A Baby Shark Learns to Swim - Guest Blog

Running a motivational health and fitness company, I have the unique gift of watching people realize they are capable of so much more than they have ever dreamed.  Today, I had the great pleasure of sharing the one year anniversary of her fitness journey with Adriana Brown.  Down 103 pounds and just getting started, I am proud to have her as a Team 1DOS Shark and this week's guest blogger.  Here are her reflections of a year in wellness.  

October 1, 2017. I put off this date for so long. Scheduled, cancelled, rescheduled. Rescheduled again. Why was I so scared? Oh I know, all of the training I had done my entire life from being a very active athlete nearly stopped once I went to college. Did not pay attention to what I ate and had no desire to work out anymore the way I used to or at all. So why be nervous about this class? It was just going to be one class anyway. Oh right, it’s a class of 22 other people who didn’t know me who would see me. They know it is your first time there. My mind spins with thoughts of people judging me. Here I am just walking at a 3.1mph speed on the treadmills and using the lightest weights. And I have my first class with one of the toughest coaches. What the hell am I thinking? After that first class was over, you know what? Why not just sign up and see. You can always cancel the membership if it didn’t work out. Signed up for more classes – only went to ones that my first coach I had was doing and my mom was in. Jeez, no way am I comfortable to go and workout without my mom at 23 years old. After all, she was the one who encouraged me to go with her and has been my biggest supporter my entire life and especially this last year when I have needed it. Mom can’t go to class, oh let me cancel this then. I can’t go alone. It took almost a month and a half before I could be comfortable enough to branch out to other coaches and start to workout alone. December came and I thought I was ready to increase my membership. Maybe I could get used to going almost every day. I was still walking, yet knew I could be running. That very first coach I had, he stood next to my treadmill one day and hit the speed increase to get me to a light jog. Told me to “leave it there. Do not touch that speed. I want to see what you can do.” What the hell was he doing? I can’t run and definitely not when other people can see me. But, maybe this was the first time since I started at Orange Theory that someone was trying to prove to me that I can do things that my mind says I can’t.

December brought a lot of new faces and the start of some new friendships. Of course here I am, meeting people that my mom knew. Staying quiet as I am very shy. No one I felt would understand me. Boy was I wrong on that one. Now that I can put names with faces, things became easier. I had people in my corner other than my mom, people who were encouraging me when we worked out together. Perfect! Just in time for the Transformation Challenge at the gym! Eight long weeks of who could lose the most percentage, not just pounds. The competitive person in me kicked in. I thought I was doing everything right. I wasn’t that hungry anymore. I felt like I was giving my body enough fuel to workout and be able to last the entire day. Friends challenging me to increase my speeds or pick up heavier weights because they knew I was ready but my mind was telling me, “no freaking way can you do that. That speed is too fast. Those weights are too heavy.” Yet, I still did it. Halfway through the challenge, I hit a mental wall. I got frustrated in class easily, I start dealing with severe leg cramping, I wasn’t working out to my potential. That first coach I had notices and pulls me aside after class one night and gives me a pep talk just to help get me through the rest of this challenge. That eight week challenge? Yeah, I lost 25lbs in that time, almost 50lbs since I had started in October. Great! I must be doing something right. I can keep this up, no problem! WRONG! Not properly feeding your body or staying hydrated will only cause you harm. Don’t I know this? I’m an athlete. Months and months of what I just thought was leg cramping from just working out every single day at the level I was turned out to be dehydration. I tried everything to get rid of the cramping – Pedialyte, FitAid, Amino Acids. It got better, but still had the leg cramping. I was given a suggestion from someone to drink half my weight in water and then work your way up to a gallon of water a day, maybe that would help. I’m sure my response was something like, “you’re crazy. There is no way I can drink half my weight! That is a lot of water!” But I did it, and she was right. The severe cramping in my legs were gone after a while. But there was still the eating troubles. The strict calorie restriction. It was okay to workout the way I do and only eat around 1000 calories a day right? I burn anywhere from 500-600 calories in a workout plus the 36 hour after burn and I’m losing the weight I wanted. I am at a point where I could tell myself if one class was good, two were better! I didn’t need the extra calories anyway. While all of this was a process, I was still causing more harm to myself by not doing things properly. I ignored every symptom I was having and only paid attention to what the number on the scale was saying.

