Monday: since I didn’t run on Sunday and wondered how I recovered, I did 40 min super easy run. Cardio wise felt good but my right hamstring felt a dull pain, 2/10 discomfort and my lower back felt tight, similar feeling from a month ago when we came back from the US. I decided to ask for an emergency physio session. My therapist is so nice and gave me the release I needed, needle involved.
Tuesday: instead of doing the workout I was supposed to do, I went conservative. I went for an easy run, 6.1 mile. Both hamstring and back felt ok. No complain. Slimfit was nice as usual.
Wednesday: 80 min easy run, 7.9 miles in and felt good. I was amazed by how much the physio release worked.
Thursday: 2 sets of 10 min faster pace. Originally it was supposed to be threshold pace (7:40 min/mi) but i commented on the app that i had lower back tightness and hamstring dull pain, the app made the 10 min pace super easy (9:10 min/mi) which i appreciated and ended averaging 8:50. There’s no point to push over pain at this point and considering I run at high effort last Saturday, it seems right to take it easy while keeping it as a workout. Slimfit followed and felt harder than usual. Yet I loved the single leg step down sequence, working hard both the hips and glute, and stability.
Friday: no run day but I went to the gym with husband. I’m doing one month trial. I did 10 min bike warming up, followed by running specific exercise like hip, abduction, calf, pelvic stability, single leg RDL, step down, totally an hour in the gym with hubby. I was surprised how busy the gym was for a Friday 10am.
Saturday: 6.5 miles easy run, everything seems to fall back into place. Excited for the long run the next day. I was working at the kitchen the most of the morning, surprised by the energy I had. When I am home, I can’t just lie down for more than an hour, I felt wanting to move around, and kitchen is my happy place.
Sunday: well rested sleep. Oh did I mention I’m sleeping alone this week? Because the air con in our master bedroom is broken so I’m sleeping in Lizzy bedroom alone with AC super cold and husband sleeps in our room. Sleep divorce is under rated. Anyway. I had 2 hrs 10 min easy long run in the book. I started super easy, mostly at zone 1, HR averaging 120 for half of the run, and finished 13.5 with some hill at the end and finished strong. I enjoyed this run a lot! My knee didn’t bother, the IT band for few mins, lower back left side was tight mid run but went away. I implemented tips for the hills and seems to work! Minor tweaks prevented lower back discomfort. I tried having dates as fuel, unfortunately it didn’t work as good as my beloved huma chia gel. I could feel the energy difference after dates vs gel. I will stick to the gels. After a good breakfast and call to my mom. I went to the gym with hubby. I did 600 meter swim very leisure pace. I enjoyed the sound and feel of water more than I expected. Then I enjoyed the sauna and jacuzzi. What an active morning!
Total miles: 43.5
Strength: 3 times
Cross: 1 swim
Yoga: twice at home 20 min
I need to figure out how to use this month at the gym to support my running and not replace/compromise it. Swimming is a good cross training.
That does seem complicated to fit in so much other exercise besides running! When I used to run I always felt mildly confused how to best fit in strength training without tiring out my legs… and of course just having enough hours in the day to do everything while still allowing enough rest and recovery. So how many times are you doing Slimfit? 2x? plus gym? plus running? Swimming at the gym sounds like a nice way to take advantage of the membership. I’ve been trying to do “fun” cardio/ mix it up 3x/ week for my 30 min cardio sessions lately. I had been doing these YouTube videos which were good but I suddenly just got bored with them. I’m wanting more variety and more like, functional cardio- things like hiking or biking or swimming etc. I’ve been doing a martial arts style class on Thursdays lately at the gym which I’m enjoying! Also some incline treadmill walking. Today Ivan and I biked to my parents’ house and back, about 40 min round trip, plus we walked about 3.5 miles all over downtown Milwaukee where we went to look (again) at Marquette University, one of the schools Ethan is seriously considering for college next year.
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That’s a good article on hill running! I have some hill repeats this week and I always have to remind myself about keeping good running form uphill. And to pump your arms! 💪🏻
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Huh! Maybe I need a physio release. That’s the way I would describe my hamstring- a dull pain. But I haven’t been noticing it as much because my low back has an even worse dull pain. I’m sure the two are related.
I’m glad your week ended so well! And you’re reminding me to try Huma gels again. I really like them, but they don’t sell them at the places I usually shop (REI and Dick’s Sporting Goods) so I keep using Gu, which also works well for me.
Swimming is a nice cross training!
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