It’s the first full week back in Ireland and I’m having a hard time adjusting and being ready for the autumn. After constantly having at least 26C in Italy it was hard to come back to cool weather and suddenly just have to accept it, and accept that summer is over! But during the week we’ve had some very nice weather with the opportunity to slowly get used to it.

The good thing? Being back in my fitness routine!

Despite this, this week was a bummer. My muscles have started adjusting to being back in the lifting routine, but I have a shoulder issue. It’s not new and not serious but it’s enough to get in the way of proper strength training so it’s making me quite miserable. Is it because of my push-up challenge and should I hang my head in shame? Or did my beautifully empowering chest press this week (read on for details) trigger this? I don’t know, and there’s no point in speculating about it either. Now I need to focus on two things – not overthinking it, and doing the work to make it better.

Monday – gym

My legs were still VERY sore and not in the mood for squats or else. But of course I still went to the gym.

I didn’t feel too bad doing the first set of lunges but afterwards my right leg screamed and I almost thought I had injured something – the side of my right knee hurt and the other side of the lower leg cramped… the next set was hard and I took it easy to see how the leg would behave, after a few reps I was somewhat back in the flow. I still felt like something was wrong! Instead, the leg accepted doing the sumo squats, and with this low weight I could go to a very nice depth. The leg settled down after this.

For the chest press I was surprised to see he loaded the bar to 40 kgs, after I had been away for a month. How would this go?!
I actually smashed the first set. The second was harder and on the third I only made it to the 8th rep. I struggled a bit with the range of motion because my shoulder started being cranky, but most reps felt quite good and I was very happy to pull this off.

It was when I started doing the shoulder press that the right shoulder started complaining a bit louder, so I got a lower weight for the lateral raise.

Tuesday – walk, 4 km

The weather was quite nice! I was tired in the morning and decided that a walk could freshen up my head a bit, and it did. I walked towards the sea and back, 4 km altogether. I avoided big hills to be nice to my legs.

There’s autumn in the air now – definitely cooler and so many plants are starting to fade. This one, not so much. I think it’s cotoneaster and it’s beautiful.

---

Wednesday – gym

Today my body generally felt like back to normal after the initial shock of coming back to the gym. My shoulder actually felt much better – better but not good, so I got a soft-ish session today with a modified fly and some extra exercises instead of a second chest exercise.

My legs were definitely back in action and they didn’t complain about any sort of split squats. We tried a shoulder press again and I was able to do it with only some minor pain and managed to do three full sets, so despite the shoulder issue, I’m definitely stronger.

Thursday – walk, 4,5 km

After a chilly morning it was a lovely warm day! Just before lunch I went for a walk. My legs felt good and ready for some hills, so I took the cow road (trail?), up to the top of the hill and back. This is a quite tough hill but this time I just walked up without even thinking about it. The rocky ground didn’t bother me either and I guess the hiking has been a great form of training. Let’s keep it happening as long as the weather permits! When the “wet season” starts it will be too muddy on the trails at least in my own opinion so we’ll see if we can make it before that. You may argue that doesn’t it always rain in Ireland? But no, September and October can be some fantastic months! We always get occasional rain (like anywhere) but the autumn can be lovely here.

---

Friday – gym

Gym day! My shoulder wasn’t doing well and as expected I got some modified exercises but otherwise it was quite much a normal gym session, which made me happy.

After some warm-up it was time for some standard squats, much lighter than I’m used to. I felt like my legs could handle more, but my form still felt a bit off. It’s good to ease back into it, and for now I’m enjoying these lighter weights.

Nothing caused any trouble with my shoulder, actually the only things that caused any sort of discomfort was holding the bar for the squat, and putting it back on the rack after the RDL.

Saturday

The weather was a complete misery. I spent the day working, and moving this blog over to the new, more secure server setup (yay!) where we have multiple backup options and my husband has done a superb job setting up files, security stuff and commands so that even a half-dummy like me can install things USING COMMAND LINE. Who knew?! I started learning that a few years ago but ran into trouble and never thought I’d have the patience to touch such things again. Now it’s almost fun doing it. And with the new setup, even if something would happen with the server, we’ll have remote backups and I’ll also make it a habit to download the posts (with comments) as xml every time I’ve posted something new.

In the evening we played in the pub at the other side of town. It was a good night but I certainly felt it with my singing that it’s been a while!

Sunday – a long, lovely walk

The weather forecast looked good after a very dreadful Saturday. I prepared to go for a long walk and take lots of photos. After maybe 50 metres it started raining. I had planned a good photoshoot so I turned back home, being generally annoyed, and took a coffee instead. After that the clouds seemed to have cleared and I opened the door – just to see it was still drizzling. Then I gave up and prepared to spend the day indoors working.

But it looked too nice outside and I needed to move my legs. I decided to give walking another try, and left. It was very windy but dry, and when I left the main road the wind was a bit quieter. There was that lovely autumn feel – when the beginning of autumn is at its best, with fresh but still warm air, a breeze, and that particular light. I walked my 8k loop but with an extra twist so I ended up walking 9,3 km. Fantastic!

---

So this week has been a lot about settling back in after the holiday and navigating the shoulder problem. I’ve been up and down in mood during the week but the long walk had some therapeutic powers and it reminded me of how lovely the autumn can be. And after the walk, my shoulder seems to be a bit better too! Gentle arm movements like when walking, should make a difference. Let’s stay optimistic!

How are you and how was your week? I hope you’re injury-free and niggle-free and are enjoying your workouts whatever they may be. Share your highlights in the comments!

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