Getting Back to Fitness

The cold finally left me alone! I'm so happy to be getting back into running and CrossFit. It felt like I would never be well again there for a bit. I'm used to a three to four day cold, not a ten to fourteen day one. 

On Sunday, I planned for a 3 mile run. A short version of my long run. I figured it would warm up my iliotibial bands and let me know if my breathing was good enough to go to CrossFit on Monday. The weather was cold, but I dressed for it. I borrowed a warm shirt from my husband, which I wore over a tight tank top, and under a windbreaker. I put plastic bags over my socks to help keep them warm in my mesh shoes. 

The run started out well enough. I was slow, but comfortable. Breathing felt good. There wasn't too much ice on the sidewalks. In fact, most of the sidewalks were well cleared. Only a few sections had been neglected enough to ice over, and at those points I would move over to the street (assuming the street was better) or slow down. The last thing I wanted was a fall. 

But as I ran along, I started to feel a rumbling in my gut. It was right around mile 2. I thought that it was just some cramping at first, but my body soon made it known that I needed to use the bathroom. Rather urgently, in fact. And I was still at least half a mile from home by the most direct route. I made it home before I had an accident, but that run definitely worked something loose in me. 

On Monday, I went to CrossFit for the first time in nearly two weeks. It was hard, but good. I got excited on Sunday night when the workout appeared to include my favorite weightlifting movement (the snatch), but it was a mis-post, and the actual workout was overhead or front squats. That was probably for the best, because snatches were back on for Wednesday, and it would be better for me to do snatches after having a couple days back under my weight belt. 

Tuesday was a lot of movement. Tons of burpees. Okay, I got through 80 burpees, but it felt like tons. And I did a short run during the lunch hour. The original plan was just a mile, but I felt good enough on the run to add another half mile or so and get my total run time up to 20 minutes. 

I won't be hitting my 10 miles of running this week, but I am on track to get back on that for next week. And I might only do 4 CrossFit classes this week, just because I am still getting back to it, which means I'm pretty tired from all the extra work I've added to my week. 

I'm happy to be getting back in my routine.

Steady Going and the Boot Hunt Begins

I've completed 4 weeks of running 3 times a week for a total distance of at least 10 miles. My long runs are up to 6.5 miles, and if the weather is good this Sunday (relatively good), then I'll try to get to 7. If I'm going to build up to 10 miles at a time by spring, then I need to push my distance gradually and over time. I know that if the weather is truly bad I'll be cutting back to 5 or even 4 miles for the long run, even if that means having to run longer on my weekday runs. 

CrossFit hasn't been quite as consistent, since I was out of town and then they were closed for Thanksgiving. But I got 5 classes in last week and I'm on track to hit 5 again this week. I'm hoping to make Commitment Crew in December, which means getting to at least 20 classes. Lucky for me, the holiday closures are falling on weekends this year, so I can just stay with weekdays and I should be able to make it. It's all about discipline, forcing myself to get out of bed at 4:30 and just do the routine that gets me out the door. 

In other news, I started my hunt for a new pair of waterproof hiking boots at REI last weekend. I got excited when a couple of the boots the clerk brought out actually had women's wide sizes, but I knew from the moment I stuck my right foot in each one that they were not wide enough for me - even the Oboz. I've gotten to be very picky about how my boots fit. I want my toes to be able to move, and for some reason this is not very easy to find. Boots (and shoes) like to squeeze my littlest toe into and under my other toes. I don't like the way it feels, and I refuse to pay a couple hundred dollars for a boot that will actively hurt me. 

Backpacking will "hurt" me enough without ill fitting footwear. 

My second pair of backpacking boots (and my first waterproof pair) jammed my toes together so much that I still have issues of numbness with those toes on occasion. I felt like the clerk at REI was giving me funny looks when I quickly declared each pair to be not a fit, but I can't buy a new pair of feet if I mess those up. They are priceless, and so I will no longer put ill-fitting boots on them for backpacking. 

The clerk also let me know that they didn't carry a lot of inventory, and that I might look into ordering online. If I deliver to store, then I just come by for pick up and I can try them on and return them right away if they don't fit. I admit that option sounds easier than ordering online elsewhere and then having to ship back when they inevitably don't fit right. 

