Week in review Nov. 11-17: A birthday and a tight IT band means I’m still not back on schedule

Not a great week, but most of these were solid.

I’m a bit bummed because this last week was another training flop. I had high hopes that we’d get back from our Traverse City/Chicago getaway early enough Monday that I could fit in a trainer ride, but the weather was so bad we didn’t get home until almost 10 p.m. I knew I’d likely be taking Saturday completely off training to celebrate my husband’s birthday at the college football game, but I ended up inflaming my IT band during my speed run Friday badly enough that I could barely walk Saturday. I was still in a bit of pain on Sunday, so I decided to play it safe and not do anything.

As a result, I don’t have much to report. The workouts I DID do were pretty good, though: A nice and boring treadmill run; a good speed run of descending miles with the last at a 8:27 pace, which was challenging but doable for me at this point in my fitness; a hard trainer ride during which I didn’t need to take any breaks; and my first barre class in more than a month. So, four workouts Tuesday through Friday with quality over quantity, I guess? It’s something.

Anyway, last week was:

Run: Twice, both on the treadmill, for 11.5 miles in just shorter than two hours.

Bike: One trainer ride of 16 fake trainer miles just longer than one hour.

Weights: One hour-long barre class.

Total: Four sessions in just about four hours.

I am really, REALLY hoping I can get back into a routine this week. I want to have some solid habits back in place to offset some of the turkey and sweets I’ll be enjoying regret-free over the holidays. Except for typical vacation and birthday celebration eating this last week and a half, I actually have been eating spinach and lean meat for breakfast and bringing a salad for lunch every day, so I have that going for me. But as much as Oct. 31 through Jan. 1 is a long string of candy, birthday sweets, and holiday cookies, I don’t need to indulge EVERY day.

Here’s to another week. Hopefully I can get through it with limited IT band tightness and sugar highs, and lots of solid training sessions.