It was the first week of a 16 week training plan for the Glass City Marathon on April 27th. This week I ran 25 miles and did a few walks. I also went to see the PT! Details later on that. It was also my first week of officially working 2 days a week, which seemed a little odd, but I did enjoy it! When I told my coworkers about my new schedule I was asked by a few of them “was that by choice?” LOL! Um, after working with my boss (in one form or another) for over 25 years I’m pretty sure he’s not planning on getting rid of me any time soon.
Mon – 4 easy miles. It’s my first day of my new work schedule. Not logging on to work after my run feels super weird! I’m trying to take the time to stretch and do some exercises after each run so that’s what I did. I also made a list of tasks so I can stay focused and not feel like I wasted my day. Do you ever have that feeling?


I did get to go climbing with my daughter. I conquered a new, challenging route! This is the hardest route for me so far. I was feeling quite accomplished! And sore. I probably shouldn’t have worked my triceps out so hard at the gym yesterday. The thing that I really like about this picture is that it shows I am learning how to climb in different ways. Most people initially keep their body in the same position climbing up, but here I have both of my legs off to the side. It’s an advanced move!

Tues – 4 mile treadmill run. Just an easy run before work. Nothing to see here! I also did a ski workout after work and phew, my legs were feeling it. Jump lunges are hard!! Time to take down the Christmas tree at work 😉

Weds – Rest day! We went to a women’s basketball game at the University of Toledo. They won! In fact, this was their 900th all time win. Go Rockets!!


Thurs – 5 easy miles. It was snowy! It was beautiful! It was freaking cold!

I was almost going to cancel my physical therapy appointment because my back didn’t bother me much at all, but I figured I might as well go in and see what the evaluation would result in. I saw the same PT guy who cured my strained adductor with dry needling, and guess what? He did dry needling on my tight back spot and also a spot on the other side (TFL?) that felt pinched. He also mentioned I had some tightness in my back and my hips were rotated. Oh man, this time around the needle did release some spots (good!) but also felt like I was getting a shot (yikes, ouch!). I left the office in quite a bit of pain and couldn’t wait to take some ibuprofen. Luckily either the meds kicked in or everything just calmed down because a few hours later I felt fine. I’ll go back to see him in a week.
Fri – 4 miles, treadmill. Feeling OK post dry needling but still feeling a bit suspicious in the same spots. My run went fine and I made it to the gym too. The afternoon was spent thrift store shopping (got some nice boots!) and watching the Cotton Bowl. What a great last play. Go Bucks!!


Sat – 8 miles long run. Hello snow! We didn’t get the 4 inches of snow that was in the forecast but we got a few inches. It was the first group run of the training cycle. My run could have gone better! 🙄 It was my own fault. I wanted to run 10:15 pace (should have been even slower with the snow!) and yet I started with the group who said they were going to run 9:45 – 10:00. In reality a few of the miles were 9:30 and I was pretty tired by the time we were done. TBH, 8 miles seemed to go on forever! 😆 9:54 overall average. Oof, glad this was done.


A Starbucks visit was earned and I did a skiers workout and some core work. Getting all of the hard workouts out of the way so I can rest on Sunday!

In the evening I was social yet again, at a work after-holiday party! It was casino night and although I didn’t win actual money, I did win a prize. Toledo Walleye hockey tickets. Woot!!


Sun – Rest day! I got my daily dose of the great outdoors with a 2 mile walk. The snow was still lovely and the sidewalks were [mostly] clear. My goal streaks for the new year – a daily Strava activity and a daily short stretch. Done, and done. I am hoping a daily stretch will fix my chronic tight hamstrings.
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!
Our daughter is heading back to college today so our house will be quiet once again. Whomp whomp. But I do have a fun week coming up which is nice to look forward to. And, finally taking down our indoor Christmas decorations will keep me busy.
Q: Are all of the holiday decorations down at your house? Do you decorate for Valentine’s Day?
We are still have our outdoor Christmas lights on also. I enjoy looking at them too much to take them down! I’d say there are 20% of the house lights still on in our neighborhood at this point.
Nice job kicking off your marathon training. I hope the PT can fix your issues! I’ve never had dry needling. Not sure if I want to, lol
We took all our holiday decor down on NYD–it was relatively warm, so I wanted to get the outdoor stuff done before the deep freeze. It always feels good to get everything back in place.
The first round of dry needling for my adductor was pretty painless. Maybe different muscles react differently? Not sure, but it was a bit uncomfortable this time!! I still think it has a lot of value, so I’ll willing to do it again. As long as I don’t have to see the needle I’m good! Although it did make me wonder how people learn dry needling. Do they practice on their own muscles?? It’s so weird to poke something you can’t see.
You back in a little bit of activity in one week.
Interesting on dry needling. I’ve never had it. Hope it works for you.
Yea all decorations are gone. Nope on Valentine’s Day decorations.
Dry needling has been an interesting experience for sure. I would recommend it still, despite the pain at this visit. Not sure he’s going to want to do it again based on the reaction I had.
I hope the PT can help you stay injury free for this training season. I make short to do lists for myself everyday 🙂
I tried to be an electronic list maker, but paper lists are still my go to. I’ve gotta have a list to stay on track!
It sounds like you won’t have any problems filling in your new “free” time with activities. I’ve only been climbing once.
We put our Christmas stuff away yesterday, including our outdoor lights but a lot of neighbors still have them up — they look pretty so I’m not complaining!
Way to go knocking out week one of marathon training. The extra stretching should pay off!
I saw an ad on Instagram for an app called “Bend”. It is simple enough so I figured I would give it a go and it keeps track of my streak on it. A 5 min stretch is just what I need, so hopefully it will keep me motivated!
Ooh, I might need to piggyback on that daily stretch thing! My hammie’s are the tightest muscles on my entire body. I stretch them after my runs, but very briefly (definitely not as much as I should). There are still a few remaining houses with Christmas lights on, and they area definitely nice to see (sine most of my runs adn walks are in the dark, LOL.
I’m glad your marathon training is off to a good start. Here’s hoping the dry needling does the trick and keeps your back pain at bay.
I put the last of our Christmas decorations away today, the main Nativity which I leave up until after the Epiphany. I have a little Valentine Bear figurine that I set in my kitchen window seal, but that’s about it.
Debbie recently posted…Weekly RunDown: January 5 – 11 / I Got My Snow, Now Bring on Spring
Amazing week for you!
I love that you had so many fun things going on and I’m glad you went to that PT appointment, It’s important to keep up with those!
Well done on your climb and on winning those tickets!
And lol – so much of our Christmas stuff is still up. I was going to take it down this weekend, but we ended up going out all day on Saturday and our car broke down on sunday, so we spent the day dealing with that. Oh well.
Well- no pain, no gain! Sounds like this could be a painful but productive treatment session.
I spent a good part of the day today getting the house back to normal after Christmas. It’s not quite done, but all the hard stuff is over (just have some laundry to do and a few straggler items to put away.) Ugh, Putting it all away is NOT as much fun as decorating!
Sounds like everything is going well so far. I like your daily stretch goal. I also have that goal but I think I’ve done it… once? I really have to get back on track.
I have had really good luck with dry needling. I hope it helps! I don’t remember being in that much pain after though.
I need to catch up, I must have missed a post about your job change!