I had an exciting breakthrough this week. I ran two days in a row for the first time in the last six months! Two back-to-back, muggy, sweaty 4.5-mile runs. It was exciting!
I'm going to be honest, though. I was not excited waking up two days ago for the second consecutive run. I was tired, I wanted to go back to bed, and my legs just felt heavy. But I had to get up to take the dogs out, then they wanted to eat, then they wanted to go on a walk. And I figured if I was going to do all that, I may as well just go ahead and do my run, too.
So I set out, and I had a really bad attitude going into it. The first three-quarters of a mile or so from my house is up a gradual hill, which is always a great way to start a reluctant run. And I kept telling myself that I wasn't in the mood and I probably wouldn't do it. But then I started thinking about a friend of mine.
My friend Jenn had knee surgery about a week after I did. We were never close friends, and we live in different corners of the U.S. now, but we were connected through facebook, we were both runners (her much more accomplished than I), and we were able to relate to the frustration of not being able to run due to injuries.
While my surgery and recover was pretty straightforward, Jenn experienced one setback after another. It has been six months now, and Jenn just ended up having a knee replacement to (hopefully) finally address the problems she's been having and get her back to living an active life.
During these last six months, I have had a lot of ups and downs. I've struggled with consistency and motivation. I've lost a lot of my innate desire to get up and go out for a run. It's been frustrating.
Something changed for me as I set out for my first two-in-a-row run, though - I started thanking God that I was even capable of putting one foot in front of another. Throughout all of her setbacks, Jenn has remained incredibly positive, encouraging, and faithful. And all this time I've been squandering the opportunities God has given me to glorify Him through my physical activity with a bad attitude.
My second run was tough. My legs felt heavy and dead. It was muggy and I was sluggish. But in a lot of ways, that has been one of my best runs, yet. Simply because I finally realized that my runs are not about me.
I run because I never thought I could. I run because other's can't. I run because it is a gift from God.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Unwasted Opportunities
Yesterday was Memorial Day, which means that we got an extra long weekend. Normally, I look forward to three-day weekends for their potential. I have a list of plans and expectations set before me. The problem is that I rarely follow through on those plans. The lure of refinishing my dresser loses out to an afternoon spent in the cool breeze of my central air conditioning watching mindless tv reruns on hulu.
That being the typical case, I'm happy to be able to inform you today that this past weekend was not another wasted opportunity. Yes, there was quite a bit of down time, but it was all well-deserved!
On Saturday, I willingly set my alarm for (and actually got up!) 5 am. I fed the animals, walked the dogs, and then headed to the bike trail to get a long run in. I am very excited to let y'all know that I hit a major breakthrough Saturday - 11 miles! I was completely drenched in sweat when I was done, and my hips were a little achey, but my knee felt good and I, in general, felt amazing for having finally crossed into double-digit distances. Praise God!
After church on Sunday, I laid down and rested for about an hour or so, and then I got up to tackle a project I'd been putting off for months and months. Last fall (maybe?) my neighbor's tree fell over the fence and a portion of it landed in my yard. He chopped it up with a chain saw, but never removed the branches. As spring sprang, in addition to a huge mess of random brush, grass and weeds also started growing up in the crevices of these branches until they were two to three feet tall. It took me three hours of sawing, clipping, and dragging, but I was able to clean up that corner of my yard and deposit the brush by the road for Monday's pick up. I also took the dogs on a four-mile walk since they were such good sports about the whole thing.
On Monday, I let myself sleep in a little (until 7!) and then took the dogs hiking at a trail about 40 minutes from my house. The trail is only about a mile and a half, but the elevation is over 3,000 feet, so it's pretty steep. It took us about an hour to get to the top, and a little less to get back down. The rest of the day was so hot that me and the dogs just hung out inside. In all fairness, I tried to take them for an afternoon walk, but after two blocks, the puppy laid down in the shade, so we just went home. :)
I didn't get in a lot of running (and there was an issue with my alarm clock this morning so I didn't go this morning, either), but I definitely got in a lot of really great activity. And the best part is that I woke up this morning without any knee pain.
I'm proud to be able to look back at the weekend and not wish that there was something I had done differently. That's the way I want to live my life.
