NaBloPoMo 2022- Jumping Right In!
It’s finally here! NationalBlogPostingMonth has begun. I’ll be joining San and many other bloggers in the challenge to post 30 blogs posts in the month of November. Check out San’s page for a list of participants! Recently, my thirteen-year-old daughter said “I feel like everyone else knows how to do everything, and I’m just pretending.” Well, ACTUALLY, I told her, almost everyone feels like that most of the time, and there’s even a name for it- Imposter Syndrome. According to Wikipedia, “Imposter syndrome is a psychological occurrence in which an individual doubts their skills, talents, or accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a fraud.” It’s an exaggeration to say I feel that way most of the time, of course- I don’t feel like an imposter when I’m driving, or cooking, or grocery shopping. But I definitely suffer from imposter syndrome at work. I’m a massage therapist, and usually give four or five massages a day. There are times when I get into a flow state, and am so focused that I don’t have any extraneous thoughts. And there are times where I genuinely feel like I can’t help someone, and recommend a different therapist. I have no problem with that. But a lot of the time I have those irrational thoughts: I’m not doing a good job, this person is unhappy with my massage, they were expecting something different, etc. The craziest thing is, I have it especially badly when someone actually PRAISES me. If someone says “That was the best massage ever! It was exactly what I wanted! I’m coming back again next week,” I’ll actually dread seeing them again. I’m afraid the next time they come, they’ll be disappointed. I might forget what kind of massage I gave them the first time, and they’ll realize they don’t like me after all. I know this makes no sense! I’ve gone to school for this, and I’ve been doing it for years. I’m not going to “forget” how to give a massage from one week to the next! I would love to know what causes this irrational fear of being discovered as a fraud- is it some kind of mental malfunction, like a phobia of spiders, or clowns? Or is it simply the result of an overactive mind, and not staying present? Last year at the end of October, when San mentioned NaBloPoMo, I had only been blogging a little over a year. I thought, “Sure, I’ll join! Why not?” I jumped in, and I guess you could say I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Once I got started it seemed like everyone else was much more experienced, and seemed like actual writers. I thought “What did I get myself into?” But I persevered, and I’m so glad I did. And I’m glad I didn’t overthink it before I started, or I wouldn’t have done it at all. Now that I’ve been blogging a little longer, I can appreciate that there are no rules for blogging. There are so many different subjects and styles- the blogging police won’t come and tell you you’re doing it wrong. You can post about something “important” or you can blog about your mug collection. It’s totally worth jumping in and seeing what you can do- why not? In a way, we’re all making it up as we go along. A huge thank you to San for organizing #NaBloPoMo again this year! It’s not too late to join us if you want to jump in as well. And as always, thanks for reading. I’m glad to be here.
Weekly Rundown- There Were Issues…
Well, never a dull moment around here! THIS week, I’ve been dealing dealing with a pain on my left side, around my ribcage. I was able to run but my strength workouts had to be modified. It’s not good, but definitely not the worst thing that’s happened. As usual, thanks to Kim and Deborah for hosting the Weekly Rundown. Let’s just see what happened… First, a flashback…. Let’s go back to Friday of the previous week. I did a Caroline Girvan Iron Series workout, which was posterior chain: back, glutes, and hamstrings. It was a great, hard workout. Nothing hurt during the workout but by Friday night and into Saturday, I had a pain under my ribs that got worse and worse. I can say with utmost confidence that this was caused by lifting a weight that was too heavy for me during that Friday workout. SIGH. Sunday But I can run! I ran from my house to the beach, which is 9 miles. When I started, the ribs really bothered me- it hurt to move that left arm back