By Susie Crossland-Dwyer
When I started this blog project, I promised myself that I wouldn’t just share my highlights but also my low, realistic moments. After all, as humans we have many sides, even if the world often only sees our good side. When I’m going through a tough moment, week or even year, I try to think of the challenges as my teachers and as gifts for growth.
So, the realistic picture of my past week is that I was sick, tired and filled with “the funk.” Today the fog is finally lifting and so I got outside to move. I
needed to be in nature, to feel its healing power and to enjoy the gift of snow.
In years past, I would’ve jumped right back into my training feeling as if I was behind schedule and needed to push even harder to make up for lost time–but not today. Instead of
pushing right past the messages my body has been giving me the last week, I ran as
slow as I possibly could go (in Zone 2 heart rate–more on heart rate guidelines in a follow-up blog). It felt great, like I was bathing in
endorphins.
Winter shows us that everything in nature (including us) has
a cycle. For life to be sustainable we must obey the cycles. So, today I’m trusting in the cycle and my body’s ability to sense what’s best for me.