Running Down the Dream: The Cross-Training Chronicles: October Recap

October 2018 in Review

Total mileage for the month: 10 (all on the AlterG treadmill) -- which was markedly different than my other months this year: January - 207, February - 254, March - 298, April - 307, May - 355, June - 232, July - 290, August - 357, September - 305.

At least I hit double digits! I am trying not to think about the fact that my pre-injury average daily mileage was higher than this monthly total... However, my total workout duration came in at 71 hours and 23 minutes, which blew my mind...that's almost 2 work weeks! I also did some walking just to get outside, but didn’t count that as exercise.

Oct. 1-Oct. 7: 0 miles, 12:50 total cardio cross-training, 2:38 strength training
Oct. 8-14: 1 mile (on the AlterG treadmill), 13:45 cardio cross-training, 2:45 strength training
Oct. 15-21: 0 miles, 14:05 cardio cross-training, 2:40 strength training
Oct. 22-29: 4 miles (on the AlterG treadmill), 11:15 cardio cross-training, 3:00 strength training
Oct. 29-Nov. 4: 5 miles (AlterG), 14:00 cardio cross-training, 2:40 strength training - which is a lifetime exercise PR week

Happy Halloween/it's 48* & pouring!

Races:

The only racing I did was to the pool when the YMCA unlocked its front doors at 5:00 a.m. - when trying to simulate a long run before work, every second counts! I am not even kidding when I say I was waiting by the door at 4:57 a.m....
I missed the Panther Run 5K and the Kansas City Half Marathon. I will also be missing the Bass Pro Marathon (slated to be my longest training run) and the California International Marathon this season.

Workouts:

I did a lot of cross-training workouts this month, trying to maintain fitness and because time passes much faster in the pool/on the bike/on the elliptical when you're doing intervals. I'm not going to list them out, because it would be a long list of #notrunning
I also did several cross-training doubles this month, but again #notrunning
Full body strength workouts: I completed my full strength circuit twice per week, did 10 minutes of core work more days than not, and did a lot of rehab strength work.
Favorite workout: I got into some of my spin bike workouts, trying to beat the farthest I'd done in 90 minutes (my usual length of ride). I am 98% certain that my spin bike isn't calibrated correctly, but I think it's comparable to itself from day to day, and my PR was 40.3 miles in 90 minutes.

Spin bike stats (95 min. & 40.81 miles)
+ a smile (not my PR ride)

Long Runs:

No real ones, but I did some 2:30+ cross-training sessions. The first time I did 2 hours on the elliptical I was sore from it...

Cross-Training:

I approached cross-training with abandon during my injury, aiming to mimic or exceed what I would be running. Here is what I did the week of October 1-7:

Monday - a.m. 30 minutes cycling and 30 minutes on the Max Trainer (a stair stepper/elliptical combo machine that my friend Amy has); p.m. 75 minutes aquajogging and 10 minutes core
Tuesday - a.m. 90 minutes spin bike including a fartlek workout of 2 x 4'/3'/2/1'; lunch 28 minutes of core/arm/floor glute work
Wednesday - a.m. 50 minutes of lap swimming including intervals followed by 40 minutes of aquajogging including intervals (90 minutes in the pool) and 8 minutes core
Thursday - a.m. 90 minutes ellipitcal including intervals; lunch 44 minutes full body strength session
Friday - a.m. 2:30 aquajogging, including intervals the final 35 minutes...I can't believe I did this either. Also 8 minute core (I do 8-10 minutes core every day when I'm running also).
Saturday - a.m. 95 minutes elliptical with intervals in the final 30, and 30 minutes strength; p.m. 30 minutes elliptical and 10 minutes core
Sunday - a.m. 90 minutes on the spin bike, including 20' warm up, tempo efforts of 20', 15', 10', 5' w/ 5' recoveries, 5' cool down (this got me 36.3 miles!); p.m. 22 minutes core/glute work.

Most days I did interval workouts, to get my heart rate up and because the time passed faster when I did. With running you should never do workouts every day, but with cross-training you pretty much can (or at least I did without knowing any better). My body felt different because there was no pounding, but initially I sure got sore from various cross-training workouts. I guess after not biking or swimming for almost 3 years, jumping into 90+ minutes at a time was a bit of a shock!

Highlights/thoughts/randomness:

Due to all the cross-training I did this month, my television watching increased dramatically. I usually don't watch TV. Sometimes on weekends I'll watch a movie with my family, and Jon and I like to watch marathons (we usually find the broadcasts on YouTube a week or so after the events), but no actual TV-watching occurs unless I'm injured. Jon and Albani have our DVR timers booked solid, which I was kind of appalled about because I don't think they watch that much TV either, but that limited my time slots for recording anything (also the TV in my workout room is ancient so there is no Netflix or similar option; I'm surprised it even hooks up to our Dish!). I searched for shows I'd enjoy at times they weren't recording anything, which was really just overnight and in the early mornings, and I ended up recording a bunch of old episodes of Scrubs and New Girl, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed while on my spin bike. At the YMCA I watched whatever the best option available was on early limited cable, including Friends, King of Queens, Everybody Loves Raymond, That 70s Show, and several HGTV flipping houses and redecorating programs.
It's funny how we tend to replace one obsession with another. I wasn't planning to cross-train nearly as much as I did, but being unable to run I quickly got caught up in trying to set records in any way I could with cross-training, including longest duration of activities, farthest and fastest bike rides, etc. The week of October 15-21 I decided I was going to cardio cross-train for 14 hours, and it ended up being a little challenging with a work trip in there, but I got it done. Then I made the following week a cut-back week!
It wasn't an easy month for me. Although I think overall I handled being injured betting than I have in the past, several break-downs occurred (of course, I also learned a lot). "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." - John 14:27

Life events:

We were kind of boring this month. Jon and I both worked a lot!
Our garden fell victim to the early cold snap.
We started burning wood in our fireplace on October 13 - much earlier than usual!
We went to a great fall fest with a corn maze, hayrides, carnival games, bounce houses, a pumpkin patch, etc. on October 20.
I had a birthday...which further made me worry that my days of PR-chasing are slipping away and that this injury screwed it all up.
Our church has a fun fall fest event on October 27.
Halloween of course. Albani was the Grim Reaper, to my chagrin, especially because our two major Halloween events were at church. Jon tried to convince her to get a girly costume, but she was set on this! I dressed up as a working mother yet again this year.