Beating Back The Beast -one week five days

Did the Beast win?. I didn't train today but instead of conceding a win to the Beast I am taking today as a rest day, a day for the body to heal.

The Beast did have a play in my decision but I had already been concerned I had not had a rest day in over a week. It is crucial to allow the body a day off. For muscle tissue to be allowed to heal, so although I may have had a dodgy tummy today, and that may have been because I have not been consistent with my diet (something the Beast punishes me for severely) I am taking a rest day!

I need to be more consistent with my nutrition but the thing is I hate cooking. I used to love to bake but that is now off the table. I have never really enjoyed cooking, and the fact that the foods I now get to eat are not even close to being on my favourite lists of foods doesn't help. I have actually come to the sad conclusion if it tastes like poop then it will be good for me, if it tastes good and I really like it it's guaranteed to have an adverse reaction on my body. Terrible attitude but the Beast has taught me well with its punishing ways.

So I continue to hate my food and have an intense dislike for cooking. This is not helpful as I will take shortcuts and I will not eat properly to avoid my two pet hates. This leads to days like today. Sigh I am my own worst enemy. But today is a rest day and tomorrow Scarlet...tomorrow!

Kumara (sweet potato) Fries, cabbage, kale, spring onion coleslaw and Beef and pork patties.

Beating Back The Beast - one week four days

Sensei wins the day. I got my mojo back today though I also got back the small amount of weight I had lost since the weekend. I had dropped 800 grams, this morning I found it, sigh. My energy levels were up though and I got not only my jobs done but put in a short interval training in the late morning as well as doing class tonight.

 I know 'pride cometh before a fall' but I am quite proud of myself today. After the day I had yesterday to get two training's in at different times of the daywas a good confidence booster. It is also a good way to get the metabolism firing. The morning training was short but it was intense, we live on a river terrace so I did ten sprints up the bank with a walk back down to control my breathing and heart rate before heading back up again.

 I love interval training. It gives me intensity but allows me time to reset, to catch my breath and allows my muscles to relax a little before the next blast of power. My goal will be to build on this until I can head down to the only hill in the area and do hill sprints of around 50 mtres with a walk back down. I used this as part of my training for my black belt and it worked a charm. The first time I did it I managed 5 but built to twenty reps by the time my grading came around. It's going to be interesting to see how many I can do when I head down there for the first time. It better be more than 5!

Still having a hate/ hate relationship with food. I just wish it could be interesting and flavoursome, sigh. But it is what it is, and at the end of the day it is only fuel. Ha! I will keep telling myself that until I believe it.

Beating Back The Beast - one week/ three days

 The beast has pulled down the veil and I am seeing the world through a movie lens, not quite connected to what is happening around me. I hate days like this the most I think. Days when the beast steals my connection to the world. I know it is the beast's way of punishing me for overdoing things but I will not be held down. I still got through my list of jobs for the day and I also did a very brief core workout.

Mabel my training partner this evening was not much help, she felt I really should be taking the day off, She may be right. She kept trying to convince me that playing wold be much more fun than working out. We compromised and did a little of both. Today I think is a draw. Beast 0 - Sensei Amanda 0

Scarlet's words echo in my head again. Tomorrow.........

I was also reminded today by a friend to look into my supplements, especially magnesium malate. I will also replenish my supply of selenium. Both of these minerals are very good for muscles and connective tissue. Perhaps with a little support from these I will be able to push forward a little more.

Onward and upward :)

Beating Back the Beast - one week two days.

The beast bit back a little today, probably not as harshly as I thought it would but bite it did. The connective tissue around my sacrum and my hips, knees, shoulders and elbows has been inflamed and painful all day. Not much sleep for the tossing and turning and a slow start into the day. A good reason to get stuck into some book work.

Monday is training night so I rocked up to class wondering just how things would go. Decided we would have an ab and ground technique night. Some of my joints screamed but I managed to push through. Surprisingly it was my left shoulder that threw the biggest hissy fit and yet it had not shown many signs of a struggle throughout the day.

