Sunday, August 25, 2013

Week 3,

Monday: Active day Off, went to see the stranded whale at Stinson Beach. I was there for a few hour.
Tuesday: Active day Off, i had a volunteer interview for the Marin County Parks.
Wednesday: Rode my bike to the gym for boot camp and spinning classes. Super challenging day today. Boot camp was extra challenging today with a warm-up and then TRX. Spinning was great. I still am babying my ankle so no pressure of standing-up on my bike. Apart from that i think i made it challenging for myself. Yoga stretch after the classes went extra long today, that was good.
Thursday: Off
Friday: Off
Saturday: Rode to the gym for boot camp and spinning classes. Boot camp was ok, not as challenging as Wednesday but a good workout. When you get challenged like we did on Wednesday workouts like today's are a stretch. Spinning is great as always. John always gives us a good workouts and lately the 20+ minute yoga session to wrap up a great fitness day has been fantastic. I'm so grateful i can still do these classes now that i'm injured, if i wasn't able to do both running and these classes i think i would go absolutely nuts.
Sunday: Off


Slow, week. A week where my routine was interrupted by my trip to Marin on Monday and Tuesday. I need to get better at multitasking because my life is where is headed. There is going to come a time where i would be juggling multiple responsibilities and i need to get comfortable at it.

totals:

Running: 0
Biking: 
Outdoor biking: 7 miles
Boot camp: 2
Spinning: 2
Gym workouts: 0

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Week 2 of semi-normal gym training

Monday: Rode to the gym and had a light weigh workout. These last couple days have been a bit harsh on the soreness and today after getting of the bike for half an hour i was warmed up to do some dead lifts and stuff like that. Thirty minutes of biking and i called it a day. Felt great by the way.
Tuesday: Had a great glut workout. The most intense glut workout i've had in years. After reading Joe Uhan's response to my comment on IRF about my gluts being weak, i took it upon myself to get it done. I will do similar workouts like this to strengthen this up.
Wednesday: Rode to the gym and completed both boot camp and spinning classes. Boot camp was challenging with TRX. New guy named Daniel gave us a good workout. John on spinning was good, i'm still taking it easy on the pressure. Completed the class but i just didn't stand up at all on the sprints or other combination workouts. I still made it challenging to myself by sprinting faster that usual. Great workout.
Thursday:Off
Friday: good workout at the gym, did the but routine that i put together. Was a good challenging one and to wrap it up i did a 30 minute bike workout.
Saturday: Boot camp and spinning this morning at the gym. Boot camp was great because we did mostly agility stuff doing fire feet on squares. The instructor had a long variety of different ones. I have never done this kind of stuff before and i know for a fact that i NEED to do this kind of training NOW for rehab. I feel that this is the perfect timing for doing this kind of training and i feel like it fell out of the sky for me.
Sunday: Off

Was extra careful this week on not putting a lot of weight on my ankles when working out and i think i did a good job. My ankle feels good, no notable extraordinary progress but do know that i need some time. Feel strong about this approach and will continue to follow it for the next weeks.


totals:

Running: 0
Biking: 7 miles
Boot Camp: 2
Spinning: 2
Indore biking: 2, 30 minute workouts.
Lifting: 2 workouts


Monday, August 12, 2013

Back to the gym

Monday 5: Off
Tuesday 6: Off
Wednesday 7: Rode to the gym to start training again. 20 minute bike session at random and 30 minutes of lifting exercises. Spinning with John was a bit odd, i felt like a pig riding a bicycle. I felt so big and weak, not sure if my quads were weak from the weight lifting or if the quads are no more. What i do know is that i'm about 5 lbs. bigger than i'd like to be and it showed on spinning. I wasn't able to do some of the routine that was routine for me in the past but part of the reason is that i was a bit cautious with not applying too much pressure on the ankle. I feel like i'm definitely out of shape but not too much. What i did see is that not doing some of the toughest standing up sessions on the bike really made a difference on my ankle not being inflamed right now. I will keep at this until i see results and take it from there.

Thursday 8: Off, too sore to do anything. Will rest and heal today.
Friday 9: Had a great workout doing some upper body and some leg lifting also. I tried to do the quad machine that i had always been afraid of and it turned out to be great. I felt an immediate improvement on the way my knee felt. It felt loose and almost inflamed free. Came to the gym a bit low on energy and ended up having a great tough workout.
Saturday 10: Rode my bike to the gym today and took the boot camp and spinning classes. Boot camp was awesome, Brandon the instructor new guy by the way, had us do four simple workouts to warmup. Three sets of those and four more exercises, 3 sets each, and that was all we needed to be trashes before spinning. I was the second to last to finish the routine, what a change. Spinning with John was great because i did not feel any discomfort whatsoever, no pain, no re-injuring my ankle. That was because i did not put pressure at all on the ankle and that meant not getting up on the standing up sprints. At the end of the day i felt i had a great and challenging workout and i did not aggravate my injury at all. I think i will continue doing this for the next month and see where it takes me.
Sunday 11: Off


Having been off from running for so long has definitely made me aware of the importance of taking good care of myself on training and on races equally. Especially because this last injury, ankle, came out of a careless moment at the 'TNF50' and that forced me even to abandon the race. Being off from the trails from December till now, 7 months, has made me put things into perspective. I have learned a lot so far in my two and a half years running ultramarathons. One of the biggest lessons that i have learned up to now is the fact that i don't want to race any other race feeling 75% ok any longer. I don't want to do it any longer, not one more race. I want to feel 100% OK and enjoy every minute of the race without worries. I don't want to think constantly about when my knee is going to give up. I want to some day push myself physically on races and only worry about not blowing myself up by running too fast of stuff like that. For all of this to happen i need to rehab my injuries and work on strengthening my body, all of it, and on my flexibility. I also want to work on my stability and flexibility. I don't know how much longer i will be off from the trails but what i do know is that i want to be 100% the next time i'm behind the start line ready to race. In the mean time i will work out at the gym and do the boot camp and the spinning class that the gym offers.


totals:
Running: 0
Biking: 14 miles
Boot camp: 1
Spinning: 2
Indoor biking: 30 minutes
Lifting: 2, 1 hour sessions