Hi there, can you believe we’re halfway through January already? I personally welcome the end of this month with open arms because… closer to spring and more daylight, but my trainer had a very good point in this discussion last week, that if you wait for the month to pass, you might miss the good moments… because winter has its charms. He has a good point.
I’m joining Kim and Deborah for another Weekly Rundown link-up, which is where we share our week of fitness. My week hasn’t been great, although fitness-wise it probably has been quite good after all.
- Monday – Mobility & stretch, walking & running 5,6 km in total
- Tuesday – Gym day
- Wednesday – Rest day
- Thursday – Mobility & stretch, walking 7,18 km
- Friday – Gym day, a nice heavy session
- Saturday – Walking, 6-ish km
- Sunday – Running & walking, 6,96 km
Monday
Mondays are run days, and the weather was glorious with nice sunshine, 7 C and not-too-bad wind, so I went down to the beach. This route includes a steep decline to get to the sea, and what goes down must come up… or whatever the saying is! On the way back, when you think you’re going to die, then you’re halfway up the hill. 😀
Last week I read someone’s article about running inclines and how it builds strength in calves, glutes, hamstrings and more, and realised that this route is an excellent exercise for me to work up strength in those areas which will help keep the knees happy.
Tuesday
Gym day – and an exciting one! Today I was going to get a different program. I was hoping a heavier one with fewer reps, and I was right. Today I did 3×8 and all weights were increased. However, some exercises were easier than I thought! And my trainer saw that too so on Friday some will be heavier. Exactly my cup of tea! (Can you sense the impatience to build more muscle here?)
- Warm-up with bodyweight squats and lunges
- Squats with barbell, 32,5 kgs
- Lunges with barbell, 30 kgs
- Flyes, 6 kg dumbbells
- Chestpress (I missed asking about the weight of the bar)
- Dumbbell row, 12,5 kg
- Tricep pulldowns, 7 kg dumbbells
- Shoulder press, 6 kgs
- Stand-up row, 17,5 kgs
Wednesday
I had massive DOMS in my chest, shoulders and triceps! This became a total rest day, also because I was quite busy. My Italian class started again. I started attending it in 2019 and it’s been on Zoom since 2020 – this is so convenient because in 2019 I had to go to Cork for it and it took so much time just to travel. I love having it on Zoom but I’ve taken a break from it during 2022 because I was so busy with studies and more, it was lovely to see everyone again.
Thursday
This is supposed to be a run day but I had knee pain for unknown reason, around *those* tendons. I didn’t dare to run which was very disappointing and unsettling but I went for a nice walk instead, 7,18 km in total.
On Wednesday night we had near storm conditions, and Thursday morning was still very windy but sunny, dry and definitely good enough. But on the way back, the drizzle started and winds started increasing. In one area I could barely stay upright! It was a bit scary considering that area normally is the least windy around here, so if it’s bad down there, it will be much worse at home! But it calmed down and I came home ok.
It’s been VERY wet lately. So much rain. Fields are waterlogged, forest trails are waterlogged, forests are flooded, parts of roads are flooded. I wanted to spend a weekend away for a nice trail walk/run to celebrate my birthday in February but everything that isn’t roads or beaches can be expected to be flooded and muddy.
A much worse problem was that the worry about not being able to run – mixed with a few other things I had been thinking about – triggered a massive wave of negative thinking and self-doubt, in ALL areas of life really. I enjoyed the music session in the evening but I was not in a good place.
Friday
We’re back to normal now so Fridays are gym days, and this Friday was Fri-yay. I was in some really low mood in the morning but received a lot of reassurance by my trainer (and his sister/colleague who was also there) about yesterday, and I got a wonderful weightlifting session. The pep talk in combination with some heavy lifting seemed to solve all problems.. or at least get my thinking in the right direction.
- Deadlifts with hex bar, 43 kgs!
- Sumo squats with barbell, 35 kgs
- Chestpress with 9 kg dumbbells, this was tough!
- Flyes, 7 kg dumbbells
- Tricep pullovers, one dumbbell, 15 kgs
- Good mornings, barbell 35 kgs
- Lateral raise, 5 kg dumbbells
This is the heaviest strength session I’ve done. I was still sore in chest and triceps after the Tuesday session, but I’m very happy with my performance, and I loved it! So satisfying and it lifted my mood very nicely.
Saturday
Oh, the joy of DOMS, lol.
I went for a nice, long-ish walk to the sea and back. My Fitbit died on the way back (Who knows why? I thought it was fully charged! I really need it to work for my February challenge) but before the battery died it said 5,9-something km. I did those nice inclines to get back from the beach, and despite my deadlifts yesterday, my calves and hamstrings were happy.
Sunday
I decided to go out, with the humble attitude ”to see if I would be able to run”. It turned out to be my BEST EVER run. I felt in great form, had some discomfort around the knees but decided to try to run anyway. It worked fine and the discomfort mostly disappeared after a while. Even during the first part of the loop I was able to run a lot more than I’ve done before, when I slowed down to walk a bit it was mostly because I was worried about overdoing it, I still don’t trust my knees. But today I definitely ran more than I walked, except on steep hills, and on some distances I got into some kind of flow state! It was absolutely wonderful and now everything around running feels so much more hopeful.
Today I did the same route as I did on Thursday, but kept going through the flooded area, it was worth the wet shoes, because it’s a lovely route, and the rest of the road was totally ok.
Other news
When we’ve done long walks I’ve always had problems with blisters under my feet. My running shoes are a tiny bit too large, it’s barely noticeable and I didn’t realise until I started having these blisters during the last 2 or so kilometres. I started looking in some online shops to see if there’s any specialist socks or similar for runners, and found a few different socks with double layering and some special material on the inside layers. I bought three different pairs and have tried two of them so far and they seem to work wonders. Problem solved, for now. I suspect they’ll be quite warm in the summer but we’ll see.
So this was a very mixed week but it ended well. Tomorrow we’re expecting another cold snap and I’ll stay inside, recover and maybe do some lighter strength work and/or mobility exercises.
How was your week? How is the weather where you are? What was your best training moment of the week?
Leave a comment and make my day