One Year Later…What I’ve Learned
I recently found my first running post in my Facebook memories. I knew it was coming up soon, and I am rather disappointed that I am not further along in my journey. I was certain I would’ve run a full 5K by now. So I took some time to review the past twelve months and figure out why. There were three things that stood out to me:
Injuries: Oddly enough, everything that happened was on my left side. I tweaked my left knee cap enough to keep me from running even though I could still walk fine. That set me back at least eight weeks if not more. I broke two toes on my left foot (two different instances) which added about a week of no running. I also pulled my left hamstring just enough for it to hurt when I ran. The silver lining to all this is none of it was major…all were pretty minor issues.
Interrupted: I started 75HARD this past April, and it was a great experience for me. I’m so glad I did it (and am continuing through the LiveHard program), but it did derail me with regards to my running goals. Doing two workouts per day every day for 75 days is wearying. So I often did the exercise which took the least amount of effort to be able to cross both workouts off my list of to-do’s. Running wasn’t always on that list. Additionally, on days I was away from the house for much of the day, by the time I got home our new lab puppy would need to get out of his kennel and get some human contact. My next workout needed to be something I could do at home with him nearby, so that was typically the stationary bike. Additionally, that was the go-to workout if weather was bad but I still needed to do my outside workout. I could take it out on our covered back porch and get that workout done. So running goals were unintentionally and unexpectedly set aside during 75HARD.
I didn’t push myself: With my workouts I level up when things get “easy”. But there were times I stayed at a particular level for other reasons. Maybe the time frame needed for a workout fit what was available in my schedule (ex: I could do my 5K training in the 30-minute time slot before taking my daughter to school). Maybe I convinced myself this was as much as I could do, or that my injuries were worse than they actually were. I have to recognize, however, that the times I have pushed myself harder than I thought I could go have been so much more rewarding than the times I just kept maintaining the status quo.
So now what? What do I do with this information? I can’t just know this and sweep it under the proverbial rug…I have to do something with it. Based on what I know, I get to make choices about what I’ve done thus far. I get ask myself three questions:
Is what I’m currently doing getting me closer to my goals?
No.
Am I becoming a better runner?
No.
Am I losing the weight I want to lose?
No.
While the answers to all these questions is no, what I’ve been doing wasn’t a complete waste of time. Scraping everything I’ve been doing isn’t the answer, but I do need to make some changes. I need to decide what’s most important to me, running a 5K or completing 75HARD. This doesn’t need to be an either-or decision, but perhaps some form of both-and, pausing one for a season to accomplish the other, then coming back to accomplish the one put on pause.
I get to choose what I’m going to eat or not eat, what I’m willing as well as unwilling to forego in order to lose weight. I get to decide how hard I’m willing to work to build muscle and core strength. I get to choose what my time frame is, how fast or slow I will work. I get to decide to reboot other goals I’ve paused or nix them altogether.
When nothing is working and it’s all because of me, that’s great news. If I’m the problem, that also means I’m the solution. All it takes is one decision. The choice is mine to make. And I’ll be off and running again.
