Summer Run Musings

One thing that I've learned about myself over the years is that my body really doesn't tolerate extreme anything particularly well. Heat, cold, elevation...I probably have a story where I've either wound up in an ER or should have.

So after running the Broad Street Run, I chased winter in Colorado and experienced altitude sickness for the second time in the last decade. In my defense, I was completely fine at 9,000', and arguably I would have remained upright if all I was doing was just sitting around on my rear at 11,000' rather than attempting to follow way stronger skiers around A-basin 15 hours after landing in Denver.

Chasing winter....in May!

After catching powder over the weekend (I was fine after some shoe shopping in Silverthorne) and a little more travel, I settled back in to DC last month a complete respiratory mess. The weather was unexpectedly mild and fantastic for running, except I couldn't get my act together to cobble together any good runs. Then it got steamier and toastier here in the swamp, and because I took the bulk of last summer off from running, I forgot how to set myself up for successful summer training. 

Finally, I remembered: get out there before the sun gets too high because I am way better at dealing with mugginess than heat. Or, run a north/south route so that the buildings block the sun. Also, I'm giving my wrist a break from carrying around a Garmin or any timing device for that matter. None of my routes are new. I know their distances, and all I'm aiming for right now is an aerobic base. 

Not all my runs since this epiphany have been great, either, but I'm not as stressed out about something that's supposed to be fun. My road trip wing woman and I are registered for my second half marathon — the Urban Bourbon in Louisville, Kentucky — this fall. I want to run a half in under 2 hours at some point, but my strategy for now is to see where this summer base building thing takes me and go from there. 

We're really running for the bourbon at the finish line, anyway. 

February Musings

So I've been somewhat out of sorts for several weeks, despite a hybrid professional development slash ski trip to the PNW and SLC at the end of January. Usually, ski trips rejuvenate me, but conditions have been so meh this year, it's been tough.

Heh. Google+ automatically "awesome-ized" this pic with the falling snow. It amuses me, so I'm posting it. In reality, it was pretty springlike at Mt. Hood Meadows, and I think Charlotte's husband was delightfully surprised when at the top of this I nonchalantly said, "Oh, yeah, that's skiable."

But here's something that cheered me up:

Now, I can't take credit for this hack, but having my packs hanging rather than resting on the floor is awesome. I was a little taken aback by how small the Sea to Summit "accessory" biners were, though. I thought they would be normal sized but just not weight bearing.

Uhm...

And I have small hands, too!

On the horizon, I'm assisting my restorative teacher, Jillian Pransky, at her winter retreat at the Mohonk Mountain Lodge from February 21 to 23. The resort was recently closed for a possible norovirus outbreak – it's scheduled to reopen tomorrow, and hopefully everything will be squared away by the time we arrive!

Intentions and Words to Live By in 2014

I spent the first 3 weeks of 2014 dealing with another weird lower leg injury and a never-ending minor (but annoying) upper respiratory infection. I'm still not completely 100%, and yesterday's pre-snowstorm trail run reminded me of that. The forced timeout from physically feeling blah allowed me the opportunity to consider my intentions a little more, uh, intentionally, than my usual "Hey, it's mid-January! I should blog about my intentions for this year!" My physical fitness, on the other hand, is kind of in the toilet. Anyway.

My words to live by 2014 are REFUGE and BELIEVE. 

If you had asked me on December 31 what I thought my word for 2014 would be, I would have said STRENGTH because that's what I thought I needed. But in the course of a 4-hour slow flow, yin, and restorative yoga practice on New Year's Day, it became clear to me that I had plenty of strength. Instead, I needed to believe in that strength and know when to take refuge. Refuge is not the same as being a recluse, which I was pretty sure I was becoming in the last two weeks of the year. Rather, refuge is a place a safety, and sometimes instead of finding that place and recharging, I hang out and weather the storm (see strength, above). 

On to the more tangible non-career intentions for 2014.

First, a few intentions to carry over from 2013:

*  PR in the 5K and 10K distances. A few unexpected things came up this spring and summer that I wanted to give priority to, so I had to put diligent and consistent training on the back burner. I don't feel bad about having to do that and the things I gave priority to work ed out. But I do want to drop a few minutes (yes, minutes) off my current cruising times in these distances, and 2014 is the year to do it.

*  Run another trail race. So, given that training was on the backburner, a trail race didn't happen either. I'm making space for it this year and looking for a few races.

*  Sleep in my tent at least one night. Uh, again, the things I chose to prioritize meant that I did not wind up in a tent even once. Wow.

* This is just going to be an ongoing intention and be integrated into my lifestyle: continue to nurture my friendships in real life. Preferably by adding skiing or running or yoga into the mix. Last year, I flew to Mississippi and ran a 5K with Michelle, a friend since high school. In 2012, we ran the Richmond half. It would be great to continue the streak in 2014. Skiing is a little tricky for me, and I blame my geography. I'm hoping to change that.