That being the typical case, I'm happy to be able to inform you today that this past weekend was not another wasted opportunity. Yes, there was quite a bit of down time, but it was all well-deserved!
On Saturday, I willingly set my alarm for (and actually got up!) 5 am. I fed the animals, walked the dogs, and then headed to the bike trail to get a long run in. I am very excited to let y'all know that I hit a major breakthrough Saturday - 11 miles! I was completely drenched in sweat when I was done, and my hips were a little achey, but my knee felt good and I, in general, felt amazing for having finally crossed into double-digit distances. Praise God!
After church on Sunday, I laid down and rested for about an hour or so, and then I got up to tackle a project I'd been putting off for months and months. Last fall (maybe?) my neighbor's tree fell over the fence and a portion of it landed in my yard. He chopped it up with a chain saw, but never removed the branches. As spring sprang, in addition to a huge mess of random brush, grass and weeds also started growing up in the crevices of these branches until they were two to three feet tall. It took me three hours of sawing, clipping, and dragging, but I was able to clean up that corner of my yard and deposit the brush by the road for Monday's pick up. I also took the dogs on a four-mile walk since they were such good sports about the whole thing.
On Monday, I let myself sleep in a little (until 7!) and then took the dogs hiking at a trail about 40 minutes from my house. The trail is only about a mile and a half, but the elevation is over 3,000 feet, so it's pretty steep. It took us about an hour to get to the top, and a little less to get back down. The rest of the day was so hot that me and the dogs just hung out inside. In all fairness, I tried to take them for an afternoon walk, but after two blocks, the puppy laid down in the shade, so we just went home. :)
I didn't get in a lot of running (and there was an issue with my alarm clock this morning so I didn't go this morning, either), but I definitely got in a lot of really great activity. And the best part is that I woke up this morning without any knee pain.
I'm proud to be able to look back at the weekend and not wish that there was something I had done differently. That's the way I want to live my life.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Are you tough enough?
I've been having a tough time getting back on track with my running schedule and establishing a healthy plan. Every time I think I may be having a breakthrough, I end up taking one big huge gigantic leap backwards. It sucks.
This weekend was no exception. I'm not going to get into any details, but the idea of giving up just seemed to overwhelm me. My head was full of thoughts like "it's no use," "you're not going to accomplish your goals," "you're too weak," etc. So understandably, I went into my work outs and the week believing these lies.
As a result, I've been struggling. I tried to run twice earlier this week. Both times, I've gotten a short distance away from home and gave up. It doesn't make sense that I can go from running 9 and 10 miles to struggling to run 3 or 4 less than a week later, but that's the power of the mind, for you.
To overcome the struggle, I have to understand and acknowledge these lies for what they are and who they come from. They come from Satan, and they are his attempts to prevent me from glorifying God.
One of the things I learned as I started to run, and then become serious about training for longer distances, was that if left to my own devices, I would not choose to take care of myself. I had to learn that it was not my strength, but strength from the Lord that would sustain me, in a very real, physical way. As I would run up a tough hill or be on the last leg of a long run, when I would want to give up, I would pray that the joy of the Lord would be my strength.
I think recently, in the midst of these struggles, I lost sight of that. I was drawing on my own power, instead of leaning on Lord's strength, and my power wasn't enough to sustain me.
I managed to get a shaky 4.4 mile run in this morning. Not my best run, not an easy run, but I accomplished the goal that was set before me for this morning. About a mile in, the song "Hangin' Tough" by the New Kids on the Block started playing on my iPod. The song asks, "Are you tough enough?" By myself, I'm not. But I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
This weekend was no exception. I'm not going to get into any details, but the idea of giving up just seemed to overwhelm me. My head was full of thoughts like "it's no use," "you're not going to accomplish your goals," "you're too weak," etc. So understandably, I went into my work outs and the week believing these lies.
As a result, I've been struggling. I tried to run twice earlier this week. Both times, I've gotten a short distance away from home and gave up. It doesn't make sense that I can go from running 9 and 10 miles to struggling to run 3 or 4 less than a week later, but that's the power of the mind, for you.
