It was a cold winter, back in 2017, between Christmas and New Years Eve. After watching a few episodes of Narcos I started to think about my New Year Resolutions.
One of the things I’ve decided to do in 2017 was to “do physical activity every day for a year”. I was in shape, I spent lots of time outside, sometimes joining on triathlon and iron-man trainings with my ex partner, mostly running, biking, TRX and CrossFit trainings.
Has been a year now and I am counting down the days to see what I have achieved. If at the beginning the question that was running through my head was “Why do you really do this?”. At the end of the year it was more like “You have no excuse today, so stop looking for one!”
I embarked on a journey with no specific destination and I’ve learned that it was up to me to decide how far to go. It was early November in 2017 and I was talking to a friend on the phone. I was listening to her and something clicked inside me – even when it hurts there is always space for more. Because if there is anything that could make you fail – that’s you!
My sport calendar
It was an important choice that felt like getting into a very small boat and setting out on the ocean to search for unknown lands. It was one of the most intense years of my life and the journey was a victory in itself!
I’ve got 221 days out of 365 days of being active. Which means that I achieved 60% of the objective. The rest is learning and the realisation I’ve got about the power of the body and mind working together.
Many times I felt exhausted but I have a rule – I don’t take supplements, energisers or any other products for energy boost. And my diet is protein based (meat free most of the time) and very low on carbs.
Running is my thing but I love diversity. I am also into mountain biking (cross country and downhill), trekking, hiking, climbing when I get the chance, fitness (TRX, CrossFit, Functional training) and yoga.
There are only four reasons that hold me back from achieving 100% of my objective:
1. I am a woman so it would be hard to tell that period is something that I can always ignore. I had my hard core moments doing strength training, intervals, endurance, cardio and other outdoor activities like hiking but sometimes it’s better to give your body time to rest.
2. Traveling. It’s hard to find the balance between flight schedules, work and the new places you’re going to. But you can learn to be practical and exercise at home or to the airport. In 2016 I decided to run in every new city or country I visit and everything started in Barcelona.
3. Injuries. I felt many frustrations along the way, caused by “runners knee” (which I solved it with kinetotherapy, strength training and improving the posture for running, sitting and sleeping), muscle pain caused by overtraining and iron imbalance in the body (many changes in my diet).
4. Feeling “meh”, not in the mood, tired or low. Because we all have feelings and sometimes it’s the body’s natural reaction to put you off track and rest.
I will share my learnings and summarise the experience I’ve had during the year through a series of articles. I will post them every week and I’ll cover topics like food, lifestyle, training, travelling and gyms.