Taking A Few Steps Back

Something wasn’t right with my right leg last night. It felt achy and tired and I had a really hard time sitting comfortably through an enjoyable dinner out with friends. I tried changing positions and I eventually switched to a more comfortable chair mid-way through dinner and as I got up from the table to head out of the restaurant, I wondered to myself if that ‘not so right’ feeling in my leg was due to overdoing things earlier that day. I mean, a 75 minute walk+run workout and a 30 minute treadmill walk with one of the more challenging Peloton instructors isn’t too much, is it?!

Turns out I was overdoing it and I had been over the last several days or better yet, the last two weeks. I think I got so excited about being back on my Peloton bike and treadmill again and having a lot more flexibility with my day that I got a bit overzealous. It’s not like I was doing classes and workouts back to back to back to back (I know…too much backing) but my activity level had increased and as a result, so did my intensity level. And after seeing my weight go down last week to the lowest number I had seen since 2017, I assumed that working out at this pace would result in my dropping another pound or two or three.

Think again. I’ve seen my weight go up two to three pounds over the last several days and I’ve been feeling that achiness in my right leg that I mentioned earlier. I didn’t panic about the number on the scale but I questioned whether it was from something I had eaten or whether I had been feeding myself properly to balance the extra activity I had been doing lately. As I felt that achiness more and more this morning, I debated against texting Jeff 20 minutes before our training session , figuring I’ll simply tell him when we start out. We chatted about how I had been feeling and he asked me a few questions about what I had been doing each day activity wise. He used the phrase ‘inflammatory response’…the body’s defense mechanism to protect itself from injury. As I rattled it all off, I came to the realization that I had been doing too much, albeit with the best of intentions. I was doing walking workouts that had be seeing a 14-15 minute pace and I was running paces I hadn’t seen in years and I was pushing eight miles in a 30 minute spin workout and of course, I attributed all of that to my weight loss and improved strength and endurance. The way I was working with this sense of push and over-drive to move more and do more, I was heading towards a real injury and my body was sending me signals via the weight gain and the cramped leg that I needed to calm down. And speaking of the best of intentions…Jeff told me I most definitely should have told him in advance about my leg so that he could modify our training session accordingly but being the master trainer that he is, he set up a recovery workout plan on the spot that had me working my core, activating my lower body without working it especially hard and most important, allowing to breathe and relax.

I had all kinds of plans for a cycling workout this afternoon and a 30 minute run tomorrow but I removed myself from the roster. I’m already feeling much better as I move around the house and go up the stairs with more ease than I had had over the last few days. Still, I am going to give myself some grace and take it easy. Running will be there. My spin bike won’t get too dusty. I am just going to follow the cues my body gives me over the next few days and get back to all of the things I love doing — running, spinning, faster walking — but do it with a little less zealousness and a lot more common sense.

Striving For Excellence

Today was THE day. I was getting my measurement assessment with Jeff after a little over three months since the last one. I’ve seen changes in how my clothes are fitting and I see the number on the scale going down but the proof was in the pudding (sugar free, of course) today.

Nine point eight pounds down. Two inches lost…sixteen millimeters gone in the caliper pinches. Don’t ask me to explain that last part but according to Jeff, it’s really, really good. When he calculated my body fat percentage, I was .1 shy of being in the excellent category for my age range. Right now, I am in the ‘good’ category but another little drop at the next assessment or two, I will be excellent.

I don’t think I got caught up in the excitement of it all until I was driving home and I thought about how I got to where I am today, after years of being stuck in a certain weight range and never seeing much of a change. I’m not necessarily doing so much more today than I did three months ago but there is heightened appreciation of everything that I am doing and I think that helps. I am running because I choose to and I am doing my workouts with Jeff with more eagerness and openness to do whatever he instructs me to do. I am choosing to eat food that is more satisfying and filling and I am choosing to not partake in food that I know I will regret eating later, because it’s considered something ‘bad’ for me. I am thrilled with where I am…with wearing clothes that had been hanging in my closet for years, collecting dust. I am excited to imagine where I can still go and it’s not so much about the number that would appear on the scale but having the healthier and leaner frame that would get me in that ‘excellent’ category. So I am really happy with being ‘good’ but I am striving for that ‘excellent.’

Thank you Lady Gaga

I had made up my mind to go for a run this morning and I have to admit…I was torn between running outside as I had planned and running on the peloton. I had laid out my clothes for the colder weather and I was okay with running in the (windy) 50’s and I was okay with running more mid-morning, once things were checked off my to-do list. But I also was okay with being inside and running in the basement and doing another one of those great Peloton treadmill workouts. My morning to-do list got bigger and bigger and I was finally able to get my running shoes on at about 10:45…a bit late for me but at least, not forty something degrees.

