Friday Fun
I thought I’d lighten things up after Wednesday’s weighty topic. Get it- WEIGHT-y topic? Ha ha! See, I’m already lightening things up. Here are some fun and interesting things I’ve found this week: Cari informed me that Dr. Jill Biden is a runner! In this article she’s described as a “passionate runner” who has completed a marathon in 4:30. Nowadays she runs with the U.S. Secret Service- one guy runs in front of her and another behind. I’m not sure if I’d like that! I mean what if she wants to do a fartlek? After a brief hiatus (George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were all runners) it’s nice to see the tradition continue. This podcast talks about the culture of running in Ethiopia. Interesting insights include the fact that Ethiopians consider running a group activity- running alone would be seen as weird and deeply anti-social. Also of interest was that running slowly is a skill to be valued- they take their “easy” runs very seriously. My favorite fact from this episode was that they don’t place much importance on the idea of “talent’ as a predictor of great running. Instead, they believe that anyone can be fast if they work hard enough and have the right training. Lot’s of great takeaways here. This might not be so. The absolute best article on cultivating gratitude by David Cain. Rather than just thinking “I’m grateful for my house,” (or whatever) David suggests that you vividly imagine how it would be if that thing weren’t there. While you’re sitting on your comfortable couch in your living room, imagine how cold and miserable you’d be sitting outside… then bring yourself back to the present moment and truly experience what it means to be in a nice warm house. The part where he describes doing this exercise with your loved ones will make you cry. TGIF! I hope everyone’s weekend is filled with long runs, waffles… and gratitude. See you Monday!
Body Neutrality
Brr, it was cold for my run today! 45 degrees and windy meant that I wore long sleeves, hat and gloves. The above picture shows a bundled-up Florida runner in January. But there’s another photo of myself that I want to talk about today: Look at that forward lean! Hey, my arm looks pretty muscular! BUT WAIT. What in the world is all that… lumpiness… on my left leg??? When I first looked at this photo I though “I can’t put this on the blog- my leg looks terrible!” But here it is, and the reason why I’m posting it is that I want to talk about body neutrality. From the age of ten onward, I struggled with body image. I developed early, got my period when I was eleven, and I had curves when other girls were still small and boyish. I interpreted this new shape of my body as “fat,” and I was also tall for my age, which made me feel big compared to other people. Furthermore, the natural proportions of my body are a longer torso and shorter legs- when I compared my legs to girls with long, skinny legs, I saw my legs as fat. I want to point out that I was never overweight, and nobody ever told me I was overweight. I was just uncomfortable in my body, and without knowing what else to do I thought I could re-shape it with diet and exercise. This was in the late 1970s and 1980s, and Jane Fonda workouts were big. I did Jane Fonda ALL THE TIME. Jane had the best of intentions, but her goal was to improve the look of your body. The subtext to that is, your body does not look good as it is. Workouts like that are a punishment for not having a perfect body to begin with. I did all of them- the Original, the Advanced, Jane Fonda Complete Workout, the Workout Challenge…. my teenage years were full of Jane Fonda. I started running in the summer between my junior and senior year of high school. I’m sure a large part of it was that I thought it would help me lose weight, but there was also just something about running that appealed to me in a way I couldn’t explain. When I would hear other people talk about running I would think, I want to do that! I ran throughout that summer and then through my senior year of high school, and I’ve been running ever since- barring time off for injuries. But this isn’t a love letter to running- that’s a subject for a different post. What running did was let me experience moving my body for the sheer joy of it- without any ulterior motive, like to make my butt smaller- for the first time. It was the start of a journey toward body neutrality, and that journey took many, many years. A large part of it was running, part of it was having children, part of it was shifting the mindset of my workouts to building strength rather than hoping to change the way I look, and I’m sure a part of it was just becoming more mature. But at the age of 54, this is what body neutrality means to me: After decades of fighting to change, accept, stop criticizing- even to accurately understand what my body really looks like- I realized that I could simply walk away from the battle. I didn’t WIN, as in, I didn’t banish the negative thoughts forever and I don’t go around thinking how amazing my body looks. I just don’t think about it anymore, and it’s a tremendous relief. So am I saying I don’t care? Well, no. I do care a little, and I cared when I saw the cellulite on my legs in that picture. I wish my legs looked like Shalane Flanagan’s, in the same way that I wish I had a million dollars. I wish for a lot of things, like that my mom were still alive. But none of these things impact the way I live my life, or diminish my joy in it. I don’t waste time fighting tremendous battles in my mind over them. They’re just fleeting notions, and I’m too busy experiencing life to attach too much importance to them. I know body image is a tricky subject for so many people. I would be interested to hear how people feel about body positivity/negativity/neutrality. Any thoughts?
