Howdy! It’s been a few. I’ve returned from vacation in California and have settled in. I would say I’m back into my routine, but due to a lingering injury from running the Glass City Half Marathon on April 28th I’m trying to embrace a new routine.. and some patience. More about that later!
The past few weeks have been filled with hiking around Yosemite (beautiful place!!) and touring San Francisco. When I started the vacation out I feared I would have limited mobility due to the adductor strain I suffered at Glass City, but after the first day of hiking my pain was maybe a 2 or 3 on the pain scale and was limited only to certain movements. Winning! I hiked my little legs off. LOL! Highlights of the park were the amazing granite features (El Capitan & Half Dome).
We had a range of temps, from warm and sunny, to snow!!
We had a really cool house rental that was inside the park and up in mountains. That view!!
We saw two bear when we were hiking.
Then we went to San Francisco. So much to see. We visited Alcaztraz. Fisherman’s Wharf. Shopped in Haight Ashbury. We toured the town in Go Cars. There was an audio tour playing which told us directions and information about all the sights around the town.
We shopped, ate food, and gawked at the Waymo cars. Waymo are self driving vehicles that give you rides like Uber. Crazy high tech stuff!!
On our last night we enjoyed the view of the whole city at sunset. So pretty!!
It was a very fun trip and I loved spending time with my college kids. Re-entry into my east coast time zone was rough!! I did get to enjoy Mother’s Day with my Mom and a bike ride with my son (and we all enjoyed a delicious dinner make by my husband. Go him!!)
Back to reality… I walked 11 miles, biked 60 miles, and ran .8 of a mile. Whomp whomp. This is what went down –
Mon – park walk – It was 77 degrees at lunch time, so a walk around the park with my mom felt great.
Tues – walking + gym visit. I woke up feeling the worst I have in a long time. I was more sore today than the past week and that really bummed me out. Why so sore? I had to give myself a big pep talk with the usual reminders… this is temporary, be patient… but of course it was a discouraging situation. I decided just to poke the bear and do a treadmill walk for 30 mins to get moving. It wasn’t great, but afterwards I felt slightly accomplished for doing something. And then something odd happened. I wasn’t feeling quite so bad! I even went to the gym at lunch and has happily surprised to see I could do all of the machines, even the adductor press. It was exciting to be lifting weights again since I haven’t done it in over 3 weeks! By the end of the day I was still feeling good. My theory is that standing all day at work on Monday (standing desk) was probably the cause of my soreness. I need to have more movement.
Weds – … guess what? I walked some more! Do you see a theme to my week? I volunteered at a Run Toledo duathlon. Wish I could have been participating!! My son stopped by to visit, so that was fun.
Thurs – Our first trip to Cedar Point! We walked a lot at the park, and I walked with my friend in the evening.
Fri – ran .8 miles, walked a lot more. I gave running a try today, and within 5 mins I determined it wasn’t going to happen today. Running angered my leg a bit too much, so I just walked instead. That was a bit disappointing because I was feeling pretty hopeful about it! Sigh. I just need to wait more. I’m not going to get really worried about my training plan for the Berlin Marathon until June. (gulp, only a few weeks away!)
Sat – 45 miles biking. Trust me, I did not plan to ride this far. When I set off at 7:30am, I knew right away something wasn’t right on my bike. For some reason my electronic shifter wasn’t functioning properly. I swapped the batteries from front to back, and nothing changed. So odd!! But I did have 2 functioning gears that were very usable (luckily not super high gear and super low gear!). I set off for my usual route which takes me down hills. Who doesn’t love zooming down hills?? After that I would typically just turn around after I hit my mileage or time, but since I didn’t have a range of low gears, the uphills would be awful. So I just turned towards the city, which is a route I have taken many times. After quite a long time I looked on the map… where the heck was I? I started seeing graduation signs for schools that are not near us. Well crap, this isn’t right! As I tried to go back home I realized again that I still wasn’t going quite the right direction. I got very frustrated and stressed when it was 9:45 and I told my daughter we’d go garage sale shopping at 10 am and I was still 15 miles from home. Ugh. Not to mention I didn’t have any snacks. I was very hungry and tired by the time I got home!! My 20-25 mile ride ended up being 45 miles and 3 hours long. What a morning!
The black line on the map shows where I thought I was headed. DOH!!!
Sun – 15 miles, biking. Believe it or not, I got back on my bike this morning! Although I dread running in 75+ plus weather, cycling is wonderful! It was a hot ride, but the breeze on the bike is always great. My husband and I biked together. Fun! I’m so glad biking isn’t angering my leg. It might not be making it better (I’m not sure, since it’s still angered from the running attempt!), but it’s making me happy 🙂
Speaking of happy, we did get a new litter of foster kittens! This is our first time with Siamese colors. Two black and two “seal point”. They have not warmed up to us quite yet. We will have them for a few more weeks so I hope they come around. They are cuties!
