Sunday, November 7, 2021

A Shocking Amount of Miles

I didn't total up my monthly miles for October until I started preparing this post. Shockingly, I had 90 miles, a combination of running and walking miles. Twenty-seven of those miles were on pavement, the rest on dirt. I am surprised and grateful that my body let me move so much. Most of the miles were due to my push to complete the Mammoth Trail Hike, which I did on Sunday. I'll have a full recap of the challenge on Tuesday. The challenge was a great motivator for me to move as recover from my injury. I learned that just because I'm not doing much running, it doesn't mean I can't move like a runner!

While I have a long way to go before I log 90 running miles, I'm going to keep working my way back with that goal in mind. It's going to be a long road-pun intended--because my ankle mobility is still limited. My right glute isn't firing properly either, which is the main reason I can't just get up and go. I'm going to continue to work on strength and stability, doing my exercises at home and at the gym. I'll continue to do walk/run intervals, gradually increasing my running as my body allows.

Weekly Rundown
Sunday: Ice Age Trail 8.75 miles
Monday: pool running
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: trail run/walk 5.25 miles
Thursday: strength training
Friday: run/walk 5.3 miles
Saturday: PT exercises

Walking/Running

Thanks to my hubs for accompanying me to the lake one last time this past month, I was able to wrap up the Mammoth Challenge on the Lodi Marsh Trail. It is hunting season in Wisconsin and this segment is not only part of the IAT but it is also public hunting grounds. I dressed in bright orange so I wouldn't get shot. There were a few hunters on the prairie, flushing out pheasant and other game birds in the tall grasses. They all had some very energetic dogs with them, one of which ran right into me! In the wooded sections of the trails, the fall colors were at peak and while they were a little more muted than usual, they were still beautiful. I love this segment of the trail and enjoyed perfect conditions. 

The hill!
My ankle did not like this climb.

On Wednesday, the sun was shining but it was cold! I keep thinking that in a few months, these temperatures will feel warm. I took my feet to the local forest preserve, which I had mostly to myself. I did a combo of running and walking. At one point, I was startled by some deer--usually, it's the other way around! The colors were as beautiful here as in Wisconsin. I felt a little fatigued though. In my coffee talk post, I mentioned that I'm having some work stress. I used these miles to work it out and when I went into work later, I drew on that strength to have a very productive afternoon in the office. Gotta love it when our workouts become therapy, right?


The right glute showed up for Friday's frosty walk/run on the bike path! I have been struggling to get my right leg in gear when I run. After Thursday's strength sesh, my posterior was pleasantly sore and fired up when I started my run intervals. For the first time since I broke my ankle and foot, running felt good again. I kept it conservative, using those 1:2 run/walk intervals, even though I felt like I could do more. I do not want to end up with another injury! 

Pool running

I eagerly went to the pool on Monday to work out the soreness in my legs from Sunday's hike. I wasn't disappointed with the Good Times Roll class that I selected from the Fluid Running classes. My only annoyance was the woman who kept trying to talk to me while I was working out. I didn't want to be rude, so turned the workout off to chat, but after about 5 minutes, I wanted to get back to it. Why do I feel so bad when I have to do this? I made up for it when I was done, hanging around to chat with her for a few more minutes. 

Ups are SO much fun

Strength Training

With no goals other than to get back to running, SJ and I are working on activating my right glute and building strength. Right now, when I run, I have to consciously make sure I am lifting my right foot off the ground. I know my glute isn't doing its job because if I don't pay attention, my right hip flexor starts to hurt. I guess all these years of running have taught me a few things about how my body works, lol. 

Anyhoo, SJ started me off by making me balance on one foot on the BOSU for 30 seconds. I alternated that with banded side steps. After that, I did back squats to a box, which makes the glutes fire when I stand back up. I alternated those dumbbell lunges. I had to laugh because I kept losing track of which foot I was supposed to step with next. Right and left are hard for me. It's a good thing I'm not a surgeon. We finished up with hollow holds which are so hard!

I love my coach!

And this...

Deborah was in town to visit her daughter and run the Hot Chocolate 15k today! She contacted the Chicago bloggers to see if any of us were free to meet her for a glass of wine. Linda and I were happy to meet up on Saturday afternoon at a wine bar in the Wicker Park neighborhood. It's always fun to meet up with bloggers IRL, isn't it? We couldn't have asked for better weather and we were able to sit outside to pass some time.


After that, I met up with my oldest son for pizza and a beer flight at Pilot Project, an incubator for small start-up brewers. We got 4 different beers each so we could try them all. As always it was great to see him and catch up on his life. We went back to his apartment so I could visit with my granddog. I always feel a little tug at my heart when I leave. 


How was your week? Any challenges or goals that you're working on? What do you do when someone interrupts your workout? How do you politely excuse yourself from a conversation? Have you had any blogger meet-ups lately?

