April 21, 2016

thinking out loud: Why I’m changing up my approach to exercise right now and a few exciting things!

bricawsey Strength Training, Thinking Out Loud bikini series, bikini series 2016, fat loss, oiselle volee, strength training, team oiselle, thinking out loud, tone it up, tui, tui girl 20 Comments

First off, the exciting thing I alluded to in my two previous Friday posts is not happening 🙁 Well, it will happen, but just not as planned. More to come on that in a few weeks! #vagueblogging

But there were two other exciting things that happened over the past two weeks: I wrote my first article for AskMen.com (yes, I know it’s called Ask Men, but they have female writers too), so check it out if you want to know which pieces of Bri-approved home gym equipment you should get that don’t take up a ton of space and are relatively affordable. The second exciting thing was that I finally became an official member of Oiselle Volée!

I’ve been a fan of their running apparel since the beginning (I have still have an original pair of shorts and sports bra) and everything they do for females in the sport of running, so I was more than happy to contribute to their athlete fund to get their awesome singlet and represent for real this time.

Speaking of joining awesome communities, I also joined Tone It Up for the Bikini Series 😐

Yeah, I know it’s super girly and froofy (well, at least that was my perception of it for time, and it still kind of is), but I’m in need of something new right now, fitness-wise. I’m not going to do much running until marathon training starts in July to give my body a bit of a break, and I just finished my 8-week building program, which was a total focus on muscle strength. I’ve definitely got some strength and shape back, but haven’t been able to shed the marathon training fluff I put on over the winter. I’m totally accepting of it and usually I don’t care, but I’m feeling stuck and bored and would love to drop it before training starts up again, and to keep it off before I attempt to BQ again. I find it does make a difference to my running, and I have a feeling this might be my last attempt at a BQ for awhile, so I want to give it my all.

Could I program all the workouts and nutrition plans myself? Totally. But I find when I do that I don’t stick to it as well as if someone else does it for me. Also, the community is so positive and supportive, and I feel like I need that right now.

The other reason I’m jumping in and doing the meal plan is my chocolate and peanut butter eating is getting out of control. As you know, I eat half a bar of dark chocolate and at least 2 tablespoons of peanut butter every day. Which is fine. BUT. Those two foods, along with two much wine and not enough sleep, are cold sore triggers for me (chocolate and peanut butter are high in arginine, which trigger outbreaks). And I’ve been getting one just about every four weeks or so on my nose and chin for the last year, and they’re getting worse. I actually get flu-like symptoms when I get them (dizziness, swollen lymph nodes and nausea) and usually end up with a migraine. So I need to cut it out cold turkey for a bit to see if it helps. If I have a little bit, I’ll want more. Ugh.

I’ll report back on the blog and will let you know how it goes. I might hate it (the exercises look rather dainty, but I might modify those up a bit) or I might love it (the vegan meal plan actually looks really good and I’m excited to try it!). I just need someone else to do the planning and programming for me for awhile. And when it comes time for marathon training, I might reach out to a few of you lovely run coaches for some help. Even coaches need coaches!

Have you done a Tone It Up Bikini Series before? Are you a member? What was your experience like? Are you a coach with a coach? Why or why not? Do you get cold sores from food?

Thanks Amanda for the link-up!