This isn’t even a proper “training” recap, because I really haven’t done much of anything since the Glass City Half! I was feeling pretty good after the race, and the next day wasn’t horrible. Originally I had the idea that I was going to take 6 weeks off running after the race. I started to question that plan because last year I took 2 full weeks off, and didn’t feel any better when I started running again!
My PT has told me about keeping “progressive load” on my hamstrings and keeping with some sort of running seems to work better for me. So I’m coming up with a rough plan to keep my mileage low (2-5 miles), to the point that I don’t feel the hamstring pain. I don’t want to miss out on my morning runs.
Here’s what I did this past week….
Monday – REST
Tuesday – REST
Wednesday – REST
Thursday – 30 mins, spin bike. After a few days of doing nothing, I started thinking about all of the workouts I could now try again because I’m not training for anything. My spin bike immediately came to mind. My poor spin bike has been sitting in the corner of my workout room and hasn’t been touched in MONTHS. On Thursday (4 days post race) I hopped on my spin bike for 30 mins of *easy* riding. I used barely any resistance and just sat there. And there’s the problem… just sitting. OMG, it was painful to just sit on that seat for 30 mins. I know, stupid me, I should have just stopped the ride 5 minutes into it when it was uncomfortable, but I had a goal to ride 30 mins, so that’s what I did.
Can you believe I was sore for 4 days after that ride? My sits bones area was so tender. That sucked!! Luckily my Trek bike doesn’t seem to cause me that pain, so it looks like my spin bike will have to just go back in the corner for a while again. I’m not in the mood for that right now.
Friday – REST (SORE!)
Saturday – REST (SORE!!)
Sunday – Slightly sore, deck of cards workout. After seeing the “deck of cards” workout from Meg last week, I was intrigued. I commend Meg for listening to her body and finding ways to get cardio done without running when she needs it. I came up with some exercises I thought wouldn’t bother my hammies and got to it. Phew, that was exhausting.
Then, we did *hours* of yard work. I flopped on the couch at the end of the day and shouted “Hallelujah!” I think. It was a heck of hard day, but our yard was really improved.
Monday- (8 days post race) I decided to get my legs moving and did 45 mins on the treadmill. Started with walking for a 1/4 mile, then slow running for the rest. Felt good to be moving and there was no hamstring pain. Following that yard work, it was painful to squat down. I feel like I was hit by a truck! Alan felt even worse. Yard work is no joke!! Could have been the workout too. Not sure, but I felt like crap.
I’ll be doing more chilling this week for sure!!
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Q: Have you been doing yard work? Getting stuff done?
Q: What is your favorite way to work out when you’re recovering from a race?
Q: Would you like to buy my spin bike??
Well, maybe I’ll give it another chance later.
LOL! You are not kidding about yard work! I had a timber retaining wall that finally collapsed from old age so I had a landscaper give me an estimate to replace it with stone. $1600! I decided that this was something I could myself for much less so I spent 3 days lugging stone from Home Depot to my car to my backyard, clearing out the rotted timbers, leveling the ground, and installing the stone. By the third day, I was sore in places I didn’t know I had! But…. it costs me less than $100 to do it myself. For a half, I don’t really take off at all, but, then I’m not racing them either. I just run to finish. I am happy just breaking 2:00. After a marathon, I will ride my bike outside and hike the trails of the Arboretum. I am going to Pittsburgh this weekend to run a half. Eight of us are staying in a house together. See if we are all still friends by Monday. This should be interesting.
I would not have made it to 3 days of that hard labor! But it does bring satisfaction, and always great saving that much money!! Sounds like a fun weekend. Hope it’s a great race day for you too 👍🏻
Yard work, like burpees, is NO JOKE! Honestly, that can totally be counted as cardio too! Did the DOC workouts bother your hammies? I hope not! I did 2 this morning and it’s more tiring than running! I CANNOT USE MY SPIN BIKE. Bothers my ITB way too much. Quite a shame.
Megan @ Meg Go Run recently posted…All the things I learned Sunday night when I couldn’t sleep…
It’s hard to say what made me so sore, but I probably did too many of the “ok” exercises. But I’m feeling a lot better today! It’s weird to feel sore in places other than my hamstrings 🙂
I can’t do spin with my injury (and yeah, I still don’t know if we have the same injury or not). It just hurts my ischial tuberoscity too much. My pain is more in the adductor insertion than the hammie insertion, though. I have been doing some running especially on the treadmill and some other machines, but no spin bike. The recumbent bike I can do because of the big seat but that bike is the worst and just reminds you that you’re injured (which is why it is in every single PT office out there).
I am glad you had a good recovery week; it probably was smart! I feel like if you can run, you should run some even with an injury. Unless it’s something like a stress fracture that requires rest. If you’re not running, how do you really know that the PT exercises are working, you know?
Amy Lauren Scott recently posted…The Weekly Rundown: April 23-29
Amy, you crack me up! The recumbent bike was exactly why I thought a spin bike would be a good purchase. Stupid me! I will be avoiding it again.
Have you thought about purchasing a seat cover for your spin bike? That might work.
Amy Lauren Scott recently posted…The Weekly Rundown: April 23-29
I’m actually shopping for something tonight. We’ll see!
Eventually my ancient bike down there will break – then I’m going to start using your hardly used spin bike! And get it all gross with guy sweat.