A Running Story

🤍Lindsey 🤍31 📍US ✏️ “Measure success in as many ways as you can.”

[arunningstory]

The Long Road Back

Resurrecting this blog because I need somewhere to keep myself ✨accountable✨

Long story short: I was running regularly heading into last summer and finally felt good. Then, mid-June, I tweaked my Achilles at mile 2 of a planned 8-mile long run. I took nearly 5 months away from the sport and even when I came back, I kept my mileage to sub-20 on the month.

I built my way back up this spring to 31-40 miles per month. Now, I’m trying to get back to half marathon “readiness.” That means making more mindful food choices and more intelligent workout decisions.

Current game plan

Monday: Easy Run + Lifting

Tuesday: Workout Run + Core

Wednesday: Easy Run + Lifting

Thursday: Workout Run + Core

Friday: Yoga + (Optional) Easy Run

Saturday: Long Run……..eventually, afternoon Lift

It might take some time to get there, but I’m excited to write about it along the way!

[yournameoverandover]

my goal for this month is to wake up and run every day 😊 half marathon training starts next month so I have to be ready!

[arunningstory]

The Long Road Back: Update

I have not been posting my journals lately because I haven’t been doing them—my birthday was Thursday and today is my first day back in the routine. We will still have celebrations all weekend (that’s life, right?) but these are celebrations where I plan on eyeing my food more carefully and making sure I get my veggies.

Eating at bucket-list restaurants is not the time for eyeing food, as long as it’s not every day! You’ll get my first update of the resumed efforts tomorrow.

[arunningstory]

The Long Road Back Day 8/90

9 August 2021

Workout:

Easy run (20 mins, 2.0 miles)

Food:

Breakfast: none (oops)

Lunch: Cheese & tomato deep dish pizza (2/3 individual size) and Caesar salad from UNO’s

Dinner: Buffalo chicken quesadilla

Snacks: chocolate, 6 oz

Notes:

Last day of puppy sitting! I made time to go out and get some easy miles in, even though it was ridiculously hot 🥵 . Feeling very excited to start bumping up my mileage and runs! Tomorrow it’s back to reality and I for one can’t wait to eat normal food again.

[arunningstory]

The Long Road Back: Day 6/90

7 August 2021

Workout:

Long run (3.1 mi)

Food:

Breakfast: none (oops)

Lunch: leftover Chinese food, leftover Turkey taco meat, leftover black beans, tortilla chips

Dinner: fish and chips

Dessert: mint chocolate chip ice cream

Alcohol: beer

Notes:

Had a delayed long run today due to puppy sitting. That meant no breakfast! I also couldn’t eat much other than takeout, but still made things work. Overall, I was still under my calories for the day but I’d love to get back to my more balanced meals!

[arunningstory]

The Long Road Back: Day 5/90

6 August 2021

Workout:

BodyFlow (45 mins)

Food:

Breakfast: Peanut Butter Cup Collagen Smoothie

Lunch: UNOs personal cheese & tomato pizza, 2 slices

Dinner: Sesame Fried Chicken, Pork Fried Rice, (3) Crab Rangoons

Notes:

Good morning yoga workout today before heading over to my friend’s house to watch their puppy! I really enjoyed the hip openers and hamstring stretches. I opted not to do an easy run because I don’t want to increase my mileage too quickly and risk injury.

Meals are going to be a little weird now because we’re at their house for the weekend, so I won’t be cooking. Lunch we did cheese pizza (her leftovers) and dinner we did takeout from a nearby Chinese place. Overall, I still stayed under my calories for today but I wasn’t as healthy as I could have been! But that’s part of life for now. I feel good that I can still make good choices!

[arunningstory]

The Long Road Back Day 4/90

5 August 2021

Workout:

None (rain day)

Food:

Breakfast: coffee

Lunch: 0.5 Mediterranean chicken flatbread, French fries

Dinner: Lentil & Kielbasa Salad with Arugula; triscuits and goat cheese

Snacks: Mozzarella sticks (3), 85% dark chocolate

Alcohol: UFO blueberry

Notes:

Today wasn’t my best day for food or exercise, but I made sure to hydrate. I was thrown out of my routine because of the weather. I think in the future I should have a backup routine ready in case of inclement weather, or perhaps just run in the rain. For now, it was a good reminder to keep an eye on my intake.

My food was also way off today. I missed breakfast due to a productivity spiral and then ate lunch late due to a rabbit hole from the RED vault tracklist (lol). Hubs and I had plans in the evening but I didn’t want to miss dinner, so I ate an early dinner even though I wasn’t hungry and then just felt sort of meh for the rest of the day. Could be the rainy day, but I also love cooking and eating food with hubs! I felt a lot better having a beer and some mozzarella sticks with our friends. Food should be a social activity 😊

[arunningstory]

The Long Road Back: Day 3/90

4 August 2021

Workout:

Easy Run (25 mins, 2.4 mi)

BodyPump 116 (55 mins)

Food:

Breakfast: Banana Peanut Butter Cup Smoothie (😍)

Lunch: Nachos, 0.5 Mediterranean Chicken Sandwich, French Fries

Dinner: Grain bowl with roasted Brussels sprouts, sweet potato, and a fried egg

Snacks: 85% Dark Chocolate

Notes:

Day 2 of AM workouts went well! I liked running super early and then having a short break before my weight lifting. Ran a new route today which kept things fun. I am also working on being more deliberate about my weights in BodyPump.

