OK, not exactly part of my fitness journey, but I really liked Seth Godin this morning.  And the truth is, I have way less "iffing" now that I have training.  Too busy doing things and improving to worry about what ifs.  Well, not entirely, but certainly LESS.

Just thinking....

I was in my first powerlifting meet yesterday.   I hesitate to call it a competition; I pulled less weight than anyone.  Well, except the guy that bombed out on his three benchpress attempts and didn't get to finish.
And I finally get the concept of only competing against yourself.  I never understood it when golfers talked about it. And to be fair, I'm pretty sure a number of them (golfers and powerlifters) care a lot more about competing with the other participants than it being only about beating your best. But, I'm really not worried  about the low weight, or my missed third attempt on bench.  In fact, I'm really proud I tried for the 115# BP. I've never been able to do it in the gym before with the pause, & I was feeling really good.  And maybe I could have gotten it if I was just a bit slower.   But I actually tried something that had a goodly chance of failure ..... In front of a bunch of people.

Because nobody wanted me to miss.    It wasn't a competition at that moment; not against each other anyway.  Just me and the bar.  And everyone got it.
And now I have numbers.   A very clear place from which to improve.      To measure progress.  I was impressed by a lot of people yesterday.  But I don't remember their numbers.  Just their resolve.
Me.  The bar.  It's so simple that it's hard to understand how I didn't get it before.  But I do now.  And that's progress too....

I am not a runner.  But I do walk on the tread mill for some cardio and to warm up.   It was truly just walking for a long time, but in the last year or so I tried to put in little jogs now and then.  It was never a target to run.  Nevertheless, my 1/2 hour on the treadmill is now around 1.5 mins of running for every 2 mins of walking:  hitting a new distance record (30 mins is all I can take) tonight.

I just gradually added more time on the run.  At first, just over 20 seconds was all I could do, and then needed a 3 minute rest.

So; it's certainly not going to make me a marathoner, but I have a rhythm that I can maintain, and that feels good.

So, that's a bit of an issue.  3kgs over the weight I want to be for the meet in a week.  Garth and Jerimiah don't want me to do any cutting ...and to be fair; I should have been a bit more controlled before, but it is what it is and I don't want to abuse myself over it.  There's enough going on with a first meet that some compassion is in order as well.  There's that theme again.
Anyway, in looking at cutting (not gonna but was ...) there was some stuff that I divited I CAN do that will move me closer without undue pressure.  And just cause I won't make it is no reason to give up, either.  I am just not ramping up to crazy.

So here's the plan;

• I'm going to swap out my 2-3 a day fruits for veggies.
•  I'm going to replace one of the 2 daily yogurt with chicken.
• I might try to cut water (reduce sodium and drink more until Wednesday and then taper...but will see what Jerimiah says about that.

Control, but compassion.  That theme again.  Not nothing, but not crazy.
Oh, and I went for a run tonight.  :)