After a fairly long hiatus, I'm back. Nothing all that exciting to share about (although I do have something in the works I will eventually share about). This past week left me completely drained, exhausted, achy, lethargic, etc. I'm not sure what it was but it was one of those weeks... well, maybe I should say one of those couple/few weeks. After a good weekend of rest and getting food back on track I am glad to say I am feeling better. I was able to get back to running also, I did a short run yesterday (~30mins). I told a friend of mine it wasn't exactly a 'graceful' run but I was glad to say I got out and did it. Especially because the weather was crap yesterday. It's amazing how quickly your workouts can feel so hard after some time away. I seriously felt like a hippo escaping from captivity thudding down the street. My ankles felt like cheap toothpicks about to snap in half. It's best to face these realizations head on, I need to be more consistent. A little weight loss wouldn't hurt either.

I have been convinced that I am dealing with adrenal fatigue these days. Adrenal fatigue is actually quite common with Americans because of 1) our stressful lives 2) the crap we eat 3) we are constantly overstimulated and over medicated. It can present itself in a variety of ways. I think that perhaps I may have come back to work too soon from the accident and haven't had enough time to reduce the stress that has been in my life the last 7 or so months. I have decided to take an adrenal support supplement. Below is the supplement I chose. I have just started this supplement in the last 4 days, and already I seem to feel some difference. I will continue to take it and share my experience with it. I have posted the nutritional info below, for those of you who are all worked up reading this and want to know what is in it.

Well, I have to first start out my post by saying that I am in serious need of some motivation. Not only for workouts but for eating too. I have been good off and on but I just don't feel energized. I am trying Operation Eat Green Veggies but I'm not sure I can say I have been successful at this point. Before I get into some food sharing I thought I'd share this picture I took the other day from our living room window, it was such a beautiful morning - I couldn't resist snapping a shot. My camera crapped out so I didn't even get to take the other view shot which was even better.

Why is it that lack of energy seems to be perpetual? That once your energy starts slipping, you rest and become even more tired? This describes my past week. Going into the week I had high hopes and expectations for myself, but by Tuesday my week had gone to shit. I did work out all days but Thursday and Friday but I seemed to have this concrete tired feeling. The kind of feeling that also seems to make you eat as if you were (alcohol) "buzzed"... in a way that you convince yourself it's time to let loose or that you deserve 'it' (it meaning all those little treats you shouldn't be eating). I spent the evenings around my home rummaging through the kitchen like a bear raiding a campsite. As you predicted it, I was eating sweets (and pretty much everything in between). I got my "fix" early in the week with an European candy bar and turned into a junkie the rest of the week. On a sugar bender, knowing it was wrong but giving in. Now... don't get me wrong... I wasn't completely bad, I did have some good complete meals but certainly didn't eat as clean as I'd have hoped. Ironically, as I type this my hubby just shouted, "you know what sounds good?A Baskin Robbins cake!" Um, ya! It freakin does sound good but I'm already ridin this sugar wave at its peak and I shouldn't do it... my pancreas is screaming at me, exhausted from basically doing an ultramarathon by pumping out insulin into my bloodstream to suck up all of the glucose I keep dumping into it.

Hi ya'll!

Yep, been one of those weekends I guess. I haven't done horribly, I just haven't been as good as I can. I had a good workout this evening, although it felt HARD. Just trying to move forward one day at a time. Looking for some motivation and hoping this will help me (and anyone else who is reading and needs it)

Well, I was glad to say that last week I had several amazing workouts. This week so far is off to a rough start. I have been habitually sore from workouts because by the time a muscle group recovers I hit is again and I'm sore again. This may sound like a good thing, but it really isn't because of impressive workouts. It has more to do with being a weakling... sometimes I feel like a baby bird walking around my house squabbling and wobbly because I'm sore. It is different than it was before, clearly I haven't made my way there yet. My clothes are fitting somewhat differently but the scale didn't give me much encouragement (remind me I need to stay off of that thing!). I have just under 13 weeks until we leave for Hawaii, plenty of time to see results as long as I am consistent.
I have to admit though, I felt a bit discouraged today. I also wore nylons to work today. Why is it that nylons can make you feel like crap instantly? They squeeze things around into weird places and I felt like the top of the nylons squeezed my stomach down and all of the sudden I felt like I looked like I was four months pregnant. Sucks to feel like the Michelin man.
Oh well, I just keep reminding myself to keep consistent and eventually my body will get the hint. For some reason I swear that once you turn 30 your body just acts differently - I don't like it but I am stubborn enough to take the control back.

Today is going to result in a couple of posts because I was too lazy this week to get on and upload some pics and write. I'd like to share a couple of "tools of the trade" when it comes to my life right now. In addition to my running shoes (which are the #1 key to my sanity) the items below are helping me along my journey.

This is sort of a self reflective post, it's not one of me making fun of myself like usual. I had to see my doctor three times this week to help get my recovery back on track and relieve some of the pain from the flare up of symptoms from the accident. I cried twice this week when meeting with her (no, this is not normal for me). The first day I cried was Monday. Right when my doctor came into the treatment room I cried like a small child who had been missing its mother. I cried again Friday when she asked how I was doing. Why did I cry twice this week? Well, it is because of the emotional journey I guess. I felt scared. Scared that I was going to be told I had to stop working out, scared that I would have to deal with pain like this for the rest of my life. I also said to my doctor on Friday that I felt fragile, something I hadn't ever felt before. Fragile is something that makes me feel weak.

My doctor said she appreciated it when I cried in front of her, she said that's part of the healing process. Feeling this type of vulnerability is important to the process of healing (these are her words, although I do agree I guess). She told me that these types of physical setbacks after the accident are normal, and they will be accompanied by mental and emotional journeys. She then asked me if I have realized how significant my accident and injuries really were. It's hard for me to answer this question. Although my doctors have continually told me how lucky I am I guess it is hard to acknowledge it when it is your own body and life and especially when you aren't used to feeling like you had a brush with death. She then said something that really resignated with me, she said "until you acknowledge and accept how serious your accident was you're going to have a hard time moving through these feelings and setbacks. You need to honor where your body is at and recognize you are making great progress and are much further along than you should be. You need to tell your body Thank You for saving you from being paralyzed or even worse, death. Don't be mad at your body because it has these setbacks and can't go 110%."

The conversation really hit me. She is completely right, I haven't accepted the seriousness of the accident. I haven't spent enough time thanking my body for making the progress it has so far. It is really a vulnerable feeling to open up and allow acceptance to enter your mind. So, perhaps this should have been a New Years resolution... honoring where I am at and not getting frustrated my the process of healing.

It was "one of those" weeks. All had been going well until Friday. Let me re-wind and take you to early in the week. I started the week off great, early bird workout Monday morning. Tuesday I couldn't workout early because I had to go to Seattle for work and my flight left EARLY. It was a fast paced business trip (as they usually are). My lunch was ordered for me, basically they ordered a variety of burgers and warm sandwiches. I quickly chose the black bean burger because it was the healthiest option that was presented (the fries on the other hand... um... well... those aren't exactly healthy but they were yummy). This started me on a journey to Burgerville. The lunch itself wasn't all that bad but when I got back home I was sttaaaarrrrrvvvviinngggg and thus I surrendered to a Jack n the Box on the way home. Dang it! I decided that although I found myself in Burgerville I was only passing through and didn't plan an extended stay.
The next morning I had a great workout, probably the most intense I've done since the accident and it felt good to be acting like a wild animal in the gym again. Thursday my body was speaking, or maybe I should say screaming at me. I was sore, but it was one of those accomplished sore feelings. Regardless, I needed a rest day. Here's where all went wrong. I woke up Friday and could not move my neck without excruciating pain. I was hurting bad. I tried to tough it out but just spent the weekend in major pain and back to popping pain pills like they are tic tacs. I got into to see my Dr. today, she is seriously a miracle worker. I'm still a bit stiff and sore, but so much better. I will be seeing her again Wed and Fri this week to get back on track. I do have to mention though that the pain did not keep me from visiting Burgerville once more Friday night (in the form of Five Guys) UGH! and we also had dinner at The Melting Pot (pure saturated fat in three courses of fondue - bad girl!).
I don't want to go into to many details as to what happened with my neck and back but basically I have been trying to do too much and told to take things a little easier. I am released to still be working out (just a little less aggressively). My doctor knows that exercise is like Prozac for me and understands how important it is that I keep my routine - again, she is a total god send!

This week is all about diet. I will be keeping a food journal, I may even share a day if something seems interesting enough. Here's to a great week ya'll!

Strength workouts have been great this week, errr, well kinda. What I mean is that they have been great but I did a workout this week which left me walking like RoboCop. I had a core workout that was a type of workout I haven't done in over 6 months. Strength workouts are incredibly important though right now because I do not want to look like a rubber band wrapped around a water weenie when I am in a bikini in Hawaii in 16 weeks (if you laughed out loud you know what I am talking about and understand that visual). Nor do I want to look like a tub of cottage cheese slothing across the beach (ok, that might have been a little overboard. The one thing I can be grateful for is that cellulite doesn't really run in my family... it has been said that cellulite is primarily hereditary).

Awwww-man! It is 2012 ya'll! Craziness.

I am hoping this year brings as much excitement as last year, just without the "bad" excitement. I have really been stepping up the workouts, which feels good. Especially after a dressing room incident about a week ago. Let me explain. It goes a little something like this. I have really been wanting a pair of bright colored skinny pants (I envision myself wearing a butter yellow pair with a white top... like I think I live in Miami or something). I was walking through Target the other day and they had colored skinny pants on sale. I bright royal blue pair caught my eye. "Hmmmm.... maybe I get a pair now and even if they're a little tight I will be in them in no time". I grabbed a pair that was a size larger than I would normally buy now (really two sizes bigger than I would normally buy pre-accident). I expected them to feel a little uncomfortable because I don't like tight fitting clothing right now, it feels disgusting to me because I feel like a pudgy lil pig.
I got into the dressing room... deep breath... in preparation for a less than flattering color of a pant style that really only usually looks good on people who are less than a size zero. I pulled them on and immediately thought... "ahhhh hell nah!". WTF?!?! It looks like I was trying to stuff my legs into a sausage casing that was intended for some lil smokies! Yuck. On top of that the pants managed to redistribute some body up towards my waist and all of the sudden I looked I a freakin jelly fish with my muffin top spilling over the pant top. It really was a depressing experience, I looked like I had two royal blue upside down construction cones hanging from my waist. Now, I would really love for someone to explain to me why they call these type of pants "skinny"? What a torturous moment. This sent me straight back to the gym, as long as I have that image in my mind I will keep running (think Forest Gump style).