Base Build Week 2: Rolling with the Punches
Early morning runs have their perks. Pre-dawn over the San Pablo reservoir.
Training Time: 9 hours
Run: 24 miles / 3,360
Ride: 51 miles / 0
Lift: 3 sessions / 3 hours
I don’t about y’all but I was really excited when on Thursday I realized that it was a three day weekend. Work was full on this week for me, and I really needed the extra day off, mentally and physically. My goal for this week was to continue building volume while trying to solidify routines and workout schedules. Instead, I got thrown a few curveballs and had to adjust. On one hand, fitting training in with full-time work and family responsibilities requires serious schedule management, but on the other hand, life with an 18 moth old during a pandemic requires lots of flexibility.
My primary tactic for making sure I get in the training I need is to do as much as possible before the baby wakes up, but this week Aila decided to get up early several mornings in a row, when I was already out. As a result, we are now fully weaned. I have been letting her steer the weaning ship instead of deciding to pull the plug at one year because of the reported vaccine antibodies in breastmilk. Since she can’t be vaccinated, this felt like the best I could do to protect her even if breastfeeding way past one year was not originally in my plans. While I have not felt any physical side effects from weaning this week, it was a pretty big emotional tsunami that I wasn’t exactly prepared for. We had a really hard time in the first month or so; she struggled to latch, I got mastitis several times, I had oversupply and then not enough supply. We finally found our rhythm but I was simultaneously proud of each month we kept at it and counting down the days until I could have my body back to myself. I am having similar contradictory feelings now: I am excited to have not additional responsibilities for my body other than keeping myself alive, but I am really sad that this phase of being someone’s lifeline is over. I think this is pretty normal, but I wasn’t really prepared for it.
In addition to the emotional upheaval this week, my body felt a bit funky after Sunday’s long ride outside. I think the pain I felt the days after the ride helped zero in on the issue, but its frustrating to have to manage a flare up. I was able to get things under control with pilates with the amazing Caitlin Smith, some targeted acupuncture with E-stim with Jenn Ross, and a solid strength session. I did end up switching my long activities this weekend, and relegated myself to the bike trainer where I can control power and avoid straining the anterior hamstring / adductor. Things moved around a bit this week to deal with poor air quality in the bay area. I have asthma and running in anything over 50 really aggravates my lungs. There have been several days of inversion trapping the car exhaust and wood smoke making it impossibly for me to exercise outside.
Despite the obstacles this week, I got in another hill / tempo workout, a long ride with some power and speed intervals, and a 9 mile long run. That being said, the adductor is feeling a bit flared up tonight despite not giving me issues during the run earlier. Hopefully a day off and more targeted strength and motor control work next week will continue to help things improve.
With training load increasing, my appetite is also growing. It’s wild to think about how much food I used to eat when in pea training. I made a big batch of these “Green Eggs and Hammer On” muffins from the Rise and Run cookbook and they have been a huge lifesaver. Easy to eat in the morning before working out (one thing I don’t do anymore EVER is run fasted). They’re also great as a mid-morning snack and Aila loves them too. I added Canadian bacon and cheese to mine for a little extra umph. I wish I could share the recipe but I recommend just buying the Rise and Run cookbook. There’s lots of great stuff in there.