#TheLongRun Series: Live the Suzlyfe

I got my mojo back this week (I rebooted) after a little lull and pity party a week ago.

Maybe I found my strong. Or at least started to.

No, things are not all roses and sun-out-of-your-a$$, but I’m definitely back to the forward direction. Because my mom is going to give birth to a bovine if I don’t fill you all in, here are some of the fitness/professional/personal developments on the Suzlyfe horizon:

1) Running update. So I have a few different ideas as to what is going on. One is that my ankle/arch basically locks up–I noticed while running on Wednesday that I was having a great deal of difficulty dorsiflexing my foot (flexing my foot) when running. That is definitely causing me issues and my calf to over-work. Furthermore, remember last week when I thought I had Chataranga ankle tendonitis? It is definitely connected–my big toe is definitely overworking/underworking, and it is forcing my calf to pick up the strain. Actively focusing on engaging my glutes (basically I look like a constipated duck) helps quite a bit, but my calf still feels tight not that far into my run.

Not like this, but it makes me laugh every time.

So right now, I am wearing my Pro Compression sleeves/socks while I run, or taping with Rocktape, and high stepping (ish) with a lot of concentration on my form. I have also noticed that in 2 of the 3 runs that I have done since this problem has come to light, that I have been wearing my precious Ravennas rather than my Defyances. Could be coincidence, but we shall see. Regardless, I shan’t be leaving my Brooks anytime soon.

Dear Brooks. Send me stuff.

The calf tightness Wednesday became more of a soreness afterwards, but yoga didn’t seem to impact it at all, and icing helped. The next day (Thursday) it continued to improve, and Friday I ran again. Calf tightness arose not even a full mile in, but was significantly less. So, after talking with Alex, the plan is to work on releasing my arch and ankle before I run and to continue running–this might be a strength and conditioning issue. When you do things like the spin bike, you maintain cardiovasc fitness/endurance, but you are not getting the same movement through your ankle. So we are going to play with it. I have 6 months until my marathon–plenty of time to figure things out. And whether I run it or not, I have paid for it (there is no transfer/deferral option). So that’s that!

2) Professional. So I’ve made some interim business cards for me to hand out to businesses and bloggers and things (I decided that if I want to work in fitness, I probably shouldn’t give them cards with “Architectural History/Historic Preservation” on them). I will get new cards once I get my NASM, but these will serve until then. I’m not going to put up a pic for security reasons, but they aren’t too exciting, really.

Zoe is not impressed

One thing on them that is kinda exciting and fun? A simple phrase :

Live the Suzlyfe.

What does that mean?

And if nothing else, can they really say no to this?

You know what it means (ice cream). But fine, I will spell it out for you. In due time.

3) NASM (duh). It is weird relearning and re-structuring how I think of fitness. So much of what I am reading and learning makes a great deal of sense, but it is difficult recontextualizing the information into a given program that has a given organization and progression. And it isn’t easy to learn it on your own. But luckily, I have had some amazing people in my fitness past, so I have an excellent background.

I said backGROUND. Not back. Though it did look pretty good there.

OH! And I am getting CPR certified through my apartment building! They randomly sent out an email for a CPR course at my apartment complex in a week and a half, so BOOM CPR cert (to be) done!

4) Yoga. So I have been going on and on and on about how much I love CorePower and my girls Kayla and Linnea, and how upset I was to have to give up something that I have come to love so much. Well, let’s just say that good things happen when you are ready for them. I went to yoga on my bday (after the run), decided to do a lighter class with Kayla, and then Linnea and I started talking before the C2 class (she was teaching it right after), and I mentioned my situation. Linnea was like, “You’ve heard of our Yoga for Trade program, right?” Uh, no.

A legitimate question.

So the short and short of it is that, if accepted, I will go in to CPY 1/week, clean for 3 hours, and I get unlimited yoga Black Tag membership and discounts on yoga training. YES.

5) Yoga Sculpt. I continued talking to Linnea and she asked if I had considered being a teacher. Yes, I did, but it was $$$. Well the YFT program gives me a discount (which helps but it’s still expensive). Anyhoo. I don’t have to have the full yoga teacher training to teach yoga sculpt, which basically merges power yoga and strength training. YES. It is a 40 hour course, and there are 2 sessions coming up: May (which I likely can’t do because of travel) and September (which Linnea is teaching at my studio). And she said that I shouldn’t have much trouble getting hired by CPY, especially with my CPT, and they are always expanding and looking for people to do stuff like that. DONE.

6) Friends. I obviously have you guys, but I need some girls here, too. And I think Linnea and Kayla are my type of people. I would be happy to clean for 3 hours in order to get free yoga and girl time.

Twee is ma fwend.

7) Blog. I am going to continue trying to grow the Suzlyfe. I have recently applied to some ambassadorships (as in, I applied Friday), and I think they could be real opportunities for me to get some clout both in the personal and professional world. The Suzlyfe is still finding out what she wants to be when she grows up–I think that these ambassadorships could help with that.

And before you ask, no, we are not talking BIG time ambassador ships with my loves Brooks or Procompression. These are more community ambassadorships. I will sadly not be receiving an shoes in a spaceship any time soon.

8) Blog/Personal. I need to get back to cooking and developing fun ways to fuel this lyfe. You all know I have hilarious tastes, and I have gotten a bit out of practice and motivation to try new things. For shame! I dream up things all the time, but I haven’t done much about it of late.

I need more of this type of flava in the kitchen. Chelsea Patricia Photography

As you can see, I am on the cusp of several little things that, when combined, hopefully will lead to some BIG changes. I know that I have a pretty large learning curve ahead of me, but I like to think that I am pretty smart (at least, I am a pretty smart-a$$). So, we’ll just have to see if I finally conquer (my) world, or if I fall right back on my bum. One thing is for sure, though: I am not going back to waiting tables. Been there, done that (and yes, I did keep one tshirt and my aprons, but I gave away the shoes and the other shirts). Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go learn how to torture people and get paid to do it. Actually, I should get paid to teach people that.

Have  you ever had to try to completely redefine yourself professionally? To be the person in the business world that your personal life had been telling you to be for a long, long time? 

Give me a fitness/health status update. Where is your running/lifting/yoga, right now? What are you struggling with, and how are you feeling accomplished?