One of my favorite female CrossFit athletes of all time became completely transparent and talked about her health. It was a bit of a surprise, but I admire and thank her for doing what she did yesterday.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Miranda Alcaraz, let me introduce you to her.
Games athlete.
Former CrossFit Level 1 Seminar Staff member
Former member of the CrossFit Games Media
Now, I remember when she was the Flowmaster during my Level 1 in December 2012 (a flowmaster is a sort of master of ceremonies). She was wearing a hooded shirt, and her abs were completely visible through them! She frequently would do workouts and lift the same if not more than most of the guys on the L1 Staff. She always pushed herself though workouts. She was the CrossFit athlete that all women measured themselves to.
Since then, she and her husband Julian started Street Parking, an online workout programming company for people who workout at home with minimal equipment. And 15 months ago, she gave birth to their son Knox.
Ok, now back to what she posted:
“I work out 5 days a week. I eat balanced protein, carbs, fat from real foods…but my white blood cell count was low and my fasting glucose was higher than expected for someone with my lifestyle. How is this possible?!”
What Miranda’s doctor brought to her attention was her lack of recovery.
She is a mother of a 15 month old.
She is running a new business.
She doesn’t sleep well.
She has a lot of stressors in her life.
She doesn’t relax.
There are some of you that work more than 1 job. Some have a full time job during the day, only to come home and work a secondary job. Some have 2, 3 even 4 children. A few of you have these COMBINED. And you go to the gym and get a workout in. For those of you who are working with a nutrition coach, and your goal is to lose body fat, chances are you are in a calorie deficit. All of these are stressors to your body. Because of everything going on, you have minimal time to recover.
We need to allow our bodies a chance to recover. Because an abundance of stressors will never produce a positive adaptation. Meaning if we don’t give ourselves a chance to recover, our bodies will have a negative reaction. For Miranda, her body responded with a depleted white blood count and a high fasted glucose level.
But props to her to have herself checked by a doctor, and mad props to the doctor to advise her she needs to get more sleep and basically, chill out. Huge kudos to the doc to advise this, rather than prescribe her a bunch of pills to take.
So everyone, take care of yourselves!
Get as much sleep as you can.
Take breaks.
Spend time focusing on YOU.
Because if you aren’t healthy, you can’t be there for the ones you love the most.