To overcome the struggle, I have to understand and acknowledge these lies for what they are and who they come from. They come from Satan, and they are his attempts to prevent me from glorifying God.
One of the things I learned as I started to run, and then become serious about training for longer distances, was that if left to my own devices, I would not choose to take care of myself. I had to learn that it was not my strength, but strength from the Lord that would sustain me, in a very real, physical way. As I would run up a tough hill or be on the last leg of a long run, when I would want to give up, I would pray that the joy of the Lord would be my strength.
I think recently, in the midst of these struggles, I lost sight of that. I was drawing on my own power, instead of leaning on Lord's strength, and my power wasn't enough to sustain me.
I managed to get a shaky 4.4 mile run in this morning. Not my best run, not an easy run, but I accomplished the goal that was set before me for this morning. About a mile in, the song "Hangin' Tough" by the New Kids on the Block started playing on my iPod. The song asks, "Are you tough enough?" By myself, I'm not. But I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Monday, May 16, 2011
It's not the heat, it's the humidity
Last week was slightly better than the previous week for me. I did two mid-week runs of four miles each, and then I had a very exciting long run on Sunday, which is what the bulk of this post will be about.
I am currently four weeks away from when I will start my formal marathon training. I'm going to use the same training schedule I used last year, I just will be running different routes (with fewer hills) and walking down any major hills that I may chance to encounter. I had a lot of doubts regarding whether or not I'd be ready to start training, but I am happy to tell you that those doubts have now been assuaged.
I was a little concerned that I would not be able to get a long run in this weekend because the weather forecast kept calling for storms all day Saturday AND Sunday. But when I woke up Sunday morning, the sky was clear and the sun was peaking out, so I brought my running clothes to church and made plans to go directly afterwards.
I got to the bike trail at about 10:30 am - I was thinking I would try to get in about eight miles, so I decided on a route and set off. The route I had chosen was a little more than seven miles, so I needed to add another detour on to make up the additional mile. I picked up a side trail that was about 1.2 miles to the end. I figured I could always just stop a mile from where I parked and walk back to the car. But it turns out I didn't have to walk. I ended up running 9.6 miles!
Because we were between thunderstorms, it was incredibly humid. I was drenched in sweat within half a mile probably. I also forgot about certain things I need to think about when it comes to long runs. 1) I really need to use vaseline on certain areas of my body to prevent chafing. It's usually just a problem where clothes rub certain ways, but it'll do me good to remember that in the future. 2) I have the hardest time eating anything for several hours afterwards. Fortunately for me, I didn't have a problem eating an excess of calories the previous day, so even though my consumption was light yesterday, I had plenty of fuel for my system. :)
The best part is that although my knee was sore yesterday, I woke up this morning with NO PAIN! I'm still going to be cautious with my training, but it looks like I may be able to accomplish my marathon completion goal this year. It's nice to have hope again!
I am currently four weeks away from when I will start my formal marathon training. I'm going to use the same training schedule I used last year, I just will be running different routes (with fewer hills) and walking down any major hills that I may chance to encounter. I had a lot of doubts regarding whether or not I'd be ready to start training, but I am happy to tell you that those doubts have now been assuaged.
I was a little concerned that I would not be able to get a long run in this weekend because the weather forecast kept calling for storms all day Saturday AND Sunday. But when I woke up Sunday morning, the sky was clear and the sun was peaking out, so I brought my running clothes to church and made plans to go directly afterwards.
I got to the bike trail at about 10:30 am - I was thinking I would try to get in about eight miles, so I decided on a route and set off. The route I had chosen was a little more than seven miles, so I needed to add another detour on to make up the additional mile. I picked up a side trail that was about 1.2 miles to the end. I figured I could always just stop a mile from where I parked and walk back to the car. But it turns out I didn't have to walk. I ended up running 9.6 miles!
Because we were between thunderstorms, it was incredibly humid. I was drenched in sweat within half a mile probably. I also forgot about certain things I need to think about when it comes to long runs. 1) I really need to use vaseline on certain areas of my body to prevent chafing. It's usually just a problem where clothes rub certain ways, but it'll do me good to remember that in the future. 2) I have the hardest time eating anything for several hours afterwards. Fortunately for me, I didn't have a problem eating an excess of calories the previous day, so even though my consumption was light yesterday, I had plenty of fuel for my system. :)
The best part is that although my knee was sore yesterday, I woke up this morning with NO PAIN! I'm still going to be cautious with my training, but it looks like I may be able to accomplish my marathon completion goal this year. It's nice to have hope again!
