Today was a day of refocus.
I had gotten off track with so many things and it was time to get focused on myself.
My diet has been all over the place and I’ve let my health take a back seat. Without going into too much detail it has been a very stressful few days/weeks and my way of coping is eating things I shouldn’t.
It was time to break that habit.
This morning I woke up and Wes suggested I attempt test #2 on my leg.
I bundled up because it is crazy cold here. I just cannot get used to this cold weather.
The key to running in the coldest city in Pennsylvania is layers. You can never wear too many layers. I make it a point during the winter to buy my long sleeve shirts a size bigger so that I can wear several other shirts underneath it.
The plan was to run 0.5 miles on all grass. Easy, slow, and on soft surface.
We have a field right next to where we live and I knew it would be the perfect place to run.
There is also a baseball diamond which I actually prefer to run on over the grass. The grass was really wet and had a lot of hilly areas so running on the baseball diamond was much easier.
Total run was 0.51 miles in just over 6:00 minutes. I told you I was going to run slow.
It went well. I had no pain and it felt amazing.
Before you all start thinking I’m crazy. Don’t worry. I am taking this slow. I am just testing it out. I have no plans on going out and running anymore at this point.
It is about small steps and moving in the right direction. I am focusing on strength training and cross training to make sure that one day when I do really run again that I will be ready and stronger.
I woke up determined to make some changes and after this successful run I was even more motivated.
I went to the gym before dinner to get some strength training in.
I fixed a delicious healthy dinner.
Part of my dinner – spinach and broccoli salad with roasted sweet potatoes. This was so delicious.
That is mustard on my salad. I know it’s weird, but I love it!
I am never making sweet potatoes any other way from here on out.
They were delicious and I made plenty to have leftovers!
Some other things I did today to refocus and regroup:
1. Found a volunteer organization to work with
2. Set up some side jobs with pet sitting and baby sitting to get some money for the holidays
3. Refocused my diet on nutrition instead of eating because I’m stressed
4. Refocused on making my roll as a wife my priority. My husband is going through a crazy stressful time and I have to make my focus about supporting him.
Sometimes we just need to step back, focus on what’s important, and make changes.
What do you do when you need to regroup and refocus?
What are your best healthy ways to relieve stress?
I’m so sorry it’s been a stressful time :(. You are so good at realizing when you need to refocus. My diet has also gone crazy the past few weeks as it’s been a stressful time for me as well. I really need to just admit that I need to refocus – I KNOW I’ll feel better without all the added sugar at night!!! Congrats on the run, of course, and I’m also thrilled that you found a volunteer opportunity – what is it? Happy weekend!
Yes I know how that extra sugar at night is! I did well last night but usually weekends are the hardest for me so we will see how it goes! Sometimes you just have to stop and regroup yourself!
I am volunteering with a local church so basically Monday I’m going to be helping them unload turkeys and get ready to pass them out to needy families, sometimes I will assist with classes – just depends on what they need! I really wanted to find a running related organization but there were none around here. Oh well I just wanted to find a way to help and be of service!
Woo!! Test run without pain! Everyone is rooting for you to get back to it safely and I think you’re doing a great job at setting up a successful, strong recovery. (and also sweet potatoes can take away that junk food craving, i eat them all the time!)
Exactly what Megan said – it is so easy to let stress consume you and take over, and it becomes a vicious circle. Good that you are working on it – you will enjoy the holidays, feel better about yourself in all sorts of ways and come out of the holidays healthy and happy!
Good job on the run – you really need to test these things out slowly. My wife did 10 easy minutes on the elliptical yesterday, and by the end of the day needed to put her ankle up and ice it, but it was a good and important first step for her. And also a reminder of the need for slow progress.
Cool you discovered a new way for sweet potatoes … but trust me, there are 100+ magical ways to enjoy sweet potatoes. Growing up they were for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and it wasn’t until a few years ago that I fnally said ‘I like these things too much to NOT have them every week!’
Stress relief for me … music (listening and playing – I play guitar, bass, and am a hack at keys but have fun recording and jamming with my iPad), video games (PC, mostly), obviously running, and hanging out with my wife and kids. My younger son and I will have fun cooking, making tea, and seeing who can be the most ‘sassy’. 🙂
As for eating and me … well, we have a history. Sadly I see BOTH sides of it reflected in my kids – bored/stress eating, and over-restriction. Ugh.
