Little Miss Runshine

I was pretty on point with my Kayla Itsines BBG pre-training workouts weeks 1 through 4.  Then I started the official 12 week cycle on June 5th.  Week 1 went pretty well but week 2 is when I had an issue.  I had a personal training session at Republic and a Kick It By Eliza class that week.  I was SORE after those 2 workouts and wanted to listen to my body.  Instead of just completely skipping week 2, I did week 2 workouts where I should have been at week 3.

I’ve learned a few things throughout the experience so far…

It’s difficult to be consistent with BBG when I include other workouts.  I was great with my pre-training workouts (all 3 each week) because I wasn’t going to other fitness classes.  The moment I include other workouts, it throws off my routine because I have to shift everything.  I think that is okay but I also am really curious to see what results I get JUST from the BBG workouts and my running.

It’s okay not to do every workout.  Fridays are called out as “optional” full body workouts.  I’ve been trying to get them in every week but as I get deeper into marathon training, I might have to skip these so that I don’t wear myself out.  One week I skipped the total body because I had gone to BTone the night before and was really sore.  I wanted to make sure I had enough time to recover.

I have to do my warm up run before BBG.  I have been trying to do an easy 3 mile warm up before my BBG workouts.  I was including this also because it helped me get in some mileage for marathon training.  There were a few mornings where I could skip the easy run before BBG and try to do it after work.  But that meant I never got the run in because as soon as I got home I plopped on the couch and relaxed or got dinner cooking.  I know that Kayla suggests keeping a jog separate from the workout, but it doesn’t really work with my schedule and energy levels.

Form is better than more reps.  At first I was trying to get through as many cycles as possible.  Then I shifted to really focusing on my form more.  I still try to get as many reps as possible, but am being more conscious to have quality over quantity.

Overall–I’m liking the workouts.  I don’t feel super sore after but they do feel tough to complete which has got to mean something–right?!  I’m not seeing a huge progress but haven’t taken photos to really track it AND I’m not really following the diet.  I realized to see full results I would likely need to follow her guidelines for eating.  I might give it a try but find the idea of tracking macros overwhelming.  Have any of you followed the diet?  How do you track your macros?  What are some of your favorite recipes?  When did you really see results?

I just took a photo yesterday and am going to try to be better about tracking photo progress.  I’m so curious to see what kind of results I see from completing the 12 week cycle.

*NEWS ALERT*  I am in the process of planning an informal BBG workout meetup!  It is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, July 15th around 10 am at Republic Fitness.  Save the date!  We’ll do a half hour workout and raffle off a goody bag and socialize after with some tasty treats!

Disclaimer:  I am partnering with Republic Fitness and get to use the facilities in exchange for sharing some love on social for them!  All opinions are my own.

Disclaimer:  I am partnering with Republic Fitness and get to use the facilities in exchange for sharing some love on social for them!  All opinions are my own.

A few weeks ago I had a session with a personal trainer at Republic Fitness, Matt Hathaway.  When you become a member you get 2 free sessions–the first one is the get to know you one and the second one you actually get to do a workout.  I kept putting it off because I wanted to make sure I didn’t do something really different before or right after a race.

I told Matt that my main goals were to get stronger so that I could stay an injury-free runner and get closer to my pre-injury marathon PR.  Here is what I liked about my training session:

It’s personalized.  Of course–with personal training–it is really personalized to your growth and goals.

We focused on quality of strength not as many reps as possible.  Matt explained that working with him would mean we would focus on slowly increasing the difficulty of the workout not just trying to get in as many reps.  There was a caveat that as my marathon training picked up–we would shift to lower weight and maybe more reps so that my body wasn’t getting overworked and we were catering the personal training to my running schedule.

I was really sore after!  I didn’t feel sore the day after but two days after, I was feeling it!  I ended up not doing any of my BBG workouts that week so I could listen to my body.

It was around my schedule and convenient.  Matt was pretty flexible to find times that worked for me and the gym is maybe a 5 minute walk from my work!  With fitness classes you have to make sure you are there for specific times which can sometimes be tough.

So the big question is if I am going to continue after my free sessions…and my answer is unfortunately no.  Although I see value in the personal training, I just can’t quite afford to pay for sessions right now with a bunch of new expenses coming up.  I would be open to working with a personal trainer if it were a collaboration but I think for now I’m going to continue with my Kayla Itsines BBG journey paired with my marathon training.  I’ll be updating you soon on how BBG is going too!