Wholly out of breath! I want to run again.

The last workout I had was giving birth to my youngest son – 4 months ago. My last REAL workout was about 8 months before that.

The thing is, I am actually quite active everyday. I have no choice. With a very active daughter a few weeks shy of turning 2 years old and a 4 month old – I keep busy. I wear yoga pants nearly everyday because the things I have to do require flexibility and movement (it’s certainly not a fashion statement, that’s for sure).

But a REAL workout? Well, it’s been too long.

I like circuit training (there is probably some new fancy word for this but it is a combination of both cardio and weight training done in timed intervals). I like it because it keeps you going, it requires you to push yourself and it works. I don’t like to be BORED when I workout.

I also trained to run the Marine Corps Marathon about 5 years ago. I made it to my 16 mile run and then got stress fractures. I should have listened and rested when my shin splints got so bad that they woke me up, but I had a goal and I wanted to achieve it. Thing is, my body knew better – if I didn’t stop me, it would and it did. But the thing about that training was that I LOVED running. I mean really, REALLY loved it. Don’t get me wrong, I think all runners have a love-hate relationship with the actual running, there were certainly times that I hated it because I would be tired and have 6 more miles to go and I would think – WHY??? But then I would finish a run (good or bad) I would finish and I would have this immense sense of accomplishment. (I also LOVED it because I could do most of it with my husband and that made it SO much better… even though he was a faster, better, trained runner – I still enjoyed warming up with him and finishing with him right there (usually looking at his watch wondering where I was…LOL)). The point is – I like running. I miss running. I want to start running again.

I probably won’t train for a marathon again unless miraculously my body is suddenly built for it. But I want to run. I set a goal for myself to run a 5k by the time my son turns 1 year old. I know that is not a BIG goal, but with my limited time availability to train and build up to RUNNING a 5k – I wanted to set myself up for success, not failure and I can always go early and beat my goal if I want to, right?

But I have to start somewhere… and that somewhere (for me) is getting my core and body back in shape and strong enough to support my running. I am basically starting from square one again, because like I said, it’s been years since I last ran.

So today, I started. In the name of all things “Wholly” I am keeping this journey to optimum health going strong and I am beginning to get my body back in running order.

I did Circuit Training for 45 minutes. And I was totally out of breath… before the end of the WARM-UP!? I have a ways to go before it will be time for me to hit the pavement again, but I am one day closer.

Since I haven’t trained in a while, I can’t really say one way or the other whether I performed better than I would have before the Whole30, but let’s put it this way – I made it through the complete 45 minutes and I am writing this blog post and not napping… so that might be something!?

Stay tuned for my full Day 13 update coming later tonight!