There are some days where things go as planned and life ticks along smoothly and other days when things just seem to unravel despite your best efforts. We had both this week. I'm the kind of gal who LOVES when things go as planned and when things don't I struggle. So this week my focus has been on the recovery. If there's a meltdown or someone poops their pants or the baby isn't sleeping or the toilet overflows or homeschooling is frustrating or I sleep through my alarm...it's all about the recovery. How will we bounce back? So instead of making sure everything.works.out.perfectly. We're dealing with the moment, however perfectly imperfect and moving on.

Since we're in the season of resolutions and goal setting and new beginnings it seems apropos. Mess up? Move on. Don't get hung up on the failures focus on the little victories. With that, here are five things this week that caught my eye, because they are all about the recovery.

Hitler's Sweater and Eating Dirty.

On Monday I listened to a fantastic podcast from Precision Nutrition, with the title "Why eating clean is bad for you." The article talked about the moralization of food and the values that we place on food that aren't intrinsically in them. I wholeheartedly agree with the article: the villainizing foods is at best not helpful and at worst a little dangerous. Extreme diets, restriction, limiting entire food groups that's the stuff of disordered eating. With so many people jumping on a detox or an elimination diet I found this article to be refreshing. You don't have to deprive yourself to see results (weight loss, increased performance etc. etc.). You just have to be able to recover from the times when you overindulge. You'll have to listen to the podcast to find out how Hitler's sweater connects to eating clean. You can find it HERE.

Small Victories.

This quote topped one of the pages of my Believe I am Journal this week and I found it to be applicable and inspiring. It's all about not getting hung up on the little setbacks. See the small victories (along with the setbacks) and know that it's those little victories that add up to great things. I think this quote is especially applicable to parenting. Don't see the meltdown, see the opportunity to have a small victory with your child. It's all about the recovery.

Learn from the Pros

Earlier this week Stephanie (Rothstein) Bruce, elite distance runner with Oiselle and Hoka, posted a picture of her doing core work.

She's 14 weeks postpartum and when it comes to #keepingitreal, she is legit. She shares her running journey on social media and her blog and is incredibly honest and transparent, and for that I love her. She also has a smart approach to her postpartum recovery and comeback. In her post she mentions that she does the big three: bird dogs, side plank and the McGill Crunch three times a day. Bird dogs and side planks have been part of my core repertoire for a while, but I had never heard of the McGill Crunch so I did a little digging and voila here it is. I've started doing them. If you're a mother runner you probably should too:)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDJIDySQFgU

Comfortably Untidy

I have a white couch. I also have a three year old boy. I will not give up my white couch. I like the way it looks. I'm fully aware that I could buy a slip cover of another color to cover my couch and not show the dirt/marker/crackers/pizza/poop that sometimes graces it. I did, in fact, buy another slip cover recently...it is also white. So I'm committed to my white couch and all that that entails: including frequent washings. It's the one thing that I hold on to. Everything else has gone down the crapper. (I jest. But seriously, our walls...) I'm trying to embrace the fact that my house will never be "just so" until the kids move out. There is one day that I may miss the poop on the couch and the marker on the wall, or the little dinosaurs strewn about. This article, written by a friend, helped me remember that. So I'm trying to look at things through the eyes of a kid, who may not like things all "nicey-nice."

And lest you think my crazed-cleanliness is driven by a Pinterest comparison trap, ask my Mom about that time I was 12 and crying in the basement because I just.couldn't.get.it.clean.enough...yeah, we may have a problem;)

R8

And for recovery in the more literal sense. I just bought the Roll Recovery R8. My calves have been trashed from all the hill training and no matter what I do I just can't get them to loosen up...and my massage therapist is in Puerto Rico with the Tufts Women's Swim team for winter training. I was a bit desperate. But I think that this self-massage tool will pay dividends beyond just bridging the gap until I can get a massage. As training ramps up, recovery becomes even more important.