February Coffee Date- A Wintry Mix
Happy February! I’m joining Coco and Deborah once again for our monthly coffee date. I’m drinking my usual earl grey tea out of my Baylor mom mug, because I’ve been missing my Bear lately. Speaking of which… If we were having coffee together, I would tell you that it snowed in Texas! This was an event for my son, who, at the age of 19, had never seen snow before. I know… how is that even possible??? Well, he was born and raised here in South Florida. Of course we tried many times to see snow, but it seemed that we were somehow cursed. Every time we went up north in the winter, we were preceded by an unexplained warm front, which would melt all the snow shortly before our arrival. One year we went up to Chicago for Christmas. The snow they had all melted the day before we arrived, and then the next time it snowed was… when we were on the airplane, waiting to take off to fly back to Florida. We sat on the runway, looking through the window at fluffy white snowflakes falling. Eventually we stopped trying to “see snow” because it just led to disappointment. When my son went to Baylor this year, he was hopeful about the possibility of snow in the winter. Yesterday they had a storm warning, predicting a “wintry mix” of freezing rain, turning to sleet, and finally turning to… It wasn’t a lot, but still pretty exciting for a Florida kid. On the other end of the spectrum, summer has returned to South Florida. It was 80 degrees here today, and we’re back to tank top running weather. We have our AC on at night again, which leads me to my “sleep epiphany.” During our recent cold spell, we slept with the windows open, and I slept soundly every night. I need it COLD for sleeping! When it’s warm out, we put our AC on 68 at night and it’s still not cool enough for me. I don’t think we can put it much lower without the AC unit- and our electric bill- exploding. So, I continue to struggle with sleep and I’m really not sure what to do about it. Possibly a fan trained only on me? (My husband doesn’t want it as cold as I do.) Anyone have any ideas for me? Moving on, I read an interesting and varied quartet of books in January: The House in the Cerulean Sea was recommended by Stephany, and was a bit of a stretch for me because I don’t normally read fantasy. But I liked it! Now I’m back to my first love- mysteries. I’m reading Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke. It was described as a “fair-play” mystery, i.e. the reader is given all the information they need to solve the crime themselves as the book goes on. I love this type of book. However, one thing about this particular book is shocking to me- the racism in the small Texas town where the story takes place. If I didn’t know better, I would place the story in the 1960s- but right at the beginning the author specifies the year is 2016, probably for people like me who are unaware of what’s still going on in the rural south. The author is a Black woman who grew up in Texas, so although the story is fictional, I assume the situation she describes is accurate. One last thing- is anyone else still struggling to comprehend that the Olympics has begun? Opening ceremony is tonight but several events have already started. Maybe I’ve just been distracted, but this seems like the most low-key buildup to any Olympics, ever. So that’s it for this coffee date! What are you reading now? Do you sleep better in the cold? Does temperature make a big difference for you? Do you like snow?
“Goals” vs. “Plans”
It’s February! New month, new goals, right? But first, let’s look back on my January goals. Fitness-wise, I wanted to run every other day, do three yoga classes a week, and add some running-specific strength work twice a week. My other goals were to read four books for the month of January, and address my sleep issues by getting in bed eight hours before my wake-up time. As I was reviewing these goals, one thought came to mind… Seriously? Those were my January goals? I’m not putting myself down, because I had just recovered from Covid and was getting over the post-Christmas blues. But I would say I went pretty easy on myself. Let’s start with the fitness goals. I really don’t need to set a goal in order to get myself to run. I love running, and would run every day if I could. Setting a “goal” to run is like setting a goal to eat- it’s going to happen anyway. Moving on- yoga three times a week is pretty easy considering I do it in the comfort of my own home, using the Peloton app. Adding in two days of strength was an admirable goal, but easily achievable. The sleep goal I didn’t even do (although I did have a sleep epiphany- more about that coming up on Friday!) and reading four book a month is not that hard. Yep- those were pretty soft goals. Was that bad? For where I was- no, it wasn’t bad. I guess I needed some easy goals that I could achieve and come out of the month feeling good about. But it made me think about goal setting in general. Chris McClung, host of the Running Rogue podcast, always says if you’re scared before a race, it means your goals are big enough. None of my January goals were big enough to scare me. The last time a goal scared me was when I participated in NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) where I committed to