When it comes to cross training there are three reasons why I do it:
Injury Prevention
Injury Recovery
Adding Variety to Exercise
In 2012, my brother Steve and I participated in a triathlon. The swimming and cycling was big for me as it was helpful in my recovery from a knee injury.
There are other reasons to cross train. Here are a few of them in a blog via runnersworld.com
Please excuse me (again) for deviating from running for this blogpost. We'll call this the "family" portion of "runningfamilyman". I had started this blogpost over three months ago, but I was not entirely sure how to say it or to finish it. Frankly, I am scared at the thought of the truth behind this. For months, We didn't tell anybody that we were having difficulty getting pregnant again. We didn't even our family. Then I read a blog post about the lies that our social media accounts show.
We have been extremely fortunate to have been blessed with two amazing children. Healthy and Happy Children. Don't get me wrong, we live a really good life. But something else is missing. We're trying our best to make our children happy. Sometimes we hold the pain in and keep it close so that nobody else knows it.
People would hint about us having another child... trying to get us to tell them we're pregnant. We joked back making up excuses of "we're waiting" or "not sure we want another". Oh how badly I wish we could say we were. We both have known that we want more kids. But the current situation is there and it hurts.
Over the last few months, I've spent time pondering and praying over this to find comfort and peace. I do know that there is a higher power in our lives. I believe that our Heavenly Father has a plan for us.
My sister shared this scripture recently and feel the need to share it. "For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith." Ether 12:12. I'd like to add verse 6 "for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." I've seen miracles happen for myself and for others.
Maybe next month or next year or whenever we will get pregnant. Maybe Heavenly Father has a different plan for us. Whatever that is, I know that the most important thing for me right now is to keep moving forward. To provide for what I have been given. I have hope that we'll be blessed with another child.
We continue to enjoy life with our children. We know it's not easy being parents as it requires utmost sacrifice. But when I see my kids or wife laugh, I know I'm doing things right.
It has been project after project on this house that we've bought. The front mow strip, the small section between the road and sidewalk, was supposed to be a "quick" project, but it evolved into something huge. Tree removal, gravel removal (which I found when tilling it with what was supposed to be final step before installing the sprinkler, but ended up being 20 man hours of removing by hand), mulch, and then the sprinklers.
On Thursday, the sun had set and it was beginning to rain. I was out finishing a sprinkler line in the front of our house. I was excited that the end was in site. My neighbor saw me and came over to see what I was doing so late. I was putting the final pieces together, but my fingers were hurting. My leather gloves had holes in them from all of the previous projects and I wasn't sure if my fingers could handle the remaining fittings. He then asked what he could do to help. I let him help me finish up. It taught me a lot that I should be looking for those opportunities to serve other people, to just jump in and get to work.
Whether or not you are a religious person service should be a part of your life. I just finished watching a video about how a group of men helped a woman with MS into bed at night . They have been doing it for 7 years. What I love about this video is that the men were honest about their feelings of providing service to this woman. To some it looked like it would be a burden, but I love how providing the service and examples of others helped to change their attitude. This video is 9 minutes long, watch it. It is worth it.
I may not always be in the right mind to be of service to others, but when I do, I know that I am happier because I know I've helped make another burden's burden lighter.
In March I wrote that I am "coming back to running". I've slowly, ever so slowly, making progress. I am running once or twice a week and slowly adding distance.
Last year (2014) was extremely hard not being able to run. 2015, I am feeling a lot better about my knee and it's ability to handle longer distances. The key for me is to continue to add mileage, but not speed. That is the approach I'll take for a while. Here is March, April, and May running distances. I will try again for 1.5 miles per run this weekend. Next week, I'll go for 1.75 miles per run.
The other thing that I am doing is cycling. I feel that having another form of exercise is going to help keep my legs strengthened.
I feel like my patience in 2014 paid off. I didn't push myself to get back into running before my knee was ready. And if the pain returns, I'll reconfigure my plan and go from there. Happy trails.