Weekly Rundown- Mixing it Up
Newsflash! If you get up earlier, you have more time in the morning (did you know that?) Ha ha… this week I tried getting up earlier and as a result was able to fit in an extra workout. Overall my week went much better because of it. I’m joining Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Rundown. Here’s how it all went down! Monday Did not get up earlier. Day off as usual! Tuesday Ran 3 miles, then since I had extra time, did my Runner’s Touch exercises and pullups. Wednesday Again, ran 3 miles. With my new earlier wake-ups it’s dark when I start my run but light when I finish. Again, since I had more time I did lower body weights- squats and deadlifts. Thursday Lately, Thursday has been a day where I do lower body weights. BUT, since I got them all done on Tuesday and Wednesday I was able to add a day of cardio- which was my old friend, the bike. I use the word “friend” but really… I hate it. I put my road bike on the trainer and ride indoors, and it’s so. boring. I know- wouldn’t it be more fun to ride outside? Yes, if it weren’t dark and there were no cars. I just don’t feel safe out there, so I ride inside. I listen to podcasts while I run, but I’ve discovered the bike is only bearable with music. I made a new playlist just for the occasion, and it really wasn’t too bad UNTIL… a few minutes before I was going to be done, I felt the bike lurch slightly to one side. What in the world?… this was alarming, because I’m clipped into the pedals so I’m not sure if I could get my foot out quickly if the bike suddenly tipped over. But I was very close to the end, so I kept going. Luckily nothing else happened, but when I was taking my bike off the trainer afterwards I heard a little *ping*, looked down and saw a small piece of the trainer lying on the floor. WHAT. I knew it! This thing is dangerous, even inside!!! 40 harrowing minutes on the bike, followed by Gauntlet Plank Workout. Friday Another 3 mile run. Getting out earlier meant I was treated to views of the “wolf” moon during my run. Afterwards decided to match my age in pushups, so I did 34 of them. Just kidding- it was 54. Not in a row of course- I divided it into sets. Saturday Buckled down for lower body weights, plus pullups. The usual Saturday routine. Sunday! Yay! I love Sundays! Today I did a 5 mile run! Not a long run, but longer than I’ve done in quite a while. Going farther meant I could do one of my favorite routes around a lake. During this run I listened to The Strength Running Podcast with Jay Dicharry. The topic was Four Skills Needed for Pain-Free Running, and the four skills are postural control, rotational stability, hip dominance, and individual skeletal alignment. It was SO GOOD. I have to go back and listen to it again so I can do some of the tests and exercises he talks about. He did give a couple cues you can think about while you run, such as making sure your elbows are swinging back behind your body (not moving in front of your torso) and also, imagine that on your left knee there’s a blue flashlight, and on your right knee there’s a yellow flashlight. You want both knees facing forward while you run- you don’t want the lights to cross and make a green light. Lots of stuff to work on! Overall it was such a good week, and my foot didn’t hurt once while running. Getting out of bed in the morning is still… challenging… but overall things are improving. HAPPY RUNNING EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday Write-up- Waffle Edition!
If you read my blog, you know I’m a pilates freak. And by pilates, I mean waffles. -Zach Galifianakis Yep, I did it! I followed Deborah’s advice and made her cinnamon coffee cake waffles ASAP! I seem to be incapable of following a recipe as written, however, and I hate when people make a thousand changes to a recipe and then write a “review.” So let’s just say my waffles were based on her idea- I made a few changes to make them vegan, and used teff flour (not that teff flour is actually interchangeable with the flours her recipe called for- but it worked.) I kept the basic idea of coffee, cinnamon (and nutmeg and allspice) and a scoop of protein powder. My waffles didn’t come out as pretty as Deborah’s- teff flour is very dark brown- but they were delicious. But I’ve been doing more than sitting around eating waffles! I just finished reading Into the Furnace: How a 135 Mile Run Across Death Valley Set My Soul on Fire by Cory Reese. I’ve been wanting to read this book for years, ever since I discovered his blog. Cory lives in Utah and blogs about his amazing running adventures. His race recaps are hilarious and the photos are beautiful, and I promise if you read them, you’ll start making plans to move to Utah and run 100 mile races. Or at the very least, you’ll put the St. George marathon on your bucket list immediately. Unfortunately (for us) Cory hasn’t blogged much in the last couple of years, but here is a recap of his “Cor-Run-a-Virus 100 Miler,” where he ran a .9 mile loop around his neighborhood, for 100 miles. The title pretty much says it all for this book- Into the Furnace is the story of Cory’s experience running Badwater 135, known as the “World’s Toughest Foot Race.” The descriptions of the heat and his sleep deprivation are intense. He also explains how he trained for the race (in addition to all the running miles, he sat in a sauna for hours at a time to build up his heat tolerance.) I love stories like this, and Cory writes in a very inspirational way. Cory self-published this book, so basically he’s a blogger just like us! Except that he runs crazy long distances and took the time and energy- in addition to everything else he does- to write not just one, but two books. His first book, Nowhere Near First: Ultramarathon Adventures from the Back of the Pack, is now on my (extremely long) TBR list. I hope everyone is having a great week- check out Cory and Deborah for some fun and inspiration!