LOUSY TRAINING DAY, AND I GOT INJURED TOO

I recently gave someone a pep talk about having bad training days. I guess it is only poetic justice that I had one too today. Note to self: Stop giving pep talks.

Another note to self: Never do yoga before lifting day. It might be other factors that resulted in today’s poor showing (like the fact that I am actually really weaker than I thought), but I am sticking the Friday hot yoga session in the scapegoat’s seat for today’s debacle.

Anyway, the gist of today’s lifting session was that I was struggling with 55 kgs deadlifts when I was lifting 60 kgs, and even 65 kgs two weeks ago. And even with 55 kgs today I had to abort the sets halfway. And the bad thing about lifting once a week is that I don’t get to wipe out a poor record with a nice fresh one by Monday. I have to wait two weeks to prove my mettle again. Sad, that.

Muay Thai was better, but not fantastic either. The best I can say about today’s session is that I lasted the entire bout, but it was obvious I was tiring early and not at my best. The last twenty minutes of the session was run on willpower alone. At that point in time, I honestly felt for those pro boxers who have to keep going during their matches. Mind over body takes on new meaning for me.

And to top it all, today had to be the day I broke my injury free training record (muscle aches that felt like trucks rolled over me do not count). It feels like a strain in my left foot, which feels rather painful when I walk or flex my foot. It is actually very minor and definitely not serious enough to halt my training, but it still sucks. And the thing is I can’t even remember sustaining it. I only started feeling the pain after my long, wonderful afternoon nap today. I suspect I must have gotten it during Muay Thai, when I misjudged the distance to the boxing bag and kicked it with my foot instead of my shin. Now I feel like a klutz on top of everything else.

I have to keep reminding myself that I’m into all this fitness stuff for FAT LOSS, otherwise I may just hide under the blankets and cry. Strange how priorities shift subconsciously. Anyway, there is good news on the fat loss front. Pinch test measurements this week revealed that I lost three bodyfat percentages since mid February, which leaves me just 2% away from acceptable bodyfat percentage range. Just 2% more and I will be officially not overweight anymore. Of course, BMI and WHR and a host of other ratios will not agree, but I have decided to adopt bodyfat % as my guiding light and the other ratios can retreat to the acronym retirement village. A girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do.

The pinch test measurements also revealed that I have got to sleep more, which means no blog hopping and Facebook for me during weekday nights from now on. This pinch test is as good as a psychic reading when it comes to my lifestyle habits. The last time it was done, my coach correctly analysed that I was still piling on the carbohydrates, hence no loss in the love handles though I went down everywhere else. This time, calves showed no losses, which apparently translates to sleep deficiency. Some girls lie to their coaches to maintain a good impression or to avoid incessant nagging. There is no sense in lying to mine. He’ll just grab my fats and prove me wrong.

A few days ago, I went window shopping and tried on some stuff in some shop. These days when salespeople ask me what size I wear, I’m kind of clueless. Given my obsession with fat loss, it is kind of weird that I’m not obsessive compulsive about tracking my clothing size. But my body composition keeps changing on me and it gets difficult to judge what size I should be getting. Anyway, the salesperson seemed to have some kind of built in size radar and got me all the right sizes to try. Then I found out that I was trying “M” sizes. That clinched it. I walked out of the shop with a shopping bag full of clothes I hadn’t intended to get. I haven’t worn “M” sizes since forever. Of course, it could be that the cut of the clothes in that shop happened to be bigger….but an “M” is an “M”. It is like artificial sweeteners. You know they are not real sugar, but who cares if they taste sweet anyway?

And I got yet another compliment today about my visible flab loss, which kind of makes today somewhat less lousy.

And lastly, when I went to my favourite pork chop place for lunch after Muay Thai today, the cute maître d’ personally served me my pork chops and commented that he didn’t see me last Saturday. I didn’t even realize he remembered me from my weekly visits; much less that he missed me when I skip a visit. I was so flabbergasted that I don’t remember what I mumbled back. Last note to self: Need to practice more at spontaneous flirtations. Nevertheless, the pork chops tasted extra nice with a serving of his sunny smile.

And it wasn’t such a lousy day after all.