Day 9, run 8

Just :22 easy. No PT later, but squats, so good to keep it light.

Run!

Temperature dropped to more reasonable range overnight, though by the time I got out it was midday at 80F and sultry, so it was still pretty hot, just not sweltering! Finally got Garmin vivosmart HR+ device set up - it took a couple tries, I hate that sort of fiddling! Will possibly go to the gym later for yoga and/or (gulp) Pilates - I need to get more core stuff built into my exercise schedule so that back stays mostly better.

:45 with 4 x 1:00 hills

PT/bench

OK, my day today went much better than yesterday. Good PT session, it was all just me doing exercises and then some heat/stim at the end - John says that I am basically as fixed as he can get me, we'll have one session next week and one the week after but really I'm graduating! This is good not least because it solves the Thursday workout problem - now I can just do regular 5pm squat workout on Thursdays without worrying about trying to do it after back pummeling.

Then a nice hour with the team at Chelsea Piers.

(1) medicine ball tempo wall bounce, 10 x :20 high-intensity, :40 recovery
(2) circuit x 5: (a) bench x 8 @ 60-70% (I went a little lower than that @ 65lb); (b) floor press x 10 @ 17.5; (c) eccentric pushup x 5
(3) single-arm rows, 5 x 15 @ 32.5
(4) gunshow (100 each of banded triceps, curls)

Day 7, run 6

Just :20 (I have PT later and lifting). It is really hot here!

Deadlift!

I couldn't get out to run earlier, I was exhausted from a long day out yesterday at G.'s and just couldn't force myself out the door - in fact went back to bed and felt utterly useless! Did pull myself back together midafternoon and made it downtown (hahaha, psychological emergency mode plus heat wave, I am allowed to take a taxi!) to lift at 5 with the team. Which has made me feel much, much better. I slightly overdid it last week, PT sternly tells me not to feel like I should be doing all reps all sets as assigned, so I tailored workout as needed.

(1) conditioning circuit assigned as 6 x (20-yard prowler @ 50lb, 15 x medicine ball slam, 15 x walking lunges). I did no prowler (it has always bothered my knees and back, and given that it's for conditioning I feel OK just skipping it, generally I am doing more outside conditioning stuff than many of the other lifters), all 6 slams and 3 sets of walking lunges - I can feel the weakness on the right side towards the end of the set, and that is where I really shouldn't overdo it. Did some of my back exercises to fill out the timme (bird dog, piriformis stretch).

(2) DL set. Assigned, appealingly, as (a) 1 x 4 @ 82.5%; (b) 1 x 8 @ 65%; (c) 2 x 10 @ 72.5%; (d) 1 x 3 @ 80%. For future reference! The high reps I am really doing at low weights, I played around with the other numbers as appropriate - I am looking forward to being back in proper lifting shape!

So, anyway:

1 x 4 @ 161
1 x 8 @ 111 (10kg bumpers on bar, this is lowest it goes)
2 x 10 @ 111
1 x 3 @ 161

(3) 100 abs. Did some side and front planks as per PT instructions and finished out the rest of the essential stretches, including using lacrosse ball to open up lower back.

1hr and a bit. Will go home now and ice back, it's not painful as such but that is clearly the best thing to do after using the lacrosse ball so aggressively. I'll lift tomorrow with the team, it's fine having 2pm PT and 5pm bench, but will try and set up a daytimme session with Josh for the third workout - last week showed me pretty clearly that after having back painfully pummeled at PT (whatever we are doing that day, it's going to be something sore that should be following by going home and icing), it will not be sensible to go and squat - hopefully we can do Wednesday or Friday day.

Day 5, run 5

A scant :15 - I was actually up (for me) super-early, but needed the time to finish writing a reader report on a manuscript before heading downtown for breakfast and day at G.'s. It's shaping up to be a scorcher - dogs of NYC already pantingly hot!

Day 4, run 4

Only had time for :25, not the full hour on the schedule - will make that one up over one of the coming days.

