Delusions of Grandeur

Greetings!

This is starting out as a rough week for me.  I try to maintain a healthy self-esteem.  I consider myself to be generally modest and humble most of the time.  Somehow, I manage to maintain and unfounded belief that I am physically capable of all things, with or without appropriate training or practice. With my half marathon date soon approaching, I figured that I should probably get off my ass and start doing some long runs (or any runs).  My last longish run was about 4 miles a couple of weeks ago.  I think I ran ten some time last summer (gulp).

Sunday, I made it out of bed for a group long run.  I lasted for 6 glorious miles.  They were only glorious after the fact of course.  Alas, every cloud has its silver lining.  I had an epiphany.  I need to start running soon and frequently if I want to have any chance of finishing my race without being picked up by the draggin' wagon (which I'm not really above, but I figure I should at least put forth some sort of effort).  I am out of shape.  My conditioning is embarrassing.

Why did I give up cardio again?  Oh yeah, for the muscles.  Running makes you feel good, but lifting makes you look good.  Decisions, decisions.  For now, I have decided to forsake all vanity in order to increase my cardiovascular endurance.  I managed a few more miles on Monday and some unintentional pool based HIIT training today.  Tomorrow is for rest and then back to business on Thursday I suppose. Now I just have to figure out how to avoid eating everything I see.

Onward and upward!

Natasha

Occasionally... Lazy

"People are not lazy. They simply have impotent goals - that is, goals that do not inspire them." -- Tony Robbins

See that face? That face is the face of a girl that is not impressed... with herself. Sure, she was happy to be all self-congratulatory a few weeks ago, writing happy post-race blog recaps about two little races. (Ok, ok... the half marathon was an accomplishment worth celebrating, but that 10K? I barely showed up.) But that girl up there? She has been a lazy sloth ever since that 10K she posted about, and it's about time she live up to it.

The path to laziness started early: After months of preparation for the Star Wars Half Marathon, I told myself that I deserved a break. I had ran over 100 miles in a six week period, and nearly worn out the shoes I bought in early December. Doesn't that call for a break? Well... no. I had a 10K race just one week later, and my lack of training showed! I ran just once during that week between races, and my legs yelled at me for it. I finished, but it was lackluster to say the least. My laziness over the course of one week nearly killed me a week later. 

You'd think this poor performance would motivate me to pick up my training, right? Well... you'd think that. I started working out with a personal trainer the Monday after my 10K. Now, this has been great - I know my trainer very well, and I work out with her and a friend (buddy training) so it's a little more motivating than training on my own. But while those once a week meetings have gone well (we've only gone twice so far), I don't keep up with the intensity for the rest of the week and barely do any running at all. In fact, I only ran 3 miles the first week, and only a mile (!!!) last week. 

Oh, how I wish I wasn't living up to our blog title! Even as I finished my workout tonight, I still couldn't muster the energy to do a short run around the block tonight. Why? I have no idea. Where is my motivation hiding? I have more races planned in 2016 (at least two half marathons, and potentially several 10Ks) - why am I not running? 

I do not want this to be the end of my second running spell - I really like running, and I'd like to continue. I think the only thing that keeps me motivated, however, is a desire to meet some sort of fitness goal. While I do have those half marathons later this year, they're not for a very long time. I'm going to look for a few races between now and then to motivate me to continue (and increase) my training. Will having more goals work? We'll see... but it's worth a shot, right?

How are your exercises going so far in 2016? Still motivated? What's keeping you there? While I'm glad to be lifting weights more in 2016, I already miss my near daily runs. If you have any other ideas or tricks to keep me motivated, I'd love to hear them. Until next time...

Cheers!

Becky

Can't Stop, Won't Stop

I did it.  I finally bit the bullet and signed up for another half marathon.  Apparently the weather gods got wind of this and decided to turn the mild winter that we've been having into the frigid igloo from hell.  Last week we were gifted with an amazing surprise.  Well, maybe I was the only one who was surprised.  I'm talking about the arrival of Snowzilla (Snowmaggedon? Snowpocalypse? I forget which one.)!!!  Yes, the weatherman predicted the storm, but they also said we were getting Sandy and Joaquin and a bunch of other things that, fortunately for us, amounted to little more than a light mist in the air.  Imagine my surprise upon waking up to 30 plus inches of snow!  Now as a native-ish New Mexican, this was the greatest snowfall that I have ever witnessed.   Shortly thereafter, I witnessed something even more awe inspiring:  moms who will not be stopped!

The view up my street after the storm

 The ladies in my running club are insane and they take it as a compliment.  I'm starting to think that they take extreme weather circumstances as a personal challenge.  They certainly would not miss out on a training day just because of a little snow.  I used to be surprised to see pics of ladies running at 4,5,6 AM in 10, 15 or 20 degree weather.  Now it's just something of a new normal.  These badasses were doing treadmill long runs, videos, shoveling, P90X and whatever they could get their hands on to maintain their stamina, endurance, training schedules, and sanity.  Not to be outdone, I got out and shoveled for several hours and clawed my way out of the house to the gym.  You must get out there and you must take a selfie because if it's not posted on FB my friend, then it didn't really happen (I guess that answers the age old question about the tree falling in the woods).   

Digging out!

A week and a half later, the trails are melted (kind of) and not a whole lot safer.  Here's hoping that the 2016 Groundhog's Day prophecy holds for once.  How will you navigate your training setbacks?  What are you doing today to make sure that you get to where you want to go tomorrow, next week, and throughout the year? Let us know.  Until then, happy trails (or treadmills)!

Natasha