I was on the final week of INSANITY. The final week. And then all of the little maladies I've been struggling with combined with my schedule and Damm confusing caffeinated coffee with decaf to trainwreck my INSANITY workouts.
I think my thyroid might be acting up. Technically it would be slowing down-hypothyroid-but you get the gist. My mom, my aunt, and my grandpa all are on medication for it. At one point my levels were enough to warrant medication, but they went back to normal range with the addition of vitamins, minerals, and some diet changes.
But I've had excessive fatigue, trouble sleeping, brittle nails, and tingling in my hands and feet. So I'm starting to take complex B vitamin pills, Selenium, and cutting out all foods that suppress thyroid function. If that doesn't help I'll be making my way to the doctor.
The reason I'm not making an appointment now is my symptoms could also be related to overexercising. I've done it before-and comboed it with eating disorders-and I'm concerned I'm falling victim to that mentality again. Although I've not done INSANITY I've run every night so far this week, even though I probably could benefit from complete and total rest. Damm's tried to convince me that I should take a break, but so far his attempts have fallen on hand-covered ears.
So without fanfare and without me expecting it, this round of INSANITY is over. Time-wise, I had put in my 60 days-we had repeated one of the weeks in Month 1. Next time I'll not repeat weeks. But mentally I'm done. I am excited about my new Cathe Friedrich workout, though, which brings me to an important truth about exercising: mix it up. I'm not talking about muscle confusion. I'm talking about mental health. To get the most benefit from an exercise program you have to be 100% mentally engaged. And after awhile, doing the same thing over and over again is going to get harder and harder.
Now if you're training for a marathon or a long-distance event, you're going to have to push through that and utilize mental trickery. But otherwise you have an easy solution to hand: switch routines! For example: I've been doing INSANITY. I've got about two weeks before Damm leaves for his training. This week I'll continue running, but next week I'll start my Cathe Friedrich routine. While he's gone I'll be doing lots of yoga and walking. When he gets back I'll have 3 more weeks of the C.F. routine and then I'll switch to another routine-probably INSANITY again but at the moment my brain is on INSANITY strike:) And once that round of INSANITY is over I'll begin my marathon training.
In the meantime I'll be monitoring my health, physically and mentally. If I injure myself and can't stop exercising I'll know I need to take a step back and kick my mental self for falling prey to an obsession again. If I continue to have thyroid-ish symptoms I'll be going to the doctor.
So there you have it. INSANITY, round 1, is over, but the journey is not. Wulfa the workout maven out.
Comments