Life After Marathons: A Running/barre3/Coffee/Life Journal

[hotblooded]

I miss snow!

Regarding those “changes” I referred to in my last reply, I spent some time in November applying to a few online CS post-bacc programs. I found out on Wednesday that I was admitted. Now I’m excited but mostly terrified I’ll screw it up.

 

[SarahDisney]

On goals, as others have said I think it's a good idea to set goals, but given the circumstances, they need to be achievable, realistic, and flexible. To me this means you focus on what you are able to control in the immediate here and now. Maybe the current circumstances mean running fewer miles at a slower pace. Perhaps they mean walking instead of running. Maybe they mean finding ways to pursue some fitness and/or wellness in the the confines of your home. But I think you'll feel better about working towards whatever you decide. I hate the concept of moving the goalposts as it were, but in these circumstances, it's a good analogy.

Thanks for the thought/advice! Focusing on what I am able to control here and now is a good place to start. Lots to think about there for sure.

For all the referring to that, I'm surprised no one actually quoted it. So I will.

If it makes you feel any better, as soon as I saw the words "world domination" I pulled up a video of the theme song on youtube and watched it.

 

[SarahDisney]

I miss snow!

Regarding those “changes” I referred to in my last reply, I spent some time in November applying to a few online CS post-bacc programs. I found out on Wednesday that I was admitted. Now I’m excited but mostly terrified I’ll screw it up.

Yes!!! I'm so excited for you. This will be a good change, and I'm really happy for you. Congrats!

And snow is the best. Once this pandemic is over, feel free to come visit NYC to see the snow any time.

 

[SarahDisney]

COVID-19 Wellness Focus - Week "No Rest For the Sarah" - December 14th - December 20th, 2020

Monday:

• barre3 with Kimberly Livestream - 60-minute class

Tuesday:

• 7.24 mile run, 1:37:50 hours, 13:31 min/mi avg pace
• barre3 Online - 10-minute class

Wednesday:

• 4.41 mile run, 55:11 minutes, 12:31 min/mi avg pace
• 18 minute walk, 0.90 miles - I had to go to like 4 different stores to track down Chanukah candles. This is what happens when you try to buy candles on the 6th day of Chanukah (I was using leftover candles from last year and ran out).

Thursday:

• barre3 with Lauren Livestream - 60-minute class
• 36 minute walk, 1.87 miles - this was my post-snow walk. The kiddos were out and about enjoying the snow.

Friday:

• barre3 Online - 10-minute class

Saturday:

• barre3 Pre-Recorded Class with Amanda - 60-minute class. My barre studio recently launched an online platform with pre-recorded live stream classes (aka classes that are recorded as they happen and then go on the platform later), so I did one of those. Was good, not exactly the same as livestream, but close.

Sunday:

• 2.26 mile run, 30:02 minutes, 13:19 min/mi avg pace
• barre3 with Vicky Livestream - 60-minute class

Total Running:
3 runs, 13.91 miles, 3:03:03 hours

Total barre3:
3 Livestream class
1 Pre-Recorded class
2 online classes
Total time: ~ 4:20 hours

Walks:
2 walks, 54 minutes

Healthy Eating:
Eh. Could have been better. Could have been worse.

Life:
I took Monday off to do some cooking, which was the start of me being behind schedule all week. But I hit my work goal for the week despite some issues.
I wanted to (to the greatest extent I can) participate in the March DisneyBound challenge next year and some of the themes have been posted on Facebook, so ... I have some shopping ahead of me. This will be fun. And possibly expensive.

 

[SarahDisney]

Goals: 2021 Edition​

So ... it turns out I didn't set any running/health goals for 2020. Good thing, because this year was something.

Anyway ... a few weeks ago I asked if I should even bother setting 2021 goals. I got a lot of good responses (thanks, y'all!), and the overall theme was yes.

Based on the awesome ideas and advice that everyone shared, I came up with a few guidelines for my 2021 goals:

• Goals should be something that is important to me.
• Goals should set me up to work towards future goals.
• Goals should be realistic and flexible.
• Goals are an opportunity to put something positive into the universe.

With all that in mind, I have set 3 running and fitness goals for 2020:

Goal #1: Stay Active
Last I checked (which granted, was like 10 years ago), the recommendation for minimum recommended amount of exercise was 150 minutes per week. So that’s my goal. 150 minutes per week x 52 weeks in a year = 7,800 minutes of exercise in 2021.

This is something that is it important to me. It's important that I stay active, and I know that maintaining a base level of activity is important for all of my future goals. This is also flexible, because I'm not limiting myself to running or any other type of exercise - I know that as regulations change and my situation changes, running may not always be an option for me. Barre classes may not be an option. But there will always be some option, and I need to be flexible enough to find that right option.

