I was grateful today was Sunday and my cross training and runner’s strength day because it was supposed to rain all day. I took advantage of the fact that I wasn’t going to go out in the rain, so I slept in and got a later start to my workout. Surprisingly, my muscles were not very sore this morning. I had a bit of stiffness getting out of bed initially but after a good stretch and warm up before my bike ride, I felt fine.
One odd side effect I experienced was that I woke up in the middle of the night feeling queasy. I dissolved two SaltStick salt tabs on my tongue and drank some water and that seemed to help. I went back to sleep and didn’t notice any further issues. I’ll have to pay attention to see if I feel this way after next week’s long run, too.
Cross training on the spin bike
Bike workout was 6 one minute intervals with three minute recovery in between each interval. Total workout time on the bike was about 32 minutes. I looked for a ride on iFit somewhere tropical and near a beach. I wanted to see a beautiful sunny location since outside my own window was blustery rain and dark clouds. I picked a ride on Maui in Hawaii. Wouldn’t you know that when they filmed the workout it had just finished raining and the sky was still full of clouds? I just couldn’t catch a break today on the weather front.
It felt good to move my legs and get the blood flowing without the impact of walking or running. I kept my cadence (pedal turnover) higher in about the 70-85 range and the resistance lower (about 11-13).
Runner’s strength workout
I’m always so tired and rushed when I get to the end of my Sunday workouts so I rush through my MOBO board work or skip it all together. With yesterday’s ankle twisting scare I did not want to miss my MOBO board work so I decided to do it first. I actually did it while I was watching the morning news before I started my formal workout on the bike. I keep telling myself that I should use my MOBO board more often than once a week.
The inventor of the MOBO suggests breaking up workout sessions into short segments several times a day and throughout the week. However, I forget about it or I’m just not sitting still that long during the day to do it. However, I still want to make that a priority somehow.
I’ve been doing the “shorter” runner’s strength workout for a while now so I switched to the original workout I developed to try to confuse my muscles and test my muscle memory with these moves, since I haven’t done them for several weeks. I also kept the core work on the stability ball in the workout routine today. I did better than I expected to do on some of the high rep moves from the Running Rewired book but it’s always hard when you do 50 reps of any move.
Fueling and recovery
I ate a regular breakfast a couple of hours before I started my workout. Then, between the bike and strength programs, I had a Muir packet of cacao and almond butter. They should not make workout fuel so yummy. I just want to eat some of these fuels as everyday snacks but they are way too expensive for that and really unnecessary when you don’t need all of the nutrients they pack in them.
Each morning I take a dose of turmeric and chlorophyll for inflammation and overall health. I’ve been wanting to try supplementation with tart cherry juice as well as my mileage increases. I meant to take it yesterday after my long run but forgot I had it in the cupboard. I took it today instead and plan to take it all week, so I will see if I notice any improvement in recovery time this week. Last week I really struggled with recovery, so hopefully this can give me that slight edge.
One of my favorite nutrition resources is www.NutritionFacts.org. Here’s a link to a video Dr. Michael Greger posted regarding foods to increase performance and recovery time in athletes. Spoiler alert: spinach is another great nutritional resource for recovery.
Workout
- 32 minutes cross training on spin bike
- 51 minutes runner’s strength workout with MOBO board
Week recap
- 41 miles run
- 1 strength workouts
- 1 cross training on spin bike