I made a decision. Outside, it would be. Here, I had the opportunity to get outside on what looked like a beautiful fall day and I had no reason to stay in my house to run and have regrets after the fact. I had planned an outdoor run for today — clothes set aside and a route that would keep me pretty close to home but spread myself out enough to get at least four miles in. I chose a 45 minute run with Susie Chen, a Peloton instructor I really like and a playlist full of Lady Gaga tunes….a run I had saved on my wish list for a time I could do it outside and here was that chance!

Lady Gaga’s energetic songs and Susie’s cuing made this run one of my best runs since my ‘comeback.’ I increased the pace when instructed but kept things pretty steady throughout the 4.35 mile run and my mile splits ranged between a 10:10 and 10:39 minute per mile! I’m sure I could have done something similar with a workout on the treadmill but running on the road and running on the streets was what I really needed today so thank you Susie and thank you Lady Gaga!

Fear No More

It’s actually kind of silly..my having avoided using this wonderful Peloton app I have for outside runs. Ever since I became a Peloton user, it’s been my go-to for treadmill runs here in the gym. I find the classes motivating and far more entertaining than listening to music or podcasts but it can be kind of a nuisance when it pauses over and over again because the treadmills here don’t connect to the app and the WiFi is often iffy.

This morning, I decided to throw caution to the wind and I did a Peloton run outside. I picked something on the ‘easier’ side — a 30 minute advanced beginner run with Matt Wilpers and I mapped out a route last night that had me avoiding traffic lights as much as possible. Matt provided great cuing and I found him to be wonderful company on my run (although I stuck to a more moderate pace for those jog/walk recoveries). It’s not all that easy to run around here with so many people passing by on the sidewalks and so many crosswalks and stop lights in the neighborhood but I made it work and my pace was pretty good.

Now that I can say that I conquered my fear of Pelotoning outside, I know I can look forward to more outdoor runs with Matt, Matty, Susie, Becs and Olivia. It might take some creative route planning but it’s definitely worth it!

Hello 10’s

It’s nice to see 10 as the first number for my pace, especially after being in the 11’s and 12’s for so long. Running more regularly outside has helped and I think that having a better outlook about it, has helped. I’m not racing when I go out for a run. I’m not looking to get a certain pace when I do my next race. I’m simply running according to feel and it’s feeling pretty good to hit the numbers I’ve been hitting.

I’m keeping up with my activity, running a few days a week, spinning classes twice a week here, training with Jeff twice a week and walking as a bonus. I’ve been loving the Peloton app and I’ve done a bunch of outdoor walking workouts and indoor runs. Those walking workouts are no joke — power walking has become something of a regular thing for me and I am loving it!

Getting Closer

You’re close to flipping this arrow. Pick up the pace in your running workouts this week!

So said Apple Health about my running pace. The arrow is down and as hard as I try, the arrow hasn’t been up in weeks. I know I shouldn’t let it determine my success or judge my efforts but when you see that darn arrow pointing downward and everything is pointing up, it hurts even a little bit.

I had a pretty busy morning and I’ve been up since four and I wasn’t able to get out for a run until noonish but I did get out there and I gave it my all. Three point one five miles and a 10:46 overall pace…not bad! I know I could have gotten my run in at the gym and I had the time slot reserved for this afternoon but it was so gorgeous outside that I knew I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get out there, plus that apple health thing judges the outdoor runs that use the gps and not the treadmill runs that are manually tracked. I’m glad for the run I did…and I will run again outside on Sunday morning. Sure, I want that arrow pointing up but more than anything else, I am loving the opportunity to be outside while the weather is what it is and just being able to move.

Not Feeling ‘It’

I’ve had many bouts of not feeling ‘it’ when it has come to running but until this morning, I had never felt that way about spinning. Ever since I re-added spinning to my routine, I have gone into a class or a Peloton ride with a sense of excitement and want. This morning, though, I just wasn’t feeling ‘it.’

Truth be told, I wasn’t feeling ‘it’ as I went to bed last night. I had my clothes laid out and I had my alarm set and I had reserved a spot at the 7:30 am class yet I was tired from having been up since 5am yesterday morning and being on the go all day. Before I went to bed, I removed myself from the class, changed my alarm wake-up setting to 7 and decided that I could change my mind in the morning if I was up early and felt like going after all.

Well, I was up earlier than yesterday’s early…and I still didn’t feel ‘it.’ I had this feeling that if I went to the spin class, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy it with so many things on my mind — the cooking that needed to get done for tonight’s holiday, the news reports coming in of the hostages’ release, the laundry that needed to get done. I wound up getting most of the cooking done with enough time to make it to the 8:30 class if I had really wanted to but today, I just didn’t want to and that’s okay. I might get my Strava 200k ride badge at the end of the month and I might not because I wasn’t feeling ‘it’ today. I took a great 60 minute outdoor walk with one of my favorite instructors and after that, I decided I had a little more in me to go for a quick run. It was a mile…not much more than that but I went for ‘it’ and felt ‘it’ and it was the fastest mile I have run outside in years!