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Mind over matter... but what's over mind?
I'm still struggling a lot with irregularity. Not the kind that could be resolved with proper fiber intake, but the kind that gets in my way of making and sticking to a running schedule.
So far my knee is holding up pretty well - a little achey, but 10 minutes of ice usually does the trick. I have successfully completed a few 7-mile runs at a time that I'm only slightly embarrassed to share with others. :) My hurdles at this point aren't physical, but mental.
Sunday was a fairly cool day, although a little humid. I went to the bike trail for my long run around noon. It had been two weeks since my last long run and I think I only went running one other time last week. Needless to say, the seven miles was painful. And I struggled through them in a way I hadn't in a while. I even had to stop and walk for a few seconds on two occasions.
I took a day off and set out this morning for a neighborhood run - about 4.5 miles. Honestly, it was brutal. My legs were still sore, and mentally, I did not want to go. Once I reached the turnaround point, I was feeling better, but the first 2 miles were torture. It got me thinking, though...
There's the common saying "Mind over matter" which basically means that no matter what obstacles you are facing, if you focus hard enough you can achieve your goals. Well, what happens when your mind is what's setting you up for failure? What do you do when you don't have the mental capacity to push yourself?
Typically when this happens to me, I'll end up praying to the Lord asking for His joy to be my strength. But I didn't do that today for whatever reason. Something kept pushing me that didn't come from MY mind or MY body. I can't explain what it was that was pushing me to continue to place one foot in front of the other. But I'm grateful for it.
So far my knee is holding up pretty well - a little achey, but 10 minutes of ice usually does the trick. I have successfully completed a few 7-mile runs at a time that I'm only slightly embarrassed to share with others. :) My hurdles at this point aren't physical, but mental.
Sunday was a fairly cool day, although a little humid. I went to the bike trail for my long run around noon. It had been two weeks since my last long run and I think I only went running one other time last week. Needless to say, the seven miles was painful. And I struggled through them in a way I hadn't in a while. I even had to stop and walk for a few seconds on two occasions.
I took a day off and set out this morning for a neighborhood run - about 4.5 miles. Honestly, it was brutal. My legs were still sore, and mentally, I did not want to go. Once I reached the turnaround point, I was feeling better, but the first 2 miles were torture. It got me thinking, though...
There's the common saying "Mind over matter" which basically means that no matter what obstacles you are facing, if you focus hard enough you can achieve your goals. Well, what happens when your mind is what's setting you up for failure? What do you do when you don't have the mental capacity to push yourself?
Typically when this happens to me, I'll end up praying to the Lord asking for His joy to be my strength. But I didn't do that today for whatever reason. Something kept pushing me that didn't come from MY mind or MY body. I can't explain what it was that was pushing me to continue to place one foot in front of the other. But I'm grateful for it.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Measuring Success
It's not a big secret that I'm a goal-oriented kind of girl. I do ridiculous things like register for marathons to motivate myself to stay active. As such, it's really, really important to me that I see progress on my way to accomplishing my goals. But progress is so subjective...
I am trying SO hard to get off the weight I gained when I got hurt. Until recently, I had a lot of mental hurdles I needed to overcome to get to a point where I felt more in control of my eating. Well, this past week, I really felt like I was on top of things. I had calorie deficits all but one day, I walked or ran five days out of the week, and I even passed on dessert when I took my mom out for dinner on her birthday.
Needless to say, I was actually excited to weigh myself yesterday morning to see how much progress I had made. Turns out that it wasn't that much. I was down about 0.4 pounds. Now, at least I was down, but still, I put in an awful lot of effort to see the scale "only" budge 0.4 pounds.
So what happens when you don't see the fruits of your labor? When your hard work doesn't show up in the outcome? I could easily throw my hands up in the air and give up. I want to do that a lot of times. But I have to remember how far I've come and I have to keep my goal in mind. Maybe I didn't make much progress this week, but all the small steps along the way lead up to big, measurable results as long as I don't give up my efforts.
