Ending Whole30 and April Recap

One of the many reasons I started Whole30 was to fit the nutrition part to the fitness part.  My goal was to start running again in April, but I wanted to prep my body first.  I have my eye set on the Manchester, NH Half-Marathon in November as my first race in over 2 years.  If I’m going to do this then I need to start training now, especially since I haven’t run more than 10 minutes in 2 years (and 2 pregnancies).

Still I know I don’t have a lot of time to devote to training right now, so I just try to fit it in when I can.  With the exception of my weekly session with my personal trainer, all my workouts are under an hour, preferably under 45 minutes.  Carving out 45 minutes is so much easier than trying to schedule 60 minutes or more.

Saying Goodbye to Whole30

I continued to eat as clean as possible for most of the month.  Around day 40 I started to crave some of the sweets we had in the cupboards, but I managed to resist those temptations.  These cravings also told me I have still have a ways to go to get my diet and nutrition in order.  I’m making gains but I’m not there yet.

I decided to end my Whole30 journey on day 59, my anniversary.  Somewhere around day 42 I realized I was ready to take the training wheels off and live on what I’ve learned.  I figured my anniversary date night was a good way to end Whole30.

I have learned so much during this incredible journey, not just about food, but about my habits.  When I was eating processed foods there were times I didn’t feel that good, but most of the time I felt ok.  I would be tired a lot and have those mid-afternoon slumps.  I didn’t think anything was wrong with it, because everyone around me had those slumps too.  I thought it was just a side effect of being “too busy”.

When I went through the dextox on the first 12 days of Whole30, I felt beyond awful.  My body hurt, I had migraines, and I felt like I had the flu.  Many times I felt like giving up.  I thought being It was hard to get through those days, but with a lot of encouragement from those around me, I did.  Now at the end I am so glad I did.  There have been times in my life where I felt energetic and good, but I have never felt “healthy”.  Now that I know what healthy feels like I’m not letting it go.

I am planning to do the reintroduction phase of Whole30, because it is important to find out if I’m intolerant to anything other than dairy.  After that, I plan to go back to clean eating.

I have decided that sugar does not have a place in my everyday life.  Does this mean I will never have cake again?  Oh HELL NO!  I love cake.  Me and cake go way back.  What it does mean is that desserts will become a treat for special occasions.  I want to raise my babies to look for healthy food and sweet options.  The detox made me realize how much those foods have affected my body and I don’t wish that on my babies.

Strength Training Exercises

The areas that become weak after pregnancy and birth are core, pelvic floor, and legs.  I try to do 3 days a week, 1 session with my personal trainer and the other 2 days is homework she gives me.  We are still working to regain control of these post-natal weak areas.  I try to do my “homework” on my run days.  I’m not going into detail of how much weight or reps I do for each, but here is the list of some of the exercises I did this month:

• Squats
• Arm/Leg Exchanges
• Jumping Jacks
• Tricep extensions
• Bridges
• Wall Sits
• Chest Press
• Planks (regular and side)
• Romanian Deadlift
• Dumbbell Curls
• Dumbbell Tricep Extensions
• Pull-ups (assisted)
• Bulgarian Split Squats
• Scissor Kicks

Running Slower than a Herd of Turtles in Peanut Butter

I didn’t want to start out too fast and hurt myself like I used to do.  I also don’t want to try to over scheudle myself, then feel like a failure when I can’t meet my unrealistic expectations.  I figure I’m already strength training 3 days week (including my personal training session), adding 2 days of running should be achievable.

The first few runs were anything but pretty.  I had to keep reminding myself to not hunch forward.  I had a hard time getting my breath into a rhythm.  Honestly every step felt awkward.   I know one day running will feel easier, but that day isn’t here yet.

Sometimes I used the treadmill in our basement, other times I was running up and down my street.  My street has a nice little hill that felt like Everest and I finally met some of my neighbors.  I stayed off the connecting street with the massive hill, I’m not ready for that yet. My times shown here include a 5 minute warm up walk and a 5 minute cool down walk.

It is hard to not compete with my past self.  Even with these intervals every run was different.  Sometimes I felt like I was born to run, other times I felt like retiring my running shoes.

Bonus Workouts

There is no pattern to how I choose my bonus workout, it really depends on how I feel that day.  It could be yoga, DVD cardio, a bike ride, hike, or long walk.

My Results

You can compare my March results here.  

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