I woke up this morning feeling SORE and SCARED. Let’s go with the smaller of two Esses first.
SORE AS HELL
I haven’t felt delayed muscle soreness (DMS) in a LONG time. According to wikipedia, DMS is caused by the body’s attempt to rebuild broken muscle fibers.
Although I woke up feeling like a 70-year-old grandma, I was happy. Being sore meant that my strength training is working. I’ve introduced new exercises and have been super setting. I’m still lifting for the same amount of time, but I’m now doing double the amount of exercises. While I used to only be able to work on one muscle group a day, I can now target up to three. Call me masochistic, call me crazy, but I like being sore. It’s reassurance that my hard work is paying off. However…
I’M SCARED OF FAILURE
I also woke up feeling scared. Usually, towards the end of every week, I start feeling lighter, like I’ve lost weight. So far, my intuition hasn’t failed me. The scale has been rewarding. However, I woke up today in a half panic because I felt bloated. I had a brief freak out and convinced myself that I gained 20 pounds over night. But then I made my way to the bathroom, and I liked what I saw in the mirror. No, it’s not where I want to be eventually, but I can see the progress. My collar bone has reappeared from underneath the layers of fat and has come out to play. I’m also getting some definition in my arms. I realized that even if I don’t shed some major poundage and break into Onederland this week, I’ve still made progress.
I don’t even know where this ridiculous feeling is coming from, but it’s there. It’s not like I’ve eaten poorly this past week or skipped my workouts, but I don’t know. All I can say is that I’m not confident in myself this week, but I’m still trying to keep my chin up. I’m getting faster on the mile, and I finished 1.8 miles outside in 17:45. That’s pretty good! But I’m having a tough time convincing myself that that’s good enough. I’m really trying to though. It’s not even weigh-in day yet, but I’ve already mentally prepared myself for the worst.
BUT EVEN THOUGH I WAS SORE AND SCARED…
I grew some balls and registered for my first 5K race. It’s in 3 weeks, so I’ve got less than a month to crank up the speed! I think it’s ironic that I haven’t even been running for that long and my first 5K is known as The World’s Fastest 5K. Pretty intimidating, but screw all those speedsters. I’ll run at my own pace, and since it’s my first 5K, I can’t even lose to myself. I’m pretty excited to watch the other runners as well. Apparently, there’s an invitational category. Those runners are probably running 20-minute 5Ks. Holy Cow.
MORAL OF THE STORY?
When you’re sore as hell and scared of failure, register for a 5K! I’m kidding, kind of. For me, I know that registering for a 5K will make me keep pushing forward, to keep getting better, so that I can’t give up. I could think about running a real 5K all day long, but it would be pointless if I never signed up and actually ran one.
So bring it, world’s fastest. I’m comin’ for ya.
How have you been feeling lately? Any Esses?
Fiber One – Breakfast: fiber one cereal, vanilla yogurt, blueberries, strawberries. Who knew fiber could look so tasty?
Cheesy Quesadilla – Lunch: whole wheat tortillas, turkey deli meat, onions, red bell peppers, mushrooms, cheddar and mozzarella cheese, sour cream, homemade salsa, avocado.
Chinese Beef Noodle Soup (Niu rou mian) – Dinner: Shanghai noodles, beef broth, spinach, chicken breast, chili peppers.
Consumption: 1588 calories, 15.85g of fat. Total steps: 12,183
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Workout: 50-minute treadmill. Planks. Squats.
I was going to run an 8;30 mile, but wasn’t feeling it. I knew I had to get my steps in somehow but I was bored. Then it occurred to me that I’ve never run on an inclined tread mill. So I bumped up the incline to 2.0 and ran at 5.3 for 7 minutes, walked for 3 minutes, then back to running. I did the incline for 40 minutes. It’s definitely harder than running flat, but not impossible. I can feel the burn in my quads, but if I can run a ten-minute mile on an incline, imagine how fast I could run flat.
Did three sets of 30-second planks. Completed Day 5 of Squats Challenge. Need to do abs tomorrow.
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Female. 25 years old. Chinese. Cook. Foodie. UCLA grad. Traveler. Musician. Scuba diver. GWU Law. Runner.
I just read a book that had a quote in it that I loved. The author was at a race and feeling a little intimidated until she saw a man with a t-shirt that said, “Relax. Neither one of us is going to win.” I loved that. Thought you might like that.
.-= karen@fitnessjourney´s last blog The No-Equipment-No-Cost-Do-Anywhere Workout =-.
Good luck on your first 5k. My wife and I, who are also trying to lose weight, have our first one the first of May. Then we have to start training for real for a Marathon in October.
Congrats on registering for the 5K – YOU ROCK. I hope to be there someday! It’s funny how you talk about your intuition with the scale – I get a very similar feeling some morning, like I just KNOW that I will have a good (or bad) weigh-in.
Incredible! You are doing so well…does it really matter if you weigh heavy one week? look at how mind blowing your workouts are. If you are bloated one day, you’ll just be lighter in a few days–no big whoop. In a few weeks, it won’t matter what you weighed this week. Well, I guess if you stopped the program all together and gained weight it would, but we aren’t gonna do that are we? (fist bump)
.-= Craig´s last blog The Final Perfect Ten Update! =-.
Great job, Jess! Good luck with your 5K! We all have weeks where we don’t quite feel on our game. A couple of weeks ago, I had two weeks in a row where I just wasn’t feeling totally on the ball with my plan. But, like Craig said, you’ve been doing so well with your diet and exercise, that your body, and mindset, will catch back up. Hang in there!
.-= Chad´s last blog Weekly Weigh In – Breaking Records =-.