Running and Stuff

Changed some things up with my food intake this week to see if I could shake the heaviness I’ve had in my legs after 3-4 days of running. I added a sweet potato nightly and was able to bang out 5 days of training this week! My average pace for the week has also dropped by ~2 minutes! I’ve been working with a nutritionist since my diabetes diagnosis and since that’s resolved we’ve just kind of rolled over into this running thing. She’s been tremendously helpful in dialing things in. The last few months I’ve been doing 3-4 runs per week and have felt somewhat run down with very heavy legs after each run. I didn’t really feel that this week. I’ve also added in some foam rolling and I use a racquet ball on the soles of my feet which hurts but also feels amazing.

I really wish that all my experiences with running hadn’t been as a punishment. When I played sports ball and you messed up, “take a lap”. When I was in the military and you messed up running was a big part of the “corrective action”. I still say that I hate running and some mornings I do…But I have really embraced the feeling of getting into a good pace where I’m being challenged but I can also maintain that pace for what feels like forever. I also love the feeling after I’m done or the “runner’s high”. I always said I never felt it when I tried running before but I did and I just didn’t allow myself to acknowledge or enjoy that feeling. I do both now. Running has also added a lot of structure to my life. I run in the mornings because I love the feeling of the world waking up while i’m out there. I also *love* running in cold weather. There’s this moment just after I finish a run on a cold day, I’m out of breath and I can see the volume of my breath as it leaves my mouth, there’s steam coming off me from the sweat, and I all I can see is that steam and all I can hear is my breathing. During that moment I turn off the music or whatever it is I was listening to and I just look around at the world waking up, my breath and the steam coming off me and I smile. It sounds cheesy as hell as I type it out but in that moment I feel so damn good.

I’ve only posted one time about my running (and my weight loss) on the socials. This is something I am doing for me and just like my photography I’m not looking for the likes. That’s a real shift for me mentally. Pretty sure I’ve mentioned it before but I was only posting pics and updates that I thought would get the most likes. The more I read about how the backend things work on social media and the way it’s psychologically programmed to keep you on the platform as long as possible the more I want to not be on there. I’m not going to stop using it altogether b/c I think it can be a good thing but it’s up to me to make it a good and healthy thing for me. Something I didn’t realize until I got an iphone was exactly how much time I spend scrolling. I have set time limits on all social media and use it more a guide than a hard and fast rule. I have a 1 hour limit set for FB, Twitter and Instagram each. I still go over the hour but I’m way more aware of the time I spend on there now. I’m also spending more time reading, mostly on my ipad using the kindle app but also dead tree books. The books I’ve been reading have a lot to do with “digital detox” and while a few are complete and utter shit a couple have really give me a lot of good ideas and strategies to try.