Dear Insanity,
We need to go on a break. It’s not that I don’t love you, really I do. Nothing makes me sweat like you, or grunt like you, or want to cry like you, but I just can’t give you all of my attention right now. Yes..there is something else in my life that is more important. With a half marathon just around the corner, the two a day workouts are starting to take a toll on my legs and I can’t keep waking up sore and dreading our time together.
We had a great first month with each other and I promise I will come back to spend the second month with you, but right now running gets all my attention. It’s not fair to either of you for me to give 90% of me when you both deserve 100%. I do want to thank you for helping my endurance though, without you my longer runs would be tough(er).
I will continue to spend time with you on my cross training days, on days when I have shorter runs and feel like King Kong, and even on some of my “rest” days, but we will not be together on a daily basis. I am not as hardcore as I thought I was in the beginning of this, “train for a half marathon and do Insanity at the same time” adventure, and I have accepted that it’s time to tone it down. Mentally I want you, but physically I need a break.
Until I see you again, stay insane.
Brittany
Q: Have you ever tried to bite off more than you could chew with workouts?
I found my self “half-assing” my Insanity workouts and decided that it was time to neck it back. I was also feeling fatigued in my quads (from all those damn squats!) on my runs which was not going to work for me. I need my legs strong and refreshed for longer runs. The sporadic Insanity workouts have been working much better than the strict every day routine. Like I said, I will come back to the every day craziness once my race is over!
Blissfulbritt 
41 thoughts on “Dear Insanity”
Lauren
OMG, Insanity is such a bitch. I did it religiously for about a month as well, but I get bored and need to change it up. I’ll go back to it one of these days!
GiGi Eats Celebrities
I BITE OFF WAY MORE THAN I CAN CHEW in every day life. I try to please everyone as well as please myself, and I wind up feeling so crazy I should be locked up in a LOONEY BIN!!!!!!!!! You should see me when I get wildly upset, it’s scarier that a Rhino Charging After You! (Not quite sure why I capitalized all those letters).
Did I ever tell you that I auditioned to be one of the chicks working out with Sean T in the insanity videos?! IT WAS HYSTERICAL. Cause hot damn, compared to the other chicks at the audition, I was…………… GUMBY. Scrawny, flimsy, and pathetic. They easily squashed me. And I was shocked that I didn’t get a call back?! LMFAO!
Brittany
UGH story of my life with trying to please EVERYONE!! It’s clearly gotten me now where but in heart ache city so lately I’ve been doing whatever I WANT TO DO any no one can stop me!!
Oh..my..gosh. I really REALLY wish you had gotten a call back, I would have loved working out “with you” on the tape, that is awesome! HAHA some of those girls are so hard core I’m like HOLY SHIT GIVE ME YOUR ABS PLEASE!
kathy @ vodka and soda
i LOVE insanity!!! shaun t is awesome sauce and his workouts are always balls to the wall.
i try to only work one program so that i can focus 100% on it.
Meghan@CleanEatsFastFeets
Twice a day workouts. Man, no wonder you’re quads hurt. I say run, eat big bowls of veggies for dinner, cupcakes for dessert and call it a day.
I bite off more than I can chew in my every day life all the time. Then I usually try to reset my expectations to make them more…shall we say, realistic. Sometimes it works, sometimes I go crazy in my head. Given a choice, I prefer the former though.
Megan
I tried doing Insanity and training for a trail half and my arches went NUTS. I enjoyed it but the jumping around just wasn’t my style. It makes me mad that I paid for it and with my knee I’ll probably never be able to do it again. One of my GFs is using it now. I will eventually take it back but for now its basically a “gift” a VERY pricey gift.
PNWRunner
I haven’t tried insanity, but when I am train ok by I rarely do lower body workouts. My main reason is the same as yours. I don’t want my legs to be fatigued. I’ll start lower body workouts in the winter when I am not able to run
as much.
