Time for a Rest

Something that any avid athlete never wants to admit is that they are going to have to give it a rest.  Apparently I've been going at it a little too hard for a while now and my body isn't happy.  For about two months now it's been trying to tell me to slow down.  After not listening, I'm now paying the price.

Between being a full time mom, having a full time job, two part time jobs, crossfitting, and training for a half marathon, shit's just catching up with me.  I have to admit, 30 is not the new 20.  :)  Although I do think my physical fitness is light years ahead of what I was when I was 20, my ability to recover and bounce back is not.  

I went through about 4 weeks of just feeling like shit.  I was so scared to death.  I just knew something was wrong with me.  The only other times I had felt like that that was when I was pregnant or just had a baby.  I was neither of those.  Then you get to googling everything and the next thing I know I'm dying!  :)  I finally went to the doctor and got blood work done and an overall physical.  Nothing was wrong with me.  I had to promise my doc to let one thing go so I backed off of crossfit to two time a weeks from three...for a couple weeks.

Then I did it.  I was probably trying to lift too much weight, too often and I strained a muscle in my back.  Now, I'm going to have to really rest....like no exercise for about a week.  On the up side, I got adjusted by my chiropractor, get a massage today, and another adjustment.  I'm hoping and praying to God that together (all of us, including God), we can get me healed and back to normal.

During this time in trying to get me back to normal, I've started to try to live a Paleo lifestyle.  Since it eliminates most food that cause inflammation in the body, which will in turn help to heal my back even faster.  It's funny when you eat foods that are healthy for you what else they can do for your body.  It's also part of my Lenten promise.

I've never been a big fan of fad diets or anything like that, but after a lot of research, I think this is the best thing that I can do for my body right now.  Like I said earlier, I'm not 20 anymore.  I can't eat whatever I want and look like a stick (which I don't even want to look like anymore).  In just a week of going Paleo (about 80%) of the time, I can already tell a little difference in my belly fat.  I'm going to stick this out for a little bit and see how it goes.  

As far as using my doTERRA essential oils to help my back, I've been using Deep Blue lotion and oil for pain relief and inflammation, frankincense for inflammation, birch, white fir, wintergreen, and AromaTouch for sore muscles and circulation, and lavender to help relax and calm the muscles. 

I'll be sharing more about my Paleo experience throughout my journey!  Can't wait to see where this takes me.

Another Half Marathon

The time has come.  Another baby, another race.  Today is the day I start training for a half marathon.  I'm training for the IronMom Half that is the Saturday of Mother's Day weekend.  I haven't run a big race since Lila was about 18 months old.  I am slowing working my way back up to a marathon, but scheduling and free time right now are limiting me to a half, which I'm completely ok with.  :)

I'm going to be stocking up on a few of my favorite oils for exercise!

Deep Blue - Great for muscle aches/pain, tension, joint pain, inflammation, arthritis, back pain...ALL of which I get at some point when training for halves and fulls!

AromaTouch - Great for anxiety, muscles/aches pain, relaxation, tension, muscle cramps (charley horses).

Elevation - Dab a little on you temples, your neck, your forehead before your run for an energizing, stress-free, uplifting run!

Peppermint - Mix with a little coconut oil and rub into your legs before a run to help with keeping your body cool and helping keep you alert and focused on your run.

OnGuard - Last but not least, take a few drops of OnGuard daily or even rub into your hands before having to head up to the gym on those freezing days when you can't get outside to run.  OnGuard helps protect you from airborne pathogens and helps your body stay healthy while you're running yourself into the ground training!  :)

If you would like more information on these oil or others, let me know!  I'd love to talk with you about them.

XOXO

O.M.G.

Tomorrow it will be one week since I started with a personal trainer.  I'm still sore from last Wednesday.  Wowsa!  I knew that I needed a swift kick in the ass and I sure got it!  I have no doubt in my mind that this is exactly what I needed to get back on track.  I'm feeling great!

We have been doing total body workouts and wow!  My legs, my arms, my...everything! I just can't say enough.  I just really needed this.  After this week, I'm gonna go out on my own and hopefully be able to keep training.  A few of the things he's having me do (things my body has missed so much) are:
squats, deadlifts, calf raises, triceps triceps triceps, chest and more triceps.  Today I did the farmer's carry with, wait for it....35 lb dumbbells.  I was shocked that I could do this.  Britt knew I could and even though I bitched about it, still made me do the weight AND I DID IT!  Sometimes you just get so into your routine or what you remember of past routines that you're afraid, or don't even think, to do something different.  THIS is why I hired Britt.  He had to get me out of my element.  He had to make me uncomfortable.  Shock my body.  I'm so pleased already with my workouts with him.

Call me crazy, but I can already see a little difference in my core.  My legs will come, my arms will tone soon enough, but I can already see it in my core.  I can't believe it.  Now I just have to stick to it.

Where it's gonna get really tough is now I want to run a half marathon here in October.  I'm gonna really have to use my time wisely.  I want to be able to keep my strength workouts going, but I'm also going to have to get the miles in.  I think it will be hard, but I the last race I trained for was a marathon and the time it takes out of your life to do that it crazy.  Luckily, the race is at the end of October, so I will be able to get most, if not all of my running done outside.  This is huge because that means I can take my kids in the stroller, even though it will not be good for my time/pace, I will still be able to get the miles in.  So let's just see how much more complicated I can make my life!

One thing I need to be more serious about is my nutrition and protein intake.  If I'm not careful, my milk supply is going to decrease.  I need to make sure I'm getting enough good, whole food in my body so my body can continue down the right track.

I hope to update soon on my progress with my strength training and half marathon training.

Personal Training

Hair stylists don't cut their own hair, wedding planners usually don't plan their own weddings, OBs don't deliver their own babies...

Even though I am a personal trainer, I find it hard to train myself really hard.  So I'm thinking of hiring my own personal trainer for a few sessions to try to shock my body to get it back to shape.  If I can just get a swift kick in the ass, I think I can find the motivation to continue my training.

I'm also about 95% sure I am going to run the Shawnee half marathon in Harrisburg this fall.  Check out their Facebook page here to stay informed of happenings and group training information.  I have gone back and forth on whether or not I want to do this.  It's just a half and I know I can finish with even minimal training, but
1. I don't want to get hurt and
2. I don't want to run so bad that I felt like I wasted my time.
I have about 3 months to train if I get started next week.  It's harder to make time for the runs now and to my surprise, it's not because of having two kids, but because of having a husband who works midnights.  I never even thought how this would affect my workouts.  I am an evening runner, always have been.  But now, even if I wanted to go in the morning before work, I can't do that because he's not home.  It's weird having to schedule around that.

Please know that I'm not complaining.  My husband's career is very important to both of us.  I just really thought "oh, this will be hard getting the girls to bed" or "it will be hard doing supper and bath time".  It never dawned on me that I would have to find a new time to workout.

The only time I'm finding now is lunch time.  Next week, I'm going to start utilizing my lunch hour to try to get a 45 minute or so workout or run in a few days a week.  We'll see how it goes.

As far as my training, I'll keep you all informed of my progress.  :)