Week 23 – Reality Hits

Here we are, another week has passed.  is it me or is this year flying by already??? GEEEZ.  I have titled this “reality hits” for a few reasons:

  1. The last trip for a little while is in the books, unless something drastically changes, I’ll be at home all of June and July and the first week of August.  If you have been following me for a while you know this is kind of a long time.
  2. Marathon training is about to start
  3. Work isn’t going to get less busy, now that vacation “season” has started

 

This is the reality, I may as well accept it now.

Week Totals:
Biking: 53.4 KM
Running: 11 KM
Steps: 52209
Gym: 3x
One lunch walk
No AM workouts done

Planned vs. Actual is just Actual vs. Actual – I made no plans last week since I wanted to just go with the flow for my last week prior to marathon training start.  Here’s what it looked like:

Monday–   Travel day.  Sadly we were up at out the door of our lovely Málaga airbnb apartment by 7:30.  The flight was uneventful (thankfully) and we arrived safely back to Düsseldorf.  And, bonus, we actually remembered where we parked the car (sometimes it’s a challenge and getting to the airport was stressful this time around so the chances are higher that the memory doesn’t work as well).   We arrived back home, and the laundry cycles began, plus food shopping and getting ready for the week at work.

Steps: 8550

back in Düsseldorf

Tuesday – I had an appointment at the neurologist before work and basically she told me what I already knew;  no neuropathy.  So that’s a good thing but also bad because it still doesn’t explain anything.  She does think that something went wrong with the operation and that explains the problem with my toe (they are two separate issues) She wants me to take medicine to manage pain and tingling.  She’s given me two weeks to think about it, but I think I already know- I don’t want it.  I want answers, not pills!   Another crying session in the car on the way to work (it’s very frustrating to be dealing with this for so long and no one knows what is wrong!).  Work wasn’t that great either- had a stressful day so I decided to go for a run.

Steps: 8658
Running: 4KM (not incl in steps)

hey, did you miss my lift shots? of course you did!

Wednesday –  More work stress, but still (finally) managed to get out at lunch for a walk. Planned to go to RPM with Vincent, so after work I gathered my things and picked him up to go to the gym.  Super sweaty session – felt really good afterwards!

Bike: 5km (commute)
Steps: 15,107
Spinning: 45 min

 

a scene from my walk (and NO filter!)

 

what sweat-covered spinning survival looks like

Thursday – Ugh, super stressful day at work.  Had an appointment with my lifestyle coach and my manager said to go ahead and go (it was as 12:30) even though we were having issues (glad to have understanding managers!).  Very good chat with my coach – she was also really pleased to see the result on the scale – 3.3KG less than the last time I saw her but also a reduction in my body fat %, my organ fat, my muscle mass and my fitness level.  I’ll check in again with her in a month.

Back at work though it was very busy and high stress to get everything done.  I finally left at 6pm, got home and quickly ate something and then changed as Ron and I had already discussed going to bodypump that evening.  Didn’t feel like it, but went anyway (knew it would help my mood).

Bike: 5KM
Steps: 8829
Bodypump: 55 min

the weather has been SO sunny and amazing here lately!

Friday – Day off.   BUT… back to my doctor to talk with her about the orthopedist and neurologist findings.  I want to go to a private clinic now for my foot because I’m fed up!  But first I want to have blood tests done to rule out any deficiencies or other problems (but WHY I have to ask for these things and my doctor doesn’t suggest it, AFTER 5 YEARS, is beyond me).  So, good news, I got the blood tests done right after our appt, but bad news is… I can’t get a referral for the clinic until the blood tests come back.  Grrrrrrrrr.   I can’t complain too much – health care is amazing here, it’s just sometimes quite bureaucratic.

After the doc and blood tests I came home, did laundry, planned out my month, and did some tidying and cleaning.  Then I got ready for one massage client but also prepared my bag to go directly to Runiversity afterwards.  I’m not in training yet, but I paid for the month so I decided to go for an interval session. AFTER bodypump Thursday…. talk about DOMS!  (in this case I think DOMS means DIRECT instead of DELAYED haha!).

Good interval session, messed up the first interval but the rest were good.  Thought my heart rate was going through the roof at one point though! Surprised I could run so well with such sore quads and glutes!