On the plus side, I ran seven miles on Sunday and my pace was under 11 minutes per mile (down 27 seconds per mile from the week before). I might not see progress on the scale, but I am seeing it on the trail at least!
I am trying SO hard to get off the weight I gained when I got hurt. Until recently, I had a lot of mental hurdles I needed to overcome to get to a point where I felt more in control of my eating. Well, this past week, I really felt like I was on top of things. I had calorie deficits all but one day, I walked or ran five days out of the week, and I even passed on dessert when I took my mom out for dinner on her birthday.
Needless to say, I was actually excited to weigh myself yesterday morning to see how much progress I had made. Turns out that it wasn't that much. I was down about 0.4 pounds. Now, at least I was down, but still, I put in an awful lot of effort to see the scale "only" budge 0.4 pounds.
So what happens when you don't see the fruits of your labor? When your hard work doesn't show up in the outcome? I could easily throw my hands up in the air and give up. I want to do that a lot of times. But I have to remember how far I've come and I have to keep my goal in mind. Maybe I didn't make much progress this week, but all the small steps along the way lead up to big, measurable results as long as I don't give up my efforts.
On the plus side, I ran seven miles on Sunday and my pace was under 11 minutes per mile (down 27 seconds per mile from the week before). I might not see progress on the scale, but I am seeing it on the trail at least!
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Mid-week Check-in
Hello, friends.
This will be a quick post, just to let y'all know (all three of you!) that I've more or less stuck to my plan this week. Well, aside from not doing anything Monday to give myself a rest day after running SEVEN miles Sunday, and not actually getting up most mornings, I've stuck to my plan. I went running Tuesday morning and last (Wednesday) night. I did get up to take the dogs on a walk this morning, but because one of the dogs is a nine-week-old puppy that I'm fostering for a few days, we didn't go very far... or very fast. But she's cute, and we took a long walk last night, so maybe the two combined equal one regular morning walk? I don't know. She did stop and whine and I had to carry her for a little while, so I got the added bonus of doing some upper body strength training! :)
I've been eating better this week, too. I'm not sure what changed, but I started believing in myself again this week, which I think gave me the determination to say no to things I knew wouldn't help me meet my goals.
I've also started asking for help when I need it. Last weekend, I went out to dinner with some friends and then they were planning on getting frozen yogurt afterwards. I let one of the girls know what I was planning to eat ahead of time and told her I was going to skip the yogurt completely. Know what? It helped! It's hard to admit that I struggle with certain things, but God definitely blesses those who are open about their struggles and ask for support. Every time I see the rewards, it gets a little easier.
So now the challenge is to continue to build the momentum. Having a good week is amazing, but I need this to lead into a good second, third, and fourth week, too.
This will be a quick post, just to let y'all know (all three of you!) that I've more or less stuck to my plan this week. Well, aside from not doing anything Monday to give myself a rest day after running SEVEN miles Sunday, and not actually getting up most mornings, I've stuck to my plan. I went running Tuesday morning and last (Wednesday) night. I did get up to take the dogs on a walk this morning, but because one of the dogs is a nine-week-old puppy that I'm fostering for a few days, we didn't go very far... or very fast. But she's cute, and we took a long walk last night, so maybe the two combined equal one regular morning walk? I don't know. She did stop and whine and I had to carry her for a little while, so I got the added bonus of doing some upper body strength training! :)
I've been eating better this week, too. I'm not sure what changed, but I started believing in myself again this week, which I think gave me the determination to say no to things I knew wouldn't help me meet my goals.
I've also started asking for help when I need it. Last weekend, I went out to dinner with some friends and then they were planning on getting frozen yogurt afterwards. I let one of the girls know what I was planning to eat ahead of time and told her I was going to skip the yogurt completely. Know what? It helped! It's hard to admit that I struggle with certain things, but God definitely blesses those who are open about their struggles and ask for support. Every time I see the rewards, it gets a little easier.
So now the challenge is to continue to build the momentum. Having a good week is amazing, but I need this to lead into a good second, third, and fourth week, too.
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