Swimming.....

 Maybe I should have started swimming sooner.   I went for my first swim workout last night and I was feeling gassed after 50 yards, the problem is I need to swim 440 yards....   I dragged myself to swim about 400ish yards, but damn it was hard.   I'll be swimming a few times/week to get myself in better shape for this.

I also did a restorative yoga class after swimming.   My hip was pretty sore afterwards, but I believe thats from stretching, but it feels great today.   Where has this been in my workout regimen?   Gonna be a regular part.

I'm also going to say this month's Apple challenge sucks.   Actually, it sucks a lot but I'm going to finish it and its a good thing Merinda is away.   She'd be giving me the "look".... 

More on workouts...

 During my workout on Tuesday Jama asked the class if we only post "good" workouts and I thought about that.   A few weeks back I stopped posting workout stats pages because Jama asked if we did it to get accolades instead of good things and I wondered about that.   I don't know if it's because I'm proud of my efforts or looking for praise, but either way I stopped posting that and instead will just talk about the workout.   Don't get me wrong, I'm competive, but I can be competive privately instead of looking to the Echelon community for validation.

Previously, I have posted before about the "window or bug" question.  I take it from one of the MIB movies where a bug is flying along and gets crushed by a car window, and I've always said that some days you're the windshield and some days you're the bug and it applies to exercise.   I used to post poor workouts,  or ones that I wasn't particularly proud of.   I didn't do this to say "oh poor me, I had a shitty workout" but rather to illustrate that just showing up, and giving effort even when you're not 100% or even 50% is better than nothing.

Fast forward to today.   I got up early and was pretty excited about the Hills and I&A combo, even if I wasn't excited about getting up at 6am.  I felt ok during hills, albeit not as strong as usual, but it was during the filler time between the classes where I started feeling wiped out.  I took a low impact because it was a 30 minute gap, and I struggled with it.   Then during I&A I felt completely gassed.   I could barely keep up and my arms were just useless.   I just felt completely wiped out, hell I still do.

So why am I talking about this, because while I'm not proud of my lackluster effort, I am proud that I showed up, finished the classes and did the work.   Maybe I didn't get enough sleep.   Maybe it's the minor dental surgery I had yesterday (this is my guess).  Maybe it's stress.   Who knows.   As I told Merinda this morning it wasn't anything I haven't done before, or exceeded, I just wasn't at my best.

I think I'll post this on one of the Echelon forums today...   Have a good one all!

The Struggle is Real

Just yesterday I mentioned I was struggling with motiviation and then today came along and I decided to just roll over and get an extra hour of sleep.

Was it laziness?   Partly.   I was feeling kind of tired, but there's a little more. 

Last night Merinda asked me if I wanted to walk down to the gas station so she could do the lottery.   She has her own health issues, the joys of getting old, and is trying to be more active.   I've told her I'm always willing to help so despite having worked out I agreed.  I would have preferred some Yoga but I gotta do what I can to help, so we walked down to the shell and back.  

I'm not sure why, but my knees and hips have been pretty sore lately.  Sure, you can blame it on the running, but it doesn't seem to correspond to those days, so I'm not sure what's causing it.   Maybe I should stretch more.   Regardless, I felt pretty sore last night so I was already debating pulling the plug on this morning, so when I woke up at 7am and was tired it wasn't a tough decision.   I'm planning on working out this evening, and while I prefer to work out in the morning, today I'd rather miss the 20 minute power class, sorry Sam, than the 75 minute endurance later.  This is especially true given that I will do tonights class even if I do the shorter one this morning.  Good thing it's a moderate effort ride tonight.   Not sure I'm up for getting my ass kicked today.

I've just been feeling beat up and think I need a few extra down days to recover.   I haven't been sleeping well, yes it's stress, which is affecting recovery from exercise, and I really had to push to finish the March fitness challenge so I'm worn out from that.   I just need to be mindful about this months challenge because if I'm not careful it's going to catch up to me again...

All that said, I feel better today.   Still not quite 100%, but much better.   I thing I'll go to bed early tonight since Wednesday is a run day and I chose not to run last week and I have another low impact ride tomorrow morning.

