M. Suzanne Terry

Tiny bubbles

Week 3 Progress:

Miles completed this week: 4.75
Total miles completed: 12.94 (more than 15 behind schedule)
Days of proper hydration: 2/7
Days of good food choices: 4/7

These figures surprise me, actually. I feel like I’ve had an active, productive week. Perhaps in focusing so much on rest, I rested too much? Yeah, if that’s it, I can’t really bring myself to feel bad about it.

One thing I learned – or rather, was reminded of – this week is how much better I feel when I get the rest I need. Whether I’m training for a race or just trying to make healthier choices overall, rest is an integral part of that process.

Next week, hopefully our office can get back on track with our walking breaks throughout the day (if the weather participates), and my book club is starting to walk together next week as well. I have a week and a half to really up my mileage. Wish me luck!

I’m spending 31 days running wild.

Read Full Post »

Cozy bed, I miss you. I’ll see you again tonight.

It’s funny for me to be writing this post on a day when I overslept. I did not practice good sleep habits last evening. I had both coffee and gobs of sugar in the form of cookies (shortbread, which is easily one of my top three favorite cookies, and those grocery store bakery cookies that are like crack) at book club. It’s challenging for me to turn down either one on their own, but with their powers combined…well, I’m not even sorry. It was delicious, and I enjoyed it.

It made getting to sleep before 3:00 a.m. downright impossible, though.

Good sleep is necessary for everyone, but it is especially important if you are making extra demands on your body (like a regular running practice). You simply cannot run at your full potential if you are not practicing good sleep hygiene. I first heard the term “sleep hygiene” when I started working the night shift at a residence hall, which was also the last time I ran with any regularity. Having never been a great sleeper and then adding to the mix that I was sleeping against the natural clock (i.e., when it was light outside instead of dark), I was desperate to find a way to get some rest so that I didn’t go through my night shift like a zombie. Good sleep hygiene involves doing things that help you fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer (at least long enough to get through a few good REM cycles).

Sleep experts (real experts, not the mattress company, although they know what’s up, too) tend to agree on five things you need to do to practice good sleep hygiene. The list below is compiled from information gleaned from the American Sleep Association, the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and the National Sleep Foundation.

1. Create an atmosphere that’s actually conducive to getting good sleep. The bedroom is not Grand Central Station. Most experts agree that, in order to get good sleep, the bedroom should be a sanctuary reserved for only bedroom activities (i.e., sleep and sex). Our bodies tend to rest better at lower temperatures, so maybe turn the thermostat down a few degrees when it’s time to go to bed. Having a comfortable mattress not only helps you fall asleep faster, it also helps to prevent the musculoskeletal issues caused by sleeping wonky. Because noise is a factor that both keeps me awake and wakes me up easily, I have a white noise machine that masks the intermittent jarring of things that go bump in the night. And finally, avoid using your phone in bed. Not only does the glaring light from the screen confuse the brain that thought it was sleepytime, it also pisses off your retinas, at least temporarily.
2. Use light to your advantage. The first thing I did when I started working night desk is invest in blackout curtains. They block a significant amount of light from entering the room. I still use them, because there is a security light outside my window. When you are ready to wake up, however, light is your friend. The body naturally wants to wake up when the sun hits your face. Turning lights on or throwing open the curtains (if you have a job that means you get to wake up after the sun…also tell me what you do, because I feel that I would enjoy that) can help set your natural sleep schedule. Which brings me to…
3. Have a routine sleep schedule. For most people, this involves limiting naps during the day, because your body only needs a certain amount of sleep, and getting more during the day can make it harder to fall asleep at night. It’s also important to establish a bedtime routine. The bedtime routine that works for me (when I use it, that is) means
   – No social media after 9:00.
   – A cup of herbal tea or half a glass of wine as I read for 30 minutes to an hour.
   – Warm shower or at least soaking my feet.
   – A few yoga stretches to work out the day’s kinks.
4. Take care of yourself overall. A body that is getting good nutrition and exercise tends to function better in other ways, including sleep. It’s also important to pay attention to the time of day you are eating and exercising. Limiting caffeine intake (I know – limits are the worst – but I begrudgingly admit that coffee after 5:00 p.m. makes me want to stay awake forever) and not eating heavy foods or engaging in strenuous workouts right before bed are all part of good sleep hygiene.
5. Don’t fight with sleep. If you lie awake in bed for more than 20 minutes (some people say 5, but some people have ridiculous expectations about how easy it is to fall asleep), don’t get mad – get up. Repeat one of your relaxing practices from your nightly sleep regimen until you feel sleepy, and then give it another try. The chemicals produced by your frustration with the inability to fall asleep just add to that inability.

Despite my terrible (and by terrible, I do mean delicious and awesome) food choices last night, I did practice rest by taking the afternoon off to go to the salon. How did you practice rest yesterday?

I’m spending 31 days running wild.

Read Full Post »

Rested feet are less swollen feet. Also, I have a lot of pictures like this. I could make a weird lounging foot collage.

