Belated weekly roundup

I'm three days late for this -- not because I haven't been doing any exercise now that the marathon's behind me, but because my beautiful sister gave birth to her first baby yesterday and I was a privileged helper during the long labor process. How fortunate am I, to enjoy two peak lifetime experiences -- to run a marathon and witness the birth of a baby -- in the space of just a couple weeks? I am counting my blessings these days.

Monday, 11/30:

20 minutes walking on the treadmill, 4mph

I've got to say it was tricky getting on the treadmill the day after the marathon; I was definitely a bit creaky just walking around in my own house. But with that said, I felt better by the time I got off. My legs were looser and a little less sore ... although I definitely wasn't too interested in staying on any longer.

Tuesday, 12/1:

5 minutes walking on the treadmill, 4.2 mph

Upper-body weight workout

25 minutes on the elliptical

My warmup on the treadmill felt great, which was a really nice surprise. The weights were a surprise of a different kind: extremely difficult. I hadn't anticipated that they would be, since my upper body was relatively passive during the marathon (aside from core stabilizing muscles). I got through it, but slowly and a little excruciatingly. My stint on the elliptical trainer afterward was also hard ... I think I was just tired.

Wednesday, 12/2:

30 minute run/walk (25 minutes of running)

My 42nd birthday. I should actually call what I was doing jogging, not running, because I was moving so slowly. But, as I posted earlier, it felt great. I was so happy to be back at it on my birthday.

Thursday, 12/3:

Chest/back weight workout

30 minutes on the elliptical

A bit better than the week's earlier foray into weights: this time, the weights were again really difficult but the cardio felt good. I could definitely tell that my back muscles had gotten some good work during the marathon -- they were weak and sore overall. So I tried to take it a bit easy on them while still completing my workout.

Friday, 12/4:

3-mile run

SuperAthlete J asked if I wanted to head out with her -- and how could I say no, after all we'd been through together, not to mention that she was leaving two days later for a 5-week holiday in Australia? That lady knows how to live, let me tell you. We were definitely not at the top of our respective games but we went the distance and it felt like a sweet wrap-up to our training. Oh, SAJ, I miss our runs already.

Saturday, 12/5:

90-minute walk with a friend on the icy streets of Queen Anne

I wouldn't count this as exercise, except that anything during the week after a marathon seems like it should be worth something. And all the near-misses I had with not quite having my feet go out from under me definitely felt like they were giving me a decent core workout.

Sunday, 12/6:

4-mile run/walk (3.8 mile run, the rest walk)

Fabulous! The weather, although really cold for Seattle, was beautiful. As I set out, the sky was that deep blue color it takes on just before darkness. Running along, I got to admire newly hung Christmas lights and peep into people's windows to see them cozy in their homes. I felt strong, calm and contemplative the whole way through. And, although I didn't want to stop at the 4-mile mark, I didn't want to push it too hard in my first week, so I did. But not before closing it out with a little sprint because I felt so good and happy.

That may have been a mistake: my legs were sore and achy almost as soon as I got back home, and stayed that way throughout the night. I decided to back off a bit for a day or two, then try for another 4-miler -- without a closing sprint -- and see how it felt.