Hello everyone! I really wasn’t feeling like writing or posting a blog today, but I know that for some of you my weekly blog posts are your favorite emails to get, so here I am. (Kathrine, I’m talking about you).

This week wasn’t the most monumental week for me, but then again most of my weeks aren’t. That’s okay though, because honestly how many days are really extraordinary compared to ordinary?

I did go to IKEA for the first time ever this week, and yeah… that was pretty extraordinary.

Anyway, I guess I’ll talk a little bit about my workouts from this past week now. Again, nothing super exciting, but I did have a bit of a breakthrough that I’m excited to share with you.

Sprints…

My hardest workout this week wasn’t the long run, but the day we (Drew and I) did sprints.

Sprinting isn’t something I would say that I am good at. And it’s definitely an activity I don’t enjoy doing. However, on Friday I was complaining about doing warm-up stretches (again) and so Drew said we were going to do sprints that day.

I really don’t think Drew meant to punish me with the sprints. Although, the real reason we did them was because I told him that I hadn’t been getting sore after running (which is why I didn’t want to do the warm-up stretches). Therefore, he suggested doing a sprinting workout, because that would make me sore and show me the importance of warming up … I guess. So, yeah… actually it may have been a punishment. That’s still to be decided.

I wasn’t sore after the workout, so I guess two points to warm-up stretches.

Anyway, I did NOT want to sprint on Friday. I showed up at the park thinking we would do a nice easy run, which I was super pumped for. I love doing a nice jog around the park. Then, when Drew said we were going to sprint in the nearby soccer field instead, I threw a bit of a fit. (Insert my public apology to my boyfriend for throwing a fit about a workout). I’m sorry.

Why do I hate sprinting so much? Good question. It’s because I am not naturally good at it. It typically feels a lot like racing to me, and it turns out I’m actually kind of competitive so when I’m constantly “losing” that doesn’t do a whole of good for my self-esteem. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever won a race that involved sprinting. Not even as kid.

So, there you have it. I don’t like losing, and therefore I decided I also didn’t like sprinting.

As you can imagine, starting a workout with negative thoughts in your head doesn’t produce great results. I couldn’t even finish a sprint. I ended up walking at the end or quitting early on the first few. I felt terrible (mostly from my attitude, not from the exercise itself). I honestly wanted to cry after finishing the fourth sprint.

However, right when I thought I was going to hit my breaking point, I started telling myself, “You grow when you are uncomfortable.” I repeated that phrase over and over again until I had calmed down enough to do the next sprint. Then, after that sprint I told myself the phrase again.

This phrase transformed the rest of the workout. From that point on, I started being nicer to myself, and when I started feeling tired halfway through the run I would cheer myself on. I would tell myself, “Just get there” until I finished the sprint.

So, yeah it turns out how you mentally prepare for workouts is almost as important, if not more important, than the conditioning you do beforehand. But, I guess I can continue to do the warm-up exercises anyway.

Don’t quote me on that though, because I’m not an expert. However, there are plenty of experts in the field of sports psychology, and if you’d like to hear from one, I suggest listening to episode 128 of the Ali on the Run Show. This episode was a part of Ali & the Experts week, and it is one of my all-time favorite episodes of the show. In the episode, the host, Ali Feller, talks with sports psychologist Dr. Nicole Detling, and I promise that you will feel so motivated to work out after listening to this episode.

Wrapping Up

So, yeah that was my big breakthrough for the week. This week my long run is planned to be five miles. I am feeling 50/50 about this right now. Half of me is super excited because I’ve never run that far of a distance before, and the other half of me is extremely nervous for the same reason.

I’ll definitely let you know how it goes in next week’s post, so if I were you I’d make sure I was subscribed to this blog so you don’t miss out.

Oh… and can we just take a second to talk about how I’ve already run over 100 miles!!! Sure, it took me 21 weeks to do, but dang, I’m so proud of myself!

Motivation Monday

“Train the quit out of you.” –Unknown (I found it on Pinterest).

I thought this quote would be appropriate for this week, because that is sort of what I had to do with sprinting. I wanted to quit so badly during that workout, but changing the way I thought about the exercise really improved everything about sprinting for me. Training isn’t just the physical effort you put in; it also involves a lot of mental preparation.

** Bonus Motivation **

“Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed. The fact is most putts don’t drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise… Life is like an old-time rail journey – delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.” – Jenkins Lloyd Jones

Disclaimer, I only shared the last portion of this quote. The first half was referring to young people getting married and how they think their partner will be perfect and when it turns out they aren’t (because no human is) then they run to the divorce courts.

However, I first read this quote in an email from one of my very best friends when she was serving her mission in Ecuador for a year. Her mom shared it with her, and it in turn she shared it with me.

I think about this quote at least once a week. I mostly just think about the phrases “most putts don’t drop” and “The trick is to thank the Lord for the ride,” because I can’t remember the entire quote verbatim. I really wanted to share that quote with you today, because I thought maybe one of you might appreciate it as much as I do. And honestly, I just needed this quote today.

For me, today was just a very uneventful, ordinary day. I didn’t accomplish everything I would have liked to, and instead I watched way too many episodes of The Office. Then I spent too many minutes feeling sorry for myself because I had wasted the day. But then I reminded myself truth is, “most putts don’t drop.”

Okay, I’ll be back next week. I hope you’re week is filled with more “beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed” than most.

Week 21:  
Miles run this week: 7.13
Miles run total: 100.95
Overall mood: Ordinary