You're only hearing your heart pound

Two great recovery runs after the steroid block. I got a little lost running from Pierce Mill to the zoo but at least the prairie dogs were awake and I figured out what I did wrong on the way back.  I skipped my morning run yesterday because I woke up with really sore glutes the day after an awesome training session with Nancy and couldn't tell where that was going to go. By evening I felt great and decided to run at Equinox. I realized I hadn't been there in the evening in a few weeks and loved seeing everyone again!

I think we have to be cautious when we look at elite athletes and think for a second we can achieve anything close to what they’ve accomplished.  They train full time and have a team of experts around them making it all happen. (Ok so maybe I have that, too.)

We have to be careful when we’re at GNC looking at supplements or at Whole Foods or City Sports studying the power bar aisle or popping sports jelly beans.  For some of us during a normal work out or even a really tough spin class we’re never going to come close to burning the calories in some of those bars.

But here’s what we can learn from the elites: Whatever they do, they do really really well.  They always warm up, cool down, and stretch.  They don’t cut corners.  If they’re having an off day, which all of us have, they skip their work out, and leave it for another day.

Nancy, my personal trainer, commented to me the other day that she noticed that lately when she would ask me about my run or my swim I’d start off the sentence with, “I was short on time so I couldn’t do….” Or “I was meeting friends so I had to finish early.” 

Hmmm.  She let me come to my own conclusion.  If I’m cutting my run short am I also cutting short my warm up and cool down? Am I stretching?

I’m probably cutting short my cool down and my stretching in order to get in a few miles.

“Or you could tell your friends you can’t meet them.”

She read my mind.

A wake up call for me, especially now as I’ve had such a positive result from my epidural steroid block.  After a solid week of recovery, I’ve reintroduced weights and strength training and I’m easing back into running. 

I don’t have the constant burning in my glutes.  Now they’re sore after a hard workout just like everyone else.  I don’t want to blow it by knowing what I need to do but frequently forgetting.  If I can’t give my workout my full attention, I am better off skipping it.

My sister in law was visiting me this weekend, and we talked about this.  She says she sometimes will leave her yoga class before it’s ended so she can get to an appointment.

“I know I shouldn’t skip the cool down at the end of the class,” she told me. “I just feel like it’s better to get in something.”

We’ve been at this together from the beginning, about a year and half ago, and both of us have come so far.  She’s lost so much weight and feels so much better about everything.

It's not better to get in something.

We agreed we need to be better at keeping our focus on what we need and not what we want. 

Not so easy.

But yeah so worth the effort.

See you next time!