Since I have been training for my half marathon (on Sept 27th), I have realized that my training doesn’t leave me much time for other fitness goals.And let go of that guilt while you are at it. If you hate running, pilates, or zumba, don’t do it. Try not to fall into the comparison trap, online or offline.When your body cries out in pain, give it rest.
I’m super, you’re super, and we’re women. Being a superwoman does not mean you have to do everything. Whether that be an injury or physical/mental burn out. Whenever I hear that voice inside my head telling me I’m not doing enough, I tell it where to go. Doing 20 minutes of yoga each week over 1 year is much better than doing it for 3 hours a week for 1 month. Rome wasn’t built in a day (cliché, I know) and we shouldn’t expect our own bodies to transform over night. But I stopped because it was overwhelming. Had I not dived into the Shred and yoga with such intensity, I probably would still be doing it right now. One of which was that exercise is best approached in a slow and steady manner. Why do 15 minutes of yoga when I got do 60 minutes? Why do the Shred once a week when I could do it 3-4? It is a dangerous trap to fall into. Instead of approaching all three with a sane and moderate game plan, I attacked each one with all that I could give. I wanted to do the Shred, I wanted to do yoga, and I wanted to run a marathon. I think I got caught up in the excitement. Last winter, all of the blogs were buzzing with 30-Day Shred and yoga.
The more exercise I did, the more vulnerable my body actually became. However, just like I am learning from blogging, quality trumps quantity any day. The more frequently I do the 30-Day Shred, the more toned I will be. The more I can bend in yoga, the better it will work. I had never been injured before and always assumed that more equaled better. In all honesty, my injury scared the crap out of me. Caitlin called me ‘ A physiotherapist’s dream patient’, referring to how well I stayed off exercise during my injury. I wanted to make sure that I didn’t cause my pelvic muscle pull to worsen or cause myself a stress fracture. So as you can see, it is not too surprising that I got injured!Īfter Jan 13th’s run, I didn’t do one ounce of exercise- not a lick- for 2 months. Yoga (I think I further aggravated my pelvic area with strenuous yoga moves) 11, 2009: 8 mile long run, 6.0 mph, incline 2% (Pelvic area was sore after this run)
6, 2009: Cross-training: Jillian Michaels 30-day shred, Level 2, 7.5 lb weights 5, 2009: 2 mile Army Fitness test + 1 mile easy run This is what the week prior to my injury looked like: I have also been documenting my daily training since about December 2008. There are tons of jumping squats and lunges, and I was frequently sore after each Shred. I was trying to do everything all at once!įor those of you who have done the 30-Day Shred, you know how hard the plyometrics moves can be on your body. On top of this intense training, I was also doing the 30-Day Shred and I had also just introduced yoga into my life. Because I had never been injured before, and I was a beginner, I was a bit ignorant to it all. If only I had known how hard speed work like this can be on the body. When someone tells me to run 2 miles as fast as I can, I take it very seriously. I ran 3 Army Fitness tests before my injury (two in late December one in January) A quick, breathless two miles seemed like the perfect compromise on certain mornings when I was pressed for time. I was also commuting into Toronto everyday for work and was pressed for time in the mornings. My treadmill has a 2-mile Army Fitness Test where you run as fast as you can for 2 miles and then it gives you a score out of 100.īeing competitive by nature, and also having past experience with short distance races, I jumped at the chance to do an Army Fitness Test. Right before my pelvic injury, I was doing lots of cross training.