Daily Archives: May 13, 2013

My original plan was to have Part Two of my Relay Recap up today, but you guys — the night legs of the race were a DARK TIME, uh, literally and figuratively. And this morning I woke up in such a bright and shiny mood I just couldn’t justify putting that post up. I know, I’m weird. I like my blog posts to actually reflect my moods, so sometimes that means last minute changes to the editorial calendar, but what can I tell you?

Anyway, I don’t know if it is that I finally got some sleep this weekend, but I think I’m finally getting my mojo back…and boy has it been a long time coming! I think there are a few reasons for this:

New Season

I know spring sprung a long time ago, but around here it is really starting to feel like summer. Well, not really — summer around here generally feels like you being smothered by a blanket of molten lava — but right now the sunshine is out, and the heat actually feels pleasant instead of suffocating. This weekend we grilled and ate on the patio at every opportunity and it was just so comfortable. I am loving it.

New Routines

This is Garrett’s third week at his new job and he is starting to settle into his new routine. I am mostly settled into my routines too after a few months of my new gig (the most notable that are still in flux: this blog and my email inbox. YIKES!), but with all of Garrett’s changes, plus anticipating The Relay, we had yet to figure out workout stuff, meal stuff, sleep stuff — you know, THE IMPORTANT STUFF THAT MAKES YOU FEEL HUMAN. I think we are finally getting there!

This week we are trying out a new workout schedule and I think it is going to be life changing! It’s kinf of a perfect mix of optimal productivity/efficiency and rest. I so hope it works out! I am completely ready to be back in the gym regularly, lifting some heavy things and sweating my tail off (but not in a race scenario that will last more than 24 hours…NO THANK YOU.) This past weekend I did a 90 minute workout completely devoted to snatching and all I can say is that I loved it. Like really loved it! It has been a long time since I’ve been sweating like crazy and just really loving it. I think it’s quite possible the reason that I tied my own personal snatch PR. I haven’t been able to lift that much weight over my head in almost a year and a half and on Saturday morning I did it. And it felt like I was reaching back to my more confident self from a year ago and it felt really good.

I know it probably makes me super boring, but I love routines — so I am so, so happy to see some new ones forming!

New Protocols

I am changing some things up, nutritionally. I don’t mean I’m deviating from Paleo (no way, no how) but I have just been trying some new things. I’m about a month in to a new supplement protocol specifically for stress and gut healing and I am LOVING IT. I have long resisted supplementation of any kind because I just hate the idea of popping a pill to fix something that is really a lifestyle issue. But I guess I’m changing my outlook on that a little. I still don’t believe in popping a pill to change a lifestyle issue, but I’m starting to see supplementation as a way to support myself THROUGH some of these lifestyle changes and that makes more sense in my head.

Also, I’m trying to listen to my body a little bit more. What does that mean? Well, while I am in NO WAY a Paleo Perfectionist, I can definitely get caught up in doing things “the right way.” I think there is a whole subset of us (particularly, I would imagine, those who have struggled with weight loss) that want defined rules and want to follow them exactly, and spend a lot of energy trying to do DO IT RIGHT. This is probably an entire post in itself, but for now I will just say that my eating has gotten away from being this nourishing and pleasurable thing and has become almost academic. And I don’t love that. Mostly because I become very unmotivated when my eating is academic, which usually just sends me diving head first into a giant vat of sugar.

The best I’ve ever felt while doing Paleo was when I was sticking to the framework but focusing on what tasted good and what felt right — not when I was trying to eat the perfectly calibrated portions or the most optimal foods, always! Sometiems I can just send myself spinning by talking myself out of a delicious smoothie because I’ve heard one too many times “Liquid Food Is Terrible For People Losing Weight” or “Protein Powder is The Devil Incarnate” — you know what I’m saying? The ironic thing is, I had this realization as I started looking more into my own personal MICROnutrient needs – and man, you can’t get anymore tedious and nitpicky than when you are looking at micronutrients, but something about that has given me this ability to exhale and kind of recalibrate my attitude towards food.

Hmmm…maybe I will post about this completely separately. I feel like I’m rambling right now.

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So, this isn’t to say that everything is just coming up roses — I still have some serious goals, things I’d like to accomplish and things that I could be doing better — but for the first time in WEEKS, maybe even months I feel like everything is going to be alright. And I’m so damn happy to be back here.