Friday Confession Session

Hello,  hello folks!

TGIF!

I hope you had a great week!

I have a confession to make. I haven't run at all this week!  Eek! I've been doing my strength
training,  but I haven't run.  :(  I am fairly certain that I sustained a heat related issue last weekend.  According to  the  American  College of  Sports  Medicine, one should take at least a week off from exercising after a heat related issue. I had 1 physician at my work who recommend 2 weeks off.  At least the weather had been cooler this week, that will help when I get back out there.

Another reason I've limited my running this week is the amount of residual soreness I had after last week's long run. In the past,  I would have taken a day off and then got back of there,  never fully allowing my body to recover. I've been injured so many times though that I felt it wise to allow the soreness to resolve.  Meanwhile,  I've been doing some research into why I was  so sore.  I'm sure part of it was the dehydration,  but I believe my existing muscle imbalances played a role as well.

In the past,  I've had knee pain,  shin splints,  IT band problems,  Achilles tendinitis,  blisters,  etc.  My recent gait analysis indicated that I have "dead butt syndrome"  meaning my glutes don't  fire like they  are supposed to. It is basically caused by sitting all day. When the glutes and hamstrings don't fire properly, that forces the quadriceps muscles to overwork which contributes to injuries, especially knee injuries. I also have problems with tight calf muscles resulting in pain in my ankles and peroneal/Achilles tendons. I've spent most of this past week resting, stretching, rolling and cross training. I've also been reading articles trying to figure out how to correct these issues. I was delighted to get this email from Lisa @ The Conscious Runner regarding how to avoid dead butt syndrome.

I seems that I need to do squats to strengthen my booty. But I'm confused about that. If I'm "quad dominant" and trying to do squats, won't that only make my quads bigger? How to I squat properly so that I feel it more in my backside rather than in my hip flexors and quads??  I don't know, but I'm determined to figure it out because I'm tired of being injured!

Meanwhile, I'm really enjoying the strength training that I've been doing. I'm really starting to see some changes! I had a good pump going on last night after BodyBeast Build Shoulders. I spent probably 30 minutes in the bathroom flexing and ogling myself in the mirror. LOL

We're leaving after work tonight to go to the lake. I'm planning to get in 6 miles in the morning. Its not supposed to be as hot as it was last week and I'm going to make sure that I'm well hydrated. I plan to take it easy and not over do it. I don't want to be sore all week! We're staying through next Wednesday so we're temporarily putting Body Beast on hold (I don't want to pack all my free weights) but we'll do body weighted workouts while we're there. And of course, I've got a health menu planned.

So, that's what I've been up to all week. What have you been doing??

Until next time--get up, get out, and get moving! Whatever you decide to do today, be awesome at it!!

Your friend,

Theresa