I'm doing pretty well NOT running. I'm not too bummed about it. I'm mostly bummed that I'm injured - not too bummed that I can't run. (If that makes any sense at all.) It's been nearly 4 weeks since my last run!
My heel's getting a LITTLE better. I'm still wearing that dang "night splint" when I sleep. It's still achy, but not down low at the base of my heel - it's achy mid-achilles. I'm doing what Dr. Folske says for these 5-6 weeks, but I hope I'm not being dumb by not getting a second opinion (including a scan of some sort to make sure everything is OK in there....).
Here's my training from the last 2 weeks:
And I've put in my 2 biggest weeks of strength training ever. Usually, an average week is about 1:30 - 2:10 of strength time, with my biggest week (since I've been logging workouts with BT in Sept of 2009) being 2:48 - but that week included 90 minutes of moving rock that I called "strength work." (My biggest "normal" week besides that was 2:30.) These past 2 weeks, I've done 2:56 and 2:55. (And I normally work pretty "fast" in the gym. For example, the 38 minute strength workout on the 17th contained 4x chest, 3x core [machine], 3x bi, 3x tri, 3x lats, 2x back, 2x lower back, 2x shoulders, and then about 10 minutes of core in the studio.)
I never work the same muscle group 2 days in a row. So back-to-back days might be legs and core on one day, and then everything else the next. And I've been doing a lot to "shake up" my workouts. In fact, we'll call that my "Tip of the Week"....
So here's my "Tip of the Week:" Make sure to "mix it up" now and then. With my strength work, I find it's easy to fall into that "same old routine" that each of us have, and we NEED to give our muscles a different challenge now and then. Now's the time of year to be switching things up. So when I go to the gym to lift weights, I'll always have a different routine in mind. Here are the kinds of things I usually choose from:
• Lower weight than usual, but higher reps. I don't do enough of this.
• Higher weight than usual, but lower reps. For the burn. ;)
• All "body weight" exercises. (Push-ups, pull-ups, dips, leg-lifters, body-weight squats, etc.).
• Core: all machines (or anything in the "gym," like leg-lifters, etc.).
• Core: no machines (all in the studio).
• The "old routine." (Yes, I try to not do this all the time, but if I have 30-40 minutes, my old routine is an easy no-brainer.)
None of these routines would be good to do all the time. (Well, maybe lower weights and higher reps.) But because I'm always mixing it up, I end up getting a great, varied workout throughout the entire week. I think so, at least...
Oh, and those 2 short swims last week was me "mixing things up" in the pool. On the 23rd, I had a swim lesson. And on the 25th, I did a LOT of kicking drills - over 1000 yards of JUST KICKING! I need to hit the pool a little more, and I need to do some water running, too. Yuck.
To wrap up this random post, here's an up-to-date photo of my lovely Pharmie's growing bump as she got back from a run yesterday afternoon: