I feel a little conflicted sometimes in sharing my athletic goals with you guys. I think its because I really want to be a good role model for you. I really want you to understand that I have truly come so far on my journey for self-love. When it comes to self-loathing, overly self-deprecating and critical teenage girls, I was the queen. I hated my reflection. I was stumped by the fact that no matter how little I ate or how far I ran, I would never look like Keira Knightley. All 5’2” of me is just never going to have the lanky bone structure of Ms. Knightley.
My journey to self-love and self-respect required a lot of patience and a lot of shifting my perspective. Sure, my body is not as thin as 15-year-old-Serena wanted, but my body is strong. I run marathons. I lifted all the heavy Ikea boxes from the shelves without any man’s help and loaded them onto my car’s roof. I shovel snow like a boss. I have more energy than like any other human ever. I love my body.
But that said, this love for my body wavers. I am human after all. And while I truly believe that saying, “Women are not skinny. Women are not curvy. Women are not strong. Women are not delicate. Women are whatever the heck they want to be” (AH, LIKE YAS!) - I also do have a certain aesthetic that I want for myself. I want to be strong but curvy. I want to be an athlete but I want it to be obvious that girlfrand likes to eat. That doesn’t mean I judge anyone who looks differently than my ideal-aesthetic.
But then I kind of pause because that term “ideal-aesthetic” makes me uncomfortable. I love myself right now. I am my ideal-aesthetic right now because I have two healthy feet that can run and I can crush an hour of kettlebell class like it ain’t no thang. But, my goals (both athletic and aesthetic) motivate me to be the healthy, driven, ass-kicker that I am. So? Do I share that with you guys? Or do I keep that from you because I’m afraid I will perpetuate a culture that thinks its okay to critique and ridicule a woman’s body?
I mean, I’m sharing this with you, because I want the term REAL food RD to not only mean I eat real food, but I keep it real.
Monday:
Rest day since I crushed my weekend workouts!
Tuesday:
6x 400 meters because speed workouts are what personal records are made of!!! I am really hoping for some speedy races this season! I had wanted to lift after this speed workout but my legs felt super heavy and it was after 7pm. I foam rolled for a good ten minutes and then headed home for a homemade cauliflower soup. Yummm.
Wednesday:
This was three miles easy peasy lemon squeezy! I wish I could say I was a good girl and foam rolled, but I wasn't...
Thursday:
YO. MY BUTT WAS KICKED. I attended Body Elite's circuit training class.
I can't even tell you how hard this was.
We did several circuits mostly involving a light barbell (I had a 25 pound bar) and TRX. Since this workout was sort of made up on the fly by the MASTER HIMSELF (Chris at Body Elite is SUCH a genius!), I am just kind of trying to recount what we did:
Three sets of:
15 reps bent over row
15 chest press on TRX
15 push-ups on the bosu
Three sets of:
15 barbell bicep curls
15 bicep curls on TRX
15 crunches
Three sets of:
15 barbell squats
14 barbell lunges
I think 15 push ups (lol, I'm so bad at remembering this)
We finished up with a KILLER, literally-practically-made-me-vomit circuit.
We did 5 sets of:
5 ball slams, 1 burpee was added every round (for a total of 5) and a 100 meter sprint. We did this without stopping
Friday:
This day was 35 minutes of tempo and it was rough. I started at 8:30 pace and gradually hastened my pace to sub 7. I was able to hold that for a mile before letting up to a 7:30 pace again. Running on tired legs was challenging but I think it will help prepare me for race day!
Saturday:
This was a planned off day!
Sunday: This accidentally became an off day!! Whoops... time got the best of me! But life happens - and you know what? This is the way life works. We don't always stick to the plan, but it doesn't mean we give up!
How's your training going?! When is your first race of the season? How does missing a workout affect your motivation?