Triumph of the Will

Eating:  just had some oily, but meat-heavy, Persian food

Drinking:  had some post-exercise matcha and now drinking water

Listening:  none other than Les Grands Gong Kebyar des Annees 60

 

Had a very successful trip to the gym.  We are busy now - RH is in the office again - so I had to kind of make my case for being able to leave and then ask nicely.  I warmed up with: 15 pushups (one set; I might be able to do 20, but just; all my sets of five may not be paying off as much as I would like); 20 situps (bench was sloped a bit; no great effort; should try with a weight); 10 back extensions (just going down to the point where I can feel my back begin to curve; my hamstrings are so fucking tight); 10 squats (I have terrible form, I can kind of feel myself twist as I come up); 3, 2 pullups (I am a pussy for not doing more); 5 dips (I am a pussy for not doing more).  Then I hit the tilted treadmill for 20' at 3.5 mph.  This is where the Triumph of the Will part comes in.  I did not enjoy this.  The music in the gym was loud enough that I could hear it over what I was listening to on the iPod.  3.5 is faster than I usually do.  I am stressed about work.  I was very distracted, thinking a lot about MS, which is a bizarre situation.  But, I stuck it out to the bitter end.  Then I did the Crossfit WOD (might be the WOD for yesterday, can't remember): overhead presses 1-1-1-1-1-1-1.  I started out by doing 10 x 30#, then 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 80.  Wait, that's only six.  I don't think I did a third 80.  Fuck.  Anyway, it felt pretty good.  The hard part about doing the 80 was the catch.  I tried to do it pretty smoothly but it's not easy. 

 

I read something somewhere recently about cold water therapy.  This is something of which I've always had an easy time understanding the circulatory benefits and that I've always imagined myself doing.  I saw a picture of Morihei Ueshiba meditating in an ice-cold mountain waterfall and thought, I want to do that.  I see people swimming in the ice and think it looks fun.  The problem is, lately, like for the past couple years, I have turned into a total pussy about cold water.  It takes me forever to get my head under in Metis, and even Florida in November had me retreating when the water got above my knees.  Unacceptable.  So, I've started the practice of splashing my face with straight cold water ten times at the end of each shower.  I also let the cold water run on each foot and ankle for a good ten seconds.  This is not much but I'll build myself up by doing it. 

 

What else?  Not much.  Looking forward to working out tomorrow.  The meeting is at 10:30 so if I get out of here at a reasonable hour I might be able to get some exercise in first thing in the morning.