Week of Feb. 3 - 9, 2025
I've finished my base-building, and this was the seventh week of my training plan for the Amasa 25k Trail Race on April 12, 2025. Here's my description of my thinking on the training plan:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/a...c-2018-comments-welcome.3725621/post-65828201
Three weeks ago, I started a 30-day plank challenge with some Garmin friends. It's supposed to start at 20 sec and work up to 3 min. I can already do a 60-sec plank with a 20-lb vest, so I'm adding 60 sec + 20-lb vest to everything, so in principle I will get up to 4 minutes with 20 lb.
This week took a big left turn on Friday... readers of my training log may remember that my mother broke her hip in August 2021. The surgeon decided the break wasn't so bad and put in three screws to repair it rather than doing a hip replacement. Counterintuitively, the recovery from a repair is a lot longer than for a replacement because you have to be careful not to do anything to affect the placement of the screws. Before the break, my mother had been very active with a lot of walking. By the time she could walk on the repaired hip, it was well into fall and she couldn't really walk outside, so she ended up not getting a lot of strength back in it.
Since then, she has had a lot of pain in the area where the screws are. All x-rays, etc., show that the fracture itself healed well and the screws are fine - they just cause pain. Too much for her to really get back with her walking. She finally decided to get the hip completely replaced (and by the best surgeon in the area). Great!
The issue is that my mother and sister live next door to each other and I live out of state. I asked when they were planning the surgery if they needed me to come stay for awhile....no, it's supposed to be a much easier surgery with a faster recovery. So they didn't consult with me about WHEN the surgery was happening. Sigh.
Turns out that while the recovery IS easier for a full hip replacement, my mother is now over 4 years older and the recovery is still a big hassle. She CAN and did put all weight on that leg the day after the surgery and is walking without a big hassle with a walker. But she's not supposed to bend at the waist/hips more than 90 degrees and she's SO weak. So, the recovery has been a hassle and my sister was quickly overwhelmed...so can I come for awhile? Well....that's difficult at the last minute. I changed what I could, and came over Friday afternoon and I'll be leaving Monday morning. At least it will give my sister a break.
But it changed around a lot of my training issues unexpectedly. And it's frustrating because it's not like I don't want to help, but PLANNING, please. I was supposed to do a 140-min LR on trails this weekend, but there was no way anything like that was happening between taking care of my mother and the weather conditions. I have consulted with
@DopeyBadger for suggestions on altering my plans to get back on track.
Aside: imagine trying to get dressed without bending at the waist/hips more than 90 degrees. My mother has several special devices to help her do things like put her socks on (without bending at the waist!) and putting her pants on over her feet, etc., but it creates a huge extra hassle, especially since she's still very weak. And just trying to remember not to bend too much is very hard!
Monday
- Before breakfast:
- Plank Challenge - Day 21: 2:40 + 20-lb vest
- Knee PT exercises
- Foam rolling and stretching
- After work: walk on treadmill
- time: 1:26:35
- distance: 4.68 mi
- ave pace: 18:30
- incline: 0%
Tuesday
- Before breakfast:
- Plank Challenge - Day 22: 2:40 + 20-lb vest
- Workout 3
- 3 x 5 each leg - reverse lunges
- superset
- 3 x 5 - prone lat pulls with 49-lb bands
