Aftermath of my Double Workout

To say that I possibly may have overdone my workouts on Monday is to say that I was my normal self. LOL. Yes. I managed to get two workouts in Monday. I hit the gym early for a killer upper body workout with Tripp. Of course, he managed to pick my most hated exercises to focus on for that workout and multiple sets and reps later, I was completely and totally trashed and still hate them (mostly!) Then, he gave me a workout plan for my lower body workout with Lindsay. He wanted me to KILL her in 30 minutes and then put her through about 12 minutes of cardio.

Well, I am not certain if I killed her. I almost made her puke and to be quite honest, I almost puked multiple times during the workout. So. I think it was a pretty killer workout. In fact, my poor quad cramped when I went to show her walking lunges and I was not sure I was going to be able to get back up! And my legs were so very sore Monday night and yesterday and they are just plain miserable today!

I was so exhausted physically on Monday that when Tuesday morning rolled around and it was time to get up, I was still dreaming. I dreamed that someone was in my house. I could hear noises just as if someone was in the house. My subconscious reminded me that the alarm was set and since I had not heard it go off that I was indeed home and safe. However, my mind was struggling to wake me up and get me to move my body. I could not open my eyes or move a single muscle in my body in the dream. I struggled with the idea for a few more moments until my mind said screw it, the alarm is set, just sleep. I woke up a short time later and realized, I need better dreams. And probably more sleep!

I will probably hit another double workout in the future. Two-a-days are quite insane but I know I pushed myself to the limit and held nothing back. That is a good day and a great workout. Now, I have several very busy days ahead to the weekend and I am looking forward to enjoying some chill time over the weekend. Then next week, I will likely put in at least one two-a-day and see what next week holds.

I actually signed up to be a race marshall at the Palmetto Half Marathon which I think will be fun and interesting. It will be my first chance to see it from the view of the spectator/side lines/cheerleading sections. I am psyched that I decided to volunteer. I have no idea what my duties will entail, but I guarantee you that when the runners pass by me no matter where they are in the pack, they will feel encouraged!!!

Anyways, lots to do. So, I am going to head to bed.

Running Is Hard...Recovery Is Harder...

Even though my poor body is completely and totally trashed, all I really have wanted to do for the past two days is get back to training. Physically, I absolutely cannot run and I cannot lift. Mentally, I am ready to get back to work. This is one of the most frustrating parts for me. I know I have to wait and give my body enough time to fully recover from the torture I just put it through, but I also know that I have lots more work to do.

Yesterday, I had a strategy meeting with Tripp to discuss what my next steps will be. I will be honest, I knew exactly what he was going to say about a lot of things before we had lunch. But I needed to hear him say those things to me. He has a way of reminding me of things that I know without making me feel stupid for needing to hear them again. One thing he likes to remind me is that I already know everything I need to do...I am not new to this. I have been doing this for awhile now. Even so, it is always good to have him give me the mental kick in the butt that I need!

So, I have a plan of attack. I know what I need to do. And now I am ready to get to work. Unfortunately, until my body is a bit more mended, I cannot start working. My hope is that by tomorrow my upper body will feel well enough for me to hit the gym...we shall see. I already know that the lower body is going to need an additional day, so I am prepared for that. I plan to do some stretching tonight which should help everything quite a bit. Depending on how badly the legs feel, I may hit the foam roller tonight...definitely will be doing it tomorrow.

I am thankful to have a good friend who will help me to refocus when I need it. He has always been great about getting my head back in the game. And even when I screw up or don't do what we both know I need to, he continues to encourage and support me. I am thankful for that!!

NC Half Marathon 03/25/2012

I signed up for this race with one thought in mind...I will get a PR. LOL. Silly Melissa! I really wanted to do this because my Dad was a huge Nascar fan and well, the medal was super cool looking! The idea of running on the speedway was super enticing, so I figured why not. It's an inaugural race and I am all good for a fun race.

To be quite honest, before the race even got here I had issues. (What's new!) I had to take some time off from training in the gym and on the road because I was experiencing some back pain, super tight hamstrings and a little bit of exhaustion. I was tired...all the time. So, before the race even got here I was going in with issues. I got two and a half hours of massage done to help out the hamstrings which alleviated most of the back pain. But my sleep was way off...lots of insomnia!

