Own Your Runs both Good and Bad
I was chit chatting in my office with one of the awesome ladies on my team, Tori Jarema, about running and workouts in general and was inspired to write this blog.
We launched a wellness program where I work, Zero Point, earlier this year so it’s pretty common to have and/or hear conversations “around the water cooler” about exercise and overall fitness; a subject I particularly enjoy. The program is all about challenging yourself to accomplish goals that you may or may not have accomplished in the past. It’s to better yourself in ways that will benefit your life style all with the support and banter of your peers.
There are a few of us aspiring runners in the program and while we are all at different levels, we all find the joy (or looking for it) in running and improve in some way, shape or form; pace, stride, strength, distance, the list goes on. What’s nice is we share our product reviews, recipes, frustrations, courses and successes with each other which I find many great takeaways from. We swap supplements ad compare results, good stuff!
Tori was expressing some frustrations about having a poor run and the emotions that come along with that. Something I understand quite well, I feel that running is very emotional. I run both with a buddy and without and find that I am equally emotional on both occasions. I have cried, I have been there when my buddy cried; in fact, I don’t think there is an emotion I haven’t expressed while running. When I’m by myself, I truly have the opportunity to be whatever I want to be: in a bad mood, smile at every person I see, sad, slow, delighted, angry, disappointed, you get my drift. I may not always purposely pick my state of mind, but I will always own it.
Sometimes the lead legs that I’m forcing to defy gravity give me less than a satisfactory pace and other times I’m on fire; all runs are not created equal. They can’t all be good, where is the satisfaction in that? If some of them don’t suck, then I’d venture to say that grit is lacking the moment. Pushing through a shitty run is true grit, put one foot in front of the other and get it done! Grit defines the determination of a person who will succeed, even when the conditions (both internal and external) are less than optimal; not only a temperament found while running but is a factor all day every day.
So, I think if you don’t meet the expectations of your run (or whatever you want to call it) you still did it and have the right to be proud of it.
At the end of our chit chat, we talked about things we can do to improve our runs and I shared some of my workouts, she asked that I write them down for her. So this is me writing them down, one at a time.
Today this was my workout:
15 min on the Bowflex Max trainer – gotta get the blood flowing
20 squats with a 10 lb. ball held against chest
30 standing heel raises with 10 lb. ball held against chest
40 curtsy squats (20 each side alternating) holding 10 lb. ball against chest
30 hip thrust with 10 lb. ball on lower abdomen
20 single leg glute bridge – 10 each leg
30 leg lifts
30 abdominal twist with 10 lb. ball (feet off the floor)
Do everything above (except the Bowflex) 3 more times.
Enjoy!
-Stacy Sasnett
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