Hello all! It’s been a minute, but I need to get back in the groove. I still do the things I’m doing, and I don’t do a great job posting/blogging about it. I’ve recently learned, I’m horrible at being part of a community, which means I’m not the greatest at creating a community. That is not what I want. I want this to be a place where people can share their accomplishments and failures. I want this to be a place where we lift each other, help through hard times, and become the best versions of ourselves at any given time. To accomplish this, I need to share, and listen, and be present. I haven’t been present, but I’m still here.
I see you. I hear you. I support you.
So here I am sharing my workouts from last week. I’ve been feeling bad the past two weeks. I have been fighting fatigue, headaches, and some pulled muscles. Just as I was getting over one thing, something else would pop up. I didn’t let it get me down, but it was hard to find the motivation to do much. Those are the times when I have to make myself get up and move my body. Sometimes it’s slightly better to focus on the movement instead of the act of exercise.
I’ve been training for a Stateman Cap 10K virtual edition. I’ve run this race before and it’s one of my favorites. I’m happy to be running it virtually this year because it’s helping me with my goal setting. I’m feeling motivated to get run things done! I’m trying to build my mileage back up to be ready to run a half marathon at the drop. What is it that they say? “You don’t have to get ready if you stay ready?” Two Fridays ago, I walked a 10K to see my baseline. My goal was to walk it in 90 minutes, but I didn’t meet my goal. I walked it in at 1:30:44. I was almost there, but I didn’t make my cut. I am still satisfied with the result because that was a “worse case scenario.” That was walking when I felt my legs weren’t moving quickly, and I still finished close to my goal.
Last week, I focused on the workouts I could do. I pulled a muscle in my neck, probably doing a core workout. (Do you think that’s a sign I wasn’t doing the exercises correctly?) I ended up doing the activities I could do without irritating my neck.
My workouts for the week of March 8-14, 2021
Monday, March 8: 3.1-mile walk at 15:30/mile pace. 30 min pop walk + extra mile workout
Tuesday, March 9: REST. My neck hurt so bad, so I chose to chill on the couch with a heating pad. That worked because the next day, I was able to pick up my activity.
Wednesday, March 10: 3.50 miles on the treadmill at 15:25/mile pace. Peloton 10 min warm-up walk + 30 min walk and run + 10 min cool down walk.
Thursday, March 11: Peloton ride – 30 minutes intervals and arms ride + 10 min cooldown run
Friday, March 12: 5.3-mile run + walk at a 14:28/mile pace. It was much warmer this week than last week. I wanted to try for another 10K, but it just wasn’t happening. I did the walk/run at a much faster pace than the previous week, but I was losing salt very quickly.
Saturday, March 13: Peloton 30 min power walk at 14:59/mile pace. I pulled a calf muscle that morning, and I wasn’t sure I would be able to walk. It was slowish, but I got the recovery walk to complete my week.
I didn’t focus any on strength workouts during this week. With my neck issues, I was afraid to try anything. I did do an arm workout during my intervals ride, but that’s it. I like to do two strength workouts during the week, but I will also focus on some upper body stuff and my core workouts.
Why am I walking?
I’m walking because when I’m running, it wreaking havoc on my body. Ever since giving birth, my running form has changed so much. It’s not pretty, and sometimes it beats up my body. I have to meet myself where I’m at and not where I use to be.
I made a video about this, and I didn’t promote it because I was ashamed. People will look at me differently because I use to be a “strong” runner, and now I’m walking. BUT thing this is: I still enjoy it. I always enjoy going the long miles, and I feel like walking helps me get back into more comfortable running. My leg still drags behind me, but I’m working on hip mobility, stretching, and core work to get this better under control. I’ve learned in the past, the more I run, though, the less of a hindrance the leg drag becomes.
I can’t be ashamed of this. I need to embrace it.
My focus for this week: more strength workouts, getting more quality sleep, and continuing building my weekly mileage with more bits of running.
How have your workouts been? What is your focus for this week?