And then, I made rookie mistakes going into this. Feeling as tired as I was, I slacked on my normal packing preparations. I did not bring my knee support that I wear occasionally (hence I had some knee issues during the race). I did not get enough potassium in the week (to two weeks) before the race. I also went into the race slightly dehydrated which is highly unusual for me. I forgot tissues for the port-a-potty (there was a lack of pre-race bathrooms and since I was early I got lucky there!) I didn't sleep well the night before...it was worse than ever before. All in all just a rough start for this race.

Since we were in Charlotte, we made a stop by my favorite tavern there, Solstice Tavern for lunch. Then we popped in to see Matt Terry at Fu's Custom Tattoos to get a date in the books for some more work on my tattoo. I have yet to get my 3 flowers from last year. So, we scheduled an appointment for June in which he will do 6...yes, 6 flowers!! Crazy, I know, but I want to get it caught up :) And by June, I will have completed two more races!!

We hit the expo on Saturday after lunch. It was a very small expo with really only two vendors and there was not much else. They had promos for the Divas Half Marathon at Myrtle Beach and the Myrtle Beach Mini Marathon which are their sister races. But other than that, there was packet pickup. So, we did not spend a whole lot of time there. I could have done the Richard Petty driving experience but opted not to since I would be running the Charlotte Motor Speedway!

I did my best to get to sleep early Saturday night. I was terrified for some reason that I was not going to wake up on time. I set the hotel alarm, got a wake up call and set the alarm on my phone. All alarms staggered at different times in case one got missed or I happened to fall back asleep. Yep, I am that anal :) LOL! I took something to help me sleep that night and got maybe two hours of sleep before I started waking up every hour on the hour.

By the time 5:30 rolled around, I was really tired and could have used a cup of coffee. I got myself up and moving. I ate a small breakfast...which was the first of my rookie errors. I ate less than what I normally eat before a run. I didn't get enough in my system before the start. I would learn how badly that would affect me later in the run.

We got to the track early which was good because I was able to get into the bathroom line from the start. There was a huge lack of bathrooms and no port-a-potties. Hopefully since it was an inaugural event, they will fix this in the years to come! And then it was kinda confusing because people were hanging out in the garage at pit row and some people were on the track. It was a bit odd. Eventually after hanging out in pit row for awhile, I headed out to the track and got lined up.

The hip was sore this morning. It was a bit chilly out and I could feel it in my hip. I tried to stretch it and warm it up but nothing made my hip happy today. It probably has a little something to do with the fact that I had a leg day on Thursday before the race. I thought I was taking it a bit easy, but apparently, I was not! Yay me!! So, hip pain and glute pain were not fun at the start of the race!

The race started late which was unusual. Supposedly someone sang the national anthem but I never heard it! I started off pretty strong, still trying to ease the hip into the race. It was tough and I thought it had started to loosen up a bit, but it was actually getting tighter which was crazy! I distracted myself with running around the race course. I mean, cars speed around this track so I enjoyed that part. I got to see several cars along mile markers. I met Tammy pretty early in the race. She was recovering from a broken foot and moving along about my pace, so I asked if I could hang with her.

Tammy was my hero today. I learned relatively soon into the race that not only was my hip and my glute in severe pain, but I started to feel a bit nauseous. I have never puked on a race course, but today I wish I had because I think I would have felt better. I tried alternating water and gatorade at the stops. By mile 6, I pulled out my honey stinger chews and ate half of them. I had hoped that perhaps I just needed some fuel. I still felt a bit sick. So, I decided to slow down the water and gatorade and the chews to see if that helped. I managed to keep everything in which was by no means a small feat.

I am certain I slowed Tammy down quite a bit. Luckily, she had a similar mindset to me...it's all about the finish. Neither of us cared about PRs and we both just wanted to finish. I kept telling her if she needed to leave me behind since I was getting slower with the pain to go ahead but she hung with me all the way! Thank goodness!

The hills in this course were a bit insane!! Every time we went up another hill, my body screamed "why are we doing this?" And I just soldiered through because stopping was going to be more painful (or at least that is what I tell myself!) About mile 10, my feet were hurting so bad and I could not figure out why at the time. Then mile 11.5, I slowed a bit more because I almost passed out. (I didn't say anything to Tammy because I didn't want to stop!) I slowed a bit and tried not to overdo it. I pulled out my Sport Beans and had a few of them to try and help out in case the blood sugar was off. The nausea returned! When we finally saw mile 13, I was more than relieved. I was overjoyed. The closer we got to the finish line, I thought "I can drop dead as soon as I cross!"

