Never-Ending Battle

It's a never-ending battle between me and my back. I say, "Yes, Liz, go for it!" My back says, "I choose to be weak. I'm done. Give me a break!" It's not that I'm going too heavy or anything, but I just think my back--my lower back to be specific--is my trouble area. And I'm over it!

I'll go weeks with my back acting normal, and during these weeks I'm able to do deadlifts, good mornings, and wide-grip bent over rows with no problem. I breeze through them. Then all of a sudden, I get a week or two where my back decides "Eff this, let's show this girl some real pain!" Not cool. The first few days I try to push through it and do my cardio and lifts like normal. And while the lifting actually isn't that bad (for the most part), it's the cardio that has me wanting to yell in pain and go slower instead of faster. After all, my legs and lungs can handle it, but I just don't think pounding the treadmill is doing much good for my back.

This morning I tried a bit of a different approach. I went to the gym and did my calves and abs like normal (weights later tonight), and instead of doing my usual run on the treadmill, I walked at an incline. It was okay--boring. I'm not a slow-paced kinda girl. I didn't really feel too much difference regarding my lower back. Maybe I should have tried the elliptical. Who knows. All I know is that I'm frustrated and last night, even doused in icy hot, I was having a hard time sleeping (it doesn't help that it's pretty hot in my room and I don't have central AC). So we will see how I feel by tonight. I meet with Pleasants in about an hour, so I will see what he says and go from there.

I kinda enjoy the smell...

In other news, it doesn't appear that my cookout craziness has really affected anything terribly. I got on the scale this morning after the gym (note: after protein shake & crazy amounts of water), and I'm half a pound off from where I was last week. And I still have today and tomorrow to go before I weigh-in on Sunday morning. It was a close call this time, but I think I'm good to go! AND I'm nearing my high school peak cross-country season weight! This is an exciting thing for me--I feel like I've accomplished so much already, and I still have over 7 weeks to go!

In fact, those shorts (which I never gave back...) are too big now!

That reminds me--last night Kevin and I were doing 21s during our workout... He pretty much turned these into 24s by doing 10 full lifts at the end. I wasn't feeling it, so I just did 21...until he pointed out that those extra 3 might be the difference between 1st and 3rd place. I said that all I really want is to place. To which he responded, "Why just place? Why not win? You're putting in all this hard work, you gotta go to win!" Point taken (and increased my 21s to 24s)! Now I just need to keep up that mentality for the next 7+ weeks!

Have you had any of those motivational moments where the lightbulb comes on and you have that renewed drive/determination to win? Do share (please)!