Thanks to Deborah and Kim for hosting the Weekly rundown link-up! This is where bloggers talk about their week of running and other fitness activities and it’s always inspiring to see what people are up to, and it’s a lovely supportive bunch of people too!
This week I’ve been enjoying new walking shoes. During my injury I’ve become a big fan of Altra shoes (hello, zero drop and extra toe space!), and earlier while I was still using the foot but before I had the boot, I bought a pair of Altra Escalante that were on sale on Zalando. They were a bit too large but still comfortable, and they served me well for the right foot while I was in the boot.
But when I started walking without the boot, those shoes felt a bit too flimsy because of the large size. I needed more support to get back into walking, and I also started planning to get some nice walking shoes for later in the autumn when I would (hopefully) be back to walking properly. I ordered a pair of Altra Lone Peak 7, a half size smaller. The Lone Peak are meant for trail running but that also makes them great walking shoes that can handle Irish weather and less-than-perfect roads and footpaths – and trails, obviously. These have a perfect fit, are super comfy and I think they look very good too!
Other than shoes, my week was all about continued foot rehab, walking, lifting, nasty weather, and again, music. Let’s dig into the activities of the week.
Monday
This was a slow day. PT exercises only, and work.
Tuesday
The reason the gym had been closed on the Monday was that my trainer completed a 100 mile ultra marathon over the weekend. OMG, that man deserves so much respect.
I did a good session with chest and back work, and while hearing about all the raw details of the ultra race, of course there was no place to chicken out on anything or not doing one’s 100% best! Here’s what I did.
- Warm-up with parachutes and press-ups
- Renegade row – 10 kg dumbbells
- Chest press, barbell 32,5 kgs
- Flyes, 10 kg dumbbells
- Tricep pullovers, 1 dumbbell 17,5 kgs
- Barbell row (face down on inclined bench) – 32,5 kgs
- Dumbbell row (knees on bench) – 17,5 kgs
The Renegade row.. just wow. This was a tricky one. I haven’t done it before and I had two main problems. The first one was that I can only stay in push-up position using the right foot, with the left on top, which causes a huge problem with balance. The other problem is that my right big toe area is very unhappy after walking alongside the boot for so long, and I can’t stay in push-up position for long at the moment. But he brought me a sandbag for my ankles – and I could do the exercise at least somewhat. Hopefully there will be a repeat when I can perform it properly.
Wednesday
I had actually planned to do a few km on the bike in the morning, but my husband had the same plans. Hmm.. better planning and communication is needed. 🙁
Thursday
I definitely hopped on the bike this morning! I did a test ride with Zwift. Do I like it? I haven’t a clue. I might prefer routes with real video rather than some virtual reality. I did 5 km, and it’s always a good start of the day as usual although I need to start a bit earlier. I didn’t get on the bike until nearly 8 am! That’s so late if you want to do some activity but also start the work day at a decent hour. But my sleep hasn’t been great lately so after nights like that I don’t force myself to get up early unless I have to.
Friday
I had a lovely gym session, working on my legs and shoulders.
- Wall sits, 50 + 50 + 45 seconds
- Side leg lifts with bent legs, resistance band just above knees
- Leg press with resistance band
- Piriformis lifts –
- Seated shoulder press, 7 kg dumbbells
- Seated bent-over raise, 6 kg dumbbells
- Forward raise, 6 kg dumbbells, left knee on bench
- Lateral raise, 6 kg dumbbells, left knee on bench
My shoulders have always been my weakest area. I’ve talked about this many times. Shoulder pain was what first made me start training. I’ve made tons of progress, and except when using crutches, I’ve had no shoulder pain for a long time, but why oh why is it so difficult to make progress with shoulder exercises? I’m proud to have come to 7 kgs on the shoulder press. But with the other ones, still only 6 kgs, even with only 6 reps? When I check back on my rundown posts from the spring, I lifted 5 kgs ages ago! Anyone else struggling with these?
I still felt like I kicked ***** during this session nevertheless!
Later that day, I was looking forward to a bluegrass music evening with friends. But – there’s the Irish summer.
We started seeing orange weather warnings for rain and wind, and then Storm Betty appeared on the news. I wasn’t sure it would be safe enough to travel, but later the real weather forecast didn’t look too bad (the forecasted 77 km/h winds later changed to about 40) so we decided to go anyway.
Afterwards, it looks like thousands are still without power, trees have fallen etc, but we managed to miss the entire show. The rain was VERY intense in the afternoon when I went to the gym, I got soaked just walking a few metres from the car to the gym, and on the way to our friends some roads were flooded but there was nothing really serious. We had a fabulous evening, enjoying a bluegrass concert followed by a good jam session (and of course we had instruments with us!), and when we went home about 1.30 am, it was nice and calm outside so the storm must have passed while we were busy enjoying ourselves.
Saturday
My hamstrings were absolutely mangled after the gym session, and doing my daily toe raises were excruciating for the calves. But I was delighted to know my leg muscles are being challenged. I’ve missed my leg DOMS!!
We went to Cork city for what we hoped would be some jeans shopping. I’ve lost some fat in the midsection and my skinny jeans are not so skinny anymore. Sadly I was very underwhelmed in the shops (why is EVERYTHING high-rise nowadays??) but found at least something that was good enough, and cheap enough for not being better than just “good enough”. After coming home, I started looking for a brand I bought in Spain and found it is actually available in Cork. Next time!
I did more walking than usual and felt quite good. Walking feels awkward, but at least I walk! And I didn’t get any pain.
Sunday
I did my usual glute/hip and core workout at home. Later I went for a walk!
Well, sort of. My foot isn’t ready to go for real walks yet. But on Saturday night after doing some walking in Cork, my foot felt so good and nearly like normal. So I thought, maybe it needs some walking, just a little more than just around the house? We took the car to a specific footpath that is very flat, just so that I could walk a few 100 metres. It was lovely to get out and lovely to do at least some walking. And I brought the camera too!
The bay isn’t at its prettiest with low tide, but I’ve still seen uglier views than this.
Summary, and how’s that foot doing?
It was a slowish week fitness-wise, but I had some good lifting sessions and some good, mostly pain free walking. I’m looking forward to getting back to my normal strength routine next week, and I also plan to do some more cycling.
The foot is doing quite well! I’ve continued having random aches and can be very stiff in the morning, but it always gets better after I do my physio exercises, and I’ve had much less ache at the end of this week. Walking is still very slow and awkward, I feel insecure and sort of check for pain all the time. My walking gait feels odd because of this. I feel very stiff-legged (is this a word?) and after walking more this weekend, my right calf is very cranky – because of walking crookedly? I have two experts to ask for help during the coming week, so we’ll work it out. Generally, I’m very happy with the foot improvements lately.
I hope you had a good week. What’s your weather like? What was your highlight of the week? What non-Peloton cycling app do you prefer and why?
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