Month: November 2018

Working Out is Hard

If you ask me to run 10 miles in any direction, sure. I can do it.

Ask me to do burpees for 30 seconds and, well… I can do it, but I won’t like it.

My heart rate is just maxed, my shoulders and arms hurt, I’m probably sweating everywhere.

And I know this is why I need to do more working out stuff. Like I said, I can run comfortably for 10 miles. I can bang up some hills, even do a little speed here and there.

Push ups? Leg scissors? Squat jumps? Kill me now.

As Seth Godin recently wrote in “A note from 2030“:

“Twelve years from now, your future self is going to thank you for something you did today, for an asset you began to build, a habit you formed, a seed you planted.”

Dammit, he’s right.

I started running in 2016, and today in 2018 I am super thankful I started then! I really need to honor that note from 2030, and get doing more work out / cross training / weight lifting.

Empty Roads

The end of the week got busy. A Thursday night drive to my friends was thrown off the rails when my rides car broke down. I eventually got where I was going, and Friday was so good. Lots of pizza, good people, and maybe a one too many drinks, but whatever, it all worked out.

Slept maybe five hours on Friday night in Saturday. Had a funeral to attend in the morning, as my aunts husband of some 29 years passed away. Went out to lunch afterwards, then a long drive back home.

I had missed two runs at this point. I was so tired from only sleeping five hours there was no way I could that evening. I fell asleep at about 7pm, I think. I can’t even remember.

Woke up stupid early on Sunday and watched the NYC Marathon which was pretty horrible on ESPN (check out Nicole Bush’s live blog for a good wrap-up). Shalane Flanagan had an awesome pass to take third (and became the “first American woman to make the podium two consecutive times since Kim Jones in 1989 and 1990 with back-to-back second place finishes”).

Afterwards I set out for a long run because, well, it’s Sunday! It was in the 50s, no breeze, and the smells of Autumn in the air. I ran to street where I saw an apartment for rent, just to get a feel for the area (turns out it was a decent area). Then I ran to an pond to run around the dirt trail around it, which then snuck up to a nice paved uphill. Not fast, but felt strong.

Retraced my route coming home, which I never like doing. Turned out the street was closed to traffic because of a parade. There were people on the side of the street, all sitting around, waiting for the parade. And then there was me. On an empty street, which is usually bustling with traffic.

I picked up my pace, into the 9s, which is fast for me! I think it was the fear of being caught by the parade, but that totally didn’t happen. I ran, and kept running, and found more blocked off roads. It was just me, and a completely empty road, with people lining the street.

It wasn’t quite on par with today’s NYC Marathon, but I did hear someone say, “nice day for a run.”

Such a nice run that I didn’t stop to take photos. Hell, I didn’t stop. I kept going, just one foot in the front of the other.

ALSO: This is my third or fourth run in my new New Balance 880v8s, after wearing out my HOKA ONE ONE Bondi 5s, and wow… I mean, I know there was some extra cushion in those HOKAs, but I love the feeling of a more “neutral” shoe these days! I got the HOKAs after my back injury earlier this year, at the direction of my doctor. After many hours of stretching and running, though, I feel great in these new shoes. Quite honestly I don’t know much about any of the different types of shoes, but hey, that’s why you got to a local running shop for guidance (can’t believe everything you read on the internet)!

Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance

Finishing a half-marathon has made me curious. If you would have asked me back in 2016 if I would have signed up for running for over two hours, I would have said heck no! But I did it, at a pace I didn’t think I could maintain. I used some tricks from ‘Endure,’ namely smiling.

Yes, somehow smiling tricks your brain into thinking things are alright.

I mean, you still need to train. I still needed to put in the work, and eat right, and stretch twice a day, but in the middle of all that chilly, windy running, well… smiling helped.

Visualization was something I’ve been doing for awhile, too, something I picked up from Jen Sincero’s ‘You Are a Badass at Making Money‘ (maybe I’ll write more about that book later). I envisioned the last few miles, running a good, steady pace, and feeling good. I imagined smiling at mile 11, 12, and cruising into the finish – and it happened.

Like I said, you need to do the work, but this was a fun read. There’s a lot going on inside that brain of ours, and this book helps you unlock a bit of the mystery inside our heads. [Amazon]