P
This is a very sane and wise decision. You are doing so well with running, might as well put 110% in it. Insanity will be there waiting for you 😉
Amy @ A Desert Girl
You’re like some kind of workout goddess in my mind for sticking with the two-a-days for as long as you have! Girrrrl…. I’m impressed.
Christina Does It All
I’ve heard a lot of great things about insanity but I have a feeling I’d hate it….I love that I can just get lost in running and almost forget I’m even exercising. 30 minutes of running flies by for me….yet somehow my 10 minute pilates video seems to last forever haha. Props to you for trying it out, sounds like you deserve a break, yo!
Heather @ HeatherRunsFast.com
When I read this title, I thought you meant Insanity as in, going mad or crazy, haha. Oh, Heather. Anyway… your Insanity is my Body Pump. I’ve been scaling it back a bit and not doing the leg portions of the class. I think weight lifting is a great compliment to my running, but lower body weights just makes me more sore which equals harder runs. NO BUENO! And I feel like insanity is prob WAY harder than BP. Congrats on the PR! Holla!
spectacuLAUR
I can’t believe you were doing Insanity WHILE training for a half marathon. You crazy ass! Lol I always watch the little Insanity clips and cringe because I know for a fact I wouldn’t make it like 15 minutes through those things. ALL THE SQUATS. My knees hurt just thinking about it. WOO PR!
Amy
I actually stopped doing yoga to focus on running because I was over-stretching my legs. I replaced it with light hand weights and kettlebell exercises, but… OHMYGOSH, you are incredible to do both Insanity AND training for a half marathon!! Seriously, you are hardcore. My role model. My hero. You go girl!!!
And good luck in the race!! 😀
An Unrefined Vegan
I am so impressed – no, really – I am. I’ve got P90X squirreled away in my TV cabinet and I’m scared let alone to make eye contact with it, let alone pop one of the DVDs in the player. You’ll triumph over that Insanity shizz, but you’re wise to know when to back off.
Jan @ Sprouts n Squats
Yes definitely! I’ve overdone it many times before! I think you have made a good decision cutting back for now and you can always amp it back up after your race 🙂
Alisha's Appetite
Damn girl- 2 a days?!!! AND those long ass runs?? No wonder your quads were killing you. I’d say it’s definitely okay to take a break from it. I really want to try insanity at some point!
Lora @ Crazy Running Girl
OK insanity is… INSANE! I can totally see why you need a break. It is a hard workout. Kudos for you to doing it for a month!
Choc Chip Uru
Do you even have an inch of fat? You are insane my friend, you need a break to enjoy yourself 😛
You are fantastic! 🙂
Cheers
CCU
Brittany
Oh girl, I’ve got PLENTY of inches of f.a.t..which is WHY I was doing BOTH workouts!! HAHAHA! BE GONE winter layer from LAST year!
Davida @The Healthy Maven
Insanity and are going through a breakup right now! With all the jumping and then the running I’m not at all surprised I’m out with an injury now. Good for you for listening to your body. No need to wear yourself down!
Lisa
Oh heck yes I can relate to this. I do it all the time saying yes to things I should most certainly be saying no to. The life of a people pleaser;)
I think it’s awesome you’re listening to your body and taking a break! No shame in doing that!
katymarie5
Major props to you for making it through a month of Insanity! I did one workout (I think it was just the Fit Test, ha) and could barely walk, so I totally understand your troubles with running & keeping up with Insanity workouts. I definitely think you made a good decision for your training!
allieksmith
Aww, way to do what you need to do!! Not many people do that… they usually stay proud and try to stick with both and end up injured or burnt out and unhappy.
I have definitely tried to be more hardcore than I can handle with workouts. When I was on the swim team my freshman year of college, I was spending over 3 hours a day at the pool. I don’t know how I did that. Ew. Haha!!
sincerelylily
You are so sweet to be so sweet to exlain to insanity that you need some time off. Good for you for recognizing that it was a bit overkill….. this makes me SUPER excited for your half b/c i feel like you are going to PR the crap out of it, esp after you fast 10 miler.
ps that is the most artistic-nature-garmin show i have ever seen.
