Listening to Your Body

My anxiety is getting the best of me and ruining my sleep. Last night I only got five and a half hours. I averaged six over the weekend, which isn't even close to optimal. I wake up with my heart pounding and a sense of dread and doom that has nothing to do with any dreams I've had. It makes me appreciate the morning bird calls as a wakeup alarm because that's not jarring like most of the melodies I have access to. So it's not as if I can't sleep through the night. It's just that I never seem to get to bed on time. Last night I listened to thumping and banging for an hour. It turns out my son couldn't sleep and decided to rearrange his room at midnight.

I really want to go back to bed after my son gets on the school bus, but I drive to the gym instead. It's a Pull Day and of course, I'm starting with cardio. I beat Snow Bird to the Stretch Cage and get my pull-ups done before going to the aerobic room for core exercises. Everything is going fine until I get to the Smith for RDLs. I momentarily lose focus during the warm-up at 80 lbs and immediately know something isn't right. It's as if something shifted in my lower back, chiclets have fallen out of alignment and it's more than uncomfortable. However, it's not horribly painful, but it's not right either.

I do the smart thing: I stop doing RDLs. With 80 lbs on the bar, I can still do RG BB Rows without any discomfort. I can still do Seated Cable Rows and even the same 95 lbs I rowed last week. I can still do RG BB Curls. I'm just moving cautiously and deliberately. And, I can still pedal like a fiend on the elliptical for 20 plus minutes afterward. I actually feel really good now and knock out another set of pull-ups before a Mat Stretch and then a shower.

The daily teaspoon of chia seeds I've been adding to my yogurt has a very regulatory effect on the digestive tract, even more so than coffee! Just 3 tablespoons of seed fulfill the daily adult fiber requirement! I like the fact that there's no need to grind it to release all the nutritional benefits, unlike flax seed. So much more useful than smearing it on terra cotta figurines. (Who remembers those Chia Pet commercials?) If I was smart, I'd take a nap when I get home. But I've lost the ability to nap these days.

And I can't actually get home because some idiot driving a carting truck crashed into the utility pole on my road. And my road is now closed while 4 power company trucks try to avert disaster and replace the broken pole while wires snake through the trees. I park down the street and weave through the bucket trucks while carrying the groceries I didn't want to leave in my car. Like meat, and $5 sushi for my son. Tonight, the best I can hope for is getting to bed a little earlier, and not having my son rearrange his room in the middle of the night.

Another Rainy Sleep-Deprived Wednesday
(5 miles)

30 elliptical + 5cd
Program 3
Miles 2.89
Calories 323
HR 150-192 (95, 91)

Cage Stretch
HGPU 23

Elbow Plank 60s
Crunches Legs Up 60
Horizontal Scissors 60
Crunches knees bent 60
Bicycles 60
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s

Smith RDLs
Bar (30) x 15
80 x 12
Lost focus — weird lower back

Smith RG BB Rows
80 x 25 x 3

Seated Cable Rows
70 x 12
77.5 x 12
85 x 12
90 x 12
95 x 12

RG BB Curls
40 x 25 x 3

20 elliptical + 5cd
Program 3
Miles 2.11
Calories 238
HR 143-193 (84, 98, 86)

HGPU 23

Mat Stretch