Fun run in the snow

RUN: 10 miles in 1:36


I keep thinking its January already. But no, this is that in betweener week between xmas and new year’s. Seems like a good time to take stock of 2011, see where I am for 2012, and get things in order.

It snowed overnight, first snow of the season! And since the Tuesday run is still new, only two other peeps planned to go and they both couldn’t make it. So I was on my own. On top of this, my right ankle felt out of place all day yesterday. Perfect! No fartleks on a potential problem ankle, and solitude to do some thinking.

One thing I’m gung-ho about for 2012 is getting my life back in order. Or perhaps more specifically, getting my life back to ME. Sounds selfish, doesn’t it? But I’ve spend the past 12 months putting a lot of energy into other people and now it’s my turn. With my promises to the club substantially reduced, with the holidays over, and with a renewed energy I spend most of the run mulling things over.

First off, my nutrition waxes and wanes, good to horrible, on key to off the charts. This can be day to day! As an example, yesterday was a nightmare. Very few foods were in the house, leaving me to pick through for breakfast and lunch. Once I went shopping, I came up and damn near binged. I was hungry for real food and suddenly I had it! Everything I eat is healthy, but I can’t say that it was necessary. By the time I went to bed, I felt miserable.

And then today I woke up feeling sick. Hours into today, I still feel less than ideal. Eat shit, feel like shit. Seems pretty simple, doesn’t it?

I’m still doing the Whole30 thing, but coasting through it. I’m not really putting energy into it. So for the new year, I’d like to just start over and give it some gas. See where it goes. I’ve also found some raw recipes to test with my soon-to-arrive dehydrator sheets!

My training stalled out a bit, but I can blame the holidays for some of that. I broke it down into sports. Swimming is going great, 8500y/week and a private lesson planned. I’m doing lots of quantity, but I need to be sure it’s quality. Biking is suffering, it’s hard to be motivated to sit on a trainer! But I decided to switch to videos and pre-planned workouts, instead of 45min tv shows. Running hit a 20mi/week plateau that I’d like to break. I run 3x/week, and it’s sorted out into speed, tempo, long. But I’m only doing 6-7mi/run. I miss long runs! (Hence today—a long run!). I have a race at the end of January that I’d like to PR on, so a good goal for January is to keep building speed over long distances.

So overall, training is on track. It just needs some non-holiday time and focus. 6 months to CdA!

Finally, work. But that’s a topic we don’t discuss here. I’ll just say that I’m going to put lots of focus there too.

My mind is such a wanderer, jumping from topic to topic. It’d feel good to get my to-do list cleaned up and minimized so this mental energy can be directed to the parts of life that need it.

I enjoyed the run! My toes did too, but they were complaining a bit. Didn’t occur to me until the 1st mile that my Cascadias would have been a good choice in the slick slush. And I really need to retire these Brooks! The mileage log in trainingpeaks has to be wrong (really, only 400 miles in these?!?).

So this non-week will be put to good use. Maybe I can get the few major house projects wrapped before the end of the year? (second coat of paint on the steps, paint ceilings), and maybe I can clear off the 3 or so club projects I’ve promised to do, then I can start the year fresh.

But this week will be a good time to re-evaluate and consider my goals for the year. I’m tired of this “waiting” habit I’ve gotten into.