Hello everyone! I’m back after a low energy, doom-and-gloom week, which ended with some good times at the Limerick marathon. I was too busy on Sunday night to show up on this blog (including 899 marathon photos to sort through!!).
In these posts I join a weekly link-up to share my weekly fitness routine and the ups and downs during the week with barbells, walking shoes or else. This is good for accountability, for my own documentation, the fitness/running blogger community is lovely, and I hope these posts might inspire someone to start lifting weights and generally getting more active. I usually also add in some bits from everyday life as well as some photos. Let’s get into it!
I wasn’t well last week for some reason, probably had my lowest performance level since I set my foot in that gym and I was generally “off” all week.
I was ok-ish on the Monday, could do my sumo squats with the usual weights and whatever else but got SO EXHAUSTED. I think I know the reason (related to that time of the month) and all is good but I had a hard week.
On the Wednesday I struggled bad to do my usual squats and some deadlifts and then it was like my energy was consumed for the entire session, and on top of that my irritated glute/lower back/piriformis/whatever-the-problem-is muscle flared up. At the end of the session I felt like what Jasmin Paris looked like when she finished the Barkley marathons! Then on the Friday I got a soft, “active rest” program in the gym, with light weights but still some good movements which was probably what I needed.
Meanwhile, at least my husband was in good form and he did a great performance at the Limerick marathon with a finish time of 4.26. He looked fine and energetic at every spot I saw him (but he told me later that during the last 5k he looked for ways to go and throw up somewhere without losing too much pace!). This was his second marathon, and he has now signed up for the Rome marathon next March.
This week I’ve felt back to my normal self, and after 5 days off (Monday was a bank holiday so the gym was closed) I’ve enjoyed some decent gym sessions and a few walks.
Monday – time wasted on tech stuff
I had to waste ALL DAY on solving tech problems. When I switched on my computer in the morning, it was dead. It’s had some glitches for a while that it starts with the usual cheerful Mac chime sound, and then it shuts down immediately. Normally after a few attempts it comes back to life, but today it was impossible to get it to start. After at least 2 hours of various attempts and reading on the internet about Mac Studio issues, I managed to get it back to life into recovery mode so I could erase everything and restore it in case it was a software problem. It seemed to work – but there is a known issue with the internal power in Mac Studios and of course it shouldn’t help to just erase data.
Tuesday – walking!
When I got back to my desk in the morning, the Mac Studio had shut itself down during the night and I knew there was no hope for it other than taking it for repair.
This is a computer my husband bought to see if he could work from a Mac, but it didn’t work out for him since he needs a lot of Windows-specific and other things to work, so I’ve been using it since. But luckily I also have my laptop that we bought at the same time, which is a trustworthy 2nd or 3rd generation M1 machine while the Mac Studio is the 1st generation of its kind. Don’t buy first generation of any tech, kids! Always wait until they’ve fixed all the childhood diseases!
Today was lovely and I took myself out for a walk.
I walked 3,86 km and really enjoyed it. This time of the year is the best!
Wednesday – gym + walking
I decided to go for another walk but needed to make it short since I had wasted so much time on solving tech problems and needed to get back to actual work. I went for a short route of 2,2 km.
Then in the afternoon it was finally time to get back to the gym.
3 sets x 12 reps
- Back squats, barbell 55 (?) kgs
- Diagonal lunges, 6 kg dumbbells
- Dumbbell row, 17,5 kgs
- Good mornings, barbell 25 kgs
- Chest press, 12,5 kg dumbbells
- Renegade row, 9 kg dumbbells
- Bent-over lateral raise, 6 kg dumbbells
- Shoulder press, 6 kg dumbbells
This session was still mostly lighter than usual, because of my lower back issue and also the troublesome left elbow. The dumbbell row and chest press were my normal weights but everything else was lighter.
I’m missing the heavier weights especially on squats but I was happy to notice how light these weights now feel. It’s a good sign that I’m stronger. For someone who’s been weak her entire life, it’s a big deal.
Thursday – walking
A friend came over and we went for a walk down to the nearest beach, where for once the tide was in. It was beautiful even if this beach isn’t my favourite.
This walk, involving a long steep uphill on the way back, is 5,5 km.
Friday – gym
Back to the gym!
3 sets x 12 reps
- Bulgarian split squats, 6 kg dumbbells
- Hexbar deadlifts, 45 (?) kgs
- Straight arm pullovers, 9 kg dumbbells
- Barbell row, 25 kgs
- Chest press, barbell 35 kgs
- Inclined flyes, 8 kg dumbbells
- Lateral raise, 8 kg dumbbells
- Upright row, barbell 22,5 kgs
The Bulgarians were ruthless! With the lighter weight, I was asked to do 12 reps on each legs for one set (normally I do 12+6+6 on each leg). There was some serious muscle burn going on, but i was also happy to notice that balance wasn’t a problem at all.
For shoulders I was back to the heavier stuff. My issues lately and the week of doom last week have really pushed my self-confidence below the ground, so it was really nice and well-needed to do some heavy lifting. Those lateral raises and upright rows were good for the soul.
Saturday – walking, 7,18 km + gardening
The weather is fabulous this weekend and after breakfast I went for a walk. I’m getting a bit fed up with the usual shorter routes so I decided to try some mid-distance and walked to my favourite beach. They are building a house there and I had heard the road was in very bad condition so I haven’t even tried to get there during the spring. Now when it’s dry, even with a crushed road it should be ok, and it was good to get back there.
I wouldn’t go there with a fancy car, but for walking it was fine!
There was a lot of traffic on the way there so I knew a peaceful walk among the rocks would be out of question. When I arrived I saw a full car park and families with kids and bags heading down to the beach so I didn’t even bother going down.
But the walk was lovely. Nature is really showing up for me right now. I’ve always said early autumn is my favourite time of the year, but I’m going to change that to May.
This is the season for heavy farming traffic, and I knew it could be intense but I still wanted to go out for a walk. I met at least three large tractors with trailers along the way, one of them on this little road on the picture above. Just yikes!!! I’ve been lucky so far and have been able to walk to some wider spot, but not this time and I had to step into the nettles. I had to choose between being crushed or burned by nettles so what do you do! At least it wasn’t brambles!
The rest of the day was spent to fix a few things in the garden. I’ve planted seeds, and arranged with weed mat and mulch around my new roses.
Sunday – gardening is a good workout too
Today I’m up to almost 10 000 steps just doing things in the garden. My husband is working on the new patio, I’ve been adding mulch to the other rose garden bed, moved some geraniums to a spot next to the new patio, and generally done some good fixing up. There were sumo squats, deadlifts and various other things happening. We’re finally getting somewhere with the garden project we started two years ago, and that we’re starting to plant around the future patio is a huge step forward!
That’s all about this week’s movements, lifts and more! So there are some issues, but I keep doing what I can and I’m grateful to have a personal trainer with the attitude that movement is medicine and all we do is to adapt exercises and keep going.
How was your week? Is spring in full swing where you are? Here it’s almost like summer but I guess I should still call it spring.
Thanks Kim and Deborah for hosting the Weekly rundown link-up!
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