Friday, February 8, 2013

Being Sore and Telling Lies

I've been missing this feeling ... kind of. My glutes, hips, back and pecs are a little bit cranky today as a result of last weekend's Trample Cancer Night (indoor trampoline park) and three days of working out at a higher intensity.

The trampoline outing left my back and my triceps sore, as expected. Last time our team went there, we had no idea just how intense a workout it is on your body. That took three days to recover from! This time around I did a lot less jumping, but still woke up stiff.

Because my bike was in the shop for a tune up on Wednesday, I flip-flopped our Thursday run (hills) with our Wednesday bike (75mins). Wednesday morning I ran a handful of 90-second reps up a little beast known as Hetlzer Rd. Cool temps, good tunes and waking up on the right side of the bed - it was a kick-ass run. Turns out, it's still kicking my ass ... and my hamstrings.

Thursday morning was a bike ride - solo, since my ride buds did their workouts the previous day. It had been a while since I really have had the chance to jam on my bike. Like, push really hard for as long as possible and make my quads cry. So despite a later-than-expected start time, I hit the bike path for 70mins. I road down to the beach (always and forever a blessing to live in pedal distance of the Pacific Ocean) and back. Oatmeal performed well. The tune up has made him shiny and quiet.

About an hour later, walking up the stairs to work, I could really feel the heaviness in my quads. Dead-ish legs, almost. And it was that feeling that made me skittish for the evening's hill workout with the team. (Note: I don't do hills two days in a row, but this schedule flip caused this one-off occurrence.) Headed up to a new hill location, this one in Beverly Hills. Turned out that one of my teammates had a strained calf and wasn't healthy enough to hit the incline. So instead of standing around and letting time waste, we ditched the hill in favor of a bootcamp-style workout. It went something like: planks, sky-grabs, jump squats, lunges, push-ups, planks, standing squats, lunges, calf raises, push-ups, planks, sky grabs. It didn't last long, maybe 20 minutes. But I am certainly feeling a little bit of that today!

This morning I peeled myself outta bed and chucked my body into the local pool. Water temp according to the lifeguard - 70 degrees. Holy ice cube! I had to abridge the swim set (cue the sound of a stadium full of cheers) and only fit in about 45mins of the prescribed 60 minutes. The set itself was moderately hard from a cardio standpoint, but what got me was my stroke. I'm working on changing my form - I no longer want to swim like a pterodactyl - and with these changes come demands upon muscles I haven't used in a while. Suffice to say, my triceps (again) and my pecs are screaming at me after only the shortie workout. My gosh, they feel weak! In time, they will build up some strength (fingers crossed I don't start looking Hulk-ish), but for now and for the coming weeks, the pool is going to be my torture chamber. Well, then again, what's new...


No rest for the weary - tomorrow our team heads up to Westlake for a 4hr ride and 45min run. Sunday brings 10 miles to the table (some extra special hills in there as well).

I'm going to lie to myself and say that the brick workout will "shake out" the soreness. But I realize that's like saying, "Sure, you'll be able to relax during your sports massage." Letting our brains lie to our bodies in order to keep going when it gets tough: it's an underrated skill and should be exercised frequently. Sip of sports drink, lie to self, "it's not that steep." Bite of nutrition, lie to self, "Almost done."

Other favorite lies I tell myself include:
  • The water isn't that cold
  • 5:00am isn't that early
  • Cytomax tastes good
  • It's just a little rain/wind/indigestion
  • These spandex make you look athletic and not at all like a sausage casing
  • The laundry will do itself
  • You deserve to eat bacon-wrapped bacon after that 3 mile run
Happy Friday. This weekend is going to feel like 8 days long. (...Add that one to the list)

2 comments:

hillary said...

love this, emily! i firmly believe that success in endurance sports relies on our ability to convince ourselves of things that aren't real. :)

Unknown said...

Thanks Hillary! Today's fib - the map is wrong, this ride won't be that hilly :) Happy training!