First and foremost, my thoughts are with all those affected by the devastating events on Friday in Paris. I woke up Saturday morning and couldn’t believe what had happened. It’s very sad and terrifying time.
Saturday morning was very sombre. I headed to parkrun with Alfie where it was cold and overcast. No one was really in that jolly a mood considering what had happened the night before. Alfie though was carefree as anything and raced around the place and dove into as many puddles as he could.
Again I wasn’t running this week. I had seen my physio on Thursday and both he and I could tell there was a marked improvement from Sunday when I saw him for an hour and a half. On Sunday he assessed me completely and rather than finding anything wrong specifically with my knee, he said it was a combination of a tight calf, a tight hamstring and a tight back that was causing my left leg to internally rotate and aggravate my knee. On both Sunday and Thursday he worked into those areas and released so much tension. Now it feels like a bit of a niggle rather than the sharp and eye-watering pain I felt just last week.
I was tempted to run at parkrun but he advised against it, saying just take one more week. He showed this very cool Tensegrity model to demonstrate what was happening.
All the wooden sticks are held together by elastic bands and when he pulled slightly on one elastic band on one side you could see how the entire shape changed due to that small amount of tension. He said this is what was happening in my left side. As I was still tight my body would have to change its biometrics to compensate and I wouldn’t be doing myself any favours. Great visual representation!
Anyway, back to parkrun where it had now started to rain. My friend Mark was supposed to be time keeper but he hadn’t shown up so I was asked to take over as I was otherwise just a marshal. Cue immediate panic as time keeping is not a job I’ve ever done before and a lot rides on it!!
Mark did turn up in the end (and took the above photo of me, thank you!) but I kind of wanted to give time keeping a go so he kindly let me do it. At the start of parkrun, just before they sounded the whistle, we held a minute silence in respect for Paris. It was very moving as everyone stood there in silence. And then they were off.
Annoyingly I’d lost Alfie’s lead (I’d put it in the wrong parkrun bag that had got taken away to someone’s car) so I had to time-keep while also making sure Alfie didn’t trip anyone up when they finished. Mark took over at the end so I could help start clearing away the flags etc. with the other guys. I didn’t mess up, hurrah!
After clearing everything away I was cold and wet and though people were heading to the cafe I thought it best to just go home as I couldn’t take Alfie inside and it would be mean to either leave him outside or make people sit outside in the wet. I was sad to miss the hot drink but I got home and had some lovely hot porridge instead.
Alfie once again got a bath as he was covered in mud and then I got myself together and headed to the gym for my ‘legs day’.
Lift, selfie, repeat 😉
Legs day is my favourite day. I just feel really strong and can feel myself getting stronger. It’s my escapism at the moment while I can’t run. Though I have to say midday Saturday is peak time! The weights area was packed but I was lucky to have a squat rack to do my thing.
I did:
- Squats: warming up with 12 reps of 45kg a few times then one rep of 65kg, then seven reps between 4-10 from 55kg to 65kg.
- Box squats: Five 6-10 reps 65kg-70kg
- Deadlifts: warming up with a few 12 reps of 30kg and one at 62.5kg, then six reps between 4-6 from 62.5kg to 67.5kg.
- Leg press: warmup of 20 reps of 46.7kg, then 8-12 reps from 67.7kg to 112kg
- Sumo squat: warmup of 20 with 10kg, then four reps of 20 with 20kg
- Ab work: hanging knee raises and then parallel bar leg raises
This took two hours in the gym! As I a) wasn’t moving and b) wasn’t going to Cardiff anymore I had some time on my hands and I really enjoyed just going through these exercises, listening to music and zoning out. The next day (and still today) my legs are feeling some serious DOMs.
On Sunday I spent a good amount of time rolling my aches and tightnesses, which was both painful and strangely enjoyable. While rolling and stretching I watched the film Margin Call, a tense drama about the financial crash. I know that sounds quite dull but the acting was really good (Kevin Spacey, Demi Moore, Paul Bettany, etc.) and I was fully engaged the entire time (no iPad/phone distraction at all – just the foam roller).
So my weekend was fairly low-key. I’ve become that boring gym person I’m afraid, but it makes a change from that boring injured runner…or that boring runner 😉 Hopefully next week I’ll be running. I have another session with my physio and finger’s crossed…
What’s your favourite muscle group to work on at the gym?
What fims have you watched recently? (New or old)
How do you recover from a hard workout?
I was up most of Friday night watching the news, I just couldn’t believe what was happening. I think it’s because it’s so close to home as well. So, so sad.
Leg day is my favourite too – I always feel so strong after it.
What’s heart-warming is how much support Paris and France has had… it’s a kind of “we’re in it together” feeling which I think is good.
AnnaTheApple recently posted…Rants and Raves #24
I watched Blades of Glory while waiting for N to get back from “just the one” at the pub on Saturday. It was nicely silly. Also seen A Fish Called Wanda fairly recently, and I detoured one of my longer runs to go past some of the locations.
