I Missed A Week of Training

I started coming down with a chest cold on Tuesday.  If you've never heard it before, let me reiterate the common rule for running when sick:  Above the neck, run.  Below the neck, rest.

I'm not going to lie.  I've never followed this because I've almost always been in the middle of a streak during cold/flu season.  I would get out and run at least a mile regardless of where the cold had settled in.  Before last year when we bought the treadmill, I usually went outside and ran regardless of temp.  This is the first time I've taken days off for chest congestion because I'm not in a running streak.

I'm beginning to think that I was doing it right all along.  This chest cold has settled in deeper and worse than anything I've had in the last several years.  Maybe getting out and working the lungs helped to work it out.  I'm not sure, but I'm prepared to go back to my old way of thinking.

I didn't run Tuesday through Friday.  That makes for a pretty cranky Angie.  I did get my LBC (Lean Body Challenge for those of you that haven't been following) workouts done every day, though they were done carefully and easy.  I was still sore the next day so I must have got something out of them.  I ran on the treadmill yesterday.  My plan called for 17 miles so I figured I would just get on and see how far I could go. 

We have a new running set up.  Mitch found a killer deal on a 55" smart TV at Sam's Club and since we'd been looking at that same TV when it wasn't on sale he bought it.  This TV now sits on a mock fireplace ledge in front of the treadmill.

I recently discovered TreadmillTV on YouTube and used the Roku on the new TV to stream a trail run in Singapore for my run yesterday.

(Excuse my mess!)   I think I like this set up better than using Zwift, though I could do both at the same time if I want since Zwift is done on the computer (which is set up to my left).  I tend to just watch the numbers on Zwift rather than the world I'm running in.  The TreadmillTV feed has the numbers of the person that's filming which are not relevant to me.  The trail I watched was really pretty and I didn't think about time too much.

Speaking of treadmills, we have been looking at buying a new one.  The one we have now is an older Proform.  I'm not exactly sure how old, but I think ancient.  I'm pretty sure the speed is way off, it gets squeaky, the incline doesn't work right and it doesn't have any cool functions.  It was a steal at $120 when we bought it off the Facebook marketplace, but I really want a new one.

I think we've decided on this one from Bowflex.  It has great reviews, connects with Zwift (or so I've heard).  The two things holding us back right now:  there is quite a bit of show at the back door that leads to where it would go - it comes in one box that weighs 300 pounds so the closer we can get it delivered to its destination the better.  And then we have to put it together, which apparently takes 2 people about 2 hours.  This doesn't sound like fun at all! 

My training has been disrupted by this cold but I'm still working on my Coaching certification.  My coworker found out that I was studying anatomy and was awesome enough to bring me her college text book so I can look up visual references (I learn much better this way).  PS. I love that there is a triathlete on the cover.

My course materials do not include any videos or great visuals.  I started out trying to memorize flashcards that I made but I have a hard time making myself pick them up in the middle of the week, so learning that way was slow.  Then I discovered that there are tons of YouTube videos on any subject, particularly college subjects.  I found some great mini-lectures on the skeletal system and I remember so much more than using the flash cards.

Click the picture for a link to the youtube channel

 



I'm hoping to get back to my full training schedule starting on Tuesday.  I may get on the treadmill and get a couple of miles or so, but today's workout is supposed to be speed which will get my lungs too worked up.  Monday is rest day, but I will get my LBC workout done.

Here's what my week looked like:

Sunday - LBC Legs (drop sets... those are killer) and hill sprints on my treadmill - sort of
Monday - Rest Day
Tuesday - LBC Shoulders which was thankfully short and easy because this is when the cold hit.  I slept almost all day.
Wednesday - LBC Back/Biceps - I made it to work and this might have been the day I felt best all week once the cold settled in.
Thursday - LBC Legs - I cut out a couple of the moves because they were too much cardio so it was short.  I went to work but coughed all day and felt pretty cruddy by the time I got home.  Thankfully Mitch and I had Valentines Day dinner over the weekend before.
Friday - LBC Chest & Triceps - I stayed home from work to spare my coworkers the awful sounds I was making but worked from home.  I had some periods where I felt pretty good and did my workout over my lunch.  Feeling cruddy set back in later.
Saturday - 5 miles on the treadmill.  I thought I might run farther but took a break at 5 miles and when the painful coughing set in I called it a day.

See you Thursday with a throwback race recap.  I'm planning to post about the Beaverhead 55K, which is one of the hardest things I have ever done.  In case you missed the Revel Rockies recap, you can find it here.  Or if you want to spend some time reading my race recap of the firs time I did the Rut 50K, you can check it out here.

What type of learner are you? Do you get more from books, videos, hands on?  I prefer hands on, but that's hard to get with anatomy.

Have you been sick this year? This might be the third time for me this season, which is unusual.  It's been a rough winter!

The Rut is On and The Big Step Forward

I'm backtracking just a wee bit.  My last post was so long and topic focused that I didn't get a chance to tell you the COOL stuff.

Monday, January 7th was the registration party for The Rut 50K!

I took Monday off for a dental appointment.  I don't handle big procedures well at the dentist so I need to be under the influence of a sedative.  That means no answering emails for me unless I plan to respond without a filter.  That's probably a really bad idea, especially if you consider that I was still in my funk that day!

