Day 5 : Reflections

I've been thinking about a couple of comments from team members and the words of coaches wherever "listen to your body".

Amy said "any new workout routine results in some DOMS if it works different muscles or works them in a different way". Not only does that account for the slight (sic) discomfort I'm having going up and down slopes and staircases, but it also accounts for at least part of the trouble I'm having with push-ups. The skipping is, at least to a minor degree, exercising the muscles in my upper arms. Just enough that if I do the push-ups after the skipping, those muscles start complaining straight away - "hey, we've already been working so give us a break". The other way round, doing the push-ups first, gets the heavy duty work for them out of the way and then they don't care too much about the skipping action

And Nate said "So I realized today this whole eating half thing can be very deceiving". Me too. It is really difficult to order "half" and the ghost of my mother doesn't like "waste" (sorry Patrick). I really am ordering less when I eat out, but in reality, I think at meals out I'm only at about 2/3 . But I'm probably getting down to half overall by cutting out ALL the on-the-go snacking I was doing - grabbing something on the way to the office (even if I had eaten breakfast) and/or something mid-morning, and almost always something late afternoon and/or on the way home (even if I was eating later) . In fact, almost impossible to judge. But if I am right, this is a conditioning exercise to get us to eat less and I'm certainly doing that - leaving all meals with the feeling that I could eat more, getting hunger pangs when I had previously made sure they wouldn't come by eating too much, and trying hard to chew smaller mouthfuls for longer.

The heat is back today. I surfaced at 6.30 and managed 4x5 push-ups (still from the knee). In the fourth set, I got some twinges in my back and, "listening to my body", think I know what is happening. At the begining, my arms can cope but as they begin to get a bit tired, my brain starts to try and help by getting the rest of my body to make it as easy as possible. Unfortunately, this involves twisting my back a bit, trying to help the upward movement, and my back doesn't like that. The answer, of course, is to get my arms stronger and stop twisting my back. Easier said than done, at the moment, but let's see how things go.

Then out into the garden for the skipping. Two days running, I have had an audience of a small blue butterfly and what looks like a hornet. There are also the mosquitos who are less welcome and who can disrupt my rhythm if I catch sight of one out of the corner of my eye. Towards the end of the skipping, I put in a couple of squat sets when I came to a halt. This also emphasised the different uses the muscles are being put to because I could feel the difference. I ended up with 700 skips today.

Then inside to complete 5x20 not yet low enough squats and 4x15 of my rather limited crunches.

Only then did I log on (maybe, leaving the computer until later is a good thing). The good news from Patrick "keep it light, keep it consistent, and you'll see results" (light being a relative term, of course) but rather more ominously, given the current state of my muscles "strength training".
Hmm, can't wait until Friday lol

All that and out of the house 20 minutes earlier than yesterday so I was in the office more or less on time.