I’m very glad I was on H.M.S. Belfast on Friday night. I’m now trying to get all my Brownie and Guide leaders to re-do their risk assessments for unit meetings and trips out, in case the unthinkable happens when we’re in charge of Other People’s Children (surely some of the most precious things in the world?).
Jane recently posted…Dulce et Decorum Est
I saw Blades of Glory at the cinema hehe. Such rubbish but nice and light-hearted 🙂
AnnaTheApple recently posted…Rants and Raves #24
Leg days are the BEST!! Squats are by far my favorite exercise, which means I do a lot of them!! My back and left hip have kept me from increasing my weight much, I’m still only at 180lbs, but I just focus on the depth of each rep. I hope to continue building up soon – but like you, I’ve gotta listen to my body!!
Kat recently posted…[Gluten-Free,Vegan & Paleo] Cranberry Cacao Nib Pumpkin Bars
It’s so hard to really get a good depth while also lifting a big weight. It can be easy to cheat… but I’ve been really strict with myself and I’m not moving up weights until I have the form perfect for the current weight. But I love how empowering it feels! With my Romanian deadlifts I have to be careful I don’t round my back on the heavier weights. Something to work on!
AnnaTheApple recently posted…Rants and Raves #24
The events in Paris are truly shocking. It’s so sad what the human race will do to one another. I love a good leg workout, not sure why but I always feel great and like I’ve had a good workout afterwards.
Jemma @ Celery and Cupcakes recently posted…Food & Moves #2
It’s such a huge amount of muscle that it just feels like a great workout at the end 🙂 When I do my arms it’s kind of a buzz kill haha!
AnnaTheApple recently posted…Rants and Raves #24
Well, I never find gym and running talk boring! Really those are the only topics I can talk to people about in person, so I tend to gravitate towards them online as well.
I wish I could do deadlifts in the gym. I’m just so scared of my form being off and destroying my already fragile back that I stick to the partial reps we do (deadlift-wise) in Body Pump. I’m never comfortable lifting in the gym anyway, so I’ll have to go for shoulders as my favourite part to work in Body Pump – it is my strongest upper body track.
I watched a horror trio on Halloween (all night – the only way to do a horror movie marathon). I hadn’t seen a couple of more recent releases (It Follows and The Babadook) and I love Let The Right One In (original version), so I saw those back to back. I would recommend them all! I was particularly surprised by The Babadook as conceptually I thought I’d hate it. It’s nice to have some groundbreaking and original horror out there these days.
Recent events have really hit me hard too. I know people can be cynical and say that changing FB profiles to the French flag etc. doesn’t really do anything, but it has to be worth something? I don’t know…it’s horrible to feel so powerless to help alleviate all of this suffering 🙁
Jess recently posted…Marathon Meditation
I think Body Pump is tough! I really struggle. I like to take more time with the weights, which at the weekend is excellent as I have so much time (hence why I save legs day for then!). I do get worried about breaking my form and injuring myself though.
I don’t see the issue with people changing their profile pictures on Facebook. Of course it’s not going to physically help, but it shows the legions of people standing together. It gives people courage to know that these terrible, terrible events are from a minority. I have no idea how this should be sorted – do we attack them and bomb them? Is that just fighting hate with hate? But at the same time, that’s what we did in WW2 against the Nazis. It’s a different kind of war but it’s still war.
AnnaTheApple recently posted…Rants and Raves #24
The events in Paris were truly awful- our train got in at about 10 so we saw a bit of the news just before going to bed. I saw some people wearing their Paris marathon t-shirts as a show of solidarity- it’s hard to know what to do to help really.
Well done on the time keeping- that is one role I have never been brave enough to volunteer for- I am “just” marshalling this Saturday and very happy to have not much responsibility!
Blades of Glory was on on Saturday night so we watched that, and also My Neighbour Totoro was on in the morning so I saw some of that before we headed out in Brighton.
Maria @ runningcupcake recently posted…Parkrun tourism, a windy weekend and a windy race!
I never meant “just” marshalling to mean anything derogatory sorry! Marshalling is very important – and actually something as a runner I see as one of the most helpful things. Sorry, badly worded in my post!
Like I said to Jane, I saw Blades of Glory at the cinema. Amusing and silly.
AnnaTheApple recently posted…Rants and Raves #24
I was so sad to hear the news in Paris. It was lovely of your parkrun to hold a minute’s silence though.
I am a leg person. My upper body strength is so rubbish I’ve always enjoyed leg based weights and exercises. The irony being if I spent some time doing upper body stuff, I’d actually get a better balance.
Films wise, I haven’t seen much lately. Having recently gone through the IMDb top 500 list, my friend was mortified to hear that I’ve only seen about 30 of the titles and has given me a big wodge of films to work my way through. I’m planning Silence of the Lambs first, then Forrest Gump.
Steph recently posted…Weigh in Wednesday 6: Wonky floors
Forrest Gump is amazing!! One of my favourites. To be fair, I have seen barely any of the top 500 either…need to rectify that.
AnnaTheApple recently posted…Grumpy running, good snacking and a leg workout