- 3 x 5 - overhead pull-overs with 33.75 lb
- 3 x 5 each leg - bench step-ups with 20-lb vest
- superset
- 3 x 5 - front raises with 12 lb each arm
- 3 x 5 - reverse flyes with 12 lb each arm
- Foam rolling and stretching
- After work:
- 40 min tempo ramps
- T+D 71, no effect, T 46 F, windy
- time: 40:00
- distance: 3.58 mi
- average pace: 11:11 (GAP ave pace: 11:07)
- splits: 11:35, 11:13, 11:01, 10:40
- elevation gain: 274 ft (corrected)
- route: neighborhood loop 2
Wednesday
- Before breakfast:
- Plank Challenge - Day 23: 3:00 + 20-lb vest
- Core workout
- 20 starfish
- 20 dead bugs
- 20 bird dogs
- 20 each side flutter kicks
- 20 bicycle crunches with hold
- 5 10-sec hollow-body holds
- 2 30-sec side planks
- 20 double leg lift/lowers
- Foam rolling and stretching
- After work
- 60 min easy
- T+D 54, no effect, T 36 F, WC 31 F
- time: 1:00:01
- distance: 5.03 mi
- average pace: 11:56 (GAP ave pace: 11:45)
- splits: 12:00, 11:56, 11:47, 11:56, 12:04, 10:56
- ave HR: 137 BPM - within my target range
- elevation gain: 329 ft (corrected)
- route: neighborhood loop 1
Thursday
- Before breakfast:
- Plank Challenge - Day 24: 3:10 + 20-lb vest
- Workout 1
- 3 x 5 - suitcase squats with 62.5 lb + 20-lb vest
- superset
- 3 x 1 - unassisted chin-ups
- 3 x 5 - lat pull-downs with 49-lb bands
- 3 x 5 - bench presses with 62.5 lb
- 3 x 5 - Romanian deadlifts with 62.5 lb
- superset
- 3 x 5 - shoulder presses with 47.5 lb
- 3 x 5 - band pull-aparts with 13-lb band
- Foam rolling and stretching
- After work:
- Hill repeat HIIT -- 13min easy + 3 x [7 x (20sec sprint uphill + 20sec walk downhill) + 4min walk downhill]
- T+D 85, no effect, T 43 F
- time: 40:00
- distance: 3.03 mi
- repeat splits: 8:34, 7:19, 8:06, 8:10, 8:39, 9:23, 9:22, 7:47, 8:21, 8:33, 8:11, 89:58, 9:42, 9:18, 7:48, 8:44, 9:01, 8:57, 9:35, 9:38, 9:30
- elevation gain: 209 ft (corrected)
- route: neighborhood loop 1
Friday before breakfast:
- 60 min easy on trail
- T+D 64, no effect, T 44 F, very windy
- time: 1:00:03
- distance: 4.44 mi
- average pace: 13:32 (GAP ave pace: 12:46)
- splits: 13:42, 14:08, 13:28, 13:12, 12:39
- ave HR: 133 BPM - within my target range
- elevation gain: 598 ft (corrected)
- route: Western Ridge Trail, Rock Creek National Park
- comments: Very low energy. I don't normally do an evening run followed by a morning run, but this was due to my unexpected travel.
Saturday before breakfast:
- 50 min easy
- T+D 28, no effect, T 16 F, WC 11 F - windy
- time: 49:59
- distance: 4.0 mi
- average pace: 12:29 (GAP ave pace: 12:27)
- splits: 12:46, 12:37, 12:17, 12:18
- ave HR: 123 BPM - within my target range
- elevation gain: 228 ft (corrected)
- route: Tanglewood development
- comments: I started this shortly after 5am because we had a very busy day with family stuff and we were supposed to get snow/ice in the afternoon.
Sunday before lunch:
- 50 min easy
- T+D 50, no effect, T 26 F, WC 18 F - windy
- time: 50:00
- distance: 4.11 mi
- average pace: 12:11 (GAP ave pace: 12:08)
- splits: 12:34, 12:12, 11:58, 12:01, 12:00
- ave HR: 128 BPM - within my target range
- elevation gain: 225 ft (corrected)
- route: Tanglewood development
- comments: We got about 2 inches of snow followed by a big layer of ice the previous afternoon. I waited to run to give the plows time to get through the development. They also put down lots of salt so that any remaining snow was mushy and not icy.
Total training time: 5 h
Total training distance: 24.19 mi
Total training elevation gain: 1635 ft
(Not counting activities outside of my training plan.)
Health
Still some unhappy knees, but not worse than they've been. But I made a decision not to bring my microspikes because my knees have definitely not liked them this year.
