How did I kill my 21-day challenge so early?!
I managed to injure myself and I'm really upset about it. I was having some pain in my achilles tendons after my hour-long step aerobics on Sunday, but I figured I was fine. Then I did cardio kickboxing on Monday, and I KNEW something was really wrong with my left foot, but I pushed through it and I shouldn't have. It was a really weird feeling I had in my ankle, on the left side, not just a basic ache but a really odd, stinging, very painful tingly sensation. It was really, really bad when I was doing jumping jacks (of which there are 150 in my cardio kickbox, so...) and jump rope (also about 150). After my workout I iced it, which seemed to help. I kept waking up in the night and it was really awful... I took 800mg of ibuprofen which helped a lot but when I got up in the morning it was so bad I could barely walk. I work next to a CVS so I got myself an ankle support, and that combined with ibuprofen has kept the pain mostly at bay - I can walk normally and everything, it's just that if I bend it in a certain way it hurts, and the support keeps me from doing that.
Tuesday was a planned rest day anyway, but I was super, unjustifiably upset that I'd hurt myself, and I'd had a rough day at work (Tuesdays are the hardest work day for us, won't go into all the boring reasons as to why). So what did I do? Went over my calories by a ton. I figured, what's the point, I can't even work out for the rest of the week, so I've already screwed up my challenge. Sound logic, right? I could've just eaten at the lower end of my calorie range and rested, but instead I just lost it. I don't know why it's so hard to connect the logical part of my brain with decision-making skills.
Wednesday I had planned to do a 40-minute workout but I was too tired and my ankle hurt too much so I missed it. Sigh. I didn't go crazy like I did on Tuesday but I was just feeling crappy (most likely due to eating too much the day before!) and I didn't track my food. Stupid.
Back to sane decisions today. I know two bad days won't ruin me. Tracking calories, eating on the lower side of my range to try to help balance out the two days I did terribly. To make up for my missed workout, I did my hardest DVD, the hour-long step aerobics again. So I did end up cracking the 150-minute mark already this week. I am still considered about my ankles, though. I probably shouldn't have done that workout. I wore my ankle support on my left leg, but I am having a different issue with my right foot... past my achilles tendon... sigh. The summer after my senior year of college I got REALLY bad tendonitis in my right foot, which I think I acquired by walking 3 miles a day in flip-flops. Idiotic... I worked only a mile and a half away so I'd walk to and from there usually with my coworker, but I love wearing comfy skirts in summer and I can't wear that with tennis shoes and instead of just changing shoes I just walked in flip-flops. That put me out of commission for like 2 weeks, I was limping like crazy.
It surprises me how much it upset me that I didn't think I could work out. I just don't feel like I'm far enough into my progress to have a long rest like this. The ibuprofen got me through the workout today, and it feels okay now, but I do worry about tomorrow and how much it might hurt. I'm supposed to go to Devil's Lake on Saturday and hike, and I'm going to be BEYOND bummed out if I can't do that. It's supposed to rain on Saturday, but... I realllllly want to go.
My endurance is really improving though... I keep burning fewer and fewer calories each time I do the step aerobics. My legs are stronger - they don't shake when I'm doing the harder jumping-on-one-leg moves. My heart rate only got up to 171 at its highest, and I burned 565 calories when just last Sunday I burned over 600 doing the same workout. I worked about half in zone 2 and half in zone 3, when normally this workout had me in zone 3 at least 75% of the time, if not completely OUT of zone. So although I'm annoyed that I'm burning fewer calories doing the same work, it does mean I'm getting better at it. Sign to change it up, I know.
I think I'd be okay just walking, but I never, ever feel like that is a "workout", I don't feel like it ever gets my heart rate into the range I want it. I don't think running would be a great idea on this foot, though. Trying to think of some upper-body cardio I could do like my Gold's Gym boxing, but the reason I burn so many calories during that workout is because of the footwork - your feet are constantly shuffling.
So I feel a bit defeated. I think hiking would be okay, the only time it's really painful is if I'm jumping around.
On the plus side, my friend is coming into town tonight for the weekend and should be here in about ten minutes, and I think I get to go see the Hunger Games tomorrow (yes, I'm a fan of a young adult novel), and I have the day off tomorrow, and hopefully I can make it to Devil's Lake.
Gah. I'm going to continue my 21-day challenge and... you know, I think I'll do it again in April, cuz I've been feeling really good up until this week. I am seriously so much happier when I'm doing well, even if I'm not losing weight.
