Running, Lately

Let there be no doubt about it, I love running. If you’ve read this blog for any length of time or know me personally, you know this. 

I’ve trained for triathlons of various distances, marathons, half marathons and I regularly run New York Road Runner races. 

But what works for us at one time in our life, doesn’t necessarily work for us at others. I’ve found that to be true of training. 

Along with some other lifestyle changes I’ve been making over the past few months (which I’ll likely discuss in a future post), I’ve also made some adjustments to the way I exercise. I’ve put aside endurance training and racing for the time being, maybe forever, in favor of shorter, more efficient and less intense workouts. 

These days I do more yoga, barre classes and strength training with heavy weights. I still run a bit, do some HIIT (high intensity interval training) and I continue to participate in NYRR races for fun with my husband, but not with my sights on running the NYC Marathon again. 

This morning I ran an unplanned 5 miles in Central Park – the absolute best way to start a day and a reminder that I will never fully give up running because it truly makes me feel something in a way nothing else can. 

I realized a few things about intense exercise and endurance training:

1. Training and racing put a lot of stress on my body and on my mind. My pre-race anxiety wasn’t enjoyable and didn’t help me perform better.  
2. Running and steady state cardio stresses my body into fat storage mode. For more on this, I highly recommend this article that explains the workout less mentality and why it’s healthier. 
3. I don’t like being a slave to a training schedule. I love taking classes and trying new workouts, not feeling like I have to run 5 or more days/week. Training along with the rest and recovery I needed didn’t give me enough time to try other things. 

With marathon training season here and all the excitement around the impending NYC Marathon, it can be tempting to get sucked in.

I arrived here from a place of intuition and I’ll stay here by honoring where I am at this stage of my life. 

How are you honoring where you are in your life and what you need to thrive right now?

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