This is What I Do.

Life is nothing if not interesting.  Twists, turns, blind corners and the occasional dead end street.  The future remains a mystery, which is always the case but we usually prefer a cozy little state of thinking we know what's just around the bend.  As you can see, my life remains unsettled but I'm doing my best to roll with it.

Yesterday, Monday, I went to the gym after work.  I did not want to go.  I felt tired and grumpy and just not in the mood.  It had been chilly all day and I found the thought of taking off my clothes to change into a gym t-shirt and capri tights uninviting at minimum.  But I reminded myself that this is what I do.  I go to the gym, I exercise, it's me and it's good and I will do it.  And I did.  And, as  happens 99% of the time, I was so glad I did.

I started with a 1.5 mile run on the treadmill.  I decided to run at my pre-pneumonia pace of 6.4mph but I left out the 7.4mph intervals.  I could have killed myself trying to do them but #1, I don't have the green light from the doctor to kill myself yet and #2, I generally am not a fan of torture on the treadmill.  So I ran 1.5 miles in something like 14:30 and then hopped off, already feeling better with a bit of endorphins rushing through my blood.

I had chest/triceps/core for strength training.  I started out with some bosu pushups, doing only 2 sets of everything instead of my normal 3.  Hey, I'm taking it easy, remember?  Then there were some chest presses, dips, double crunches, you know the drill.  By the time I left the gym I was feeling so much better than when I walked in.  Not just energy-wise but about life, my future, all of it.  Exercise is a miracle drug.

As has been the case lately I ate more food than I needed last night.  I had teriyaki chicken and broccoli over rice for dinner.  And a bunch of other crap I won't catalog here.  I'm still sort of watching myself, seeing what develops.  I know this is a passive approach, as if I'm not actually the one making decisions here.  But I have faith I'll swing back around and things will fall into place.  I can use brute force down the road if needed.  Now is a time to be gentle with myself.

Today was good.  My main issue is my friggin' back, it's been hurting all day.  I had back/biceps/core due up at the gym but I'm not that stupid so I switched to legs/shoulders/core.  I started with a 15 minute ride on the bike, Level 8 (my pre-pneumonia level, but 10 minutes shorter on time).  The bike went well, a challenge, but I handled it.

After the bike I did strength training.  You don't realize how much you use your back for stuff until it hurts like hell.  I was able to do everything except decline crunches.  I got up on the bench and started to decline and my back screamed NO.  So I did situps instead.  For jump squats I was barely jumping, you use your back a lot to jump, who knew?  Anyway, the gym was good overall, despite my back.  I have strong legs and they didn't disappoint.  And I generally enjoy shoulder exercises so that was good. 

I had a lunch meeting and didn't bring food so lunch turned out to be a series of snacks.  Mostly healthy snacks but toward the end of the day I was feeling like something less than healthy.  So I stopped at McDonald's for a small soft serve cone.  It was good.  Can that count as dinner?  Who knows because I continued with the snacking-but-not-really-eating thing once I got home.  I never ate a real dinner.  And now the kids are tucked in bed and I'm all alone with more snacks than I usually have in the house.  Let's hope I don't make too many questionable choices.  At least I don't have a gallon of ice cream or a case of Oreos!  In any case I'm tired and headed to bed myself so no snacks for me.  Sometimes going to bed is the best thing you can do to prevent nighttime snacking.