Advice From Others

I've said it before...I'm a stubborn individual and that's not something that you can necessarily change overnight no matter how much you recognize that it can be a problem at times.  After pushing myself a little too much with an incline climb and an 8 mile hike back to back, I've been nursing some super tight hamstrings.  I've realized that I've been doing too much of the same type of workout and overtraining the same muscle group...never a good thing.

Well sometimes you have to humble yourself and ask others for their opinions and advice.  While I know what I SHOULD do to get better, sometimes hearing it from somebody else makes it a little more real and a little bit more plausible to change.  So after speaking with my cousin Sarah who is a Physical Therapist and my friend Cory who is a Personal Trainer and Coach, I came up with a plan based on their suggestions of actually taking "rest days" so that I'm not overtraining, mixing up my workouts a bit and getting a massage.

Yesterday morning I decided to follow through with the workout part of the suggestions and created my own version of a 30 minute plyometric cardio workout!  To say it kicked my butt is probably an understatement...I'm sure I looked like a crazy person doing burpees and mountain climbers in the gym by myself, but one thing is for sure, I maximized those 30 minutes!  And yes, as soon as I can figure out how to upload my workouts to this site, I will make sure I add it so you can try it as well.  :)  Later in the day, I attempted a very easy 1 mile trail run...not my finest form or time for that matter.

After all of that yesterday I decided last night to go and get a massage from Maxi at Hand & Stone in Cherry Creek (http://www.handandstone.com/spa/Colorado/Cherry-Creek).  Simply put...she's UNBELIEVABLE and I highly recommend this place!  That followed by an epsom salt bath (ok with a glass of wine) truly helped to loosen up my muscles and rejuvenate me a little bit.

I guess listening to other's advice was a good thing because today I did a two mile run on the trail and rocked my time with a 7:39 pace...back to where I wanted to be!  I'm hoping that I can maintain this by continuing to mix in plyometric workouts to my routine and by taking time to relax and rest my muscle groups as well.

So as stubborn as I might be, and others as well, sometimes it's important to reach out to the people in your life that have the expertise to give you good advice.  I encourage you to take advantage of the different resources you have available in your own life so that you too are able to maximize your training potential!