Feeling the burn

After a nearly two week hiatus from working out due to injury, I am back and better (read: more sore) than ever. For some reason I thought my first workout back should be the single most intense workout of my entire existence as a human person on this planet of Earth.Click here to find Lucas Blair's Cardio Fat Blast website. Lucas is the trainer who concocted this insanity and last summer when I saw him posting things about leading this workout, I was curious, but I was scared. When I saw that he was going to be leading classes in Sacramento, again, I was curious, but scared. I knew I was not ready for that. The problem was, if I talked myself out of it, I would never be ready for it. As I have been documenting my journey all over the interwebs, it did not surprise me when Lucas reached out to be and told me he would love to see me in class. Without any excuses, I found myself in his class yesterday morning.

After 11 days off, any workout is going to be tough, but after 15 minutes of Lucas' high energy, high intensity workout, I was ready to completely collapse. He tells you to modify and to go at your own pace at spots, but the music is loud and uptempo and everyone there is battling, that you want to battle as much as you can. My biggest fear going in was that everyone else in class would be in incredible shape, but that was not the case. One person was in excellent shape and the rest were people like me, just trying to get into shape. There was this ease of tension when I realized that. However, I believe even really in shape people would have to battle in this workout, it is that intense. If I am being completely honest I did not make it through the entire workout. At about the half way point my stomach started turning and I threw up. I came back and managed to do the abdominal workouts, but once they got back up, I had to throw up again. When the hour was over, I went and threw up everything I had ever eaten in my entire life. If that sounds awful, trust me it isn't. I worked out so hardcore that I threw up, but I came back and tried again. And even though I was beat, and hungry, sweaty and more exhausted than I can ever remember being, I felt GREAT! I have a baseline with which to track my progress with his class. Yes, I definitely plan on attending again. I cannot make the next class, but for the entire month of April, I am planning on going and I would love to see all of you out there. (no Lucas is not paying me to say this, I just really had that great of a time.)

One of the things I love about a really good workout, is how well I sleep the night after it. I have been struggling with sleep lately due to the anxiety of money/job and a really good workout makes it so easy to fall asleep at night, which makes it easier to get up in the morning and get a good workout in. The entire thing is connected. If I eat well, workout, and get a good night's sleep, I feel better. For the last 11 days, I have not felt that great. Of course a big part of that was the fall down the stairs just hurting me, but it was more than that. I missed the workout. I missed running on the treadmill. I missed the feeling of accomplishing a good workout. So on Sunday I might not have finished the whole workout but I branched out, did something that scared me and found that it was not that scary. In fact it was invigorating and energizing.

This morning I set out to do a light workout because I realized I probably should ease myself back onto the treadmill. I did a 15 minute mile doing intervals of jogging and walking and it felt good. I was two minutes behind my current pace, but I felt good and I know I need to work myself back up, but after the 15 minutes, I did not feel done. I felt like there was more I had to do, so I got on the stationary bike. I do not use the bike as much these days, so I was curious as to how it would go. It felt so good to get moving on that thing. I destroyed personal bests and when it was over I felt so good, I decided to come back to my living room and do some modified CrossFit exercises. I am sore as ever right now, but I also feel great. I want to eat great for the rest of the day and just enjoy this feeling.

There is so much going on inside my brain as I deal with bills and trying to find a full time teaching job for next year and even trying to figure out where Martina and I will be living in the summer or fall, but one thing I can control is my health. This is the time when it is at its most crucial because stress is typically when I allow things to spin out of control. I am a stronger person now and am finding that a solid workout is way better for stress relief than a Double Western bacon Cheeseburger with a large Chili Cheese Fries and an extra large Dr. Pepper.