I’m back from the week out of town. I packed my running gear and workout clothes and started off with a bang. The first morning I got up and my mother in law took me to a fantastic trail in the mountains. I ran 8 miles on a snow covered trail, along a river and loved it. I had forgotten to bring my Zune so I ran to the sound of the river and my shoes on the snow. The 2nd day, I went with my mother in law to her “gym”. Interesting. I’ll leave it at that for now. But I managed to decent strength workout and was feeling like I had a handle on the workout while traveling deal. Then it went downhill from there. Day 3 I spent 7+ hours in the car driving to a wedding of a close friend of mine. Day 4 was spent driving the 7+ hours back. No exercise and lots of sitting in the car. And then we got up on the next day and headed to NYC and to the airport to fly home. Again, no workout. But, by being very careful of my diet, I did manage to lose 1.5 pounds while gone which I was happy about.
Workouts with new trainer are going well. He is perfect for what I wanted in a trainer. I can’t say enough good things about him. Turns out he has a masters and I love “talking the science of working out” with him. Generally, I ask a question and then he provides me with a fascinating and relevant discourse on the subject. Of which I retain about 2 concepts. And then I email him and ask for the information again. He’s nice enough enough to take the time to write it all out so I can read it and understand it. Yesterday, we talked about the different methods of fatigue and my goal is to work out to volitional fatigue this week. Last week, we talked about how to increase my ability to workout at a high intensity level without hitting my lactate max.
Of course, it’s not all lectures. We also laugh a lot. Last week, while I was working on a set of abs, he sat down on a stability ball that, unfortunately for him, was on top of a dumbbell. He literally rolled straight backwards and fell off the ball, head over heels. Since he’s 6′3″ and all arms and legs, it was one of the funniest things I had seen in a long time. AND, he got up and totally laughed at himself.
I had my last physical therapy appointment today. Yes- I’ve been released! My knee is healed and my shoulder issues are improved to a point where I can work on the shoulder myself at home. Fortunately, the physical therapist is willing to answer any questions over email and I can make an appointment with him at any time for a follow up to check on any soreness that may arise, if it does.
So, what’s next? My running partner and I are starting to increase the mileage on our long weekend runs. The last 2 were 12 miles each (I missed the weekend in between) and this weekend we’ll run 18 miles. The first marathon of 2010 is coming up in about 7 weeks so it’s time to get some distance in and start thinking about race strategy.
I’m also considering adding a spinning class to my schedule now that I am done with physical therapy. My bike still has its triathlon number on it from the race at the end of September. Yes, that is the last time I got on it and rode. Sad. I have made a friend through dailymile and we’ve talked about him joining L and I for a weekend run for him to work on his running and he’ll take me out on a bike ride as he is a biking fanatic. I need to do something if I plan to improve my sprint triathlon times and compete in an Olympic distance triathlon this summer.
But, wow, no matter what I do, I can only seem to find 24 hours in a day.