But that's where I might end up landing, since many of the boots that seem to be more specialized for wide feet and roomy toe boxes are not strictly for backpacking nor available anywhere near me physically. I just hate the idea of stretching out the inevitable disappointment, and having to actually mail them back when they don't work. Bah! 

The boot hunt shall continue. 

Staying on Track

Last week, I managed to get to CrossFit every weekday, got 3 runs in totally 10 miles and commuted by bike to work all 3 days that I go into the office. I've started out this week on track to keep up the same activity level, though with it getting colder the bike commutes might be stopping. 

It's really all about getting into a routine, especially for the 5 am CrossFit classes. If I just don't give myself any spare time to think about what I'm doing, it's pretty easy to get dressed and drive out. If I'm feeling like I'll have a hard time in the morning, I'll put my clothes out the night before. When the alarm goes off and I don't want to get up, I just put my mind into the track: ankle alphabet, then restroom, then get dressed, drink a yogurt drink and then it's pretty much time to go. I suppose I could get up earlier, but that just gives me more time to procrastinate and change my mind about leaving the house. 

This morning, since it was in the 20's, I spoiled myself by using the remote start option for my car. It was magical! It won't automatically turn seat heat on, but I leave it on if I know my husband will not be driving before I will. It wasn't really warm, because I didn't start it early enough, but just being warmer than the ambient temperature was nice. I didn't sit down and start shivering, so I'll call that a win. 

This weekend I'll have a bit of disruption to my schedule; I'm not likely to make 5 CrossFit classes next week because of the holiday. The bigger issue was that I can't do a long run on Sunday, but then I remembered I have all day Thursday to get a long run in. Totally doable. 

Overall, I'm liking this level of activity. I'm getting pretty good sleep, and the soreness is there, but not overwhelming. I'm trying to push hard enough to improve at CrossFit without overdoing things; it's a fine balance. I want to keep up a high level of activity like this throughout the off season so that I'm ready for a great backpacking season once the weather turns to summer. I'm hoping to get my long runs to 10 miles by April. 

And for now, I'm on track for that. 

Fitness Goals for the Off Season

I've been slacking on my running and going to CrossFit over the backpacking season. And I even gave myself a bit more slack time in September than I might have usually taken. But it's getting time to rev up again for the off season. That means some goal setting!

I do want to get back to 10 miles a week running, but not in October. See, I got a request from my boss to temporarily switch work schedules, which makes my running days Monday and Friday. That makes it super hard for me to run on Saturday and Sunday, because then I have no rest days AT ALL between my run days. But this week, I'm switching back, and that will allow me to start adding the long Sunday run back in. For that reason, I put off the 10 mile per week goal until November.

October's goal was to just get 3 runs in a week, which I was doing fine on until I got sick last weekend. I still haven't fully recovered, but I'm hoping to get back on track and start November with both the 3 times a week and the 10 mile goals going.

My goal for CrossFit is similar. I'm going for 3 times a week to satisfy my goal in October, but in November that's going to get bumped up to 4 times (exceptions allowed for when I'll be out of town, but maybe I'll finally manage to visit an affiliate out of town). This one I've managed to keep up with so far, but I'll have to get in 3 times before the end of this week to wrap it up.

Last year, I was pretty strict about running my 10 miles, but I think this year I'll allow myself to substitute hiking on a two-for-one formula. So 1 mile of running is equivalent to two miles of hiking, allowing me to sub, say an 11 mile Lucky Peak hike for a 5.5 mile run. I think getting out into the foothills and doing elevation hiking will be super helpful for my offseason training.

Maybe I'll even drag my husband along on a few of those; we'll see.

Running Goal Review

At the very end of November, I added a goal in the app I use to track my running (and hiking, sometimes), Map My Run. It was, I felt, a modest goal of 10 miles per week of running. That would just be 5 miles on the weekend for a long run, then 2.5 on two weekdays, typically Tuesday and Thursday for me. And if I was ever short, there was Saturday to make up some miles. 

I made that goal for 11 weeks in a row. And I thought the app would stop tracking the goal once I failed to meet it - or restart the number of weeks. But the goal doesn't appear to care if I meet it or not. It keeps counting. 

And, in an odd way, that encouraged me to pick it up after I dropped it. I still ran that twelfth week, just not the full 10 miles. And there has been a week or two when I didn't run at all - but there are far more weeks that I met the 10 miles or ran some. 

