Training While Living With the In-laws

“Believe in Yourself a Little More.”

 ~unknown

 Upon the sale of our place, my husband and I moved to his dad’s house. What we thought it would be a fast transition with an estimated stay of no more than 30-60 days, it turned out to be 3 long months. We were very grateful for his accommodation, but my training routine and body was getting very cranky by the end of the second month!

My scheduled was jammed six-day a week. Mondays and Wednesdays were designated for strength training; Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays were my typical running days, and Fridays was allocated for stretch/foam roll/rehab work. Sundays was my sleep-in day but not really a rest day to simply do nothing. And please, let’s not forget to add the 8-5, M-F work schedule as icing-on-the-cake because the bills got to get paid!

The only way to get these workouts in was to get up every single weekday at 5:00 a.m., otherwise it would not get it done. After work, the only time I had was to grab somewhat a decent dinner, go to the in-laws to unpack the day’s dirty laundry and dirty snack/lunch dishes only to pack a new set of cleaning clothes and snacks for the next day. Feeding my puppy was next, shower, then trying to go to bed by no later than 10:00 p.m. to get somewhat a decent sleep and recovery time.

Once we closed on our house, the renovation process begun. We didn’t have a major renovation project, but we certainly needed to hire a contractor to get the heavy projects done. To that end, a renovation project that should had only taken an average of 4-5 weeks ended up taking 10 long weeks! The contractor took his sweet-time, working whatever hours he wanted (like 4 hours a day on many occasions) and taking an entire week off due to what he said was a family emergency. My husband and I were stuck! We had already invested half of the money and time, so we really had to just make the best of the situation and keep the complaint double-digit pace to avoid any attitude by the contractor. God forbid getting on a contractor’s bad side, right!?

My training and energy was taking a hit and my body was asking for help. Not having my own space or the time to decompress from one activity to the next was getting draining. In one of the assigned treadmill speed workout in mid-August my quads and hamstrings let me know that something was off. At first, it occurred to me was a normal soreness, but in the follow run (a 12-miler run on Saturday), quads, hams and back let me know that it needed a lot of attention. I settled for a 9-miler on that day.

I rest up from running for a couple days, but the recovery process was slow at that point. My rehab routine wasn’t working so I had to schedule a few PT sessions with my physical therapist. I was really scared because the discomfort was affecting my hip and back – and hellooo – my husband just had back surgery. In the process of addressing this injury, I got an infection in one of my root canals. Sure, why not! Some bed rest was then mandatory but the hamstrings and quads were still not healed.

Throughout the month of September, I was only able to login 40 miles in comparison to 67.4 miles in August and 72.2 in July – right in the midst of moving and all the other shenanigans. But in September, my scheduled got even crazier since the thick of the renovation was about to get “done”; therefore, it was time for my husband and I to get our sweat equity in the bank. I don’t mind grabbing the paint roller and some other tools, but doing it after a workday or on Sundays when this is so supposed to be your rest day, it didn’t settled well for me, but it had to be done and my husband needed my help.

I really should not be complaining because whether I was training for a half marathon or just running for the fun of it, it’s totally my own free choice to do so. My husband on the other hand, he was still doing PT and healing from back surgery, and yet, he was doing what he could to help us get set to move-in.

My scheduled half marathon race was the Florida West Coast in Sarasota, FL on October 2. When I signed up, I was sure we would be done with renovation and settled in – wrong! I had no choice but to defer to next year, besides I wasn’t 100% healthy. My other option was to run the Lighthouse Loop Half marathon in Port Orange, FL on October 30 so I signed up for it. I was confident that therapy would help me be ready by then. My husband also had set the deadline for the contractor to turn-in our keys and expressed our expected move-in date.

We finally moved-in on the eve of hurricane Matthew’s landing through Florida’s east coast. The walls needed to be painted, the floor needed to be done, the kitchen needed its make-over, the backyard needed landscaping and the house needed all the little projects that comes with finishing touches. However, we could not be happier to start living in our own home and waking up to the sight a nice pool in the backyard.

R2-D2 is ready to move-in!

Although we were living in our home, my training routine was far from being stable and I was still playing the multi-tasking game. There’s no short cut to training. And unless you plan on having a miserable race or taking the time to finish it, it’s hard to depend on half training. Through these experiences and trying to get “everything” done, my body and mind got burnt out. The body and mind need rest and we can only push so far before realizing the consequences of our actions. With caution and no PRs in sight, Lighthouse Loop, here I come!

“Difficult Roads Often Lead to Beautiful Destinations.” 

~unknown