TMI Time… aka February Runfessions
Hello there! It’s the last Friday of the month, so Marcia is opening up her “runfessional.” As always I have plenty to runfess! I believe every good runfession should include a “digestive issue…” I know you’re excited. Let’s get started! In last week’s weekly rundown, I reported that I ran four times, ending the week with a “long-ish” seven mile run. What I didn’t mention was that all those runs felt unusually hard. Nothing hurt, but it took more than the normal effort to get those “easy” runs done. During the seven mile run I kept telling myself to slow down, but no matter how slowly I ran it felt hard. About halfway through I stopped at a water fountain for a drink, and I could feel my heart hammering in my chest. I thought “that seems awfully fast” but then finished the run. It wasn’t until later in the day that I thought to check my heart rate for that run, and it was 165- which is CRAZY HIGH. My heart rate is usually around 130, and will get up to around 150 if I do speedwork. I’ve never seen it at 165. Now, granted- I’m getting this data from my Garmin which possibly isn’t the most accurate measure (a wrist measurement isn’t as accurate as a chest strap would be.) But given my perceived effort level, it did seem likely that my heard rate was up there. I looked back at the data from my previous runs during the week, and sure enough- my heart rate was elevated for those as well. Not up to 165, but around 150 which is high for a slow, easy run. ARG! The first thing I did was TAKE A DAY OFF. Back in the good old days, when I was doing long runs on Sundays, I always took Monday off completely. Then I started sneaking in a Monday yoga class, and then a couple other things… a quick core class, maybe some pushups or pull-ups…and I can’t actually remember the last time I had a rest day.. So I took Monday off completely. Not only did I not exercise, but since my daughter had the day off from school I was able to sleep an hour later, AND when I got home from work, I took a nap. I really rested on that rest day. I’m sure the rest helped, but then I read this article on why you may have an elevated heart rate on easy runs, and the one reason that jumped out at me was… dehydration. Remember when I had Covid on Christmas Day? Ever since then my digestive system has been having some challenges. My doctor said it’s normal, because when the coronavirus gets into your gut it can wreak havoc, and it takes some time but will eventually resolve itself. Without going into too much detail, I’ve been aware that this situation could be dehydrating. I’ve been drinking extra fluids and doubling up on my LMNT, but maybe it’s not enough. SHEESH. What in the world is going to happen next? It just seems to be one thing after another these days. But I guess most people feel like that… it’s called “Life.” Still, I wish Life would be a little more like running down a beautiful trail on a sunny day, as opposed to hacking my way through the dense jungle with a machete. But! All we can do is muddle through, right? This too shall pass…. and all that. I’m sure we all have some runfessions this month. Let’s all share over a large glass of LMNT! Or your electrolyte replacement beverage of choice. Do you pay attention to your heart rate when you run? – I probably wouldn’t have checked it if I didn’t suspect something was off. If you had Covid, did it affect your digestion?
It’s Twos-day!
