I’m inconsistent. I have written about being inconsistent time and time again, but nothing has really changed. I sometimes want to blame my job or the dog, but the reality is I have struggled getting the motivation to get out of bed in the morning other than to walk the dog and go to work. For the last week I was on vacation with my family in Florida, and I was able to take some time to recover from a minor injury and get some decent training in when the weather allowed.
First, the injury. I don’t know exactly what I did, but I strained my left hamstring during my leg workout the Friday before I left. I do feel like I was going lower on RDLs than I usually do, but I wasn’t going heavier than normal, so maybe I just did something weird. Driving got really uncomfortable, and when I got to the beach it meant I couldn’t really do too much other than rest it that day. I try to really listen to my body with these things, because while I wanted to be active all week, I knew I didn’t want to make it worse.
I took it easy Sunday and Monday, taking a couple long walks on the beach, and I learned I probably should wear shoes and walk on the flatter parts of the beach. I have dealt with plantar fasciitis in my left foot before, and the walking did not help, so while my hamstring was doing better day by day, I irritated my tight calf and my foot. Of course, I don’t listen to my own advice though and will likely walk barefoot on a beach again someday.
By Tuesday, my hamstring was 80% better, and a massage helped it loosen up even further, but I still felt like I should stay off of it running and biking, so I found a pool to go swim at. It is the “Aquatic Center in Destin” on Hwy 98. It was a pretty nice outdoor pool that was previously a YMCA, and the person who took my money is actually from Nashville, so it was funny what a small world competitive swimming is. I really liked the pool, and it was cleaner than the outdoor pools I’ve swam in locally in the summers before, so when I get back down to Florida I will definitely go back. My goal was a minimum of 2,000 yards, and I managed 2,200 (workout at the end below), so I was overall happy with it. My hamstring did feel off on the butterfly though.
Wednesday was a nice morning with low wind, so after breakfast and relaxing for a little while, I got on my bike for an hour long ride up and down the road where we were staying. My one problem with Florida is that I couldn’t ride very far due to the roads. The road we stayed on was about five miles, and I didn’t really want to ride on the highway, so I rode up and down enough to get a little over 15 miles in. This felt a little hard, but my legs are feeling strong, so it is just endurance and cadence I need to work on right now.
Thursday I finally got myself to run. I’ve tried running at home a few times, but I have been struggling a lot, so I made a commitment with myself for this run. I would stick to running 3 minutes and walking 2 in order to keep my heart rate down for once, where at home I would run until my heartrate skyrocketed and then walk and felt like I could never recover. It worked, and while my run was not very long, it felt good and I felt like I could recover. Sometimes running at home I have felt so bad by the end that when I get home I am just sitting on my couch trying to breathe for a while after.
That was it for my training for the week, and while I wish I had the chance to do something Friday, the weather wasn’t great, and after not training much at all, I know I needed the rest. I am calling this a vacation reset, because I am hoping it gets my mind in the right place, and now I just need to stop making excuses for myself. It is easy to make excuses though. I work a lot, the dog needs a walk, and I always need to run the vacuum at home. I just have to remind myself how good I felt when I was doing that training.
Tuesday’s IM Workout
300 swim
4x50 25 kick/25 backstroke
4x(4x25 kick
2x50 drill/swim
1x100 IM) one round each stroke
8x25
1-1/2 fast 1/2 easy
2-1/2 easy 1/2 fast
3-all easy
4-all fast
4x50 pull odd-breathe every 3, even-breathe every 5
100 easy