For those of you wonderful people who so graciously followed my weight loss endeavors, I thank you very much. I regret to admit, I haven’t done so well on my MainPain Challenge of maintaining my weight and building muscle. I allowed a couple of injuries to push me over a ledge of failure. I’ve been going down a dark path of bad habits returning to my life. I’ve been eating bad, working out nearly never, and overall, just sitting around doing nothing to keep up with my challenge.
One of the saving graces for me is that last night was my first night back on the hockey rink. I play once a week in the fall and winter and last night was the first since March. Now everyone on the ice for the most part was out of step, slower and just overall we were not very good. I’m typically the worst on the ice and last night was not likely an exception. The one positive I can take out of this was that I skated the entire hour and 15 minutes. There were times I thought I might throw up, but I made it, and I managed to take a puck to the head (kids, wear your helmets, I did and just came out of it with a minor headache) and I scored a pretty sweet goal (I don’t score many so I have to brag about every one I make).
By the middle of my first shift my legs burned and so did my lungs. I was sucking air and could barely crawl over the boards at the end of my shift. Last nights outing was a bit of a wake up call for me. If I don’t want to be terrible again for an entire season of hockey, I need to do something. And there it is, motivation. Yup, I think I just needed something to work for beyond just a little bit of muscle definition in my biceps or a static reading on my scale. I need something to be proud of. I need to score more goals, but more importantly, I need to feel I’m getting better on that big old sheet of frozen water. Last year was a disaster for me on the ice. I seemingly got worse from week to week and then near the end of the season I hurt my back. Big surprise. This year has to be different, and it will.
Over the last 3 weeks I’ve been stretching nearly on a daily basis. This hasn’t been some 10 minute brushing of my shins while I’m actually just creepily watching all the other people who really are working out. Nope, I was actually stretching for 30-45 minutes each time and doing 10-20 different stretches hitting nearly my entire body every time. I’ve noticed big differences in my flexibility already. I can reach my toes, and on some days, past them. Whoah! You mean I could possibly tie my shoes someday without having to kneel down on one knee? Yup. Sweet! Let’s have some of that.
So, yeah, I’ve gained some weight. More than I’d like to admit, and probably more than I even realize, since I haven’t weighed myself in a couple of weeks, but I’ve got that fire under me again. No, I’m not going to do a big challenge. I’m just going to post my progress in whatever way seems appropriate for the day. I’m hoping to keep things real and be honest about how I’m doing. The biggest thing is doing it right?
Ok, so who else out there plays a seasonal sport? What do you do to get ready before the season starts? Is day one usually as bad for you as it is for me?
Have a great day everyone.
TechChucker's Brain Blast 