Week in review Nov. 16-22: A MONSTER volume week (for me)

A monster week for me.

I'm a little late to the party but it's been A Week, again. I seem to be having a lot of those lately. It's been a string of bad news, trying to right the ship and re-focus, and use training as my outlet for sanity.

As a result, last week I squeezed in about the maximum amount of training I can do these days. Yes, it helped that I had a few days off work. I took some time off to celebrate my husband's birthday, but also squeezed in some extra workouts and some cleaning and other boring adult stuff.

Probably the biggest athletic accomplishment of the week was a solid 12-mile run. I had to run pre-Thanksgiving errands not far from a multi-use path I used to run on all the time, so I combined trips. I would have preferred to run later in the day when it was a bit warmer, but my fleece-lined running tights and I did just fine. And I ended up with the very last gluten-free vegan loaf of bread in the whole bakery. Yay me!

I had to work late on Thursday and cut my trainer ride short, but had already done a little extra time earlier in the week on one of my days off, so it all worked out. Now that there is snow on the ground here, I moved my bike upstairs in and in storage for the winter. Super sad face. Now there's no getting around going all-in on indoor training.

I have more time off for Thanksgiving and I hope to get in a solo Turkey Trot tomorrow morning. We are staying home and celebrating alone and I really hope you do the same. A friend of mine lost a loved one this morning. Michigan's infection rates are shooting up again. A couple of holidays celebrated over Zoom won't kill you. Look at the bright side: You can make only and all the foods you like, and you won't have to listen to your in-laws' same old stories for the 100th time. Not that I speak from experience or anything.

Drama aside, training for last week was:

Run: Four times, all on the road, for 30 miles in about 5:05. This was the aforementioned long run and some easier runs through the week. I feel like I have a weird hip/back strain on the right side, and my bad (left) knee is being finicky lately, so let me just tell you how fun it is trying to run while getting older over here. Sheesh. However, Friday's run was warm enough that I wore a TANK TOP, so that was a nice bright spot in the week.

Bike: Three times, all on the trainer, for 56 fake trainer miles in about 3:39. This was a medium ride on my day off, a short ride after a late work meeting, and my usual longer Saturday ride. I do like that I hit the half-Ironman distance of 56 miles, though. I have been zoning out and catching up on magazines or Netflix shows. Nothing exciting over here.

Weights: Twice, one video and one heavy/body session, for about 2.5 hours. I changed it up a bit because of the back weirdness and tried weighted one-legged squat sits in a chair instead of my usual squats, and holy SMOKES was I feeling that afterward. So that was a nice reminder to keep changing it up this winter to get good results.

PT/pre-hab: SIX times, three mobility and three running rehab, for about 2.5 hours. I've been pretty good with PT or mobility work every other day, and there's usually one day where I'm crunched for time and whatever. Still, this is a LOT better than where I was even a few months ago

Yoga: Three times for 45 minutes total, which is the most yoga I've done in a LONG time. That's kind of sad, but the more important thing is I'm actually doing it, so yay me!

Total: A whopping 18 sessions in about 14.5 hours, which is a huge volume week for me.

With no races coming up, I know there's no real reason other than personal enjoyment to keep running and riding so much. And with winter finally making an arrival this week, my long runs are most likely behind me until spring, and that's OK. I'll get out when I can and enjoy the fresh air when I can, and stay inside otherwise. I'm not comfortable going to a gym right now to use a treadmill, and ours needs to be replaced. For the same reason, I'm not comfortable swimming right now, either.

I am probably going to switch to a bike focus this winter, working in one or two extra bike days per week. First off, I need to find some more bike shorts for sale this Black Friday. Ha! I am going to keep up the twice-weekly lifting, the PT, and the yoga, though. Especially now that I'm a bit older those disciplines are even more important to keeping me healthy.

For the next couple of days, though, I'm going to sleep in, relax, do whatever workout I feel like doing, eat too much, and enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday. I hope you all stay safe, healthy, and full of turkey.