Olympic dreams – Enzymedica enzymes help Australian runner in quest for qualifying time
For many of us, the dream of running a marathon might be something we run around in our mind late at night, or something that we will announce as our greatest ambition to do on New Year’s Eve, only to let fall by the wayside a few weeks later. Living that dream, however, is Australian runner Karen Barlow, who has battled food intolerances and braved intense workout routines to become someone who says she has a shot at a qualifying time for the London Olympics.
Barlow, 33, puts in a daily workout routine that would leave most of us painfully sore, if not permanently immobile from bruised muscles and strained bones. She wakes up at the first light of the morning and goes for a run. In a single day, she might run anywhere from 20 to 30 miles.
After her morning run, she goes to a group session of high-intensity yoga, which is followed by her day job, working as a physiotherapist and helping athletes recover from their injuries and move themselves back into peak physical condition. Mixed in between these activities, she works to tone her body in other ways, with a variety of specialized exercises aimed at keeping herself in top shape. Further discouraging to those of us with less-than-excellent workout habits, this schedule is what she does during her “off-season.” She says that in a few months, she will begin exercising much more.
While Barlow’s physical routine may mirror that of Hercules, her modesty, humor and passion are evident from the first moment of meeting her. Last year, while spending a year training and competing in marathons across the United States, she ran with high school students on their runs, and when in Australia, she mentors young gymnasts between the ages of 9 and 18. She says that regardless of what part of the world she is in, she has found that “Kids are kids.” “All the kids in the states want to know if we ride kangaroos out here. I tell them of course we do, we ride them around the block. All the kids in Australia really want to know if there are four aisles of candy in the shops in America,” said Barlow.
Barlow’s athletic efforts have long been hampered by digestive difficulties. As a child, she found that numerous foods would upset her stomach, to a nearly debilitating level of severity. When she went to a doctor, it was suggested that she eliminate those foods from her diet, and for years she subsisted on a bland diet, unable to eat even oatmeal. Several years later, while training in the United States, another runner recommended she try Enzymedica enzymes, and Barlow took her up on the idea.
Her first enzyme product was Digest Gold™, and she believes that she saw results almost immediately. Over the course of a few months, she tried additional Enzymedica products, and gradually began to experiment with foods that she hadn’t attempted to eat for years. While her diet today, primarily comprised of fresh fruits and vegetables, may seem incredibly healthy to the average person, for her, it is dramatically more interesting, and significantly less bland, than what she experienced for the majority of her life. She does sneak in ice cream and chocolate occasionally. “You can’t be healthy all the time, and when you train as much as I do, you have to indulge,” said Barlow.
Barlow says that without enzymes, she would have greater difficulties training for marathons, and likely would not be able to have the same lifestyle that she currently has. A few months ago, when her supply of enzymes ran out, she attempted to maintain the same diet without any supplementation, and found that her old intolerances began to creep back into her daily life.
Back on Enzymedica™ enzymes now, Barlow continues to train hard for her future Olympic efforts and will continue to work with kids into the future. For those who are interested in working towards a more athletic lifestyle, she offers a piece of advice, “When people get so motivated to get out there and do their exercise, they often do too much too quickly. Use small steps, and take it day by day. When you’re starting out, you need to plan for at least 30 days, and then commit for something like 3 days a week, and take the rest of the week to recover.”
