A Better Me

This is what it is: it’s staying in on a Saturday night so you can hydrate and get enough sleep before a long run that is exactly a quarter of the distance you used to run on long run days. It’s convincing yourself that that run even matters, short as it is. It’s convincing yourself to take that run seriously, short as it is.

It’s wearing compression socks under your jeans to work, hoping your over-worked legs will miraculously feel better by the time your run rolls around. It’s using every mental trick you know - just get to that lamppost, just get to that fire hydrant, just get to your street - to keep yourself running when they don’t.

It’s rolling out a mat and doing core work at the foot of your bed after you run, even though you’d rather be in that bed, preferably watching Netflix with a glass of wine. It’s doing yoga videos alone in your basement. It’s bringing your foam roller with you wherever you go, and trying to laugh it off when your friends make fun of you, again, for taking it so seriously. 

It’s schlepping it to the gas station during a snowstorm so you can buy two bags of ice. It’s shivering while you carry them inside your house. It’s shivering even harder when you lower yourself into a homemade ice bath and force yourself to sit there for 20 minutes. It’s hoping that it works.

It’s two plates at dinner, trying to make sure you’re eating enough. It’s forcing yourself to drive to the store on a weeknight when you run out of frozen vegetables. It’s praying that that thing you heard about bananas speeding up recovery is true because everything hurts and you have a run on the schedule and you can’t skip a day because you’ll lose momentum.

It’s learning that momentum is a precious thing - the most precious thing. It’s realizing that it doesn’t matter how bright the fire burns, as long as it’s still alive. It’s dedicating your entire existence to stoking it, in the big ways and the small ways, doing whatever you can to make sure that when you wake up in the morning, you’ve still got a spark to work with.

It’s not easy. It’s not glamorous. It’s not fun, or sexy, or quick, or painless. It really, truly is not pretty. 

1) eat at least 2 hours before running. If it’s something light and carby, it can be less but at least 45 minutes

2) stop drinking water 50-60 minutes before running. It causes cramps

3) 3+ liters of water daily

4) sleep is your BEST friend. Sleep is as/more important than the work you’re doing. You will stay where you are or get worse if you don’t sleep enough, it is the body’s opportunity to rebuild what you broke down during running/training

5) always eat *enough (*= however much until you feel full and satisfied. Try to stick to whole foods and fruit&veggies, but the world won’t end when you eat something processed. Treat yourself often, you deserve it girl!). Also note that your fitness is what’s inside of you and not entirely aesthetic

6) don’t spend too much energy on nutrition. The best athletes have a general guideline of what to eat during training, but you should never restrict yourself if you’re training at a high volume. Or even if you’re not. Just eat freely you’ll feel better while running, guaranteed

7) enjoy every single run. There will be times where you can’t pound the pavement due to injury or something else so never take any run for granted

8) trial of miles, miles of trials. There will be a daily grind that isn’t always glamorous but it’ll always be there and there’s comfort in that

9) workouts are the place to get better. In order to get better, you need to push your body into discomfort. Be honest about what that means to you

10) LEAVE YOUR NEGATIVITY AT THE DOOR. Being negative is a choice, no matter what. Don’t choose it!!!!!

11) trust that process. You’re doing everything you do for a reason. Trust that it WILL get you where you want to go.