EEP! I forgot to post my review of the week of Feb. 19-25

More biking than PT for the first time in a while.

Like always, I’m running late for everything in my life, including this blog. I’ve had a very busy last week or so, and am preparing to go on vacation Saturday, so you can say my life is a bit hectic right now.

But! Last week was still pretty decent for training. I made it to the pool and did a bunch of trainer riding and rehabbing. I didn’t have a chance to lift weights or do anything else as the week got away from me. But, I got the chance to hang out with family and friends, which is important, too. And fun.

Of note, last week marked the first week since the first week of January that I did more biking than I did rehab/PT work. That’s partly because I am trying to do 112 fake trainer miles (Ironman distance) for February, and partly because I have been slacking on my PT homework. It’s just… so tedious and I have a hard time making myself do it lately, especially because I don’t have a timeline for returning to running yet. I feel like I’m in the PT Groundhog Day repetitive loop vortex.

Anyway, last week I did:

Bike: Three trainer rides for 35 fake trainer miles in about 3:38. This included a “long ride” of about an hour and a half on Saturday.

PT: Four times, once with my therapist and three homework sessions, for about 2:30. WAY slacking this week. I have exercises I am supposed to be doing every day and, ugh.

Swim: Once in the pool for 2000 pull buoy meters in about 55 minutes. I mean, I’m only using my arms, so I’m going to be slow.

Total: Eight sessions in a bit longer than 7 hours. I mean, it’s still an average of an hour a day, so it’s not too terrible???

I probably have to call it for the week as I do last-minute vacation errands after work Thursday and Friday. I hope my summer clothes still fit, because I haven’t had a chance to try anything on, let alone go shopping. Flip flops and loose dresses for the win!

Week in review Feb. 12-18: Decent training over four workout days

Lots of PT and time in the saddle.

It was a decent week. I had fewer sessions than the week before, but the ones I did have tended to go longer, so my overall training time was greater. Yes, a lot of that “training” time is really physical therapy and the homework that comes from that, but it counts. To me, anyway.

I didn’t make it to the pool but I did get on the bike three times. I increased my gearing by one to test out my knee, and it felt OK afterward every time, so that helped me get in a little more fake trainer mileage. I lifted weights on the weekend, and although I only did my PT homework three times, I did the whole pack of exercises given to me by my therapist instead of just the ones I’m supposed to do daily. Which, um, I didn’t.

I ended up taking Tuesday, Friday, and yesterday (Sunday) off from any training so I’m happy I got as much done as I did in only four workout days. Tuesday and yesterday ended up allocated to food prep and errands, and I think I was just a lazy bum after work on Friday.

By the numbers, it was:

PT and rehab: Four times, 1 PT session and 3 homework sessions, for about 3:30. What I did do this week, I committed to, so there’s that.

Bike: 3 times, all on the trainer because it’s February in Michigan, for 30.5 fake trainer miles in about 3:25.

Weights: 1 heavy/body weight session for upper body and abs in about 30 minutes.

Total: 8 sessions in about 7 hours, 25 minutes. Not terrible. I would have liked to see more pre-hab, a yoga, and a swim in there, but I’ll take it.

I’m getting frustrated that all this rehab and PT homework isn’t getting me anywhere, but I am trying to focus on what I can do instead of what I can’t. I can bike easily, I can swim with my arms, I can do upper body weights, I can do my PT. I’m going to try to focus on that and have a good week this week, too.

Oh yeah! Detroit has an indoor velodrome now

I haven't been doing much training lately. It's been a combination of being busy, being tired, and my knee being sore. Ugh.

But! One exciting thing I did do a few weeks ago was visit Detroit's new indoor velodrome. I don't know anything about velodrome racing, but I have watched a few crit races in person, and tickets were something like $10 general admission. I paid an extra few bucks for actual seats. I figured, I have definitely spent more on dumber stuff, so this was a no-brainer.

The inner part included seating, including these "suites" of couches and tables.

