We leave for Southeast Asia in less than 50 days! Baby Jesus. With that, comes a myriad of items to buy and things to do. I need a lightweight pair of flowy pants or capris to beat the heat that surely will not be available for my size and frame in Southeast Asia.
“No worry. We have bigger sizes for you in back.” – sweet gal in Cambodia
Oh I didn’t tell you that story? I’ll save it for another post.
I got a nice wake up call last weekend when I tried on a few of my reserve dresses for a wedding we’re going to this weekend. What? You don’t have reserve dresses? Guess that’s the benefit of going to 27 weddings.
I fit into the 3 I tried on.
Sort of like my large ginger cat fits into the small-dog Christmas sweater we got for him but it’s so tight he eventually just waves the white flag and lays on the floor, immobile.
I even made the hubster zip up one of the dresses while I held onto the bed yelling, “Ready? GO!” <cue sucking in> It’s cool. Breathing is for suckas.
Eventually I settled on the blue dress. It fits well and I wore it just last year for our anniversary. Plus, I can breathe. Bonus.
It was a nice reality check.
We’ve been busy with guests, trips and overall busting our asses working this past month. Which means my normal routine of grocery shopping and working out didn’t well…work out. I still worked out this past month, just not as much. I still packed my lunch this past month, just got distracted by offers to eat out with coworkers.
Damn the man, the Mexican food in Fort Lauderdale is something I can’t turn down.
And the tight feeling in those dresses proved it.
I need to feel comfortable while we’re traveling and right now, I don’t. I’m not looking for a quick weight loss solution. I don’t expect to go down sizes or lose massive amounts of weight. I just want to be a bit firmer, the best version of me I can be at this time. My body responds really well when I lift weights at the gym.
Secretly, I should have been a Swedish wrestler. That’s what everyone in Southeast Asia thought I was anyway.
So, here’s my game plan.
Operation Get My Shit Together, engage.
Gym 3x a week.
- Strength train: arms, legs, abs
- Cardio: walking, as my achilles lets me (see below)
I stupidly (stupidstupidstupid) re-injured my Achilles running on the beach during Easter last month. I pushed it too hard and the days and weeks afterwards it was screaming at me. I couldn’t even do a HIIT workout on the treadmill, which is only 20 mins, without it hurting the next day.
So I took a break from running to let it heal. But I need to strength train, specifically my calves, in order to help support my achilles. This is something that really helped last time it started acting up.
This is so incredibly doable. Going to the gym most likely needs to be in the morning because as you can see, my days are pretty much filled to the brim and the last thing I have energy for at the end of a day is to hit the gym.
I usually start off thinking that to get back on track after a month off, that I need to be at the gym or working out 5x a week.
NOT TRUE!
Obviously nutrition is 90% of the equation and I’ll reinstate my plan to bring lunch to work 4 days a week and eat out 1 day. I tend pack healthy, low-carb, whole-food lunches. I won’t put anymore silly stipulations on it other than that. We do really well balancing eating in and going out at home.
So there it is. I say this is “short-term” because we have less than 50 days until our trip. Obviously these are lifestyle habits that I typically employ.
I can’t beat myself up about this past month, it gets me nowhere and starts a vicious cycle of negative self-talk that usually makes me hungry. Crazy, right?
How do you get back on track after being off for a few weeks or months or years? (Hey–no judging here!)
Only thing that works for me – – from food to fitness to writing to motherhood – – is the realization there is no track 🙂 I am not off I’m only as far away from where I want to be as my very next choice. xoxo
I love that! Thanks for your encouragement. <3
Mexican food, who can resist? I usually start with 2 Margaritas and 2 salsa&chips, from there it’s a few 1000 calories at least!
I can tell you lots about Achilles, the injury that takes the longest to heal. You love running, so be sure to do the right thing.
Training 1st thing in the morning is best since commitments and work follows (as you inevitably realized).
I picked the blue dress, those Cambodians!
Travel is the best:)
It’s such an annoying thing to injure for sure. Any recommendations? And good choice on the dress!
Screaming Achilles! After my last 5k (Rocking Shamrock 3/15/15), I resolved to fix’em whatever it takes. They’d been talking back at me for months, putting a lid on intensity, stifling progress and making me really mad at myself. I always kept it under control with lots of self-therapy: massage, Ice, stretching, jacuzzi, heel lifts, drills, etc.
This time was different; I hobbled back to my car. WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As a runner, you know how head-banging frustrating this can be, it feels like your whole life has a shadow over it!
This worked for me, it might help you.
I started with heel lifts 24/7 to take the pressure off until the pain was all gone. I aggressively applied the therapies I mentioned above (like 5 times/day). In 3 days, the pain was gone. Needless to say (although I will), I stopped running and turned to my biking phase.
Like you, I came to the conclusion my leg complex (all soft tissues) were not strong enough to withstand the pounding of running. I needed to get my legs strong enough to accommodate that stress, and biking strengthens the entire mechanical chain.
I’m just not a gym type of guy, and since I’m a triathlete, I needed to get back into cycling shape anyways. You’re doing it with weights, I’m doing it on the road, we’re clear on that.
If I were You, I’d take off running until I get back from South East Asia (you don’t want Achilles issues to mar your fun time).
In the meantime, start the therapies I mentioned, become pain-free, then let the Achilles get stronger organically and grow into it until you return.
I realized I needed to learn my soft tissues to run all over again. When I started again, I started with One measly Mile every other day, the criteria being- NO PAIN!. I’ll only progress if I’m pain free. I may have to run 1Mile only for months (If that’s what it takes!).
I started running the 1st of this month of May totally pain free:) I’m not pushing it, I’m running just 1M all through May; trying 2M in June. I’m doing my therapies after every run, I warm up always, and walk a few minutes after each run. I’m running S-L-O-W!
Pain-free is just one aspect of my Journey which is more detailed on my site; but this is my thought pattern having successfully managed training injuries all my life. It’s all recorded with GPS in myGarmin on my site. You can follow me there; see if I can stay pain free? If I stay pain free, I will have been right,
Sweet!
Hope this might help you; at least give you some ideas:)
These are great tips! Thank you, thank you. Here’s to staying pain-free!
Ugh I know what you mean. My fitness levels fluctuate SO much! If you’re really looking to slim down FAST in a healthy way, like not necessary loose weight, but rather lose fat and build more muscle, I HIGHLY recommned the 4-hour body diet, aka. the slow carb diet. I gained so much fat doing all that eating that I went on that diet for 2 months and had GREAT results after just 1 month (and with no exercise either). I lost 1″ on my waist, and 1″ on each of my thigh in just 1 month. I wrote a full-length post all about how it works. I really recommend it for healthy, fast FAT loss. All you have to do is be more disciplined in eating, but don’t worry, on this diet, you don’t starve yourself or anything. It has to do with eating the right foods to cut down fat fast!
I remember reading this on your blog, Anna. I’m definitely going to revisit it!