*update* I did get some rest, and, no I didn't get to run because it was raining all afternoon, so I did some restorative yoga on Wed. night which felt pretty good.   Oh and this was supposed to post on Tuesday not Thursday.

Feeling a little unmotivated lately

Yes, I'm struggling with a little post-challenge lack of motivation.   I don't even know if it's the right way to describe it, but I feel like I deserve a few days off.   It's not even that I necessarily want a day of zero activity, because I don't, but it's hard to close those damn rings when you don't do much.  So, in order to make that happen I think I'm going to change some things up this month.   I'm goign to try and mix in a regular Yoga, or some other strength or stretching exercise.   Why?   Well, after seventeen months I think my legs need a few days off, just to heal and recover and more importantly I need to address the flexibility issues that came after my knee surgery in 2020.   I had knee surgery right before the covid lockdowns and I missed physical therapy and while my knee healed fine and I can walk etc... without pain, I don't have the same flexibility in my right knee and I want to address that.  I just have to figure out how to do this without sacrificing the other things I'm working towards.

By the way, Yankee game was great, they just swept Houston and are 4-0 to start the season.   Good times!

Let's recap March and see where we go from here:

• Maintain Weight 
• Ride 500 miles
• 14 walk or run activities 
• Run 2 miles consecutively by EOM
• 8 rowing activities
• Perfect Month in Apple
• Apple March exercise goal
• Gold in my March challenges
• Start swimming
• Register for the Tri

Weight results:

• Starting Weight: 215.9
• Ending Weight: 217.6

Exercise info:

• Number of rides: 91
• Time on exercise: 35h 46m
• Distance on rides: 572.3m
• Number of runs: 3
• Distance running: 5.2m 
• Number of walks: 5
• Time walking: 1h 42m
• Distance walking: 4.8
• Number of rows: 7
• Time rowing: 1h 51m

Results:

So how did I do?   Well, I think I did just fine.  I've been keeping my weight stable, and the smart scale thinks I'm getting leaner.   I rode 570+ miles, which beat my goal.   I ran just over 2 miles and am confident a 5k won't be an issue.  I completed the March apple fitness, although it was a photo finish :), I got gold in the challenges and I did in fact register for the tri.

Where did I miss?   Well, I didn't row eight times, I took a monday off to go do Yoga with Merinda which I thoroughly enjoyed, I didn't have fourteen run/walk activities, although I do run every week, and I still haven't signed up for a swimming membership.  I'm only concerned about the swimming because I need to get ready for that and I only have 6 weeks...   That seems a little close for comfort now so I'll need to get a move on, but for a month where I felt like it was a struggle to work out I think I did just fine.   You might notice I took away the weight loss and goal info there, why?   Well, I hit those goals so I just want to track where I start/finish the month to make sure I don't go in the wrong direction.   After settling in for a few months, I like where my weight is and I'm going to try to stay around 215-220.

So what's in store for April?  Let's set some goals shall we:

• Maintain Weight
• Ride 550 miles
• Weekly run and walk exercise.   At least two walks and one run per week.
• Weekly Yoga exercise
• Run 3 miles consecutively by EOM
• Weekly rowing activities - My goal is 8-10 for the month.
• Perfect Month in Apple
• Apple April exercise goal
• Gold in my April challenges
• Start swimming

Almost the same as last month, so these should look familiar.   I don't feel that any of these are too hard but I'll have to keep an eye on the apple fitness challenge and I definitely have to start swimming.   Need to get my tri suit too.  I'm physically fit enough to complete the tri, but my arms might die if I don't practice swimming...   Only other changes are that I'm setting goals of doing activities weekly instead of a hard count. 

Final thoughts:

Overall a good month.  Yes, I struggled with my motivation and probably will for a little bit.  I know a lot of people think that getting in shape, or losing weight is hard, and yes it is, but so is staying in shape, or maintaining a healthy weight.   It requires an equal amount of dedication and time and I had to push myself a bit to hit that Apple fitness challenge so I feel a little burned out.

Enough chatter, have a great month!