publishing thirty blog posts for the thirty days of November. I literally woke up on October 31st saying “ACK!!! WHAT did I say I would do???” I couldn’t fathom how I was going to post every single day. But I started, somehow kept going, and finished the month with thirty blog posts- and it was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had in a long time. That same month, I committed to doing a yoga class every single day. That goal was a little easier, but I still had to work on some days to fit that class in. Again, it taught me so much- mainly, what a vast, deep practice yoga is, and how I’m still at the very beginning. At the end of the month of classes every day I was just starting to understand what yoga is about. Right now my “goals” are more like plans. For this week I’ve written down “Run M-W-F-Sun, do three yoga classes, pushups or pull-ups 5x, finish The House in the Cerulean Sea.” A plan is an intention, a method for getting through the week. On the other hand, one definition of goal is “an aim or objective that you work toward with effort and determination.” Goals require effort and determination because they’re meant to stretch you. A big goal is something you believe you can accomplish, but you’re not entirely sure. That’s why it’s scary. So why set big goals at all? It’s not for the outcome, which is unsure, but for the process. When I achieved my goals of blogging and doing yoga every day for the month of November, I didn’t become a professional blogger or win some kind of yoga award. But being immersed in those projects made every day seem richer and fuller. Having that sense of purpose made the month more fun. Isn’t that what life is all about, anyway? Right now I still have my plans for this week written in my planner. But I’m thinking about setting some new big goals to spice things up a bit. I don’t want to “plan” through this month- I want to enrich my life with a goal that’s a little scary. Stay tuned- I’m mulling over some ideas. Big goals are coming! What about you? Do you have any big goals for the week, month, or year? Or would you say it’s enough right now to have plans to get you through each week? – Sometimes getting through is all you can do!
Uitwaaien, David Goggins and The Central Park Shorts Guy
Hello from chilly Florida! I know “chilly” is a relative term, but we’ll get to that in a minute. I’m linking up as usual with Kim and Deborah for this weekly rundown. It was a good week, ending with an awesome run! Let’s get started. Monday Keeping on my (for now) every-other-day running schedule, this was a Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday week. So I started this Monday with a power yoga class on the Peloton app with my buddy (he doesn’t know we’re buddies) Denis Morton. I had an exciting breakthrough where I finally, FINALLY was able to get my body rotated to do a proper half moon pose, which I had been struggling with for months. I followed this victorious yoga class with work on the pull-up bar. Notice I don’t say “I did pull-ups.” Still working up to that! I mostly hung from the bar and did sets of “pre-pull-ups” where you raise yourself a few inches only by retracting your scapula- you don’t bend your arms at all. This gets the correct muscles (lats) activated. Even this was tiring for me. Boy, am I weak. Not for long though! Tuesday A three mile run! Later in the day I did my “ten down” pushups workout. You do a set of ten, set of nine, set of eight, etc. One thing I came away with from Living With a Seal is that pushups can be done just about anywhere, anytime. No reason not to throw in a mini-workout while I made dinner. Wednesday One of my goals for this week was to do a new-to-me Peloton strength workout, so I did Jess Sims 30 Minute Glutes and Legs Strength. I liked it! So far I’m liking the regular strength classes better than the strength for runners classes. Followed this with a 30 minute yoga flow, because I had to practice those half moon poses! This was the David Bowie flow, but the real reason I chose it is the picture shows Denis in half moon. Thursday 4 mile run! Interestingly, My entire body was sore today. My legs were sore from the strength work and my neck was sore from… sleeping the wrong way? It was really bad, one of those situation where you have to turn your whole body in order to look sideways. Running was fine, but I didn’t do any other workouts this day. Friday Started the day with a 30 minute slow flow yoga class, chosen once again because the picture showed Denis in half moon. I also chose a slow flow in the hopes that it would help my neck. I’m not sure if it helped, but it definitely didn’t make it worse. I got out the pull-up bar again, and this time did some assisted pull-up with a band. Ouch, ouch, ouch. Why are pull-ups SO FRICKIN’ HARD??? Saturday We had been warned all week that a big cold front was coming our way, with temperatures down to the 40s this morning. No problemo! I got up early to get my run in before work. As I was getting ready I heard a strange… roaring sound? What in the world? I realized it was the wind, and checked the weather to find that we had this alert: I’m just imagining the thought process behind this- “These people won’t know what to do! We have to tell them about hats and gloves!” Well, 40s is