Layla=Torture & The Road to Recovery

At the end of the 10:30 AM spin class this morning (the second of two), Patti, our instructor, had us finish to Layla.   A great song, but her plan also included us doing a LONG standing climb with interspersed "hovers" during the second movement ("piano coda") which is over 5 minutes in duration. Uggh!  By the end of the song, we were cursing our legs, Patti, and Eric Clapton himself. :-)

Anyway, today's torture session was necessary after slacking off Wednesday through Friday.  The week had started off well.  Sunday's workout was modeled after Thanksgiving's. It began with 30 minutes on the Stairmaster with the first 25 mins at Level 10 before backing down to Level 8 - stats: 165 floors, 3.48 miles, 415.6 calories (using weight 172 lbs), avg hr: 166+ bpm (started watch late), average pace: 89 steps/min, 831 cal/hr.  After some weight work, another go at the rower - stats: 10 minutes, 2256 meters (about the same pace as Thursday's 6-minute session), 83 calories, avg hr: 161 bpm.  And to top it all off, a 75-minute spin class (155 bpm avg heart rate).

I took Monday off to take care of some personal errands and to recover from the back-to-back weekend workouts.

Tuesday's workout wasn't as robust as I would have hoped.  Just a 45-minute spin session.  HOWEVER, I did run on the treadmill afterwards (6 MPH pace with a 5% incline) and completed an entire *0.5 miles* and had no pain in my shin the following day.  This is first time I have run since the DRC Half Marathon and the subsequent aggravation/worsening of the stress-fracture in my shin.  Woo-hoo!  The road to recovery has begun.

Unfortunately, after that small victory, crazy stuff at work intervened and made working out on Wednesday and Thursday impossible.  For Friday, there was no such excuse other than I just felt lazy.  Oh well.

So back to today ...  I did my now-normal Saturday morning routine of double-spin classes (duration/avg hr: 70 min/153 bpm and 65 min/153 bpm, respectively).  The one change from last week is that I did a 9-minute run in between the cycling sessions.  One whole mile on the treadmill!  Charts below:

In other news, I have all but signed up for the 21st Annual Lake Benbrook Half-Marathon - to be held January 31.  I know I have a long way to go before being able to do 13.1 miles, but I am confident that I can make it over the next 7 weeks.