As we all know, 2020 has been a mess. There are cancellations galore, ranging from birthday parties, graduations, concerts, sporting events, weddings, and more. Up until recently, in some parts of our country, we could not eat inside a restaurant. This past spring, my son graduated high school, and it was nothing like we have imagined. This fall, his campus is not opening, and he will be attending classes from home. It is all a cluster! It has been stressful, and I have needed an outlet. That outlet is running.
Running is what has gotten me through the hard times. There is nothing more satisfying than completing a training plan and celebrating with a race. A race, hmmm… there certainly has not been a lot of those in the past six months.
Like most other things in my life in 2020, road races have been canceled. My race weekends in Disney World were canceled, as have two local 10ks, three local half marathons, and a half marathon in Vancouver, BC. I know I am not the only one. A lot of my friends are runners and are experiencing the same disappointment. So what do we do now? Call it a day, sit on the couch, and eat cookies? NO! We are runners. We figure it out. Here are four suggestions to get us through these challenging times.
Rediscover your Love of Running
Training is hard. Always training for a race is even more challenging. There is no downtime, and it is day after day of speedwork, drills, hill repeats, intervals, and the long run. Sometimes the love of running disappears in the midst of it all. However, with no races on the horizon, you can take a day, a week, or even a month to run just because you want to and not because you have to check off a box in a training plan. To me, this has been the best part. I am running more now because I love it, and it makes me feel good. These days it is more of I want to run than I have to run.
Do Something that will Improve your Running
Often when I am deep into a training program, other forms of exercise fall by the wayside. I skip out on my strength training. Yoga?? What is that? This is the perfect time to incorporate these things into your routine. Instead of an hour-long run, run 30 mins and then complete 30 mins of strength training. I promise, once you see the benefits of strength training, you will never exclude it from your training plan again.
Try Something New
Perhaps with all the cancellations, the motivation to run is not there. That is okay. Take this opportunity to try something new. I started shadow boxing and loved it.
Challenge Yourself
The race is the reward for a long training cycle. Without that, many people might not see the point in continuing with their training. Instead of throwing that training plan out the window, why not continue and see what goals you can crush despite not having the reward at the end.
Remember, though it may seem like it, this is not forever. Eventually, the virus will pass, and races will resume once again. Until then, eat healthily, move 30 mins a day, stay hydrated, and get plenty of sleep.
Do you travel a lot? We travel quite a bit, more so over the last few years. When I started to travel a bit more frequently, I noticed I would come home and begin to feel like crap. I mean, who has time for that? I have a job and other responsibilities. Over the years, I have tried different things, but these are the tips that have worked for me.
I hope this tips help. I am sure there many others out there and I would love to hear yours. Drop me a line in the comments and share what works best for you.
Has this happened to you? 3:00 pm rolls around and BOOM, you hit a wall? In fact, I am experiencing it right now, and it is the inspiration for this blog post.
I find when I am not doing certain things daily, the witching hour, as I like to call it, hits me like a ton of bricks. I am cranky, tired, and want to go home and to bed. However, 99% of the time, this is not realistic. I usually have an hour or so of work left; I have places to be in the evening, I sometimes still have to get my workout done, make dinner, etc. It can be neverending. It begs the question, how do I move past this and stop feeling this way. It is quite simple. I need to go back to the healthy habits I created a while ago. Here are eight things that I try to do regularly and that you can too, to keep my energy up all day long.
What about you? Do you do any of these things to recharge during the day?