Who Knew?!

Yesterday’s training session with Jeff was filled with all kinds of who knews.

Three sets of movements that included 10 real push-ups. Not modified. Not inclined push-ups against the bench. Real push-ups. 10 of them. Three times. There was a time when I could barely get through one. Yesterday, I was doing them right after some lat pull work, weighted shrugs and alternating bicep curls so that’s a LOT of work with the triceps.

Speaking of triceps…who knew I had something there…I see the formation of triceps when I do reverse or wide grip lat pull work but it wasn’t until yesterday that I could feel and see it all at the the same time. Jeff had instructed me to do some single tricep kickbacks and after doing a bunch of them, he told me to look in the mirror and see what was going on. I could see it! Then, he had me pull up the sleeve on my shirt all the way up to my shoulder so I could really see the effects and that was a really ‘who knew?!’

As we moved along in the workout, we talked about where I am at today and how far I have come. Push-ups aside and being able to handle what Jeff’s plan is for each training session, I am truly in a place where I still question if I can really meet the challenge but see that I want to try. There is a drive in me that had been missing for far too long. Life had gotten in the way. My health got in the way at times. My self-confidence most definitely served as a roadblock. It took me years to figure out how to eat, what to eat and what not to eat. I don’t know what it was that made me go from doubtful to determined but that switch was life altering. I love where I am at today. I love being in control of my ‘diet’ and not letting myself be controlled by a number on the scale. I love being able to decide what I am going to do activity wise and knowing when it might be too much or not enough. This has taken me years to be in this place where I am at. I’m not always perfect and I still make mistakes but I am learning from them and I am growing from them and with that, I can say ‘who knew?!’

Running In My 50’s

That is one of the hashtags I have started including in my Instagram posts when I share a run. I’m not all that sure that anyone in that Instagram group actually sees my posts or thinks much of them but I figured such a group is one that I would be interested in following and would ultimately be inspired by the posts of other runners in my age range.

That hashtag kind of sums me up since I am a few days past my 57th birthday. I‘ve been getting all kinds of ads in between my jigsaw puzzles and Solitaire games that offer me a link to a chair yoga workout or a link to follow a fellow 57 year old doing an indoor walking workout. While I think it’s great that the powers that be inside my IPad are thinking of my well being, I feel a little mixed about the whole AI thing trying to woo me with more workout resources. I used to get ads for quick baking tricks and now, I am getting ads offering me a beginner level class.

Not that I want to get bombarded with more ads but if I am going to get wooed by AI, I want to see some ads for running clothes for my 57 year old body that don’t try to make me look like I’m 17 and how about some ads for running podcasts that I haven’t heard of?! Then again…I’d better be careful not to think out loud lest I get an influx of ads for a senior discount on the Jerusalem Marathon entry forms.

Goals In Place

My birthday has passed and my goals have been shared, both here and in a lengthier discussion with Jeff this past Wednesday. We tried to put them in some kind of order, in terms of prioritizing what is most important to me and what is more short term versus what is more long term.

We first chatted about my weight. I know we aren’t supposed to be focused on the number but I have reached a place where I am focused and active while doing my own thing — spinning twice a week, running two or three times a week and training twice a week — and I have been extremely happy with that. The weight came off over time and I am a little wary…like if I blink, I will be five pounds up because come on…I haven’t been this weight in a good eight years. I do worry about maintaining it but at the same time, I am seeing that my body is embracing this active version of me and it’s saying ‘so far, so good.’ I don’t know how to explain it…there is an inner voice saying that it seems too good to be true but I am seeing the path ahead…that if I keep doing what I am doing, I will see that target goal weight range Jeff has been talking about.

For a while now, I have been doing my own thing. I haven’t really followed any kind of workout calendar and I haven’t really had anything to train for. With my new goal of running the Jerusalem Marathon 10k in late March, I have something new to work on and I am really excited. Besides the fact that Jeff thinks I can reach what he feels is an attainable AND maintainable weight goal, I am really looking forward to changing things up and work more on my distance and endurance. I’m not looking to run the 10k in a certain time but I do feel that with the proper training to prepare myself physically and mentally for the race, I can accomplish that goal of running the course in its entirety.

Some of my other goals are things are things we are already working on — focusing more on my core strength (although Jeff thinks I’m pretty good with that) and working on my hip mobility. I am going to invest in some yoga blocks to help me with that whole ‘sitting up, cross legged’ as I really feel that I need to work on my flexibility. I’m ready to hit the trails with Jeff when time allows us both to revisit some of the routes we have taken and enjoyed. I’m all set…let’s get after it!