Women's Training and Recovery Thread, February 13, 2011

Work project this week, turned into a recovery running week.

So just:

Mon--5 miles

Wed--6 + leg weights

Fri--5 + leg/upper body weights

Today--planning 5

Some funky deep tissue treatment at PT on Thurs. My hip still isn't resolving. Diagnosis is questionable. May be trying prolotherapy in Chicago soon. But I am still able to run with an SI belt, just took last week as a recovery week.

Also learned my serrum ferritin is 24 last week, so started taking an iron supplement, cooking in cast iron, and eating more spinach! :)

Happy running week everyone.

Lalala

though you might find this article interesting:

http://sweatscience.com/beet-juice-its-the-nitrates-stupid/

It might not let you read the entire thing (I can because I have access through my school's search engine). But it talks a lot about the health benefits of beets. They are not only rich in nitrate but also iron.

Hey Ladies (Neliah, it has been too long, haha)

It has been a good week. I was supposed to get a long run in but 60 minutes ended up being all that was going to happen for me today.

Monday: 60 min 6 strides, 35 min

Tuesday: 45 min easy, lift

Wednesday: 60 minute SWEP, 30 min

Thursday: 50 easy, lift

Friday: 35 min, 50 min

Saturday:50 min

Sunday: 60

Felt good, the weather is getting warmer here which is nice.

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone. Have a good week.

I've never posted my training on this thread but have enjoyed reading everyones' in the past.

Darkwave, you have some intense pool running sessions and have made me realize I am not nearly as mentally strong as I would like to think when it comes to my cross training.

How old are you if you don't mind me asking? Are you training through an injury?

And 60 minutes is a good run for having a rough week, or night :)

I've been injured since July and have not ran but have been cross training which includes: swimming, lifting, and now biking (which I was not able to do before).

I am stuck on the bike for about another 4 months before I will be cleared to run again (if everything goes smoothly).

My past week was biking and lifting:

Monday: 60 mins moderately hard = 21 miles, Upperbody and core

Tuesday: 60 mins easy AM + 60 mins easy PM = 40 miles

Wednesday: 90 mins with 10 X 5 mins hard = 32 miles

Thursday: 60 mins easy AM + 60 mins easy PM = 40 miles and then upperbody lifting and core

Friday: 90 mins moderately hard = 32 miles

Saturday: 60 mins easy AM + 50 mins hard PM = 39 miles, upperbody lift

If anyone knows of some good interval workouts to do on the bike I'd love to try something new. I've just been doing easy/aerobic mixed with some harder/steadier efforts. I've never biked much before this past month after my surgery. I'm open to any suggestions!

Happy Valentines Day everyone :)

Hi and WELCOME! Please feel free to keep posting -- I posted every week even when I wasn't running at all.

I'm 36 (37 in May). Last year was a series of injury after injury, culminating in a broken metatarsal in early November that was supposed to knock me out for 12 weeks (I was lucky, and was cleared to run at 7 weeks). In my previous injuries, I cross-trained mostly with the bike and elliptical, but when I broke my foot, I was barred from anything save pool-running. So, I basically shifted my entire running schedule to the pool, including tempos, intervals, and long runs.

I started running again at the new year, and have been carefully phasing land-running back in -- right now, I'm running outside 3 times a week (48-72 hours between each run), and everything else is in the pool. The plan right now is to keep me at 3-4 runs per week even after I'm healthy, since I seem to be able to keep my fitness pretty well in the pool.

When I biked to keep up my fitness, I found I got the best results from sets of 20 reps of 30 seconds all out/30 seconds easy. I just wasn't strong enough, in a biking sense, to elevate my HR enough doing steady cycling -- the legs would give out but the breathing would be easy. The 30 on/30 off seemed to work OK, and also was mentally challenging (good for preserving that ability to push through pain).

Lalala - what is a SI belt?

STWOF - 60 minutes can be plenty, and real life does intervene! :)

As for me, this week was 25 miles of “real running” and 91 “miles” pool running.

Dailies

Monday: "12 miles” of easy pool-running – 2 hours.

Tuesday: In the morning, “14 miles” of pool-running, including a “track 800s workout” of 10x3:00 at hard effort, with 1:00 recovery, followed by full recovery, and then 30 minutes at aerobic effort. (subbed a pool workout for track, since my foot was a bit sore).

In the evening, a weights session with a personal trainer, followed by 30 minutes easy pool-running for “3 more miles”.

Wednesday: In the morning, 7 miles of easy land-running outside (9:00 pace), followed by “7 miles” of easy pool-running – 70 minutes. In the evening, 30 minutes of easy pool-running post sports massage for "3 more miles".

Thursday: In the morning, upper body strength-training and then “12 miles” - 2 hours easy pool-running; in the evening, "4 more miles" – 40 minutes very easy pool-running.

Friday: In the morning, 5.5 miles on land. 2.25 miles warm-up, drills and strides, then a 3 mile tempo, starting very slow (because it was 22 degrees and nobody felt warmed up) and opening up each mile (splits were 7:11, 6:45, 6:39, for average 6:52 pace). The whole thing felt very fluid and under control – huge confidence boost. Quarter-mile cool-down, then hopped in the pool for “7.5 more miles” – 1:15 easy pool-running.

Also did a Pilates class in the afternoon.

Saturday: "19.5 miles" as a “long run” of 2:50 hours in the pool, including 2:30 of alternating 5 minutes at tempo effort and 10 minutes easy. Followed with strength-training.

