Week in review Dec. 31-Jan. 6: Back to work, real life, and limited free time

Not a bad mix of activity last week.

The holidays were fun while they lasted, but all good things must come to an end. I headed back to work on Wednesday and tried to settle into the real-life routine of getting up early, commuting, squeezing in a workout while I cook dinner, and all the other boring things non-independently wealthy folks like us have to deal with daily.

I did make good use of my Monday and Tuesday off. My knee was feeling better by Monday so I did an easy treadmill run to end the month on a round number, and also did pre-hab and yoga later. Tuesday I started the year with a barre class and more PT and yoga, but sadly I did have to get back on the food prep train and go to bed early that day, so nothing too exciting happened.

I managed a trainer ride Wednesday after my first day back at work but had a commitment Thursday and a last-minute outing with friends on Friday. See, I am already being more social this year! The downside, of course, is that I had two days of no training right at the first part of the month and year.

We had gorgeous weather on Saturday so I arranged my whole schedule to do a “long” run during the nicest part of the day. It wasn’t actually warm, but it was so nice to run in the January sunshine in leggings and a long-sleeved running tee. I did wear a fuzzy headband over my ears but had to take off my gloves a few miles in. There were about a million other people out enjoying the sunshine and relative warmth along with me.

A note about my “long” run. I have been building distance slowly and surely, recently eliminating regular walk breaks except as a warmup and cooldown. I did 7 miles running (with a half mile before and after to equal 8 total) two weeks ago, and last week my knee was bothering me so I skipped my “long” run. I set out Sunday to do what felt good, hopefully at least 7.5, but no more than 8 miles running, 9 total with walking pre and post.

My knee actually felt fine. My left upper hamstring/glute/hip area has been a little wonky, especially when I found myself pushing the pace, so I kept it nice and easy. It felt fine the next day and I’m not sure what’s going on – perhaps some muscle is activating in a weird way, or in a way that it hasn’t in a while. I would still like to do a spring half marathon but am not going to push it, and am not going to try to increase speed for a while yet. For now I am concentrating on slowly building that base.

Anyway, by the numbers, last week was:

Bike: Twice, both on the trainer, for 33.5 fake trainer miles in about 2:35.

Run: Twice, once on the treadmill and once on the road, for 13.55 miles in about 2:28.

Prehab: Twice for about 1:15.

Yoga: Three times for about 1:05. I clicked through my calendar and I’m pretty sure this is the most yoga I’ve done in a week in at least two years. There are plenty of MONTHS that I don’t do three sessions.

Weights: One barre class of about an hour.

Total: 10 sessions for about 8:23. Not bad, considering the change in schedule!

I didn’t do nearly as much PT and everything else as I wanted to this week, but running outside for my longest run in months was definitely a highlight. (I went back and checked – my last 8-miler was October of 2017!) The cold weather and darkness will be keeping my inside for a while so I really want to get into a pattern of consistency. The bells and whistles can come later.

Happy New Year and happy training to all of you!