A good Tuesday

Tuesday:

After three days off exercise my ankle was feeling great but the rest of me; not so much. I had real trouble sleeping last night, probably I wasn't physically tired but also my back was aching from being so immobile for days.

My food intake over the long weekend wasn't ideal either, with various unhealthy snacks plus dessert last night. Time to get serious again! This is not a drill. This is important. Doesn't mean I can never have dessert again, but it does mean I shouldn't have cupcakes AND choc-chip cookies AND dessert. I have to get my weight down for my health.

My mum & brother were still here this morning so I took the opportunity to go to the gym while they babysat. I did a really intense 30 mins on the elliptical and went 4.5 km, my best yet. It was really really hard though. I was dripping sweat and exhausted. I do the twin peaks hill climb each time on resistance level 5, so I'm going "uphill" a lot. With 10 mins to go I didn't know if I could do any more but just told myself it was all downhill from there and kept going. I'm still quite a way from 5 km in 30 mins, but I'll do it eventually. I'm going a bit further each time. I might be able to do it already on an easier routine (ie no hills) but this is the one I started with so I'll continue with it.

Then I got on the stationary bike and did a slow 20 mins. My main focus on the bike is coping with the pain from my postural and core muscles! The muscle that wraps around my ribs hurts pretty bad when I have to balance on a bike, I really know I'm working it. I barely notice my legs going around. Obviously my core needs a lot of work.

I wanted to finish with the hand pedals but someone else was using the only one so I tried the rowing machine. I quickly decided it was too much pressure on my ankle, I didn't want to risk it. So I rounded off the hour with a cool down on the treadmill.

My family left after lunch. I find having my brother here a bit wearing, he has a psychological disorder (OCD) and he has a lot of annoying habits and a complete lack of empathy -- think Sheldon from Big Bang Theory without any of the charm. That sort of thing is interesting to watch but no fun to live with. He is 44 and still lives with mum; no job, no friends, no life. No fun for him either, obviously. He does seem to like playing with the kids, and tells them very funny stories. He gets that from dad, in fact the story style and voice mannerisms are almost identical which is entertaining especially since dad moved out when Darren was eight and they don't see each other very often.

So, I took Jasmine to a birthday party (I was offered food but took nothing and decided not to stay, I let Aiden have a soft drink) then Aiden and I went to the park for a while. There is an oval marked out with a running track so Aiden and I ran two 400 m races. He won easily both times. Actually my RunKeeper said it was only about 360 m even though I was in the outside lane. I just assumed it was supposed to be 400 m like a real racetrack. I ran about 150 m at the start of the first lap but it went downhill from there. Lots of walking with short spurts of jogging.

I've been tracking today, trying to be sensible in my eating. I've done well but still have the usual Tuesday night D&D supper to go ... sigh. This time I am providing strawberries! And apricot delight. But that is for Tim. I'll offer the rest of the choc-chip cookies too, can't have them lying around here.