Progress

It's been so long since I've posted I had to go back to see what that last post was about!!
I was apparently really tired that day. Now, I'm tired of reading that title. It's Making me tired!!

The theme for me this month has been soreness. I was beginning to feel like I might never walk across the room, or reach onto a shelf, or sit on a chair without a guarded,'ooooh ouch ahhhh....'
I have been Hurting for Weeks!!!!
My body has been going through some changes. I've been asking it to do things that it's never done before.
Circuits upon circuits of slamming medicine balls, jumping repeatedly onto massive tires, throwing medicine balls up at a wall - catching it- bend into squat and repeat. and Planks! oh the planks. Planks with one arm, planks while climbing mountains, planks while moving a ball back and forth and doing a push up! Crazy hard fun stuff. But my body has been Screaming!!
On top of that, my run mileage is gradually climbing. While the running hasn't been overwhelming, trying to run up my neighborhood hills (I mean, mini mountains) has left be begging for mercy. My quads have been shaking and rebelling on more than one run lately.
My last strength workout was Thursday night. I woke up Friday feeling all cocky and proud. I felt fine! I drove to the pool for a great swim. Haha...I am fine. I can keep up with those guys and handle this No problemo. (my new strength group is 99% men).
Ahem..
I spoke too soon.
(and I must interrupt this post, that I am writing while watching Dancing wth the Stars, to say that Jennifer Gray is one Hot 50 year old!!! You go girl! Motivation to keep the body in Shape! )

So yes, I spoke too soon. Serious DOMS! Yup---delayed onset muscle soreness. I had it. My upper body was talking.to.me.
What was it saying?
"Hello Momma! You are Wrecking me! I am getting ready to show you what this is for!"

It was time for some adapting. My body finally decided to stop taking this abuse and put all this hard work to some good use.

By Sunday morning, I was feeling just fine. Allejuia. I had a long run on tap and I wanted it to be good.

You know what? It was INCREDIBLE!!!! Now, my Heartrate and pace were controlled and monitored throughout. I am sure that helped things. However, something amazing happened. Something that is Rare for me. In all my years of running.
I never got tired. My legs did NOT get tired. At all!!! I felt Great! Fine. I felt the same at mile 15 as I did at mile 7. It was fabulous!!! And mystifying!
What's happening here??

Ding ding ding. I get it. Finally, I am getting stronger. My muscles are experiencing that thing we read about. Resistance to fatigue. Yup...that's what that was.

I am running more and more. I have double runs some days, and about 15 more miles/ week than I'm used to. That combined with some effective and well planned strength program and I'm seeing the results.

Sure, there's a good chance I was just havinga good day. But it was enough. Enough to build my confidence and give me the kick to keep working just as hard.

Sometimes I Like to Curl up in a Ball,

So no one can see me because I'm so small.

Sometimes I like to run ever so fast, I sometimes come first, but I sometimes come last.

Sometimes I like to stand still as a tree, and watch everyone rush around about me.

Sometimes I like to just walk round and round, I pigeon step, pigeon step, till I fall down. (ok--I don't do this very often. But my middle son sure does!! Makes me laugh...)

Six or seven years ago, my dear Aunt Jane gave my kids an adorable little book by the same title as my post. The author Vicki Churchill captures the feelings in our home in just the right way. Aunt Jane died very suddenly of a brain tumor almost 5 years ago. This book always makes me think of her.

This morning when I woke up, all I could think about was when I could possibly figure out how to crawl back into bed. My body shuttered when the alarm screamed at me at 4:30. I was still awake a mere 3 hrs before. I was in panic mode when I looked at the clock and saw the time in the middle of the night. I had missed my early morning swim on Monday. I was fried that day for several reasons and shut the alarm off by mistake. I Had to swim today. I had to. I was running out of options for fitting in my 2 / week dates with the pool.
So I got up.
Last night was such a bad night. Why does that happen? Yes, it was election night and I am pretty worked up about a few things happening in Maine right now. Specifically, an issue that was voted on by the entire state but only impacts My county. I'll just leave it at that. So I was up too late watching the poll numbers (fyi--- both issues are still statistically tied. But it's not looking favorable for my side.) and my husband was out late for something.
One thing after another and the next thing I know, insomnia.

But I got up.
I swam. I swam pretty hard and felt pretty good!!! I couldn't imagine even diving in the water as I looked at my face before. My eyes were puffy and red from my sleepless night. The cool water stunned me. SO, I just moved my arms and completed the workout. After a few hundred yards, I was focused on the job at hand.
And as tired as I am now, I'm more than happy that I dragged my butt out of bed and started the day off right with a swim.

I imagine everyone has those days. Those mornings when you do not think you can possibly accomplish one darn thing on 'the list.' Maybe you're too tired, too busy, too stressed, too sore. Who knows. I do know that it's always easier to just put it off. It alwasy makes sense at the time, to turn the alarm off or to just take one day off.

I also know that what puts you ahead of everyone else is when you make the conscious decision to just DO IT! Learn to ignore the little devil on your shoulder that is convincing you to back down. Have you ever finished something that was hard to start or hard to complete and said to yourself, "Boy, I wish I hadn't done that." Probably not. I know I haven't. That is what dragged me 40 minutes away from my bed early this morning after getting 3 hrs of sleep. I feel good now. Tired, but healthy. I feel stronger and more energetic than if I had just crawled down to the kitchen blinking for my coffee cup. (ok, I did do that but I took it in the car with me to the pool.)
You get my drift.
Get UP!! Do It!!!
There. that's my little pep talk for today.

And then, as Ms. Churchill says so aptly says,

"But when the day ends and the sun starts to fall,
Then I do what I do best of all.
I find somewhere soft,
somewhere cozy and small....
and that's where I like to curl up in a ball."