Last week, I let myself get worn down. I’d been plowing through my haphazard training schedule, assuming that my legs could handle a few hours of skiing every Saturday and Sunday at Whitetail, five-mile runs Tuesday and Thursday, and lifting and cross-training Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I haven’t been running all that much — two or three of those aforementioned five-milers per week — and I forgot that hard skiing, cycling, lifting and traveling require as much rest to recover from as hard running.
This week, I’m taking the opposite approach. I’m adding more rest, and not assuming a stationary-bike or skiing day is “active rest.” More importantly, I’m adding more gratitude. An example: I ran a 5-mile hill workout Thursday, lifted Friday morning, then skied Friday night and all day Saturday. When I got done with a particularly good bump run Saturday afternoon, feeling out of breath and sore, I thought about all I’d asked my legs to do in the past 48 hours. I reminded myself of that frequently on Sunday, when I took the day totally and completely off, and spent the day lazing around on the couch, reading a book. This morning, I hit the gym feeling well-rested and motivated.
Other things motivating me this week:
A kick-butt physical therapy workout. Remember Beefcake Brad, my new physical therapist? His workout, which I did for the first time on Friday, didn’t disappoint. It included single-leg squats, single-leg bridges, “monster walks” with a resistance band, clamshells with a resistance band … and a bunch of stuff with a kettlebell, like a farmer’s walk and a crazy, intense version of a Turkish getup. More details about these moves and others after my next session on Wednesday. For now, suffice it to say I’m impressed.
Steel-cut oats as pre-workout fuel. I resisted steel-cut oats for so long, worried that 30 minutes would just be too long to wait for food in the morning. I compromised, and bought the frozen kind from Trader Joe’s for breakfast before my Saturday morning shift at Whitetail. They were so yummy, and kept me feeling full for so much longer than my regular old-fashioned oats, that I’ve been cooking them from scratch at home, too.
My Garmin, which I rave about in detail here. I already can’t wait for my run tomorrow night to use it again.
What’s motivating you this week? Let me know by posting a comment below!
Amy Reinink 
We push and push, and then don’t understand why our bodies rebel. It seems so obvious when you list out your activities, doesn’t it?
Okay, what’s motivating me this week? I guess I feel like I’m on a roll right now. My writing is going well, my running is good, even my short 5K the other day was much faster than I thought I could go. I guess what’s motivating me is that I don’t know where the wall is right now, and I’m excited to see how far I can go!
sometimes a rest day makes my legs feel heavier the next day when i try to run – ugh! (of course, this could be mental i’m sure). i’m glad you didn’t have that symptom.
this week i am motivated by shalane flanagan’s recent (freakin’ awesome) half-marathon over the weekend. why can’t i run that pace? 🙂
“monster walks” ?? Elaborate!! sounds like they do some damage 😉
I second Lindsay up there – Shalane totally rocked it, definitely inspiring!