Bike: 18.70KM
Steps: 10,453
Run: 7KM (not incl in steps)

I guess you can see where we did the intervals?

Saturday – As I am a glutton for punishment, I decided that sitting around wasn’t going to help my muscle soreness so I got up to go to the gym to do RPM again.  Ron wanted to run to the gym and do some exercises while I was spinning.  So that’s what we did.

In the afternoon I went over to a friend’s house.  She runs Arnhem Life and is interested in adding bike tours to the city walking tours she already has, but… she’s not super fond of biking!  I mentioned to her last year that bike tours could be interesting for us – that we may be a smaller city but there is life outside of Amsterdam and what better way to showcase your city than by bike!  Anyway, we decided initially on a few tours, but I need to map them out and see how far they are and approximately how long they would take.    That means… not only did I do RPM in the morning, I biked to her place, did one round of one of the tours (have to tweak it a bit) and came home with another 18.3KM on the books.

Bike: 18.3
Steps: 6730
RPM: 45 min

I could cycle here every. single.day. and never tire of it. this is in town, not in the country!

Sunday  Pretty much toast today, legs are still trashed from Thurs/Fri/Saturday.  Did some stuff in the house, minimal steps, only went outside to ride my bike to town for dinner and back! That was needed!!

Bike: 6.4
Steps: 2432 (OMG that is so low!!)

 

 

SO MUCH FOR RESTING UP AND GOING WITH THE FLOW BEFORE MARATHON TRAINING STARTS!

Coming up in week 24:
Monday – AM Workout
Tuesday – AM Workout, Training @Runiversity
Wednesday – double duty; BodyPump and Spinning with Vincent
Thursday – REST
Friday – AM Workout, Training @Runiversity

Also:
Minimum 3 lunch walks
Get my 10,000 steps in each day
Check off my to do list (practical stuff like paying some important bills and calling about my blood test results)

 

How was your week? Have you ever said you were going to rest and then pretty much proceeded to do #allthethings ?  What’s your favourite part of your city?  Do you have cows in town?

Comments

  1. kookyrunner says:

    We are definitely living parallel lives this week! I didn’t want to go to my boot camps class last Wednesday, but forced myself to go knowing that it would improve my mood, lol.

    I’m so sorry to hear that you have been trying to get answers to the issue for 2 years now – that’s a long time so I can totally see why you would be frustrated. Is another surgery to correct that went wrong in the first surgery an option?

    1. Renée says:

      I do think another surgery is an option (for me) but they can’t see anything on an MRI or ultrasound so for them it’s NOT an option right now. And I’ve got a marathon in 16 weeks so …

  2. Wendy says:

    I’m so sorry to hear that you aren’t getting any answers about your issues. That’s the hard part about medicine. Sometimes there are no answers…

    Glad you just keep pushing on!

    1. Renée says:

      thanks Wendy! I do know that it’s not always easy to determine things medically. but I also feel like the majority of my (insurance covered) health professionals have thrown their hands up and want to go directly for meds that I may not even need. Only my osteopath (not insurance covered) is determined to find the problem. That bugs me a bit.

  3. agsignor says:

    How frustrating on your medical issues. I hope you get answers soon!

    1. Renée says:

      thanks! me too. the story continues for now…

  4. Coco says:

    So sorry your health issues are still a mystery. I think sometimes they just can’t figure things out, but hope you find out more soon. Your scenery pics are amazing — and I like the GPS map too! Congrats on the good health coach progress!

    1. Renée says:

      Thank you!

  5. Grrrr, I hope you (eventually) get some answers to your issues. I had to laugh, though, at your comment about remembering where you parked your car! I can totally relate!

    1. Renée says:

      Thanks! and omg you would be amazed at how often we are wandering around the parking lot looking for our car…you’d think we’d learn!

  6. Marcia says:

    Busy week for you! I’m sorry the news about your foot is so frustrating. Yes to the bike tours! I so want to do more of those!

    1. Renée says:

      thanks Marcia! now to just have the time to map out and test ride the bike tours…

  7. runswithpugs says:

    Ha! I never end up resting. It’s just not in my makeup.

    I love the idea of bike tours of your city. I wish we could do that here.

    I hope you get some answers soon. I’m sure you’re very frustrated by everything :(

    1. Renée says:

      yes rest does not come easy to me either! thanks – definitely frustrated.

Comments are closed.