Week 2: A familiar sensation
Week two back onto my Ignition Program brings with it a familiar sensation: that of exercising on legs that are still tired from the last workout. Even having missed a workout on Wednesday (which gave me two rest days in a row), most days I found myself labouring to do things like... walk and climb stairs...
One of my commitments to myself for the 2015 season is to not let strength training fall completely to the side in favour of running and cycling. I've committed to doing legs on Monday mornings, which seems like some painful combination, because it seems few people enjoy doing legs and even fewer like Monday mornings!
But last week, I did it and and powered through an early morning workout of squats, lunges, step ups, calf presses and more. Check that off the to do list.
Hours later, after work, as I climbed aboard a treadmill for a 35-40 minute run, I didn't feel quite so confident. Those stubborn legs that were so glorious in the morning just didn't want to cooperate in the evening. Thankfully, coach Roger had assigned me a steady state run with a handful of strides, rather than complicated pyramids or intervals. After all, treadmill time is the slowest increment of time known to humankind!
Several days later on Saturday morning, I jogged out into the sunshine, ready to take on a one hour run, with 3 x 1 km intervals at tempo pace. "You've got this, D," I told myself, using a favourite race-day mantra.
20 minutes later, I realized that it would be a struggle to indeed "get this." I could only laugh to myself when my Garmin beeped, signalling a rest/recovery period, just as I turned onto Bayview to climb a steep hill north. So much for a recovery!
I later stopped to catch my breath at the end of my final 1 km interval, which again had me running up a hill. I didn't quite hit all my marks on that run, but hey, not every session is going to be an ace.
On the bright side, a side benefit of all this exercise is stress resilience. The sorts of issues that would have riled me up in the final October-November-December-is-it-Christmas-yet? sprint to the holidays are again, for the most part, bouncing off me. Call it endorphins, constant low level fatigue or whatever you want, but exercise is great stress relief.
All the best with your workouts this week!
Update: I hit the gym Monday morning, as planned, doing a leg workout. By lunch time at the office, I noticed something wasn't quite right. I appear to have hyper-extended my left leg, which is leaving me limping. That gives a whole new meaning to running on tired legs on Mondays. So I've switched today with rest day Tuesday and am relaxing at home. (January 19, 2015)
One of my commitments to myself for the 2015 season is to not let strength training fall completely to the side in favour of running and cycling. I've committed to doing legs on Monday mornings, which seems like some painful combination, because it seems few people enjoy doing legs and even fewer like Monday mornings!
But last week, I did it and and powered through an early morning workout of squats, lunges, step ups, calf presses and more. Check that off the to do list.
Hours later, after work, as I climbed aboard a treadmill for a 35-40 minute run, I didn't feel quite so confident. Those stubborn legs that were so glorious in the morning just didn't want to cooperate in the evening. Thankfully, coach Roger had assigned me a steady state run with a handful of strides, rather than complicated pyramids or intervals. After all, treadmill time is the slowest increment of time known to humankind!
Several days later on Saturday morning, I jogged out into the sunshine, ready to take on a one hour run, with 3 x 1 km intervals at tempo pace. "You've got this, D," I told myself, using a favourite race-day mantra.
20 minutes later, I realized that it would be a struggle to indeed "get this." I could only laugh to myself when my Garmin beeped, signalling a rest/recovery period, just as I turned onto Bayview to climb a steep hill north. So much for a recovery!
I later stopped to catch my breath at the end of my final 1 km interval, which again had me running up a hill. I didn't quite hit all my marks on that run, but hey, not every session is going to be an ace.
On the bright side, a side benefit of all this exercise is stress resilience. The sorts of issues that would have riled me up in the final October-November-December-is-it-Christmas-yet? sprint to the holidays are again, for the most part, bouncing off me. Call it endorphins, constant low level fatigue or whatever you want, but exercise is great stress relief.
All the best with your workouts this week!
Update: I hit the gym Monday morning, as planned, doing a leg workout. By lunch time at the office, I noticed something wasn't quite right. I appear to have hyper-extended my left leg, which is leaving me limping. That gives a whole new meaning to running on tired legs on Mondays. So I've switched today with rest day Tuesday and am relaxing at home. (January 19, 2015)
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