Future-Focused Training

I am a perfectionist and a planner, and very type-A... If I start thinking too much about tomorrow (or later) it's really easy for me to get stressed or overwhelmed. I am constantly thinking and my mind rarely slows down so I really have to force myself to limit things to what will affect "today". Training, however, is one of the few exceptions; especially since I'd like to continue running for many, many more years.

Regardless of your personality and tendencies, I really think the quote above is something everyone needs to live by. Tomorrow is never guaranteed, but each day is an opportunity for us to make the possibility of what tomorrow brings even better. You can wake up a year from now feeling sluggish, achy, tired, and unmotivated, or you can wake up feeling lean, strong, energetic, and optimistic.

Who you are today is a combination of the choices you've made in the past.

The choices you make today, and tomorrow, and the next day will work work together to shape who you are a year from now.

I have REALLY enjoyed my AlterG running, but 30 minutes of it has not been much of physical workout. That being said, if I really do want to be stronger, faster, and healthier this year, I need to be adding something else to those days. This week I'll have my 3 "running" days again, another personal training session, and a couple strength days on my own. My goal is to also add three or four "doubles" during the week, where I'll either do core work, yoga, the elliptical, or maybe even something at the pool. I don't plan on penciling those in on my schedule as they'll really depend on how I feel each day and what my schedule allows. I'm also going to try to eat fewer inflammatory foods and more anti-inflammatory ones. And I'm still trying to be more consistent with my tissue, muscle, and bone regeneration oils, which I believe have made a huge difference in my groin/ hip flexor.

Sunday, March 9th
Full body circuit. 5' elliptical, 15 med ball squat-to-press, 10 e/s med ball wood chop squats, 2x10 e/s back lunge with curl and press while rising up, 2x15 standing rows, 2x15 e/s straight-leg dead bug on bosu ball, 5' elliptical, 2x10 e/s step-ups with med ball press, 2x10 tricep pushups, 2x10 stability ball pikes, 2x10 bent over rows, 5' elliptical, 2x10 lying tricep extension in glute bridge (toes lifted), 2x10 lying tricep press in glute bridge (toes lifted), 2x15 e/s stretched side crunch on bosu ball.

Monday, March 10th
30' AlterG run @ 65% b/w. I spent the first 10 minutes at 7:30 pace, then 15 minutes at 6:58 pace, then 5 minutes at 6:31 pace. If you're just now dropping by and seeing these paces, they are NOT anywhere close to as fast as you're thinking. We're talking upper 9:xx pace on land at full body weight!!! :) It felt good again up until about halfway through and then my outer hamstring tendon (at the knee) start pulling and hurting. It seemed to get progressively worse over the course of the run so I shut things down early during the last minute. It did the same thing in the last three minutes of my run on Friday, but completely disappeared later in the day, so I wasn't concerned about it, but that hasn't been the case this time. :( Googled it and it looks like tendonitis in that outside hamstring tendon. I went to the chiropractor last night and go back again on Thursday.
35' full body yoga video during lunch.

Tuesday, March 11th
30' AlterG run @ 65% b/w. I showed up thinking a walk in the treadmill would help with blood flow and speed up healing for my tendon, but it was just as painful with low body weight as with full weight. The PT suggested I not do anything that hurts to allow for it to heal all the way.
Personal training mid-day. Cancelled due to neck and shoulder pain from last week and the hamstring tendon.

Well, you may have noticed that I was a bit MIA between Wednesday and today (Saturday). The truth is, I've had nothing to record so I really just didn't make it a priority to log in and update! On Wednesday the pain in that outer hamstring tendon was still intensely painful. Walking around the house was awful and the first steps were no different than the later steps. I was beginning to get worried! On Thursday morning, I had a glimmer of hope! I woke up and noticed only a faint ache and pulling feeling in the spot (it's not tight, just feels like it's been pulled?). Certainly something I could walk on, and I thought maybe even run on. Friday morning, I woke up got dressed for the AlterG, grabbed my purse, fixed a water bottle for the drive home, and went out the back door to roll down our trash and recycling bins before I left. Well... That's all it took. First step down the driveway and all of the same pain came back and it hurt the rest of the way down. The pain lingered a bit as I walked back up and through the house to the front door (yes, I still planned on running... the treadmill is flat, right?). I started walking down our front steps to get to my car and BAM, same pain. Like a true idiot, I got in the car and started driving anyways. I made it about three blocks before common sense kicked in and turned around and went home!!

It's now Saturday evening and I have not done any strength work or cardio at all since Monday morning's run! Neck and shoulder are both still killing me, so upper body options are super limited; outer hamstring tendon is sore enough that biking elliptical, swimming, lunges, squats, and rowing all sound like a recipe for disaster. Early in the week I thought I'd do yoga, but then I read that stretching the hamstring is a bad idea if you have tendon pain. I'm thinking I'll try something light and low-resistance tomorrow and slowly work back into things... Stopping, of course, if anything hurts!