Top 10 Series: Part 7 | Move Your Body
7 – MOVE YOUR BODY
As an athlete, this seems like a no brainer, right?! You should be moving your body every day. Not crazy workouts every day, but some sort of movement. Your body is a finely tuned machine and needs to be taken care of.
As a Spring sport, I remember when summer would roll around, and we’d have our workouts emailed to us — it wasn’t necessarily the first thing I was jumping up and down to do. I needed a break. We would have just finished the season, and some years, school was out before Regionals or Nationals.
It’s understandable to give yourself some space to deal with the shock of what’s happening, but don’t let that feeling linger where it becomes detrimental. Get back in the saddle. Even if that means taking the dog for a walk or run on some days, just get up and get going! Have a dance party! Get creative with your body strength workouts.
I was supposed to run my first half marathon several weekends ago– which is a MAJOR deal for me– and it obviously got postponed. I was super bummed that I’d just trained for my first-ever half marathon and was excited to check that goal off my list, but completely understood the situation and knew I had ZERO control.
There was absolutely nothing for me to be angry, upset, frustrated, or anxious about. That wouldn’t serve anyone. We’ll run when we can. ANNND, there have been times when athletes have trained their entire life for the Olympics, only to have them canceled! Even the fact they just postponed them to 2021 is unprecedented. Talk about heartbreaking! So although it was disappointing, my situation couldn’t even compare to that. It’s all about perspective.
In the meantime, I’ve put in 110 MILES during training– all by mid-March!– and couldn’t be more proud of myself! This number would have literally been zero normally, so the fact that I made a commitment to do this was really about the journey to get to this goal.
Staying consistent in my workouts is so important! You all know how much better you feel after a workout — especially one you didn’t want to do. You’re proud of yourself and feel like you accomplished something.
When you move your body, you change your energy and your thoughts, which is a catalyst to change your actions. Moving your body will only make a positive impact on your mental and physical health — a win-win!
Now that we’re all quarantined and everyone is sheltering-in-place, everyone’s schedule is changing. I literally get out of bed every morning and immediately put workout clothes on. I know that if I’m in them, I’ll go — it’s motivating to be in them and makes me feel like I have to — like, I can’t take them off without them being sweaty, or I cheated myself.
Make a commitment to yourself to stay the course. You’ve made it this far, and although it may feel like you have nowhere to go, you don’t necessarily know that for sure. What if we’re up and about in six weeks, and you could actually make the standard or time or distance required for your next event?
I’m not saying that’s the case, but there may be something ahead that still requires your dedication. How mad at yourself would you be if you had the chance to do something incredible, but chose not to put in the work because it wasn’t guaranteed?!
We don’t know what’s on the other side of this, but make a workout plan, get some accountability virtually with your teammates and get to sweating.
Stay strong and take care!
– Lori
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