Starting Again...Again

They say the things worth obtaining are the things worth working for.  Setting out on the journey to work towards your dreams is exciting and exhilarating, but sometimes that excitement is dampered when that beginning is actually a re-beginning.  When you're walking up the same hill you had climbed before, but at some point found yourself at the bottom again.  Over the last couple of weeks I have felt this.

I remember when I realized that running wasn't an impossibility. It was right before New Years in 2011, I was on the coast and decided I needed to do something with the extra calories.  I chose a route along the Nehalem bay, once a simple elk path and now it was a developed hiking trail.  I only expected to get a short ways down before having to call it quits and slink my sorry-butt back home.  Instead, I was surprised to finish and discover that I had some how gone two miles in 30 minutes!  (I would like to thank living at 4,600' and then running at sea level for this accomplishment!)  This is what launched me into my 2012 goal of completing a race.

But as I've spent the last couple weeks working back into a routine, it's incredibly frustrating to find that I'm back almost to the beginning!  Every time I enter a workout and look back on where I was at this time last year...well, it makes me want to eat a pint of Ben & Jerry's.

But starting over has it's benefits. Because I am "starting over" I have no excuses about NOT moving forward. I have been there once.  I know the way. If I don't go all of the way it is my fault alone.  Also, in starting over, I know ways that will make the going easier and the end result better. 

Lessons Learned:

1. This round I am combining weight training with the aerobics.   First, after doing some research I think I would have had better and swifter results if I had put extra effort into muscle training.  Also, looking at some of the race photos, I think I would have looked better if I had some muscle tone. 
2. Food!  Food is also important.   While I think I did a good job balancing carbs and proteins, I did NOT do a good job choosing WHICH carbs and proteins I consumed.  A McDonald's Cheeseburger was just as good as tuna fish sandwich as far as I was concerned, especially after a hard day of physical duties AND training, but the reality is I would have probably gotten further on the sandwich and maybe some veggies than the burger.  Which leads me into the next item...
3. Vitamins, Supplements, and hormones.  Anything that makes your body pull from it's resources makes you run the risk of depleting those resources if you don't have ways of replenishing them.  By the time I had finished the race I had been suffering from random bouts of depression and hormone imbalance from the combination of training, stress, and over working.  Short side of it is; extensive training strips your body of resources. It made for a rough place to try to come back from.  This time I'm using natural supplements, taken regularly, along with more natural foods. 

So, with those things in mind, I move forward.  Every time I make an excuse NOT to train, I do it, and I've begun the overhaul on my diet and exercise routine.  

Anything worth having is worth working for....even if it's over, and over, and over......