20-26th April

The points don’t quite add up this week, simply because I’ve got you down as running Sunday at a lower intensity. More a tempo than a full race effort. Which I think is a good idea at this stage. Any questions or problems with the plan let me know and once we get going we can determined if this level feels about right. Great to have you back on the team Sarah.

56 Points Achieved

MONDAY

Felt OK after exertions yesterday (12 mile walk/jog/run to Pett and back). Only pain was on 2 mile walk to Italian class – 6/10 but only for around 10 mins then eased off.

Glad to hear that, love the fact you are learning Italian as well. I’ve never been any good at languages. Apart from counting to ten in french and even then I think I get it wrong 😂

TUESDAY

10 Points

Oh heck, what a day! Gym was out of the question owing to an electrical check (lasting 3 hours!) ordered by my buyer, waiting in for a VIP (parcel), having an online medical consultation and viewing houses. I did my best, looking on line for alternative exs to some of the gym ones. So adductor ex was lying on side, top leg bent and other side of lower leg, then raising the lower leg; abductor was clamshells with black resistance band; seated row was individual arms with 6kg weight, same number of reps for all. None of these exs brought on pain and dead bugs, both sorts of calf raises and incline press ups were also fine. Wall sit made knees temporarily painful – sure that will improve. All the other exs made me feel pinching below buttocks, one of my common symptoms – but that does not mean that they actually caused the pain or would be bad for me. Where you say 5kg weight, I only have 6kg so used that. The RDLs were done OK at home with a bar my son had left here. It will be a bit of trial and error I’m sure and I’ve arranged an appointment with Richard Osteopath to check about exs. I have swapped my stair climbing ex to tomorrow. Hope all is OK Simon! Middday short walk was ok, evening stroll was painful 8/10 for first 10 mins then wore off. PS – The new dashboard is BRILLIANT! user friendly, intuitive – you are very clever!

Wow. That does sound busy. Exciting times though hunting for a new house and hopefully the deal will give you some added financial security. Really well done on finding alternatives. As well as having this gym session I could create a home session for similar scenarios. In fact I’ve just made a note to do that. Thank you for the kind words on the dashboard. It’s evolved over time but it’s a good setup now and very time efficient for me too, so I think it works really well. I’m very happy. Hopefully tomorrow will be a quieter day on the appointment front.

WEDNESDAY

9pts | 20 Mins Stairs

9 POINTS

A great form of cross trainer for us runners. Take a few minutes to warm up at find your stride but then push hard. You can real bang for your buck with just 20 mins on the stair climber. I hit around level 10 when doing these but find the right speed for you that you can maintain, but you find this tough.

Rest Day

0 POINTS

“Rest days are key. Our body adapts and gets stronger when we rest & recovery. Have a good one!”

9 Points

The transferred 20 mins stair stepping went fine but it’s not recorded properly on Garmin – I need to add it as an activity if I can work out how. Walk to gym and home was ok, minimal pain. Now for some rest!

Depending what Garmin you have, it might have a Stair Stepper option, it wasn’t that easy to find but anything these days if you type your question into google the instructions normally give you the solution. Or alternatively you can use it as a separate cardio session. Glad it went ok though.

thursday

9pts | 20 Mins Stairs

9 POINTS

10pts | Sarah Gym Session

10 POINTS

This is a session designed to work the key muscle groups and not inflict more pain on the back. I really hope it works.

19 Points

All done but I did the ‘at home’ versions of exs such as adductor/abductor again. Could not work out which/where the machines were! I hope that’s OK Simon. Ideally I’d go with your suggestion of one gym session a week. I don’t know what would replace the 2nd stair stepper but I have lots of flights of steps nearby! or hill efforts? Today’s exs all went fine except goblet squat with 6kg KB – it felt a bit painful and when I did child’s pose after my back felt funny. Ill check w Richard Osteopath next week. No pains otherwise and walking to/from gym was also pain free.

If only using the gym once a week we can find an alternative method of cross training. Perhaps getting on the bike is good. I’m not sure about stairs outside, because obviously what goes up must then come down and that puts a different strain on our body and a quick search suggests it’s not great for spinal stenosis. Leave it with me. Perhaps a bike ride once a week is a good alternative? Well done on today’s workout though

FRIDAY

18 Points

Run done. Slowly. Achingly. I think I overdid it yesterday with exercises, gardening and not enough rest. First 3 km were 6/10 painful, dropping to 2/10. However, I just walked to Ore station with no pain. Weight was 56.5 last week, 56.1 today.

Good progress already with the weight. Well done Sarah. I think we need to cap the pain at 6/10. If it gets worse then perhaps stop but interesting it got better as you ran, so that’s positive. Maybe a new property with less maintaining may help too 😂

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

38pts | 5 Mile Race

38 POINTS

10 Mins WU @ Easy Pace (RPE: 2)

5 Miles @ 5 Mile Pace (RPE: 7)

10 Mins CD @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)

5 miles is a really tough distance to get right. Rest assured, this is tough. The first mile is so important, don’t go off too quick and you’ll set yourself up for a strong race.