It's been a long time since I've had the winter blues, but they hit hard this week. I'm not sure why this year is different. There are a few things that could be contributing to it--the hubs' health issues, some family drama, the extra few pounds that have stubbornly attached themselves to my middle, learning about a work friend diagnosed with cancer, those devastating California wildfires, and some anxiety about our country's future. Oh, and of course the bitter cold that has settled in our region after we experienced a spectacular autumn.
I'm doing my best to get on top of this. I'm making sure to get outside for all my runs--that's always helped me in the past. Running more with my trail group. I'm excited about the new strength program I'm participating in at the gym. I'm planning a few trips for the spring. Reading lots of books. Leaning into all the cool opportunities I've been offered at work.
Ok, I'm also going to tackle my closet, declutter, and donate or sell on Poshmark. According to experts, decluttering is supposed to help with anxiety and depression. It's a little disheartening to have all these pants that don't fit anymore.
What do you do to fight the winter blues?
Weekly Rundown:
Sunday: Trail Sisters run 6 miles
Monday: CrossFit Auxiliary Strength
Tuesday: Fluid Running
Wednesday: trail run 5.5 miles
Thursday: CrossFit Auxiliary Strength
Friday: run 6 miles
Saturday: Yoga with Adriene, work
It was 12F when I met my Trail Sisters for our weekly run. We met at another local preserve, Potawatomi Woods, which is part of the Des Plaines River Trail. This is one of my favorite sections. We ran north and crossed over some bridges to a very pretty section. There was no wind--yay--but it meant I was overdressed. Even this time of year, it's hard to figure out what to wear! As always, we had great conversation and the ladies indulged my need to snap photos.
I was excited to go to CrossFit on Monday morning where we would be starting a new auxiliary strength program! The coaches developed this program to augment the strength training we normally do. There will be 4 week cycles, 2 days per week, which happen to fall on the 2 days I go to the gym. This first workout had 4 sets of 2 activities and we did 4 rounds of each set. Each activity was done for 40 seconds. there was a 2 minute transition between sets. All the activities were done with dumbbells.
Monday's focus was lower body:
Round 1: goblet squats (25#) alternating with frog pumps--hip bridges done in a frog leg position (30#).
Round 2: step up to a box with knee drive alternating with RDLs (10#)
Round 3: calf raises on a plate alternating with deadbugs (12#)
Round 4: reverse lunges with knee drive alternating with bear crawl hold (knees hovering above the ground)
This was HARD! At the time, I wished I had gone heavier with the dumbbells. But the DOMS hit me on Wednesday--my legs were fatigued on my run and my core was pleasantly sore.
Wednesday was cold but the sun was out and there was no wind. Having learned my lesson about overdressing on Sunday, I went a little lighter on the layers for this run. I was warm everywhere except for my face. I felt pretty blah when I headed out and I couldn't really shake it. It didn't help that I saw a dead deer on the roadside on my way to the trailhead. I didn't see any deer on my run and actually, it was quiet overall in the woods. It was very pretty with the sun shining brightly and a light dusting of snow on the trails.
On Thursday at CrossFit, we did the upper body auxiliary strength workout. Just as we did on Monday with the lower body workout, each lift was 40 seconds with a 10-second transition between lifts. We did 4 sets of each round, with 30 seconds between sets and 2 minutes between rounds.
Round 1: marching front plank alternating with supermans (prone back extensions)
Round 2: alternating one armed seated overhead dumbbell press (15#) alternating with banded pull-aparts
Round 3: alternating one arm dumbbell bend press (15#) alternating with dumbbell upright rows (15# each hand).
Round 4: alternating arm bicep curls (15#) alternating with 'skull crushers' aka dumbbell overhead tricep extension (20#)
My arms were jelly after this workout. If you think these weights are light, try doing these movements for 40 seconds. 4 times. It's much harder than I expected and by the last round, I was ready to be done!
Early Friday morning, I woke up to a dusting of snow. No problem, right? I laced up my Hyperion Max, but after slip-sliding my way to the end of my block, I turned around and headed home. No, I wasn't going to take it to the treadmill! I just wanted to change shoes to the Ghost GTX, knowing that these shoes would keep my feet on the ground. They did, but there were a couple of close calls when I hit a few patches of black ice! I kept this run slow--10:30m/m pace--and stayed upright the entire run. I call that a win.
How was your week? Have you ever had the winter blues? What do you do to stay positive during the winter?
I shared the details of my strength workouts in case anyone who does home strength wants to try it. If you do, let me know what you think! I'm really impressed with this so far.
I'm linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Rundown.
