Weekly Workouts – well that’s not ideal

My marathon base building came to crashing halt this week. Well, let’s be positive and say it’s a minor detour. You may remember that I mentioned my back has been feeling stiff lately and I’m not sure why.  It’s not a continuous thing.  I wake up with a stiff back and by lunch time I’m feeling good. I thought it would be interesting to see if a few days off from running would change anything.  Oh boy, it sure did.  See Thurs recap… it’s exciting.  

Mon – Run, work, drive!  6 mile run.  Mixed it up with a few fartleks which felt pretty good.  I’m not trying for anything speedy, just picking up the pace a little bit.  After working for half a day we had the truck packed up and headed up north for skiing!  It’s early in the season for skiing in Michigan, but I’m looking forward to our time together.

Tues – Skiing!  We skied at The Highlands at Harbor Springs (formerly Boyne Highlands) today.  Look at how green that grass is around the parking lot! 

Once we got on the mountain it wasn’t bad at all.  The forecast said wintery mix, and I feared it would rain since the temps were above freezing, but it did not and the skiing was good!  A small percentage of the mountain was open but there were barely any people skiing so it all evened out.

Did you know, blue is the trendy ski coat color this year!  I don’t know that for a fact, but based on the fact 80% of the people skiing were wearing blue jackets (in addition to all of my family members!), I think it’s a thing. I mistaked many other skiers for my family members when we were on the slopes!

Weds – Skiing!  We skied at Boyne Mountain today.  The coverage was not as good as the Highlands, but they did a good job grooming the runs that were open. They started making snow late in the day and that was not good because it was sticky and it slowed us down while skiing (a bit “herky jerky” is the best way to explain it!).  Still, it was a fun day of family skiing.

Thurs – So I checked with my favorite YouTube PT guys, Bob and Brad, about lower back issues.  How excited was I when they had a video about stretches I could do to “warm up” my back before I got out of bed?  Very excited!  The bummer was Brad’s comment about how “people over 55” tend to have stiff backs when they wake up.  Oh joy, 56 years old is bringing me fun things!  I tried some stretches and was feeling OK.  And then…. After breakfast I reached down to tie my shoes and my back FREAKED OUT.  It was one of those shocks that ran through my back and caused me to gasp!  WTF??  So glad we weren’t skiing today otherwise I would be sitting in the lodge by the fire all day. Ugggghhhhh.  Today was the only day I’ve felt actual pain and even put a pain patch on my back.  I hobbled around like an old person all day.  

Thankfully sitting in the car most of the day wasn’t a big issue, but getting out the car and standing upright sure was.  We stopped at Frankenmuth, a cute German themed town, and Bronners, the world’s (?) biggest Christmas store on the way home.

Fri – 45 mins walking.  Oooooffff.  Today was not great.  I worked at home which was good, but I don’t have a standing desk, which was bad.  I did walk on the treadmill to get moving, but otherwise I dreaded pretty much moving at all.

Sat – 1.5 mile walk.  I had a busy day of finishing up Christmas shopping and grocery shopping. All good things to keep me moving.  I felt a little improved today, which was a mood boost.  We watched Ohio State win (like they should have against Michigan!) and played Monopoly.  My son crushed us all.

Sun – Feeling slightly improved today.  I started with 25 mins of “yoga for back pain”, which was gentle and felt decent enough.  30 mins of elliptical, which causes no pain.  And finally, I gave the inversion table a try.  Yay, that inversion felt good, at least temporarily.  I figured I would be feeling a lot better by now, but I guess I’m being a little too optimistic.  Sigh.  At least I have cookie baking and frosting on the agenda today to keep me busy!

In the “what was I thinking” department, I bought something in Frankenmuth.  Given our love of Smartwool and wool products I was intrigued by these.  No one likes how dish rags smell after time so I was sold when I saw these wool sponges with “no stink” guarantee.  How well did they work? Well, picture yourself washing the counter with a wool sweater.  They are absolutely not absorbent and leave streaks of water.  DOH!  I’ll have to think of another use for them other than wiping countertops!

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 having a wonderful holiday season and enjoying family time!