I Hope You Eat Cinnamon Rolls on Christmas Morning + My Thoughts on This Brand New Running Season

Do you like my obnoxiously long title? Yes, I do too. Good morning and happy Tuesday, friends. After a day cozied up at home, I am looking forward to a day filled with Christmas errands which I plan on sharing with you all tomorrow (keep a look out for it!) Until my day in the life of post goes live tomorrow, I wanted to pop in here and share a quick running/ life update and how I balance running and fitness during the holidays.

First, let me share where I am at right now and my goals for this new, race-less season…

For the first time in months, I don’t have a race on my calendar and it feels weird. I love having races to train for a goals to chase. Having a scheduled race on the calendar keeps me motivated and consistent, so not having a planned race, right now, feels odd. Thankfully, I am following a training plan right now, which helps me have more structure and purpose to my workouts. I don’t know if you are like me, but I crave structure and the more routines I have  in my life – the BETTER. Give me all the schedules and check boxes please.

So, for this weird, race-less season, I am still following a training plan, to give me that structure my body so craves. I’m really excited, because after a hot marathon training cycle, a wisdom tooth surgery, and food poisoning, my speed is FINALLY coming back! The last couple runs I’ve run, I’ve nailed a few miles in the 7:40-50 range. Honestly, I haven’t seen these times in a while and it feels so GOOD to have my pace back. When I was marathon training, I was a little hesitant to add too much speed work into my routine (I was afraid of injuring something!). Now that I finished the marathon and as I am reflecting on my training, I definitely think I could have had at least one day of speed a week and it would have helped my pace a ton. Oh well, live and learn!

So this training cycle, I am focusing on quality miles and quality workouts. I am going more based off time and effort, rather than miles (which is a new to me approach.) The more I learn about running, the more I realize I have so much more to grow and learn. But, that’s the beauty of running – the journey is never ending!

So, as I grow and learn and implement, continuous new strategies into my running, I cannot wait to see the results! I am also continuing to add/keep one heavy leg day a week and focus on core/hips/ upper body throughout the week! And although I am not obsessing over exact miles this season, I do hope/plan to hit right around 30-40 miles per week!

This all leads me to the question…what does this look like during the busy holiday season? I know, I know, self care is so popular right now, but I am going to hop on the bandwagon with this one for a hot minute. I’ve found, as a mother, business owner, blogger, etc. life is B U S Y. And by busy, I mean that in a completely good way. I love the life I live and everything I do, I am passionate about (okay, except taking out the trash…) However, sometimes it is easy to get lost in the to-do lists and never ending laundry piles and forget to take time to sleep, eat well and move. During the Christmas season, it is easy to let exercise slide and food choices lack thought. However, I have found that when I do too much of that, I don’t feel good, I feel sluggish, tired, and gross. Taking the time out of my day to run in the morning and eat right, sets me up for a healthy start to the day, so I can be the best version of myself for the people around me.

And yet there is a healthy balance, because I am also ALL ABOUT unplugging and resting and enjoying the wonder and awe of the Christmas season too. I never want to (although there I days I still feel like I should) exercise/run/eat whatever out of guilt or fear. I don’t want exercise or food choices to control and ruin my life.

So to help evaluate my mindset, I often ask myself a couple questions

1. Why am I doing this? What is the purpose of this workout/run/food choice?
2. Do I really, deep down WANT to do this? Is my body craving it? Or am I making this choice out of guilt or the mentality that ‘I HAVE to, otherwise I will get fat”?
3. Is this ______ (run/food choice/exercise) hurting someone else? (i.e. am I making someone else feel uncomfortable or am I leaving a family gathering because I have to run, etc.?) 
4. Do I really enjoy what I am doing right now or am I actually dreading it? 
5. Is this controlling me or my mood? Will I become upset, irritable, and grumpy if I don’t eat ____ or run or exercise today?

These little questions are POWERFUL and always show me what my true heart motive is with a run/workout or food choice! Next time you are feeling like you are lazy for not working out or you feel guilty because you ate that Christmas cookie, walk through this list and see what you find!

All of that to say, friend, I hope this Christmas season you are able to take care of yourself, eat nutritious food and run the miles you want. But, I hope you make those choices because you truly want to and you love running and you are craving a salad, and not because you are afraid of gaining a couple pounds over the holidays or because you have to burn off the Christmas cookies. I hope you savor this Christmas season, run and move and breathe because it feels good and it’s healthy and fun. And I also hope you drink hot cocoa by the fire, and savor that Christmas cookie and eat cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning. Because those memories, my friends stay forever. Pant sizes – change constantly.

Questions 

1. What are you doing this Christmas season? Are you traveling or staying home?
2. How do you balance life during the holidays?
3. What are your current running goals?