springy update
Spring is springing and I’m slowly but surely starting to come out of the physical and mental hole of my post tib injury. During March, I had a few pretty rough weeks of indoor cross training and short runs that just were not feeling as good as I had hoped. In the middle of the month, I felt particularly low after my ankle got really sore and painful after a short run. At this point these short runs were just meant to be gently loading the ankle to make it stronger. At the beginning of April, things finally took a turn for the better. I’m now nearly back to normal training (yay!) and starting to think about May/June racing. Letting go of my original Chuckanut/LS50 plan was difficult as I really built them up in my head to be important races where I had the confidence to do well. Maybe I would have, maybe I wouldn’t have, and I’d still love to toe those startlines some time, but I know I made the right call in not pushing through so early in the year. But I think I’ve maybe been scarred by putting any sort of racing plan out onto the internet based on how this spring went, so I might keep plans close to my chest from now on…
The start of this spring was a bit of a doozy in terms of running, but things are looking up! Here’s a silly little roundup of some of my favorite things I’ve been doing, thinking about, eating, etc this spring season:
Fueling is Healing
Over the course of this injury I thought a lot about food. Honestly I’m always thinking about food – it’s a big part of my life as an athlete but also just as a person. I love cooking, I love baking, and I love good food! A month or so ago I saw a post by Emma Bates (professional road marathoner, very fast) who has been rehabbing a torn plantar fascia. She talked about how in recovery, she’s been making a point to add things to her diet versus restrict anything. It was refreshing to hear this from her because quite frankly, running and endurance sports in general have a massive issue perpetuating toxic relationships with food. Your body needs fuel just to function in daily life, but when you’re injured, you probably benefit from actually having more food to aid in that recovery. That really resonated with me and stuck in my head throughout this injury recovery process as I really did not change anything about my normal diet despite my change in training. If anything I increased it a bit with my cross training hours being higher and to aid the tendon healing process.
Easter dutch baby
My Gravel Bike
After wanting a gravel bike for years, I finally pulled the plug and *treated myself* last summer to a gently used bike. I had it sent to me in Anchorage and ooooh la la, do I love it! She’s fast and cute and takes me on so many fun adventures! Running will always be #1 in my heart, but there’s something about being able to cover so much ground on a bike is so fun. I love my mountain bike, too, but frankly my gravel bike is just nicer and more fun to ride. And sometimes mountain biking is scary okay!! Tracen and I have been having a lot of fun finding some fun high desert gravel in the north valleys of Reno.
Being a sports fan
My basketball game viewing rate has gone up 100% in the last 12 months. For years, I put myself in the box of “not a sports girl”. It’s okay if you’re not a sports gal, guy, or person. But in the pursuit of taking myself out of boxes, I’m opening my eyes to the world of being into sports. Tour de France? I’m there. March Madness? I’ll be tuning in for a game or two. Superbowl? Sure why not. But honestly, the Brads and Chads of the world might be on to something. Even when I don’t know anything about the sport, I actually find it so much to watch other people thrive at and be so invested in whatever it is they they love. I get so invested in the stories and passion of watching people play! I hate when the home team fans boo for the visiting team and no one cheers when they win. I hate seeing the sad faces of the losing teams’ players. But sport brings out so much emotion in people and I just love to see it. 10/10 recommend sports!!
golden state warriors game in SF
Almond croissants, duh
I am a sweet treat girl forever, but if we want to get specific with it I am a pastry girl. And my queen of all pastries is decidedly…the almond croissant. I don’t need to say more, just that if I go to a bakery and they have an almond croissant, I will be trying it. My queen of all almond croissants remains the XL almond croissant from Perenn Bakery in Reno. The take and bake ones from Trader Joes are honestly not bad in a pinch. That’s all.
she is perfection
Wildflowers
Nothing else to say here, they just make me happy.
Music and podcast faves
Albums:
Beyonce - Cowboy Carter
Kasey Musgraves - Deeper Well
Ariana Grande - eternal sunshine
Songs:
Crying Over U - Medium Build
So Sick of Dreaming - Maggie Rogers
Heart of Gold - Ilsey, Bon Iver
Podcasts:
Rich Roll with Kara Goucher (episode)
Freetrail with Molly Seidel (episode)
The Boulder Boys Show - just have to say I really appreciate the candid nature of the conversations they’re having here. It’s pretty niche to the pro trail runner community, but I’ve been enjoying the honest and open conversations about the often un-glamorous reality of being a pro.
& that’s all! Lots of change coming up as our time in Reno is coming to a close at the end of May and we’ll be packing up and heading north!
<3
Klaire
