Juliana Moves

This has been a whacky summer of running. I’ve been pretty consistent, but also rolling with the punches and adapting when life takes a turn. It has also been the hottest and most humid summer I can remember since moving to Virginia, which sucks and has made running really hard at times. The first half of the summer was so ridiculously rainy, too, so I was fitting in runs wherever and whenever I could without getting struck by lightning. It was all shockingly exhausting.

Not to mention, our summer started off pretty travel-heavy – a good stressor, but stress nonetheless. And then Bear passed away and I was emotionally tired. I kept trying to get myself hyped about running, but was frustrated that I kept feeling mentally tired with it all. I’ve scrolled through my camera roll to find running photos from this summer and came up empty! I couldn’t even be bothered to document.

Coming off of MMT in mid-May, I felt inspired and motivated! I was ready to start training for the next big thing and not take a break. By late June, I started to joke that I had delayed onset mental fatigue from MMT and that training cycle. It was all amazing, make no mistake, but so many weeks of so much running wears you out a bit! I think my brain was demanding a break.

I spent the summer keeping my mileage reasonable and just sort of chugging along in my runs. I’ve enjoyed working to dial in my nutrition, sleep, and lifting while managing a lighter running load. 

I have done almost no trail running this summer. It bums me out a tad, but weekends have been busy or giving up that much time for a run has just not been a priority. Such is life sometimes! I am learning to be okay with that and not force it.

As we roll through the end of summer and into fall soonish (hopefully), I can feel my excitement for running start to flare back to life. I’m signed up for the Richmond Marathon again in mid-November and am genuinely looking forward to my training block for that. There is nothing quite like a cool, fall run to make you feel amazing! I have my eye on a 50k in November to run for fun as well, so I’m hoping to do more trail running soon too. 

It can be hard for me to dial back my running, especially seeing all the awesome ultrarunners around me continue to crush it! It feels like I’m missing out or losing fitness. I’ve talked about this with Patrick throughout the summer, but every time I have taken a lower load season of running, I always come back stronger and faster. It certainly is not new news that breaks are good for your running, but taking them is easier said than done!

I know I want to pursue another big race soon, but I want to make sure it’s something really exciting and inspiring to me. 100 miles is still on my list, but I’m okay having that on the back burner for now. Time will tell!

While I was typing this, I received an email that said “Run often. Run long. But never outrun the joy of running.” Seems pretty fitting to me.

Love,

JN