And then the new intentions for 2014:

* Learn the names of students in my group yoga classes. Back when I did my 200-hour yoga teacher training, one of the parting tips given to my cohort was to learn our students' names. Funny thing, though, if you suck as a teacher, it doesn't matter whether you know your students' names. So I focused on teaching. And now I have regulars. Yes, I know a number of students' names. But it's tough to remember names when students are quasi-regular – they show up one day and not again for another 6 weeks. I want to be able to remember names even if I haven't seen a student in 6 weeks. If this were a goal-setting post, I'd give myself some number of names per month. 

Uh. Yeah. That's basically it. I'm basically all about setting myself up for success in 2014. 

Believe. And refuge.

On going bonkers...

It's been an interesting few weeks over here. Basically, I was mentally ready to return to running and the weather was cooperating. But my body betrayed me. On April 1, like an evil April Fool's joke, something happened to something behind my knee. Yeah, it really is that vague and weird.

I rested 7 days, ran, and pulled up lame again. I rested 10 days and ran pain free for 3 miles. Healed, right?

So I rested 2 days, ran, and pulled up lame....again. Ugh. Fine, leg, I hear you. This time I'll rest longer: 12 days between runs. Not enough.

3 miles, 2 races scratches, and 1 excrutiatingly painful leg later, I conceded. I need to go to the doctor, but not before I rest even longer, say 3 weeks, and see what happens. 

I'm stubborn like that.

I haven't run since April 27.

In the meantime, I dusted off the ol' climbing shoes and harness and headed to the climbing gym for the first time in an embarrassingly long time. Twice in a 7-day period, in fact.

These things look practically new...

I've taught a ton of yoga classes over at Yoga District (but I haven't yet sampled anything in the tea lodge).

I even practiced Ashtanga yoga for the first time in over a year (and my hamstrings are feeling it!), and headed to Micheline Berry's workshop at Flow this weekend.

What I didn't do: I didn't run this 5K yesterday, even though I optimistically picked up my race packet on Friday.

I'm kind of going a little bonkers over here...

Intentions for 2013

My apologies. 

It's taken an embarrassingly long to get this particular post written: My 2013 non-career-related intentions. 

To the extent that I set anything on a yearly basis, they're intentions, not goals. Last year, I explained why, and I expanded on that in my not-so-race recap from a holiday not-really-fun run in December, if you want some background.

When I sat down to write this post, I didn't really feel that I had many extracurricular intentions for 2013. I've got some career-related things that I need to deal with in the beginning of the year, which I'm certain make for very dull blog reading. I'll spare you the gory details.

Without additional fanfare, here are my intentions for my extracurricular activities in 2013:

*  Take a yoga teacher training in either yoga nidra, prenatal yoga, or therapeutic yoga. Stressed out type A's, pregnant women, yoga practitioners recovering from non-yoga injuries/surgeries, and baby boomers acknowledging they're not invincible make up a significant number of students in my restorative yoga classes. I love teaching these populations. Greater knowledge of yoga nidra, prenatal yoga, and/or therapeutic yoga will complement my restorative teaching. I have my eyes on a therapeutic yoga training at Pure Prana in Alexandria, VA, and a yoga nidra workshop at Tranquil Space in DC.

*  Develop a home yoga practice. My teacher Chrissy would say that merely taking one mindful breath is yoga. I don't disagree, but I also need to take some yoga home with me, rather than leaving it at the studios where I teach.  This morning, I went through a sequence that I plan to teach later this week.

*  PR in the 5K and 10K distances. I'd like to focus on shorter distances this year. It turns out that I like speed work, although I didn't step onto a track once last year. Hm. Better rethink that.

*  Run another trail race. I ran the North Face series' 10K just outside of DC last year. I'm open to suggestions for other trail races and am willing to travel.  So, really, leave a comment with your ideas. Preferably distances shorter than half marathon (see above), which I know are sort of rare on the trails.

*  Alpine ski. A lot.

*  Completely unrelated to anything fitness-ish other than the inspiration coming from running blogger Amy Lavender, I want to build from scratch a gingerbread house for Christmas 2013. I mean, how awesome was her gingerbread house last year?? Specifically, I want to build a gingerbread ski lodge. I'm not really into have no clue how to make or work with fondant, so my structure will have a more traditional siding. This isn't a completely ridiculous project for me: once upon a time I wanted to be an architect, and I spent a summer making scale models. And, I eat make gingerbread cookies. This project is a perfect merger of the two. Heh. Riiiiight.

*  Sleep in my tent at least one night. I may even settle for sleeping in a tent not my own. Last year was pathetic on this front. I slept in my tent ZERO times, and it made me realize that I really like sleeping in my tent. There's something super cozy about the experience for me. Weird, right?

* Finally, continue to nurture my friendships. In real life. Preferably by adding skiing or running or yoga into the mix.

And since these intentions are still outstanding from last year:

*  Ski a line, look up and say, "Holy shitake mushrooms, I just ripped that!" Okay. To be fair, I didn't exactly say "Holy shitake mushrooms, I just ripped that," but I skied a pretty sweet line at The Next Level freeskiing camp earlier this month.

*  Ski the Gulf of Slides on Mt. Washington. I don't really care if it's in 2012 or 2021. This could happen in May, maybe? It all depends on the conditions. A life intention, really, not a 2013 intention. Dave, do you hear me??

