A little over 6 weeks since my show and I figured I'd give an update. The show went well, I actually enjoyed my experience and was happy with the whole process this time. I didn't make myself suffer as much as the first shows and I listened to my body before pushing it too far. With that being said, I am done doing competitions, for a while at least. I have definitely felt more successful in my "recovery", but I still have a ways to go. I have a few more pounds to gain, in the form of mostly body fat and maybe some muscle. I know that sounds weird, gain body fat after working so hard to lose it. Well each persons body has a homeostasis that it likes to live in (as far as weight and body fat) and I have not yet reached my homeostasis. I know this because i'm still having some energy balancing difficulties, my workouts have been extremely limited so I have been sticking to a few weight lifting exercises every other day or so and some yoga. And NO CARDIO!! Also, in general, my body isn't performing the way it needs to in many other ways. I just put it through 3 shows and more months than not this year of energy deficiency, it doesn't like me right now. So I've upped my calories, my carbs and my fats. Still keeping my proteins fairly high, but i'm not counting any of those ratios the way I have done this whole year. I'm still sticking to clean eating about 80% of the time and I still enjoy eating my chicken and vegetables, just sometimes with a sweet potato cookie on the side (don't knock it til you try it).
Since finishing my obstacle course race just over a week ago, I've been trying to determine what my focus is going to be next. Its difficult to go from such an extreme routine to having complete freedom. I don't really want to build anymore muscle and I definitely do not want to train for any running race. Luckily, an idea was given to me at work. Apparently, there is such a thing as exercising without suffering muscular pain in multiple parts of your body for hours and days post workout!!! The physical therapists at work put me through a functional screening test when I was complaining about multiple muscular pains in my back, hips, and foot. Come to find out, I'm a little unbalanced and tight in lots of places. So here's my next project; take a step back from extreme and intense exercise and let my body recover and regain pain free movement. No its not as glorious as building shoulder roundness and abdominal leanness for competitions, or training to run mountains faster than any other female, but its what my body needs. And as one of my clients put it "You want to treat your body well so you can live in it for a long time." I'm sure with time I will again amp up my routine and get back into some sort of competition, but for now I want to take the time to feel comfortable with my workouts.