We had so much fun! The track was 1/10th of a mile around, so there were a lot of laps. There was a whole lineup of races, from youths to pro. There were scratch races (typical race, first across the line wins), elimination races (whoever crosses the finish line last every other lap is out) and some crazy stuff called a Madison. It was a partner race and after a few laps, partners would clasp hands and one would fling the other farther along the track. I have never seen anything like it!

FLINGING each other back into the race!

Although I didn't really know what was going on, the announcer did a great job narrating the action and getting the crowd excited. Concessions were something ridiculous like $1 each. It was a great night and I definitely want to go back. Maybe I'll take my dad, who did some cycling and rode a century when I was a kid.

The velodrome offers a Track 101 class and I SOOO wish my knee was feeling up to it. I mean, I can barely ride clipped in, I'm sure I can manage flinging a partner into the race. Haha.

From the catwalk above the track, you could see everything. It was awesome.

Feb. 5-11: The first 5/7 of the week went pretty well

At least I had a nice variety of workouts.

Well, the week started off great. I was doing my physical therapy homework every day, got on the bike, and even made it to the pool. I was pretty much snowed in on Friday and tried to make the best of it with a new-to-me workout AND weights AND my PT homework.

And then I totally fell off the wagon over the weekend. Instead of doing any training, I farted around, took a nap, went out with friends, ran errands, and food prepped. So it wasn’t a total waste, but I’m beating myself up for not doing at least the bare minimum of my PT homework. Ugh.

One fun thing I did Friday, being snowed in, was find a couple of the Royal Ballet Company’s online classes (here and here) and followed along (well, tried to) with the barre parts at home. I danced ballet for a decade and was even in pointe shoes for a couple of years, but let me assure you that it is NOT like riding a bike. I would love to take it up again but I really have neither the time nor the cartilage in my knee – it was a little sore afterward. Oh well. I have to live my ballet dreams vicariously through the occasional barre class.

Anyway, actual training for last week was:

PT and rehab: 5 times, 1 PT session and 4 homework sessions, for about 3 hours.

Bike: Twice, both on the trainer, for about 1.5 hours and 13 fake trainer miles.

Swim: Once in the pool for 2000 pool buoy-only meters in a bit less than an hour.

Other: Online ballet “class” for about 50 minutes.

Weights: One session of heavy/body weights for upper body and abs for about 30 minutes.

Total: 10 sessions in almost 7 hours. That’s almost an hour more than last week, so, yay?

Overall, not a bad variety, lots of pre-hab, and almost an hour a day on average, so I can't be too mad. We'll just count the weekend as rest days and move on.

A look back at January

January breakdown.

January training wasn’t as terrible as I feared it would be. Yes, it was frustrating that my attempts to swim and bike had to be dialed back a little. But the theme of the month was physical therapy and I did a LOT of it, both at the clinic and at home.

I got the month and year off to a good start with a New Year’s Day barre class and jumped into physical therapy the next day. I started back with easy-ish Trainer Road workouts, and tried a real swim later in the month, but after more tenderness in my knee I stepped it down to easy spins on the bike only, and pull buoy swims only. One week my knee was hurting enough that I did nothing but PT.

I tried, I really tried, to stay positive and think more about what I COULD do than what I couldn’t. But it’s hard. I had to pass up an indoor triathlon I’d wanted to do, and my Facebook memories are reminding me of the 30-mile weekend I was training for this time last year. I can’t help but feel angry, frustrated, and sad that I am so restricted from the things I love and that help keep me healthy. But I don’t know what else to do other than keep plugging on. The month of January was a perfect example of plugging on, doing what I could.

My monthly totals were:

Swim: Twice, both in the pool, for 3600 meters in about 2 hours. No surprise that I am super slow, especially considering I’m really only using my arms after having swum only a handful of times last year.

Bike: Five trainer rides for about 53 fake trainer miles in 4:45. (This official bike total doesn’t count the easy warm-up spins I do before my PT sessions.)

Weights: Two barre classes at the beginning of the month and then my upper body and abs routine at home once, for about 2:30 total. I seriously could barely move my arms after trying to do chinups for the first time in forever, so I have some work to do.

