075: Declutter Your Life and Your Running

Decluttering is the word of the moment and although Angie got in on the decluttering movement a few years back after reading the book, we are currently undergoing a massive decluttering of the house.  This, of course, got us thinking about how decluttering applies to our lives and naturally, running.

In this show, we bring you a little more into our lives with a discussion of the decluttering transformation steadily moving its way through our house one room at a time.  Angie points out the amazing benefits of mentally releasing yourself from things that you do not need anymore.

We spend some time talking about the Konmari method of only holding onto items that spark joy for you.  This has clearly done wonders for every closet and dresser in the house that we have hit so far. While Angie is the lead on all organizational tasks in our house, I do appreciate that I can see all of my clothes and that I do not still own several shirts that I constantly flip past to get to what I want to wear.  

The conversation turns to the point of the simplifying method.  We cannot move forward and improve ourselves if we are being dragged down by things from our past.  We take this another step by talking about simplification of your social calendar. You can probably fill every day with plenty of tasks and outings, but simplifying your life means choosing what is important to you and being willing to say no to events that do not matter as much.  

Again the topic swings back around to setting priorities.  When you have clearly defined the things in your life that matter the most and ranked them, it becomes easier to say no to events that are connected to a low priority when the better choice may be time spent connecting to your family, or time spent sleeping to improve your health.  

With running the idea of simplifying can seem rather complicated.  We have had plenty of episodes about different training methods, different types of workouts, and the need for speed and strength to improve.  It can start to become overwhelming.

Streamlining your training is connected to your purpose for running.  Like setting priorities in life, you must understand what you want to get out of running and plan with that in mind

First, pick a method and be committed to that method for a while.  Do not constantly jump from one system to another in search of greener pastures.  You are more likely to get yourself hurt or stagnating because no system is given enough time to payoff.  

Second, the different types of workouts from long and slow, to short speed, to hills, to strength, to threshold, and on and on are not boxes that must be checked.  You do not need to hit each workout in every week. There are some methods of organization that have been done more than others, but that does not mean they are right for you.  Choose a variety of workouts, but if you have some favorites that you like repeating then that’s ok too

Running is a big experiment of one person in which you get to decide how the variables work.  A coach can help guide you, but there is not a magic formula that coaches are keeping locked up and only share at the secret meeting.  

One the other hand, that shirt at the bottom of your drawer that you have not worn since college, you should throw that out.  

Resources: 

• Our Favorite Products to Make Healthy Living Easier
• Our Coaching Programs
• We have SHIRTS! Show your Real Life Runner Pride!
• The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo 
• The Marie Kondo folding method - video
• The Kondo folding method - graphic
• Speed Workouts (by time and effort)

Hope you enjoy it!! Let us know if you have any questions that you would like answered on our show!    

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