Day 3, run 3

Just :20 easy. Gotta shower and get dressed & get to campus for noon meeting and 1pm dissertation defense!

PT!

It was very good. Back is so much better although there is still of course room for further work, including some v painful pressing on top right edge of QL, which was twinging during my morning's run. Decided afterwards (I have grown wiser as well as older) not to go to the gym for the squat workout but instead come home and put some ice on it!

D2R2

:20 easy. Hoping it sticks, but I feel like my mood has turned more strongly positive...

Day 1, 100 in 100!

It's a plan! I missed three days in a row, it's understandable given transition back to lifting this week and G.'s ongoing health situation, but it is so beneficial for my mood, I just can't let the daily running go. It was a struggle to get out the door this evening, but it was lovely once I was out there. You only notice how nice it is NOT to have a sore back when you have had many many months of it always being rather sore and trying to ignore it! Very nice weather, finally stopped raining, sunny, but with a hint of cool. Weekend forecast is for high heat and humidity, ugh - my allergies are also HORRIBLE this week, and I was wheezing the whole jog despite having used rescue inhaler in advance as I always do. Will be careful, would be a disaster right now if I get sick and can't use exercise to regulate mood...

35:00 with 6 x :20 hills

PT/bench!

No run today, my glutes are of course absurdly sore from doing lunges yesterday after several months off from lifting! A very good hour of PT - my back is miraculously almost completely better, I am still slightly amazed, it's really been so sore all this year; no short run, too tired/sore and trying to be cautious; an hour of upper-body at Chelsea Piers. Note to self: use common sense and moderation, do not suddenly try and do everything at once (I had my eye on a sprint triathlon in Cayman in July, but I said out loud to the PT guy this afternoon that I should just be a kayak volunteer if I want to be involved, that's always nice too!), just adding lifting back in and finding some slots for yoga will be plenty for this month rather than worrying about swim/bike.

(1) 8lb medicine ball, 6 x 1min on, 30sec off (this is brutal - the big soft ones, not the smaller harder bouncy ones)
(2) bench bamboo (10lb plate hung via band at each end of bar), 3 x 10 (given as 30-50 total)
(3) close-grip bench, 3 x 6 @ 60 with 6-0-0
(4) gunshow 100 total (band for bicep curls, triceps pulldown)

Back at the gym!

OK, I am really feeling happy - I forgot how important the longer exercise sessions are to my morale, I don't need to be doing anything epic but I spend so much time doing nothing it is very helpful to have these chunks where I'm occupied for a few hours doing things along spectrum from mildly to moderately strenuous! HAPPY HAPPY!

(Took a zero yesterday due to time mismanagement, didn't run today either although I meant to but it was for the best as I did a lot of s tuff later on.)

Most important - back at lifting! Deadlift day, my favorite. Gonna lift really light for a while, no point overdoing it. I have four weeks now before I go to Brent's, then 2 weeks there that will involve more yoga (but I may get a trainer so that I don't just drop off lifting altogether - much more likely to do it with some kind of commitment structure).

10mi RT bike
1hr lower body: 5 x circuit of [I skipped prowler] 10 medicine ball slams, band hip thrust x 20, shrugs x 0; (1) deadlifts, 3 x 10 @ 65-70%, but I just did 110 (less than 50%); (2) walking lunges, 2 x 20; (3) curls, 2 x 10; + PT.

Short run

Just did :30 easy, had a slightly longer one with hills on the menu but nervous stomach has continued to afflict me all week, I felt a bit queasy and figured I'd just do the default.

end of week catch-up

Life is kicking my ass! Survival mode exclusively. Wednesday I had to take a zero, simply no way I was getting out of the door; Thursday I had a pretty good one, 40:00 with 4 x :20 hills in the middle, then an effective and painful PT session (much work on everything, including some Graston on a trigger point at mid-back that was more noticeable to me while running now that lower back is rather better); today, 25:00 only, bruised from yesterday's manipulations!