It’s 2/22/22! How exciting… well, to be honest it’s not really that exciting. I’m not doing anything special to commemorate “twos-day.” Usually I can rally for minor holidays, but this time I’ve got nothing. I wish I could run 22 miles, but that’s not happening right now, and running two miles wouldn’t be very special. I was better at this when my kids were little- green dinners on St Patrick’s Day, half cakes on their half-birthdays, pumpkin pancakes on the first day of fall- but now my son is in college and I’m pretty sure if I tried to do anything “two-ish” for 2/22/22 my thirteen-year-old daughter would roll her eyes vigorously. However, hoping to get some inspiration, I did ask my daughter what the number two reminds her of. When she was younger we believe she had synesthesia, which this article describes as “a neurological condition that causes certain stimuli to trigger more than one sense.” If someone with synesthesia sees a yellow rubber duck, the visual part of their brain may say “yellow’”while simultaneously the taste part of their brain could say “chocolate cake.” There doesn’t have to be any logical connection between the two, but for them, yellow and chocolate will always be linked. “Macaroni” makes my daughter think of the number twelve, a clock makes her think of the color silver, and on and on. She says it doesn’t happen to her very much any more, but those connections that were originally made stay with her. Sometimes I wonder if it wasn’t synesthesia at all, but rather a very active imagination. Or maybe all kids have some synesthesia, and eventually grow out of it. Or, maybe she still has it, but just doesn’t say any of it out loud because “normal people don’t talk like that.” It breaks my heart that my exuberant little girl, who wanted to wear her Halloween costume 365 days a year, covered everything in glitter, and insisted on going to preschool dressed as a flower… now wears plain black and gray t-shirts and is intent on blending in with her surroundings. I know thirteen is a hard age- but why does growing up have to mean abandoning everything that made her unique? I hope it’s a phase, and she’ll emerge with her own, strong personality again when she gets a little older. Oh, and her response when I asked her what the number two reminds her of? “A very light, white-ish blue.” Okay! In her blog post today, Janae of Hungry Runner Girl mentioned that they’re more than halfway through their time of having the older kids living at home. I remember when my son was nine, thinking “it’s halfway over!” and then, mere moments later, it was 100% over and he was off to college. It was so hard for me to see him go, but we’ve all adjusted and are enjoying this new situation. He was home for Thanksgiving, then Christmas, and then in two weeks he’ll be home AGAIN for spring break. I was telling a friend how excited I am to see him again and she said “Yes, you really see them a lot in this phase- it’s a good transition.” Wait. What? Then I understood that this is the transition between him living at home all the time, and eventually having a home and family of his own. It made me sad all over again, but also determined to appreciate this time. I don’t want to waste any time being sad that he’s in college, because someday I’ll look back and long for this phase, when he still comes home to our home. Kids! Why doesn’t anyone tell you it’s going to be this hard? I thought the toddler phase was hard, but that was nothing compared to all this. Look at that- I ended up writing about my two kids for “twos-day.” I also have two cats and two guinea pigs- but we’ll save that for another post. In the meantime, put on your favorite light white-ish blue attire and celebrate the day! Do you celebrate minor holidays? Are you doing anything special for 2/22/22?
Weekly Rundown- Runs and Fun
Hello, and welcome to my weekly rundown of workouts, Olympics watching and… a fun blogger meetup! Thanks as always to our fearless leaders Kim and Deborah for hosting. I talked about my process goals here, and this week the plan was to run four times, do three yoga classes, two lower body strength classes, pull-up work three times, and I did the first week of the Peloton Crush Your Core 2 challenge, which Deborah talked about in this post. Let’s just see how it all worked out! Monday I started the week with the first Crush Your Core class. The first week of the program has four classes, and they’re all short, so it’s easy to add it onto whatever else you’re doing. I followed that with a 30 minute yoga flow with Denis Morton (also a Peloton class) and pull-ups. Once again to clarify- I can’t actually do pull-ups (YET!) but I’m doing work on the pull-up bar to (hopefully) get me strong enough to do unassisted pull-ups someday. Tuesday First, I did the second core class from the Crush Your Core challenge, and then… I met Darlene! Darlene ran a half marathon in Melbourne, FL two days prior, but she wasn’t sore at all and was up for a run. As a matter of fact I think “Always Up For a Run” is Darlene’s motto in life. I picked her up from her friend’s where she was staying, and she was wearing a shirt that said “Train, Racecation, Repeat.” We went to the beach for a three mile run. After the run we walked and chatted- it was a warm day, but very windy (I swear, there’s always something