Yes the eating this is a vicious cycle I am trying to find a healthy medium and feed my body to make it healthy!
I have not found a way to cook sweet potatoes that my husband likes yet. He still doesn’t want to touch them but I am bound and determined to make this happen one of these days!
Glad your wife is on the slow road back to recovery with me! It is a fine line to walk and it’s about being careful and realizing that just like the injury didn’t occur over night (well in my case at least) the road to come back to running won’t either.
I have always been a over stressor. I stress about everything for everyone and it’s not good! It makes it so I can’t relax and enjoy things – really trying to find better ways to manage it!
I am a stress eater too – and once I get into that habit it is hard to break! I recently decided that I wanted to consciously start working on being a better wife, as well, and I found some great books to on the topic with great ideas to apply the lessons in the books! I can’t wait to read through all of them!
What books have you found?? That sounds like something I would enjoy as well!
I am also working on refocusing at the moment – my diet has been way off track lately and I have been feeling rubbish as a result, it’s affecting not only my weight, but my sleep and moods as well, plus stress seems to be getting to me a lot more.
Thankfully I have four days off work now and am heading to a spa with my mum on sunday for two nights so I am taking that time to get my head right before I come back to work and the stress again.
I’m so pleased for you that the run went well, happy you’re being so sensible about the return to running too.
Here’s hoping you can get back on track and you’ll be feeling back to yourself again very soon.
x
I’m with you friend! time to refocus! perfect before thanksgiving too! <3 thanks for the reminder.to volunteer!
Okay, I put mustard on my salad too! I’m SO glad I’m not the only one! My friends judge me like crazy when they see that.
I’ve been trying to refocus on my health and volunteer more as well; it’s hard when life gets so crazy, but completely worth it! Good job! 🙂
I am so glad to hear that I am not the only one!! I think it is really really good!
It is completely worth it! 🙂 Hope you have a great weekend!
Glad your leg felt good after your test run! I know when I am traveling alot my eating gets really off track. Over the next month I will be traveling alot for the holidays and I know it will be hard to eat well. I also eat worse when I ma stressed. Its great that you have a plan for a fresh start and strategies to reduce your stress!
Hoping it works! Yes stress when I cannot run means turning to other things like FOOD. It is a weakness but I am trying to make a conscious effort to break the bad habit! My body needs it!
I am so excited to try mustard on my salad! Such a genius idea. And sugar is always infinitely more appealing when I’m stressed. Still figuring out the best and healthiest ways for me to cope, but a mug of warm tea usually calms me down and keeps me away from the candy for a little longer 🙂
I love warm tea! Especially now that the weather has changed and it is so cold out!
It sounds weird but mustard actually is really good on salads! At least I enjoy it 🙂
Hi Sara! I’ve been doing really well with workouts and sticking to a running routine, but I still have a weakness when it comes to eating. I like too many carby things, especially this time of year, I have a sweet tooth, and I sometimes snack too much. It’s one area that I really need to focus better attention on. Good luck with your regrouping!
Oh yes! Carbs are the best and the worst all at the same time! 🙂
My sweet tooth is pretty bad but slowly and surely I am learning to deal with in good ways! Good luck on your regrouping as well! Thanks for reading 🙂
Thank you so much for this post! It is so timely! I’ve been on the racing circuit for a few weeks (two half’s, a 15k, 4 fifteen milers, and some really long training runs in between–all within a three week period) and I have been letting myself slip in my diet. As a result of all the pounding, I’ve been dealing with a hip injury all week and I haven’t been able to run–stuck in the gym, but cross training my heart out. Stress causes me to make bad food choices. I took today as my first rest day in two weeks and have reassessed and recommitted to eating for health and recovery and healing. The mental part of dealing with injuries is the hardest for sure!! Let’s all recommit to getting back on track and refocus together HA!
Oh girl I know how you feel! With ALL of it! Cross training, bad diet…it’s all a vicious cycle! Sometimes we just have to stop, refocus, and decide the changes to make. Sometimes it’s just needed! We all get off track and the important thing is that we get back on! 🙂