In light of recent events - the 2nd back injury flare up this year and the closing of the barre studio close to my house - I decided to change a few things up with my workouts and wellness routine and maintenance. I did this a few months ago, but things changed, so it's time for a re-evaluation.

If I learned anything from finally getting allergy shots to relieve my debilitating (and race destroying) asthma and allergies and then going through the low-iron/low Vitamin D debacle, it's to go get the medical help I need and not wait until it's so bad I can't function.

Getting medical treatment is not a sign of weakness. It's just good health maintenance. And while I'm not old by any stretch, I'm also not in 20s anymore (hell - I'm barely in my 30s!) where I can do whatever I want and be fine, and I want to continue to be active for decades to come. So when I work out my body hard, I have to take care of it. 

And with fall training creeping ever so closer, I'm running out of time to dillydally with illness and injury if I want to even think about running a decent race at Kiawah in December.

So. I contacted a sports chiropractor to get this back thing fixed once and for all. And I also started thinking about what else I should be doing - both in workouts and in wellness - to stay strong and healthy. 

With all of that, I had to reconcile (again) with fitness expenses running wild and reconfigure some of that to get the most bang for my buck. 

Here's my new breakdown:

Workouts

• Monthly unlimited membership to Journey Cycling and Fitness Studio for strength workouts and cycling classes - I'll probably go at least 3 times a week: 2 strength, 1 spin
• 10-class pass (that should last about 2 months) to Bikram Yoga Charleston for at least once a week (maybe twice) yoga recovery
• Paddleboarding membership (already paid for for the year) - SUP is a such a good, low impact but full-body workout plus how can I say no to time on the water? Although next year, I'd like to have my own SUP so I no longer have to be at the whims of a class schedule to get out on the water. 
• Running coach - still need her, I don't have the time or patience to go out searching for my own plans, especially when my health can vary so wildly

Wellness

• Weekly sessions at Stretch Zone (for 3 months) - I've had 3 sessions so far and I already feel a difference in how I generally feel and it's what helped me get over the achilles pain without major injury
• Monthly sports massages at Elements after I use up the gift cards I have for another place
• Sports chiropractor visits (covered by health insurance)

What I dropped:

• Barre class pass (sad, but the other locations just aren't close enough to my house for this to work)
• Gym membership that I never use (I'd rather save money to buy a treadmill since that was the main reason I had the gym membership)
• Daily Burn online workouts (I'm just not an at-home workout person and I still have FabFitFun as part of my box subscription if the mood strikes)

While my new breakdown doesn't save me any money, the money I'm spending isn't wasted on classes or gym memberships I never used. Every penny counts and is spent on classes and wellness sessions that I actually go to and benefit me as a runner and an athlete. 

So how about you? What do you do to stay healthy? Have you ever found that your fitness expenses are out of control?