My Turn

The past 6 months since my mom's fall have really taken a toll on me, physically and emotionally. While I have kept up with my workout routine while managing my parents' care, I neglected the maintenance needed to keep this old machine running. I'm paying for that now, with that knee injury. Now it's my turn to take care of my needs. My dad has pushed me away and is now refusing my help, as well as not going to any of his appointments, and while that is troubling, we have enlisted our care manager to try working with him. I'm 'quietly quitting'. I will continue to manage my mom's care and accompany her to appointments. 

I'm happy to report that my knee is improving with my conservative workouts, physical therapy, and the gel injection I received this week. The PT has me doing some deep hamstring and hip flexor stretches, and movements to strengthen my hips, adductors, and quads. We're also working on balance. 

Weekly Rundown:

Sunday: Ice Age Trail Lapham Peak Segment 6.75 miles/650 ft

Monday: PT

Tuesday: Fluid running

Wednesday: Trail run 4 miles

Thursday: PT, Strength training

Friday: 12-3-30 (10-3.5-30) with 5 min before and after warm up/cool down 2.1m/1100 ft

Saturday: rest day, IAT event at Lake Effect Brewing

Mammoth Trail miles so far: 21.25 plus 5 bonus miles

On Sunday, I drove from the lake house to Delafield, Wisconsin, to meet up with one of my trail friends, Rachael, who was celebrating completing the Ice Age Trail, all 1,250 miles! Unfortunately, I parked at the wrong trailhead and began my run/hike to the shelter, where we were supposed to meet up. Sadly, I missed them. Eventually, they made their way to the shelter; I was able to say hi and congratulate her, and the group continued on their hike. I was too fatigued and sore to join the group; I also had 2 miles to hike back to the car. Sometimes, things just don't work the way you planned...Meanwhile, it was a beautiful day on the trails! I am grateful for getting more miles and climbing to the top of the viewing tower!

View from the tower: If you look closely, you can see Holy Hill at the top of the photo. It's 20 miles away! I visited there while chasing IAT miles two years ago. 

Wild turkeys!

I woke up Monday morning feeling exhausted! I also had a cold. I decided to skip the gym and give my legs a rest. I also had to skip seeing my grandson because I didn't want to give him my cold. That was hard! I went to PT, as planned, and she worked me hard--we worked on deep stretching, balance, and did some strengthening. Afterward, the PT put a cooling wrap on my knee. I felt pretty good when I finished!

Wednesday was rainy and gloomy; I took myself for a short run/walk at the preserve, only running 4 miles to let my legs recover after some big miles last weekend! It was quiet in the woods-I only saw one deer-but I enjoyed some beautiful fall colors. 

I was so excited to be back at the gym on Thursday! I was greeted with 'Hey, Grandma!' by the ladies in my class. I talked to SJ about the modifications that were recommended to me by my PT for back squats, and we incorporated those into my lifts. The powerlifting cycle looks different this year--I am excited about the changes! Since we do this cycle for 12 weeks, it can get kind of monotonous, and the coaches wanted to avoid that this year. Today's workout:

Bench Press 5-3-1 for load: the weights are based on a percentage of my 1-rep max; they will increase as we move forward!

#1 5 reps: 42.75# 

#2 3 reps: 52.75#

#3 1 rep: 62.75#

Deadlifts 5-3-1 for load:

#1 5 reps: 85#

#2 3 reps: 105#

#3 reps: 125#

Back Squats 5 x10 at 30% 1RM

47.5#

We modified the back squats by having me wear a band above my knees to remind me to push out instead of allowing my knees to collapse in. I'm not supposed to drop below parallel to prevent further injury to my knees, and I lowered to a box that kept me exactly at parallel. This was great--I didn't feel any knee pain until the final set!

Friday was rainy and dark, so to the treadmill it was! I repeated last week's 10-3.5-30 workout with a 5 minute warm up/ascent and cool down/descent. It was the perfect start to my day and kept my knee quiet.

Off the road...

On Saturday, the hubs and I drove to the city to attend an Ice Age Trail meet-and-greet event at Lake Effect Brewing in Chicago. By attending, I received 5 bonus miles. Coincidentally, this happens to be my sons' favorite brewpubs and is located close to my oldest son's building, where both of them lived up until recently. My youngest son, who still lives in the city, met us there. At this event, I met one of the coordinators, Melissa, and we talked a lot about how I can get more involved in trail activities. This was such a fun event! People keep asking me about what I'm going to do when I retire...I'm going to spend more time on the trail!

How was your week? Have you done PT to help you recover from injury? What was your favorite workout of the week? Mine was my strength workout-it sure felt good to be back!

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