Monday: October 2, 2023
After my crash last Friday, I hit the workout hard today with Strength Training. I followed my Lower Body Routine with one major adjustment. I eliminated static planks (60 Seconds x 3 Sets) as well as High Knees (20 Reps x 9 Sets) and replaced them with Squat Thrusts (Max Reps for 60 Seconds x 9 Sets).
The change made a massive difference, and the workout became significantly more challenging. The first few sets felt good, but the last few were ugly, and my form fell apart. I kept pushing through them and suspect I’ll acclimate given a bit more time.
On a side note, my Achilles Tendonitis seems to be about 95% healed. Occasionally, I’ll feel a twinge of pain in my heal, but normal moving around is pain-free.
Wednesday: October 4, 2023
Today was a Strength Training Day, and I completed my Upper Body Workout. Despite it being the same workout that I have been doing for several weeks, it seems to be creeping longer and longer in duration. By the time I reached the end of the workout, my timer read nearly 90 minutes.
I’ve been considering how I might be able to slash some time and get the routine closer to 60 minutes. I may try eliminating the 60 Second Sessions on the Rower between sets. It doesn’t seem to have the same effect on my heart rate that it used to, and I’m hesitant to row harder to try and make up for it (I hurt my back last year overdoing it).
Otherwise, it was an effective workout that left me tired and covered in sweat.
Thursday: October 5, 2023
Today was one of those days at work where every time I thought I was at a good place to take a break, the phone would ring, or an urgent email would come in. It wasn’t until 11:00 am that I could break away and head out for a run. The problem was I didn’t have much time before my youngest daughter was due to get off the school bus.
I went to the local housing development rather than driving to the park for my usual circuit. I don’t care to run there because the roads are crowned, and it feels like one foot falls significantly higher than the other unless I run down the middle of the street.
Even so, I made it work and managed 2.11 Miles before stopping jogging and walking the rest of the way home. I learned a valuable lesson: all miles are not created equal. Even though the distance was roughly the same as running at the park, the hills in the development made the distance more challenging.
In the future, I think I will need to mix up location and distance, so I don’t get conditioned to one specific route.