice to get in the pool instead of running in the heat and humidity. On the negative side- well… again, boring. Friday Back to the gym! My legs were still sore from Wednesday (obviously) so I did upper body- rows, bench press, overhead shoulder press- and calf raises. On Wednesday, I asked my son to watch me while I did calf raises, because it feels like my right leg is working much harder than the left. He confirmed that my right calf muscle is noticeable bigger than the left. AHA. The left side is the side with my plantar fasciitis, and less range of motion. So from now on I’m going to do calf raises one leg at a time, and focus on building up the strength on that left side. And I’m also doing calves every time I go to the gym. I finished off with abs and low back. Good workout! Saturday On Friday night we went out for Indian food with friends, and I had… a couple… glasses of wine. Saturday was the perfect day to take off, so I could sleep in a little before going to work. Sunday On tap for today- a run. Not in the pool! If my shin hurts, I’ll stop and get right in the pool. It’s been an entire week with no running, and my shin feels fine while walking. Fingers crossed! Whenever I take some time off running to rehab an area, it seems like the rest of my body decides to fall apart. My plantar fasciitis and my achy low back have been worse this week- must get back to running ASAP. How was your week? Did you run a race on the 4th? Does your body rebel when you take time off of running? Or do you like it?
July Coffee Date
Well, it’s the first Friday of the month, which means it’s time to join Coco and Deborah for the Ultimate Coffee Date! In spite of the record high temperatures here, I always drink hot earl grey tea in the morning. Grab a mug and let’s get started! The 4th of July has come and gone, and that makes me sad because it means that summer is half over. July 4th always feels like the midpoint, and my daughter’s school vacation is more than halfway done- they start school on August 10th. I don’t want the summer to end! In all the craziness of life, this summer has been a brief respite- my daughter hasn’t started high school yet, and my son has spent the whole summer at home. Once school starts, time will start rushing by. My daughter will be incredibly busy with high school activities, and my son will be living at school again, coming home to visit on the holidays. It’s very possible- probable- that I won’t have both kids home again for such an extended period, and it makes me sad. However! Yesterday, July 5th, I got this text from my sister: YES! July 5th is when the crazy people (i.e., us) start thinking about the fall holidays. It won’t be long before we start seeing Halloween ads! How exciting. In other news, my daughter finally got her septum piercing. I resisted it, then put it off, hoping she would forget, but she DID NOT FORGET, and we finally did it. I think if you like piercings in that area, it looks… sort of… cute. I’ve realized that I have to change my perspective about things, otherwise I’ll turn into one of those crotchety old people talking about how we did things in “my day” and muttering about “kids today.” So, bring on the piercings and turquoise hair (that’s coming up in a few weeks.) Why the hell not??? Lastly, if we were having coffee (tea) together, I would tell you that Engie is hosting a book club on her blog: This post explains the format, but we’ll be reading five chapters a week. The first “meeting” is July 10th, where Engie will post a brief summary of chapters 1-5 and some questions to get us started. We will discuss in the comments- I can’t wait! It’s not too late to join- grab your book and get reading! Have you read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn? – I read it as a teenager and am looking forward to reading it again. Do you feel like the summer is half over after July 4th?
The Lazy Person’s 4th of July
Okay- it wasn’t entirely our fault that the day turned out so lazy. Friends were supposed to come over, but one of them got sick at the last minute so they couldn’t come. To be clear, they didn’t “ruin” our holiday by not showing up. We were perfectly happy to sink into a stupor, as you will soon see. Usually my husband and I run a 5K on the 4th of July, but for several reasons (which I’ll cover in the next Weekly Rundown) we decided not to. We did not regret that decision! As my husband said, “I’m so glad we didn’t have to get up really early and drive 40 minutes to run in the heat with a bunch of strangers.” Yes, well, that’s called RUNNING A RACE. Instead, I went to the gym with my son. This was the one non-lazy part of the day, because his workouts are HARD. I don’t usually do a dedicated “pull” day, but I did his workout with him. Ouch. Shortly after we got home, I put together our July 4th vegan charcuterie board! The thing in the middle is a cheeseball- recipe from Nora Cooks. I also made a big batch of “Texas Caviar.” After this hefty lunch, I lay down on the couch to read. Funny thing about this couch… if I drift off to sleep, it’s like sinking into a black hole of DOOM. I ended up taking a long, long nap… I think it was around two hours. It didn’t help that my cat came and snuggled with me- who can get up when there’s a cuddly cat next to you? When I was finally able to get off the couch, it was time to make a berry cobbler. And when that was done, I started dinner! We didn’t grill, because that would have meant going outside and getting hot. But we did have burgers and sausages- Beyond Burger for my husband, Beyond sausages for my son, and a Field Roast sausage for me. My daughter doesn’t like any burgers or sausages, so she had leftovers from the previous night. Yes, that’s more Texas Caviar on my plate! We will be eating this for a few days. I made a huge batch since I thought we were having guests, so we have a LOT. After dinner I was reading on the couch when the fireworks started. We have a crazy amount of fireworks going off in our neighborhood. I kept looking out the window and saying “How come I can’t see them?” My son said “Because we’re INSIDE.” Oh! You have to go outside to see fireworks? No, thanks. It’s hot and mosquito-y out there. Two members of the family were not fans of the fireworks: This photo was taken earlier in the day. At night they were hiding under the bed, obviously. That was our 4th! While other people were going to parades and hosting barbecues, I was reading and catching up on my sleep. It was a good day. How was your 4th? Did you celebrate?
