Fitness doesn't have to be your whole life

I got absorbed into fitness. It became my whole identity and I got swept right into it. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the problem is that I also exited this life as well.

I still workout, I still run, but I run less and workout less. I probably run 20km a week less than what I used to. I probably ran 40km+ a week and now I run 20km + a week. I used to do cardio for 45minutes of cardio on the days I didn't run. I usually only went to the gym or ran 6 days a week, always giving me one rest day. Now my cardio is usually 20-30 minutes and I'll do 45 minutes once or twice a week. I don't always do cardio when I go to the gym. Usually at least 2 of my gym visits a week has under 10 minutes or no minutes of cardio.

I used to lift weights/strength train 6x a week for 45mins-1 hour and now I do it for about 30minutes-1 hour.

Honestly, I was bored with my routine, and I switched up a few moves that weren't working anymore, so that has helped.

Luckily I am moving soon so I get to experience a whole new gym so I can get back on my A game with new moves.

But this lifestyle became my whole life for a little over a year. Until about May/June this year I started to slow down. Since I slowed down I probably gained about 5/6 pounds. But 2 of those pounds were muscle and the other few are fat.

But I am not fat. I have fat, but so does everyone else. I just have more fat than I had 5 months ago, which is fine.

It is fine. It is fine. I keep saying these words to myself over and over and over again. Is it really fine? I suppose it is. I am happy with my body. I am 126 pounds and my body fat% is around 23%. It was at 17% at one point. I would like it to get back down to that point, but spending almost 15 hours a week working out really isn't going to be an option that I can take, or I even want to take.

Part of my problem is my eating habits have slipped a bit. I always slip on and off my diet but I always get back on, which is what matters.

I guess my whole point is that fitness doesn't have to be my whole life. I got way too swept up in it. But I have rediscovered a new kind of respect for fitness and I think I can handle that in my schedule.

It's really simple, move your body when you can and eat the healthiest foods you can. Buy stuff from the market, drink lots of water, do cardio, lift weights, run... it's so simple.

I still do plan to run a full marathon someday. It won't be this year, maybe next year. There's no rush.

If you are new to the fitness world it can be exciting. Don't completely quit it when it bores you, just let go a little and hold on to what you want to hold on to. Don't get too swept up into the bodybuilding scene because it is almost inescapable and you feel guilty when you try to escape it. Just be healthy, that is all that matters.

Something I have had to accept- Physical Level of Fitness

I didn't really accept or really learn what it meant to be in your "top physical condition of your life". I hit that point a few months ago, when I ran the 30k and the half marathon.

Since then, I am still running, but less often. I have gained more muscle and more fat, though. I started doing less cardio to gain more muscle--- and it did work!

But even though I look stronger, I am not. I just look it. I trained for appearance. I have also gained body fat. You DEFINATELY cannot see any abs now. I am not fat. I just have fat.

What I have had to accept is that I can't be at the top of my physical fitness game, at all times. Things happen, life happens, it is a pain in the butt to be an intense athlete.

I am going to hop bag on to this again, though. I am going to train to run a full marathon. The furthest I've run since my half marathon at the beginning of May was about 17km. I need to get to 42.2km. If I do, by the end of September, I am going to find a Marathon for sometime in November, to run (since I am not 18 until the end of October, and you need to be 18 to run a marathon).

But what I have to accept, also, is that it is okay not to be at the top, it is okay not to have the best body and best endurance and strength. I won't let myself go, but I also won't pressure myself into crying and having mental breakdowns over it.

I have one body and I want to be kind to it.

I think part of my issue, along with running less, is my eating habits. I don't go over my calories, usually, but sometimes I will have something like a McFlurry, instead of an actual healthy dinner. It's the same calories, it just isn't nutritious. I need to watch everything!

This summer, I am going to use my extra time to get in the habit of eating healthy. Bodybuilders tend to plan their meals for the weak, put them in tupperware, and that is their fridge. I want to do this. If i get in the habit over the summer of doing this, once I am in university, I feel like I will eat a lot healthier.