About the time we were closing on the finish line, my favorite song by Kelly Clarkson came on,"What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger." I teared up a bit and turned to Tammy and pointed to the cones just a bit ahead. I told her when we got to those cones, we run. I had already used what was in my reserve tank. I had nothing left but I was so going to run that finish line if it killed me. That song was on for a reason. So, we ran. It was not a pretty run by any means! But we ran that finish line and got our medals. After they placed the medal around my neck, I realized how insane that was because my poor body started to just falter. I was barely able to stay upright. I was barely moving at all. And I just seemed to realize that I would have to walk at least a mile back to my car.

Tammy called Jason and he met us back in pit row while we were getting bananas and grapes. I found a chair and sat down. I was trying to figure out how I was going to get back to the car. We started walking out very slowly...the only reason I know we were moving is because I was gaining ground (just barely!) Luckily, a golf cart was headed our way and graciously took us back to the car.

We grabbed a couple pics at the car. Then headed to the hotel where I took the first of two ice baths and some ibuprofen. I have either severely bruised one of my toes or I am about to lose the toenail (since I painted them last week, I have no idea what it looks like, but it hurts and the toenail is seriously loose!) My calves, hamstrings, quads and glutes are trashed. My feet are so sore and I am waddling like a duck. My upper body is tight and in a lot of pain too. I got a lot of sun but I don't think I got burned. I may have had a bit of heat exhaustion or just dehydration after the race. The ride home was definitely uncomfortable. After my second ice bath, I slept for a couple of hours.

All in all, for an inaugural race, it was good. It was hot and being on the blacktop made it hotter! I am thankful for the camaraderie of fellow runners and especially for Tammy who helped me finish today. I love the running community and the fact that there are those of us out there who know that there is more to a race than hitting your PRs. Sometimes it is about helping others cross the line in spite of pain and suffering...that big medal sure does feel good around your neck. Almost makes you feel invincible!

I have two more races coming up...I am certain I will make some changes to my training but for now, I am going to rest and focus on recovery.

Best thing ever was that my dear friend Tripp informed me that I am a clutch competitor. He told me I perform better under pressure than anyone he knows. It was awesome to read that when I finished my race. I look forward to some great strategy sessions with him for my next two races!!

Life Lessons

I have started quite a few posts lately but for some reason or another, I have not posted anything. Life has been crazy, busy, uncomfortable and odd. For those who do not know, I am no longer working at the nutrition store. It was a difficult decision but ultimately though it is a field that I love and I was very good at my job, the situation did not quite work out like I had hoped it would. Oddly enough, lately I feel like I can say that about a lot of things in my life.

I have had a week and I am really looking forward to the weekend and some rest and a lot of fun. I spent most of the beginning of this week a complete and total train wreck. There was a lot of crying, some self-pity, some self-hatred, and just a whole lot of me being completely broken. I cannot pinpoint exactly what was going on that caused all of it or if everything just hit me at the right point when I was all hormonal to begin with. Either way, it happened and it has not been an easy time, but it got me to thinking about a couple of things.

After spending a couple of days just out of control, I realized what if this season that I am going through is not about me? What if everything I am going through is to in some way or another put me in the right position for someone else who needs me? What if the things I am experiencing are there so I can be there for someone else? Sure, I likely have a lot to learn through all of this, but I found it interesting that certain things have happened that likely would not have happened if the current circumstances were not going on. So, maybe it's not all about me.

However, one thing I have absolutely determined is that right now while everything is out of control, I am going to let it go. That's right...the control freak is going to let it go and just see where it goes from here. I have spent way too much of my life trying to control everything. Deep down I think that habit comes from fear. I think I am afraid of not being in control because I don't know what to expect next. And what is wrong with not knowing everything about everything? Maybe it's the only way for my brain to actually shut off. And maybe it's the only way for me to stop trying to do it all alone. Perhaps one of my worst traits is that I have a hard time asking others for help. I feel like I am burden on others, a pest, like my problems are irrelevant to my friends and family. I don't know why I feel that way but I have been like that for a very long time. I have been told that I could never truly be a damsel in distress...I would never allow a knight in shining armor to come in and save me because I would be like the drowning victim and fight it the entire time. So, maybe now is a time for me to learn that I am not in control and that I do need to ask for help before things become too insane!

