Thursday, February 11, 2010

A Day of Waning Motivation

In my last posting, I talked about trying to get up early to work out before work. Today we went in two hours late so I had the opportunity to get some kind of workout in. However I did not sleep well last night.

We have this strange thing with our house that only happens when it is very cold and windy. It does not happen during the summer when it is windy-only when very cold AND windy. I am not sure what is making the noise but there is a loud screeching noise that comes from somewhere on our roof. It sounds like metal scraping against metal. We don't hear it during the day or when we are downstairs in the kitchen or TV room but only at night when we are trying to sleep and it tends to keep us up. Last night it was particularly loud and even though eventually I was able to drift off, I had weird dreams, woke up often, and when morning came, I felt very unrested.

Because I was not rested well, when I got home from work, I was not too motivated to do my exercises. I decided to skip the bike and focus only on my PT exercises. I started with my stretches but after a few minutes, I really felt like quitting and just plopping in front of the TV. However, I did not. I got started with my leg lifts and continued to do all my exercises. There was one exercise that I cut short. This morning when I woke up my knees were bothering me slightly. I attribute some of the extra pain to the tossing and turning in the bed. When I roll over onto my stomach, that bothers my knees so I cut the last exercise short as it can sometimes aggravate my knees.

After completing my PT exercises, I made dinner and we ate. I had a little more energy after eating and I wanted to make sure to get some foam roller in. So I did the hot bath routine that sort of relaxes my muscles and then did the foam roller for 22 minutes. And then onto the ice.

Looking back on today, I think I did pretty well. I was feeling tired and unmotivated but I pushed myself to get started on the PT exercises. Once I got started, the momentum kept me going.

Another thing that helped motivate me was my fellow amateur athlete friends. Earlier in the day, I received an email from my friend Mario listing all the races that he was planning on doing this year. His list was impressive and helped me stay focused. His list of races is posted below. I won't be able to do nearly as much as he is this season but I can use his list as a motivator.

5 days and counting until I go back to the doctor. I am hoping his assessment of my progress is positive. We shall see and I will let you know. Thanks.

Soggy Bottom Boys Rogaine & Navigation – 6 hr Orienteering event – 2/27 – w/ Geiger

Monument 10k – 03/27 - solo

National Duathlon – 4/24 - solo

HR Adventure 10-12 hr Sproute Race – 05/08 w/ Geiger

Marine Corp’s ½ Marathon – 05/14 – fun run with a friend

Marathon Training starts 6/5

Shenandoah 100 – 9/5 – w/ Chieppa, Clay & maybe Jimmy J

SunTrust Marathon – 11/13 – or some other marathon either in November or December

Maybe another adventure race during the summer – depending on dates.

2 comments:

allenq said...

We’ve lived in several houses over the years and each one seems to have some kind of unidentifiable “noise”. Currently, we have a low-level “banging” noise which occurs mostly in the winter; it is likely expanding heating pipe noise which have previously contracted from the cold weather. But it seems all houses have certain mysterious noises.

I know about lack of motivation when it comes to exercising. Occasionally, but not often, it would be especially hard to start a 3-mile run---and occasionally I would indeed skip it that day. But most of the time I would get into it and feel good about having done that when I finished. Also, speaking of getting motivation from others, many times just seeing the others grinding thru their workouts at the Spa encouraged me. Misery loves company!!

Hang in there with the PT!!

M Rosen said...

Jim, you should incorporate a rest day into your routine. I know the doctor said that you could do your PT every day, but he probably didn't anticipate that you would push it so hard. Days off are good for your mental health too. Dr. Melissa says to take a day of REST. :)