Week 2: The Last Comeback

In one of my recent posts I wrote to stop paying such close attention to your data as a way to ward off "treatment fatigue" and man have I taken my own advice. I started this post Sunday and have attempted to write it several other times but it's now Tuesday night and I still haven't completed it. WHY? Primarily because I don't even know what I did 5 minutes ago let alone 5-7 days ago. I have literally just been doing what feels right and moving on... I have recorded my workouts in my Vdot, and there have been some weird auto-uploads to my strava... but the accuracy of all of it is questionable because I've done it so long after the workout I can't even remember what I did. So here is "Week 2: The Last Comeback"... A flexible training approach. 

Monday:
I got off to a late start Monday. My daughter woke up before I left and I just didn't have the heart to take off on her in a hurry. I stayed for breakfast and was able to get to the gym still. I've been prioritizing whatever is going to make me feel the least.... tired.... or... fatigued. So I skipped the brainless cardio and just did some lifting. I did the lifting with the intention to get a quick cardio workout in as well... low weight, high reps, little to no rest. I stuck mostly with the glute burning band exercises and box drills, but honestly can't remember specifics. All the days blur together. 
Tuesday:
My coach prescribed a workout on the bike so I did it but shortened the warm up and cool down to give myself enough time to lift and do all the drills and foam rolling. 5 minute warm up, 10min on, 3 min off, 10 min on, 3 min off, then 5 x 2:00 hard 1 min easy, 5 min cool down. I kept my Heart Rate between 1:50-1:65 for hard portions, and tried to keep the RPMs above 90. Not too bad. I followed up with lifting. Hex Bar, Squat, over head press (single arm), Single leg DL, bear row, and I think band drills in all three planes. No rest. Suffer fest before the real suffer fest. WORK. After work I had Shockwave and I also got to meet my new nephew! So cute! (baby fever is strong! But, pregnancy fever is at an all time low... Still recovering from the last one!)

Wednesday:
I totally intended to go in the morning since my husband was leaving for Philly in the afternoon.... But I honestly felt like I should actually say goodbye to him instead of just giving him a call to tell him to have a good trip. So I spent the morning with him and the girls and decided I'd just skip today... but then when I got home I felt a wave of motivation come over me. I grabbed the girls and put them in the Kids Korner while I worked out. This is the first day I attempted to do that after a day of not seeing them. The guilt poured in. I selected a bike where I could see them thinking that that would relieve the guilt a bit... and it did because they were so happy. Work was tough, I had the statewide assessment for some of my students, and it makes me probably more nervous than it makes them. Knowing I had another day of testing and a few days of solo parenting made me feel like I should get some me time even though my kids barely got time with me. They were so good. I was able to do an hour on the bike and then I lifted and foam rolled and did all the drills I need to do. Amazing how quick it happens when kids aren't crawling on you. I tried to make the rest of the night very focused on them and not on any of my own stuff to ensure we got some good quality time. The guilt is inevitable some days... but I know I am a very impatient and mean person when I haven't had that time for myself so I think it's better they have the best version of me less often than the monster version of me more often... I can be a monster sometimes. It's so hard in my line of work to have any patience left for my own kids, and they deserve my patience.... so the workout is essential. 

My solution to tattling... “write me a report”... (Kandem is not a real person. The reporter butchered spelling of the name to protect the guilty ;))

Day in the life... student tears up work that he doesn’t want to do into a million pieces, teacher tapes work, student completes work, teacher sends it home. SO SIMPLE you should see the line of people waiting for my job to open up.

Thursday:
Another workout at the gym. This time I took my first ever spin class. Cranked it in there. No clue about any analytics but I know I was sweating bullets and had a good time doing it. I didn't bring my bike shoes so felt a tad like a tool since everyone has them, but whatever. Followed up with glutes and box drills. Raea said "mommy, you weren't there when I needed you"... ouch. But I try not to act on my feelings of guilt. I can never be everything they want all the time. I just have to teach her why I'm taking time at the gym and hope someday she understands. I told her that the gym helps me not yell so much, and, well... it sunk in because yesterday (Monday) when I yelled she said "mommy, I think you need the gym". She's not wrong. 
Friday:
No husband until way late at night and no babysitting room on Fridays, but I wanted them to know we can spend time together at the gym too (aka: it's not just where mommy drops them off), so I took them to family swim. Then we went for Panera. You'd be surprised how good just walking and kicking around in the water can be for your joints. Even though it was not a formal workout, my range of motion in my hips felt better. They stayed in for an hour!  We went home and had full bellies and full hearts. 

Saturday: 
Disaster ride to Race Point Beach. Back in February I was supposed to run a half marathon but got a sinus infection and didn't do it. I've had more DNS's in the last year than I have in my entire running career. I've just never been this plagued with an injury before. Any other injury I've had was bad enough to just know with certainty that running wasn't an option. This injury is somewhere in between so I've had this bi-polar-ish ebbing and flowing. I've committed now to the time off until I get the Orthotics.... anyway, I had a hotel booked, and didn't cancel with enough warning, so instead of paying and not staying we were able to postpone it to a time of year that Matt would probably need a hotel out on the Cape anyway. So we used the hotel. He had some stores to visit and we were able to tag along. The girls had  fun walking around in P-town... but we timed everything all wrong and by the time we got to the bike part they were hungry and tired and we were poorly prepared. Still got in 8ish miles on the bike path (hilly AF and hard AF while towing 70+ lbs!), but it wasn't fun for anyone. We made up for it with pizza for dinner, ice cream and more swimming at the hotel pool. Since Matt stays at so many hotels we often get free upgrades. The suite was SWEET! and perfect for the girls. Raea had a little trouble settling down to sleep, but overall we were well rested for the next adventure. 

Sunday:
After Saturday's biking disaster, one might think we are gluttons for punishment since we took the girls out for 12 miles on Sunday... but we came much better prepared in every sense. The girls rocked out to their favorite Disney tunes while Matt and I could barely hear it with the strong winds. We were able to have an (almost) uninterrupted conversation during the ride/run with happy kids in tow. Not too Shabby! 

So that's Week 2 of the Last Comeback. My orthotics should be in within the next two weeks (hopefully only 1!) so then the real work begins. I guess it takes a long time to break them in and since my big toe will be mobilized in a way it never has been before... it could cause some new issues if I don't proceed cautiously... The only running goal on the Horizon is a BQ. Feels like it should be easy compared to my original OTQ goal, but one thing I have learned is that there is no such thing as an easy marathon.