Motivating with honesty, not with excuses

I am a Pinterest junkie. Seriously. I have boards for food (yes, boards as in I have several for different meal categories). I have boards for knitting and crocheting projects, full of cute little animals and cool blanket patterns that I would love to fill my home with one of these days. I have boards for fitness, full of at home body weight workouts, kettlebell workouts, and yoga flow routines. I have a running board, full of running products, interval workout plans, and races that I've done and want to do. Then of course there are secret boards, which are secret so I won't discuss them any more here ;)

I have another board called "Inspiration". This board is probably my favorite to revisit from time to time. Some of the pins on this board have pictures of individuals who inspire me, including scientists like Rosalind Franklin and Rita Levi Montalcini. Some fictional characters are even on the inspiration board, like Atticus Finch and Jane Eyre.

Rita Levi Montalcini. Look her up, she's pretty cool.

One of my favorite parts of this board though, can be classified as "motivational quotes." Some of these include scripture about God being for us and with us. One of them is a favorite Quaker quote of mine - "Don't speak unless you can improve the silence." I have a wonderful Corrie Ten Boom quote also, which is "If God sends us a stony path, he provides us with strong shoes". Collectively, this board is one that I call upon to remind myself of my focus. I have it to remind me that challenges are not insurmountable, yet they require a huge amount of work. With hard work and a healthy attitude I can begin to approach the challenges before me.

Pinterest, has recently taken to suggesting pins for my Inspiration board. They include pins with quotes like "If  you can't love me at my worst, you don't deserve me at my best", and "Have you ever just sat down and been like 'Damn I've been through a lot of shit' " (seriously, I'm not sure why that one came up but it did.) Without quoting ALL of them, the central message of these pins often has to do with identifying yourself as the victim, and dismissing the behavior of those around you.

I will never understand this mentality. Ever. If you actually want to change things for the better, you need to have ownership over what you can control and what you can change. Having that realization gives you direction. It allows you to either change the circumstances that you are in, or make the best of them. Granted, the actions of others may have directly or indirectly influenced where you are. But allowing that to be the blanket excuse for your attitude, your happiness, and your success is giving those people complete power over you. If you still dwell on the skinny girls who made fun of you in high school, it's as if they still taunt you and define you as the fat girl in the class. If your excuse for having zero confidence in your place of work is that your dad told you that he was disappointed in you that one time, you have blown his teaching moment completely out of proportion.

Own where you are, do what you can do, make the best of what you have.

Like this guy...

6 week marathon training

Time to turn the training up to 11.

On Saturday I had my longest run in a long time. I ran 8.22 miles at a very respectable pace. If I honestly felt like I could have gone longer, if I had started my run a little earlier before sunset. The best word to describe how I feel now is 'jazzed'.

I got my calendar out and counted the weeks leading up to my next marathon. 6 weeks. There are 6 weeks between now and my next marathon. *gulp*.

Increasing mileage really does need to be a priority for me above everything else. However, I'm starting to feel limited by my strength and flexibility on my speed. I'm going to focus on compound lifts, and follow the 5x5 program from StrongLifts. I want to make sure that I'm focusing on my core, and that I'm evenly strengthening my muscle groups. I've always enjoyed doing squats, but having huge quads with relatively weak hamstrings could result in increased injury. I think, for that reason, it's important to stick to a training plan.

When I pulled out my calendar to look at events to train around, I realized that the upcoming months are the busiest of my entire life. One weekend in February we're going to go to visit friends out of town, another weekend we're headed back to visit my family for our wedding shower. Recently I took over as coordinator for our church's care cluster, which is taking over at least 3 Monday evenings coming up. Wedding planning also needs to be kicked up a notch, and so does work towards my thesis.  My fiancé and I recently took over the role of coordinators for our young adult small group. So... there's a lot to work around.

When my college friends started switching to taking notes on the computer and on their iPads, I stuck to my trusty spiral notebook. I felt like making a physical copy of my training schedule might bring the same feeling of careful planning and study that I gained from taking notes and study guides in class. It so did. I'm going to try to do this for all of my other training schedules from now on!

It's a lot to juggle, but I want to make sure that I'm setting myself up well for success, without putting myself in a position where I might be injured. Here's roughly what the next 6 weeks should look like.