That “S” word. Something I hate. I was coming up on my 24^th birthday, I had the day off of work and could workout with some of my favorite people that morning. Very few knew that I would step on the scale for the first time in almost three months. I was able to put it away and forget about it but had June 1^st circled on my calendar to see how far I had come in eight months. I knew what my goal was to be under at that point, but didn’t tell anyone. The biggest smile came across my face when I walked out from stepping on that scale knowing I was below the goal I set. And those people waiting to see me? Yeah, they knew. They just wouldn’t know how much until after class. I challenged myself to squat the weight I had lost with dumbbells. Yep, lets stack two dumbbells because that number was 75 pounds in eight months. As if that was not enough anxiety with waiting three months to step on a scale, try going for a run after that class with someone just so they can prove to you that you can absolutely do things you say you can’t.

That post-class run proved to be one thing I needed in order to show myself that I can trust myself outside of a group workout. I was so thankful to have that person there to talk me through it since she knew exactly what was going through my head. I had no belief in myself that even just a short jog outside without stopping was even possible, but she knew I could do it. In reality, that little run was just a test for a 5k we ran together two days later. The messages the night before of “I can’t do this. There is no way I can run an entire 5k without stopping once. I don’t want any of you running with me. I’m just going to slow all of you down.” What did I get in return? “You can. You just don’t know you can. And I’m not leaving you behind. You can absolutely do this.” That 5k, I could have cared less about the time I finished that race in. Great, I finished 18 minutes faster than my last 5k just ten months before. What was most important to me was running the entire race without stopping. Did it cross my mind? Hell yes it did. Right within the last mile of the race. I was surrounded by people that day who would not let me quit on myself like I had so many times before. Coming up to the finish line I’m told, “when we hit that tree, you are giving it everything you have left to finish.” Nope. My mind was telling me “I can’t f*&#ing do it. I can’t go any faster.” Whoops. Did I just say that out loud? No, there is no way I actually said that. This was followed up with “You f*&#ing can. Now do it.” Shit, I did say that out loud. Everyone I was running with was starting to run faster. I better do the same. Finishing that 5k and coming across the finish line with that same person who keeps telling me I am absolutely capable of things my mind is saying I can’t and getting one big hug followed by “look at that f*&#ing time!” 36:41. Did I actually just do that? Yep. I just proved myself wrong. 

Maybe I can do this.

Sticking to the running theme, Orange Theory likes to have benchmark workouts. Endurance days are my favorite, but I have severe anxiety when it is the one-mile challenge. My last challenge was 9:29. Two weeks prior to the challenge, I ran a 9:11 mile, but still had doubts that I would get below a 9 minute mile. There was no way. My paces felt much slower lately. There was absolutely no way I would be able to get sub-9 minutes. Well, have that conversation in the lobby with someone who knows how to challenge people and push them to nearly getting sick because what is the worst that can happen.. you puke! I took my usual treadmill #12 and in he comes with a marker to write on the mirror in front of me “8:45. It will suck!” As we get ready to start the challenge, I had my mom to my left. He comes into class and hops on a treadmill two over from me. My mom seemed glad to tell him she would switch treadmills with him so he would be running next to me. Probably because she knew how bad I wanted to be under 9 minutes and if there is anyone that will get you to that goal, it would be him. Through all my anxiety thinking about the time I wanted to get this mile under, I started that run and no matter how high we kept pushing the speed increases, I was still comfortable. “When we get to .85 of a mile, we are jumping the speed and going as hard as we can. If you puke, you puke.” One mile, 8:38. Again, did I just do that? Wait a second. Nearly 11 months ago I was walking at a pace of 3.1mph on the treadmill and now I’m seeing one mile in 8 minutes and 38 seconds. Right there may have been when the believing in myself and my abilities hit me. I truly have come a long way.

So where does this leave me 365 days after I made the decision to get myself healthy again? It leaves me down 103 pounds – something I never thought was possible. It leaves me with so much more happiness. It leaves me with so much more confidence that I have never had before. I am stronger, faster, fitter, and healthier. I am smiling more than I ever have. I am starting to believe that all the things I never thought were possibly for me – absolutely is possible. Even when I give some serious push back, I have still signed up for races I never anticipated doing.

What is on the horizon now that I am one year down? Well, I will be doing my first half marathon in a few days. I am signed up for my first Spartan race just one month later. Call me crazy, but I am also doing the Disney Dopey Challenge. Four days, four races – 5k, 10k, half marathon and full marathon. I have also committed to do the Spartan Super next year in Chicago.. AND it is on my birthday! There is no telling what I will do or commit to next. What I do know is I have found an amazing family that has made me see that anything is possible. And maybe, just maybe.. I got this!

 

 End Note:  Tonight I had the honor of celebrating her one year anniversary workout with Adriana.  She crushed her previous mile time by nearly a minute.  Yes, Baby Shark, your best is truly yet to come.