Weekly recap (7/3-7/9): Recovery, rest, reset

Welcome to the Weekly Wrap and I hope everyone had a good 4th of July! I'm excited to be guest hosting for HoHoRuns and MissSippiPiddlin. I've enjoyed being a part of this linkup for several months now and I love reading all of the new blogs I've found through it. I hope to find some more this week!

If you want to know more about me, you can read that here (or you can read my running story).

And please remember to comment on the hosts' blogs and then stop by and comment on as many of the other blogs as you can. Link up below this post.

Last week was my last week of rest and recovery from the achilles issue and the back pain flare up. I was a bit stiff early in the week, but by the end of the week, I felt back to normal and was fine with doing more normal(ish) workouts.

As part of my rest, I avoided HIIT/strength workouts since those put a good amount of work on my back and I really wanted to rest that (backs are nothing to mess with!). Instead I did two yin yoga workouts. In place of two runs, I did two bike rides (one as a spinning class and one outdoors). And then I just did 3 very short, very easy runs, which really felt more like swims with the crazy humidity and 3-digit heat index. But at least I was pain free!

Workout summary

Monday: Yin yoga class
Tuesday: Easy run - 3 miles
Wednesday: 6 mile bike ride (including some trails)
Thursday: Easy run - 3.02 miles at 8:56 (first decent run since the back issue flare up)
Friday: Yin yoga class
Saturday: Spin class at Journey
Sunday: Easy run - 3.01 miles @ 8:33

Last week's totals

Total miles: 9.03 miles
Total runs: 3
Total biking/spinning: 2
Total strength: 0
Total yoga: 2
Total workouts: 7

Tuesday was my first run back since the prior Wednesday. It was hot, my back was stiff, and generally slow but I wanted to at least try to run before all of our 4th of July festivities began. After my run, we headed to the pool and in the evening, we went to the aquarium (of course!) for a special 4th of July event.

4th of July - Pool and fireworks over the Harbor at the South Carolina Aquarium (hey, look! I'm not in workout gear (dress by Billabong))

Thursday's run felt mostly normal, other than the shocking heat and humidity. It was so shocking that I had to walk a few times in the first mile, but once my body was used to it, my pace picked right back up. My splits for that run were 10:47, 8:36 and 7:48, so I was pleased with that especially given the last few weeks.

Saturday, a friend and I met up and I did my second spin class ever. This one was way more enjoyable than the first because my back wasn't screaming in pain and I could actually get up off the seat and do the workout the right way. I really, really liked it and I'm definitely going to be incorporating spin into my workout schedule, probably not every week but when my schedule allows.

So let's talk about my new workout obsession: Yin yoga. Have you ever tried this? It's amazing. It's more recovery than workout since you sit in each post for about 4 minutes and it helps get really deep into the muscles and release the fascia. While I love a good yoga power flow class, yin is a really great recovery to counterbalance the other workouts where I work out hard.

Over the weekend, we had family in town and we pretty much spent the entire time in the water. My kind of weekend!

On Saturday, we went downtown the Pineapple Fountain (a Charleston icon) and then to the beach. My little surfer boy beach bum stole one of his cousin's boards and wouldn't give it back. The little guy was a natural on a board and I'm sure we'll have him full-on surfing by the time he's 4. On Sunday, we spent several hours at the pool. Suntan game this weekend: strong (even though I used sunscreen).