wrong with the weather when someone visits!) It was short but sweet, as Darlene flew back to New York that afternoon. Later in the day I did a Peloton glutes and legs strength class with Jess Sims, and then a glutes and legs stretch with Chase. Fun day! Wednesday For the first time since the beginning of January, I broke my every-other-day run schedule, and ran again. Just a short three miles! Later in the afternoon I did a 30 minute yoga flow class with my Peloton bff, Denis Morton. Thursday Started the day with core class #3, then did another glutes and legs strength class, and then did my pull-up work. Phew! It all took less than an hour, but it felt like a big day of strength for me. A quick word- the bloom is off the rose with Jess Sims. Well, I like everything about her classes except for her perky comments. No, Jess, I don’t want to do an “adorable” warmup- I want to warm up like an adult woman. On the other hand, I’m really liking Emma Lovewell’s core classes. I guess her personality just gels more with mine. Friday Core class #4 and then another three mile run. Saturday I did a 30 minute yoga flow and pull-ups, to complete all my “extra” activities for the week, leaving Sunday to just run- the way I like it! Sunday I purposely kept my other runs short this week because I knew I wanted to run longer today. My only running goal right now (other than to not aggravate my foot) is to be able to do a nice long run- ten miles?- on my birthday, coming up in March. Last week my “long” run was six miles, and today I went seven. Seven miles! That’s pretty long… right? One last thing- I’ve been THOROUGHLY enjoying the Olympics! I can’t remember ever liking the Winter Olympics this much. But they’re ending today, and now what am I supposed to do? No more football, no more Olympics… I’m not happy about this. I’ve never been into basketball, but I’m thinking I should try this year. Baylor has a pretty good team! I hope everyone had a great week! Did you like the Olympics? Any suggestions for something to fill the sports void now? Does the personality of the instructor make a big difference to you when you take a class?
Avoiding the Pelo-trap
Last month, Chris McClung talked about goal setting in this episode of the Running Rogue podcast. His big goal is a marathon PR, but he’s focusing on the process goals, the things he’s doing every week to help him in his PR quest. As he said, “If you focus on the process and the inputs, then the outcome will take care of itself.” Every week in his bullet journal, Chris lists the things he needs to do to take his running to the next level: strength training, mobility exercises, strides, drills. and then he checks each one off as he completes them. Without realizing it- or maybe I was subconsciously influenced by Chris- I’ve been doing something similar with my weekly goals. I don’t have a specific “outcome” goal right now, other than to get my running back to a level where I can run longer and start doing speedwork again. In order to get to that point, I write down my “process goals” for the week- I’ve found it helpful to be very specific. Instead of vaguely planning to do strength training, here’s what this week looks like: “Yoga 3x, lower body strength 2x, Peloton Crush Your Core Challenge (four core classes), pull-up work 3x, stretch class 2x.” In order for this to work, these have to be the correct process goals to get me where I want to be. After I listened to the podcast episode for the second time, I’m adding some specific ankle and foot mobility work to the weekly goals, and it’s likely I’ll change them again as time goes on. BUT. This week I almost got lured into the Peloton Trap, or as I like to call it… the “Pelo-trap.” I found myself considering taking a Peloton upper body strength class instead of doing my pull-up work. There’s a nagging feeling that the pull-up sessions somehow don’t count, because I’m not getting Peloton credit for them. There’s something addictive about getting that blue circle for the day. I had to stop and remind myself WHY I’m working on pull-ups. It’s not to show off at the gym (that would be hard, since I’m doing pull-ups in my garage) and I’m not going to get a blue circle or a badge. To refresh my memory, I watched this video about why pull-ups are good for runners. Oh yeah… they strengthen the muscles in your back to help your posture. The latissimus dorsi muscle originates in the low back and can help stabilize your core. When Janae from Hungry Runner Girl was training for the marathon where she set her (incredibly fast) PR, her coach was having her do one, and only one, exercise for strength: pull-ups. Some people love Peloton, and you really can be in incredible shape doing nothing but Peloton classes. But I have to remember my true goal, the thing I really love and want to do more than anything: run. The Peloton classes are tools for me, but I have to remember to use them wisely. I don’t do any of the Peloton running classes, because I don’t think it would be helpful to have someone who doesn’t know me and is not my coach, guiding me through a workout. So I’ll have to settle for a smattering of blue dots throughout my month, knowing that I actually worked out (in some way) every day. Is Peloton part of your training program? How big a part? Do you ever fall into the Pelo-trap?