Palm Springs sunrise
Whew, if you told me the last week was actually six years long I would believe you. I had every intention of posting a weekly recap last Sunday, but once that day got away from me, there simply wasn’t time. I headed to Palm Springs on Sunday to do a project with lululemon and it was full on, in the best way.
But backing up to Week 3. I just had to go back and look at my Strava to remember what I did (I also could have watched my YouTube daily vlogs to refresh my memory). It was a big week with around 120 miles. I got in all my strength sessions and enjoyed my runs. It was nothing sexy, but I did get in several runs with friends and that probably was the highlight. A lot of training for Further, heck a lot of training for any event, is relatively mundane. I just get out there and consistently do the unglamorous work. This time of year, with all of the high country covered in snow, that means a lot of repetition of the same routes. But I really don’t mind it and view the mundanity and repetition as part of my training. After all, I will be running the same loop over and over times infinity for 6 days, so I better be mentally prepared. On Sunday, I managed to convince myself that getting up at 3:45 am to run was good training, so I was able to bang out 10 miles before doing the 3 hour drive to the airport. I have found that framing things as all part of training helps me maneuver around some of the sticking points I might encounter with motivation.
Teammates Matt James and Mau Diaz
Week 4, as I mentioned, was full on with a project with lululemon. I had resolved to just get in as much training as possible, but without stressing. I knew a few of the days were going to be very intense and so I didn’t put too much pressure on myself to run a certain plan. I successfully got in about 15-16 miles most days for the first part of the week. I was pleased with that.
It is hard to put into words the experience I had this week with six of my fellow ambassadors. In some ways, it feels like an inside joke, if I have to explain it, it is just not the same. I could tell you about the insane production. I could tell you about running down the highway with a police escort. I could tell you about all the things that made us all laugh so hard we couldn’t breathe. But it cannot capture what this experience meant to all of us. I am incredibly grateful for the relationships I was able to build with my fellow ambassadors. Yoonjoo, Montana, Nikki, Hunter, Matt, Mau and I shared a special experience. And that is remarkable, because on the most basic level we were there to do a job. lululemon did not have to go out of their way to make this also an experience for us. But they did. Even though we worked incredibly long days (3:20 am alarms never are easy), we were well taken care of and we forged a bond between ourselves that is meaningful. I did not expect that this experience would go so deep and hit so hard, but I am glad it did. It was also very healing to me because the last time I was in the desert with a sponsor, I ended up being left at an ER. That experience was traumatizing to me and took a long time to get over. This past week, I felt overwhelmed with support and care from everyone at lululemon and everyone involved in the project. I was looking back through my phone and thought it was funny that I had so few photos from the week, but the reality is, I was busy having the experience that I didn’t have the urge to record the experience. I just wanted to be fully in it. Extremely grateful I got to be a part of it.
And I have zero regrets, even though I caught the flu and became extremely ill on Thursday night. I was up all night coughing and things deteriorated from there. I have pretty much been stuck in bed since with a very classic case of the flu. I haven’t had the flu in so long, I forgot how rough it is. But I view it in the same way as I view training, I just do what I need to do to get better. I am not stressed about losing fitness because fitness doesn’t disappear overnight. I am going to be patient and not push it. Not that I could really anyways since just walking the dog this morning meant I had to take a 2 hour nap.
I have noticed a shift since this training block started and getting sick has illustrated this well for me. I have noticed that I have cultivated a deeper sense of calm and peace in myself. I have been actively working, via several modalities, on the default state of my brain. I feel so much less stressed about things than I have all year. When I got sick, I simply accepted it and have done what I can to take care of myself and not be stressed about things that I can’t control. Perhaps I am finding more acceptance and kindness for myself, but it feels good. It is an ongoing practice but even viewing it as a practice has empowered me to feel more in control of how I show up in the world.
Ok, that’s enough rambling from me. Hopefully week 5 will find me fully healed and back on the grind in time for Christmas!