Wow, you guys, last week (training week #5) was a doozy for me. Let’s get to the nitty gritty (and again, I have a few questions at the end).

Week #5’s Workouts

-Monday: ran 3 miles on the treadmill with my sister who was still in town; I think we managed about 11 to 11:30 minute miles but truthfully didn’t pay much attention as we were both tired and were just trying to finish in semi-good moods
-Tuesday: thanks to a hectic late night Monday and an equally chaotic morning, I didn’t exercise until that night after the kids went to bed; opted for a yoga video on Runner’s World (thanks to the recommendation in the comment thread last week) and I actually really enjoyed it even though I’m a total yoga newbie and my form is probably laughable – even so, my muscles felt relaxed and dreamy (if that’s even a thing)
-Wednesday: again my best laid plans to exercise early in the morning didn’t happen but I summoned all my self-control to redirect away from the couch that loves me and onto the treadmill after the kids went to bed; ran 3 miles pretty slow and steady
-Thursday: had the brilliant idea to continue the online video workouts and did a 15-minute HIIT workout since I was short on time that morning and oh my gosh, I’m not sure what happened but about 10 seconds in to the wood chopping action and my back seized up, like bad bad bad. Thus ensued total pain and chaos for the next couple days.
-Friday: rest (this was preplanned but literally I couldn’t move so it wouldn’t have mattered what exercise was scheduled for today)
-Saturday: was supposed to run 4 miles but was in tears the night before because my back still hurt so bad; woke up in the a.m. feeling slightly better and would have probably run but Brian told me he’d sit on me if I tried (he was certain I’d hurt my back further if I ran not feeling 100% yet but obviously didn’t care that sitting on me might do further damage, also) so I ended up walking on the treadmill at a slight incline really slowly for 4 miles instead (which basically took half the day since I was only walking at a 3.5)

A little girl holding her arms out wide and smiling.

Some Thoughts:

-As you can see, this wasn’t my finest week. Except for doing the strict necessities, I spent most of Thursday and Friday on the couch like this because every time I bent over or moved, my back decided to tell me how much it hated my guts.
Feet with striped pink and gray slippers.

-I’m not going to lie, I was (and still am) very stressed about not getting in my 4-mile run on Saturday. I know I wrote a whole positive-minded paragraph last week or whenever about becoming one with being flexible and going with the flow and understanding life happens and blah blah blah. But I’m pretty sure I was lying. I feel like I’ve messed up my whole training schedule now since this was my first official 4-mile run and I missed it (and we all know walking 4 miles isn’t the same as running).

-Having said all that, I’m very, very, very grateful that my back issue seems to just have been a sore muscle (probably because I’ve never chopped wood – literally or via YouTube – in my life and I was using muscles I didn’t know existed) and not anything major (sidenote: the DeepBlue rub from doTerra basically saved my life; I don’t sell EO’s nor am I affiliated with the company but that stuff worked miracles on my back). I’ll be back to running tomorrow and am crossing fingers and toes carefully that I get all my runs in this week.

-Like I mentioned before, I really liked the yoga video I did on Tuesday and think I’ll keep incorporating at least one workout like that a week. I have tight muscles (see? the inflexible thing is both mental and physical) and like how yoga (and the PiYo workouts I do occasionally) help with that.
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-I would like to still work in some HIIT routines. I’ve done them before and noticed a huge difference in strength/endurance but it’s obvious I probably need to work into them gradually and not pretend like I’m an 18-year old collegiate athlete. Humility is a great teacher. I downloaded this app on my phone for a HIIT/Tabata timer which makes these timed workouts a little easier. We’ll see if I’m brave enough to try another this week.

-Oh, and another bit of news is that I decided to sign up for a local race to get a little more of that official racing experience (I haven’t run a race since my pre-kid days over 12 years ago). I’m running a 10K on April 11 (which fits perfectly since that day I’m supposed to be running about 6 miles as part of training) and I’m excited (mostly about the t-shirt) and nervous, too.

This Week

Monday: 3 miles (I’ll be taking this one pretty slow to feel out how my back is doing; not sure if it will be on the treadmill or outside yet)
Tuesday: Cross-training (most likely a yoga-type workout here)
Wednesday: 4 miles (since I didn’t get in a 4-mile run on Saturday – I may just do 3 here, not sure – any advice?)
Thursday: Cross-training
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 4 miles

Questions

First of all, thanks for your feedback on my questions from last week. You would laugh or probably roll your eyes at all the notes I jotted down as I read through your comments. You have no idea how much I love hearing from you.

-Anyone have experience living at a lower altitude but preparing to run a race at high altitude? I live at about 2,500 feet and the half marathon in June is at a little over 5,000 feet. Will I die? Everything I’ve read says to either try and get there a week before (not possible for me that week) or arrive as close to the race as you can. I’m going to try and get a few runs in at high altitude (not sure when, how or where) before then but wondering if anyone else has any tips.

-If you are on a half-marathon (or similar) training schedule, what do you do for cross-training exercise? Which reminds me, have you seen these Zike-bike-thingies? I’m not wanting one in real life but I think they look ridiculously fun.

As always, leave any comments/questions/ thoughts in the thread below! I like hearing from those of you on similar training schedules right now, too, so don’t be shy!