Weekly Rundown- I’m Outta Here!
Well, I had a frustrating week. I thought the calf pain was finished and then it came back. But we have to keep moving, right? I’m linking up with Kim and Deborah for this Weekly Rundown. Let’s get right into the gory details. Sunday It all started out so hopefully. Last week I had two pain-free treadmill runs so I decided to take it outside- what could possibly go wrong? Somewhere in the middle of the run I felt my calf, but I just focused on my form, tried to relax my lower legs, and lift my heels up behind me. It seemed to help, and I finished this run encouraged- 3.5 miles. Later I did the Caroline Girvan deadbug workout and my piriformis exercise (the one I hate.) So far the week is going great! Monday This was a strength day at home- Carline Girvan deadbug workout, an upper body workout from Sally McRae’s app, and all four of the hip stability exercises from Brad Beer. Feeling good! Tuesday Here’s where it all fell apart. I ran again on the treadmill- everything felt good until about 2 miles in, when I felt that painful pull in my calf again. OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. Is this ever going to end? Let’s just see what happens if I ignore it and keep running. I finished 4 miles, but it hurt. Sigh. Later I did my hip exercises. Wednesday Leg day at the gym WITH MY SON! He made us do some hard things, like the hack squat machine. I hate it so much! He insists that the whole point of it is to go down all the way (when he does it, his butt actually touches his heels.) On my last set, I was going down so low that I finally couldn’t push back up, and had to crawl out from under the machine. Ha ha, well I definitely worked to failure on that one! We also did deadlifts which went a bit better. Thursday Okay fine_ I’ll do a pool run. As I was going down the steps of the pool, I felt a jolt of pain- so now I hurt my calf doing a pool run??? I give up. Friday Back to the gym. 40 minutes on the stairclimber, and I had to fight with myself to keep going for 39 of them. I followed it up with the abs machines and called it a day. Saturday As you can probably tell, I wasn’t too happy with how the week went, but guess what- I’m leaving my troubles behind and blasting off to Texas!!! It’s the 4th annual mother-son road trip, and as I’m writing this on Saturday night we’re over halfway there- spending the night in Gulfport, Mississippi. Sunday On tap for today- a workout in the hotel gym! I already checked it out- the gym has four pieces of equipment, but I’ll make it work. And by tonight we’ll arrive in Waco. Do you like road trips? – I love them! Any advice for me? –Maybe I should just get my leg amputated and run with a blade. Those athletes run FAST. Top photo by Mithil Girish on Unsplash
Ultimate Coffee Date!
Uh oh… it’s the return of the Dumpster Fire Mug! We’ll get into that in a bit. But first, it’s August. NOOOOOOOO!!! I don’t want summer to end, but it’s drawing to a close. Of course I’m talking about the summer schedule, NOT the summer weather. More on that later as well. Since it’s the first Friday of the month I’m linking up with Coco and Deborah for the this coffee date. Let’s do it! There’s good news and bad news. The good news is, I’ve set a new PR! The bad news is, it’s a PR for the most frustrating injury ever. Once again, I had two glorious pain-free runs, and then on the third run- BAM. The calf pain is back. Just to mix things up, it’s in a slightly different place. What the…??? My husband, innocently and foolishly, suggested that maybe it would go away if I just “took some time off.” YES I KNOW THAT. As a matter of fact, why don’t I just stop running altogether? Then the problem will be solved forever. Just a word of advice- never suggest to an injured runner that the problem will be solved if they stop running. You might get your head bitten off. I’ll go into more details in the Weekly Rundown on Sunday (bet you can’t wait for that!) so let’s move on for now. My son and I are leaving for Texas tomorrow! That’s right- we’re leaving the Florida heat for somewhere even hotter. The forecast for Waco next week is around 98 degrees every day, which is actually over ten degrees COOLER than it was last year when we were there. This will be our fourth annual trip to Waco for the beginning of the school year, and the first year where we won’t be running all over campus with a mini fridge, getting my son’s things out of storage from his friend’s attic (did you know attics get very hot when it’s 110 degrees outside?) or moving a bed across town. No, this year my son is going back to the same house he lived in last year, where all his things have spent the summer. All we have to do is… arrive. After the drive, I’ll have two days to relax and goof off in Waco before flying home. I’m psyched. Let’s talk about THE OLYMPICS!!! Are you watching? I want to see more medal ceremonies! I’m pretty much just watching the prime time coverage, and maybe that’s the problem. But I remember back in the old days, all we had was prime time coverage and we used to see ALL the medal ceremonies! We even saw medal ceremonies where a USA athlete got a silver or bronze. I remember watching with my mom, and commenting on some of the other countries’ national anthems (my mom especially liked “O Canada.”) Are you watching the Olympics? – Track and Field is starting!!! Is it still summer for you, or are you in back-to-school mode?
