Getting Back to The Gym After a Vacation

This is a reminder to myself to be patient. :)

It is hard to get back to your fitness routine if it has been interrupted by something like an illness or a long vacation. Although my vacation was far from long, it was just long enough to make me miss my gym, the people there, and my weights. It just isn't the same working out at the Hilton! I am still on island time which means everything takes on average 30 minutes longer than it normally would and it drives me nuts. I am a perfectionist, so I expect a lot out of myself and I thought that I would bounce back a whole lot quicker. To help accelerate the process of getting back in the groove of a fast paced life of a fitness addict, I made sure that I concentrate on my scheduling and list making skills.

While in the airport on Sunday I made a list of everything that I needed to do this week, organized my calendar, made the necessary lists, and made sure that I had all of my planning and strategy tools available to me when I got home. On Monday I planned and organized the rest of my week by writing workouts and cooking. Yesterday  I was catching up with everything that I missed and today I am back on normal schedule. Phew! That only took a couple of days, no wonder I was stressed and anxious!

Let's talk about training! Yesterday I trained upper body and a little bit of abs, today is my run training day, then legs on Thursday, whole body/ cardio on Friday, and run training with my wonderful coach early Saturday morning. I am very excited about that last part. I haven't had official run training since the end of December and I missed it so much! I am almost giddy, I am that excited to run with Nicki again.

I am hoping that by the end of the week I will have some free time to garden and redecorate my office. There is so much to do!

Do What Your Coach Tells You

Seriously, there is something to be said about the famous phrase: "I told you this would happen!" Although my coaches are much too nice to say something like that, I can sense it. Hopefully, if I tell you what happened to me, you will not ignore your trainer/ coach when they tell you that stretching (much like diet) are an extremely important part of your exercise routine.

Stretching helps relax tight muscles, makes the muscle stronger (by relaxing it), prevents the  formation of "lumps" in your muscle tissue, and it melts the stress away. There are multiple ways to stretch and it mostly depends on your routine and problem areas. As an ex fencer and a current runner, most of my stress settles in my right shoulder and elbow (previous injuries) and in my legs. See, I know all of this and yet somehow, I ended up getting caught up in everything else and skipping out on stretching this past month. Yes, amateur mistake! But I am here to keep it real, to be accountable, and hopefully to inspire you guys to pay attention and learn from the mistakes of others.

As you already know I had to stop running due to severe shin splints and I am going to have to cut back on my lifting, due to a tennis elbow flare up. What will I do? Not sure. There aren't a lot of options remaining when your upper and lower body are out of commission. I guess I'll pick up biking, maybe concentrate on that swimming thing I have been meaning to pick up. Basically, the past two weeks have taken their toll on me mentally and physically. It is hard enough to deal with an injury that threatens to take you out of commission for a while,  but when you learn that it could have been prevented by doing a few simple, quick stretches in the shower, well....  I am still keeping my head up above water, though. I look at it as an opportunity to reevaluate my training, concentrate on activities that will eventually prep me for a triathlon, and potentially convert friends that do not normally exercise into fitness people. 

 So, the lesson here is: listen to your trainer and do your stretches as often as you can. Do them before you work out, do them in the shower, do them before you go to bed, do them at your desk during the day, just do them!

Run Therapy.

Yes, I know I missed a couple of days of posts. In the last few days I had a few family issues that will not be discussed here, and honestly, I just couldn't bring myself to write. Today I feel much better so, here I am, back at it.

When I woke up this morning, the sky was gray and it looked like it was going to rain. I have been so stressed and angry during the last few days that I decided to go for a run regardless of the weather. I got to the local high school track, put on my minimalist shoes and went for a warm-up lap. I love my new shoes. I will post pics of them later this week.

Before my run.  I was much sweatier after. :)

The moment I took off at an easy pace around the football field, I felt my anxiety melt away. By the time I was done with my warm up I almost felt like a normal person. I started into my sprints, and after the first few steps, feeling the wind on my face, allowing the gravity to pull me towards my goal, I realized that I am so incredibly grateful for this thing called "running".