Goal #2: Do Better Every Month
“Better” is really going to depend on life and how the month goes. But I know that no month is perfect, so my goal is to spend a few minutes towards the end of every month reflecting and identify something that I could have done better that month, then set a goal for the next moth based on that reflection. For example, if in January I see that I wasn’t good about getting sleep and I was always tired, I can set a goal for February to have a 7+ hour sleep average for the month.

This goal means a lot to me because it's about improvement. It's about understanding where I am at a given moment and striving to do better. And it's also about knowing that "better" may mean something different every month. Which I guess makes it super realistic.

Goal #3: Earn a Medal
I don't know when I'll feel comfortable racing again, so I don't know if I'll end up doing an in-person race or a virtual race. But I know a lot of people are really hoping large races can return soon, so I wanted to put this energy out into the world. I hope that large-scale races will return at some point in 2021, and whether or not I'm ready to participate in an in-person race, I want to celebrate that by earning a medal (if I end up doing virtual, I'd like it to be a race that skipped 2020 that does in-person in 2021 but also has a virtual option ... not sure if that will be a thing).

So ... those are my 2021 goals. I think they're all reasonable (well, #3 less than the others, but that one is about putting race energy out in the world). They should be enough to keep me moving (and keep me thinking about that movement), but I think they're also flexible enough to adapt to whatever life throws at me. Which is really all that I can ask for most days.

 

[SarahDisney]

COVID-19 Wellness Focus - Week "Running Slump" - December 21st - December 27th, 2020

Last update that's fully 2020! My annual December running slump hit in full force this week, so take that into account when reading this.

Monday:

• 2.68 mile run, 36:48 minutes, 13:43 min/mi avg pace
• barre3 with Amanda Livestream - 60-minute class

Tuesday:

• barre3 with Katie Livestream - 60-minute class.

Wednesday:

• 3.81 mile run, 47:36 minutes, 12:29 min/mi avg pace. Watch had a nutty on 57th St, so that pace is likely not accurate.
• They let us out of work at 2, so I spent lots of time watching TV and being a lazy Sarah

Thursday:

• barre3 with Kelly Livestream - 60-minute class

Friday:

• Rest Day!

Saturday:

• barre3 Online - 30-minute class

Sunday:

• Was originally considering running, but I decided I wasn't in the mood
• barre3 with Jess Livestream - 60-minute class

Total Running:
2 runs, 6.49 miles, 1:24:24 hours

Total barre3:
4Livestream class
1 online classes
Total time: ~ 4:30 hours

Walks:
0 walks

Like I mentioned ... annual December running slump has hit. It sucks, but I decided to embrace it instead of running through it - I shortened runs, I skipped when I wasn't in the mood. And I think it helped. This week I'm feeling much better about running.

Healthy Eating:
I made soup. Soup recipes are dumb. It's better to just dump some liquid and some veggies in a pot, leave it simmering for a bit, and be done wth it (disclaimer: I don't like recipes in general and use them more as inspiration than instructions). But I have some veggie soup to last me a bit (every vegetable under the sun so it's not at all cohesive, but ... recipes).
Other than that ... I've done better, I've done worse. Long story short I accidentally ordered too many cucumber in my Fresh Direct order, so my new favorite work snack is cucumber spears. Cucumbers are delicious and a good mid-day crunch. I think I will order extra cucumbers intentionally next time.

Life:
Nothing too exciting doing. I watched a lot of TV last week. Didn't do much else. But things are okay overall, which is the best I can ask for.

 

[jmasgat]

Good goals! Good luck with them. They are flexible, but not vague, and I really like your approach of re-visiting something on a monthly basis to adjust/move forward.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I like your goals. I think they strike a nice balance between challenging you to be better while also being flexible enough to recognize that stuff happens and it's okay to make adjustments depending on circumstances, especially those beyond your control.

 

[SarahDisney]

COVID-19 Wellness Focus - Week "The End" + 2021 Activity Tracker Week 0 - December 28th, 2020 -January 3rd, 2021

Monday:

• 5.57 mile run, 1:14:43 minutes, 13:25 min/mi avg pace
• barre3 with Jenna Livestream - 60-minute class

Tuesday:

• barre3 with Catie Livestream - 45-minute class

Wednesday:

• 4.68 mile run, 1:02:05 hours, 13:16 min/mi avg pace

Thursday:

• barre3 with Kelly Livestream - 60-minute class

Friday:

• For the last few years (since I moved to the apartment), my New Years ritual has been run to barre3 (passing through the littered remains of confetti in Times Square) and take the first class of the year. With the studio still closed, that wasn't happening this year. I contemplated running down to Times Square and back before the first live stream class of the year, but that would have meant getting up super early (because longer run + 15 minute earlier class time), so I decided to skip the run and just do the class.
• barre3 with Lauren Livestream - 60-minute class

Saturday:

• Rest Day!

