recap :: week -3

Training is not officially underway until Saint Patricks's Day (which has to be good luck) but I'm taking this down time to improve my non-running fitness. I give you week -3 training:

Monday: 60min spin, 45min total body
Tuesday : rest
Wednesday: 3.0mile treadmill hill workout, leg stability work (thanks, PT)
Thursday: 60min spin with circuits
Friday: 5.5miles
Saturday: 60min with arm, ab and leg circuits
Sunday: 60min spin with circuits and abs

Weekly mileage: 8.5miles

Not a ton of running, but since I'm pre-plan and relegated to the treadmill I suppose I'm building my base? Last year all the spin classes I took really improved my uphill efficiency on my feet. Here's hoping.

i'm sweating...

...and it feels so good. Last night was my first jump back into any semblance of physical fitness. After my first PT appointment on Friday, they cleared me for spin classes. Not wasting any time, I signed up for a Monday session and was quickly reacquainted with cardio, glorious cardio. It was pretty fantastic to get home from work and change into spandex instead of sitting on the couch eating vacuuming the living room while baking cookies every night. Thank you, spin studio, I remember what working out feels like.

it might look easy,
but that is a tricky little devil
once assembled and your standing on it
[source]

Back to PT... I thought I'd be an A+ student and breeze through all of the exercises, but it turns out I lost more range of motion and muscle than I thought. After trying to master the crazy balance board, it was pretty clear my left side is still roughed up.

The good news: my muscle should come back really quickly thanks to that crazy phenomenon they call "muscle memory".  The bad news: I'm still relegated to the elliptical and stationary bikes for the time being. I'm hoping I don't have to start marathon training round two on a elliptical. I guess the other good news is that PT is sort of like personal training rather than "therapy". The woman I'm working with is great and willing to answer all of my ridiculous poignant questions; plus if  I have to run around to appointments every week, at least this one involves wearing gym clothes, working out and not waiting in a room for 30 minutes until someone arrives to take your blood pressure.