Racing takes a lot out of the body, so I spent much of today giving it a chance to rest and recharge, with the only “exercise” being racing Taylor up and down the playground ladder while she used the slide.
Morning Stats
Yang/firing up:
high-five in the mirror
stood on one leg while brushing teeth, to activate glutes
cold shower
Yin/cooling down:
morning mantra: “My body is rested and my mind is clear. Today’s going to be a great day.”
“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!
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.
