I had another one of those moments of awakening....of great reflection.....a

moment yesterday.
LOVE IT WHEN THAT HAPPENS!
As I've mentioned in my recent blogs, I've been struggling with the nutrition aspect of my journey since upping my cardio in preparation for the beginning of Half Marathon season. Yes. I upped it a lot,.... but I've done this before and had no issues. Of course I had a lot of fat

stores to pull from back then and I was eating the typical

all

American

diet as well, so I was constantly refilling my glycogen levels
My moment of awakening came when I realized that I had skipped my monthly in March and it arrived full force this week. You see, I did the same thing the last time I felt this crash, about six weeks in to my current lifestyle. It took a talk with my PT/N to remind me that this was not a new issue for me. What I am discovering is that now that I am eating

clean and I'm healthy and at goal with my weight, my hormones are effecting me much more. Normal monthly cycles are ok. I can deal with them just fine. But when my training - or my age - cause me to skip a month, the hormone fluctuations I experience the following month, with the return of my cycle, seems to wipe me out totally. They cause me to experience this CRASH!
I may not notice it, if not for my training intensity. In other words, if I was just sitting on the couch, I wouldn't be taxing my system at the same time that my hormones are, and I'd probably be fine. But the fact that I'm ST 3 days a week and upping my weights constantly as my body adapts to the current challenges, running 3 days a week while adding speed and distance to my runs, and throwing in a couple ZUU and TRX sessions for good measure, all adds up. Combine that with the whacky hormone levels and I just can't function at peak for 6 out of 7 days a week.
Realizing that this is a totally normal reaction to the challenges my body is facing and ACCEPTING that it's ok to perform under par every once in awhile, is SO FREEING!
And did I mention that while I was dealing with all this, I finally mastered Burpees

? Our bodies are wonderfully awesome masterpieces! When we feed them properly and train them properly, they can truly surprise us! Don't let yours down! Find out what you're capable of!