This was a very untypical week with some music events and later-than-usual nights. It messes with sleep and therefore with performance, but (almost) everything that has to do with music is worth it.

Sadly this week included more than music and good squats.

I was in shock and deeply saddened hearing about the school shooting in Sweden in the beginning of the week. There’s been a huge problem there with gang violence (basically mafia-like organised crime groups) for quite a few years with frequent shootings and bombings, and since I moved to Ireland I’ve seen the violence escalate to a level I never thought possible.

This shooting was likely a different type of attack, similar to the frequent shootings in the US, but we don’t know about the motive yet. I’ve somehow become used to hearing about the gang violence but the news about this tipped me over the edge. I’ve been crying and swearing, feeling that what used to be my home country doesn’t exist anymore. And I felt I wanted to switch off the internet, never read the news again and just stay in my bubble photographing little people on cheese. Yes, I know it doesn’t help.

Now let’s talk about the good things in life, the things we can control – such as how we treat our bodies.

Monday

I knew this day would be a “lazy” day but I did have plans to do my foot strength work and something else. But I got busy with a website project straight after my morning coffee so I totally forgot about everything else, and none of my usual exercises got done.

My new figurines arrived in the post, and I took some quick shots. I’ll play more with these later. The guitar player is of course my favourite!

I did push-ups in the evening and then we left to go to a music session, it was the last day of the trad festival. I didn’t plan to join in since I doubted I would know any of the tunes. I took my concertina in my backpack just in case, but never used it.

Tuesday – gym

It was gym day. On a Tuesday! We’ve changed things around a bit this week.

I didn’t feel my performance was great on Friday last week, but oh boy, did I make up for that today! I’ve pinpointed some things that may have affected my performance last week, and nutrition is one of them. Honestly I’m not sure how much carb type X makes a difference compared to carb type Y, but I planned my lunch differently today. Whether or not that was the magic trick, I had a great gym session with a lot of oomph.

For the squats he put on a different number of plates than usual, and when I started lifting I immediately felt that this wasn’t the usual weight.

I haven’t done 55 kg squats with 12 reps since last summer. My legs felt very shaky a few reps in with every set but I kept going… and made it. So satisfying.

Wednesday

I only did my foot exercises and two sets of lunges. I had wanted to go for a walk but knew it would be a messy day so I needed to get some work done. In the evening we went to a concert in north Cork.

Thursday

We normally go to bed at 10 pm. Not so much last night, with 1,5 hour drive back home from the concert! It was a really slow day filled with caffeine. I did heel raises and a few other foot exercises in the morning, and in the evening I got my s*** together and did some push-ups.

Friday – gym

I was happy to get back to the normal routine of going to the gym on a Friday afternoon.

This was another good session. I certainly felt that I did chest presses just before the push-ups. I only managed 6-7 reps in each push-up set and wasn’t happy with that at all, but that’s what it is. Also, with declined push-ups you’ll crush your face if you push it too hard so it’s not a good idea to completely work to failure!

Everything else was good. The barbell shoulder press is still very hard, but let’s just keep up the consistent good work.

Saturday

I was recommended to cut back on out-of-the-gym leg exercises (my stability exercises work a bit too much on the hips and glutes), and my calves are tired so I’m even taking a break from heel raises until after the weekend.

Today I meant to go for a walk but instead we decided to go to Cork and visit one of the most touristy shops you can imagine – the Blarney Woollen Mills next to the Blarney castle. I need a nice, elegant winter coat for a specific event and I have a gift card there. Sadly I didn’t find one but I bought a nice short jacket for spring instead. For the business event in March I still have no idea what to wear!

They also had some nice outdoors stuff from other brands, and they had good prices. Do you know who does NOT need another sporty hooded jacket?

Sunday

3C, with feels like -2 (28F) and clouds. Sure, but I haven’t been out walking for a week so let’s do it while it’s dry and not too windy.

It wasn’t too bad actually. I wore two performance layers and the pink jacket on top and it worked better than expected. I walked 3,6 km, a loop I don’t normally do because it includes a bit too much walking on the main road, but on a Sunday there’s less traffic so it’s ok.

There are lots of promising early spring signs here but oh, what a grey day. At least there’s no ice or snow.

You know me. I like a good challenge. I lived 47 years without challenging myself and I want to work on endurance, so I decided to do planks. I immediately realised that my compound lifts in the gym probably work more on the core than I think. When I started the plank, my core muscles were already sore! Deadlifts, bent-over raises and pullovers are not to be underrated – and my 3×12-rep gym program is called endurance program for a reason. So perhaps when it comes to strength, I’ll just ditch my challenges and be happy enough with my work in the gym and what I do for feet and ankles.

3 years ago I’d never imagine I would get to a point of training too much. Interesting how priorities change!

How was your week? Have you ever been too ambitious with training?

Thanks Kim and Deborah for hosting the Weekly rundown link-up!