Mom in the Mtns

Hi everyone!  I have a little secret to tell.  Lately I haven’t been running so much.  Yeah, I ran that virtual 10k last week, and I ran a really awesome 3.1 mile run in the rain last Saturday as well, but that’s it in the past week.  I’m literally down to 2 days of running each week and it’s starting to stress me out.  Yesterday I sat down and looked at my half marathon training plan for the Her Tern Half on July 19th, and got really nervous because I’m already up to 7 miles this week.  And yesterday I was a bit too hungover and tired to do it, so I’m attempting it today.  It will not be fun.  So what have I been doing instead of running?

• Reading for fun!  We have an awesome library here in Seward and I’ve been checking out books like crazy.  I never used to have time to do that at home so this makes me so incredibly happy because I LOVE to read!  Right now I’ve got Born To Run and I’m so excited to start reading it!  Some days it’s more fun to read about running than to actually do it  🙂
• Eating.  Lots of Moose’s Tooth pizza in Anchorage to be specific.  I just drove to Anchorage with some friends yesterday and that pizza place was on our list of must-do things!  It is the best pizza ever!  We’ve had it like 3 times already and we’ve only been here 6 weeks…
• Napping.  My job is tiring and stressful, and requires a 5:30 am wakeup call and working 10 hours.  I hate napping but I’ve accidentally done it a few times in the past week which shows how tired I really am.
• Making new friends.  I live with so many people that it’s easy to meet new people every day!  I love just sitting around and talking with new people every day.  I’m trying to get someone to teach me how to fish and I think that should be happening soon since so many people know how to do it here!
• Celebrating my 1 year wedding anniversary with my amazing husband on June 1st!  This was such a massive event that it literally took up all my free time last week.  We went hiking and stayed in a cute nearby town in a B&B that had a private hot tub and cable TV which is something we don’t have in our apartment!  Yay!

And before you all start to assume I’m getting lazy, I’ve honestly been doing a lot of hiking.  Hiking in Alaska can often be flat and easy, but usually it’s not.  And sometimes the trails go straight up for miles!  When I spend that much time sweating up and down a mountain I’m just not really motivated to go for a run.  Plus my legs hurt after climbing uphill for so long, and I don’t want to overdo it!

A 10 pm hike to Exit Glacier!

Pulling myself across a gorge in a hand tram on Winner Creek Trail – which was more of an arm workout than anything!

Hiking up to Byron Glacier in Whittier – one of the easiest and most beautiful hikes I’ve ever done!

The view from Portage Pass Trail, a very steep trail with a view of Portage Glacier at the top!  So worth the effort!

Andrew hiking Portage Pass Trail and looking for bears!

Whenever I’m not hiking, I’m usually hanging out in the kitchen.  We basically live in a dorm (Andrew and I have our own room and bathroom, but share a kitchen with 40 other people) and it’s seriously like college all over again!  While cooking I get to hang out with my friends, but that sometimes turns into watching movies or playing Cards Against Humanity until bedtime, which sabotages my runs.  I need to get better at saying no, but right now I’d much rather have fun hanging out with people I’ll only get to see this summer instead of going for a run, especially on cold rainy days.  I feel like I’ve got my own personal Blerch following me around right now.

I have been eating a large amount of Nutella lately…

I feel like ever since I finished the Love Run Half and started preparing for the big move to Alaska, I’ve been struggling with staying on track with running.  After the move I was so out of shape and running hasn’t really gotten much easier in the last 1.5 months since it’s so inconsistent.  I’ve been stressed about my job and have a totally different work schedule than usual, and it’s shaken up my usual routine.  But I’m not going to be happy if things keep going this way because I’ll probably die in my next half!  So how am I going to get back on track?  I’m not really sure at this point.  I do have time after work to go running, but the key is to avoid the kitchen because as soon as I hear about whatever fun thing they’re all planning that night (ultimate frisbee?  Rock climbing at the gym?  Karaoke Night at the Yukon Bar?) I seem to abandon all of my running plans.  I need to get a better handle on how to balance life and training.  I never ran in college, and now I realize how hard that would have been!  So my plan is to write it into my schedule and stick to it!  I will feel a lot better if I’m running at least 3 times a week, and since that’s only 1 day more than what I’m doing now I think that’s totally possible.  I’m going to count my long hiking days as cross training for now.  I’d love to get back into Barre3 (online workouts!) and might try yoga to help de-stress me as well.  I’m going to mark each workout on my calendar like I used to because seeing each workout written down motivated me to get out the door for a run when I was supposed to!  I’ll hopefully be back on track soon!

How do you stay on track with your training plans?  How often do you run each week?  How do you keep yourself from talking yourself out of a run?