WARNING: This could be a long one.
Yes, I am still here. Not very active on here because well, I haven’t exactly been active.. BUT I have been (we’ll get to that more in a bit).
So, here is what I think happened. After a long, almost two year straight journey with running, I think I burnt out. That was it. I just became burnt out. After doing the 30 Day Yoga challenge, I did end up getting into yoga more. I still continue to do yoga to this day on days where I just don’t feel like doing cardio. Let me tell you: I have seen some positives while doing yoga more often, particularly in my core area. Yay!
While I got into yoga more, I drifted away from running, although I didn’t completely stop. I really didn’t, I still run. Just.. not as often as I’d like.
I found that with all the apps, the charts, the miles, and the blog posts – let me go back to it – I just got burnt out. I needed a break. Simple as that. I can only keep constant track of my running for so long until I realized that it was stressing me out. I suddenly kept comparing myself in every single workout, and thought I didn’t do my best. Didn’t run fast enough? Didn’t do my best. Didn’t run as much miles? Didn’t do my best. Gotta work harder. Gotta be better. My mind became clouded with so much negativity from within myself that I decided to put running in the back of my mind.
But I stayed active. I swam, did yoga, went on the bike, lifted weights, and did my favorite HIIT running workout on the treadmill. The thing is, I just didn’t work out as often as I liked.
After gaining about 5 lbs. (WHY??), I realized running is what kept me truly active, My workouts were organized, I always made sure I had time. It’s time to get back into shape and get back into the routine. However, I realized I should go about this a whole different route.
Since my hiatus, I’ve come up with some ideas that I will need to, if I have not already, implement:
1) NO MORE KEEPING TRACK OF MY TIMES. This means no more apps. No RunKeeper, nothing. While it was cool to know how far I’ve come when I got back to running, it suddenly became daunting when I’d see my times slip, or my miles go lower. I realized I wasn’t running just to run and have fun, I was running for the stats, and that wasn’t fun. I haven’t tracked a run – or any workout – since April, and it feels damn good to not give a damn how I do every single little workout. Sure, when I sign up for races, I’d still like to place a good time, and I think those are the only times I’d actually post up and compare my progress, but I think my goals at any race would just be to run and finish strong. If I happen to finish at a good time, that’s a bonus! i think I’ve come far enough that I am confident in my abilities – I can run X amount of miles, I can do this – there’s no need to prove to myself otherwise.
2) Watch what I eat. I’ve been eating too much good stuff lately, – that means, easy stuff. I’ve eaten one too many DiGiorno pizzas for dinner because I got lazy. Time to keep that habit to at least only 2x a month! I also need to start bringing lunch to work more often – it’s less tempting to go out and overeat on something when I know I have a good lunch! This means I also need to start being more mindful of what I can bring, so I know I won’t wimp out and just buy something later on.
3) Get back to working out 5x a week. This is where I’ve slipped up and I am now suffering the consequences. While yoga has helped build my core, I can’t do it alone – cardio is what kicks my butt, and helps keep me in shape. I will need to implement short yoga sessions into my short workouts to still reap some of the benefits. Or.. relaxing yoga on my rest days wouldn’t be too bad too. 🙂
I’m writing, once again, in this blog to remind myself that I need to get back to it. It was fun while it lasted, but now, Fall is coming.. which means, races are coming up – and a LOT of them. I initially wanted to do another half marathon this Fall, but because of finances (by the way, I FINALLY GOT A NEW CAR IN MAY!) as well as lack of training, I think I will be sticking to the smaller distances. I’m sure I’ll still get some pretty medals along the way.
So here we go – I’M BACK!
Till next time,
P.
Running To Ramble 