Sunday, July 4, 2021

Getting Wet

Maybe it was the strawberry moon--did you see it?--but things kind of flip-flopped this week. We got a ton of rain--the drought is over! Everything is green again, but yep, the mosquitoes and biting flies have come to life in the woods. My insect repellent doesn't seem to be holding up to the challenge.

On the plus side, my wrist responded well to the steroid injection that I received last week. I am so grateful for that! While I know that my wrist isn't healed, it's been interesting to see what I can do without pain. I wear the brace most of the time for comfort but have stopped wearing it when I run and work out. Oh...and I tested it out behind the boat this weekend!

Monday's rainy run

Weekly Rundown
Monday: Trail run 7 miles
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: Trail run 5.5 miles
Thursday: Strength training, CrossFit, and 250m sprints!
Friday: run 6.2 miles
Saturday: waterskiing
Sunday: waterskiing
June miles: 91

Running

Before I headed out on Monday's trail run, I checked the radar, and nope, no rain anywhere. But as soon as I started to run, the skies opened up. It poured and it rained lightly for the entire 7 miles. I actually didn't mind because the rain kept it cool and comfortable. This was one of the strongest runs I've had in a while! I also saw a lot of my deer friends, including a doe with her 2 fawns.


On Wednesday, the biting flies were in full attack mode. They left me alone on the main trail, but when I ran on the single track in the woods, they let me know that they were there. One even bit me in the back through my singlet. That hurt! I finally called it quits at 5.5 miles. This run wasn't a total fail in spite of the flies. I saw all kinds of cool things including, yep, the flamingo!


Part of the WOD on Thursday included 5 sets of 250m sprints and I was there for it! They are focusing on cardio this summer and will be having us do a lot of running, including a one mile time trial. Sammy Jo had us do a warm up before we ran and told us to focus on consistency. It's been a long time since I've done any sprinting, but I ran 5 very consistent splits: 1:08, 1:08, 1:03, 1:03, 1:03! This put a big smile on my face!

The weather turned cooler by Friday. I headed out to the bike path in 60 degree temperatures! There was a nice cool breeze as well. Even though I was very sore from Thursday's WOD, I pushed my legs to keep going. By mile 5, though, my exhaustion started to take a toll and those last 2 miles were about 20 seconds slower than the first 4. Still, it was a wonderful run.


CrossFit/Strength

On Thursday, I met with Sammy Jo for my strength session. She had me do a 3 round circuit of pistol squats, some really deep lunges on a plate, and seated rows on the cable machine. After that, she was going to have me do some heavy bag carries, but since that was part of the WOD, she told me to do some stretches instead. I was thrilled to find that my wrist did not bother me at all during the cable pulls!


Besides the running, the WOD had a 'stone' workout. It was a 14 minute AMRAP of 8 stone to shoulder, 16 stone squats, and a 100m stone carry. She suggested that I use the 50# Rogue bag as my 'stone'. I practiced picking it up several times before the WOD to make sure that the movement would not aggravate my wrist. Proper technique is everything! I will tell you that this WOD was HARD. There was a guy next to me who was using the 65# bag and he too was struggling. He and I managed to complete 3 full rounds and that made us very happy. I was sweating profusely and my heart was pounding during this workout. Sammy Jo told us that this WOD was intended to be hard and that we should have completed between 3-5 rounds. I actually like these kinds of WODs--I love the challenge of the heavy lifting. But I felt this one for several days.
I had to include this because, yeah, the WOD looked a lot easier on the board!

Waterskiing

The hubs and I hit the road early on Saturday and drove up to the lake. The weather looked promising and I was nervously excited to get behind the boat and test out my wrist. I taped my wrist and strapped on my gloves. The water was warm and relatively calm. I was out of the water on the first attempt and... NO PAIN! I enjoyed a fun, happy ride around the bay. My youngest son drove up from Madison to spend the evening with us and after dinner, we took him waterskiing. He got up on one ski for the first time! He also wakeboarded. I skied a few more times. We whiled away the night around a fire and watched fireworks. Before we headed home on Sunday, my husband took me skiing again. 



How was your week? What are you doing to celebrate Independence Day? Any suggestions for biting fly repellents?

I'm linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Rundown. 





36 comments :

  1. So happy you get to go to your happy place -- water skiing!

    Bug repellents. The bane of my existence! I have yet to find one that isn't full of nasty stuff that actually works. Some do better than others.

    Sounds like a strong week for you despite the biting insects, Wendy! Happy Fourth!

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    1. Thank you Judy! I am going to try Wondercide, which as recommended to me by a patient's father as well as in my Google search. I'll keep you posted.

