In My Head

I dialed my miles back this week in anticipation of tomorrow's 20 mile Mammoth March Wisconsin. I'm also nursing a few niggles and did not want to make things worse. Off the road, the family situation continues to weigh on me, and I believe that the stress is taking a physical toll. I didn't realize it until someone pointed it out to me, but my confidence has also dropped (see my strength fails below). 

I'm looking forward to a full day in the woods, off the grid. Hopefully, this will help me reset. I'll share all the details on my IG and in next week's blog post.

Weekly Rundown

Sunday: Trail Sisters run 6 miles

Monday: Yoga with Adriene, Strength training

Tuesday: Fluid running

Wednesday: trail run 6.5 miles

Thursday: Strength training

Friday: Yoga with Adriene

Saturday: Yoga with Adriene

Sunday's Trail Sisters run was at one of my favorite local preserves. I had forgotten how truly beautiful it is. The trees are so old and so tall there, it's like being under a big canopy. It was cool and cloudy, and we had a really nice outing.

Monday was our last day of snatches, with the goal of hitting heavy. Spoiler alert: I'm glad I had such a good lifting session last Monday, hitting a PR, because this week was kind of a disaster. I'm not sure why, but I struggled to get the bar above my head even at the beginning. Maybe it was because I was a little hyped up? Or maybe because on my second lift, I got it up but too far back and fell on my butt, dropped the bar on my ankle? Oof. I struggled after that. SJ came over to talk to me and told me to take a walk. I walked across the gym and stopped to talk to one of my friends, who told me she was struggling too. When I returned to my bar, I didn't think, just pulled it up and overhead, then went down to a squat. Perfect! I put weight on to get to my PR weight from last week, and got that up and over my head. Time was called and I was happy to finish on a high note.

After that, I worked on the first week's workout for the Summer Challenge, saving the accessory work for after. This week's workout was tire flips x 100 and tire strikes (with a sledgehammer) x 200. I did 5 sets of 10 tire flips and 5 sets of 20 tire strikes (10 on each arm), with the plan to finish the rest on Thursday.

The accessory work was 3 rounds: 

100m sled push

1 minute plate pinch hold

Wednesday brought another wet, humid, cool morning, and I was feeling off. Hoping time in the woods would give me a much needed reset, I started my run and heard voices behind me--2 runners were chatting away, disturbing my solitude. So I pulled off the trail, let them pass, and once they were out of earshot, I started moving again. It took a couple of miles until I started to feel better. Spotting this Cooper's Hawk on a branch above me was a treat--and he even posed for me before flying off. I also saw deer throughout my run. No fawn sightings though! I ran farther than I expected, and was glad that this run gave me the calm I was seeking.

On Thursday, I had plans to meet my son and his girlfriend for lunch in the city, so I went to the gym early to do my strength workout. It was our final day of cleans, wrapping up our Olympic strength cycle. I did the prescribed warmup and proceeded to the workout, which was to build to a 1 rep max of cleans (& jerk). Since I was on my own, I wasn't sure how to interpret that. Was the jerk optional? I hope so, because I chose not to do it, hoping to build to a heavy clean and maybe PR. I won't lie, just like Monday, everything felt heavy. I built to 90# and struggled to get under the bar. I walked away, collected my thoughts, and tried again. It wasn't pretty, but I did it. 

Then I tried 95#. I pulled the bar up from the floor and felt a tug in my left hamstring. Oh no. I let the bar drop to the floor, walking away. I returned to the bar and again felt a tug in my left hammie. And that was that. I emptied my bar, grabbed a roller, and rolled that hamstring. I still had to do 50 tire flips and 100 tire strikes to do for this week's summer challenge. I got them done without any further damage and made the decision to rest that leg for the remainder of the week. And let's not even talk about the tendinitis I've been struggling with in my right knee. 

Off the road...

About that lunch...my youngest son and his girlfriend wanted to take me to my favorite coffee roaster--Magnifico--in their neighborhood in the city. This is truly the best coffee I've ever had! Every time my son comes home, I ask him to bring me a bag of beans. Since I'm such a big fan, the owner wanted to meet me, lol. I left the shop with my favorite house blend and a new blend:  'Mount Ijen.' I'm still working my way through my current beans and cannot wait to sample my new purchases. 

We walked from there to a new restaurant that my son had been wanting me to try, Txa Txa Club (pronounced Cha Cha) in Logan Square. It's an 'all-day' cafe with creative cocktails and food. The menu changes seasonally. I had a spring pea salad, which was as good as it looked. I also enjoyed a small gin cocktail-- 'Saltwater Cowgirl'. I never order cocktails, but I was curious. It was really good. My son's and his girlfriend's meals were equally interesting. It's always so fun to eat in the city and experience new flavors! Plus, spending time with my son and his girlfriend was good for my soul.

How was your week? How do you reset when things aren't going well? Do you like to try new restaurants and sample different foods, or do you like to return to the same places for your favorite meals?

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