Let’s just go ahead and admit it – running is hard on the body. Yes, it’s a weight-bearing exercise that builds bone density, but it is jarring. You are literally pounding parts of your body into a hard surface, and the whole body feels the impact. Rest and recovery days, therefore, are vital to maintaining a healthy running practice and avoiding injury.

At least every other day that you run needs to be a recovery day [aside – read that article. It’s pretty entertaining. I am a fan of any writer who can work in the phrase “vegetate like an eggplant.”]. That means you are running at a marathon-ish (i.e., slow and steady) pace. Recovery days are great, because they still give you aerobic benefit, which can actually speed up recovery more than total rest does.

But some days need to be full-on rest days.

A rest day is not sitting on the couch all day, doing as little as possible. It’s still good to incorporate some kind of exercise that’s easier on the joints, like swimming or some of the safety moves we talked about a few days ago. Rest days mean you are avoiding the moves that jolt your body so that it can recover. An experienced runner needs a rest day at least once every week and a half, while a novice probably could use two in that time frame.

How do you know you’re not getting enough rest days? Simply put, you will feel like crap. Pushing yourself too hard as a runner almost feels like you’re coming down with the flu. If you feel bad, do what your body says it needs. Rest.

On Monday, I practiced daily rest by turning off all media a few hours before bed and reading with a cup of tea. How are you practicing daily rest?

I’m spending 31 days running wild.

Read Full Post »

Our daily mosey back to the office after lunch
(Photo courtesy of my coworker Debra)

When you work – no matter what kind of work it is – you need to rest. Sometimes, I am very good at resting. For example, last Friday and Saturday, I did not leave my house at all. Not even to get the mail. I still stretched and yoga-ed and did a few things around the house at a leisurely pace. I relaxed well, and it was restorative.

At other times, though, I am not so great at resting.

Goal-tracking is both my saving grace and my downfall. It absolutely helps me achieve goals. As I am super task-oriented, it is gratifying to count the number of check marks I’m able to make at the end of each day. When it comes to rest, however, sometimes my glee in achieving overshadows the minor detail that I’m exhausted.

This week, we are going to look at rest as part of the goal of running wild. Just like eating well helps you run better, so does resting well. Each day, I will be talking about what I did that day to take a break, because good rest is a daily necessity. Each day, I will also be talking about a different aspect of rest, because rest is also something we can all learn to do better.

The first day will be about enriching your walking/running practice by incorporating days when you don’t run. The second day, we will discuss the importance of getting good sleep (spoiler alert – I am so bad at this. We’ll bring in the experts.). The third day, we will talk about things that calm us down and help us cultivate a practice of rest even as we are going through our day. The fourth day we will explore cautionary tales about the importance of taking it easy after an injury. And on Friday, we will list five small things you can do to incorporate rest into your life.

Sunday (when this overview was originally scheduled to post), was not a restful day overall. I had church and meetings and nine SEO articles to finish. I knew, however, that if I did not take a couple of breaks, I would burn out long before all my tasks were complete. When I ate lunch, I sat down at the table and ate slowly, savoring each bite (this is just a good idea in general – more on this next week), without any distractions like television or checking email. Between each article, I took five minutes to stretch and breathe deeply. This not only saved me from the ache that comes from sitting too long but also gave my mind a few minutes to clear. Resting made the busy day doable.

I’m spending 31 days running wild.

Read Full Post »

UNT’s running track at the rec center – sometimes brave is sweating in front of people 20 years your junior.
(photo courtesy of my coworker Debra)

Week 2 Progress:

Miles completed this week: 2.14 (out of 10 that I planned)
Total miles completed: 8.19 (6.81 behind schedule)
Days of proper hydration: 3/7
Days of good food choices: 4/7

Hmm.

I did not have a productive week as far as my mileage goal is concerned. I’m not sure why, but I have a few guesses.

It could be that I was on vacation, so my schedule was off-kilter (6/10 probability – this was the biggest difference between last week and this week).

It could be that I was writing about safety and, conversely, all the ways that running can put me in a not-safe situation, and that was enough to push what little desire I generally have to exercise off the ledge (3/10 probability – no remarkable spike in anxiety levels, which I would expect to accompany this reason).

It could be that I didn’t have time (1/10 – lol no – I stayed busy, but I had plenty of time to get 10 miles in if I’d made the effort).

The good news is that my water intake and healthy (and also delicious) food choices improved. I cooked more than usual, so eating well was easy.

Every time I take a holiday from work, I am more convinced that I will be excellent at being retired. I eat better, I rest better – I do everything better. I actually have time to take care of my life.

What I learned, therefore, from this week off is that I might need to reexamine my priorities and drop some things that keep me from doing better at the basic things that sustain my health (and thus life). I haven’t gone much farther in the thought process than just musing, “Hey, maybe I’m too busy,” but I guess that’s a start.

I’m spending 31 days running wild.

Read Full Post »