Day 381: Embrace It



"Remember that your pain in the gym is driving your growth. Embrace it."



Sleep did not come easily last night as my lazy muscles were complaining loudly about having to work for a change.  Getting out of bed this morning was also not easy but hunger won out over the pain. Once I was up and had a cup of coffee and my breakfast I felt better. I chose to look at the pain (more discomfort really) as an indication that I woke up some muscles on the Total Gym yesterday. All the areas I worked yesterday were singing today so I guess I did something right ! I'm not complaining. No pain, no gain came to mind but I still need to take this slow and easy. I've seen the progress I've made over time on the treadmill so I know I will progress with the strength training over time too. First goal is to be pain free and it's clear to me it's going to take some time to be able to do strength training on a regular basis. Quite honestly yesterday's activity (2 treadmill workouts and 1 Total Gym workout) really wiped me out. I didn't feel it yesterday - yesterday I felt great. Today I felt like a truck ran over me and that impacted my entire day. So although I fully intend to "embrace it" I'm also going to dial it back a little and embrace just a little bit of pain.

Breakfast was a 3 ounce 160 calorie baked banana and chocolate oatmeal with butter toffee coffee. Power fuel was a 5.3 ounce 80 calorie Light & Fit tiramisu yogurt. Morning snack was a 155 calorie chocolate shake with peanut butter powder. Lunch was a 4 ounce 230 calorie meatball parmesan melt with a chef salad. Dressing added 30 calories. Afternoon snack was 3 cups of popcorn (105 calories) and a 5.3 ounce 80 calorie Light & Fit strawberry cheesecake yogurt. Dinner was a 7.5 ounce 220 calorie chicken fettuccine alfredo served over riced cauliflower. Evening snack was a 3.5 ounce 130 calorie ice cream sandwich. Total calories for the day are 1190 and I only got 32 ounces of water in.

I woke up to quite a bit of snow on the ground and more coming down but it had stopped by 10 am. I opened the curtains and got back in bed so I could just lie there and watch it snow. By 11:30 my plow guy was on the job clearing it away. As much as I didn't feel like it I got on the treadmill around 2 pm. I completed #12 of 14 in the Scottish Highlands with Graham McTavish. Coincidentally The Hobbit movies were on TBS today (Graham was in them) but I didn't watch. They're just too violent for me. I really loved the very first Lord of The Rings movie but the violence in the rest of the trilogy turned me right off, so I don't watch them anymore. Today's 33 minute workout had a lot of max incline (10% for me) and I wasn't sure I could do it, because I was so sore. I decided the walk would benefit my sore leg muscles (which it did) but I really had to dig deep to finish it. The pace ranged from 2.2 mph during the steep inclines and 2.8 mph during the low inclines, which isn't fast but all that incline really makes you work hard. I did not feel well at all once I was done and that feeling hasn't relented. I barely had enough energy to prepare my lunch afterward. I figured eating something would help and it did but I was pretty glad to hop back on the couch with a cup of coffee. Still not feeling well by dinner time I decided to skip my 2nd treadmill workout and not even attempt to use the Total Gym today. I took a couple of Tylenol and put my pajamas on. My goal is to use the Total Gym at least 3 days a week and I'm going to try Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. This gives me a couple days to feel better. I'm also going to dial it back and do the Starter/Beginner workouts, as recommended in the book that came with the machine. Starter is only 2 exercises and they recommend you do these for 2 weeks, then add the 5 Beginner exercises, for a total of 7. Yet again I tried to start at a level that is well beyond my capabilities (18 exercises) and today I paid for it. I have to remember I'm not 20 years old. 

I'm glad tomorrow is a work at home day and while I'm hoping to get back on my normal treadmill schedule I'm going to see how I feel. It's early but I'm calling it a night and heading to bed. Hopefully a good night's sleep will help.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Day 662: Monday Inspiration

Day 43: Peace Is A Journey

Day 21: Looking To The Future