walkers walk… but runners fly

Weekly Rundown- Back to the Gym (and the Gym Won)

Well, it was a busy week!  But I also started to get back to normal again after my race, and that felt good.  Yes, life goes on!  Thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting the Weekly Rundown.  Let’s get right into it.

Monday

A 3 mile run followed by planks and dead bugs.  I’m going to do core after every run!

Tuesday

Ah, this was interesting.  It was my usual after-work gym day.  I did bench press and lat pulldowns, but I was also itching to get back to lower body strength- it’s been three weeks since I had a hard leg day.  I did Bulgarian split squats with body weight only, and squats with just the bar.  I also did calf raises, something I want to incorporate into my routine.  I thought I eased into it sensibly, but…

Wednesday

GAAAH!  My legs are SO SORE.  After just three weeks off, it was as if I had never done a squat before in my life.  Sigh.  I did a 3 mile run and threw in some strides, but my legs just felt like lead.

Thursday

This was a crazy day, starting with errands before work and ending with us getting home at 10 pm after spending the evening at my daughter’s band rehearsal.  In the morning I did a 20 minute Caroline Girvan abs and core workout (from the Advent Series.)  It was a good choice for today, especially since my legs were still hella-sore.

Friday

4 mile run.  This was the first run since my race, almost two weeks ago, where I actually felt normal.  Hooray!

Of course I completely forgot about my plan to do core after every run- well, next week is another week.

Friday night was another late night with a band concert at the performing arts center in West Palm Beach.  I always grumble about these things beforehand, but once I’m there I enjoy it, and totally appreciate the opportunity for my daughter to play on an incredible stage in a beautiful hall.

Ha, one good thing about my daughter’s bright red hair- it’s easy to pick her out in a crowd! There she is on the right.

Saturday

Off!  After working all morning, I came home and had a lazy afternoon on the couch.  I took a nap with my cat and watched the Heat/Knicks game.  I’m definitely not one of those people who don’t know how to relax- I’m very good at it.

In the evening I had an emergency trip to Target to buy a new waffle maker, since my old one basically exploded last weekend.  Everyone knows Sunday is waffle day!

Sunday

On tap for today- the gym.  The soreness in my legs has finally subsided, and I’m ready to go back for another leg day.  I’m excited to do more strength training now.  My plan for May is to get to the gym twice a week, for both upper and lower body each day.  And, core after each run (ahem.)  As usual I’m having trouble figuring out how to put this all together with speed work and (eventually) long runs, but I’ll figure it out- the classic runner’s conundrum.

Have you experienced that intense soreness after leg day?- I seriously could hardly sit down (or get back up) for two days.

Is Sunday waffle day at your house? – I like making protein waffles after the gym!

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41 Responses

  1. You know I have had that soreness after working out at the gym or going to CrossFit! I did Bulgarian split squats on Thursday with dumbbells (20#) and my quads and glutes were screaming on Friday. I was lucky to be able to run on Friday, but yeah, they were sore. I also spent the afternoon on the couch yesterday. It felt good to be lazy!

    I’m not a waffle person but they do sound tasty!

    1. Yes, I’m sure you know that lower body DOMS! Bulgarian split squats are great, but they can do you in.

  2. I’m glad you had a good post-race run. Good luck at the gym today!

    I’ve had better luck with committing to core ^before^ my runs. Afterwards the call of the coffee pot is too strong. Plus doing core first helps activate those muscles. 🙂

    1. HMM! That’s a great point! Core before the run would be a good warmup. I’m going to try that this week.

  3. We actually do not own a waffle maker if you can believe it! Between me being GF and my husband not being a big waffle/pancake person, we’ve never felt the need to own one. My boys eat tons of banana pancakes (made with bananas, eggs, cinnamon, and vanilla) but the few times I’ve made traditional pancakes, neither liked them!! Paul did have a chocolate chip pancake when we were in AZ so maybe that would go over better. Who knows.

    I have had leg days that leave me incredibly sore but it’s been awhile. I am sure your legs are still recovering from the 50k and were like – what are you doing to us! Ha! But I am glad you had a normal run!

