adaptations

I picked a new loop today. It was a particularly dark morning, so I decided to go into the office first. Once there I got wrapped up in emails and such. I intended on doing the lake loop twice when I got up this morning, so I talked myself into crossing the pedestrian bridge over highway 80 and ran out to the Berkeley Marina before heading back. About a mile and a half before the end, the rain started to pour, then hail. I got back to the office drenched and feeling pretty chilled. Thankfully my gear is moisture wicking, so I may still get away with it sans a sniffle.


Yesterday’s Power Hour (our Tuesday personal training hour) included 5 sets of 15 pushups. We have about 30 seconds of rest in between sets. My second to last set of pushups was 10 reps. My last set was 4. I could barely hold my water bottle up to refill it at the filter machine after that. Today my chest, shoulders and armpits are super sore. Yoga was humbling.

I also had a check-in with our specialty trainer, The Sage, at lunchtime. He is educated in so many restorative methods that I would trust him to assess and heal an injury before I’d even consider visiting a doctor. I had a special issue for him today. Since I’ve been receiving bodywork on a regular basis, I have a consistent reminder of how tight my IT bands get. I’ve been really good at rolling them on a regular basis and stretching well after every run. Recently they’ve begun to move away from the roller when I get to the “money spots”, where the biggest and tightest knots live. I can feel myself getting close, so I slow down and focus on relaxing the leg on the roller so I can get deep into it. Then, just when I’m about to strike gold, the IT band jumps over and pops out on the other side of the roller, completely avoiding any pressure. I went in for my weekly bodywork session with my Yogi yesterday, and she told me that she didn’t think it was making any difference. Something else is out of balance and needs to be addressed before any progress can be made. The Sage didn’t disappoint. He gave me some homework that I can do on my own for helping to loosen some stuff around the hips and strengthen the smaller muscles around the knee, the gluteus medius, lower abs and lower back. How can a person be tight in the hips but weak in the lower abs? You got me. I’ll do the exercises for a couple of weeks and go back for another assessment.

As is normally the case when recovering from a hard workout, my muscle soreness and fatigue go hand in hand. I’m supposed to meet an ex to catch up over dinner, but I’ll probably end up sitting with him for one drink and then bowing out early. We shall see.