IMMT Training Week 7: A different kind of struggle

I'm a bit late with this blog post, but last week was absolutely draining, mentally and emotionally. On the flipside, the workouts weren't that bad and I even threw in some corporate fun. Ping pong anyone? I organized this tournament at work as a team building activity and we played round 1 this week. I lost to a stronger opponent, but I'm still in for doubles. That was somewhat expected since I only played twice in the last 5-6 years. We also played some games outside of the tournament which sure made my heart pumping and sweat dripping. One hour of smashing and jumping, and the next day my arm and back on the right side reminded me that I had not used these muscles in a long time. It totally counted as 1h of effort, no doubt about it.

Swim
My longest ever swim in a pool was on Tuesday morning and it gave me the feeling that I could conquer the world that day. 3100m, boom! Followed by 2250m during group swim on Thursday and 2000m on Sunday. Biggest week ever!! It was also the slowest in a while, but I can't have it all. It didn't bother me a second. I take whatever the pool gods give me and not drowning is always a WIN.

Bike
One hour easy here, one hour easy there... then boom again! Monday's ride was a snooze-fest, and on Thursday, hubbs made me a "custom" Trainer Road workout, just for me. I loved it (that's because it felt easy)!

However, the group spin on Saturday brought back memories... and sweat, and tears. I tried dialing it down, but I still stuck with the group effort until the last imaginary hill.

I even beat my 30min record. What about that, eh? Maybe it's time to do one of these 8 or 20 min tests again, even though I don't feel quite ready for putting all the hurt on my glutes and knees. I'll wait for coach to give me the green light. I think he's planned one of these tests for us in 2 or 3 weeks, and that should be just what I need.

Run
Two treadmill runs to keep my legs moving and they were both dreadful. Being alone with my thoughts this week did not count as success. Both times my mind went wondering in muddy places and slipped into some dangerous sinkholes. I even had a major freak out 40 min into the run on Tuesday and started bawling my eyes out while on the treadmill. Thankfully nobody I knew was there to witness my meltdown. I managed to compose myself again and did not fall face forward on the belt, but it was a close one. Since then, I've talked to a few people, and it helped tremendously. I am a work in progress anyway...

On Sunday, I needed some fresh air to clear my head. I debated whether to go outside or not the whole day, but since another introspection without distraction was not advisable, I eventually dug out my winter clothes and went outside to brave the cold, wind and (some) hills. I got reminded how much harder running outside in winter is. To add excitement to my run, I may or may not have caused a car accident, but since both drivers started yelling at each other instead of pointing at me, I continued my 11km solitary journey, now with something else to occupy my brain. Back home, I even managed to crack a tiny smile.

Running is supposed to do that to you, right? It was a nice reminder... that I can fight this.

In a nutshell
Tough week, mentally rather than physically. Survived it. This coming week will be another kind of tough as I keep thinking about a friend of mine who lost her daughter in a house fire on Friday. The Universe is so evil sometimes, I wish it left the good people alone. Too sad for words, over and out.

Running blind

Another week of so-so workouts, the motivation was there, but the body not so much. I didn't get in a pool or on the bike at all, but managed to run a few times. I hope to run again tomorrow, there is a 14k scheduled with the tri club. Today I am taking it easy as I try to relax and rest from a week of stress at work, which seems to have become the norm lately. I also took on a photography gig tonight, despite my reticence in touching the shutter button in almost a year. I am nervous, but it's never too late to renew my love with "professional" photography. I also updated my portfolio website as the folks at 500px released new themes and I found one that works well for my stuff. If you've never visited my photography website, take a look here, I am pretty proud of it. I've been shooting as "Still Memory" since 2002, holy cow that's 10 long years. It doesn't make me feel any younger. At least the photos never get old, right?

But back to running, here's what happened. On Monday, I felt like going for a minimalist run before my Yoga class and I didn't regret it. Zero pain so far, despite increasing the time to almost 25min. On Tuesday I went out with hubbs who is still nursing an injured knee, so we played tag. It was a bit of a run/walk which still felt like a workout, so... in da bank! Walked for over 1h on Wednesday and on Thursday we went out for my younger son's birthday and got food poisoning, so I missed the tri club swim again because I spent the evening agonizing in bed with horrible stomach cramps. Last night I was really craving a run, but the weather was just miserable. The whole week Mother Nature had been very temperamental: foggy and wet in the morning, gorgeous sunshine and temperatures during the day, freezing at night. The pictures below should sum it up.

Yesterday it brought us a horizontal blizzard and that's exactly when I decided to finally go out. Not sure whether the picture below makes it justice, but it was NASTY. REALLY NASTY.

 I just didn't know what I was in for until I started running and then I went blind. All the snowflakes were smashing against my eyeballs and I had no visor, just a hat and a turtle neck that I pulled up as high as possible, covering my face right up under my eyes, ninja style. Alas it didn't give me any superpowers and for about 15 minutes I had to run with my eyes closed, not sure whether I was crying or bleeding. It was definitely the worst feeling ever. At the same time my Raynaud's came out of deep sleep as well and made my hands scream in pain. 15 minutes were almost enough to make me turn around when... miracle, the blizzard stopped, or maybe I just ran away from it far enough. I finally opened my eyes and assessed the situation. I could do this.

Continued running south, hoping for my hands to start feeling alive again, which they did eventually. I was going to run in front of the hospital, so worst case scenario, I'd go straight into ER. I had my RoadID, check. Passing out was not going to be a problem, they were going to know who I am. But by the time I made it to the hospital, I was actually feeling pretty awesome and was wondering how long I could go on... I didn't want to go back into the blizzard for sure, so I took my time to enjoy the feeling of running happy and relaxed.

I ended up doing a bit longer than 8km, 55 minutes in total. That was enough fun for the day. Jumped straight in the shower to warm up (wait, this sounds just like my previous post - am I a broken record?) and then in bed because I was pretty much done.
I woke up like this:

So far, the only workout I did was to walk to the near coffee shop in order to replenish my caffeine reserves. Oh, I also drove to the hairdresser because if you hadn't guessed yet, it was definitely time for a haircut. And then I watched the Expandables 2 on my couch, which most likely didn't count for anything other than laughs.

I hope to do better next week. Who knows, I may get better luck at staying in the groove and actually dragging my ass to the gym and the pool. Yeah, whatever I said. Is it spring yet?