Week in review February 18-24: Grumpy, cold, and getting old

Lots of biking, meh everything else.

It ended up being not a great week last week. After I had done my longest long run in a while the week before, I had a bit of knee pain to deal with these last few days. I’m not sure why 11 miles walking and running is fine but 12 miles makes my knee hurt, but OK. This is something I’m going to have to get used to as my new normal, I guess.

So, I ended up taking Monday off training and got some personal work done, and getting called into some financial stuff Tuesday that turned into going out for sushi afterward and missing another training day; no regrets. I did get nice trainer rides done Wednesday and Friday, but was pretty exhausted at the end of the day Thursday and did nothing workout-related. Three days off in a week is a lot for me, but it seemed like my body needed a bit of a break so I went with it.

I was able to rally this weekend for some decent training. The weather was relatively nice on Saturday so I went for a very ginger, very easy run around the neighborhood, in case I had to turn around and head home. It actually wasn’t bad and my knee was a bit uncomfortable here and there, but never in pain and never so uncomfortable that I thought it was a bad idea to be out there. Plus it was my first run in a week, so some of that may have been joints and ligaments remembering how to run again. I called it at about an hour so I could quit while I was ahead, glad for the fresh air and sunshine in February. This was actually the fourth time I’ve run outside this month, which is about four times more than I usually run outside in the winter hellscape that is February in Michigan.

I didn’t have a lot going on this weekend so I did a bunch of training both Saturday and Sunday. I lifted weights for the first time in a while after my run Saturday (and I’m still feeling it) and did a nice long ride while food prepping on Sunday. I got some PT and even some yoga in there, too.

I was bummed the week started off on such a painful note, but happy I was able to rally for a strong (OK, strong-ish) finish. By the numbers, it was:

Bike: Three times, all on the trainer, for 49.5 fake trainer “miles” in about 3:36. It was NOT my highest-volume week, otherwise I would have been really mad I didn’t do an additional half mile, haha.

Run: Just once on the road, for 7.25 miles (6.25 running with a half-mile warmup and cooldown) in about 1:19.

Weights: One round of my heavy/body routine in about 1:15. Even though I haven’t lifted in a while, there’s a small victory that I can still do almost two hanging pullups in a row. Go me!

PT: Two sessions in about 1:15. I’m sure it’s not a coincidence that this has been lacking and running is getting painful again.

Yoga: One 15-minute session before bed on Sunday. Even these little sessions make a big difference in my muscle tightness.

Total: 8 sessions in about 7:40. Considering this included 3 days off, this is excellent! I don’t think cramming on the weekend is the way to go, though.

I’m on vacation next week, and am already thinking about what kind of changes I’d like to make when I get back. I would like to get back to barre regularly (not only because I have a bunch of passes to use up), once or twice a month at least to shake up (heh) my weight routine. I also think I need to cut one weekday workout short and do PT for the second half of my workout instead, to get PT back into my regular schedule. 

But I need to tackle this week first and I hope to do that with a few solid workouts. Bike and run, here I come. And if I have time, some other stuff too.