Week 1
Sunday - Rest from running. B day lifting (Squats, Overhead Press, Deadlifts).
Monday - Rest.
Tuesday - 6 miles.
Wednesday - 2 easy miles. A day lifting (Squats, Bench Press, Bent Over Rows).
Thursday - 4 fast miles. Rest from lifting.
Friday - Rest from running. B day.
Saturday - Valentine's Day hike!!! :D

Week 2
Sunday - 16 mile long run.
Monday - Rest from running. A day.
Tuesday - 4 easy miles. Rest from lifting.
Wednesday - 3 easy miles. B day.
Thursday - 6 miles.
Friday - 2 easy miles. A day.
Saturday - 3 easy miles.

Week 3
Sunday - 13.1 mile race (Sentara Colonial Half Marathon).
Monday - Rest from running. B day.
Tuesday - 4 miles easy. Rest from lifting.
Wednesday - 2 easy miles. A day.
Thursday - 6 miles. Rest from lifting.
Friday - Rest from running. B day.
Saturday - Traveling.

Week 4
Sunday - 10 miles
Monday - 5 miles. A day.
Tuesday - 2 miles. Rest from lifting.
Wednesday - 7 miles. B day.
Thursday - Rest.
Friday - 3 easy. A day.
Saturday - Traveling.

Week 5
Sunday - Traveling
Monday - 10 miles.
Tuesday - 5 miles. A day.
Wednseday - 3 miles. Rest from lifting.
Thursday - 2 miles. B day.
Friday - 2 miles. Rest from lifting.
Saturday - 18 miles.

Week 6
Sunday - 3 miles.
Monday - 6 miles. A day.
Tuesday - 2 easy.
Wednesday - 2 easy.
Thursday - REST
Friday - REST
Saturday - Shamrock 8k
Sunday - SHAMROCK MARATHON

We'll see how this shakes out!

Back to Fitness

Well that was hard. I had been so proud of how, in the past I had used running as a tool to overcome emotional strife, body image problems, and self-esteem. I had conquered everything, and had some shiny medals to show off as proof. I think I had actually deluded myself into thinking that I had solved all future problems because of the transformation I had gone through.

I suppose I didn't explicitly say it in my previous post, but I've been struggling a lot with depression over the last couple of months. It started with problems at work, and then over time my anxiety about work started bleeding out into my personal life. My relationship with my roommates fell apart, my relationship with my fiancé was strained, I spent a huge percentage of my visit home to my parents sitting in my childhood bedroom crying my eyes out. Needless to say, things got out of control. I went to my doctor for some help getting out of the hole that I was in. The medicine she gave me definitely pick myself off the ground. I was able to follow through when problems cropped up, and actually feel like I was in control of my life again.

However, the particular version of that medication that I was taking had some side effects that were sort of lousy. For one thing, the medicine made me hungrier than any amount of marathon training ever did. I don't mean emotional eating, or "I'm bored so I'm going to forage in my kitchen", I mean stomach-rumbling legitimately hungry. This was a horrible combination, because the other lousy side effect that it came with the medicine was general digestive distress. Sometimes I was nauseous, sometimes my stomach was really cramped, sometimes I feel sort of acid-ish, just generally kind of bad. And, it was especially bad while I was running or walking.

So... now I'm up a few pounds, but generally feeling a lot better about my emotional energy. Now it's time to get my physique back to where it was. I think I can do it. I need to get myself in shape for the Shamrock Marathon on March 22. Time to get my shoes back on!

Transient Confidence

I've mentioned in earlier posts that I started running to get in control of my body and reverse some unhealthy changes that had occurred. I felt this huge surge of self-esteem and ownership over myself and my body and my actions. I was looking forward to riding this emotional high the rest of my life and using it to fuel my continued self-improvement.

The last couple of months have helped me appreciate how fragile that state can be. Losing weight felt great over the past year, but gaining two pounds around Christmas felt absolutely devastating. I felt like I had reversed all of my progress, and was back to the big girl I was a couple of years ago. Rolling my ankle on the trails shouldn't have been that surprising, but I saw it as a sign of complete inadequacy. The solid self-esteem I had before totally crumbled, and for some reason I wasn't able to use that to pull myself through the challenges.

I can't coast with this. My confidence is only going to give back what I put into it. My running is only going to be a source of strength if I keep working to strengthen it. I can't rely on it to serve me if I'm not working to maintain it. That was made incredibly obvious to me here.

New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year!!! I hope all of you have had a wonderful holiday season will the people you love.

To set off this year, I'd like to put my resolutions out there for all to see.

1. I'd like to run a race that is longer than 26.2mi.

2. I'd like to get a marathon PR this year

3. I'm going to work out at least 6 days a week. Not running everyday, but I'd like to make sure that I'm incorporating things like lifting, hiking, and yoga into my schedule.

4. I'm going to spend more time running on trails this year, for a couple of reasons. First of all, being outside in the woods always makes me feel better. Secondly, I'd like to gain more leg strength and become a more athletic runner, and I really feel like this will help take me to the next level.

5. Unrelated to running (or possibly related to running?), I'd like to get out and volunteer more. At races, and in my community.

6. I need to start reading more again. This past year I have not done a very good job sitting down and reading every night, and I really would like to start again. I need to it help me wind down, but I also need to it keep myself sharp and keep myself engaged.

Here it goes!

"Tempo" is an easy way to add strength workouts to your training schedule

Many running coaches (including Hal Higdon) recommend supplementing your race training with weights, or strength training exercises. Strengthening the muscles in your legs provides you with more power to help you increase your speed. Strengthening the muscles in your core helps you preserve your form, and your ability to carry yourself on longer runs.
While most runners understand this, knowing how to approach strength training can often seem very daunting. First of all, the number of strength training options available can be overwhelming. Dumbbells? Kettle bells? Barbells? Machines? Body weight? It's hard to know where to start. It can also be hard to know if you're hitting the right muscle groups, or if you're working them hard enough.

Thankfully - there's a tool for that! MoreTempo.com provides runners with a manageable and practical way to implement strength training into their routine. I signed up for it a couple of weeks ago, and have been thrilled!

Here's how it works:
Once per day, I get an email (it usually ends up in my promotions folder with my MapMyRun data). The email usually contains 3 different exercises all geared towards a particular group of muscles, or a specific function.

For example, this workout was about stability:

All of the exercises shown here target support muscles in your core. In the case of single leg deadlifts, you need to be very careful that you are able to stabilize on one leg at a time. I was definitely feeling the burn in the little teeny muscles around my quads and my hamstrings during this one... 

Sometimes though, the workouts are more directly related to strengthening particular groups of muscles. A few days ago, for example, they sent me a workout geared towards strengthening my core:

I've had leg days, core days, at home cardio days, stability days, and I'm still getting surprised. I've seen so much variety over the course of the last two weeks. Even on all of the leg days that I've had, they've been different every time. I always look forward to opening that email when it's time to work out. 

Something that I love about this service is that the honestly do motivation very well. In both of the screenshots from my email, the first thing you can see a good motivational quote. Occasionally, they'll throw in a good motivational GIF too! 

Honestly, there's no excuse not to use this service. It takes 15 minutes, no equipment, and can be done in the comfort of your own home! Occasionally I'll add weight to certain workouts (like single leg deadlifts) on days when I feel like increasing the challenge, but that absolutely isn't required. This workout is something that can work for everyone, regardless of your fitness level or schedule!  

Oops... where did that week go?

Here are some of the excuses I've used to not run in the last week:

1. "I have a paper due this week, I don't think I have time right now."

2. "I really want to do 5 miles today, but it's probably going to get dark before I'm done, so maybe I'll just do it tomorrow."

3. "I should eat something first so that I don't bonk. " (a few minutes later) "Oops... now I'm really full. Now I must wait." (subsequently never gets back to it). 

4. "I feel generally depressed, I don't feel like getting out of bed"

5. "I'm feeling generally anxious, I don't feel like using my nervous energy in a constructive way. Instead I will let it paralyze me." 

6. "Well... Monday is a rest day on my training schedule, so I should stick to that." (note: this normally doesn't matter, unless you haven't run any of the preceding days, or don't sincerely plan on running any of the following days). 

7. "Today is going to be rough at work, I should sleep in instead of tiring myself out even more."

8. "It's ok, I'll just add more mileage to my weekend runs."


You get the point. I've been feeling lousy, and although running usually makes me feel better, I've been fighting it. I'm still not really sure why.

I always sleep better after my running days. I always feel more focused and energized at work and at home after a good workout effort. It's always so satisfying to log my workout into my MapMyFitness log.

I'm pretty frustrated with last week's version of myself. I feel so much better after 3 miles at the gym this morning (and then slightly worse after trying to do squats sans Smith cage for the first time in about 10 months).

Today was good. I hope I remember how good this feels when I'm thinking about pushing my snooze button tomorrow morning.