wellness

looking back at 2016 and my running evolution over the past couple of years.

~ loveandlunge ~ Leave a comment

I’ve planned a lot of things out this year and I have to say few if any have actually stuck exactly to schedule.  It’s been an absolutely insane year.  I made a lot of goals and I knocked most of them out and I’m still not entirely sure how I did it.  2016 was bananas to say the least.  I feel like this year was just crammed full of things and it makes me even more excited to see what the next one has in store.

This year has really been an interesting one for me in terms of my fitness.  I became a certified personal trainer through NASM and a Spinning instructor.  Fitness has always been one of my favorite activities and I’ve taken it to such a different level now.  Teaching my Spin classes has become one of my favorite things to do and has taught me so much.  I wouldn’t have pursued either of these certifications if it weren’t for failures in other areas though.  I decided to get NASM certified after I was fed up with studying for the GMAT and wanted to take my mind off of everything academic related and prove to myself that I was capable of handling this difficult exam on my own.  Spinning came about because of my ankle injury and me needing to find a cardio outlet since I was side-lined.  Were either in my plan going into the year?  Nope, not a chance.  But I am super proud I pursued both.

I told myself that my New Years Resolution for 2016 was to run a half marathon. Well, this year I ran not one but three.  So there’s that.  The first was on a treadmill (okay so I ran this Dec. 29th, I think we can call that close enough), the second was the Philly Love Run, and the third was another on the treadmill to prove that I was ready to get back after it coming off of my ankle injury.  I don’t know why I make up the idea in my head to just run one some days, but I do.  I’ve made the executive decision to sign-up for the New Jersey Marathon for 2017.  Training will start the first week of the New Year and I’m stoked.  Right now, I’m dealing with a tiny bit of ankle pain, so I went out and bought all of the balancing implements I could and am working on stretching and strengthening.

My goal for marathon training is simple.  Don’t train the same way you’ve trained before.  Listen to paces.  I am THE WORST.  Literally, certifiably the WORST at slowing down runs.  Which is probably why I spend a good amount of time injured.  I ain’t sayin’, I’m just sayin’. So.  I’ve consulted some handy-dandy pace calculators and am going to do it for real this time.  This week has been 2 miles quick-ish, 8 miles long and easy (9:05 pace), 4 miles for speed (including a 6:38 mile), and I’m aiming for maybeeeee 6 easy tomorrow but don’t quote me.

http://runsmartproject.com/calculator/embed/index.php?title=false

I started running a couple of years ago when my Aunt Mari announced at Thanksgiving that she was going to run a half marathon.  My dad and I, as competitive as ever, decided we were going to blow this one out of the water too and we started training.  Enter both of us getting immediately injured.  I came back swinging but every time I tried to get over 6 miles, I would injure myself in some capacity.  This year, I’m really trying not to.  I’ve talked about running paces before and I really wish I would heed my own advice (Can someone please tell me why I don’t?  Ugh.) because I think it will save me from injury.  I’m prioritizing long, easy, SLOW runs this time around and tons and tons of foam rolling and stretching.

I’m going into this marathon training smart.  I want to be a smart runner.  I have some genetic ankle issues working against me, but I know if I’m patient and go slow I can work it out and have already proved that with my most recent half.  I can do this, it’s not going to be easy but I can.

this was one of my first “long runs” ever. I was so proud, i snapped a pic haha

A lot of people have told me they can’t believe I’m training for a marathon and that they could never do that.  It’s not true.  Every single person started somewhere.  No one was born running 26.2 miles.  No one.  With a little work and a little care, anyone can do it.  Is it going to be easy?  Not a chance.  Is it going to be worth it?  God, I hope so.  In fact, anytime any one asks me anything and about how I got to be fast (for the record, I do not for a second think I’m fast. my 6:38 mile time today is some people’s warm-up) or how I can run all the miles, I just tell them that I worked at it.  I pushed a little harder, ran a little longer and it’s just been adding up over time.  I’m excited for this new challenge, but also straight up terrified.  All I know is when we make plans, God laughs though.

2017 I’ve got big plans for you, don’t let me down.

 

-sj

why I’m thankful for the fluidity of fitness.

~ loveandlunge ~ 1 Comment

Dear lord, I have been busy.  I remember setting up my calendar for September and going, “Oh woof, I’m traveling a lot”.  Little did I know, on top of all of that travel, I would also have a couple major projects due at work, which required more late nights and weekends on my laptop than I’m proud of.  So let’s get started on a little recap of what’s going on over here:

My boyfriend was in Thailand for three weeks, which was all fun and games on paper.  But, in practice, it was a nightmare for me.  I had to travel a fair amount while he was away, to Dallas to New York to Philly, so my poor little dog, Boo, had to spend a good amount of time at Doggy Daycare.  I’m not going to lie, there were often times when I felt like I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off.  In fact, I still kind of feel that way.

Enter last week.  Welcome to my wonderful world of traveling around visiting business schools.  It’s awesome and so fun…or it would be if I also didn’t have two massive proposals due.  I flew out to Chicago to visit a couple of schools and see my family.  Although I was massively stressed during a large part of the trip, I got to balance it with ample amounts of play with my family.  I am very #blessed to have an extremely a) hilarious b) supportive family and love spending time with them.  One of my biggest regrets is that I don’t live closer.

I spent Friday hopping from the Starbucks on campus doing work to taking many a campus tour of a University I more or less grew up visiting weekly, so when the work day was done I was beat.  Naturally, I took out my stress on a plate of nachos and with a side of good company.  Saturday morning, cousin, my aunt, and some of her friends laced up for a 7 mile run around the campus I had visited the day before.  I cannot express how thankful I was for this run.

Running is such a unique activity.  There’s not that feels quite like it.  Lately, I have found myself aching to just run when I’m standing still.  All of the anxiety, stress, and frustration that is building up within me makes me want to just launch into a sprint.  I could have run forever on Saturday.  My legs were energized, I had an appropriate carbo-load via nachos/taco dip, and the conversation was amazing.  Being able to unplug my brain and just move was all I could have asked for.

I headed back home on Sunday morning and sat on the flight reflecting on where my head has been these past couple of weeks.  Truthfully, I have been viewing fitness as an outlet more than anything else.  I have so many goals I’m working towards in other areas of my life, I don’t really have time to focus on any in my gym life.  And, I’m okay with that.

Because I’m not wrapped up in my daily performance on my runs, lifts, or aesthetics, I treat my gym time as brain time.  I can watch a mindless show or listen to a podcast while on the treadmill or doing weights and that is what I need right now.  I have goals in my fitness life that I’m eager to crush in a couple months, but right now, I have to focus my energies elsewhere.  The gym is just my daily mental break.

I’m very thankful that fitness is fluid.  The day I realized that every workout didn’t have to be better than the last was one of the best days I’ve had.   Knowing that my workouts can be challenging during the week, but recovery days are just as important was a fact that took me longer to learn than I care to admit.

All this being said, I’m not just throwing away my progress.  No, I’m focusing on just maintaining for now.  I’ll throw in some speed workouts and heavier days now and then, but for now my drive has to be refocused on the real world.

By the end of next week, I will have been in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Georgia, North Carolina, Illinois, Indiana, and Texas all within a months span.  Needless to say, I am crazy.  And I’m busy. One may venture to say I am crazy busy as well.  There’s a time and a place for goals and right now, my goal is to stay afloat.  By no means am I throwing away any hardwork, just restructuring how I’m going after it.

-sj