This post is part of my ongoing “Get Fit” series, an effort to lose a little weight/tone up, and save money by reducing the number of meals I eat out.
The last month has been quite a struggle, primarily due to an inline speed skating crash that resulted in a severe back injury four weeks ago. Three of the four weeks went with no exercise as I was happy to simply be able to walk.
My back still hurts, but the weekend before last I decided I was going to either have to suck up the pain or put my skating goals on hold for the season… and that’s not something I wanted to do.
That being said, I hit the ground running and worked out extremely hard over the last seven days. Here’s how things played out:
- Monday – casual 20 mile bike ride to see how my back felt
- Tuesday – indoor skating practice followed immediately by outdoor skating practice (400 meter track)
- Wednesday – outdoor skating practice at a local park that has a decent amount of hills
- Thursday – indoor skating practice
- Friday – late night indoor skating practice (10 – 11:30 pm)
- Saturday – 40 mile bike ride (10 am)
- Sunday – outdoor skating practice (400 meter track)
The schedule was intense, but the only thing that about made me crack was the 40 mile bike ride. The speed was pretty intense as I had a 21.5 average for the ride and my legs had not yet recovered from the late night skating practice. I survived, but it was ugly, not to mention it caused my back to to amp up a couple notches.
It looks like I’ll also be skating outdoor practice with the team again today, so I won’t be getting an off day until Wednesday (if that). I don’t necessarily recommend a scheduleof this nature, but it’s what I need to make up my three week deficit and to make sure I’m on par for the regional competition that’s a month away.
My skating goal for the year is to have myself in shape so that I’m competitive at the National competition in July. The catch is, you have to make it out of Regional’s to skate Nationals – think of it as a qualifier, so not being in shape isn’t really an option.
The process of getting fit has highs and lows, but it’s how you deal with the lows that will determine the highs.
PS – If you’ve been following this series you know that part of my goal is to also reduce the amount I eat out which will help me save money and reduce the amount of fried food I eat. I spent less than $50 eating out last week, and to that I say woot woot!
[…] My last update outlined a pretty hardcore workout schedule that I was doing for skating, and I’ve kept a similar schedule for most of the month. Up until last Thursday I was skating indoor practice four times a week and outdoor four to five times a week. Some days I’d do indoor practice immediately followed by outdoor practice. The back to back indoor and outdoor practices are no joke and most definitely test your mental strength. […]