I managed to injure myself and I'm really upset about it. I was having some pain in my achilles tendons after my hour-long step aerobics on Sunday, but I figured I was fine. Then I did cardio kickboxing on Monday, and I KNEW something was really wrong with my left foot, but I pushed through it and I shouldn't have. It was a really weird feeling I had in my ankle, on the left side, not just a basic ache but a really odd, stinging, very painful tingly sensation. It was really, really bad when I was doing jumping jacks (of which there are 150 in my cardio kickbox, so...) and jump rope (also about 150). After my workout I iced it, which seemed to help. I kept waking up in the night and it was really awful... I took 800mg of ibuprofen which helped a lot but when I got up in the morning it was so bad I could barely walk. I work next to a CVS so I got myself an ankle support, and that combined with ibuprofen has kept the pain mostly at bay - I can walk normally and everything, it's just that if I bend it in a certain way it hurts, and the support keeps me from doing that.
Tuesday was a planned rest day anyway, but I was super, unjustifiably upset that I'd hurt myself, and I'd had a rough day at work (Tuesdays are the hardest work day for us, won't go into all the boring reasons as to why). So what did I do? Went over my calories by a ton. I figured, what's the point, I can't even work out for the rest of the week, so I've already screwed up my challenge. Sound logic, right? I could've just eaten at the lower end of my calorie range and rested, but instead I just lost it. I don't know why it's so hard to connect the logical part of my brain with decision-making skills.
Wednesday I had planned to do a 40-minute workout but I was too tired and my ankle hurt too much so I missed it. Sigh. I didn't go crazy like I did on Tuesday but I was just feeling crappy (most likely due to eating too much the day before!) and I didn't track my food. Stupid.
Back to sane decisions today. I know two bad days won't ruin me. Tracking calories, eating on the lower side of my range to try to help balance out the two days I did terribly. To make up for my missed workout, I did my hardest DVD, the hour-long step aerobics again. So I did end up cracking the 150-minute mark already this week. I am still considered about my ankles, though. I probably shouldn't have done that workout. I wore my ankle support on my left leg, but I am having a different issue with my right foot... past my achilles tendon... sigh. The summer after my senior year of college I got REALLY bad tendonitis in my right foot, which I think I acquired by walking 3 miles a day in flip-flops. Idiotic... I worked only a mile and a half away so I'd walk to and from there usually with my coworker, but I love wearing comfy skirts in summer and I can't wear that with tennis shoes and instead of just changing shoes I just walked in flip-flops. That put me out of commission for like 2 weeks, I was limping like crazy.
It surprises me how much it upset me that I didn't think I could work out. I just don't feel like I'm far enough into my progress to have a long rest like this. The ibuprofen got me through the workout today, and it feels okay now, but I do worry about tomorrow and how much it might hurt. I'm supposed to go to Devil's Lake on Saturday and hike, and I'm going to be BEYOND bummed out if I can't do that. It's supposed to rain on Saturday, but... I realllllly want to go.
My endurance is really improving though... I keep burning fewer and fewer calories each time I do the step aerobics. My legs are stronger - they don't shake when I'm doing the harder jumping-on-one-leg moves. My heart rate only got up to 171 at its highest, and I burned 565 calories when just last Sunday I burned over 600 doing the same workout. I worked about half in zone 2 and half in zone 3, when normally this workout had me in zone 3 at least 75% of the time, if not completely OUT of zone. So although I'm annoyed that I'm burning fewer calories doing the same work, it does mean I'm getting better at it. Sign to change it up, I know.
I think I'd be okay just walking, but I never, ever feel like that is a "workout", I don't feel like it ever gets my heart rate into the range I want it. I don't think running would be a great idea on this foot, though. Trying to think of some upper-body cardio I could do like my Gold's Gym boxing, but the reason I burn so many calories during that workout is because of the footwork - your feet are constantly shuffling.
So I feel a bit defeated. I think hiking would be okay, the only time it's really painful is if I'm jumping around.
On the plus side, my friend is coming into town tonight for the weekend and should be here in about ten minutes, and I think I get to go see the Hunger Games tomorrow (yes, I'm a fan of a young adult novel), and I have the day off tomorrow, and hopefully I can make it to Devil's Lake.
Gah. I'm going to continue my 21-day challenge and... you know, I think I'll do it again in April, cuz I've been feeling really good up until this week. I am seriously so much happier when I'm doing well, even if I'm not losing weight.
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