PT and rehab: 21 sessions, including 8 in-person physical therapy sessions and 13 “homework” sessions of the exercises given to me to work on, on my own, for about 11 hours total. 11 hours total!!! This is exponentially more than I did all of last year. I have a lot of work to do (I am still hilariously bad at anything to do with balancing) but my therapist says she is starting to see my hips and hamstrings get a little stronger.

Total: 31 sessions in about 20 hours, 13 minutes. When you look at it as one per day average for the month of January, I guess it’s not bad!

NB: I didn’t do any official yoga in January, I realized as I added everything up, but I DO do a decent amount of stretching as part of my PT.

For accountability’s sake, let’s also take a quick look back at my loose goals for 2018:

Work through my health issues and re-start a training schedule that gets me back to racing. Well, this PT is hopefully sending me in that direction, and I am optimistic even my easy swims and bikes are allowing me to maintain some multisport fitness. And I had a good doctor’s visit earlier this month that confirmed we’re moving in the correct direction with my thyroid and overall health.

Run some cool places, maybe another marathon. I think a marathon is out this year, but maybe I will be able to do a fun 5K in a few months.

Work on whole-body health, incorporating things like yoga and pre-hab. As noted, I do a decent amount of stretching as part of PT, but I’d like to better incorporate standalone yoga into my routine, too.

Keep a healthy work-life-training-family-friends-other balance. Still working on this. I need to get to bed earlier, for one. But just looking back at my calendar, I see that I hung out with friends a bunch of times and family at least twice in January. So I’m counting that as a win.

Have fun. I did do some fun stuff this month! I made some yummy food and delicious treats, I tried a few new breakfast spots, I spent time with family, I got back in the pool, I finally saw the new Star Wars movie, I took a day off to fart around and run errands on my own time. I didn’t take any exotic vacations, but I still have some good memories of January.

Of course I had room for improvement, but overall I’m happy with how January shook out. Hopefully I can use that momentum for an even better February.

A quick, belated week in review for Jan. 29-Feb. 4

Lots of PT and rehab.

Ugh! It’s been a busy couple of weeks. I’ve had a bunch of family and friend activities on the weekends, weekday evenings filled with physical therapy and PT homework, and general assorted other life drama. I even took a day off last week and I am still feeling time crunched. Again: Ugh!

Last week was another physical therapy- and PT homework-heavy week with two in-person sessions and three at-home sessions. Starting this week, I am doing more homework and only going in to see the therapist once per week. I still have a lot of work to do, but my copays are ridiculously high, and I feel like I have enough of a base built that I can continue to improve at home. Plus, since I really want to get back to running eventually, I have the motivation to continue to do it.

Last week’s training worked out to be:

PT/rehab: 5 sessions, two with the therapist and 3 at home, for just longer than 3 hours total.

Bike: 2 times on the trainer, both very easy for 11 trainer miles total in about 1 hour, 20 minutes.

Swim: I made it to the pool! I went late morning on the day I took off and had the pool mostly to myself and it was AMAZING. 2000 pull buoy meters in a bit less than an hour, a combination of the pull buoy making me slower and my lack of swim fitness making me slower, haha.

Weights: 1 session of heavy/body weight exercises for upper body and abs in about a half hour.

Total: 9 sessions in just less than 6 hours. Not that terrible, I guess? At least, considering fully half my time was spent rehabbing. Sure, I'd like for that to be all heavy-duty training, but at least I am logging the hours.

I am hoping that the once-a-week PT gives me a little more leeway to a bit more bike trainer riding and/or one more swim. Managing all my PT homework will definitely be tricky but I know I can do it. I HAVE to do it if I want to get back to running.

Hopefully your week is already off to a great start.

A quick update to say I have no time to update

I'm still alive and I haven't forgotten about my corner of blogworld. I've been really crunched for time lately with a couple of late nights, hours of PT, and assorted life dramas.

I'll really try to be back with an update tomorrow. In the meantime, I hope all of you are well and kicking ass at your training.