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


39 comments :

  1. Well done on all those miles! I did 49 miles in October but I've got back into my running and have done 16.2 this week, which feels about right. And how lovely to have a meetup!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's some great miles for you! I'm sure I won't have as many miles this month. Glad to know that I could do it, tho!

      Delete
  2. congrats on completing that challenge - even with an injury!!

    I have the nYC challenge of running 1000 miles for the year... I'm going to close.

    I love blogger meet-ups but none lately since I am not traveling much. Hopefully that will change.

    So happy to see you running again and that you are being conservative about it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have no choice but to be conservative--my body won't let me do more, lol

      Delete
  3. Great week of activity for you! That's so crazy only one of your glutes is lazy. Chalk it up to imbalances I guess. How fun to be able to see your son as well as enjoy the blogger meetup! It's been too long!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Way too long! We really need to find some time to get together!

      Delete
  4. Yay for feeling good on Friday's run! And how fun that you were able to meet up with Deborah and Linda!

    Have a great week!

    ReplyDelete
  5. It is sheer joy to see your ongoing recovery from your injury.
    I love the photos with your boys and feel the "goodbye" with you. Our younger son visited us for ten days the last week of October. We had not seen him for five years. I was filled with melancholy sending him off on that plane back to Los Angeles.

    I hope that the weeks ahead see your recovery reach higher levels and soon to be running at full strength once again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Five years is a long time!! I hope you see him sooner in the future. Happy birthday!

      Delete
  6. Congrats on completing the challenge and on the mileage!
    The time spent with our children is priceless.
    Beautiful photo of the meet up with the Chicago bloggers.
    I met many bloggers who came to visit Rome, the last was in 2016.

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a great day between visiting Deb and your son! Love it. 90 miles! You covered a lot of ground.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Well, it's good you're so aware your body, and that you have a strength coach to help you. From what I understand, your glutes automatically deactivate themselves when you have an injury- it's like a survival mechanism, to send a signal to your brain that you shouldn't be running. Sometimes I feel like our bodies are so smart, and yet so dumb- No, I'm ready to run now- wake up, glutes! Working on it now will keep you from getting another injury down the line.
    Sounds like you had a great week- Glad you got to spend time with your son and blogger friends!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It makes sense that the right glute shut down, since is has been on IR for 4 months. I am very lucky to have SJ.

      Delete
  9. Nice mileage tally! I’ve been focusing on activating my glutes too — there are a few short strength for runners and barre classes on the Peloton app that I’ve been using as pre-run wake up calls for my booty — not to be confused with pre-run booty calls. ;-)

    I don’t usually lose track of sides doing leg work, but I always forget which direction to do next with halos.

    How fun to meet-up with Deborah and Linda!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Since I haven't met up with anyone because I've only been traveling locally. Don't see that changing anytime soon. Meeting bloggers IRL is always fun. I know you guys had a blast!

    How great that you are back to running in the Fall! Isn't that just a beautiful time to be running? Luckily our paved paths aren't in the hunter's path, but some of the trails are.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm enjoying being out on the trails, doing some running, but boy I wish I could just go! Holding back is pretty hard.

      Delete
  11. It’s great to have a challenge, like you just completed, to help with recovery & rallying back. I had the Illinois Criss Cross Challenge last winter & the timing was perfect for my stress fracture comeback. No argument, blogger meet-ups are awesome:-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I really enjoyed seeing Deborah and Linda, but I don't feel like we had enough time!

      Delete
  12. Nice job getting in all those miles! And I'm glad the glute is starting to do its job again. Sounds like a fun weekend of seeing friends and family!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I knew this recovery was going to be tough!!! Glad I have winter to get everything working again.

      Delete
  13. Way to crush your challenge. You got in an impressive amount of miles this month. So much fun to see you and Linda glad we could make it happen!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Me too! I'm glad you wanted to meet us in a different part of the city!

      Delete
  14. Congrats on completing your challenge and for logging some nice mileage for October! So fun to have a blogger meet-up...I really miss those.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do too! Here's to hoping that 2022 will bring back some of that.

      Delete
  15. Excellent Night For Brew Samples With The Boy - Keep Running In The Pool Because Your Youth Shined In That Photo - Congrats On The Mileage - Give Coco An Extra Treat For Me

    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  16. Great pics. Congrats on all the miles!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I'm heading to Chicago on the 19th. I can't wait! I'm putting a list of places to go. If you have any suggestions just let me know! I had a flight of beer last week too. I just couldn't decide when I saw the menu. Sadly I ended with what turned out to be my least favorite pick. I should have sampled them all first! Lesson learned.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I love that you have such a great mix of workouts now between strength training, pool running, hiking, running and walking!

    What a fun weekend for you! I had serious FOMO when I saw photos because I miss you ladies so much! Hopefully I can get to Chicago next year :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. I am just so very proud of you. It is so hard to come back from these injuries, and the victory is just so sweet.

    ReplyDelete