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.
Living With a Seal, But First… An Apology
First things first! I apologize to anyone visiting Florida right now. I feel personally responsible for our weather, and it has been COLD!!! Down to the 40s at night… and that’s here in South Florida. I can’t imagine what it’s like in northern Florida… they’re probably getting out their parkas. Last night I thought, “I don’t want to run in 40 degree weather. I’ll do my run later in the day.” Then I thought about the book I’m reading, Living With a Seal, where Jesse Itzler has a Navy SEAL come live with him for a month to train him. He refers to the SEAL in the book as “SEAL” but we now know it was David Goggins. I imagined what David Goggins would say if I told him I didn’t want to run when it’s 46 degrees. He would probably swear at me and tell me to get my shorts on. So… I ran, and was glad I did it. But I am reminded why I live in Florida… I don’t like being cold! Looking at the forecast, it’s going to warm up a little… But what in the world is that low temperature on Sunday?????? Once again… I apologize to anyone visiting the Sunshine State this week. I’m about 3/4 of the way through Living With a Seal, and my main takeaway is that I don’t push myself hard enough. I think that would be anyone’s takeaway from this book. On the first day “SEAL” came to live with Jesse, they went to the gym and SEAL told Jesse to do pull-ups. Jesse pushed himself as hard as he could and did seventeen, which is more than he ever thought he could do. Then SEAL told him they weren’t leaving the gym until Jesse completed 100. Although Jesse believed it was impossible, an hour and a half later he did indeed complete 100 pull-ups. That’s the lesson on Day #1 and is the theme of the book- your body is capable of much, much more than you think. When your mind is telling you you’re done, you’re really only about 40% done. While I believe that most of us could be pushing ourselves harder, I have mixed feelings about this message. David Goggins is the guy who completed an ultramarathon with broken bones in his feet. When Jesse complains of being sore, or needing to rest, Goggins says “If you want to be pushed to your limits, you have to train to your limits. If you get hurt, you will recover.” Well… true. However! I don’t know about him, but I don’t heal instantaneously. Taking time off for being injured is no fun, and- guess what- you’ll lose fitness while you’re on your forced time off for injury. So I don’t think I’m quite ready for Navy SEAL training, but I do see that there’s something in between. About seven years ago, I worked with a trainer at my gym. I had a running injury- what a surprise, and interestingly it was to my right foot, not my left foot which I have now- and I figured I would go all in on strength training while it healed. My trainer wasn’t quite as strict as a Navy SEAL, but close. He pushed me way, way farther than I ever would have pushed myself. I would be shaking by the end of his workouts. Guess what? I got so much stronger. He actually called me one of his greatest success stories because I made so much progress with him. After seven months though I was back to running, and figured I could continue to strength work on my own. Honestly we didn’t have the same goals. He thought I did “too much cardio” and didn’t really get the whole running thing, so it was time for us to part ways. But I miss those intense workouts, which I’ve never been able to duplicate on my own. So let’s see. I won’t be having a Navy SEAL move in with me, but I realize how much harder I could be pushing myself. Running will always be my love, but I need to stop being a wimp with my strength training. Yep, I’ve been a wimp, and I have all sorts of excuses. No more excuses! It’s time to get stronger. Do you like strength training? Do you feel like you’re pushing yourself as hard as you could be? Have you ever worked with a trainer? Do you now? How do you like it?
Weekly Rundown- New Planner, New Plans
I don’t know about you, but I’m still feeling the “freshness’ of a new year. I’m trying out a new system- instead of keeping a log of my workouts in one place, and using a different planner for everything else, I’m keeping it all in one planner. The new planner is bigger than what I’m used to, with full-size 9×11 pages and a two-page spread for each week. There’s room to write down goals for each week at the top, and then plenty of room in each day to record my workouts, plus any other appointments or events I need to know about. Writing out the goals for each week has been really helpful so far. Last weeks goals included “Run M-W-F-S, try a new yoga class, try a new Peloton strength class, trail run 1-2 times, finish I Let You Go, and sleep for eight hours a night.” Ahem. Let’s ignore that last one for a moment. All the other goals were achieved! Somehow, having it written down pushed me to try the new yoga and strength class, which I probably wouldn’t have done otherwise. I’m linking with Kim and Deborah for this weekly rundown. Here’s how the week went! Monday Three mile run. All my runs this week were preceded by banded squats and lateral squat walks, and I feel like it’s really helping to get my glutes activated. Tuesday I did a 45 minute yoga flow class with my favorite instructor, Denis Morton, on the Peloton app. I was starting to wonder if there were other yoga classes out there that I might like- maybe i’m limiting myself too much by doing Denis’s classes all the time. WELL! Keep reading to find a partial answer to that question… Wednesday I started the day with a new and different (to me) Peloton strength class. I tried a regular class, not strength for runners- it was a 20 minute glutes and leg strength with Daniel. I liked it, although I had to modify parts (I don’t do plyometrics with my “difficult” foot.) It was good to do something different- there were reverse lunges in this class which I haven’t done in a while. THEN! I