This was such a rollercoaster of recovery. It started out very strong, and then went off the rails. Soreness returns (or maybe the injury was just angered more than normal?) and put me into a bad mood. Luckily there were a lot of social events going on to take my mind off of the matter, and I got a few upgrades. The first was a Strava Premium membership for my family. How exciting that my kids begged me to upgrade Strava, right? I also got a cool new bike gadget, and bracelet to give my good vibes for Berlin. My week of training consisted of 100 miles of biking and 20 miles of running. Week 2 of training is complete.
My daughter made me this bracelet. I love it! It’s the colors of the German flag.
Mon – 3.5 miles running. Monday, runday.
PT visit day! I was feeling pretty good, but upon examination I still had a tight muscle. I got another dry needling session. This one was a little more in depth (deeper spots!) and was the most uncomfortable session I’ve had. Then it was time for some running analysis on the treadmill. My form wasn’t too bad. Not many recommendations, which was good. As far as my PT is concerned, I only need to come back if I think I need it. That was good to hear!
Tues – 5.6 miles running. This run went surprisingly well considering the dry needling session yesterday along with PT/strength exercises. It was just a slow run with a slightly speedy ending when I realized I needed to get home (and log on to work!) in 2 minutes and was still ½ mile from home. Nope, I didn’t make it on time. It was a sweaty one!
30 miles biking. Ladies Ride! My husband and I both biked to our group rides and got our extra miles in. The Ladies Ride was nice because we split into three groups this week. A lot of riders!
Weds – Rest day! I helped out at packet pickup for an upcoming race.
Thurs – 3 mile run. This run basically sucked. I felt extra sore and looking back on it, I probably should have just skipped it and did some pool running. I was sore. Probably from a lot of running, but maybe from my PT appointment? Not sure, but it was a bit depressing. So what’s a girl to do? Hop on the bike and shake it off.
22 mile bike ride. I got to try out my new gear today. My husband bought me a Garmin Varia – a rear bike radar. This thing is amazing. It beeps and lights up when it detects a car behind me. Not only that, it tracks the car as it approaches and passes AND it shows me how many cars are there! I’ve always had a mirror, but this radar can detect cars from twice as far. The cars without headlights on will not sneak up on me now. Amazing technology.
There were fun things happening today to keep my mind off of a sucky run. The LPGA tournament is in town. This is the first year in a very long time that we didn’t volunteer at this event. We just were regular old visitors. We actually missed helping out! Maybe next year we’ll help again. Driving around in a golf cart last year was a good time!
Then it was time for one of the most fun Run Toledo races of the year. The OH/MI race! The race starts in Ohio and goes into Michigan. My husband was a course marshal for the 8K and my daughter and I were 5K course marshals. Of course I brought along my pom poms which were a huge hit. After the race we enjoyed a dinner and Jimmy Buffet tribute concert. Good times!!
Fri – 33 mile bike ride. This was my long ride for the week. Today’s route was out into the country. Sunshine and corn fields!
Sat – 8 miles, long run! This run as well as can be expected. Was it pain free? No. But I know what my different “pains” are and I’m OK with it. It took about 4 miles for the tightness to go away today, but I guess that’s fine. Slow and steady.
The afternoon included some retail therapy. Hello new carry on bag for Europe!! I also went for an 15 mile bike ride. Yay on achieving another 100 mile week of riding!
There was as Christmas in July event at the Toledo Zoo. Wow, sooooooo busy! We didn’t stay long due to the huge crowds.
Sun – Rest day! Instead of working out today, I worked a water stop at race. It was a small half marathon and 10K at the trail I often use for my long runs. Hopefully I’ll be running my long run there next week. I’ve missed it! I’m glad I had such an active day yesterday because I really didn’t feel sore today. Fingers crossed that’s a good sign for the upcoming week of training.
I’ll wrap up this week with some fun pictures… Here’s what my son is up to with the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps. He sent me this shot of the 14er that they summited. Mt Elbert near Leadville CO. They are heading to Wyoming for their next work gig.
And how about Sam? He’s getting so big. But still a crazy kitten.
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!
Q: Have you ever climbed a 14er?
I guess I have not! I feel like we may have stood on top of one when we skied in Colorado, but not hiked up one. Guess I’ve got something new to add to the bucket list!
Q: Do you have a bike radar?
What a mixed week – sorry about the sucky run and soreness. But 8 miles with acceptable pain levels sounds like some sort of success.
Congrats to a great cycling week! My husband has a bike radar and it sounds like a very useful gadget for sure.
Is Sam your own kitten? Or another foster kitten?
