Fall 2013 training week 9. 7 weeks to go.

OMG THIS WEEK. Ugh. Some injury issues with my touchy hip. I am, of course, blaming that boardwalk from Midsummer. DAMN YOU BOARDWALK.

I know, it doesn't look that evil. BUT IT IS. (original image here )

(OK, so the current issue actually started after last week's LSD, not at Midsummer, but I can't resist a chance to bitch about that boardwalk again)

Monday: Usually a rest day. However, I was planning to take the kids to the zoo on Tuesday, and the zoo is huge and there's a lot of walking. So doing a tempo run Tuesday morning seemed like a really bad idea and I moved it to Monday. My sore hip felt fine when I woke up so I decided I was OK to run.

Met up with Amy and we did 10k with 6k at tempo. The humidity was back (OH YAY) and there was wind and it was Monday and it was also 5 am, so frankly I'm impressed at our paces (even if we did stop for breaks 3k and 5k into the tempo). Our splits were 5:05, 5:05, 5:16 (gradual uphill through most of this km), 5:13, 5:10, 5:10. I'm thinking a 5:10/km pace may be possible for the Oakville 10k, which would be pretty awesome.

Best part of running on a Monday is zapping that Daily mile zero.

My troublesome hip felt great through the run, but by the end of the day was quite sore. I attempted to ignore it because it only really hurt while sitting. Walking, standing, and lying down it felt fine.

So I went ahead and did my usual TRX class Monday night, because why not (seriously, after the last couple of months of consistent TRXing, my arms look awesome. Thanks TRX!). Again, hip felt fine during the class, it was after when I sat down that it stiffened up and felt painful.

Tuesday: Zoo!!! Vacation week for me, and since we weren't planning to go away I wanted to do some fun activities with the kids. Tuesday was the zoo. Really hot, lots of walking. Needed about a gallon of water to rehydrate after that! But a really fun way to spend the day with my kids. Since I was on my feet walking most of the day, my hip felt fine.

We got lucky and there was no line to see the pandas! However it was super crowded and hot in the exhibit so I didn't try and get a better picture. Or even an in focus one.

Wednesday: Up early to get in an easy run before my husband had to leave for work. Wanted 12k but miscalculated when I set my alarm so only had time for 10k. Better than nothing! It was Humidity II: Electric Boogaloo out there. Just ridiculous. Heavy fog as well, which meant by the time I got home I was soaking wet from head to toe. Also it was creepy, I was half expecting zombies to come lurching out of the fog at me. All I got was a street sweeper, though, which was weird enough - either I run the exact same speed as a street sweeper, or the driver was fucking with me.

Pretty sure there's a zombie hiding behind that tree on the right.

My hip felt totally normal during the run, but once again later in the day the longer I spent sitting, the more it was hurting. By the end of the day Wednesday I had it wrapped in a heating pad to get some relief.

Thursday: Since my hip hurt so much on Wednesday, I decided to make Thursday a rest day from running. Which meant I got to sleep in, since I also didn't have to get up for work.

Alarm...off? No set time to get up? WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!!

My hip was again fine when I got up, but a little bit sore later in the day. Much better than Wednesday.

I was planning a TRX workout in the evening, but hadn't realized I'd be getting a tetanus shot at my physical Thursday afternoon. Since my arm was sore from the shot I decided to eat jelly beans instead, because that makes perfect sense. Jelly beans make the tetanus vaccine work better. Probably.

Friday: My hip felt OK late Thursday, but I'm trying this new thing where I don't just run through an obvious injury and instead let it fully heal. I know, CRAZY, right? So for the second day in a row I slept in (where 'slept in' means 'woke up at 6:30 and couldn't fall back asleep').

I figured biking would be a safe activity (ha ha ha). I set out to do a 20k ride, but 10k in it was clear cycling was aggravating my hip - it wasn't painful, but I could feel something not quite right in the problematic joint, which is never a good sign. So I packed it in and cycled home for a total of 13k. Did some serious foam rolling and self-ART with a tennis ball, which was fun, if your idea of fun is torturing yourself. Hip was still not feeling right, but much much better.

Then, the icing on the crap Friday cupcake? Getting a cold. Mega dosed vitamin C and made hot and sour soup, which seemed to help. And hey, if I have to get sick, might as well do it while injured.

Saturday: More rest from cardio. Bah. Did some upper body TRX stuff to stop myself from going insane. Amazing how quickly I get all withdrawl-y from the exercise endorphins. Possibly the hot and sour soup did the trick because the cold seemed to retreat, leaving just my usual late August allergies (yay).

The TRX wasn't a great workout thanks to my arm still being sore from Thursday's tetanus booster. This whole week is a mess, at least in terms of fitness. At least I had a lot of fun with the kids on vacation!

OW my poor arm. And obnoxiously lazing on a park bench because lying down doesn't aggravate my hip the way sitting does. Sorry to all the other park users for being weird.

Spent a lot of time with my foam roller and tennis ball working on my hip/inner thigh and did some stretching.

Sunday: Since my hip felt fine on Saturday, I did a slow 5k. Everything felt fine! Cautious optimism! My legs were weirdly tired Sunday afternoon, but in an 'I ran this morning' way, not an 'I'm injured' way.

Weekly Summary: 25k run in 2:24:48. 13k biked and 2 TRX workouts. Lowest run mileage in a week since May. Sigh. Oh well.
August Summary: Dang I really wanted to be over 200k for the month. Boo. 186.5 km run in 18:17:40.
Upcoming week: August was kind of disappointing all the way around. Both races were kind of sucky, ended with an injury. Here's hoping this week and month go better. C'mon September, let's be awesome.