I was downstairs on the bike (we have a bike 'trainer' that allows us to turn our road bikes into stationary bikes), feeling pretty good, and decided to crank it up a notch and do some hill climbs. I hadn't been challenging myself very much on the bike - mainly because I get stupid bored riding a stationary bike and end up just watching TV while I lazily circle my feet around - so I figured now is the time.....and the next morning I woke up with what seemed like a hip injury. But the pain didn't seem too bad and actually lessened as I warmed up through my next run. I stretched really well and just continued to workout through the weekend thinking the pain would just go away.
....Then I went to the chiropractor......
My chiropractor is very muscle oriented and isn't what I would consider a 'back cracker'. She is very focused on not only correcting the alignment, but what is causing the misalignment, and uses muscle testing to find muscles that aren't firing and works on those as the fix. Well she found that both attachment sites of one of my hamstring muscles were 'narly', and after maxing my pain threshold while trying to massage it to release, it was sore, but better. Great right? not....Unfortunately it's not a one-and-done fix, I had some homework to do and knew I had to continue to massage those two attachment sites if I was going to heal and be ready to train.
All that kinesiology aside.....there was something underneath all this that got me to this point....and she found that too. I was TIRED. Not the "I didn't get enough sleep last night" tired, the "I haven't slept more than 3 hours at a time for 14 weeks" tired. While that isn't totally true (My husband treats me to 6-hour nights each week so I can get an extended amount of sleep), it is for the most part and I was exhausted. She found my adrenals (associated with stress) were suffering and gave me a vitamin B supplement (in addition to the Vitamin Bs I already take) to help me get back up an running. [muscle testing is a topic for another post - but it has been an amazing tool for me with my chiropractor - I highly recommend it)
And I've been on a work-out break ever since.
During my training for Ironman WI two seasons ago, I became very intimate with the idea of rest and recovery. When you are training at the volume I was, you HAVE TO rest your body - and you're mind. It's just too much stress on your body to not get rest. I was a very early to bed triathlete that season, and when I had a day of no training, I truly took that day off and rested as much of the day as possible. And guess what? I was injury free over 6 months of training that included 30+ hours / week of training. For anyone who has ever trained for anything that long - you understand - that's pretty awesome. Why is this part of my life any different? I'm training for the Best Mom I can Be race for the next 18 years!!! Even though you "never stop being a mother" - right Mom? :)
When we get injured, it's our body's way of telling us 'something'. In my case it was my body being too tired and stressed out from being a new mom of a not-so-easy baby to handle the volume of exercise I was trying to make it do. And guess what, even though I haven't been working out, I still lost my 1 lb last week and I'm on track to lose another 1.5 this week. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely ready to get back into my workouts, (I need them more mentally than I do physically I think), but it was nice to treat my body to some rest. I'm not sure I actually got any more sleep, but it was definitely nice not to have to try to find time to work out, or cram it in after Dad got home and before we ate dinner, or feel bad going to bed without a workout in for the day. And I truly believe that a stressed out body is just not going to perform the way you want it to; whether you're trying to train to race, or simply lose a couple pounds.
One of my great friends is the renown Mrs. Fatass. She had a post this week that really got me thinking about my attitude towards me. (http://mrsfatass.com/2013/04/nothing-special.html ) Now I have never been someone who easily sees how fabulous I am.....but I need to start working in that direction. Because I am an amazing Mom AND Wife AND Daughter AND Sister AND Triathlete AND AND AND. I try the best in everything that I do, and rarely do I leave any stone unturned. It is so easy for us to be critical of ourselves and find our shortfalls. But what about all the amazing things we do every day? If I need to take two weeks off to slow down and recharge and spend more time smiling at my handsome son and less time in my running shoes - then that's what I need to do. And it's the right thing to do. And I don't need to beat myself up about it. I am measured by my own bar - and no one else's -
I......am someone very special. And so are you!
