Discouragement and Revival

Some days you just do the work

Beard goals

Reflecting

Friday was a bad day at the gym.  I have never written or even thought that sentence before.  I’ve had months of optimism then felt a sudden crash a few days ago.  I can be pretty unphased when I don’t actually care about something, when I’m not trying that hard, or when I have at least some metric where I’m competing effectively.  Friday had no such consolation.  I cared – strength training is a top priority at the moment.  I was trying – there wasn’t some other gear to engage.  And I sucked – not as heavy as I wanted to lift, not moving as fast, and not using effective form.  And I was surrounded by people who were doing all those things well.  This was especially annoying coming out of the gamut of tests at the sports clinic which gave me a clean bill of health.  I have no exogenous excuses.  Nothing is holding me back beside mental and physical weakness.  It was frustrating, embarrassing, and confusing why it hit me so hard all at once.  I never want to feel that way again.  Ever. 

Having given myself a day to feel sorry for myself and angry at the world, I ran hard Saturday morning then made it to CrossFit for my workout of the day and my youngest kid’s first day of 1-on-1 coaching.  Saturday is our partner WOD and it was the perfect opportunity to just get back into things.  I had no big conclusion for what went wrong.  I’m not suffering from different or more interesting problems than anyone else (I just doubly suffer from overanalyzing them) so it was time to just do the work.  Still unsatisfied, I was at least back on track.     

Training

6 Rounds not for time

• 4 Back Squats as heavy as possible

• 200ft Farmer’s Carry as heavy as possible

• :30 Sorenson Hold

Then an hour 1-on-1 with my coach then rock climbing with my daughter.

Next run (this one puts “trail” running in scare quotes as it is mostly bushwhacking):

Fueling

I’ve been cooking a lot, mostly cycling through various steaks and ground meat.  For variety I’ve been trying different spices, most recently Ajika, a Georgian spice make from chili peppers, coriander, fenugreek, garlic, salt, and marigold. 

Supplementing

Added N-Acetyl Cysteine / NAC for liver and kidney support.  Oxidative stress and ageing: is ageing a cysteine deficiency syndrome? is the paper that started my interest in this one as NAC supplies cysteine. 

Measuring

Optimal cholesterol for longevity is in the low to mid-200s.

Recovering

It was a good day for recovery.  Sauna then a sports massage and cupping therapy. 

Closing

The more confident I am in the basics – lift heavy / eat clean / sleep enough – the more I want everything to come together at once.  Progress is fun and plateaus aren’t.  I would much prefer to have some big breakthrough to report, but for now the only thing that I can add to this health and fitness project is time.  I’m not quitting but I do wish it was going faster.