Sunday:

• 36 minute walk, 2 miles - I had originally planned to do a long run, but I woke up too tired, so instead I went out for a short walk and did barre class
• barre3 with Vicky Livestream - 60-minute class

Total Running:
2 runs, 10.25 miles, 2:16:48 hours

Total barre3:
5 Livestream class
0 Pre-Recorded class
0 online classes
Total time: ~ 4:45 hours

Walks:
1 walks, 36 minutes

Active Minutes For Friday-Sunday: 60 + 0 + 96 = 156 minutes
Total 2021 Active Minutes: 156/7800

Healthy Eating:
Medium. Made some really good vegetarian chili, which made for a few good meals. I would definitely make it again. Just gotta stock up on the ingredients ... which means trips to Trader Joe's and Whole Foods.

Life:
Overall a decent week. Work was a little frustrating because I had a problem that nobody knew how to solve, but I knew it would get solved once everyone was back at work (spoiler alert: it got solved today). Got some cleaning done. Nothing too exceptional this week, but nothing to really complain about either, so I'm happy with it.

 

[Jules76126]

Those sound like some very positive and attainable goals. I think of 2021 as just doing better than 2020 so I did like that you included that. I can say for me personally 2021 is already better than 2020 so hoping that trend continues.

 

[SarahDisney]

Those sound like some very positive and attainable goals. I think of 2021 as just doing better than 2020 so I did like that you included that. I can say for me personally 2021 is already better than 2020 so hoping that trend continues.

Yay! I'm glad 2021 is going better than 2020 ... hopefully that trend stays.

 

[SarahDisney]

More on this when I'm not 15 minutes behind schedule on a Friday morning, but I wanted a record of my thoughts from today, so here we go.
I bought two new pairs of shoes to try. One is the Adidas SL20, which is arriving today (never worn Adidas before, no idea if they'll even fit). The other is the New Balance Fresh Foam Tempo, which I tried a few months ago but wanted to try again in a bigger size.

I wore the NB shoes today and they felt a little too big. But my normal size was definitely too small. Gonna try to do something with the laces and try them again next week.

 

[SarahDisney]

New Shoes, Yet Again​

Background
A few years back, I decided to buy a lighter shoe for shorter runs. I ended up with the New Balance Fresh Foam Zante v3. After two pairs of the v3, I got a pair of the Zante Pursuit as a race giveaway. I've been wearing that pair of Zante Pursuit for about 18 months now, so I figured it was time to replace them (although it wasn't super urgent because the mileage on them was still pretty low). Problem is, New Balance discontinued the Zante line. So what would I wear next?

Why Buy Now?
Like I said, new shoes wasn't super urgent. So why did I decide to buy now? Work gave us a $200 holiday wellness stipend, and I decided that a new pair of running shoes would be a great way to spend some of that money (I also bought a weighted blanket).

Fun fact: It's a good thing I decided to buy shoes now. I have actually now retired my Zante Pursuits. Last time I ran in them they were not comfortable, and towards the end of the run my left foot was rolling out when landing (so that I was landing on the outside of my foot), which really messed up my back. So those shoes have been retired (although I haven't retired them in Garmin Connect or labeled the box as retired because I'm in denial).

Picking Out Shoes
But what shoes to buy? If at all possible, I wanted to avoid the running store. I was okay when I went there a few months ago, but with case numbers rising, I'm really trying to minimize my in-person shopping. So I wanted to try my luck with internet shopping for shoes (because that always works out so well...).

I did some research on what shoes people recommended to replace the Zante line. I looked at a bunch of shoes, including some brands I had never looked at before (Reebok! Sketchers!), and ultimately decided to try the New Balance Fresh Foam Tempo (which is the replacement for the Zante line) and the Adidas SL20 (which I wanted to try mostly because I've been looking for yellow shoes for DisneyBounding and it comes in yellow).

New Balance Fresh Foam Tempo

This is New Balance's replacement for the Zante line, and I've actually tried it before. I bought the Tempo online a few months ago and really liked it, but found that the heel was a little uncomfortable and it pushed my foot too far forward. I was pretty sure it was a size issue, but never committed to trying a different size. During the course of my current research, I discovered that New Balance recommends sizing up in the Tempo, so I decided to order an 8.5 (I wore an 8 in the Zantes).

I did a lot of shopping around for the right price in my size and ended up ordering this from Zappos. Allegedly they have a 30-day unlimited run guarantee, so I think I can run outside in them. But I've never returned Zappos shoes after wearing them outside before so I'm extremely nervous about this situation. So we'll see how this goes.

I wore these on Friday for a 2.5 mile run and they started out okay, but by the end they felt too big. But the smaller size definitely didn't fit. So I'm not sure how I feel about these. Current plan is to see if I can lace them tighter and take them out for a 3-5 miler and make a decision based on that.