Reading and Eating
This week I finished The Tokyo Zodiac Murders by Soji Shimada. It’s considered a classic in the genre, and while I appreciated the ingenious puzzle, the writing seemed kind of clunky. Maybe something was lost in the translation? Anyway, I’m glad I read it, but I think I’ll take a break from Japanese mysteries for a while. Here’s my reading schedule for the rest of the week- finish The Whispers and the book club chapters of I Capture the Castle (if you need details for the Cool Bloggers Book Club, check out Engie’s post..) On Saturday I leave for Texas, and I only want to bring one book with me, and that’s Ken Follett’s Fall of Giants. My son and I are driving there, then I’ll be flying back, and that will be a VERY long travel day. There’s only one thing we don’t love about Baylor University- it’s not convenient to fly in and out of Waco. For the return journey I’ll take a bus to Austin, and fly from there to Ft. Lauderdale. Because of the bus schedule, I had the choice to take an earlier flight that would require a tense Uber ride from the bus station and then a frantic run through the airport; OR, a later flight that will mean spending the afternoon waiting at the airport. Er- I’ll take the second option. It will be a day of reading! A 985 page book will be perfect. Let’s move on to eating! Today will be all about food prep for the trip. We always bring breakfast and lunch for the two days in the car, but this year we’ve decided to bring dinner as well. Breakfast is always “breakfast tofu” (from the No Meat Athlete Cookbook) on bagels. Lunch will obviously be the Cool Bloggers Chickpea Salad, from Nora Cooks.. For the first day of driving, we’ll bring homemade pizza for dinner. On the second day- unless something goes horribly wrong- we’ll arrive in Waco and have access to a microwave, so I’m making the Marry Me Chickpeas, again from Nora. I guess that’s a lot of chickpeas. But that recipe looks delicious, and we love chickpeas. I’m excited for the trip, and lots of good eating and reading! Are you participating in the CBBC? Have you started the book yet?
Women
Because I knew I would be spending a LOT of time watching the Olympics this week, I picked a book that I thought would be a quick and easy read. I’m definitely reading it quickly, but it’s not as light as I thought it would be. I knew the subject matter was heavy- a ten-year-old boy falls from a three-story window and is now in the ICU- but it’s even sadder than that. The story is told from the viewpoint of four different women whose lives intersect. Each of the four women is privately struggling in a different way with her attitude toward motherhood, career, and marriage. So much sorrow hidden from the rest of the world! I know this is a work of fiction, and I certainly hope most people I meet are happier than these women- but it reminds me of the saying “Be very kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.” You just don’t know what people are going through. Speaking of women… how about Simone Biles? Imagine the pressure she’s under. Everyone is watching her, especially after what happened in Tokyo. And on the first night of competition, she nailed it (in spite of hurting her CALF! I have some exercises for you, Simone!) That’s some mental toughness. It makes me think of another woman- Kamala Harris. Imagine the pressure SHE’S under! All eyes are upon her- half our country hates her, and the other half has pinned all their hopes and dreams for this election (and the future of our country?) on her. And she wants it! She obviously feels that she’s up to the challenge. Now that is a TOUGH WOMAN. Have you read The Whispers? Did you watch the first night of women’s gymnastics? Top photo by Suhyeon Choi on Unsplash