“Happiness is the default state of mind. So when the mind becomes calm and clear, it returns to its default, and that default is happiness. That is it. There is no magic; we are simply returning the mind to its natural state.
…happiness is not something you pursue; it is something you allow. Happiness is just being.”
Re-reading this insight from the book Search Inside Yourself by Chad Meng-Tan is motivating me to make sure I don’t forget to meditate today, like I have the last two days. Even just two minutes is fantastic!
A quiet moment helping my muscles recover in cold mountain river water on a hot day
Morning Stats
Yang/firing up:
gave myself a high-five in the mirror (idea came from Mel Robbins’ book The High 5 Habit)
“We humans like gritty hard work, because gritty hard work provides better long-term survival benefits. And if we can tap into that, we can fundamentally change the quality of our life.
While grit requires more energy and emotional fortitude in the short run, it provides a much bigger boost in mood and motivation in the long run.”
3 x 11, 9, 8 (28 total) My most-ever (strict) pullups in a row is 16, before I had my baby almost five years ago. My new goal, as a fresh 40 year-old, is 20 in a row – hoping this 4-5 days a week consistency will get me there.
a bit more strength training and a one hour run with plyometric drills
Getting creative getting those morning pull-ups in
Yin/cooling down:
20 minute yoga/stretch/trigger point therapy work
Morning mantra: “I’m grateful for this day. I will use my time wisely.”
(Forgot to meditate again – gotta work on that!)
Evening Update
One hour mobility/strength combo session with Higher Ground Athletics
2 minute meditation
Legs up the wall with cups on them (while playing a giraffe game with my kid!)
Feeling grateful/hopeful that the Achilles tendinitis I’ve had for three months (that I thought was plantar fasciitis) is starting to finally go away!
After five minutes of being harnessed in and looking 75 feet down, my heart raced and my palms sweated. I felt scared – very scared – but leaving the platform via the stairs wasn’t an option…
I was committed to the jump. it was just a matter of gathering the courage.
How did I know in my mind I would do it? Because leaving one’s comfort zone is like a muscle – the more you do it, the easier it gets, even if it still feels difficult.
Ever since moving across the country as a teenager to accept an athletic scholarship to a college where I knew nobody, I’ve slowly gotten comfortable feeling uncomfortable – a skill that has consistently helped me to conquer fear and live a fuller life.
Think of all the brave things you’ve done in life.What’s the next scary thing on your list?
A limiting belief I’ve told myself for over a decade is that I can’t run high mileage without getting injured. (I started to try once, when I first got to college, and…got injured, with a stress fracture, after increasing from 25 miles a week in high school to 50 miles a week, within less than four months).
Three months ago, when covid wiped all of my races off the calendar for a few months, I figured it was time to go for it again, using all the information I’ve gathered over the years from reading running books, and observing my training and others’.
“What did I have to lose?” I figured.
This week’s training stats of 80 miles of running (along with 53 miles of biking and a couple hours of strength training) exceeded my goal of hitting a 65 mile week (after hovering around 45-50 most of my athletic career).
Looping through trails may not lead to a cure for cancer, (though I am learning quite a bit about cool topics like neuroscience, social psychology, grit, and motivation from my self-help audiobooks), but it has allowed me to expand what I think is possible, a discovery I’m confident will flow over into other parts of my life in a positive way, and inspire my daughter, too.
And while this piece of running mileage is setting me up for a potentially excellent season, if I get so fortunate as to safely have one), it’s done that much more than that for me. It has proven to me that I can focus and get more organized than I thought I could, resulting in accomplishing more than I thought possible (at least for the disorganized, monkey-minded, stress fracture-prone me, who, even if her body could handle the mileage wasn’t sure her mind could).
Tips for increasing mileage:
only increase mileage by no more than 10% each week (so if you run 30 miles in one week, only add up to three more miles the following week)
so the two weeks up, one week down method: incrementally increase your mileage for two weeks by 10% each week, and then decrease by 20% for a week before building on to the previous weeks total by 10%
proactively schedule and self-care, such as dynamic stretching before your run, static stretching after, doing mobility work, foam rolling, and putting your feet up the wall
eat plenty of nutrient-dense food and always have a water bottle nearby for adequate hydration
And if you start to feel rundown, in the words of my Georgetown track coach, “When in doubt, take a nap“ or a day off from running.
