Hello, friends! I hope you are well. It’s the weekend again, and time to wrap up the fitness activities of the week and join the Weekly rundown link-up with Kim and Deborah.
My smile goes from ear to ear today, because this week was the week when I got back to RUNNING. What a wonderful thing! Now I need to be clever and go ahead carefully so that I can keep running.
It’s been an unusual week of sorts, with a bluegrass gig, various social events, my birthday, and a work project that makes me pull my hair. But what isn’t easy makes you learn something!
Here’s a summary of what I’ve been doing in terms of fitness & training:
- Monday – rest day and going to bluegrass gig
- Tuesday – Gym day
- Wednesday – Rowing 12 mins, walking 6.98 km
- Thursday – Rowing 15 mins, walking & running, 6 km km in total
- Friday – Gym day
- Saturday – Walking & running, 7,06 km in total
- Sunday – plan is core & ab strength
Monday
I felt absolutely exhausted on the Monday. The week before was quite intense, both in terms of training and other things. I took this day ”off” as a rest day. I spent the day with Adobe Illustrator, and in the evening we went to this odd little village in north Cork to see Special Consensus. That was absolutely fantastic! Lots of musical inspiration, and a lovely evening. There were some people playing tunes in the bar afterwards and we joined in for a bit, we had brought instruments just in case. We came home at 1.30 am so not as bad as expected!
Tuesday
Tuesday is gym day as usual. During the first few exercises I felt low an energy, possibly because of the late night before. But for my second set of chest presses, I collected some extra focus and oomph, and from then on I felt back on track and was happy with the session.
- Squats, barbell 30 kgs
- Bulgarian split squats, 6 kg dumbbells
- Inclined flyes, 7 kg dumbbells
- Chest press, 9 kg dumbbells
- Tricep pullovers, 1 dumbbell, 12,5 kgs
- Dumbbell row, 12,5 kgs
- Forward shoulder raise, 5 kg dumbbells
Wednesday
Wednesdays are always busy days with the Italian class in the middle of the day, but I did a bit of rowing and in the late afternoon I went for a good walk, 6,98 km in total.
Thursday
This was a lovely day, my friends! It was the day I ran again.
Really, I only planned to do some hill walking, down to the beach and back. But on the way there, you pass this wonderful area where I love to run.
The sun was shining and we had some 10C/50F or so, much warmer than what my thermometer said. It was a beautiful day, my legs and feet felt great, so I decided to try some running to see how it would work.
I did a small distance and felt great, when I stopped it was only because I was worried my foot wasn’t ready. But honestly, I could have continued a good bit longer. I had no pain or anything else. I walked down to the beach, back up the hill, and on the way back on the more flat areas, I ran a few more short distances.
The feeling of running again was wonderful, but now I need to be smart and follow a plan of sorts. I’ve been looking at different walk/run programs for beginners and found that Jeff Galloway has an iPhone app where you can choose how long to run, how long to walk, and then generate a workout where (I think) there’s audio guidance when to stop and start running. I’m not a fan of having the phone with me when I run but I might give it a try! Otherwise I’ll just run 30 seconds, walk a few minutes, and repeat this within a certain distance like 4 km for two or so weeks, then gradually increase that distance or how much I run.
Friday
Another good session in the gym.
- Lunges, barbell 20 kgs
- Deadlifts with hexbar, 33 kgs
- Flyes, 7 kg dumbbells
- Tricep pullovers, 6 kg dumbbells
- Chest press, barbell 22,5 kgs
- Upright row, wide grip, barbell no weights
- Elbow/tricep exercise with resistance band
- Lateral raise, 5 kg dumbbells
Saturday
I planned to go for a decent walk, and prepared to maybe run some of it. I went down the road for my other hill walking route, walked up the hill, and then tried some running. My legs felt really heavy (probably the deadlifts!) but after walking a bit further, I ran a few more distances on the way back and felt really good. I was reminded that before the foot injury, I always needed a good bit of warming up before running felt comfortable, and that people talk about “don’t count the first mile” or something like that.
This is a wonderful area to run, although certain times of the year, like now, parts of the road may be covered with cow manure! And other times of the year, don’t even mention the farming traffic!
Sunday
Today is my birthday, and what better way is there to celebrate than with a few sets of alternating planks, and other core & ab exercises?
I had a good session with different plank variations, leg raises, jack knives, Russian twist attempts, glute bridges and reverse leg lifts. This is a great way to start the Sunday.
But of course we’re planning some other celebrations too, we’re going to a local restaurant with some friends, and later we’re going to play music in the pub. Should be a good day!
I hope you had a good week of running, strength training or other fitness activities! What was your highlight of the week? Mine definitely was the Thursday walk & run!
Leave a comment and make my day