And that's pretty awesome. Over the course of 20 weeks, starting in late November, when the weather in Boise gets cold (though not very snowy), I managed to run nearly 187 miles. Not the 200 that I would have gotten if I'd kept religiously to the goal, but a whole lot more miles than if I hadn't had that goal motivating me. 

There were weeks when I absolutely did not want to run on a given day. And if that day was a Saturday, and I had miles left in the week, then I pushed through that mental mire and did it anyway. One day, because I skipped Sunday and knew that the following Saturday wouldn't be good for running, I got up early, ran 4 miles at 5 am, and then ran another 3 miles at noon. 

No way I would have tried that without the goal. 

Nor would I have run 4 miles during my lunch break. 

I am going to pause the goal once backpacking season is here. But I will absolutely start it up again in September, because keeping myself conditioned for backpacking is just so much easier than starting fresh every spring.

Streak Building

I find streaks highly motivating. I like routines. I like being able to check off little boxes once I finish each task. 

The problem is, no matter how well things are planned, streaks have a tendency to break. 

Life gets in the way. Illness. Unexpected travel (well maybe not this year). Injury. Low motivation... 

I did not run as scheduled on 1/3, for a variety of reasons. And that meant I had to complete my 10 miles per week goal in just 6 days, 5 of them work days (especially in winter, it's much harder for me to squeeze a run in on a workday). 

So, I knew I had a challenge on my hands last week. I was proactive about it, by choosing to run 3 miles each on Tuesday and Thursday. Those runs are during my exercise release time at work - essentially, I take the single hour allotted and split it in two, taking 90 minute lunch/exercise release "lunch" times in the middle of the day, wherein I exercise and then hurry up and eat lunch. Typically, I'll run 2 to 2.3 miles, which leaves me plenty of time to foam roll, shower, and eat before I have to go back to work. 

Knowing that I had to make up some miles, I changed those over to 3 miles runs. In order to make sure I had both time and energy for that, I've paused what would have been my third cycle of Power Abs in a row. I will be starting Power Abs up again, because I like how it feels, long-term, when I devote extra time to building up my core. But it is going to wait until after the current tummy issues clear up. 

On Saturday, I had to do a 4 mile run to make 10 miles for the week and meet my goal for the 6th consecutive week. And when Saturday dawned, I was not in the mood whatsoever to run. My husband and I had to go out shopping in the morning, which was fine for my running since Boise was covered with freezing fog most of the morning. 

I ended up waiting until nearly 3 pm before I ran - but by that point, the sun was out and the temperature was marginally above freezing. Each mile was cold and uncomfortable, but the pace was actually decent for me, first mile at 12:30, next two sub 12, last one 12:05. I could have stopped when I closed my loop at 3.96 miles, but instead I ran on until I hit 4, because that's the way I run. 

6 weeks of 10 miles per week. 60 miles. The streak is building, and I will keep going as long as I can. 

And if I should fail, then I will start anew. 

Streak Power Activate

I took my Saturday rest day with glee, pure glee, I tell you. 

And I also used it to rest up for a 6 miles Sunday. 

I wasn't planning on 6 miles, not explicitly. I thought I might make it, and I chose a route that would allow it, but I thought I'd come up short, if only because it was raining on Sunday when I wanted to run. 

See, I didn't want to run too early in the morning, because it's winter. And I prefer to run when it's a bit warmer, around mid-day, instead of first thing in the morning, because I don't like running in the cold. 

I mean, I am running in the cold, but it's not the coldest. 

So, after breakfast omelets, I waited for almost two hours and then decided to get going, right around 11:30. When I saw that it was actively raining, I decided to use my husband's poncho to stay dry-ish. I figured I could do it, as long as I didn't get soaked. 

The poncho is, essentially, like a trash bag with a hood and zippers. It is also way big on me. I didn't enjoy the crinkly sounds with every step and move, but it kept me dry. I couldn't keep the hood up for long, because I started warming up from the exercise. But I kept the poncho as a whole on until the rain let up, just before I hit 3 miles. 

Once I took it off, the poncho was a bit of a pain to carry. I'd had vague thoughts of tucking it into the fanny pack strap, but I wasn't able to do that while running so I just crumpled it into a football-like shape and kept it tucked under one arm or the other as I ran. 