There are very few times in life when one can feel more alive than during a run. Think about it, you are more tuned in to your own body during a run then during any other activity (well, yoga and meditation aside). It is hard to explain to those that do not run regularly the joy that I find in the moment when I have to fully retreat into myself in order to push through a "wall" and realize how alive and how powerful I am. The combination of sounds of my foot falls, my breathing, my heart beat, all make a beautiful symphony or life. The burn of the quads (sprints), calves and hamstrings (hill drills), produce the pain that can only be described as "good". After all, it means that I am getting stronger, faster, more efficient.  

In the recent issue of Runner's World, there was an article about running and pain. What stood out the most to me, was the part where the author talked about his difficulty explaining to none runners that he enjoys the pain of the run.  It is true, I noticed that in my own daily interactions. Most normal people consider  pain bad and for a good reason. Nothing good comes out of pain, but for a runner the spectrum of "pain" is expended. There is a difference between being in pain, and being painfully injured. You stop running when you are injured, but you run through the pain. Pain simply means that there is a untapped potential. That there is still room to push and grow.

I remember running my first 10k. I pushed, I fought, and I finished. To be honest, it got painful on mile three and I still had more than half of the distance to go. I accepted it, I pushed through it, and with that acceptance came a personal victory and a 10k PR.

Same happened today. The weather was perfect: 58 degrees, overcast, low humidity, it was the best time to run! When I took off in a sprint, I felt free. Five laps later (sprinting the straights and walking the curves) I had to retreat inward to find strength, to fight through the wall. Lap six and seven felt easy. I even jogged the curves instead of walking. My sprint speed increased too! I went back to walking through the curves in  lap eight, but my sprint speed continued to increase. I was blown away and absolutely happy.

I Have a Love Hate Relationship With Burpees. Seriously, I do.

I feel that a workout full off Burpees is a fitness metaphor to life. 

I did not feel like going to the gym today at all. In fact, all I wanted to do today was sleep, and maybe stay on my sofa, watch trashy TV and eat plums all day long. However, what we want and what we need do not always coincide. 

What I needed to do was to get up, take a cold shower, start working on my research for the next article I was writing, and then go to the gym, write the article(S), go pick up more research material, go to a meeting, meet with a friend for dinner and IKEA trip, come home and go to bed so I can get up, go run, plant, etc. Wow, I am tired just thinking about all of it! So, how did I get myself on board with my own day today? Simple.

 I made myself get out of bed and did 15 squats, drank and ice cold glass of water, put the tea on, and stuck myself in the cold shower. That got the ball rolling. By the time I was done and sort of dry, I had my morning green tea ready, my hard boiled eggs (that I peeled the night before) were waiting for me in the fridge and all I had to do, was grab a hand full of spring mix, one orange, and one small whole grain pita and I had my breakfast ready. I love pre planned breakfast because it is so quick and portable, I don't even need a plate most days! 

I sat down to do my research with my breakfast in my lap, and I have to say, by my third bite and my forth sip of hot tea, I was awake and ready to put some damage on the topic I was writing about! By the time my back started to hurt from all the sitting it was already time to hit the gym (don't you love the timing? Your body always knows when it is time to get moving) . I put on my running shoes (still with that vague "but I don't wanna" whining in the back of my head). I told myself that those who give up and skip workouts do not get abs. So, I grabbed my bottle full of Spark and left to go get some burpees done. I hate burpees. I hate them, hate them, hate them. I hate them more than I hate Steve the kettle bell. Yes, I named the kettle bell. It makes it easier to throw my fist up at the sky when my butt is thoroughly kicked by the workout and dramatically curse the day Steve the kettle bell was forged in the deep fires of pure evil. 

My workout today consisted of the following: 

15 pushups (no knees allowed)

30 walking lunges (sing it with me Alicia Keys style: My Quads are on FIIREEE!!!)

15 Dolphin Pushups

15 Mountain Climbers

30 sec rest

So far pretty easy right? Gooood.