Weekly Rundown- So Many Miles!
Unfortunately, those miles were spent in the car driving. I had to drive back and forth to Tallahassee TWICE this week, to bring my daughter to camp and then pick her up. It’s about seven hours each way, so…. yeah. it was a lot of driving. But there were still runs and gym workouts, of course! Thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting. Let’s get started! Monday I dropped my daughter off at camp on Sunday, and then drove partway back home… I spent the night in Ocala. I had a little mini-break which I wrote about here. Before I explored the town, I found a beautiful trail to run on! 7 miles on this SHADED trail. Yep- we don’t have shade like this in South Florida. Tuesday Back to reality, and back to the gym for leg day. Squats, deadlifts, Runner’s Touch exercise. (I’m trying to incorporate more single leg balance work), calf raises, and since I knew I wouldn’t get in a dedicated upper body day this week, lat pulldowns. Funny thing about this gym day- the AC wasn’t working. Actually that’s not funny at all. It was terrible! I was literally dripping with sweat. Then, as I was finishing my very last set of calf raises, the electricity went out completely and they started herding everyone to the exit. I was incredibly lucky to get my full workout in! There were a lot of disgruntled people that day. Wednesday Speed work day on the treadmill! I approached the gym cautiously- would it be open? Would there be AC? Yes, and yes! Phew. Last week I did 12 x 400, and this time- after a 2 mile warmup- I did 8 x 400 but at a faster pace. It felt good. No photo though- there were people on the treadmills on either side of me, and I didn’t feel like calling that much attention to myself. Besides, all treadmill running pictures look alike. At night I did the now-famous Caroline Girvan Deadbug Workout. After Jessie said how much it helped her, I realized I haven’t been doing it, and my low back has been very achy lately. Maybe deadbugs will help? Thursday 4 mile run. On this run, I felt my shin. It’s really annoying, but whenever I do speed work, my shins start to hurt. It was at this exact same time last year- right after my July 4th 5K- that I had to take some time off because of shin splints. It’s like the universe is trying to keep me slow! It wasn’t that bad and I finished the run just fine- but I’ll be keeping an eye on it now. Sigh. At night I did the deadbug workout once again. Friday Back to the gym for leg day #2. It looked a lot like leg day #1, but I skipped deadlifts to give my low back a rest, and added Bulgarian split squats. To round out my upper body work, I did benchpress. I also did the hack squat machine again. My son showed me a video where a guy went all the way down, so that his calves were touching his hamstrings, and that’s what my son does too. This is me going all the way down though: I was going as far down as the machine would go- why aren’t my calves and hamstrings touching? My son said “Oh… you’re too short for this machine! Unfortunately a lot of these machines are built for men.” Hrumph. After work we drove up to Tallahassee. At least this time my husband came along (last week he had to work) so the drive was easier, BUT, we couldn’t leave until I was done with work and we didn’t get there till midnight. Ouch. Saturday I had resigned myself to running around the hotel parking lot, but my husband found a park nearby that had a trail! I loved this run so, so much. Parts of it were shaded, and then at times we were running through open fields. I think I liked it even better than my trail run in Ocala, because this trail seemed much less-traveled. It was very hilly! That was hard for us flatlanders, and after 4 miles my legs were trashed. We went to my daughter’s final concert, and then drove home. It was a long, long day. Sunday Oof. Since I didn’t work yesterday, I’m working today! Just a half day, after which I will come home and collapse in a heap. Possibly a deadbug workout later in the day. Do you like car trips? – This was a little too much driving for me, but it was still fun. How’s your weather? – It was 98 degrees in Tallahassee- even hotter than South Florida!