As you may (or may not) know, I write from the great state of New Jersey. After living through Hurricane Sandy and witnessing the havoc it wreaked across my state, and now bracing for this lovely Nor’easter that has just arrived (in fact, I’m blogging from a power-less apartment after my electricity was shut off, AGAIN) I have slowly been losing control…over my mind, and also over my fitness regimen.
And I am not happy.
As someone who has come to loathe running on a treadmill, I do all of my race training in the Great Outdoors. But then a hurricane knocks down countless trees and power lines along my usual running routes, or blistering cold, rain, and snow (in the first week of November, for crying out loud!) make it unsafe to pound the pavement, and I’m finding myself losing momentum.
The Disney Princess Half Marathon is but a few short months away, and yet my latest long training run (8.5 miles, my furthest yet!) seems a distant memory. Meanwhile, my car is now officially out of gas, since I refused to wait in 3+ hour lines to fuel up, and my lack of ability to do any recreational driving means I can’t even get to my kickboxing or Taekwondo classes…not to mention the fact that the studio where I take class lost power for over a week.
The cherry on top of it all? Local supermarkets have been picked clean, and we currently have nothing but carb-laden pastas and boxed macaroni n’ cheese in the house. Meanwhile, I’ve always been an emotional eater, and thanks to the news and images of the death and destruction caused by the hurricane, I find myself fighting every day to keep my paws out of the Halloween candy that we never had a chance to give out (trick or treating has been cancelled until further notice in my town). I’m sure that I’ve certainly put on at least the “Sandy 5″ already.
..quite possibly the “Sandy 10,” if I’m going to be completely honest.
Runners know that without a consistent training plan and lots and lots of practice, there’s little chance of improvement — not a problem a person training for her first half marathon wants to have! I was very disappointed when the Jersey Shore Running Club’s Trick or Trot” was cancelled, as was my much-anticipated PurpleStride 5K for pancreatic cancer, due to the storm. However, I was fortunate enough to run one Halloween-themed 5K right before the storm hit (dressed as Winnie the Pooh, in my new Team Sparkle skirt!)…and even though I had spent the previous evening dressed up as Minnie Mouse and guzzling cosmos, I somehow managed to PR! I’ve never broken 28 minutes in a 5K before, and my official chip time was 27:59.
As a Type-A personality, I need structure and consistency like most people need air — and now that inclement weather has interrupted the majority of my training runs and races these past two weeks, I feel completely out of control…and out of shape.
But then when I do make it to karate, or successfully complete even a quick 3-mile run, I feel a thousand times better. As soon as I feel that first bead of sweat begin to pour down my face, suddenly, everything feels right with the world. Call it endorphins, call it “runner’s high,” call it whatever you want, but these days, sticking to a workout regimen seems to be the only way for me to feel in control of my life.
When you witness the devastation of a weather event like a hurricane, you also can’t help but to feel grateful for what you have. I survived the hurricane with little more than a temporary loss of electricity, but there are people whose homes and all earthly possessions are gone — and whose lives were lost. It makes me think about the material possessions I am fortunate enough to be enjoying right now, like a roof over my head. However, as someone who has taken my health for granted for so many years, it also makes me genuinely appreciate everything that I can do now — from running to martial arts — and just how strong I am.
I am healthy and I am fit, and as long as I keep eating right and running and kicking, nothing can take that away from me.
Not a hurricane, and definitely not a snowstorm.
There are a whole lot of things in life that we have no control over, including natural disasters, but what we do have a say in is what we put into our bodies and how often we lace up our sneakers.
I may not be able to officially return to my stringent training plan for another few days, but I am squeezing in a sweat session as often as I can!
Has the weather ever affected your training plans or workout routine?
