Tag: running

Priorities

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Every moment we are making decisions that reflect our priorities. We may not always realizing that’s what is happening, but it’s true.

As I worked on my goals and priorities for 2023, I asked myself these 2 questions.

Do I want to be skinny or healthy?
Do I care more about how my body looks or what my body can do?

We’ve been led to believe that being skinny is a sign of health. That’s not always true. I personally have known skinny people who struggle with high cholesterol and blood pressure.

I have this crazy goal in my life to live until at least 120 – and fully functional. Yeah yeah, I know. I’m crazy. But, I’m trying to live my life in a way that will get me there.

It’s been a struggle for me to lose weight over the last few years. Even with all my working out and eating healthy, I managed to end 2022 with 0 lbs lost. Clearly my body is not responding to what I’ve been doing – or maybe it doesn’t need to lose weight.

Why was I trying to lose weight? Well, I guess it started off with wanting to feel good and be confident. Over the course of 2022, I was feeling good. While I was confident on my body’s capabilities, I wasn’t feeling good with how it looked. My husband constantly disagrees with me on this (isn’t he a 💎?).

I had to dig deep and be honest with myself. losing weight was about looking a certain way. But why? Who said that certain way is a sign of beauty, or even health? The expectations and desires I had weren’t about me, but others. It was more about an image than fulfillment.

So, inline with my focus on ”being” over “doing”, I had to ask myself those questions to force myself to get some sense and wisdom. I needed to change my mindset. The online fitness group I’m a part of knows this about me because I was trying to not care about my weight, but it kept on bugging me. What I was doing wasn’t working.

I want to be healthy and I want to accomplish physical feats, like running a 50k trail race. Losing weight does not fit in with these goals.

Since Jan 2, I’ve been increasing my daily calorie intake because I learned I was chronically under eating. Running may appear to be a solo sport, but it isn’t. I was able to find a great coach and am training according the plan.

I’ve gained 3 lbs. I looked at the scale and smiled. It felt sooooo good to not give a 💩 what the scale said. I already feel so much stronger on my runs and my confidence in being able to complete an ultra marathon increases with each day.

My body is healing from the damage of chronic under eating (especially while training). I’m confident my body will do what it needs to do to support my training as long as I fuel it properly and do all the things to support my body – like rest and fun.

Why am I telling you this? Because I wanted to and I can. Because someone may read this and reevaluate what their priorities are. Maybe someone who’s been trying to live up to an image society portrays as superior comes to realize they aren’t being fulfilled.

This is YOUR life. The expectations you have are placed there by YOU. Make sure those expectations align with your purpose and goals. Society will go on whether you play their game or not.

Play the game you want to play. You’ll find others playing the same game as you. It’s more fun to play with those people than playing a game just because “that’s what everyone else is doing.”

Be you, boo!

10 Mile Trail Run

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Today I ran my longest trail run and it was tough. It’s a technical trail with lots of climbing, downhills, roots, and winding paths. But I enjoyed it.

As I hear up for my 2023 races, which I’ll be announcing soon, I’m also testing out fuel options. I highlight a few in this journal.

Enjoy!

Lift, Stretch, & Fuel

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Saturday, the day of the race, wound up being a busy day. As the day went on, I could feel my muscles tightening up. Running on grass and sand really pushes your muscles more than running on pavement. I did some light stretching, but it wasn’t enough.

Yesterday I went for a light 2-mile run to get my legs loosened up and spent 15 minutes after stretching.

I wasn’t sore from the race, but I was definitely tight. I could feel my hamstrings tightening, so I made sure to show my legs some love by taking a 20-minute epsom salt bath. Then, before I went to bed, I stretched for about 20 minutes. I was on my bedroom floor stretching my IT band when my husband asked me if I was still stretching and why I was stretching so much.

Previously running10 marathons and being a certified running coach, I’m coming into this fully aware of how to train for endurance races without breaking my body – which ultimately improves this whole experience.

This time around, there are areas I’m giving as much attention as my running.

Cross-train, stretch, and fuel.

I’ve made a plan and written it down. My half-marathon training schedule is underway and part of that is giving as much attention to my strength, flexibility, and nutrition.

Today was leg day! I have a home gym in my garage and have weights, so I used the Leg Day workout from A Little Obsessed on Beachbody On Demand with trainer, Autumn Calabrese. It was 30 minutes of intense back-to-back weighted leg exercises that included sliders – talk about a simple way to intensifier an exercise.

After the workout, I took another 20 minutes to stretch my legs and followed my workout up with a vegan protein shake from the Shakeology line. I have a training run scheduled for tomorrow, so I’m hoping that all the stretching, massaging, and fueling help prevent delayed onset muscle soreness.

So, whether you are a beginner, intermediate, or advanced endurance runner, know that having a well-rounded training plan that includes strength training, stretching, and proper fueling will drastically help your performance and enhance your experience – as well as prevent injury.

