I “worried” to my climbing partner yesterday (who was suffering from the day-after effects of climbing for the first time in months) that I wasn’t hurting, so I clearly hadn’t pushed myself hard enough. Last night I started to feel it though, and today I feel a tightness in my back and arms that seem only to make sense with climbing in mind. So I could undoubtedly have pushed myself harder, but my body is telling me that maybe I wasn’t TOO too easy on myself either 
Delayed reaction
Reawakening
After a months-long hiatus, and with plans to start climbing again in October (since I’m leaving in 2 weeks for a 3-week holiday), a last-minute suggestion to go climbing last night was the perfect reawakening to all kinds of bits and pieces of me. The timing was great, after just a couple of days ago a good friend told me that it showed that I hadn’t been climbing in ages, because I’d lost muscle tone (frankly I hadn’t realized that I’d ever gained visible muscle tone) but that was a good incentive to jump on the invitation to the climbing gym when it came unexpectedly yesterday!
I can indeed confirm that those muscles are gone, although my climbing partner assures me that it will only take a few sessions for them to rebuild (although I will have to push myself harder than I did last night for that to happen). From the time we arrived, the sensations that I forgot I missed started to return (actually, the excitement of actually going was the first one), although some are clearly more pleasant than others:
- I didn’t remember the gym smelling quite so sweaty (not good)
- It only took one or two climbs to feel the familiar warmth in my forearms (good)
- The inside of my fingers felt raw in an unreasonably short period of time, although more from the spotting than the climbing – I think (not good)
- All kinds of muscles stretched their legs for the first time in ages (good)
- I ran out of energy after far fewer climbs than I should have (not good)
- We were at the gym that has the sauna and lounge chairs (goooooooooooooooood)
So now we’ll have to see whether we can get a few more such trips in in the next 10 ten days, otherwise I’ll have to wait over a month to get back in the groove, but even if it only ends up being a single trip for this month, it was so worth it. Maybe it’s also time to pick up the burpees where I left off (although I might need to build up to that too…maybe I have to start all over or something…decisions, decisions)
Burpees and other healthy stuff
So, as you might have guessed, the 3 day lag of burpees back on June 17th, combined with some rather intense intensity at work, and the preparation of my wedding led to my sudden and unfortunate abandonment of the challenge. Since then I have done a set now and then, and promised myself that I would pick up where I left off, but it seems like the intense intensity is going nowhere, and we are in full preparation for one last wedding celebration and our honeymoon this fall. Is this an excuse? Perhaps.
That said, I have by no means abandoned attempts to generally improve my health, with the latest effort focusing on 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. It sounds so simple, but since I don’t eat huge quantities of food to begin with, I was surprised at how difficult it was. Even so, I believe that I hit the complete target for the first time possibly in my entire life yesterday after ramping up for the past week. The biggest challenge is that I’m not a fan of vegetables (although I love numerous different types of fruit) so my 5 servings have a clearly fruity leaning, but hey. I’m not complaining – I’m just happy that this motivation came suddenly and out of nowhere (well, not exactly nowhere: I’ve been buying blueberries just about every time I go to the grocery store since they first showed up this season, and an embarrassingly significant part of the motivation seems to have come from a form of marketing: a silly computer game that I came across last weekend called the Wonder Juice Machine, which provides (very tantalizing) recipes for smoothies after each level. Speaking of which, I haven’t actually made any since the fruit kick began (although we’ve had fresh-pressed orange+lemon juice 3 times in the past week) and we bought another stock of fruit yesterday, so I should go back and look at some recipes again – wahoo: an excuse to play games for a few minutes (before doing some work, because I’ve got an important deadline on Monday…and Tuesday…and Wednesday…and Friday: apparently Thursday will be my breathing day).
Frustration (Day 89)
So I managed to do two days in one on Friday, but yesterday I didn’t even do a whole day’s worth, much less catch up on the additional days delay. Today it will be a challenge to even finish yesterday’s, much less dig into todays. argh! Only 11 days left, which should mean 1045 burpees, but as of this moment, I actually have 1181 to go (47 of which belong to yesterday, and 89 of which are for today). Can I catch up? Friday’s 171 say that I can, but I’m frustrated with myself for not being closer than I am.
Two for one (Day 87)
I can’t believe I did 171 burpees today. Any more I do finally cut into the 87 that I am supposed to do today!
Two steps forward, one step back? (Day 82)
So I caught up my day lag, doing basically two days worth of burpees in less than 24 hours, but then lost again the next day. As of this morning, I had 80 of yesterday’s 81 to do (yes, I realize how ridiculous that sounds, but I tacked one on to the last set I finished from the previous day) and today’s 82.
I’ve just finished two sets of 10, and felt the burn starting about halfway through the second one. Could be because I’m tired (been a bit short on sleep the past few days) although despite being awake since 5:30, I actually feel quite alive this morning (contrary to the same time yesterday, when I also woke up at 5:30). So if I can get through yesterday’s by noon, then I could potentially catch up once again, which I really need to do, since I will be up at 3:30am tomorrow, only to get home around midnight, with probably very little opportunity in that long day to do the 83 burpees that will be on my agenda for the day!
A whole day behind (Day 79)
It is 8:57 pm, and I just (finally) caught up on my carry-over. On day 77, my dent into the 77 burpees ended up staying small, with only 17. I’ve lost track of how many I did today versus yesterday, but I do know that in total I’ve just caught up.
For some reason I can’t explain, I’ve reversed the counting, so I now count down instead of upwards. Somewhere in my psyche, this seems to make sets of 15 or 20 a bit easier than when I count upwards, because at the end of the set, the number in my head is what’s still left to finish the day, rather than something like 10 or 15 that lets my brain say “good job, Heather, you’ve finished another set”, or “that can count as a set”. This evening I feel like it helped me get through the carryover, although going from “1″ (the last of the carryover) to “79″ (today’s portion of the challenge) was a bit demoralizing.
Ah well, 79 was a good year: maybe the catchup won’t be too hard
Finished for… (Day 77)
yesterday. Ugh. It’s 9:22 pm. And I’ve just finished catching up on yesterday’s carryover.
Optimism: only 77 more to do before midnight to catch up!
Realism: there will be another carryover, but I will try to make it as small as possible.
I seriously need to get back in the habit of a couple of sets before work, a couple before lunch, a couple in the afternoon, and a couple in the even. That way, even if I do sets of 10, I can stay on track.
On a lighter note, I did a short set with a colleague (well, she did one burpee just to try) and I really felt like I progressed. She struggled with it exactly like I did (and continue to do, just in a different way) and it felt really good to have gotten to where I am.
On that note, I’d better had back to a empty piece of floor – the burpees are calling!
Not getting any easier (Day 74)
I didn’t help my cause today by carrying over 24 burpees from yesterday, so I’m 88 in, with 10 to go. This confirms two things for me: I can do 100 in a day, but it’s haaaaaaaard. And the third thing, which I’ve said before; carryovers are bad. A missed day would be certain death.
In the meantime, my climbing partner has had to take a sabbatical. While he kept doing some of the burpees with his various pains and injuries, he eventually lost track. As we speak he’s in a 24-hour relay race with 3 other people, after which he plans to restart the challenge where he lost count. I’m not sure where that it, but it does mean on my on own for the moment, and day 100 (if I make it) won’t be quite the same as if there were others finishing with me.
And with that off my chest, I’m off to an old roommate housewarming
