Motivation Monday: Shutdown

I figured out how to add my stats to a photo!

This week the shutdown really started to get to me. We are not as bad off as some other families but it is definitely affecting our moods and our spending habits. And we have our own sort of survival guilt over the things we have to be thankful for, because other people don't have some of those things.

I'm continuing with my training for my spring races. Every day I say to myself that I could be using the time for one more hour of work that could make us a little more money. But then I say to myself that the race registrations are already paid for, so not training and then not being able to run the races would be a waste of money. And, realistically, my brain needs that hour off from writing and emails and worry.

If you see someone running or working out, in real life or on social media, don't roll your eyes and wonder why they're doing that when they should be working / parenting / whatever else you think they should be doing. Twenty-three hours out of the day, they may be doing those other things, plus hopefully getting some sleep. A lot of us are hustling right now for a variety of reasons. Give people their hour to run and shower. And examine how much time you're spending on social media before you question someone else's use of time.

Winter is socked in here. I did get outside this week and I plan to whenever it's feasible. I also finally figured out the trick of getting your running stats printed on the bottom of your photo. This has eluded me for years and it may be a small thing, but I'm tickled by it.

I'm not a huge treadmill fan but I'm warming up to it and can do about an hour if I have a good podcast to listen to. I've said this before, but one thing I will never do is call it the "dreadmill." I will also never use the term "junk miles" to refer to any run. Using negative terms puts my mind into failure mode before I've even started the run. I'm reframing it as a mental challenge. This is what has to be done in order to get in the training I need or the workout I need. It should be no different than any other workout that I'm not in the mood for. Why should I put an additional layer of negativity on it?

Thanks to those treadmill miles I reached my goal for this week, and a little extra because I felt good.

Motivation Monday: Five Trail Races Between March and May

The whole family got muddy on New Year's Day, me trail running
and Mike and Muffin mountain biking.

Last year I ran around somewhat aimlessly, just trying to recover from injury while still wanting to run the Army Ten Miler. I had no real training plan, other than going to my chiropractor regularly and making sure to do yoga and strength training. After a Did Not Finish at the Blessing ten-mile race in Narragansett in July, I was more determined to pay attention to my injury and caring for it. I also started looking at my diet, too. I absolutely did not have to lose weight and that was not my goal. However, eating a little healthier has not only given me strength for injury recovery and running more, but jeans and t-shirts that were beginning to feel uncomfortably tight started feeling comfortable again.

With injury prevention and running more in mind, I came to the realization that I was bored running on roads. Last spring I'd started seeking out trails to run on a regular basis and began enjoying it more than my road runs. The slower pace seems to suit my aging body without exacerbating injuries. So I started looking at trail races in the area. I found that Virginia has tons of them. After doing a bit of research, I decided to sign up for The North Face Endurance Challenge half-marathon distance at the end of April. Once I signed up for that, Facebook started advertising even more trail races in my feed. They are all so tempting. When I came across the Backyard Burn trail race series, I saw that they had a five-mile option for each of the four races. Three of the races occur before TNFEC so I thought that shorter races would give me the feel for trail racing without taxing my training at all. So I signed up for all four in the series during the early registration discount period. The last one is the weekend after TNFEC. I figure even if I'm still exhausted from the half marathon the weekend before, I can still fast walk it within the time limit and get my series finisher prize.

Weekly and yearly mileage as of
Saturday, January 5

January is my base mileage month. I'm already eating tons of food and taking naps at every chance. I'm setting small goals and taking it day by day. I'm doing a lot of yoga. I'm managing my time and planning and prepping meals as much as I can.

I don't plan on running the Army Ten Miler this year. After three years I'm ready to try something else. There's a fall Backyard Burn series as well. Maybe by then I'll be ready to run all four of them at the ten-mile distance rather than five.

For now, it's one day at a time. Run, eat, sleep, repeat. Work and parent and be a good partner in between those, too.