IT’S STARTING!!!!!!!!!

FINALLY!  As I’m clicking “publish” on this post, the Olympic Opening Ceremonies have begun in Tokyo!!!  We’ll watch it tonight while we eat a sushi dinner- thank you to Tokyo for hosting, in spite of everything!

Before I get into a couple favorites from this week, I appreciate everyone’s comments after my little tantrum about strength training on Wednesday.  Catrina mentioned her “VERY simple strength routine,” which is Pamela Reif’s YouTube workouts.  I like the “simple” description, and these look extremely effective.

Ultimately I went with Deborah’s suggestion, which was to try out the Peloton digital membership. YOU GUYS!  Why didn’t anyone tell me how cheap it is???  $12.99 for three months (that offer is good until July 31st.). It was a no-brainer.  I subscribed and did my first “strength for runners” workout this morning.  Problem solved, at least for now.

ON TO THE OLYMPICS!!!  I think I speak for almost everyone when I say I’m fascinated by women’s gymnastics.   I like the men’s as well, but women’s is the best.  Why is that?  It’s just incredible what these young women are able to do with their bodies.

I just listened to this episode of Half In, Half Out podcast, which was a discussion and predictions for the gymnastics team and individual all-around competitions in Tokyo.  This was a deep, deep dive, recorded by gymnastics experts.  So deep in fact that I listened to parts of it on double speed to get through it, because I don’t know anything about the gymnasts from other countries.

It was fun, though, to remember that there ARE other countries, and although the most likely scenario is USA to win gold and China and Russia to win silver and bronze, there is a chance for Japan to sneak in and grab the bronze, which would be fun for the fans of the host country.  Go Japan!

There were also some interesting tidbits about what the US team would be like without Simone, and also the fact that the regular team and the alternates, i.e. the replacement team, all traveled together on the same flight and stayed in the same hotel.  This was recorded before Kara Eaker tested positive for Covid.  I’m no expert, but wouldn’t it have been smarter to keep the regular team and replacement team separated from each other?  Oh well, fingers crossed!

Just in case you hate gymnastics and are wondering if there’s any running in this running blog post, here’s a great episode I listened to with Matt Chittim on The Strength Running Podcast.  Matt hosts the Rambling Runner podcast, and to be honest I’ve never loved him.  He’s a little too… well, rambling, for me usually.  But he was great on this one.

Matt talked about his recent injury, and how it was due to his lack of strength training.  He explains how easy it is to skip strength work when everything is going well, and suggests that instead of thinking of strength training as a way to prevent injury, instead look at it as a way to become a better, faster, runner.  He also compares the idea that you don’t have to do strength training to thinking that you don’t need to ever use shampoo and your hair will still look good.  In other words, we’re all unique but no one is that unique.  We all need to do it.

On that note, we should all get the Peloton app for $12.99!   I’ll write more about my thoughts on it when I’ve done a few more workouts.  In the meantime… happy running, and enjoy the Olympics!’

Will you watch the opening ceremonies?  Are you excited for gymnastics?

I know lots of people have been doing Peloton strength workouts!  Anyone have a favorite to recommend?