Too much stuff

I've been working way too hard this past week.

I'm sitting here sipping a healthy smoothie I threw together (spinach, blueberries/mixed berries, tiny bit of greek yogurt, chia seeds, protein powder, green superfood powder, and a bit of water), took some ibuprofen, iced my legs, and resolved to take a day for recovery.

So I'm still fairly new to running. And by new I mean a complete non runner who probably hasn't run this much since 8 years ago in high school. I've been at it for 2 months and have the occasional shin pain, and I have realized that for me, at this stage, I can run every other day and be fine. But last week I began doing a workout on my off days that is basically an obstacle running bootcamp. Jumping jacks, jump rope, push ups, pull ups, burpees, squats, turkish getups, and all kinds of general bouncing around. And all the bouncing around has been aggravating my legs. All my muscles have been sore, but my right calf has been the worst and I think I may have pulled something in it. And the shin pain has been creeping up on me daily. I am definitely doing too much impact on my legs at this point. Today was a run day and going into it I didn't know what to expect because I knew I was sore,  but I figured I'd just do what I could. I originally wanted to run outside but it was rainy and very cold so I told myself I'd just do it on one of the many 60-70 degree days we have around here. So treadmill it was. The first mile was fine. Then right when I hit the second mile my right leg just said - no more dude, I'm done. I limped off the treadmill and finished it out on the elliptical.

I know my legs need to rest and that it means taking days off from running or anything high impact. But this sucks. I'm supposed to be getting better, not going backwards. Yeah, there's lots of low impact stuff I can do... Ellipticals are good for cardio, but other than that they won't help me be a better runner. Plus ellipticals are boring as hell. I'm sure I can find some good low impact stuff to work on my core and muscle strength. I can still push/pull up (by pull up I mean hang there as long as possible! that's about where I'm at, lol) I just feel like all the stuff I need to be doing to train for the Spartan Race is stuff I really shouldn't do right now while my legs are hurting so bad. I'll do my best to work around it for now though. Tomorrow I'll be doing yoga, and maybe I will be doing yoga 2 days a week instead of just 1. It should help prevent this type of thing from happening in the future.

I need to find a balance - I want to do as much as possible, but I am probably doing too much too fast. I need to remind myself that this is all new to me - sure I've done these types of exercises from time to time during my prior half assed attempts to get in shape, but I have never gone all out and committed myself to fitness. I have never been athetic. My body has alot to get used to.

Tomorrow is one of my weigh ins. I'm really close to my goal. I can't wait to get under the 180 mark - that will be pretty significant for me. That should happen in mid december - or sooner :)