Reset

First off, I know all of our hearts are in Moore, Oklahoma and with all those affected by the tornadoes. I can't even imagine. Natural disasters are terrifying to me as someone who likes to be able to have control over things in life. 

As usual, flowers brought to you by Trader Joe's

After a few weeks of crazy unusual summery weather, we're back to cold and wet here in Eugene. I've already busted out the puffy jacket a few times this week.

Now about that reset...
I'm telling you this because they say announcing things publicly makes us more accountable. Mentally, I've been planning for this, but sometimes doing as I say isn't allllways a reality.

Anyway, my goal for these last two weeks of May is to treat them as reset weeks. Why the reset?

I'm planning to start base building for the Chicago Marathon on June 1st. In order to be ready for this round of marathon training, I want to be mentally and physically fresh and excited for the journey.

I'm going to be exercising for my sanity, and to complete Best Body Bootcamp, but I'm not going to be worried about my mileage, calories burned, feeling sore, etc. What I'm going to focus on is easy. What does this mean?

Easy, short runs. Easy lifting (as part of BBB workouts). No crazy circuit sweat blasting craziness that I love. oops. YOGA. Chilling the heck out. And likely, lots of walking or casual bike riding for my sanity.


Speaking of sanity, two of my coworkers recently started the Insanity workouts and wanted to know what I thought of them, so I had to see what all the fuss was about. Last night I came home and did the fit test (8 intense workouts, each for 1 min straight w/ 1 min rest, as many reps as possible) and the plyometric cardio workout (warm up + cardio circuits + stretch).

I'll try the other workouts before I do a full review, hopefully in a few weeks, but suffice it to say, I was dripping sweat and my arms felt like jello afterward. 

Mind over body
After that bout of Insanity, I suppose I should treat this sort of like taper weeks where I find things to occupy my time and brain. Some of my favorite distractions during taper weeks include reading all the magazines I've neglected, meeting up with a friend, trying a new recipe, doing an at home pedicure, etc.

Luckily, I'm already pretty busy with work and wedding planning, but it's always amazing how choosing a different mindset ("yay, taper time" vs. "here we go, another tough training week") changes how I measure success. So often, I have a mileage goal or workout plan in mind that I want to achieve, but during a rest week, success = the days I'm laying low and sweating less.


What are your favorite taper/easy week distractions? Has anyone else tried Insanity?

Comments

Tasha Malcolm said…
I did insanity for about 30 days a couple of years ago. Shaun T annoyed the heck outta me! I had to stop because it was hurting my knees too much. It is a great workout though! I couldn't believe how much I improved from the first time I took the fit test to the second time.

I like to read during a taper or down time. It is relaxing to me.
missris said…
Whenever I have a down week or recovery week, I'm amazed at how much more time I have on my hands. I usually try to get stuff done around the house and spend plenty of time reading for fun.
Amber said…
I think it's a really good idea to reset yourself before marathon training! It's going to be a crazy summer for you with marathon training and the wedding so don't burn yourself out before training even starts :)

I have never tried Insanity but I have done the P90X workouts and they are INTENSE. I don't think I would be able to handle doing them regularly while training. I think as a program on it's own though it would be awesome and I've seen and heard lots about people having REALLY GOOD results!
I definitely think it is good to 'reset' yourself before marathon training starts. I really liked doing yoga when I did a sort of 'reset' after the marathon. I had an unlimited pass in November and went as much as I could. It was awesome.
Elizabeth said…
I cross train with Insanity...and I'm actually thinking of doing the 60 days over again. It definitely works to tighten the core and do an all over body work-out. I love it for cross training but I get tired of the same warm-ups when I do the full schedule. Once I started using the DVDs to help cross-train with running though, I definitely saw a decrease in issues with my IT band, etc. Plus, Shaun T isn't bad to look at either...

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