    My workouts have been abysmal and non-existent lately. I am hoping to get back on track and need to work on setting boundaries at work. To start I want to get back to Monday and Friday runs before logging into work. And then if things can normalize a bit, I’d like to leave at 3 one day/week to go for another run or go to the on-site gym.

    1. I think you could probably make some good GF waffles, but if neither of you are really into it, it’s probably not worth it. And I’m sure your work is still crazy- hopefully things will settle down and you can get in some nice runs this summer.

  4. My legs were sore this week too after some more intense lower body workouts. Feels good to be back at it doesn’t? Glad you took the time to recover properly from your race. Enjoy those waffles

    1. Yes, I thought your legs would be sore after you mentioned you hadn’t done it in a while! But it does feel good to be back at it.

  5. Wow, that really is a beautiful hall your daughter played in! I hear you – by Friday night I am DONE for the week – but it sounds like it was a really good experience.
    Lol, emergency target run for a waffle maker! Love it.

    1. Yes, the last thing I wanted to after work on Friday was drive an hour to hear a concert- but as usual, I was glad once I was there.

  6. It sounds like you are really settling back into a post-run routine. That must feel so good.

    How cool that your daughter got to play in that magnificent concert space! The driving is still awful though.

    1. Yes, I hate the driving- especially since I don’t like driving at night. My husband was able to go to the concert and he has no night vision issues 9unlike me) so at least I didn’t have to drive the second night.

  7. I was contemplating pancakes, but now I’m leaning towards waffles 😉 I did a spontaneous run-with-friends, early this morning, and still haven’t had a “real” breakfast yet. Oh gosh, the lower-body DOMS are the worst, hands-down!

    1. Yes, waffles! I’ll eat either one but waffles are the best. And yes- nothing compares to lower body DOMS.

  8. I’m really impressed by how quickly you bounced back after your ultra! Some DOMs are to be expected, I guess.

    Talking to people yesterday I realized I experienced zero DOMs from my hiking. It wasn’t that much (not as much as I sort of wanted) or anything crazy, but still it’s nice to feel sort of fit.

    Good luck figuring out when to get it all done!

    1. It’s probably because you do a lot of hiking- it’s whenever I do something my body isn’t used to that I get terrible DOMS.

  9. It has always amazed me how sore I get whenever I take time off from lunges or squats when I taper for a race. It’s as if I’ve never done them before. Sounds like a good plan for getting in strength training between race training cycles.

    1. Yes, I almost signed up for another big race over the summer- but then I reminded myself how much I want to do strength. Today was my second day back at it- hopefully I won’t be quite as sore tomorrow!

  10. Oh DOMS can be no joke! Great plan to get back into the gym. I agree with Coco – I find it easier to do core work before I run. My motivation post-run is non-existent 🙂

    1. I’m definitely trying that this week! After my runs I’m always rushing around to do other things- it’s too easy to forget.

  11. The arm workouts I do with Caroline Girvan are brutal and sometimes I can’t lift my arms the next day. Lol. Maybe I don’t push myself as much on leg day because I rarely get that sore during those workouts. Also, I tend to baby my left leg in particular because of an old injury.

    We don’t really do pancakes or waffles at our house, even though Bisquick has a pretty good GF pancake mix. Hm. I’ll have to ponder this and maybe we’ll start bringing in some breakfast for dinner once in a while.

    1. Oh yes- I believe those CG workouts make your arms sore! Hers can be brutal. And yes, you’re probably being careful of your left leg and maybe not pushing as hard. Or, maybe your legs are just strong.
      Yes, you should have brinners every once in a while! It would be fun.

  12. I think that’s a great plan to do more strength on “off” season. I’m aiming 3 30-45 min gym per week plus 5 runs on my base training season. I don’t always get to 3, but 2 is minimum.
    how do you plan your strength workout? I’m not sure we should train the same muscle over and over again or do a variety. I want to follow a plan but haven’t found a good one yet for runners. I got to Physio yesterday and will do more hip/glute exercise to correct a hip imbalance I have.