and forth. But after a few minutes I stopped noticing it, phew. This was an odd run- I really didn’t feel great for the first four miles or so, but then felt better and better. The second half was a great run. I dipped my feet in the ocean but didn’t go all the way in. I was just here a few weeks ago, but the water seemed dramatically colder already. I also hadn’t arranged for a change of clothes- my husband picked me up and I didn’t think he would appreciate me sitting in his car soaking wet. Monday Ah, now it gets tricky. Next up in the Iron Series was a full body workout. I previewed it, saw that it started with renegade rows, and knew there was no way. Having just run 9 miles, I also didn’t want to run or do any heavy leg work. So I did Marcia’s Cardio Barre Workout. This was just what I needed. The movements are bigger than Peloton barre classes- squats and lunges- but there are no weights, so it’s more gentle than regular strength classes. The last ten minutes are abs, which is nice. Tuesday 3 mile run followed by plyometrics. I’m approaching the plyos cautiously, but so far my foot is fine. Wednesday Okay, this is officially A Problem. Ribs are still sore (to clarify, I don’t think the problem is actually my ribs- it’s a muscle around that area.) There’s still no way I can do the full body workout, so I reluctantly skipped it and moved on to Day 15 of the Iron Series. Bummer. I was really feeling good about moving through the whole series, taking each class in order. Well, I’ll come back to Day 14, eventually. Day 15 was shoulders, and it was the first class I didn’t love. I mean, an entire class on shoulders… I don’t care about my shoulders THAT much. But I could do the whole thing without hurting my side, so it was the perfect class for today. It was also the perfect day to take this class, because it was a running day as well. After I dropped my daughter off, I continued on to a park with a trail where the local cross country teams hold their meets. This is a very pleasant, well-groomed trail. If you’re interested in trail running but think there are none around you, consider that the high schools probably have cross country teams, and they have to run somewhere. Quick side note- I have a new favorite podcast! After my post earlier in the week about refueling properly for hard workouts, Nicole told me about this podcast. First of all, awesome name for a podcast about menopause. This episode was great, and now I want to listen to more. Thursday I decided to continue on with the Iron Series- Day 16 was hamstrings, with lots of deadlifts. The only thing I had to modify was the staggered deadlift, where you’re doing most of the work with one leg, and Caroline has you holding the dumbbell in one hand. I absolutely could not do that on my left side, but it was okay if I held the dumbbell with both hands. Friday A 3 mile run that started in the dark (one more week till we turn the clocks back!) and ended in the daylight, followed by plyometrics. Earlier this week Jenn posted about Planksgiving.. The way she put it was “I’m also doing something called Planksgiving, which sounds absolutely terrible. Who wants to join?” Ha ha… well, I’m up for that challenge! I signed up, but then realized there’s no way I can do a side plank on my left side, and some of the other variations seem risky for me as well. So much for Planksgiving! We’ll just have to let Jenn tell us all about it. I can do a regular plank on my elbows, so I’ll join her in that every day. Saturday Rest day! Taking Saturdays as a rest day has really been working well for me. I get to sleep in a little, but then I go to work, so I don’t rest TOO much and end up feeling depressed for the rest of the day. While I was at work I assessed the rib situation. I can’t figure out if it’s getting better or if I’m just getting used to it. Definitely still hurts- but it’s not keeping me from doing the things I really want and need to do. Well, everything heals eventually… right? Sunday On tap for today… 10 mile trail run. I’m looking forward to it! Then watching the Dolphins and, well, I guess I better get some Halloween candy! We get lots of trick-or-treaters. Are you doing Planksgiving or any sort of challenge for November? Are you ready for Halloween? Is anyone running a Halloween-themed race?