Adidas SL20


This shoe came out of nowhere. I saw it recommended on one website and then saw that it comes in yellow, and since I've been looking for a yellow shoe ... I was sold. I could only find it in this color and my size from Adidas, so I bought it direct from them. Adidas doesn't let you wear shoes outside and then return them (same with New Balance, actually), so I can't run in these before I make the decision.

I did wear them sitting at my desk for a bit and they weren't super comfortable, which was sad. But I want to like them. So I don't know what to do. If the Fresh Foam Tempo don't work out, then I may decide to keep these and just turn them into DisneyBound shoes if they're not good for running. Or maybe I'll return them. I don't know. I need to decide by the middle of the week what I'm going to submit for reimbursement, so there is definitely a deadline on this decision.

So What's It Gonna Be?
No idea. I wanted it to be the Adidas because I wanted something new, but I'm not sure they're gonna be it. Not sure about the Fresh Foam Tempo either. Not sure what I'll try if neither of these work out. I may have to make a trek to the running store. Sigh.

 

[SarahDisney]

2021 Activity Tracker Week 1 - January 4th, 2021 - January 10th, 2021

Monday:

• 9.75 mile run, 2:15:31 minutes, 13:54 min/mi avg pace. Wasn't sure how long this one was going to be, but I made it. I was contemplating going for 13.1, but I didn't want to be too late for work. And then Slack went down. So really I had plenty of time for a half and I regret not doing it (although I couldn't have known that Slack would go down).

Tuesday:

• barre3 with Jenna Livestream - 60-minute class
• barre3 Online Live Class - 30-minute class

Wednesday:

• 4.14 mile run, 56:43 minutes, 13:42 min/mi avg pace
• Was scheduled for a barre3 class after work, but then the world exploded so I just spent the night eating takeout Chinese (which I don't even like), drinking beer, and glued to CNN

Thursday:

• barre3 with Kelly Livestream - 60-minute class

Friday:

• 2.55 miles, 33:26 minutes, 13:06 min/mi avg pace

Saturday:

• Rest Day!

Sunday:

• barre3 with Vicky Livestream - 60-minute class

Total Running:
3 runs, 16.44 miles, 3:45:40 hours

Total barre3:
3 Livestream class
0 Pre-Recorded class
1 online classes
Total time: ~ 1:30 hours

Walks:
1 walks, 36 minutes

Active Minutes: 135 + 90 + 57 + 60 + 33 + 0 + 60 = 435 minutes
Total 2021 Active Minutes: 591/7800

This week, y'all. Between work and life and the universe, there was a lot going on. But I think I learned a valuable lesson about balance, which is important for a year when my life theme is "Balance."

 

[garneska]

how do you like the weighted blanket? I have been thinking about one.

 

[SarahDisney]

how do you like the weighted blanket? I have been thinking about one.

Um ... that's a good question. I don't think it has improved my sleep quality significantly, but I do like it as a blanket in general. But I also am between two sizes and decided to size down so I'm not sure if a heavier blanket would be better. So I do like it as a blanket, but I don't know that it's serving its purpose as a weighted blanket.

 

[SarahDisney]

I was reading through old posts looking for something (my review of the Brooks Launch, which I'm contemplating trying again) and I realized that we haven't talked about baseball here in a bit. I'm not going to go into much, just want to say that I'm all kinds of angry about the Staten Island Yankees getting screwed.
I've been to The Dutch (Hudson Valley) and I've been to Staten Island, and I'm sorry, but Richmond County Ballpark is a better stadium, even after the renovations at the dutch.
Friggin MLB.

Also - Somerset Patriots over Trenton? ***?

Okay, I'm gonna stop ranting now because this is all old news, I'm just still angry about it.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Sometimes it's good to vent, especially when MLB is being stupid.

 

[SarahDisney]

Shoe Update:
I started the return process for both pairs of shoes, plan is to drop them off at UPS and FedEx on Sunday.
I have to submit my wellness expenses for reimbursement by Friday. So far all I have is the weighted blanket. If I want to submit a pair of shoes for reimbursement, I gotta buy them soon.

 

[SarahDisney]

I submitted this guy for reimbursement today:


That's the New Balance 1080v10. Not a lightweight shoe (heavier than my Asics). I realized that I'd rather have 2 not-lightweight shoes that work than spend forever looking for the right lightweight shoe. Hopefully these will work okay. I tried the 1080 in-store two years ago when I was looking for marathon shoes and liked them but didn't want another pair of New Balance (at the time I was running in the Zante and the 880). I've retired all of my other New Balance shoes, so I guess it was time to try another one. Hopefully these will work out.
There were some good color options but I decided that since I rarely wear my chucks these days, it was time for a new light purple shoe.

Also ... its hockey night! Not the best hockey night, but hockey is making me happy after some life stuff, so I'll take it. I missed hockey. I love hockey.