got out to the trail for a run, yay!!! In order to get in a little more distance, I walked a mile and then ran four miles. During that early one mile walk, I saw a creature on the trail ahead of me. It could have been a large dog? Or a small deer? But… I’ve encountered these before, so I was pretty sure it was a pig. Yes, Florida is so weird- we have wild pigs. It looks like I’m closer to this guy than I really was (I had my camera zoomed in all the way.) Any wild animal could be dangerous, so I approached slowly and cautiously. He was snuffling around in the dirt and didn’t hear me at first, but he suddenly became aware of me and ran off into the woods. I was sorry to have scared him, but happy to have the path clear. Thursday I was a little sore today! No doubt from the strength class, but I think it was also from the trail run. I was sore in weird places like my calves and quads, which I usually don’t feel after a strength class. My trail run included some “Florida hills” (aka “slopes”) and maybe that did it- my usual routes are so flat. Today I tried a new yoga class- I’ve heard people talk about Yoga With Adriene on YouTube and decided to check it out. Well… It definitely wasn’t what I’m used to. Granted, this is the only one of Adriene’s classes that I’m taken, so maybe they’re all different. But this was a lot of gentle stretching. Now, I don’t deny that I need it! But… I like Denis’s class. I like how in addition to stretches, there are strength elements, and his flow gets my heart rate up and blood flowing. Live and learn! After yoga, I did some upper body strength! Yes, I did! Not only pushups, but also rows, and I even got out my pull-up bar. A couple weeks ago, Wendy talked about working towards a strict pull-up. I don’t think I have a goal anymore of doing an unassisted pull-up (that just leads to disappointment.) But I agree with Wendy that at least working at it makes my back stronger- a stronger back is a good goal. Friday Three mile run, preceded as usual by banded squats and lateral squat walks. Saturday Ah! Back to a Denis Morton yoga class. This was a 45 minute class, and I had an even deeper appreciation for him. Thank you, Denis. Sunday So how’s that foot doing, anyway? Well… it’s better. Getting out of bed in the morning is much, much easier. And it feels fine while I’m running. But as the day goes on it starts to ache. I think it’s the universe’s way of saying “Not so fast, young butterfly! Don’t get carried away with that running mileage!” Duly noted, Universe. I ran four miles today. I would like to be doing a long run, but I’m happy to be running four miles. I threw Lisa’s fartlek ladder workout into this run, and it was fun! And now… time to make waffles. I mean, obviously- it’s Sunday, right? Did you do any new workouts this week? Do you like trying new classes or do you like to stick to the same ones?
January Joy- Getting Unstuck
‘To miss the joy is to miss all.” -Robert Louis Stevenson I have to admit, I got a little “stuck” at the end of December and beginning of January. It was hard for me to move on after the holidays, knowing that my son would be leaving to go back to school. After all the excitement, everyday life seemed kind of… blah. I’m so glad I got past that! Yes, the holidays are over. All the decorations are gone, and my son is gone too. But instead of feeling empty, my life feels full. Here are a few things bringing me joy right now: The weather. I know… you hate me. It’s cold and gloomy up north . I know, because I lived in the midwest for a long time. But hear me out! In Florida, we really pay our dues for this kind of weather: From May through October (and sometimes November) our heat index is above 100 every single day. It’s extremely humid, and the sun is so strong it feels like it’s trying to kill you. This year, it was very warm through December and I was starting to wonder if we would get any “winter” at all. Not to worry! Our weather has been ideal- cool at night, pleasant during the day. If I can’t be happy in Florida in January, then I might as well give up and move to Canada. Luckily I’m appreciating our weather very, very much. Trail running I finally got out to my trail! Leading up to the holidays I was so busy, and then while my son was home there was always a reason why I needed (or wanted) to be home. But on Wednesday I dropped my daughter off at school and headed to the trail. I had the whole day ahead of me- no reason to hurry back home. As you can see, there’s no shade on this trail… so a cool January day is the perfect day for a trail run. Books! Books! More books! Ah, I love books so, so much. Another way in which I was stuck recently was after re-reading all the Harry Potter books, I couldn’t seem to get myself to read another book. This went on for all of November and part of December. It was crazy!!! Finally I read Rosamunde Pilcher’s Winter Solstice and just finished I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh- what a book. It’s a page-turner and if you think you know what it’s about, you’re wrong. Enough said! While I’m waiting for a couple library holds to come in, I’m reading Living With a Seal by Jesse Itzler. It’s the story of how Jesse had David Goggins come and live with him for a month to whip him into shape. And, I ordered and just received this book which I learned about from Nicole: In the introduction, Agapi describes the book as “fifty-two light posts guiding you back to yourself- one for every week of the year.” Nicole read a chapter every week for 2021, and I plan to do the same for 2022. Except I just got the book today, so I’ll read a couple chapters a week until I’m caught up. Thanks, Nicole! There are all sorts of other little things giving me joy these days- sitting in Starbucks with my tea, pulling the quilt over myself on a chilly morning at 5 am because I still have another hour to sleep, anticipating Friday night takeout (Chipotle has a new vegan chorizo!)… What are some things giving you joy now?