Digging In and Counting Down — 7 Weeks Left!

So yeah…less than 2 months to go until race day. If you’ve been paying attention, you would point out that we are actually 7 weeks out, meaning we have 5 weeks left to legitimately train and then 2 weeks to taper before we get to the start line.

No pressure.

Like Lauren, I’m finding that time management has become a crucial part of my lifestyle. I find the most productive part of my week is the 30+ minutes that I spend on Sunday evenings outlining my weekly priorities, including work projects, workouts, volunteering and social engagements, and decompression time with my beau. My beau has, in fact, been a critical partner in this prioritization exercise as he steps in the either take things off my plate or push back when my expectations are unreasonable. As a general bullshit-detector, he’s pretty great at pulling me back when I get too ambitious, and an awesome partner in pitching in when I need support.

Since time is of the essence, I’m focusing on quality workouts vs. quantity, and hyper-focused on recovery (i.e. lots of foam rolling, fish oil, and stretching).

Overall focus for the next 7 weeks:

Time management

Quality over quantity

Put in the work and don’t overthink it

Training:

Pretty good! I ran a 5k two weeks ago and maintained a solid 7:40 pace, finishing 4th for women. The best part was that my recovery was super quick — I wasn’t even sore the next day, which indicates that I’m getting to a pretty good level of being able to push past my aerobic threshold and still bounce back quickly. I’ll test my endurance and pacing again this weekend during a trail half-marathon.

Strengths?

My running is feeling strong — I’m able to maintain longer endurance runs and to keep up with the faster pace group in my running club. My cross-training game is also rocking — I’ve been following a lifting program with my beau and a friend, and although my travel schedule has made it hard to stick with lifting weights 3x/week, I’m still seeing my strength improve along with my endurance.

Weaknesses?

Biking and swimming are still a bit lacking in my schedule. Getting in the miles when the weather is crappy is tough, and motivating myself to get in the pool is a constant challenge.

What’s the plan for recalibration?

I’ve added in more spin classes (AKA torture classes — who wants to be on a bike and not go anywhere!?! I always leave these classes feeling like I got more of a mental endurance workout than an aerobic burn) and weekend rides with my beau to get some base miles under my belt. On the bike, it’s most important that I can sit for hours in the saddle. For the swim, I’m adding in pool time 2x a week and focusing on form and speed workouts to get my endurance up.

Nutrition:

Better! I’ve addressed some of my poor eating habits (snacking when not hungry, eating too-large portions) through some mindfulness work, and my beau and I have taken on a lot more at-home cooking thanks to some new and exciting cookbooks.

Strengths?

My protein intake has kicked up, fueling my recovery. I’ve also significantly improved my consistency in taking my vitamins and probiotics, and my hydration game is on point. Alcohol, processed sugars, and grains have mostly been removed from my diet, so I am feeling overall less bloated and sluggish.

Weaknesses?

I’ve increased my caffeine intake recently, which is seriously affecting my sleep! I used to be a total coffee junkie, able to chug entire pots of coffee throughout the day. Now, however, I start to get the shakes if I have more than 3 cups of tea.

What’s the plan for recalibration?

I’ll be switching out to decaf tea for my daily hydration, and continue to cook at home as much as possible to maintain the carb/protein/fat ratios that make me feel strong and supple. When I’m on the road and can’t cook for myself, my strategy is to stick with restaurants/fast casual places that offer lots of salad and veggie options so that I can stick with my Paleo-lite diet.

Mindset:

Strengths?

The Emotional Brain Training (EBT) that Lauren and I are doing has been hugely helpful. It’s helped me to understand, identify, and feel my emotions (something that is definitely not my strong suit), and to get out of my own head. I have a tendency to overthink things, doubt myself, and then become anxious that I’m doing things wrong or ineffectively. The EBT process has gotten me better attuned to those feelings and given me tools to process and re-wire those habits and become calm and confident in my abilities. My beau’s emotional and physical support has also been a huge help to my mental well-being.

Weaknesses?

As strong as my EBT game has become my regular schedule of journaling and meditation has taken a hit. I’m down to 1–2 weekly sessions for reflection and recovery.

What’s the plan for recalibration?

The mix of EBT work and lighter meditation/journaling has actually worked out OK — my general stress level is pretty manageable and I feel pretty good most days. However, I know I am still going through a lot of personal changes and transitions, so my goal is to add in a weekly reflection question to my journaling to add some structure and consistency to my practice.

Summary:

Overall, I’m feeling pretty good about training, life, and work in general. Things are going pretty smoothly, but as soon as I type that I also want to kick myself for potentially “jinxing” it. I’m not the superstitious type, but I also don’t want to tempt fate by shouting “Hey world, everything is going great! Now would be a good time come along and hit me with some crazy challenge that will crush my soul!” I mean, I could literally get hit by a bus tomorrow and everything could come crashing down around me. So for now I will say that I am feeling good but also incredibly grateful to have the support, resources, community, and knowledge that has gotten me to this point, and cross my fingers that things keep going well.