Sunday: In the morning, 12.5 miles outside as a long run (averaged 8:18 pace – we started slow and then opened up, finishing with two miles in 7:18 and 7:09); I followed with “9 miles” in the pool – 1:30 hours easy pool running.

welcome, neliah. lalala, i just had some bloodwork done and found that my serum ferritin is UP to 26. i've been taking supplements for two years, and this level is certainly adequate for me, whereas <10 was decidedly not.

finally this week i have some good news to report. i've run four of the past five days. not long and not hard, but at least i was outside and moving without significant pain. woohoo! i'm up to about an hour at time on the local snowmobile trails, and it's just wonderful to be out in the woods again.

i'm still spending time pedaling to nowhere, and i hope to keep a bit of this in my routine if i can manage to stomach it. as i've mentioned, i use four-pound hand weights throughout the time on my bike-on-trainer, so it works my upper body, elevates my heart rate and breathing, and most of all gives me something to focus on. i really enjoy long road rides, but without the wind in my face, lakes and waterfalls cows and cornfields going by, and hills to work my way up -- well, cycling is just not pleasant for me. someone mentioned that the weights would provide a good core workout, but i don't sense any benefit in this regard and instead do my core stuff after i unclip from my pedals.

NLS - great to hear that you're out there again. It's amazing how much you appreciate it, when you've been away for a while.

I did a easy run on a beautiful path this morning, and it just felt so wonderful to be out there, moving freely in the crisp air while the sun rose.

Darkwave, thank you for the advice re: bike workouts. I will definitely add in some 30/30s. I'll try 12-15 mins worth today and see how I feel. I'm not sure what to expect. I seem to like the steadier state stuff at the moment but definitely want to add in some speed.

You have managed to stay in great shape with the training you mentioned. That's a solid tempo for low 20's and doing mostly cross-training. Do you have any training goals for the spring/summer? I may try pool running again soon. I had bilateral hip impingement and labral tears so I wasn't even able to do pool running. The most I could do pre-surgery was swim easy laps and avoid pushing off the walls too much. Very boring :)

What type of weight training do you do?

DW--congrats on the longer runs outdoors. That is absolutely awesome. I definitely know the feeling--have had some of my first few longer runs in the last 2 weeks and it's just heaven.

An SI belt is a belt designed to keep your SI joint held in a certain position so that if you have SI joint laxity, the joint will eventually scar down and the joint laxity will go away. The belt has allowed me to run almost pain free after months of not being able to run. We are working through the lingering pain in 2 times a week PT. And actually just last week my PT discovered that I maybe in a smaller percentage of individuals who has a nerve running directly through my piriformis, adding to my pain, maybe. All of this stuff is theoretical (somewhat guess work) unless you get extensive imaging and/or surgery, but my PT is awesome and *fingers crossed* I have noticed some improvement with her latest treatments based on this theory in the last couple of days (ultrasound, manual therapy (deep tissue) and some pen looking thingy she sticks on my glutes and it feels like she is sticking needles in there)--some sort of electrical stimulation? You can order them from serola.net, but ideally they would be combined with good PT>

Neliah--thanks for the tips on the beets. I think I remember you mentioned them elsewhere, so I tried them at a salad bar a few weeks ago. And I really liked them. Didn't know they had iron--I will get some and add them to my daily salads. Also, on the elliptical, I used to mix it up but I would warm up for 20 to 30 min (just to kill more time), then try for 1 - 3 min intervals at max effort, then 1 min rest, then repeat, times 12. I just mixed it up and it really helped with the boredom. A television or radio or friend beside you can be nice, too.

NLS--I can't believe it has taken 2 years to get your SF to 26. I believe that mine was much lower before, due to much higher mileage in much hotter temps, and a long layoff due to injury. But still 24 (my SF) seems too low and I'm trying to get that number higher. I am now officially using FOUR cast iron pans--several different sizes/styles. Eating lots of spinach. Bought iron and copper supplements and Vit C. And bought some lentil soup last night for good measure. :)

So excited I ran 7 miles yesterday and 5 today, planning 8 tomorrow and keeping fingers crossed that pain continues improving or at least doesn't get worse!

Kudos to everyone!!

I'm jumping back on this bandwagon, now that I'm training again. I had some weird foot pain the past few weeks that was probably bursitis from contra dancing. Goal races are a mid-May half and an early June marathon. So far this week, 10 on Sunday and a very slippery 8 (all the ice is melting!) this morning with some short hill sprints.

wow, nice to see us all on the upswing, even if it's because we've all been injured of late. still, progress is progress, and less pain is better than more pain.

today was 7 miles on snowmobile trails -- part solid due to a thaw/freeze cycle yesterday and part deep snow thanks to strong winds last night to accompany the refreeze -- and i'm still doing okay. i'm planning on yet a bit longer tomorrow.

lalala, regarding iron, be sure to take your supplements separate from things that conflict with its uptake. notably, take your iron at a different time of day than calcium products (e.g., dairy, supplements, fortified cereal) and coffee, tea, or (i think) colas, as the tannins interfere. i haven't bothered with cast iron pans, but my water is chock-full of iron, and that hasn't made a difference for me. kale is a good nonmeat source of iron, and nori (sushi-wrapping seaweed) is excellent.

let's all get and stay healthy. is that a deal?