Training Thoughts: Week 3 (Jan 22-Jan 28) — 20.3 Miles

This week’s Training Thoughts is brought to you by my long run. Although I had lower mileage this week, I got some awesome workouts in for cross training. I bench pressed for the first time (in a kick ass all female strength training class, too!), caught up with a friend over a DC SoulCycle class, and went to Sweat Pink DMV event at Xtend Barre Arlington. I even got two few two-a-day’s in! They were very rewarding, but made me realize I need to plan dedicated time for unwinding self-care activities this week.

Giving it More, especially when you think you can’t

At about mile four of my eight mile long run, I was waning, feeling like I should just cut the run short to six miles and head back to my apartment. I was thinking about what I wanted to eat afterwards and how it wouldn’t be terrible for my training if I just cut the mileage short. But I knew I wouldn’t just be cutting the mileage short, I’d be cutting myself short of a chance to give more to my goals, especially at a time when I was mentally limiting myself. The thing about making progress, is that it’s there’s not a physical arrival point (except actually maybe in a run, when you physically finish your workout). Making process is a continuous journey. I have to remind myself that being resilient, and staying overall mentally tough is readjusting my limiting thoughts, and giving it more.

reflection vs. rumination

As humans, we inherently function based on our past thoughts and actions. Whether that’s conscious or subconscious, it’s simply how we turn present and future thoughts, beliefs, goals, decisions, and choices into driving actions. Our past realities, and how we acted then, somehow dictates our current reality, and how we choose to act. As someone who has to check herself when she thinks about the past too much, I believe there’s importance in reflection. The part that I have been actively working to check myself on is when reflection ticks towards rumination. The two definitely happen over the course of a long run and I find myself needing to tip the mental scale. During reflection, I’m actively seeking solutions to my past problems, figuring out what and how I can do better in the future, and freeing myself from the burden of emotional baggage. During rumination, I’m preoccupying my mind with all the things I could have, should have, would have done if things had been different in a certain way, dragging that emotional baggage into other aspects of my life. I’ve given myself permission to think about the past, but only in positive reflective ways. When I start to ruminate, I literally tell myself, don’t go there, Franny, it’s not going to make you happy, and you deserve to be happy! Awesomely enough, those cautionary words empower me to keep moving forward while being appreciative and reflective of my past.

If you’d like to see more of Training Thoughts, check out Week 1 and Week 2.