Lunch was late today (2:30ish) and rather large. I didn’t feel hungry again after eating it, but was torn about dinner because my calorie intake was too low. Ultimately I finished making dinner around 9:35 when my husband got home. I decided to eat a small serving with him instead of passing. I had a hard time falling asleep later, though if that’s more about TikTok, I can’t be sure.

[arunningstory]

The Long Road Back: Day 2/90

Workout:

Speed Run - 8x1:00 at 5k pace, 0:30 at fun run pace (2 miles / 21 mins)

Core Workout - LesMills CORE #40 (30:00 remix)

Food:

Breakfast - Vanilla Latte Collagen Shake (New Recipe!!! TERRIBLE and will NEVER make this again)

Lunch - (3) Mozz and Roast Beef Stackers

Dinner - Turkey Tacos, Tortilla chips, and Black Beans

Snacks - Peach, Greek Yogurt, and 85% Dark Chocolate

Notes:

First early AM run in awhile! It felt great. The core workout killed me though.

I also bought a scale today because I finally felt ready to do it at this point in my journey. I have not had a scale in my home in over 3 years due to compulsive behaviors around my weight. However, after my weigh in today I didn’t feel ashamed or embarrassed. I felt empowered and determined—and excited to finally have a solid starting point and a clear path forward.

Just like I won’t be logging my calories here, I won’t post my weight online for now. However, I will make a notation on weigh-in days and I will note if I gained or lost anything. Please do whatever is necessary for your health 💕✨

[thoradvice]

no matter what happened today, you:

are loved

deserve to eat

are needed & valued

should take care of yourself

have a future

will be okay

[arunningstory]

The Long Road Back: Day 1/90

Workout

Easy Run (12 mins; 1.15 miles)

BodyPump 116 (55 mins)

Food

Breakfast: Cinnamon Roll

Lunch: Mozz and Roast Beef Stackers

Dinner: Baked Shrimp, Zucchini Coins, Brown Rice

Snacks: greek yogurt, strawberries, carrots, celery, hummus, 85% chocolate, strawberry froyo

Alcohol: Gin & Strawberry Fizzy

Notes:

I procrastinated on my workout today until after 9am, so I lost all motivation for BP by the time I got going. Powered through and felt good at the end!

I also realized today that if I don’t log my food SOMEWHERE, I will not consume enough calories to be healthy or sustain my workouts. As a result, I will be logging all of my food on a separate app to check my calorie intake. Here, I will list what I eat to track long-term trends. If this is difficult for you due to personal experiences, please unfollow as it is necessary for me 💕✨

[trovadora-de-versos]

En el misterio del existir encuentro nuestro sentir, sumamos voluntades coincidimos en la palabra.

- Parodias Del alma ©

[arunningstory]

3.5 miles today in some blissfully cool weather

[arunningstory]

I think part of the reason I like morning exercise is that it feels like something I do ~for me~ rather than to offset some choice I made, or stressful event during the day. Like yeah I just ran 2.5 miles because it’s good for me and I felt strong as fuck and free as hell and wasn’t worrying about the numbers or anything else bc I haven’t done anything to worry about yet. And that’s really beautiful and it makes me grateful that I still have that ability to get up and RUN but sad that so much gets in the way sometimes

[arunningstory]

Sharing my fitness resolutions for 2021!

Complete all 12 Blogilates workout calendars: After my injury last year, I finally came to terms with the fact that I have neglected my cross-training. It is at the point where I am putting my running at risk and also developing an unhealthy mindset around exercise. Running was once my preferred workout; I spiraled this summer during my recovery, and developed the mindset that running was the only workout worth pursuing. I started integrating cross-training during my post-Christmas quarantine, but it was a LOT to research and develop on my own! Cassie makes good, challenging workouts and all I have to do is click a link? Sign me up ✅

Run 100 5ks: Another unhealthy mindset that I developed before my injury was that any distance under 8k was barely worth thinking about, especially at easy efforts. My post-injury runs reminded me that there is SO MUCH TO CELEBRATE in shorter distances, easy runs, and rest days. I want to keep running, but I want to make it sustainable and exciting. This is totally manageable for me from a fitness standpoint, but the mental determination to make time for “shorter runs” like a 5k is still difficult. I look forward to the challenge!

I am a big believer in goals that are manageable and measurable. I hope that I will be able to revisit these one year from now with a sense of accomplishment!

[arunningstory]

Good morning! Hit the road later than I planned, but earlier than the rain, so it’s all good!

[arunningstory]

Done and DONE! Felt good today. It’s funny how a full night’s sleep and not working on my feet from 7-3 can make it easier to run 😂