Getting My Groove Back

After the turmoil of the past 5 weeks surrounding my mom's fall and my dad's subsequent fall apart, I stepped back to focus on my mental health. With my mom at home and all her care in place, my dad continued to badger me about removing the caregivers from the home. The conversations were a never-ending loop. I continue to provide supervision of my mom's needs, but will now utilize our geriatric care manager to share information with my father. I also reminded myself that the agency will contact me if anything concerning is happening.

I won't lie, stepping back has been difficult, but mentally, I realized how much of a toll this has taken on me. As the week went on, I started to feel more like myself. I reminded myself that I can't be good to anyone if I don't take care of my needs. 

Weekly Rundown

Sunday: Trail Sisters Run 6.5 miles

Monday: Yoga with Adriene, strength training

Tuesday: Fluid running

Wednesday: trail run 9 miles

Thursday: Yoga with Adriene, strength training

Friday: run 3.1 miles

Saturday: Yoga with Adriene

Our warm spell came to an end! On Sunday morning, I woke up to cold and windy weather. Thankfully, I had a Trail Sisters run scheduled. Otherwise, I would have stayed in bed. We met at 'my' preserve and ran the main trail. It was wet and messy, but much better than my run on Wednesday. We had a new Trail Sister join us, and I hope she'll be back next Sunday!

Monday's strength workout was all about snatches again--we started out with a snatch drill and progression, followed by 8 rounds (every 1:30min) of high hang snatch and snatch at 55-65%. I did these empty barbell, which is 35#. They went really well, SJ was pleased, so next week I plan to increase the weight.

For accessory work, we had 15 minutes on the clock to do 3-5 rounds of:

-100m sled push

-:20 rower sprint

-max effort push-ups

-:20 plate pinch catch

I headed to the preserve early Wednesday morning. It was a beautiful spring day! I had no plan but to hopefully see some deer and stay out of the mud. I had to make a detour to the east preserve to use the bathroom and decided to check on the owl's nest while I was there. Much to my surprise, I saw a little owlet peeking out of the opening in the tree! I hurried to get my phone ready for a photo, and another little head popped up behind him! They kept ducking in and out of the opening, and I was mesmerized. I wished that I had a better camera--they were so cute! I didn't want to stick around too long because I feared the adults would come after me. I wonder how much longer until the owlets leave the nest. 

Sorry about the poor resolution on this photo. Trust me, they were so cute!

The rest of my run was good, too. I saw some deer, mostly sleeping. Birds were singing, squirrels were squirreling, and the wildflowers were popping up. I did encounter a little mud, but it was much better than when I was there on Sunday. This is a fun time of year to be in the woods because every time I go, it's a different place! Hooray for spring!

I woke up incredibly stiff and sore on Thursday--I'm not sure if it's because I added Fluid Running back in this week or from my long run on Wednesday or what. Before heading to the gym for my strength workout, I did a long yoga sesh with Adriene, which helped a lot. We always warm up prior to lifting as well. The strength workout started with a coach-led review of the lifts:

-3x5 Clean Rack Deliveries (I used an empty barbell 35#)

-2x3 Tall Clean (muscle clean using an empty barbell)

-2-3 Jerk Balance (35#)

The workout was 8 rounds every 1:30 of a High Hang Clean and Jerk (55#)

This is not the best photo, but it is my best jerk of the eight I did.
Happy with my body position--coach said there should be a straight line from left shoulder to left hip

For Accessory work, 15 minutes on the clock:

5 rounds: 

-12 Turkish situps with overhead plate (15#)

-12 reverse hypers on the GHD

-12 max effort empty barbell (35#) thrusters

I finished at 15:02!

When I headed out for my Friday morning bike path run, my legs felt heavy. I tried to push through it, with the hopes of the discomfort dissipating, but it never resolved. My heart rate kept spiking. I made the difficult decision to turn around and head home. I reminded myself that a) I was able to see a beautiful sunrise, b) I added Fluid Running back in this week AND ran 9 miles on Wednesday, and c) I have had incredible stress over the past month. That last one was me giving myself grace, something I'm not good at. Even though I had a busy day at work, I felt good and was unflappable. I joked that I finally got my groove back. Sometimes doing less is more!

How was your week? Have you ever seen baby owls? Any other baby animals in the wild?  What was your favorite workout this week? Mine was definitely that long trail run on Wednesday!

My reading has fallen off a bit, but on Thursday, I will have a Mini Book Review post for April!

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