I use the Map My Run app to track my miles. When I get to within a block or so of home, I take the phone out and prepare to stop the tracking function. On this particular day, I saw that my total mileage to that point was 5.96 miles. 

So. Close. To 6 miles. 

I paused the workout because that was what I had intended to do when I pulled it out. But then I resumed it, because there was no way I was going to quit that close to 6 miles. It's been a long time since I ran that far in one go. I had to round it out. 

I ended up a smidge over 6 miles, but I still planned to run at least 2 miles on Tuesday and Thursday. I finished my Tuesday run already, so I've just got one more for the week to meet my goal. I still run slowly, but I'm starting to feel more comfortable in my pace. I hope I can keep this streak going for a good long stretch. I might leave the goal at 10 miles, but I am hoping to expand my range for the long runs, without cutting back on the two short runs each week. 

December Workout Goals

I'm hoping to get some real consistency in this month. I did successfully complete a round of Power Abs in November, but since my diet kind of fell of a cliff mid-month, I didn't really see a difference in my abs. I gained both weight and waist, but I'm moving on. 

So, in addition to doing another round of Power Abs this month, trying to do an increased difficultly level, I'm going to have a formal running goal. Not just running a certain number of times a week, but a distance goal. I want to run 10 miles a week each week this month. Plus, I'm trying to do CrossFit 5 days a week - preferably weekdays since that limits the number of people I am working out with to only people crazy enough to get up in time for a 5 am class. 

Last week, I ran Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. I hit the 10 miles on Saturday with less than 4 miles, so that's not too bad. I want to try and expand my Sunday runs so that I can skip Saturdays altogether. Ideally, I'd run 5 to 6 miles on Sunday, then 2 to 2.5 each on Tuesday and Thursday. That leaves Saturday for cleanup if I miss a day, and for rest if I don't. 

So last week was a success, with 10 miles ran, 5 CrossFits attended and all my Power Abs days completed. This week is off to a good start, as I'm up to 5 miles, 3 classes and all my Power Abs. Not a great start, since I was too tired on Sunday to even get 3 miles. But a good start. 

It's a lot of working out, and I've been feeling pretty tired. But I know I'll get used to the amount of work in time. Patience and consistency are my watchwords for the month. 

Routine Update

Well. Last week, I was getting settled in to a new routine of working out at 7 am and I was so happy at how I had adjusted to the new schedule and it was working for me.

So, of course, things had to change.

Enough people complained about the 7 am zoom workout time that they moved it to 6 am. I hadn't even thought of complaining about 7 am! I just set about adapting to it. Silly me!

But 6 am felt worse somehow than 5 am. See, when I go to a 5 am class, I'm getting up at 4:30, drinking a yogurt drink and heading out to get my sweat on. I'm back a little after 6, which gives me time to eat and shower before getting dressed and ready to leave for work at about 7:30 am. 10 to 15 minute bike ride to work, then 10 to 15 minutes chilling at my desk before I start working.

With working from home, I had a pretty good system all set up for 7 am workout. It was working. I was starting to feel comfortable. But then I had to adapt again. So. New schedule.

Alarm goes off at 5:30 (which means I'm not getting ready for bed until 9, bonus); I get up, have my yogurt drink and prep for at-home workout. After the workout, I sometimes do an additional tabata or some technique work, then shower, then eat, then get ready for work. I left out the tooth brushing step at least once last week, but for the most part, I'm getting used to this. Universe, please, no more workout schedule changes for a while?

Arbor has also started offering some additional classes in the evenings. I don't normally do evening workouts, but I have so far done the stretching & trivia class and the core class, and I'll probably keep doing them. It's an extra workout for my day, and I don't feel like I'm paying Arbor for nothing. Although, I would pay them for nothing for as long as I could afford to in the hopes that they come back when this is all over. Even though a Zoom class isn't the same, and I'm not getting to do a number of the things that I love doing, and am used to doing, it gets me moving in the morning, and that's super important right now.

I have slacked off on the athlete challenges, but I might jump back in. I've been feeling extra tired and run down the past couple weeks. Getting out of bed in the morning to work out is not exactly what I want to be doing (sleeping all day sounds nice), but I'm getting it done. And I always feel better afterwards.