Until next time,

First Race of 2022

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I ran a trail race as part of my training plan on January 1. It was half of a half, so it came out to 6.75 miles. It didn’t take long for the reminder that trail running is a different experience from running on the road. I ran on grass and soft sand for about 75% of the race – the remaining was on hard sandy road. My legs felt heavy for most of the run, but my heart was handling it like a trooper, so I pushed myself the entire race. I knew my legs could handle it.

Quarter Marathon Trail Race

Focusing on my posture the entire race, I could feel the effort required from my hips and groin, but with one foot in front of the other, I kept moving forward. My average pace for the race surprised me because of how hard this race felt, but I guess it goes to show just how much I pushed myself.

Although I was focused and determined, I did my best to enjoy the experience. It was my first time there and a beautiful location. I didn’t take as many pictures as I would have liked to (considering how beautiful it was), but I did get a few so I had something to remember the experience.

I did have an extra treat by having my daughters and their friend run the 5k race, so I had company before and after the race – and pictures and video of my finish.

I finished the race with a full heart, sandy shoes, and a runner’s high.

The perfect finish to the first race of the year.

Until next time,

2022 – Here We Come

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3 miles ✅
I’m starting the new year off with a race. I figured it’s a great way to start off 2022 since I’m on a journey to marathon #11.

While this isn’t a resolution – I mean, I did start before the new year – I’m excited about 2022.

2021 was a year that I put all my to-do goals aside and focused on becoming. During a course on leadership and after reading The Love Code, I threw out my mission and vision statements. Not because they are bad but because I wanted to start over. I was limiting my success by focusing on action, instead of being. My goals transformed from things to do to someone I wanted to be. And that was what I’ve been working on all year.

Ironically, I accomplished some pretty awesome goals – without it even being on my list. Funny how that happens. I learned it in a book I read and can now confidently say, who you are matters more than what you do because what you do comes from who you are. When you focus on becoming you will be successful 100% of the time because you have control over that.

None of this changes going into the new year. I continue to focus on who I am – and it is priority. But I do have some goals that are task oriented, so it’ll be interesting to see how I balance that. To be honest, I’m better prepared for it now because of the intentionality behind focusing on my being instead of my doing – mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, and physically.

In 2022 I want to be more peaceful and hopeful.

How about you?

Face it, Change it

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2015 was a year where I had to face and confront severe levels of deception and betrayal. Denial was the name of the game for several years. I chose the path of denial because I knew that admitting reality would blow up my life.

Thankfully, even when I didn’t deserve it, God led me down a path of surrender. Within me grew a desire for change, so I did what I knew – I fasted for 21 days. Those days were the beginning of my transformation and although I heard the voice of God lead me, it wasn’t easy. Honestly, it was the start of a war I had avoided for years.

One thing I knew was that to get past it, I had to go through it – and that meant feeling all the feels – including the ones I suppressed for years.

I felt like an idiot and a doormat. I was embarrassed and ashamed. I was angry and bitter. I was relieved and free. My emotions were on a rollercoaster ride through hell. Although I can’t say I enjoyed it, I can say that it was absolutely essential to get to where I am today.

On my run today I was listening to Dr. Caroline Leaf’s podcast called Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess. It’s titled after her latest book. Unless I’m on an intense speed or interval run, I listen to teaching because I love to learn. It’s usually a toss-up between Dr. Leaf, N.T. Wright, and Harold Eberle. If I’m looking for inspiration, I may listen to Bill Johnson or Kris Vallaton.

Back to today’s run. The podcast was about passive-aggressive traits, and although there’s so much I could say about that, this journal entry is about a statement that Dr. Leaf made that goes along with what I had to deal with in 2015.

“You can’t change what you won’t face.”

Dr. Carolina Leaf

Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to form and reorganize synaptic connections, especially in response to learning or experience or following injury. Essentially, it’s what we normal folks would call “rewiring” the brain. It’s a real thing and it’s possible.

But, the way to activate your brain so that it becomes “moldable” is to recognize and acknowledge something. So, in order to change something about ourselves, we must acknowledge it and deal with it. Only then, are we able to begin “rewiring”.

Renewing our mind is something that most, if not all Christians, are aware of. The way it’s taught in so many places makes it seem like it’s a mystical process that requires a deep level of spirituality and memorization of the Scriptures. But, the truth is, even many who have intentionally memorized Scripture to have it ready when the mind goes places it shouldn’t, still struggle.

I don’t want to take away the spiritual aspect of renewing the mind and having the mind of Christ, because one must believe/trust in Jesus to receive His empowerment (Holy Spirit). However, I’d be lacking in teaching if I didn’t address that changing and renewing our minds is not up to Holy Spirit, but up to us. He empowers us. I honestly don’t know how people without Jesus do it. But His empowerment does not equal control. He won’t change our minds and thoughts for us.

Holy Spirit gives us the empowerment and strength to change our minds but make the choice to – well, that’s on us.

Dr. Leaf teaches a lot on this and I find her material to be phenomenal. Below is a link to the podcast I heard today for reference if you want to dive in a bit deeper. It’s available on YouTube and all your favorite podcast apps.

But, the summary of today is – You can’t change what you won’t face.

So, friend, face that thing you’ve been avoiding. You’ll never get past it if you don’t.

much love,

AJ