So, perhaps this season of my life is here to not only teach me some things about myself and help me to break some bad habits but more importantly, perhaps all the stuff that is going on is really so that I can be available to others. Perhaps the reason behind all of the insanity is that I am helping someone else while I go through this storm. Perhaps I need to be completely broken for a little while so that I can figure out how to put all the pieces back together without the negativity and fear. Perhaps I have a lot to learn about trusting others to be there for me when I need them.

Right now, I am just going to focus on being open to what I need to learn from all of this. I am going to work on being me...minus the stress and negativity that has been overwhelming me. And I am going to stop blaming myself for things that have nothing to do with me. Enough is enough. It's time to let it all go and reclaim what I know is out there for me.

Every Little Thing Is Gonna Be Alright...

I have been singing this Bob Marley song in my head for the past two days. Some things have changed in my life lately. The main one being that I have had a HUGE reduction in my stress levels. I won't go into a lot of details about it, but I will say that I am pretty happy to have the largest source of stress in my life reduced.

I have some great plans coming up. I am going to be having lunch with some good friends this coming week that I have not had the opportunity to do lately. And at the end of the week, I am heading up to Virginia to spend some overdue quality time with my Mom, sister and my niece and nephews. It is going to be AMAZING!! I have missed them all so much the past several months and I am going to have a blast with them!!

So, though I have had some changes that were not quite expected this past week, I know and believe that "every little thing is gonna be alright." I have no regrets.

Give Up the Excuses...

We all make excuses. We have millions of them. There are excuses for why we cannot do the things that we need to do and reasons why we don't achieve the goals we set out.

I am not going to lie to you, I still have excuses. They pop up and I try to see them for what they are...roadblocks! Seriously, you work hard and so do I. After a long nine hour day, who wants to head to the gym and punish their body further? That is where the excuses come in, like....I am tired. I am sore. I am frustrated. The list goes on and on. But the truth is, we all fall victim to them from time to time. So, how do you avoid them?

Well, honestly, I have had a million reasons not to make my workouts the past couple of weeks. I have been exhausted and frustrated and just didn't feel like doing anything. At the end of the day, I chose not to listen to those voices that were telling me to just go home and get some rest. I chose to do what I knew I needed to do. I missed one workout this week because my body gave up on me not because I didn't try to get it in. I was sleep deprived from being at the ER all night with my husband and exhausted from trying to make everyone happy. So, I missed one workout this week but it was not because of any excuses. I chose to listen to my body and allow myself some recovery and sleep to recharge the body.

And there are a million and one reasons for me not to eat the foods I should be eating. This week was particularly stressful with the hubby ending up in the ER and me having to stress over all of that. I had a lot to do but I also was craving comfort foods. I was desperate to eat something that I knew I shouldn't. Instead of giving into that craving, I resisted it. I ate the foods I knew I needed to and avoided the temptation. It was not easy at all. But the truth is, I am committed to doing what I need to do in order to reach my goals. I refuse to allow excuses to be the roadblocks to my success. I am committed to the work that it takes to get where I want to be. And that is why I will be successful . I will not give in to those excuses that threaten to keep me from my goals.

So, what excuses are you allowing to keep you from your goals? Do you really want to be successful? How will you combat those negative thoughts and push through to get to your goals?

Remember no one said this was going to be easy...but it is definitely worth it.

I Love It When A Plan Comes Together

Okay...I won't lie. I LOVE the A-Team. And I love the quote in my title from Colonel John 'Hannibal' Smith :)

Things are going really well with my new plan. I have been focusing this past week on getting everything right. I know it's not going to be perfect but I am trying to stick as closely as I can to the new plan. Each day brings new challenges since I am not 100% familiar with everything yet.

I was out of town this weekend visiting with a friend's family. The mom is a dear friend and she is in the hospital and I wanted to make sure Dad had some home-cooked meals. So, I took some of my recipes from Marc Lobliner up there to cook. They were a hit. The chicken parmesan recipe was hands down the absolute best chicken parm I have EVER had. It was extremely healthy and delicious!!! And my friends loved it too!!

And the exciting part is that I am seeing progress. Only one week in and I am down 5 pounds. I didn't even get all my workout sessions in this week. Since I was out of town, I did not make my exercise plans but my diet was spot on with the exception of my free meal (and that was spot on too!) So, this was a successful week!!

Anyways, I had an amazing leg workout yesterday and a fantastic chest and triceps workout tonight!! I am looking forward to some abs and cardio tomorrow!!

Things are moving along and I am really enjoying being back on plan and getting back to business!