The Rut opened registration to the masses on Tuesday, but they held a locals only party on Monday in Bozeman and Missoula.  Bozeman is not too far and we love going there!  We've been planning it for weeks.

Of course, if you're going to drive all that way you might as well plan a dinner date while you are at it, right?   If you're ever in Bozeman, you need to have dinner at Montana Ale Works.  So good!

The Rut locals party is hosted by The Mountain Project in Bozeman.  The mural on the wall is pretty awesome!  Free beer is my favorite, especially if it is craft beer (seen here: Shake-A-Day by Big Sky Brewing).  Yes, I know that drinking beer on a day that I was taking sedatives was probably not the best idea, but it was hours later and Mitch did all of the driving!  He doesn't have the same love of beer that I do so I always have a sober ride.

It's official.  We'll be running the Rut 50K again in 2019!  Yep... Mitch too!  He's become almost as crazy as me.

The Rut has 4 race distances:  50K, 28K, 11K and a VK.  The 28K and VK sold out in less than an hour after the registration went live on Tuesday morning.  The 50K and 11K sold out in 2 days!  I'm so glad we went to the party and took out the stress of making sure we were online quick enough to get in!

I have a ton of amazing pictures from the 2018 race even though we didn't complete it so I have to share! This is why I LOVE running mountain trail races.  Enjoy the views!

Lone Peak - 50K and 28K climb this ridge!

We had an AMAZING room!

We got to meet Scott Jurek!

I Love this man so much!!!

I made it over Headwaters Ridge before I couldn't hit time cut-offs anymore.  Brutal!

 To read my race report from the first year I did this race (2016), check it out HERE.  That was an insane day!

Okay.  So in my previous post I mentioned that I am up to something big.  Well, at least it's big for me.  I've been considering this for months and I've known for a while that I want to do it for sure but because it's a financial and time commitment I have been putting it off.  On Friday I took the leap!



 (I can't get this picture to turn correctly!)

I have some pretty extensive goals around putting this coaching certification to work in the future.  I'm beyond excited to get started on it and it is my plan to work through the course in a 6-12 month period of time.  I'll have a better idea of the timing once I start studying and have a grasp on how intensive the modules are.  Some are relatively short, but then some are really long (like the module on the Muscular System).



I'm off to get in my workout and do some meal prep!  I hope you all have an awesome rest of your week!

Pulling Out from the Funk

My job in real life is an Account Executive for a health claims administrator - or as my company likes to put it, an integrated healthcare management company.  It's a hard job... aka: stressful job.  Some weeks I'm working on my computer after hours at home and even when my laptop isn't open to the onslaught of emails, I'm probably thinking about a problem I need to tackle at work.

I've heard many runners talk about how running is their therapy.  I do agree with this in that the activity of running or any other exercise gives me a mental break.  I'm pretty good at putting the work out of my mind while I'm running or lifting.  But if I'm honest with myself, I know that a training schedule can add to my stress.  This time of year in particular, workload is heavy and trying to figure out when and how to get in the miles isn't easy.  Especially when I'd rather just go home, plop down on the couch, order a pizza and zone out on Facebook and Netflix.

In the last few weeks, I've been in a terrible funk as a result of the stress.  I've skipped a few training runs in a rebellious moment of weakness, only to feel guilty later when I've passed the ability to get out there and get it done.  It has been a circle difficult to break out of because the more stressed I feel, the less I want to run.  The more often I skip my run, the more stressed I am.  This all came to a big crescendo for me last week on Wednesday.  I found myself walking through the halls at work with my shoulders down and my head low.  I felt weepy, even though I'm not PMS'ing and I felt like a completely empty shell of myself.  I'm usually upbeat and can go with the ebb and flow of an ever-changing work environment with a positive attitude, or at least get through a bad attitude to myself and relatively quickly.

That evening, I decided I needed to fix me.

I called my good friend and asked her to have lunch with me the next day.  I worked with her for several years.  She was my walking buddy at work until she recently left the company.  Those daily walks were so good for my mental health.  Who knew?

As I was settling down for the evening, I poured myself a glass of wine.  But then, I dumped it out and opted for something a little better for me.

Thursday was another emotional day for me, but lunch with my friend helped me find perspective and to start thinking of positive ways to improve my situation.  Thanks, Mary!

On the way home I listened to a podcast I needed to hear.  Isn't it weird how that happens sometimes?

Click the image and look for "Daily Habits to Improve Health and Productivity for 2019" 

I took Chalene's words of advice and put them to work for me the next day.  When my alarm went off at 5:10 am, I got up without snoozing my alarm and got my workout in.  I've made every excuse to not get up in the mornings lately, so this was a step in the right direction!



I made a big decision on Friday too, but I will tell you more about that next time.  Suffice it to say that I recognize that I need to work towards something outside of just race goals and work goals.  I'm really excited.  This one decision has improved my outlook above and beyond anything else I could do for myself.  Stay tuned!  I promise I won't make you wait long to find out.

I'm signed up for the Lean Body Challenge which starts tomorrow.  I need something to motivate me to get to that race weight.  only 14 more weeks until Revel Mt. Charleston!  Last day to sign up is tomorrow, so if you're interested check out this link:  https://www.labrada.com/lbc

I'm back and I'm ready to hit the ground running to meet my goals and explore new things!  I hope you're ready to join me for the journey.

How do you pull yourself out of a running funk?

Who else is participating in a fitness challenge?