*  Stay injury-free and healthy. This isn't an outstanding intention. Unlike years past where I marched myself into the doctors office with costochondritis or various issues with my lower limbs, I don't think I saw the doctor for anything other than regular checkups this past year. It was amazing, actually. Plus, I made the right call when during that holiday fun run it began looking like I would crumble if I continued to run shuffle. But, this should be an intention that I carry with me throughout the years.

*  Sleep 8 hours a night. Similarly, sleeping 8 hours a night is a lifetime intention, too, but I'm sticking it on this year's list of intentions because it has yet to become a habit.

ॐ

2012 Intentions and Completing the Year

A friend recently passed along a link to this republication of a post on Intentblog.com that describes the intersection of setting intentions for the upcoming year and the art of completing the year we leave behind.

Completion, as the author defines it, "is a conscious process we engage in whereby we do and say whatever we need to in order to create a true sense of closure to an experience (in this case, the year that is about to end)." Perhaps the most compelling reason for practicing completion is the following:

Completion allows us to bring things to a close with a sense of gratitude, reverence, and peace. When we allow ourselves to experience a sense of true completion, we move into the next phase of life bringing with us the gifts, lessons, accomplishments, experiences, and more from what we’ve just been through. When we don’t take the time to truly complete something, we end up carrying baggage, regrets, fear, and unresolved issues into our next experience. These things don’t serve us and often end up undermining our success and fulfillment.

Dang, that's loaded. I don't want to bore the non-yogis/eastern philosophy readers, but one thing is certain: I sure don't want to be carrying any extra baggage on my next road race. At any rate, I don't think I take much of my extracurricular stuff so seriously as to have much to stew on and complete before moving on to next year's intentions, but I don't think I'm unique in writing that my personal life could probably benefit from the practice. Check out the source blog post for suggestions on how to practice completion.

On to the final check-in of this year's intentions...and I suppose maybe a little completion therapy.

*  Run my first half marathon. I ran the Richmond (VA) Half. I had two of my favorite people there with me, and it was a pretty awesome experience. I'm pretty sure this experience is complete.

*  Train for a finish at Richmond in under 2 hours. I missed by just over 2 minutes, which is a bit of a bummer when I write it out. Partway through my training cycle, I knew that I wasn't training hard enough for a sub-2 half. I have to remember all the things I was juggling this fall to really put into perspective how challenging it would have been for me to step up training. Do I want to keep training for a sub-2 half? Stay tuned.

*  PR in the 5K distance. I didn't run any late fall 5Ks, when I was at my fastest, so this didn't happen. I had contemplated running a 5K the week after the Richmond Half, but I caught a wicked cold that lasted forever.

* Volunteer at the race expo of a major local race. You'd think this wold be an easy intention. I was registered to volunteer at the Friday evening packet pickup for the April 2012 Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10-Mile Run. Then the opportunity to go on a backcountry hut ski trip came along.

*  Run a trail race. Just when you thought that all my intentions were for naught this year, voila! I ran my first trail race!

*  Ski a line, look up and say, "Holy shitake mushrooms, I just ripped that!" Yeah, whatever. The snow in 2012 was crummy.

*  Ski the Gulf of Slides on Mt. Washington. I wrote last year that I don't really care if it's in 2012 or 2021. Sure enough, thanks to the crummy snow year, I did not ski Gulf of Slides this year. It's okay. It'll still be there next year. And the next. It's not like it's the Old Man of the Mountain. I hope.

*  Backcountry hut ski trip. This wasn't originally one of my 2012 intentions as it was more of a life intention, but right before Christmas, I was unexpectedly invited to fill in for someone who dropped out of a trip to the Wallowas (OR). So I went on my first backcountry hut ski trip this year.

* Teach a regular, weekly sunrise yoga class. Yes. On Wednesday mornings. At the Y. You should go.

*  Stay injury-free and healthy. I definitely stayed injury-free, and other than the wicked cold of November that half the country got, I was pretty healthy. I even DNF'd a race when I thought it would jeopardize more than just my ego.

*  Sleep 8 hours a night. Sometimes...

Friday Non-Sequiturs

First, I'm sending thoughts of safe travel and speediness this Friday to my not-quite former Boston roommate Jonelle, who's running the Cape Code Marathon on Sunday! Run, Jonelle, run!

As for myself: Holy crap.

Because I'm type A-/B+On a whim, I decided to check in with the Richmond half marathon website earlier this week – before the race organizers sent out the email saying they were ready – to see if bib numbers had been posted. It's a little over two weeks out, so why not?

Sure enough, they were. Other than the whole "Stephanie has never run over 10 miles" part, this is starting to become real. Deeeeep breath. 

On the other hand, I've been riding something of a high from the Army Ten-Miler. In addition to the PR, I was delighted to see decent individual photos of me from a big race. There have never decent individual photos of me from a big race until now. Here are a few of them, pilfered from marathon-photos.com. 

Proof that I can run without my mouth wide open, gasping for air:

Crossing the finish, always elegant.

When you're in the middle of the pack, it's crowded at the finish.

Happy racing to everyone hitting the trails or the pavement this weekend!