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  2. Knock wood, I haven't had any issues with flies on the trials so I do not have a solution for you. So glad your wrist is doing well and you're able to enjoy some time on the water!

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    1. Those single tracks are pretty muddy and they are by the creek, so it doesn't surprise me at all about the flies.

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  3. So glad your wrist is feeling better and you can get back to all your workouts and waterskiing! We got some rain at the end of the week which helped to cool things off. Sorry about those flies though! Have a good 4th of July!

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  4. Glad your wrist feels better. I have never had a steroid injection; probably a dumb question, but if you were an elite athlete would that type of steroid be a banned substance?

    Those biting flies are the WORST. They hurt so bad! They are pretty annoying up here at Dustin's family cabin in northern Wisconsin right now.

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    1. I'm pretty sure it would--it's a corticosteroid. But it's standard of care for musculoskeletal injuries, so I wonder if there's a way around it in the injury situation? Now i'm off to learn about this, lol.

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  5. Oh, the fawns!! Also hooray for waterskiing, so good your wrist is letting you do that. We have all the greenery from all the rain here, too - the lawn is getting a bit frightening and our hedge man is meant to be coming this week but we have rain forecast all week. The one day they predicted thunder and then removed it (yesterday afternoon) what happened? Yup, big storm.

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    1. I think we are going to get more storms in the middle of the week.

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  6. I have not done any real speed work in a while. Sounds like a success. So great to read that your wrist is feeling better and great to see you back on the water skis

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    1. I hadn't done any speed work either, so it was really rewarding to have those nice even splits!

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  7. Glad your wrist feel betters and you can enjoy your favorite activities.
    Against the biting flies .... we have to be faster than them!!!!
    I cannot wait for a run under the rain!

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    1. Haha! Pretty shocking that I cannot outrun the flies. LOL But I try my darndest!

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  8. Yay! I'm so glad your wrist is better! Sounds like you had an amazing week overall. My husband was in Chicago last week and he kept texting me because he couldn't believe how cool and beautiful it was!
    I wish I had an answer to the biting fly problem, but I don't. On one of my more recent trail runs, I was okay while I was running but anytime I stopped something would bite me (I assume it was a fly.) Good motivation to keep going- I didn't take many pictures on that run.

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  9. So happy that your wrist has healed and you can ski again.

    It is a very buggy summer. I had to quit on an evening walk since they were flying into my eyes.

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    1. Oh, it's not healed, lol. The steroid shot just calmed it down. But yes, as long as i have no pain, I can ski!

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  10. OMG, Barney! So glad your wrist is feeling better, even if it’s not better. My tennis elbow seems to be improving, but it’s still limiting my strength workouts. ~sigh~

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  11. The lake looks so fun! I have been waterskiing just a few times and I remember it being very exciting! I don't think I'd be brave enough to try it again now (for fear of being dragged along by the boat haha!). Great strength workouts this week. Glad you are getting better!

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    1. Ahhh....you just let go and it's over! You should try it again.

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  12. Glad to hear your wrist is feeling better! Those biting flies sound like aggressive little buggers...knock wood, I have not (yet) experienced them. Our bike rides (on the weekends) are on trails through the woods, so I'm glad we haven't had to deal with them thus far.

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    1. I haven't ever had issues with insects while riding my bike. Definitely an advantage!

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  13. So glad your wrist is feeling better! It was great to see your waterski photo come up in my IG feed :)

    Nice job on those splits! I cannot tell you the last time I did any speedwork.

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    1. Me either, so those sprints were very rewarding. The stone workout, not so much. :p

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  14. So glad you're seeing relatively quick improvement on the wrist. Always love your wildlife pics. Such a serene area.
    Glad you had a great weekend getaway and visit with your son

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    1. I think the steroid injection gave me a bit of a boost, but it's definitely a bandaid...

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  15. so sorry I've missed you the last couple weeks Wendy! glad you still had a good week despite the rain! and glad you made it out on the waterskis again1 whoo hoo!!

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  16. Our biting flies are relentless, but they come out more towards the evening, so I don't have to worry as much.

    I'm so so so happy your wrist responded and you didn't have pain while skiing! That's so great.

    Hope you had a happy 4th!

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    1. The biting flies really come out before the rain. It's awful!

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  17. That WOD just made me laugh at loud, LOL. I can definitely apply it to OTF as well.

    I hate when the weather app is so wrong! I'm glad you were still able to get in your miles despite the rainy weather.

    Loved seeing your water ski photos on IG this weekend :)

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    1. I liken your OTF workouts to my WODs all the time. Nausea inducing! :p

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  18. Yay for no wrist pain while lifting and waterskiing!

    We saw a momma deer and her twin fawns playing in our neighbor's front yard early one morning. :-)

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