After gifting me the bike radar, and trying it out, my husband decided he for sure needs one for himself! Very cool stuff.
Sam is the only foster kitten that we have ever adopted. Since it’s a lot of work keeping him out of mischief, we will not have any more foster kittens this year. We are just going to enjoy watching Sam grow up this year! He’s such a cutie 🙂
That bike radar looks neat! I don’t have a mirror (but have long been debating to get one), but the radar really sounds like an interesting option. Nice job on the biking, and the running as well. I like ho you said you know your different pains…I can relate!
Before the radar I constantly looked in my mirror for cars. I don’t have to much at all anymore, but I highly recommend biking with a mirror at the least!
It is funny how a pain that I have now might be a red flag for a different time but I’m just like “oh, it’s that pain. No worries.” (funny, and sad!!)
Wow that’s a ton of cycling in a week! Sorry about the ups and downs with running this week. Hope you continue to heal and are able to run more this week
This is actually my 7th week of the summer that I’ve biked more than 100 miles! One week I only biked 76 miles. Not sure what was going on that week! The challenge will be to get those miles in while building up my time spent with running.
Love the bracelet! How sweet of your daughter!
I had a Garmin radar device, but it drove me crazy (going off when my husband rode behind me) so I don’t use it, but I don’t ride on the road that much.
It sounds like you had a pretty good week despite everything — I hope next week is even better.
I thought it was really interesting that my husband can connect his Garmin Edge to it when we ride together. But we ride separately often, so he might as well have his own. I’m still learning some of the features of it, but we’ve been so impressed with it. This one doesn’t go off when a cyclist is behind me, just a vehicle.
Progress is never linear!!! Overall it sounds like you’re definitely heading in the right direction. An 8 mile run with minimal pain sounds VERY hopeful. Oh and congrats on graduating from PT- that must feel good!
What was it about Sam that made you decide to adopt him? What set him apart from all the other fosters you’ve had? I’m just curious.
I was really interested in Sam because we have never had a Siamese cat! My daughter wanted a kitten that was more “chill”, but he has been a super addition to the family regardless of his crazy moments 🙂
It was a little odd – I only got one super easy exercise and nothing else from PT. He did mention my injury could have just been a fluke. It is an odd muscle to injure and not really something a lot of people go in for!
I agree – progress is good… but man, I thought I would have farther along by now and been able to run faster!
Sam is so cute, how could you not have kept him! Good work this week. I’m very tentative about my knee and haven’t run for a week. I have been doing my foam rolling and stretches though, so maybe I’ll feel more confident soon.
I am a bit sad that my cat and kitten are still not friends yet. Sam just wants to play with Luna, and she hisses and smacks him. Sigh. He continues to get in all sorts of mischief! Hope the rolling and stretches help you. My leg muscle was feeling super tight this morning after my run. I can stretch it a little, but not foam roll it. It’s just in an odd place!
Hopefully they’ll get used to each other. I have got all my pairs of cats in pairs, so can’t even remember how to do the introductions. Our two now live apart as one has IBD and has to live in the (large) bathroom and his sister really hisses if she’s put near him, which is a shame, however he used to attack her when they were both roaming the house together, so …
I hope the roller works because I’m tipping into not bothering to keep running now as every time I do something else seems to go wrong (even though I know how I did this knee and it wasn’t actually running). I’m sorry your thing is in such a weird place. Mine’s so standard I knew all the exercises from about 15 years ago when my other IT band played up!
I hope all these needling sessions do the trick! And that bracelet is absolute perfection!
It sounds like you had some great activity this week! And that bike radar sounds awesome! I don’t have any computers for my bike (probably because I don’t cycle enough lol).
Sam is precious! And your son is doing incredible things! How fun for him!
I wouldn’t be surprised if Zach wants to go back to RMYC next year. It has been such a great experience for him.
The bike radar sounds super cool. What a great idea. Motorists can be jerks. I’ve hiked in CO and UT but no 14ers for me…so far. Haha! Looks like you had a busy and fun-filled week!
Hopefully we’ll both get to go hike those big mountains!!
I’m so happy you got a Varia! I got my Varia about two years ago and I can’t imagine riding without it. I hadn’t charged it properly before one of my centuries and it died with about ten miles to go and I felt so vulnerable without it. My husband has a paid Strava account, but I’m still using the free version.
Yay for mostly pain-free runs! Sounds like your patience and hard work cross training and doing PT exercises (plus the dry needling) is doing its thing. Here’s to a very successful marathon training cycle.
The Varia is so cool! Just when I thought I had all the tech I needed 🙂 Well spent money.