already hat and glove weather for me. I hadn’t been counting on the wind though, so I doubled up on my top layer. Off I went! My first mile was AWESOME! I felt like I was flying effortlessly! Ha ha… the wind was directly at my back. Well, we all know how that goes. Let’s just say that I experienced some major uitwaaien and, for the record, David Goggins would have approved. I tried and failed to take a picture at the beginning of the run. It was so windy I couldn’t prop my phone up. Here’s the end though… So, (you may be thinking) if it was so cold, what’s up with the shorts? Well… I lived in New York City in the 90s. Boy, those were the good old days. There were literally races every single weekend, and I raced a lot. One winter I raced every other weekend (they weren’t that expensive, either) and no matter how cold it was, there would always be some guy wearing shorts. Some weeks I would think, “well, it’s twenty below. No way will anyone be wearing shorts TODAY!” But, yes- there was always someone. I’m not actually sure if it was the same guy or not- more likely it was a handful of guys who were doing it. But I always think of him as the Central Park Shorts Guy. When I first moved to Florida, I would wear tights on “chilly” running days until I realized- I hate wearing tights, and it really doesn’t get cold enough here to require it. So I’m carrying on a Florida version of the tradition and wearing shorts no matter what, a la Central Park Guy. This was a fun and invigorating five mile run, and I loved it! I saw one other runner out and I noticed he was dressed similar to me- long sleeves, hat and gloves, shorts, and he had a hydration vest so I figured he was doing a long run. As we passed each other he said “Beautiful day, huh?” “Yep!” Ah… I love runners. When I got home, my husband was just getting ready for his run… in shorts and T-shirt. He asked me about the weather and I told him it was cold. He said “Oh! Should I wear a hat?” Yes! And gloves. Sheesh- someone didn’t read the weather alert. Later in the day I did a 20 minute Peloton glutes and legs class with Jess Sims, and then my ten down pushups routine. Sunday It got down to 37 degrees overnight, and I stayed warm and snuggled in
January Runfessions
You wouldn’t think I’d have much to “runfess,” with the minimal amount of miles I’ve been running. But have no fear! I can think of a few things to get off my chest. I’m joining Marcia in her monthly “runfessional.” Let’s just see what’s been going on this month… It has been COLD here lately. By “cold,” I mean “Florida-cold.” South Florida cold. Usually we consider it cold if the overnight temperatures get down into the 50s. This past week we got down to the 40s a couple times, and we actually have a freeze warning for overnight Saturday going into Sunday morning, where temperatures could get down to 32 degrees. Seriously… that’s really cold. We’re not set up for that kind of weather. In between cold fronts we had a couple warm days again, and I was happy to run in a tank top today: So, I’ll runfess… it’s kind of fun for a couple days when the temperatures dip down, but I don’t like being cold. That’s why I moved to Florida! Remind me of this next time I complain about the heat. So, how about that chilly Sunday morning? I runfess that I’ll be enjoying it from the comfort of my bed, where I’ll be snuggled under a warm quilt. While I’m rehabbing my foot, I’m running every other day. That means every other week I’m only running Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. At first I didn’t like that, because I’m so used to doing a long run on Sundays. But then… I realized that every other Sunday I can sleep late. Sunday is the only day of the week where no one has to be up for school or work (I work on Saturdays) but typically I get up even earlier than normal on Sundays to do my run. That’s my ideal way to spend a Sunday morning- out on a long run. But, I’ll runfess that it’s an unexpected pleasure to sleep late. After years of “mom-hood” where sleeping late is never an option, it feels like a luxury. Eventually on Sunday I’ll do a yoga or strength class, but there’s no reason to get up early for that. And at some point (hopefully sooner rather than later) I’ll be back to my Sunday long runs, but for now I’ll appreciate my lazy every-other-Sundays. Lastly, I’ll runfess that I would make a lousy Navy SEAL. After reading Living With a Seal, where Jesse Itzler describes what it’s like living and training with David Goggins for a month, I decided to up my strength game. I added extra pushups to my routine, and a 30 minute Peloton glutes and legs class.. Yes! I’m just as tough as Goggins! Except, today my legs are sore and my neck is all jacked up (not sure how that happened, but possibly from sleeping in a bad position.) I went for my run this morning but skipped any other strength work. Goggins would not approve, nor would he approve of sleeping late on Sunday and complaining about the weather when it’s 32 degrees. Yes, I’m not quite ready for SEAL training but then, I don’t think the Navy SEALS are accepting 55-year-old women into their program anyway. So it all works out. So that’s it! Do you have any sleeping late, weather-related runfessions? How about a strength-fession? You can admit it… we’re all friends here.