It’s been 11 days now since I had to ease up on a run due to my complaining hip. I’ve rested, I’ve iced, I’ve heated, I’ve tested it. Pretty much its still the same: a dull ache that I’m hesitant to run through. I’ve had to get a little creative to try to approximate marathon training without much actual running on terra firma. Here’s how the week shook out:
Monday: Yoga, hip strengthening exercises
Tuesday: 2.1 miles running interspersed with plyo intervals, corework
Wednesday: Weights, hip strengthening exercises
Thursday: 4 miles run, 10 miles bike, corework
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 15 miles bike, hip strengthening exercises
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Sunday: Let’s call this my festival of cardio fun day.
20 miles bike. I didn’t plan to do this, but it was just too pretty of a day not to. Carpe diem.
Then I headed to the pool, prepared mentally for the equivalent of 20 miles. The Uber Gym has 4 pools, alas none deep enough for a good aqua jog. So I went to a local YMCA and begged for a day pass.
Before I took the plunge though, I entertained the idea of the elliptical trainer. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve used this machine and I’ve never lasted more than maybe 15 minutes. Not sure why exactly, but let’s just say we are not friends. Me no likey.
But
There’s something about being injured that makes me grit my teeth and dig in. Sure I loathe being injured, who doesn’t? But I know it’s an opportunity to get out of my rut, find new ways to build mental and physical endurance and open up to new experiences. I decided to bite the bullet and see how my ornery hip responded to the elliptical.
8 miles elliptical. The first 10 minutes were sheer hell as mentally I did not want to be there. My hip was completely pain-free though. There was a fat guy a few units down chugging away. If he can do this, so can I. I forced myself to settle in. I was a sweaty mess after 20 minutes so decided to prolong the torture stay longer.
2.5 hours pool running. Finally I headed to the pool for a stint in the deep end. I am no stranger to pool running. Check out my pool running 101 tips here. It was an integral part of Boston 2010 training as I rehabbed a strained posterior achilles. Not a swimmer by any means, I came to enjoy pool running and at the time said I’d add it to my weekly routine. Despite my good intentions, that did not happen.
I alternated a half hour easy with half hour intervals of ‘running’ down the lane fast and back up slow. I settled in to ‘pool zen’ relatively quickly. There was a water aerobics class. I watched the kids come in for swim lessons. The weekend leisure crowd cut through, heading to the outdoor pool. Lap swimmers came and went. The time passed, my workout is complete.
