I Love Extremes & a Solution.

Back to back long runs—>  I get to do the first long run of the week with Andrew on the trails which makes it easy to get myself out there because I am excited.  The hard part of this training for me is going out for another longer than normal run the next day when I am tired from the previous day.

Solution = Run crazy early for the second run.  I don’t think I woke up until mile 8 which meant I didn’t think about being tired from the previous day.

9 miles @ 8:22 average with a group of friends.  Next week our back to back long runs are a 14 miler followed by a 10-12 miler.  We’ve got this.

Another solution for me to get in these second long runs is what Deena Kastor calls Strategic Joy in her book.  PS if you haven’t read this book yet, you need to… it helped me so much to finally get that sub 3.

I want to be an ultra runner and I am creating that runner with each back to back long run/each hill I need to hike up in training/each cold day I want to quit but don’t… my present moment needs to look like my dream if I want to get to that dream.  ‘I could be the creator of that moment.’  I can create joy in the second long run or the really hard parts of training for this ultra.

What do you want to be?  Are you living that way moment to moment?  <— I’ve been asking myself this question for so many different parts of life lately.

In this chapter she talked about a few things she did to help during the tough spots of training and how she created good things in the moments of her training:

*She approached them playfully (things like she would say ‘CHARGE’ to herself when going up a big hill).

*She got rid of the excuses (something I tried with my last marathon training cycle and it helped SO much)… excuses are pointless and they take us the opposite way of where we want to go.

*Visualizations (i.e. ‘I took deep, energizing breaths. I imagined the oxygen relieving the fatigue and gave the finishing stretch more effort’).

*She focused on random things like matching the rhythm of her ponytail bouncing to her cadence.

*She put herself in a mindset of enjoyment (like her breakfast routine of a scone and the newspaper before her long run or truly enjoying the conversations with her teammates during the run).

I did some weights after my run in my bathroom because it was the only place that I was positive I wouldn’t wake up anybody.  I’m still following Megan’s strength for runners program about one time a week but I need to get back up to 2-3 times a week because I think that is going to help me a lot on race day.

I love extremes.  Run, weights, breakfast/water guzzling, shower, wash hair, emails, kids up and to school on time… and then many days I live on the other extreme: wake up 15 minutes before school starts, run at lunch time, take a shower before dinner, avoid washing hair even when I really need to…

Why live in the middle of the spectrum when I clearly enjoy living on the far ends more.

Andrew went out for his run a bit later and at 5 miles it started snowing really hard so he came home for an extra layer and a buff.

Skye has been practicing standing on her own a lot lately.  She gets the biggest grin afterwards because she is so proud of herself.

A few other new fun facts about Skye, she now growls at me (frequently) and string cheese is happiness for her (I’ll work on teaching her the proper way to eat string cheese).

This has been one of my favorite snacks lately.  It gets me to eat vegetables during the day which is not something I usually snack on.

Carrots as the vehicle to get delicious guacamole into my mouth.

Skye had her 1 year appointment with the dr and Knox didn’t want to be in the room with her during her shots so I took one for the team and joined him in the waiting room… Andrew stayed with her and I’m happy I got to avoid seeing that situation.

Dinner, homework, bedtime and the normal routine before going to a Favorite Things party.

Have you ever been to these before?  Everyone brings 3 gifts (each of the gifts that you bring is the same) of their favorites things to give away and you have a drawing to see who gets your 3 gifts and what 3 gifts you take home with you.

A few of us stayed super late… I left at ELEVEN PM (I don’t remember the last time I did that;):

We also each brought some of our favorite treats.  I ran out of time to make anything so I picked up some Crumbl cookies.

Chocolate Chip, Muddy Buddy, Reese’s Peanut Butter Chip, Peppermint Bark and Red Velvet Delight:

It was a very delicious night.

—————————————————————————————————————

Have any work parties/Friend parties/Ugly sweater parties/family parties coming up?  If you are working right now, what does your work do for the holidays?

What’s something you do to create joy in your running (on the hard days and/or the easy days)?

Anything that you do to get in more vegetables during your day?

-Dip them in guacamole and they are delicious.  

What would you bring to a favorites party (you can spend around $10)?

-I took Victoria Secret Lip Gloss, Trader Joe’s face masks (they feel so so good) and the chocolate covered Joe Joe’s from TJ’s (I wish I could have taken three pairs of new running shoes;).  I received Kodiak Cakes (dark chocolate), a cool dish cleaner, Chic-Fil-A gift card and a cookie shop gift card.  I’ll have my friend send me the list of everything that was at the party!