Fitness Jouissance: On pushing too hard, nap-mares, and bacon...

Since my last post was about perseverance through the pain, I thought that today I'd briefly touch on the flip side of that, which is knowing when not to push it.

Today I woke up late. Late, as in my alarm was set for 4:45, and I woke up and then reset the alarm for 7:00. My body said, "Listen, you've been pushing us a little bit too hard lately, and since you didn't listen when I told you that our neck hurt, I'm going to make you pay for it this morning."

It's hard to argue with a body.

In the past, I would have just forced myself out of bed, run the 3 or so miles I had planned to run, and then done my plyometric workout, pain be damned. I'd pay for it later, when my back or my knees or my shoulders or ankle gave out (again, as always), and then I'd be unable to work out at all for the next month.

This afternoon, I planned to work out despite the heat and humidity around 3 pm. I had my whey protein and got into my workout clothes...but I was so tired that I couldn't motivate myself to leave the house. My body said, "Listen, we're still catching up on that whole "rest" thing, so if you can just let us nap for a bit, that would be great."

I took a nap. For an hour and a half. I never nap. Apparently I needed it.
(I didn't, however, need the "nap-mare" that woke me up literally crying at 5 pm. The dream was so vivid that I can still recall the whole entire storyline. I'm still not entirely convinced that my sister wasn't accidentally stabbed in the stomach by a med student at her school or that my dog wasn't let out the back door and then hit by a car. ...Yeah, it was that bad.)

I eventually did work out--and I only pushed it as far as I could without hurting my neck or shoulder and potentially canceling tomorrow's workout in advance.

Today:

1 mile warm up run ("barefoot.")
Plyo Set 1 (repeat 3x w/ 1 min break):
   Lateral Ski Jumps (1 min)
   Cross Behind Step Up & Over on Bench (1 min)
   Sit up & Squat on Bosu (1 min)
   In & Out Squat Jumps (30 s)
90 s Break
Plyo Set 2 (repeat 3x w/ 1 min break):
   Walking Lunges (1 min, 15 lb dumbbells)
   Single-Leg Squat Thrusts (30 s)
   Spiderman Push Ups (30 s)
   Box Jumps on Step (1 min)

Was it a ridiculously impossible cross-fit-worthy cardio extravaganza? No. But I worked up a sweat, and it felt good to move my body. I also ran in my vibrams for the first time....talk about pushing it. Barefoot running is going to take some serious getting used to.

Anyway...I'm off to finish a last load of laundry...I'll provide something more substantial tomorrow, I'm sure.

Kaila

PS I "stole" a recipe from How Sweet it Is, and made the most ridiculous cookies ever for my roommate. Instagram pictures below: