At this point in Baltimore’s long, hard winter… I’d settle for any type of running that doesn’t take place on a treadmill.
Hill repeats? YES!
Track workouts? YOU GOT IT!
400s? OKIE DOKIE!
Fartleks? NO PROBLEM.
All the running workouts that make me grumpy and fussy would have me jumping for joy at this point. I just want to run when the roads aren’t dangerous due to ice or snow and the temp is 30 degrees or above.
I love winter, and I love snow even more. But if it lasts any longer, my cold/dead heart will crumble and there will be nothing left for me to thaw come spring.
You call them resolutions, they call them goals, and I call them “self requests.” Same idea, different year.
2014, let’s do this.
Plan a vacation (weddings don’t count). Ideas: Napa/Sonoma/San Francisco, Big Sur, Ashville, Mexico, Lake Tahoe. Ok, basically all of California (except for San Diego because… yuck.)
Practice self respect. My self request is for self respect. I like it.
That’s enough for now. I’m tired of typing. What are some of your goals? Share please. We can be a team! Together We Achieve More. (<– see what I did there?)
My training has been terrible for the Baltimore Half Marathon coming up this Saturday. Let’s just leave it at that, ok? No one – including myself – has time for a pity party.
I’m still going to run it, and instead treat it like a long run instead of race it. However, even having made that decision, I still need to amp up my mental game. I’m my own worst enemy on most days, and on race day, I’m the baddest b*tch there is.
To combat this, I’ve corralled a group of running quotes – the majority of which either come from my running coach and his weekly emails and/or the good folks at Runner’s World who email me a daily run quote. These are the quotes I have bookmarked so that I remember why it is I run, and I thought I might as well put them in the same post so I can clean out my inbox. (That was entirely too much detail for you, but there you have it.)
I’m no philosopher – clearly – but I’m pretty sure your non-runners out there could sub in whatever your hobby/sport/sweat-session preference is and you’d still get worth from it. My hope is that they’ll help you the way they help me.
#BRForBust
“Believe that you can run farther or faster. Believe that you’re young enough, old enough, strong enough, and so on to accomplish everything you want to do. Don’t let worn-out beliefs stop you from moving beyond yourself.”
-John Bingham
“The race belongs not only to the swift and strong but to those who keep on running.”
-Zoe Koplowitz
“I have more energy, I sleep better, and I have no health problems or concerns since I’ve started running. But my favorite part is the sense of accomplishment and being able to get others into running.”
-Mike Kramer
“You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction.”
-George Lorimer
“We may train or peak for a certain race, but running is a lifetime sport.”
-Alberto Salazar
Now that I’m stepping up my running-fitness, weight-loss, clear eyes/full hearts/can’t lose game…
… I’ve begun to revisit the healthy living blogs that I once obsessed over. Reading about other bloggers who discovered running, lost weight, got in shape, struggled, failed, then got back out there and got after it again was really inspirational to me. Until it wasn’t.
So I stopped reading most of them, and only read some as a hate-read. <– That’s not very nice to say, but it’s the truth.
Lately, I’ve gone back to some familiar favorites and I’m glad I did. More often than not, we appear to be on the same page. For instance, like Coffeecake and Cardio, I also feel:
…on top of the world when I start a new program, have an epiphany or establish a new goal. I am deliberate about sticking to my plan and because of that, I feel true freedom from the things that have held me back in the past. A few days later, reality starts to set in and the things that have held me back in the past start to resurface.
I’m trying to combat this with deliberately addressing each roadblock and finding ways to correct the behavior. After I identify and fix it, I’ll move on to another roadblock. Identify, analyse, fix and move on. That’s the game plan.
Habit #1: Become a morning runner again.
And, like manna from heaven (is that a thing?), over on & ella said, it’s like she read my mind and posted some knowledge on how to become the morning runner I used to be:
BRIBE YOURSELF. Okay, can we be real for a second? Because I am not above doing this. In fact, I live for this. (Pavlov proved it works, so who am I to argue with science?) My usual mantra is that if I work out in the morning, I get to buy myself that king of waaayyyy overpriced morning beverages: the iced coffee. If I run in the morning (rather than cross train or go to yoga, because for whatever reason, it’s always the more daunting to talk myself into) I get to buy iced coffee and a muffin. Or a scone. Or some other form of baked good. Because calories can be damned, and I am no longer running to “get skinny.” I run so I can eat. So there.
PACK THE NIGHT BEFORE. Yes, this is so fifth grade goodie goodie and/or responsible traveler, but it works. I pack my lunch. I lay out my running clothes. I pick my outfit. I throw my keys and my iPod band and my headphones into a pile. Because at 5 in the morning, I will want to put absolutely less than no mental thought into anything, and this lets me at least be lazy in that respect.
HYPE YOURSELF UP. Blast Yeezy in your ears. Keep coffee concentrate in the fridge and take a shot right before you get out the door. (LOL, Daddy North lyric, see what I did there?) Bounce around like a fool on the sidewalk while you wait for your watch to sync with the satellite. Tell your cat there’s a new law that makes it illegal to feed her until you’re back from your run. Just make sure you at least get out the front door.
PICK A ROUTE YOU LIKE. Or at least, a route you don’t dread with every fiber in your body. One of the easiest routes by my apartment also culminates in an obscenely steep uphill climb to get back home – and no matter how good those 50 yards are for me, I don’t like it. And so instead I’ll go to Central Park, which I do like. I’ll save the challenging runs for the weekend or for weeknights when I need to let off steam.
REMEMBER THE GOOD YOU’RE DOING FOR YOURSELF, because running in the morning means you get to be alone with your thoughts. (And by thoughts, I mean Beyonce’s greatest hits.)
First off – I’d have to substitute Beyonce with Lady Gaga, but otherwise… thanks for drafting my game plan, Ella! Secondly – isn’t her image hilariously appropriate:
Moral of the story: The internet is a wonderful thing. Embrace it and let it help you achieve the goals you set.
What’s a habit you’re trying to break? How have you tried to tackle it?
“Anybody can be a runner. We were meant to move. We were meant to run. It’s the easiest sport.”
– Bill Rodgers
This week was less-than ideal in all ways. I failed at allergy-management… which lead to failing at the first three days of the work week, I didn’t get all my workouts in, my “long run” left much to be desired and I didn’t get to the library to pick up that dang library hold. For some reason, the last one bothers me the most.
I didn’t work out on Tuesday, and I rescheduled Wednesday’s workout for Thursday, but I sure did take a rest day on Friday. Rest from what, you ask? Is “THE HEAT” a sufficient answer? And then today, I had a big old long-walk-on-the-beach fail (which was changed into a yoga fail when I decided not to go to the beach) because Artscape was in my way and I circled around 30 minutes looking for parking. Sure – I could have gone to another class at another time, but again, I tell you, THE WALKING DEAD WON’T WATCH ITSELF!
My priorities clearly need a talking to.
So, in the spirit of getting my priorities back in line, THE HEAT WAVE IS OVER and IT’S A NEW WEEK Y’ALL, it’s time for setting intentions, aka “Say It, Do It,” aka SIDI for the upcoming week:
Monday: 3 mile run
Tuesday: hill repeats!
Wednesday: #TruetTime
Thursday: 3 miles with 1 mile at HM (half marathon) pace… AKA Thursdays in the Park with Emily (wherein I do my tempo run and help get my friend Emily ready as she preps to train for her first half marathon EVER!)
Friday: REST DAY! (my favorite)
Saturday: long run, 7 miles (long is relative, people) and #TruetTime and ORIOLES v. RED SOX game (that’s not a workout… except for my liver)
Sunday: 30 minute run + yoga
Are you someone that likes to plan out the workouts? How do you get – and stay – motivated?
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Mollytics! 