Nicole @ FruitnFitness
Smart move girl. I did insanity a few summers ago and can’t imagine doing that as well as training for a half. The first few weeks of insanity my legs were so sore i was almost crying getting out of bed in the morning.
Emily
I wanna do those videos!!! Can you send them to me while you’re ona break? Seriously though. And no I never tend to bite off more than I can chew because I’m pretty lazy most of the time haha, hey at least I’m honest with myself 🙂
PJ Sassifras
I’m just trying to get back to the gym. HAHAHAHA! You’re such a bad ass! (leaves a cupcake, walks away)
olivetorun
Ha! I love the letter post 🙂 I am seriously missing lifting right now but running has taken over my life. Soon I will be writing a letter to running letting it know why I am scaling back a bit to enjoy biking, swimming, lifting, and maybe even YOGA! 😉
Britta
YOU TELL insanity who’s BOSS!! I cannot believe you were working out TWICE a day – what the? and you call me a badass? NO WAY. That’s intense! Ughh, but seriously, I need to do it and by that I mean half ass it because we all know I cannot do anything but run. I’m sure you’re body deserves a much needed break because you are still running a ton and need all that energy.. otherwise you really WOULD Have to eat a million cupcakes a day to keep up with it all 😉
kelly @ racesrepsramblings
Awww SMART decision. You don’t want to overwhelm your body and get into icky injury possibility mode. Great choice – full support from over here!! Can’t wait to hear about your half!
Lauren @ ihadabiglunch
Wow awesome job listening to your body! Insanity is so hard–I’ve only tried it a few times and I don’t think I could stick with it almost every day like you have. If you’ve been half-assing it then it’s definitely time to reevaluate! Good luck!
Nikki
Signing up for a half ironman was more than I could chew r at the time. Maybe in the future, just not right now! Listening to you body is super impressive to me 🙂
Meghan @ fitnesscrEATures
Ya, so this isn’t the same but it’s similar…. I signed up for Crossfit because I wanted some awesome strength training (and it’s kinda similar to Insanity in some ways). I was sore for days and days after a workout and I was training for a marathon at the same time. It was impossible to do both and since I wanted to run a damn marathon, I quit crossfit. Luckily I got my money back after 3 sessions and they were awesome about it. The ONE time I did Insanity I was sore for 3 entire days so I hear ya girl… Though, I will agree – that endurance it creates is irreplaceable! 🙂 You made a good call and you’ll get back to Insanity soon enough!
Luv What You Do
I’ve never done insanity!
I think it would be hard for me to commit to any type of exercise in my house.
Kristina at damntenpounds
You did the right thing! Focus on the task at hand… your race is comin’ up! Save those fresh leggies for a speedy race 🙂 I haven’t tried insanity, but I like the idea of supplementing your workouts now and then rather than following the program to a T.Good luck with your training!!
Meredith
great call on listening to your body lady. Your legs will thank you for that I’m sure of it!! 🙂
Melissa @ Al Forno Mementos
eeks I cannot do insanity. it’s so bad on my knees. I can do Jillian Michael’s though but she’s annoying. haha
Mary
I joined the boyfriend with the pre-Insanity test part – and decided on the spot it would not work out whilst I was training for my ultra. To be continued…!
di @ life of di.
I can relate. I had to cut back on my strength training. I’ve started spinning M-W-F-S and am just exhausted on T-Th so I just walk on those days for a bit of exercise. It’s hard to scale back sometimes when working out is such a part of your life and you have a strong desire to do it more often than not! You’ll pick up Insanity again at some point but the important thing is that you’re listening to your body 🙂
Rach @ This Italian Family
Smart girl! I definitely have gotten where I bite off more than I can chew with things like this. Right now I am being a lazy butt and haven’t done much of anything since getting back from Italy, but today I am hitting the gym after work and I know I am going to be feeling it tomorrow, haha!
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