October Runfessions- Garmin Edition
Ack! How is October almost over? This time of year goes so fast. I’m excited for November, but sad that two months of Pumpkin Palooza are almost gone. Thanks as always to Marcia for opening up her runfessional… this month I have some Garmin-fessions to share. Let’s get right into it! My Garmin and I have been having issues lately. You might remember a couple weeks ago when it suddenly informed me that I was stressed out and should consider breathing exercises (mind your own business!) Well, there have been more incidents since then. A few nights ago I was awakened by a buzzing on my wrist. I checked my Garmin and it was time to run! WHAT??? Somehow, I had hit the “run” button, the Garmin picked up the GPS signal (?) and then I hit it again to start the run. Was I dreaming about going for a run??? Needless to say, I was a little groggy- it took me a couple moments to stop the activity, which had me moving at 0 miles per hour, and then discard it. The whole thing was very confusing in the middle of the night, as you can imagine. I wear my Garmin at night because it’s my alarm, but now I’m rethinking that. Then there was yesterday. I was just finishing a run, and as my Garmin beeped for 4 miles I stopped and saved the activity. When I went back to check, I was informed that I had run 3.99 miles. WHAT. How in the world…??? Who wants to run 3.99 miles? I protest! HRUMPH. I wrote it down as “4” in my log. Meanwhile, my husband recently got the same Garmin I have (the Forerunner 55.) He told me that if he needs to, he can hit the “assistance” button and I’ll get a text notification that he needs help. Cool! Wait, why doesn’t my Garmin do that? Oh… it does. I just never set it up, but with the help of my husband, I now have that feature as well. When I asked my husband how he figured that out, he said “I READ THE INSTRUCTIONS.” Oh… those. There’s a small possibility that some of the snafus I’ve had with this watch are due to the fact that I never read the instructions. I just messed around with it until I knew how to make it do the basic things I wanted- wake me up in the morning and function as a GPS watch for my runs. Then a few weeks ago I messed around with it some more until I figured out how to set the run/walk intervals. Now I have the nagging feeling that I own an expensive watch and am taking advantage of about 1/10th of the things it has to offer. Well… I still own the instructions. One of these days I might read them- you never know! If you have a Garmin, do you use most of the features? Are there features on your Garmin you DON’T like? – Yes, I don’t like being told that I’m under too much stress.
Nourishing Ourselves (Yet Another Post About Body Image)
Yesterday I read two blog posts in a row about body image. The first was Janae, aka Hungry Runner Girl. She talked about the shift from her previous mindset of being at war with her body, to now trusting it and feeling safe. Immediately after that I read Nicole’s post, about how hard it is- after a lifetime of trying to make ourselves “smaller”- to embrace strength training and the resulting increase in muscle size. What’s up with all these body image posts? Steph left a comment that summed it up beautifully, and sadly: “Living in a woman’s body is never easy.“ For the past several weeks I’ve been doing Caroline Girvan’s Iron Series workouts on Youtube. These are very difficult- for me- strength training workouts, and I’ve been dealing with major DOMS. The soreness is intense and lasts for days. I’ve tried stretching, foam rolling, keeping active, getting a massage… finally I concluded that there was no avoiding it. And then… While my son is at school I use his room for my “home gym.” One morning as I finished my workout I noticed a bag of protein powder sitting on his desk. He got into weightlifting over the summer, and drank a protein shake on the days he worked out. There were just a few servings left in that bag, and I was saving it until he came home again. But on a whim, I put a couple scoops in a glass of water and drank it down. WELL. I had NO DOMS from that workout. The next day was a very intense glutes workout, and again I drank two scoops of the protein powder immediately following the workout. Again I had no soreness, so I did it again after my long run on Sunday. Previously, I had been working out fasted, and then waiting 60-90 minutes after working out before eating breakfast Not on purpose- it’s just the way my schedule worked out on most days. Who knew that fueling properly could have such a positive affect? DUH. EVERYONE KNOWS THAT, including myself. So why was I basically starving myself before and after my workouts? I think it’s from a deeply ingrained belief- from my teen years- that the purpose of exercise is to create a calorie deficit. I wasn’t thinking about that consciously, but it’s not my first instinct to eat more. I definitely eat (eventually) but I secretly enjoyed that depleted feeling after a hard workout, and didn’t rush to fill the emptiness. After all these years, there’s still a part of me that wants to be smaller. But I’m turning over a new leaf! I’ve ordered more of the protein powder- I just got the same kind my son had, which is called UpNourish. Yes, I’m going to nourish my body instead of depleting it. I have no idea why this is so hard for me, but I’m excited to try something new. I’m linking with Kim and Zenaida for their Tuesday Topics. Thanks ladies! Do you eat breakfast before you exercise?- Rarely. Before a longer run I’ll eat a little fruit because it digests quickly. Are you conscientious about fueling soon after a workout? – I am now!