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On Mondays, we’ll lock in together: See below for a motivational tidbit to start your week, perspective on movement I’m focusing on, and music I’m enjoying I’d like to share with you 🙂
1/3. Motivation
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”
This quote instantly makes me think about my experience when I bought my Rapha Fuori glasses and saw how the blue frames changed my entire perception of my surroundings.
As an early aside, I tend to find out and back hikes less "exciting" than through hikes because you are passing the same landscape twice. But on our honeymoon, I found a way to make those hikes feel like something new by doing one of the legs with my colored glasses on and the other without. The change in lens made the same trail feel like a different experience.
Why I bring this up is that I think it says a lot about we can sometimes get stuck in a “grass is greener” perspective and seek something new, but the grass might just be greener if we simply change our contact lenses or our sunglasses (mentally).
Practically, this creates an opportunity for us to find excitement in our day to day lives that can easily start to feel like going through the motions. This can manifest in how we approach daily tasks: Are we taking a moment to reflect on existing strengths and opportunities we want to sharpen? How can we use that reflection to refine the way we move through work, or how you communicate with friends and family, just a little bit differently? A personal example: I think I need to reframe how I think about budgeting time. I always budget for the best case scenario, and can get easily anxious if traffic / not finding the right outfit / etc. impacts the time at which I get to a dinner reservation. But if I budgeted for the mid or worst case timing scenario, I’d probably be a bit less high strung when it comes to time.
This mindset allows us to find that same “voyage of discovery” without changing the actual route. It's a powerful tool to keep ourselves mentally stimulated and engaged by shifting our perspective.
Intention for the Week: Remember you can also change the lens, not just the landscape.
2/3. Movement
Low & Slow Approach to Cardio
I've mentioned that I'm in a bit of a funk with running, and the exhaustion that comes from high intensity cardio often impacts my ability to strength train, which I prioritize. As a way to keep cardio frequent without fatiguing my muscles, I've been intentionally leaning into forms that allow me to listen to an audiobook or podcast (something my brain doesn’t let me focus on when running — the only thing that makes time pass is music or a conversation with a friend, for me at least.) My answer has been zone 2 cardio.
I realized a while ago that I was unknowingly treating a longer run with the same high intensity I should reserve for a short sprint (no wonder an ‘easy run’ from the Nike Training Club app made me feel out of breath). An overview on heart rate zones below:
Not only was this draining for my energy levels but it was also quickly deteriorating the muscle mass I was accumulating via strength training (and running at that intensity for too long can really impact our joints, which I was getting worried I’d pay for long term)
I've been focusing a lot on the stair stepper at a lower intensity. The biggest benefit of operating in Zone 2 is that it maximizes fat as a fuel source instead of carbs. When you move into the slightly higher Zone 3, you are still improving your fitness while burning fat (though if you are training for a specific race and want to enhance your time, Zone 4 and Zone 5 are critical to balance with Zone 1 and Zone 2 cardio to actually maximize performance).
For me, the stairstepper has been perfect and oddly fun? A couple of benefits:
Muscle Protection: Low intensity cardio places less stress on your body and central nervous system than high intensity exercise. By avoiding exhaustion, I can do cardio more frequently without negatively impacting my strength workouts.
Joint Friendly: Stair climbing puts less stress on my ankles, knees, and hips compared to other high intensity cardio exercises, making it a great way to strengthen the supporting muscles around those joints.
The takeaway here is that you don't always have to go hard to get results. Sometimes, going low and slow is the smartest move for your holistic fitness goals. 🙂
3/3. Music
Honestly, I’m just leaving you with a feel good today. Everyone knows Mt.Joy but I’m not sure we’ve all heard of this one. At least I hadn’t and I was pleasantly surprised when it came on during a smart shuffle.
A little random fun thing I thought I’d share, my role during our Annual Plant Sale this past weekend with Sutro Stewards was to help carry plants to cars, box them up, and be our DJ. It made my heart happy and two little girls asked their mom to have a dance party while she was shopping. It made my heart happy. 🙂
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