Recipe

This is my recipe for quads so sore that walking down the stairs has turned into a hobble down the stairs with always a brief thought of "could I just slide down the banister?".

Ingredient list:
1 triathelte training for her first HIM
1 PT
2 crossfit sessions
2 bike rides
2 runs
And a WHOLE lotta Delayed onset muscle soreness.

Goal: How to achieve rediculous level of soreness. This is a day by day approach. Proceed with increasing stupidity.

Day 1: go for hilly bike ride where keeping up doesn't seem to be option. Fully embrace the fact that that by the last 5 miles the lactic acid in the quads inhibits any increase in speed.

Day 2: be amazingly surprised that lactic acid that filled quads did not make them sore, but only heavy. Add 8 miles of running. Sprinkle in a little frustration at the fact that hip injury is inhibiting the speed of the run, but overall the run felt good. Aerobically super. Notice legs are somewhat 'heavy' but really not a problem.

Day 3. Go to PT. Have PT inflict various amounts of pain in hip...boarder line where eyes roll in back of head, desire to throw up/black out does seem to loom on the horizon and the curious question of "I think he left his finger prints on my hip". ET suddenly becomes a role model...OWWWCHHHHH.

From PT go to crossfit to discover the following horrors.
Back squat 85% in 5-5-5. Move from 85lbs previously up to 95lbs. (Still don't know what my back squat 'max' is.)

Followed by 3 rounds of:
35 Box jumps (only can jump on 12" box...not prescribed 24"...laugh at self because of inability to jump)
25 Wall ball squats...squat ONTO medicine ball and when coming UP throw 10lb ball up on wall.
15 Knees to elbows...hang on bar and pull your knees to elbows or pathetically try as my case may be.

Day 4 wake up...don't feel too bad...think "hey i'm getting in shape!" By 2 PM the stiffness sets in...and I KNOW I have DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness). By end of day, walking down stairs is a challenge.

Day 5...like an idiot...proceed back to crossfit as Day 4 inadvertently became a rest day. Getting out of bed is a chore. Crossfit is a powerlift day with what again...but back squats. Quads so sore that have to go down to 85lbs and this is more of a struggle than two days ago at the higher weight. Again 5-5-5. Then onto deadlifting. Just 5 reps one set...so the goal...find the max I can lift 5 times. Last time I lifted 125lbs. I was told to try to hit 140. We accidentally loaded so that I had a total of 145lbs. Quads unhappy with this (even though they aren't the main recruiting muscle group). Other crossfitter comments: "You did that like it was nothing. " Um...that freaking hurt, was my thought. But apparently I didn't 'struggle' enough. Note: add more weight next time. We did a few other ridiculous core things...L-sits and rocking hallows things...hard to do and hard to explain.

Evening workout...head to bike workout where drills are being done...sprinting, spinning, riding out of the saddle...SINGLE leg drills. 3 loops of 4 miles. Circle until quads protest...wait...i mean just circle until done. Quads protest while ride.

Day 6 Mix in a 4 mile run. Continue to ignore complaints from quads. Run...somewhat pathetic but happy I achieved all 4 miles. That was a mental struggle in itself.

Result...TRASHED quads.

So, I've become friends with Aleve which doesn't actually seem to do anything...Aspercream is my friend as well as biofreeze...which just makes me smell like a cough drop. Its been a rough week on the training front, but pretty good all the same. I'm going through that beginning phase of any training program for a distance i've never done where I have the thoughts of :WHAT was I thinking???

Other notes:

On a bummer note...I had thought I was going to do the La Jolla half mary, but with this hip injury I had put off signing up and had planned to sign up after this weekend when I ran 10 miles and didn't self distruct...sadly it is all sold out now :-( I need to find another race to do.

On a FUN note...I am volunteering at Oceanside 70.3 next weekend on the 22nd. I'm pretty excited. I will be somewhere on the run segment all day. I'll cheer, ring a cow bell, hand out water/gatorade, sweep up cups...and other things too.