All in all a successful day, I find it is easier to push the core workouts on days when my energy levels are low and the body is sore. Running today would have been impossible but there are ways around the beast.

Before I leave tonight I want to ask everyone to keep my friend Toni in their thoughts. She was the wonderful owner of one of my dogs from my last Irish Wolfhound  litter, Murphy Brown. He passed away suddenly today and his lost is felt keenly by those who knew his beautiful loving nature. Godspeed Murphy!

Beating Back the Beast - one week - one day

Today was a good day, though I have to admit it was a struggle to wake up and get going. Mornings are especially hard with Hashi's, the Beast doesn't like to stir early and even if I have the temerity to get up I often seem to be on pause until around lunch time. Today was different.

Today I dragged myself out of my bed and dressed in my running clothes, forgoing breakfast I headed out to run. I had downloaded an app to the phone and was keen to give it a whirl. I was only going to take the two smallest dogs with me but Cooper begged to come, this woke the Queen who also demanded to come. I informed her I was going to run not walk and she may prefer to stay home. She disagreed. I then informed her she would have to do her own thing at the forest and she assured me that would be just fine with her.

For those of you who have not met the Queen she is a 13 year old Irish Wolfhound of a very determined nature. What the Queen wants the Queen gets. The walk over to the forest was more of a dawdle than anything as we encouraged the Queen to keep up. Cooper would have left her behind but I know better. So my new app was recording some very slow walking on my behalf though I could offer this as an excuse for my poor times I will not.In my defense I am walking running at this stage but even then I feel my times were rather pathetic. Oh well I can only improve.

3.1km in 29 minutes. 9.20 min/km

One good point is it shouldn't be too hard to improve on it, lol. Returning home my muscles were a little tight so I was sure to do a stretch workout as well. Finally breakfast though it was more brunch by this time. Still feeling good later in the day after my chores I got stuck back into those bricks. I am dreading what the beast has lined up for me tomorrow. I fear I may have poked it a little hard with a stick today, it never likes to see me over achieving.

On the food front, no chocolate today and just a little fruit. I made some meat patties last night and decided to trial some tapioca flour in them. Not too severe a reaction to it but blech they tasted disgusting and the texture was just plain gross. I won't do that again in a hurry. Another lesson learned.

Impossible to resist this face and look how happy she was that she got to come.

Beating back the beast - one week today

A week has passed since I set my goal. This week has seen steady gains in my training. The fact  my body has not given up on me this week is encouraging. I started out the week experiencing muscle tie up the day after my training's. Lactic acid build up in almost every muscle of my body but by the middle of the week this seemed to settle down. The stretch program is definitely making a huge difference. All in all a good week.

By increasing my core work I am finding I am standing taller and slouching less. It really doesn't take long to notice a difference in how you feel when you concentrate on getting some core work in everyday. It makes me feel stronger and fitter. This I know is an illusion but self delusion helps to motivate me, lol. I walk taller, feel better about myself and in doing so it increases my resolve to stick to the AIP protocol.

Today was indeed another day and I have so far beaten the sugar beast, cut my intake back to about a third of what is was yesterday, YAY. Now where's that chocolate bar so I can celebrate! Ha just kidding.

My work out today was a practical one. Another project I have set myself is to build a raised garden with a wee courtyard at its centre.  I am trying to do this project with as little financial investment as possible, recycling and doing the hard graft to pull it all together. The bricks I collected from the buy, sell, exchange for free, all need to be cleaned before they can be used again.

Today I made a good dent in the pile of red bricks. I had previously cleaned the cinder-blocks but this had caused a flare up in the ulnar nerve/tendons of my forearm.. One of the problems I risk in pushing through the pain is that I cause serious inflammation that will take months to dissipate. This meant that when I noticed the pain flaring up I had to quit for the day but it was satisfying to make head way on my project and use it as part of my fitness program. Also got the paddocks mucked out and had a short walk. It was such a gorgeous spring day today, life is good!

My physical activity has increased a lot this week and I am coping with it well.

Week one -  Sensei Amanda 1                     The Beast 0

before

after

What a difference a day makes. Gorgeous spring sunshine