Sometimes I Should Listen

I did not have a workout in me today.  DID NOT.  But I did one anyway, reasoning with myself that I will almost always wake up feeling like I want more sleep.  Still, I was telling myself I should do cardio instead but then I remembered that I went to the trouble of juicing a pre-workout blend last night, when my energy seemed non-stop.  So I got up and went to the gym.  It took a lot of effort to convince myself to get out of my car.  

I trained back and biceps.  I have always loved the feeling of a back pump, the blood filling up the muscles makes it fell all warm, the way a good stretch feels.  My first set for back felt good, but then I tried to add some weight and I couldn't ignore my body anymore because it was screaming, I SHOULDN'T BE DOING THIS TODAY!  But I kept going, with moderate weights, hoping that good, awake and feeling good vibe would kick in.  After I finished T-bar rows, I looked in the mirror and noticed how white my face looked.  Then I looked at my nail beds and pressed my thumb and finger together.  Normally, the nail bed will be a nice pink color and when you press your thumb and finger together they will run slightly darker red and once released, return to the normal rosy pink.  For me, my nail beds were white and when I pressed them the barely got a slight shade of pink and as soon as I let go, they were stark white again.  My iron was super low, and I was feeling it.  Even though I take a daily supplement, it seems to be taking longer than I expected to make up for the deficit.  It makes me feel very tired and weak.  

I finished up my back workout, and really relied on my mind to help me push through.  I closed my eyes and imagined my back looking strong and muscular and it really took those sets to another level, even though I wasn't using my heaviest weights.  By the time I got to biceps, my time was getting short and I was really feeling shakey, so I just did 3 sets of 21's and left.  I felt not good.  There have been plenty of times when I haven't felt like working out and did anyway, this may be the only time recently that I ended up regretting a workout.  

I took my iron on an empty stomach, which helps it absorb better, but really irritates my stomach.  It is one of those trade-offs I wish I didn't have to make.  Tomorrow I will do cardio.  And now that I'm thinking of it, next time I feel completely drained, I'll do cardio instead. At least it is something and far less taxing on the system.  

I did get in a pretty awesome leg workout at work yesterday, as crazy as that sounds.  I was hiding behind the door in my office, doing lunges and squats.  Fortunately, my knee wasn't bothered by any of it, and that little micro-workout energized me.  

I keep looking forward to the time when I get my energy back, consistently, but I'm doing what I can in the meantime.  I'll be doing a lot of stretching in the next few days, and maybe some more physical therapy.  This weekend I'll be window shopping for bikes and might get in some swimming with my boys.  And lots and lots of sleep.

Hope your week is going good!