I don't plan on gaining the freshman 15. I think it is so absurd. I have a lot of willpower if I train it, and I know I can be healthy, even while living on a budget.

Whoops

Firstly, I apologize because I'm blogging from my iphone and so autocorrect may not be my friend.

I've been struggling to motivate myself to workout lately. I've reduced my cardio a lot. I used to do 3-4 hours a week, not including running.

I haven't gained any weight, I'm thinking maybe I was doing too much to begin with.

I'm not running as often as I used to. I used to run 4 times a week, and now I'm running 1 or 2.

My weight lifting isn't as off, but I'm still not doing as much.

My metabolism is off I think because I've been tired and falling asleep and napping my ass off.

I think I should be monitoring my food intake better. I think I'm getting enough calories, but I think I might be lacking a major nutrient or I might be consuming too much sugar because I eat a lot of fruit.

I guess I can't always be at the top of my game, and working out a lot. I try to put in 10 hours a week, but I usually got 8. Now it's more like 5 or 6. Although when I do to for runs they're usually 1-2 hour runs.

I need to figure out why I'm off. I'm thinking of making a d tea appointment.

I just need motivation and energy.

Learning to love running again

As stated in past blog posts, I have been having troubles with running, lately. I keep injuring myself, and it is hard to pick yourself back up after that.

I went for an 18.75km run, in training for my half marathon on May 6th, but I didn't wear my running watch (so I didn't know my pace). I did record my run on a running app on my phone, but I don't look at my phone while I run. So I just ran. I did run fairly slower than usual, but I ran 18.75 km, so I am happy. It was a good run.

I have also been getting used to a new pair of running shoes. They are the best "Feeling" running shoes yet, but I find them hard to run in still. Still getting used to them. Here is what they look like:

I think once my half-marathon is over, I will be more relaxed about running. It psyches me out. Once it is over, I think that I will be back to normal, just running for fun.

But 11 days until my run! It is scary! I originally signed up for it because I wanted to improve on my time from my half marathon in September, but I am not sure if that is going to happen now, since I don't have much time left to train, and I just got off of running rest. I will still try. But it may not happen. If it doesn't happen--- don't get me wrong, I will be really sad, but I won't quit. I can always try again. I probably won't try again any month soon, but eventually.

I originally wanted to sign up for the FULL marathon in may! But I had to be 18. I am so glad I didn't sign up for it. If I did, I probably would've finished, but with a horrifying time. So glad I'm only running the half, now!

I'm happy.

Quitting Running

Something occurred in my mind during my 30k.

I was in an extremely pessimistic state of mind during the run and thought "Should I quit running?". Briefly I decided that I would.

Quickly after I decided there is no way I would quit running.

Why would I quit running? Well although I have the body shape and type to run, I honestly do have some physical impairment with my running. I think it is either my bone structure or my tendon/ligament strength.

I do not overtrain. But I have had constant injuries. I have seen some doctors and they say nothing is wrong, or they refer me onto another doctor, but in the end I am just told to "stop running for 2-3 or 4-6 weeks". Then after I am healed, I go for a run a few more times, and then I am injured again.

I am tired of this constant fight with my body. I have gone through so many pairs of shoes, because I think the shoes could easily be the problem. But I just can't find a solution!

I have a half marathon on May 6th in Toronto. I haven't ran since my 30k on March 24th... other than no more than 2k, because then my leg/hip and/or knee starts hurting. I can't run!

I literally cannot run.

So whenever I attempt to run and I literally can't, it gets me down and makes me think I should quit.

Soon after that I think "Why would I ever quit? I love it!".

But the truth is that I think I am harming my body more and more. I don't want to quit.

Since I am on running rest, healing up before my half-marathon, I ask myself "Should I run the half marathon?". I should drop out of it. But I know by then I will be fine (or at least usually I am fine in 4 weeks). But my running time will be off. The purpose of me doing the half-marathon was to get an improving time, from september. I wanted to run it in under 1:45:00, compared to my first half marathon which was at 2:01 something. During my 30k, I hit 21.1k around 1:55:00 (approximately). So I know I COULD run it faster. But the thing is, if I am not training for weeks, waiting for myself to heal, my time might not be that good.

