Last week’s training wasn’t ideal… I’ve been dealing with some back and neck pain. I think due to work and leaning on weird surfaces all the time. And then I had some slight knee pain so I took a rest day on Saturday, saw a physio and went for a dog walk.
I’m giving myself themes for each week in training, and whilst week 1 was accountability, and week 3 is all about sleep…I’ve decided Week 2 was all about listening to my body. Taking a rest day when I needed it, not pushing it on the Peloton bike and finally getting some bloodwork done to see where my hormone/stress/micronutrient levels are. I’ll share the results with you soon. But in the meantime you can check out the results and recommendations from when I had my blood tested last year in this blog.
The Boston Project Week 2
My Weekly Workouts 11th-17th January 2021
MONDAY
20 min Peloton Pop ride with Cody Rigsby! My fave Peloton instructor for a post work detox.
TUESDAY
Woke up with a serious headache so started the day with two 5 minute Upper Body stretches on the Peloton app, then headed out into the rain for a 2.5 mile easy run with Emma. Yes it was pouring rain but the coffee at the end was epic, and I felt much better than I had prior to running. I suffer from migraines, and when they are really bad I cannot even think about moving, let alone running. But when they’re not awful, I do try to do some sort of movement, whether that’s yoga or an easy run and I rarely feel worse after.
2.5 miles at 9.49 min mile pace
WEDNESDAY
30 minute Elvis Peloton ride plus 5 min post-ride stretch
Can you see a bit of theme when it comes to the rides and runs that I like? Cheesy pop or artist themed rides are my favourite!
THURSDAY
20 minute Peloton run with Becs Gentry after my lunchtime run did not happen. I’m determined to try again next week though. Today’s failure was down as much to the weather as the workload.
1.75 miles at 11.29 min mile pace plus walking warm up/cool down
FRIDAY
Strength Training – after working late on Thursday night I knew I wouldn’t have time for my Zoom PT session so switched it to Friday. My knee was feeling just a little sore, so we swapped lunges out of the routine (my least fave!) Here’s the workout we did, you can see videos of the move on my IG. I’m posting weekly strength training on my instagram so give me a follow over there if you aren’t already!
Repeat each set 3 times.
➡️10 x Bicep curl to Shoulder Presses
➡️10 x Bear Crawl (alternating press ups)
➡️ 1 min Hip Bridge Ball Squeezes
➡️ 10 x Side Leg Fire Hydrant (each side)
➡️ 1 min Wall Sit
➡️ 10 x Banded Hip Thrusts
➡️ 1 min Bicycle Crunches
➡️ 10 x Barbell Frog Bridges
SATURDAY
30 min Miley Cyrus Peloton Ride
After my back had been really uncomfortable all week, i managed to get an appointment with a physio for Saturday. My normal sports massage therapist isn’t working, and for some reason I thought that meant I couldn’t get treatment for something that wasn’t technically an injury. But luckily I was told otherwise, and after speaking to Louie and explaining about my job and contributing factors to my back and some slight knee pain, he was happy to treat me. He did some loosening of my shoulders, traps, neck, quad and along my spine and some dry needling (I find it works really well for me although my back was definitely sore whilst one of the needles was in). Felt much better post treatment but after a slightly painful walk with Chester and Tom, I decided not to do my run that day.
SUNDAY
3.5 mile easy run. This is my long run right now and I’m embracing that! Waited way too long to do my run after a coffee morning Zoom catch up with friends and by the time I got to the river it was so busy. Will not make that mistake again! Listened to A Runner’s Life podcast episode with Carly Spataro, then finished at my local coffee shop before doing my supermarket shopping for the week and getting Tom to pick me up with it all. Running errands, literally!
3.5 miles at 9.43 min mile pace
Total Weekly Mileage: 7.75 MilES
Overall not the week I would have liked, and I already wondered if I was ‘failing’ by needing to take that extra rest day, but I also knew that doing another 2.5 mile run wasn’t going to bolster my fitness and actually, learning to listen to my body is so crucial at this stage so that when we get deeper into marathon training, I know when easier runs are needed, when to take extra rest and when I need to just suck it up and push on through.
Please look after your neck and shoulders at work. I spent 17yrs in healthcare as an AHCP and like you spent a lot of time performing my work in awkward positions. I’m 42 now and while I’m no longer in healthcare, I’m recovering from neck surgery right now due to the years of wear and tear. Its not worth it! Your manager will not be there years later when the long-term effects hit.
Also, I haven’t been able to run for months and will be months more before I’m cleared to run post op. I’ll be back though! Best of luck with the rest of your training ?