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by Pamela Chapman Markle<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Life has always produced challenges for me. I have learned to try and look at the positive that I can pull from adversity as it is something we will always have to deal with. I feel that changing my current daily rituals will bring a stronger, more positive outlook for what I call, \u201cA Pause and Reset\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
With all the cancelations of the Ultra Running Races since the COVID-19, I have had to change up my typical competitive routine {Racing every 6 weeks}.\u00a0 The most important balance in my life is health and that is a daily routine for me.\u00a0 Because I am a 64-year-old female who runs like I am 25 years old this break could be used as a healthy reset for my aching body.\u00a0 What I have missed with my busy life are all the things about healing my body that I should spend more time focussing on. I now have time to sleep a full 8 hours. Proper stretching after my 2-3 hour runs have helped tremendously. I have eaten healthier home cooked meals and taken the proper vitamins and minerals I may have missed from my food. I have done 20 minutes daily of mobility work before my workouts and have been able to fit in strength work each week. The yoga tapes I own have gotten dusted off and I actually look forward to using them! I am spending time focussing on my recovery, which is so important to running high mileage with no injuries. I am still running 75-90 miles a week right now and feel stronger than ever.\u00a0I believe this is because I am using this time to incorporate new aspects into my work outs and trying to adjust things that I will continue post quarantine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As an Ultra Runner, the things that have been taken away mostly involve the competitive aspects of ultra-running; the anticipation that I feel when training for a specific race, the excitement of competing in a race and the camaraderie that I have developed with other members of the ultra-running community. Instead, I train in solitude for an unknown race, trying to motivate myself despite not knowing when I will be able to compete again. This requires willing oneself to find the motivation without the external reward of a busy race schedule. In years past, I ran at least ten ultramarathons per year and always found myself recovering from one race and then training for the next. This year, I have had three races in a row cancelled due to the virus. This requires me to rely on my inner strength and motivation more than ever.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Pamela Chapman Markle Life has always produced challenges for me. I have learned to try and look at the positive that I can pull from adversity as it is something we will always have to deal with. I feel that changing my current daily rituals will bring a stronger, more positive outlook for what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3800,"featured_media":163180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-163148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog_posts"],"yoast_head":"\n