I think I will stick it out and do the half-marathon. But my time might be horrible compared to september. I know I can at least FINISH. Even if I have to walk the last 8k of it, I will finish.

But after the half-marathon, I think I am going to take a bit of a break. I don't want to, but I want to give my body a lot of time before I kill it again.

After that, I think I am only going to go for a run once a week. I still do cardio at the gym, of course! But I am only going to go for a weekly run.

I think that having these timelines with these races is stressing me out. I will eventually run a marathon, but I can't until I am 18 anyways. I think I will run it in the spring of 2014. I was going to run it late fall this year, but there isn't a rush. I don't know why I thought there was a rush.

I am just going to hope that my leg really does get better before the half marathon.

I know it did this before the 30k, but during the 30k my leg felt better. Towards the end my hip hurt, and then I hurt my knee 2 days after that.

I think in 2 weeks I should be fine to run. But I just have to wait.

I need to be patient. 

Running Updates!

I have come to the realization I had not yet blogged about my 30k which I ran on March 24th.

My official time was 3:06:49.5

You can look up my times, photos etc., at this link right HERE

If you saw the times, you can tell that I ran fast, and then got progressively... erm, extremely slow... throughout the race.

I ran way too fast the first 10k. My pace was like 5:02 ish, which was :25 faster than I should've been going. I got extremely tired come around 22km ish.

My goal was to finish under 3 hours. But I still placed well! 9/20th in my age/gender category, and I was in the top 50% of all women. So that's good!

But the worst part, is that I hurt my knee a little during the run. This progressed to a hip injury, a few days after the run. Now I am ONCE AGAIN on running rest. I am going to get an extremely expensive pair of running shoes on Saturday (hopefully) that will help me.

Also, on March 31st, it was time for me to submit my progress photos on bodybuilding.com, as a part of a contest I was in. You can see the before and after pics here: http://blog.bodybuilding.com/sarahfloria/2013/03/31/the_end_is_just_the/

I am happiest about my back progress, because my trapezius and rhomboids are a lot more defined. Also you can kind of tell that I've lost a bit of body fat in my stomach, and my butt.

When I was taking my "before" pictures for the contest, I was somewhat bloated. So I'm real sexy there.

I feel like there is way more to say than there actually is. Oh well. I am just hoping that my hip will feel better soon!

I have my half marathon in Toronto in a month! Woo!

Here's a photo I posted on instagram on the day of the 30K around the bay in Hamilton!

Runrunrunrunrunrun

It's time! My 30k run is on Sunday!

30k Around the Bay in Hamilton! AHH!

It's starting getting exciting, now. I am excited to look at the stuff at the expo today. 

I was thinking back to "Why did I sign up for this?". I heard about it from my coach from cross country. I think I decided since it is 30k, and a half marathon is 21.1, and a marathon is 42.2, that this is a good halfway point. 

I've been anxious/nervous for the past... well especially the past 2 weeks, and very much so the past few days. But right now, I am not too bad. I think the worst thing for me is the nerve racking feeling when you stand at the start line.. erm, start clump. I remember during the half-marathon we were waiting for the start, sitting on the bleachers, then we got called to the start. Standing at the start at first was quite intimidating. But as soon as the gun went off, I actually didn't really notice it. But the first few kilometres at the half marathon were intimidating. Then you get used to the feeling.

The same thing was at cross country. Standing at the start line I was ridiculously nervous. I tried to keep moving to distract my mind. As soon as the gun went off, it's just this terrible feeling like you are running for your life.

Breathing doesn't really help me. Music sometimes helps me. So that will be good. 

We talked about this in exercise science, how people get nervous before sports events.

I have my meals planned out this time, because during the half marathon in Ottawa, I was forcing myself to eat. 

But I am excited. I just have to realize no matter what my time is when I finish, that I will have finished. I have 4.5 hours to do it. I am aiming for 2.5-3. If I hurt myself, I'll keep on stumbling. 

Ahh!