15 triceps dips

15 jump lunges

15 pile squats (45 lb KB)

15 burpees

30 secs rest

I HATE BURPEES!!!! (but you have to do them until you love them. That's how that works)

15 curtsy lunges

15 bicycles

15 mountain climbers

15 spiderman plank

Repeat 4 times, for time, trying to beat the previous try each time.  

This almost made me cry. Especially after burpees. I think because I hate them, I try to push through them as fast as I possibly can which just causes me to get more tired and wanting to cry. Usually I feel really good about this workout and can take at least a few seconds off, but today, today I wasn't with it fully. 

At first I blamed in on the fact that I didn't have my pre-workout protein shake. Then I remembered that I did, in fact, have a protein shake 30 minutes before I left. Now, I blame it on not having my head in the game fully.  That's ok, though. At the end of the day, calories burnt, are calories burnt and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. There is always tomorrow to have a great, hard, enjoyable workout. That is exactly what I am planning on. In a few minutes I am going to leave my office and go to Big Peach Running Co. to pick up my sexy, shiny, pair of brand new minimalist shoes which I am planning to begin breaking in tomorrow.

How did your Friday workout go?

Allergies? Cold? Weight lifting? Crossfit?

Although I am not too sure if I am having a really bad case of allergies or if I am beginning to get sick. Regardless, I pushed through my cardio today just in case it is allergies. I regret nothing! Well, maybe I regret that I only had 20 minutes... Either way, it is so unfair to feel this under the weather just days before my race. If I don't feel absolutely horrible tomorrow, I have a date with Murph and hopefully some sore back muscles afterwards. I guess when lifting doesn't get you sore, turn to crossfit! I have high hopes for you, Murph! Don't let me down!

All I Need is 20 Minutes to Feel Human Again.

In the last few days my workout times have been all over the road. I am a person of routine and consistency, I got my body use to having a natural boost of endorphins in the morning and having to work out at night have turned me into a grumpy, stressed, mean girl. I am making it an effort to get my workouts back on normal morning schedule. Even if it means getting to the gym at 5 am.  

That being said, I don’t know what I would have done to the world today if it had been for my 20 minutes of cardio this evening. I wish I had the time for a full 45, but 20 is all I had to spare. I guess you have to get it in where you can, right?

No More Doubting!!!

Oh, I really should kick all this doubting out of my life for good. My legs are sore today! Yay! I went out to the gym and hit the treadmill for some speed work on an incline. My legs began to feel weak 15 minutes into my intervals, but I finished strong. I can’t wait to be able to run outside! All this pollen is really getting to me today.

Legs.

I had a hard time getting it in gear this morning. I haven’t been sleeping well for the past couple of weeks, now I have trouble waking up. Apparently, I sleep muted my alarms this morning which made me later for my workout. Not to fear, I went to the gym anyway.

You know that saying “you don’t know what you have ‘til it’s gone”? Yeah… Today was the day when I wished I had a person spotting me.  Turns out that I have beastly legs and in order for them to burn out, I have to squat heavy, heavy weight. It scares me. I am afraid of dropping it. After I went through my leg workout (didn’t stop, lifted through the fear, you know the drill) I realized that I could still run around, squat a bunch, and probably go out and run a mile. Plus, I somehow managed to finish faster then I planned (that one is still beyond me. I know I didn’t skip anything). So, instead of giving up and going home, I decided that I am going to do additional 100 25lb squats and hopefully the sheer quantity will get my legs to failure. It didn’t. I will rethink this workout tomorrow morning after I determine how sore I am. If I am not, I got a killer stadium routine that will guarantee to make me run faster and set my quads on fire (fingers crossed).

In the land of rock hard abs today we also reached a wall. I spent a few reps doing weighted incline sit ups with a medicine ball, then captains chair knee raises, then straight leg raises. My arms gave out before my abs did. I had that happen before after heavy lifting and normally I would do something that does not include the use of my arms. Today, however, I was completely blank and could come up with anything.  I need to make sure that I write a backup program to compensate for unexpected body part failure.