Or at least trying too. Whew. It’s only Wednesday and what a week it has been! Our new student rec center opened officially on Monday and between my two a day shifts and working out there, I feel as if I have a second home.
The dedication ceremony took place Friday and as a worker, I was asked to take part. With so many people coming through the building, my bosses wanted it to look in use, so all of us students who are working this summer got to “play around” in our areas. It was fun because I got a good workout in + got to be a part of the photo shoot for the school + got to be one of the first to use everything. Let me tell you, it’s hard to get a serious workout in though with 
cameras in your face; however, I feel like a fitness model or something. ha!
The opening this week has been exciting, and it’s so great to see so many people using the facility and excited to get healthy. I know I can’t seem to get enough. However, I’m trying not to lift too much because I don’t want to vary my training and exhaust myself. Which I can foresee myself doing. I work in the morning and the afternoon but have about a 5 hour break in between, so that’s when I squeeze my training in but now with the new center, I just want to do even more.
Take Monday for instance when I pulled my first 1000m swim. It wasn’t even a swim day but my body didn’t feel like running so I thought to myself, let’s try out the new pool, try out my new goggles, and see if I can do 600m without stopping yet. Sure enough I just felt like swimming. Twenty minutes and 1000m later I was feeling good. And my new aqua sphere Kaiman ladies goggles are amazing!! (And pink!) Yesterday, was my active rest day so I attended a yoga class and felt great walking out the door. But today, I’m tired. I think it’s the combo of early hours again, lots of working, and excitement. Plus the weather is dreary today and I have a pressure headache so I really don’t feel like cycling. So, I’m not going too. I did some more yoga and am just going to try and relax.
It’s hard finding the balance between training and over-training. I absolutely love doing it, and am slowly realizing how passionate I am about training, and being healthy, and connecting my heart and soul, and someday helping other woman do this. BUT, I also need to learn when to breathe and simply take a break myself. Sometimes I feel like if I take even one day off my body is off or I feel like I’m missing out on something. And sometimes, my self-confidence waivers a little if I miss a day. But I have been reading about training this week and the importance of balancing it with rest, and what I have found is that it’s those rest days when our bodies actually do the most work. Because when we give it a break from physical training, it takes everything in and fixes itself. It heals and restores and builds up what we have been teaching it.
In essence, I could train and train and follow a hard, rigorous schedule, but could ultimately never get better or even hurt myself if I don’t rest. Isn’t life like that too? We become so busy and do so much that sometimes we never stop to breathe or to be quiet when really, that’s all we need. Rest can do so much for us if only we would understand that to rest doesn’t mean we are quitting or stopping. To rest means to simply take it all in and heal.
“Ultimately, the best runners are the ones who are willing to work very hard but who have a little bit of a lazy streak in them.”
-Benji Durden
You know......if you are going to start plugging equipment, maybe you should let the companies know what you are doing. You might make a little money off of it. Some of the mommy blogs are doing it and have advertisers on their sites, etc. and make a little cash or get free products.
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