    1. I have to admit I don’t have a great plan yet for strength training. For lower body I do squats, deadlifts, bulgarian split squats, and now I’m adding in calf raises. I figure that covers just about everything, but am not sure if I’ll just do it all every time, or break it up- like squats one day and deadlifts a different day. My son will be home soon from college and I’m going to ask him!

  13. My shoulders were super angry with me on Saturday after lifting very heavy in my OTF class son Friday so I can 100% relate to that post-gym soreness, lol. It’s definitely not fun!

    1. Oh, I hate it when my upper body is sore, because then it affects my work. I can still do my job, but it bothers me all day.

  14. Well done getting back into the swing of things. I do personal training on Wednesdays and a base run on Thursdays, and sometimes I feel like I’m dragging my body around the streets for that one. It’s not that pleasant.

    I’ve made a lot of resolutions to do (insert warm-up, core, foam rolling) before or after runs and it’s hard to continually be that disciplined. Although you seem pretty good at consistently doing your workouts so I’m sure you’ll work out the best way to make it happen.

    1. That’s funny Melissa because I did squats again yesterday and then a run today, and my legs felt so heavy. Sigh! I guess there’s no perfect way to do it.

  15. that’s how my legs felt last week after doing lower body again after Vienna and not doing it for a few weeks. It’s wild how quickly that strength seems to leave, right? I was more sore than from the marathon!

    I can always embrace lazy after a long run. I love naps! Glad your runs are starting to feel normal again!

    Your strength/running plan sounds perfect. But don’t be too hard on yourself if it doesn’t always work out 🙂 We’re all doing our best but need to keep the flexibility!

    1. Yes, isn’t it funny- three measly weeks off and it was like starting over as a beginner! I’m sure there’s still some strength there, but it didn’t feel like it.

  16. I love waffles. For a while, they were on the menu every Friday night, but it’s more sporadic now…which is sad because waffles are AMAZING. My husband likes to make them savory, so he’ll add a poached or fried egg, some green onion, a savoury sauce etc and they are also SO good. A regular at-home date-night choice at our house.

    1. Yes, savory waffles sound good! Maybe I’ll try a waffle dinner one of these nights with my new waffle maker.

  17. oh yeah… I do know that feeling of doing too much on legs when at the time it seemed reasonable!! OUCH. I’ve only been to my new gym twice now and have been tempted to throw in more leg and bum work (I’ve got an ease-back-into-it program that does not include any sort of squats or lunges) but so far have managed to get through the temptation!

    no waffles here. we are so predictable with breakfast. well, with lunch too hahaha! though I saw a tiktok on cottage cheese pancakes and want to try them tomorrow since it’s my day off.

    I used to be in the orchestra. I would have loved it if my mom would have come to my performances. great that you support your daughter this way!

    1. Your mom didn’t go to the performances? I always feel bad for the people whose parents aren’t there. I played in band/orchestra all through school and my mom came to EVERY SINGLE concert- she deserves a medal.

  18. Glad to hear you are recovered from your ultra… nowyou can think of another. LOL

    When I go tot he gym, I only use the machines for my arms, abs and hips.

    My legs are left to running…

    1. I was wondering what you do at the gym. I want to make my legs stronger, but it’s so hard to do both.

  19. You are doing well after your ultra! I have had plans to get to the gym multiple times this week, but it’s just not happening. Just like running, the gym will always be there for me when I’m ready! I just don’t have time with all of the end of school year stuff going on. I hope to get back to doing squats some day. My knee is just not agreeing with them lately.

    1. I’ve been good about getting to the gym, but it’s making running hard. My legs constantly feel heavy and slow- I’m hoping I’ll get used to it.

  20. Sorry about the DOMS, but glad you are back in the gym! Hopefully it’s getting easier from here. Fingers crossed. Recovery is no joke!

    1. Thank you Anne! It is getting a little easier… still hard to figure out the scheduling of speed work/gym/long runs. It’s almost like it’s impossible to do all three things well in the same week.

  21. Sorry for the DOMS, but it sounds like you had a pretty good week nonetheless. I definitely get sore after leg workouts – often when I don’t expect it .

    We make waffles very RARELY in our house and usually never for breakfast (more like an afternoon treat).

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