Need some more inspiration? I’m linking up with Deborah at Confessions of a Mother Runner and Kim from Running on the Fly for their Weekly Run Down. Check out all of the fun blogs there!
Hope you are all doing well! Q: Are you getting into the summer mood already??
A: We sure are! Enjoying time with the kids!
Total agreement on the biking being a very heat-friendly form of exercise! (wind-friendly, no so much, LOL). Oh, I LOVE San Fran! I’ve only been there once, but totally loved all the hills and character of the downtown. I’d love to go back and do a race there. I think the San Fran marathon is in the summer (July???), but that would be a hilly endeavor! I hope things are healing with your injury…sounds painful!
Today’s ride was into the wind. Avg speed 15 mph going out, and 20 mph coming back. Gotta love that!!
I’m still waiting on seeing the Dr again for my injury. Part of me just doesn’t want to spend the copay to hear I need to rest more… but the other part is wondering if going sooner might lead me to find out I need to do something about it (PT?)? I’ll see what the next week brings.
San Francisco is always so much fun. So much to do. Sorry about the injury but sounds like you are able to do tons of other things
Thankfully I can still do a lot of things… just not running. I’m trying to be patient!
Your posts are always so fun-filled! Hiking in Yosemite must be fabulous. That scenery!!! I’ve only learned about different mountains there because of the MacOS versions in recent years!
What a roller coaster week for you but glad your temporary concerning soreness eased and that you can still keep active in some other ways. Hope you get help with your injury.
Yes, those OS names! I will admit I see pictures of things and always say “I want to go there!” That’s how we end up at these beautiful places. So far, I haven’t been disappointed in any of them in real life!
My motto is ‘motion is lotion’ and I’m sure your movement is loosening up whatever is going on with the leg. I understand your frustration with not being able to run! Hopefully, the injury resolves soon.
Your trip to Yosemite and SF looks amazing! When I ran Big Sur, we did that trip after. Your photos make it look as if no one was at Yosemite–when we went it was packed! I’d love to go back.
I was prepared for Yosemite to be packed, but I guess we were still in early season (2 roads were closed). Even so, the parking lots were mostly full. I can imagine it’s crazy busy in summer!!
Your vacation looks AMAZING!!!! I’m so glad you were able to do all the hiking you wanted- it would have been a huge bummer if your adductor limited you on that. Now that you’re home- yes, it must be very annoying not to be able to run. It sounds like you’re doing everything right- keep moving as much as possible and don’t do anything to aggravate it. If it doesn’t hurt, I think the adductor machine at the gym is a good idea.
Omg those kittens- SO cute! I’ve never had a siamese cat, and I’ve always heard their personalities tend to be a little less friendly. You’ll have to tell me what you think once these new kittens get used to you.
Good luck this week- I hope things start to feel better.
I would have been crushed if I couldn’t hike on vacation. It was a miracle it all worked out!
One of the Siamese just looks at us and runs under the couch. 🙄 I told him he was not going to get adopted acting like that so he better get friendly 🤣
Holy cow, that view is GORGEOUS! Your trip looks so so so incredible. Love all the hiking you got to do even with your adductor issues. I had some hip issues earlier this year and couldn’t run either, but I took off for a few weeks and did clamshells, leg lifts, etc. to get better. It’s feeling a little sore today after my half marathon but I’m trying to listen to my body and not get injured again!
I always wonder if I’m supposed to stretch a strained muscle or rest it! Will need some professional advice on that one.
Yosemite does have some amazing scenery to just sit around and gaze at!!
Oh dear, I was hoping that your adductor strain would be feeling back to normal by now. I hope it heals quickly so you can get back to running soon. In the meantime, it’s great that you’re able to bike comfortably. What a bummer about your battery on the electronic shifters. You know I feel your pain on riding with just one or two gears!
Your vacation pictures are beautiful! It’s been many years since we visited Yosemite; not so many since we were in San Francisco., though. We’re still planning this summer’s National Parks trip. More on that later!
Debbie recently posted…Weekly RunDown: May 12 – 18 / Post-Race Recovery Week
That’s exciting you are doing a NPS trip!! I was a bit irked that I forgot we already had an active annual park pass. Now we have two 🙄 We will for sure have to go to another one this year now!
What a great trip. Loved your pics. So happy that your injury did not prevent you from hiking.
Sorry that it does prevent you from running… hope it heals soon. But at least you can bike and walk.
Those kittens are cute. My hubby broke me down and I’m on a list for a kitten (male tuxedo)
Awww, a tuxedo kitten? Adorable! These siamese kittens are quite adorable. We’ll have to see how they are acting by the time they are big enough to be adopted. Maybe I will cave in!
Looks like such a fun vacation Lisa! Love the bears! From a distance of course 🙂
The bears looked like they wanted nothing to do with people – just trying to hide! It was interesting that my son saw them. Just think of how many bears are in our vicinity when we hike and we never know it!
Oh dear, you did get a bit lost there! No summer here, it’s really cold again, very annoying!
The weather full on summer right now – almost 90! Looking forward to swimming this weekend.