A reminder you could always be a little bit better than this…
(Get Better ~ Frank Turner, 2015)
My biggest challenge right this minute seems to be not being too hard on myself. To not start this post berating myself for having failed with “My Peak Challenge” (MPC) over and over again these past few weeks. Past few months actually. To not think and write too negatively about myself even though I did lose track on my MPC path these past few months. It is what it is and I could dwell on the whys and hows and negative thoughts. Or I can put it behind me and start over. Again :-)
A quick recap: I was really motivated and did really well in January. In February there were a few days where I had to postpone a workout and thus I finished the 2nd month of the programme in the first week of March. For some reason my troubles started then. A lot of work at the office, but also fun events and my habitual sluggishness were too much of a distraction it seems. I managed the first 1.5 weeks of month 3, but then I took a break. And started over. And then there was the Gathering. And Easter. And lots of work. And some more “starting over” attempts. Then came the Lost Evenings and a trip to Brighton, which led to me be being sick at home for about two weeks. By then it was the end of May / early June. I did start over in June once more and even thought doing an Instagram story about it might keep me more accountable. But then a heatwave came over Germany and I couldn’t be bothered to work out at all. Plus there once again were incredibly busy times at work. *sigh*
The good thing though is: I was still kind of active each week, not necessarily with workouts but with at least taking a walk in my lunch break or at doing a lot of walking / jumping / dancing at the fun events (concerts, vacation and such) and I didn’t eat too much crap. From the end of M2 (early March) till now I still have lost a few more pounds. And had some people notice my weight loss already. That’s something uplifting at least.
So, July will be my umpteenth attempt to tackle month 3 and move forward. This time I’m determined to keep going and blogging about it is my attempt to keep me accountable. I might do one post each week, starting today and will add a short note of each day to this weekly post. Let’s see how it goes.
Month 3
Measurements (compared to 01 January 2017)
Weight: – 7,5 kg
Neck: – 1 cm
Chest: – 2 cm
Waist: – 8 cm
Hips: – 7 cm
Biceps: – 1 cm
Thigh: – 2 cm
M3W1D1 (Saturday, 1 July) + M3W1D2 (Sunday, 2 July)
I started out all motivated with the first workout on Saturday afternoon. Today (Sunday) was a lazy day and I postponed the workout till the last possible moment and started after 9 in the evening. *sigh* At least my thighs aren’t burning as much from yesterday’s workout as they did the last time I started over with Month 3 (which only was two weeks ago *g*). Back then I was in need of an extra rest day after Day 3 and then we had >30 °C and I dropped out of my routine again. I just hope I won’t feel too sore tomorrow.
I didn’t do too bad (for me) on the 4 min forearm plank from knee either, I did intervals of 50 – 30 – 30 – 30 – 40 – 35 – 25. Six months ago for a 2 min elevated forearm plank I needed 8 x 15 sec intervals. It’s always good to get some perspective and see how far I’ve actually already come. But I’m still already dreading the sideplank later this week ;-)
M3W1D3 – M3W1D5 (Monday 3 July – Saturday 08 July)
Four days in and I’ve been stumbling already *sigh* Active Recovery on Monday was no problem as I take a long-ish walk during my lunch break most days. Tuesday was a busy day at a conference and when I got back home I just couldn’t bring myself to do the D4 workout. I did it on Wednesday morning instead and even went out for a long walk after a busy day at work to make the most of the wonderful weather that day. Thursday and Friday were both incredibly busy and exhausting days again and when I got home from work / errands around around 7-8 in the evening I was too knackered to work out.
I did the D5 workout late Saturday night and while I did ok with all the squats, I still consider side planks an exercise from hell.
M3W1D6 (Sunday 09 July)
For Active Recovery Day (ARD) I finally took my bike out for a spin today. A few years ago I’ve been cycling quite a lot actually, but for some reason I stopped doing that last year. Or even the year before to be honest. I don’t really know why. One of my MPC challenges for this year was to do at least 300 km of cycling over the summer and today I got the first 17 km in. And it was fun! Exhausting at first, because I live in a hilly region and I have to go up a hill at some point on any longer route. This time I started uphill which was hard, but the joy and pride of having reached the top of that hill was all the sweeter for it.
M3W1D7 (Monday 10 July)
Will be an ordinary day at the office and thus a mix between Active Recovery and Rest. Probably more of the first, but that’s ok. I took it easy after the cycling today. And thus will conclude the first long week of my Month 3 repeat. Week 2 will start on Tuesday. Wish me luck and better luck with my time management :-)