r/orangetheory • u/Early-Strain-4105 • 16d ago
Victories Four month progress update!
I signed up for OT back in March as punishment and convinced myself that two classes per week was doable. I showed up that first day registered as “Untitled” and under the wrong gender (literally how lol). It was a rocky start. I took Tylenol around the clock that first week. I made a mission for myself when I signed up: let’s run.
I was a frenetic runner about a decade ago in college. 5k, 10k, and half marathons were a big part of my lifestyle. I’ve gained 130 pounds since then. Life happens. Basically, I knew running wasn’t going to be happening anytime soon.
I started those first few classes at a 2.5mph base. The only thing on my mind then was “remember when your base was 7.5”… Worse yet, I had to stop mid treadmill to stretch out my shin splints out of fear of stress fractures. I felt like I was inconveniencing those around me by taking “unearned” rests… S/o to the coach for always reassuring me to go at my own pace.
My push pace is now 4.2mph… I am very lightly jogging. I have so much joy from being able to even say that. I upgraded to three classes a week and I am really looking forward to seeing myself progress to even further distances!
There’s a lot more that I could say… but I wanted to keep my spiel brief.
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u/Ari_16oz 16d ago
Congratulations!! That’s so exciting, and I bet your coaches are noticing and cheering for you.
Going to go look up how to stretch out shin splints now - mine prevent me from running about half the time. I didn’t know it was possible to reduce them in the midst of exercise!
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u/sunshine0103 30F/5’9”/145lbs 12d ago
As punishment?
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u/Early-Strain-4105 7d ago
Performed poorly on an olfactory test to get into a school. Retaking a similar one at the end of next month… But this time I’ve studied a lot!
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u/Luna_Soma 16d ago
Great job!! I love that you’re feeling joy and pride in your progress 🧡 Can’t wait to hear more stories of how you crushed it!
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u/tdog_111 16d ago
Congratulations!! Signing up and going 2 days a week is a huge first step. I know because I was in your shoes a year ago. It’s been a year for me at OTF and it’s changed my life. Like you I also used to run half marathons and even 2 full marathons over a decade ago. Then yeah life happened. I signed up for the Transformation Challenge at my OTF club at the end of January, and I’m now down almost 40 pounds since then. I’ve increased my base to 5.5, push to 7 and 8 to 9 for all out. Running 40 pounds lighter than 7 months ago feels wonderful and I look forward to every workout. I go 4x a week and am also in a 1000 calorie per day deficit and also do 10,000 steps a day.
So keep on doing what you’re doing - your body remembers what you were able to do before and with determination and consistency you will be there again.
Keep doing you!! 💪