Overtraining and Being Inured

Since January 2010 I have been training HARD.  In early 2010 I was training for Disney World Half marathon so I was doing a lot of yoga.  After the half marathon I still ran about once a week but stuck to mostly circuit training and HIIT 3 – 5 times a week and yoga about three times a week.

Disney Half Marathon 2010

In 2010 I took almost one full week off when I went to Cabo in the fall.

Cabo 2010

In 2011 I ran the Disney Princess Half Marathon then trained for my first bikini competition doing 2 – 3 days a week of just lifting, 3 – 5 days a week of circuit training and HIIT and steady state cardio here and there until the summer when I started running a couple days a week, circuit training and HIIT 3 – 4 days a week, yoga 2 – 3 days a week and lifting arms 1 – 2 days a week.  This continued into the fall with the exception of running.

Disney Princess Half Marathon 2011

2011 Bikini Competition

In 2012 I ran the Disney Princess Half Marathon, trained for two bikini competitions doing 3 – 4 days of circuit training and HIIT, 1 – 2 days of lifting arms, 3 – 4 days of steady state cardio and 1 – 3 days a week of yoga.  I ran a second half marathon memorial day weekend.

Disney Princess Half Marathon 2012

2012 WBFF Bikini Competition

2012 Fitness America Bikini Competition

I have taken no breaks since the fall of 2010.

I ALWAYS have one straight rest day.  I have gotten away with this because I schedule my workouts pretty well, allowing my body some kind of recovery between HIIT days where I just do steady state cardio and yoga.  And yoga helps me immensely.  If it weren’t for yoga I would probably have been injured well over a year ago.

The day after the WBFF Fitness Atlantic bikini competition in April I noticed my right knee killed, but I assumed it was from wearing those stupid clear heels all day because I never took them off.  So I took some ibuprofen and my knee was fine and I went on with my training.  The day of the Fitness America bikini competition I noticed the outside of my right knee felt a little weird, but no pain, and I remembered to take of my shoes a lot.  I was fine.  I had promised myself a full week away from circuit training and HIIT and even cardio – just yoga and dog walks  was my game plan, but by Wednesday I was back at it – I missed my circuits!!

After the two bikini competitions I decided spontaneously run the Run To Remember Half Marathon with no training at all.

Run to Remember Half Marathon 2012

Writing all of this makes me realize I do more with my body in one week than most people do in a month.  haha.  And I accomplish more physical goals in a season than most people do in a lifetime.

As I was running the Run to Remember half marathon I knew I was possibly over doing it, but I really wanted to run that race!  I had even done circuit training the day before!  Anyway, I felt great until mile 7 when the grade of the road really started to bother me.  So I tried running on the sidewalk and that helped.  At mile 9 we hit a downhill and holy $h!t did my right knee KILL.  It was a short downhill thankfully, so I toughed it out.  We had one more downhill at mile 10, and I decided to just walk it.  After that I finished strong, even picked up my pace in the last three miles since they were flat.

I came home, iced, elevated and took some ibuprofen.  Later that day my whole leg swelled.  For the next few days my right knee was sore and my hips were extremely achey.  But I did some research and chalked it up to tight IT bands and did a lot of yoga and foam rolling.  I went back to circuit training immediately, but I did more biking than running.  I went right back into my routine, but spent a little less time doing steady state cardio.  There were days when it hurt to walk and there were days when I felt nothing.

I took the  8th, 9th and 10th off from all exercise as I was traveling for a wedding.  It really felt good.  Monday I was back at it.  Tuesday I was in a little pain so I decided to take it easy and just lift arms and use the elliptical.  Tuesday night my whole knee was pretty swollen and the pain was no longer on the outside of my knee, but now in the back of my knee.

Oh yeah, have I even mentioned the pain I have been feeling on and off in my right shoulder?  Yeah.. that exists too!  Not every day, but some days I have some pain – usually after too many push ups

Last Wednesday was really difficult for me.  I cried.  I wanted to go workout so bad, especially since I work at a gym in the mornings. It was raining which really gets me down as well.  Thursday I was naughty.  I squatted, thinking maybe just cardio kills my knee.  It felt fine during but my hips KILLED later that day and my knee started to swell, but the ibuprofen took care of that.  Thursday afternoon I got a doctor’s appointment which helped my sanity.  Friday I lifted shoulder and arms and had no pain in my right shoulder which was very exciting.  It felt good to lift.  The foam roller damn near killed me though – my right calf hurt to touch it!

Saturday I took my dog on a two mile “speed walk” and I did a lot of abs.  Today (Sunday) I took Stringer for another two mile speed walk and I’ll do yoga later.  I really want to get a good sweat going.

So far Wednesday was the worst day.  The rain probably was the worst part.  No knowing what it wrong really sucks.  My doctor’s appointment isn’t until Tuesday but it’s probably at one of the best medical facilities in Boston so I take a little comfort in that.  I also am taking comfort in knowing that since I’ve been resting I’m not really in pain anymore.  It’s also kind of cool having all this extra time to get a lot of things done and spending extra time walking my dog is nice too.  I know he loves it.

But there are a few things I’ve been repeating to myself over and over again to keep myself sane:

• rest allows muscles to recover and GROW
• rest is the only thing that is going to allow my body to get better
• recovery periods keep me from ever suffering from adrenal fatigue
• I can control my physique with clean eating and lowered carbohydrate intake
• you will be able to workout again soon
• If I do put on any weight I will be able to use it to get big
• this is the only way I will be able to successfully run the Peachtree roadrace on the 4th of July and start getting swole in July!

Taken 6.15.12

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