Hey, welcome back! In this blog, I will be talking about my fitness journey in 2021 and how it was largely shaped by unforeseen circumstances and health concerns. I’ll also talk about a new hobby that I picked up along the way: running.
January 2021
During this month, I was still recovering from the flu in December and thinking of ways that I could lighten the workload when I did have the strength to work out. It was during this time that I also began having GI issues and went to see a doctor. I was basically told that I needed to try a new diet and see what foods I could eat by experimenting what reactions my stomach had with each ingredient. I began the diet strong, but felt especially weak during my workouts as I didn’t have the same caloric intake. I slowly saw my workouts getting worse and I knew I had to change something up.
February 2021
This month was a life changing month. My significant other and I realized we had mold in our apartment and moved to a different city. Our new complex had 3 grocery stores within 2 blocks and a gym for residents to use. I sped up the process of finding out what I could and couldn’t eat by doing smaller portions of a variety of common foods. My workouts also changed. I was now focusing more on warming up on a stationary bike then stretching, followed by a light 30-45 weight lifting session. While lifting, I limited my sets and repetitions to 3×12 with 40-50% of my personal best for the individual lift I was doing. I also followed up on days off with body weight training so I could get accustomed to working out more regularly. Towards the end of the month, I remember seeing a resident jogging through the complex and thought how it looked so peaceful. I ran cross country in highschool and it had been a long time since I had gone for a solid run. This moment was to change my fitness journey.
May 2021
It had been 3 months since I saw that person run and since that time, I had also picked it up. I was running every other day doing Fartleks, tempo runs, warm up runs, recovery runs, and long runs. My initial mile time was atrocious at 10:30 minutes per hour pace. After 3 months, I was averaging 8:35 minutes per hour pace on 3-5 mile runs. This was a huge improvement. I even went as far as buying new shoes so that I wouldn’t get any injuries by continuing to run in my all-birds ( 🙂 ). My routine changed as I progressed, but I want to share what helped me improve. First, I always did a warm up run which was usually about half a mile to 1.5 miles later on. After the warmup, I did static stretches and dynamic stretches. Then, I would do runs through the nike run club app so I had a coach pace me. After the run, I focused more on my recovery run and post-run stretching. I also always ate after my runs. As for breathing inside the mask, I would say to focus on not having large inhalations or exhalations as it can sometimes feel like the mask is going to go up your nose.
I had also kept up going to the gym 3-4 times per week with increasing weight per set. This had probably been the longest, healthiest I had felt in a while.
July 2021
Remember when I said “You go forward 2 steps and take a step back.” ? Yeah, so my internship derailed my fitness journey. I found myself working extra hours to get my project done (I know I know, not worth it) and less time to focus on my health. My diet also suffered as I had less time to make meals. It was at the end of this month that I decided to put myself first. I pushed through tiredness and overall laziness to workout. I ran less and my time had gotten worse, but at least I was doing it. I felt proud of that.
Conclusion:
As you all can see, I have had some minor and major setbacks in my fitness journey over the past two years. I’m hoping I will be having more months like February – May 2021, but the reality is that I just don’t know when roadblocks will come up. All I (and you) can really do is just keep moving forward.
