Welcome to spring!
Today is the first day of spring according to the Celtic tradition (while according to the modern calendar it's the 20th of March). I've always felt it's stupid to have a set date in the calendar that decides what season it is, since I think it depends on the weather. But the exception is Celtic spring, because calling it spring makes life feel instantly better!
Yesterday it also started feeling seriously like spring outside. Look at the image above! After weeks of rain and/or cold, we had 10C with sunshine and no wind, I went out for a walk and saw spring bulbs coming up. And the increase in daylight is very noticable now.
After managing to stay healthy while my husband had sore throat for weeks before and during Christmas, I finally got my dose and was sidelined with a cold last week. It was quite mild but enough to have me stay at home resting for a full week. So frustrating! This week I've been back in the gym, but decided that cardio needs to wait until I feel fully recovered. At the end of the week there has been some good walking weather, finally.
This post is linked with the Weekly rundown link-up, hosted by Deborah and Kim. It’s where fitness bloggers get together to share their ups and downs with fitness and training, whether it’s about strength, running, cycling or something else. It’s great for accountability as well as inspiring and supporting each other. We also include some bits from everyday life if we want to. Let’s get into it!
Monday - gym day
How nice it was to get back to the gym! My nose was still not in top shape but otherwise I felt back to normal. I expected to be low in energy after a week being sick but did much better than I thought I would. I did Romanian deadlifts, banded rows, inclined flyes, standing dumbbell rows, dumbbell chest press, shoulder shrugs and lateral raises.
After the RDLs I was a bit shaky on my legs doing the sumo squats but got into the flow after the first set. The rest of the session was straightforward and I mostly enjoyed being back to some good lifting.
Tuesday - simple things and a storm
I had decided to let the bike wait for another week, and I only did the balance exercise with weights, and single leg heel raises.
Elsa has been more active than that, and I've been trying to take some action photos of her but this is about how successful I get right now:
Storm Chandra hit parts of the country. As many times before, in our area we didn't get much of a storm. It was breezy but otherwise sunny and nice, and I almost went for a walk but then it started raining.
Sadly, other areas were much harder hit. The winds moved north-west while heavy rain went to the east. We've already have some heavy rain in the last few weeks, and with the saturated ground, some areas have suffered severe floodings.
Wednesday - gym day
Back to the gym!
I did deadlifts, reverse lunges, barbell chest press, Renegade rows, two-dumbbell pullovers, swimmers, bent-over lateral raises and barbell shoulder press. After the first set of Renegade row, I saw stars! This made me way more exhausted than normal (but as you know, my relationship with these isn't great even in normal circumstances!), so for the remaining sets I decided to not push myself too hard just in case. I did 10-5-7 and felt that was good enough for now. I couldn't help but wonder if I had gone back to training too soon after my cold.
But I felt good with everything else, and the shoulder press was almost too easy! I've definitely progressed nicely with this. I flew through the first set, then I struggled a bit more at the end of the second, and did 3-4 partial reps at the end of the last set. Can't help but think of September-October last year when I could barely do any shoulder presses at all because of that frustrating shoulder pain. Note to self: Bad things don't necessarily last forever.
Thursday - rest and cat fixes
The weather looked promising in the morning, but before I was ready to go out, we had sideways rain. So instead of going out walking, I spent some time setting up new play activities for Elsa, with a toy mouse on a bouncy string hanging on the wall, and a DIY scratching pole. She is so crazy active that I'm afraid she's bored even though I play with her several times a day, and we also have a serious lack of places for her to scratch. She's been using computer keyboards which isn't great.
I also looked at small cat trees online, but instead we decided to build something with shelves on the wall in the sitting room where she can climb around and then a higher shelf for rest. This little creature will be so spoiled!
Friday - gym day
Today I finally started feeling almost recovered from my cold and was more confident going to the gym. I did lunges, squats, good mornings, dumbbell rows, inclined dumbbell chest press, flyes, upright row and forward raises.
It was a great session! There were no new weights but OMG did I feel shaky with those lunges.This weight (40 kgs) is no joke! I can't go particularly deep with them for now because then I'll most certainly fall over. It was nice to do some good squats again! 50 kgs is such a good weight for this rep range (10-12) right now, it's just the right amount of heavy.
Remember my left elbow? It's very back to normal now. The forward raises don't bother me anymore, and I didn't even think of having any pain when doing Renegade rows on Wednesday. The lower back hasn't said anything either for a while. Please universe, let me stay niggle-free this year!
Saturday
I had seen on the weather forecast it would be a lovely day, and I went with my husband to a nearby village for a walk while he did his run. It was chilly to begin with but as soon as I could cross over to the other side of the street which is along the bay and in the sun, it was much better. So mild and nice and spring-like! And I saw this:
I walked about 4 km and thorougly enjoyed it.
Still point - I don't know the story behind this and didn't go to see what was behind the fence, but it sounds so appealing!
Sunday
Today I had the tension headache from hell but the weather was fabulous and getting outdoors at least won't make it any worse.
It's been a few years since we had such a nice St Brigid's day! Except the headache, this walk was such a pleasure. Not a long walk with only about 3,5 km but there were birds singing, sun warming my back and the smell of nature waking up mixed with burnt coal. All of it the scents of Irish spring.
What a treat to see these:
And I always enjoy all these textures in nature.
These walks have given me some renewed energy for sure! I was going to say something to the weathergods to get their act together and give us more of this, but the forecast now gives us yellow warnings for rain for the next few days. As if Ireland needed that.
Our neighbour was over for a while before she goes back to England. She said hello to Elsa, and Elsa hissed at her! WTF Elsa? Where's the sweet girl gone? She's generally been grumpy today especially after we didn't let her stay on the table and eat from our bowl of chicken. While we're giving her some luxury kitten food! Hmmpf.
I hope you are well and that the weathergods are treating you well... although I know that's not the case in some places. My heart goes out to all of you suffering severe winter weather.
Comments
I want spring too! We have a few degrees below zero with a horrible wind from hell. I was jogging yesterday and it was like getting a thousand ice-cold nails in my face.
Wow, no spring here! We definitely follow the March tradition for spring.
Glad you are starting to feel better. Coming back after being run down makes you appreciate how good it feels to feel good!
A big yes and amen about feeling good! It's been a while since I was sick with something and I so appreciate being back to normal and able to do what I want to do.
Calling it Celtic spring is genius. And that sunny 10°C walk with bulbs coming up sounds like pure relief after all that sideways rain.
Smart call holding back on cardio while recovering. The gym strength coming back so quickly is a great sign though!
Love your outdoor photos - that gnarly tree against the blue sky! Lovely.
I love those gnarly trees! I can't stop photographing them but I rarely do anything special with the photos.
I'm surprised how little my strength has suffered after the cold. Usually after a virus I have less energy for the first two or so weeks, now that only showed very subtly with the Renegade rows and perhaps a little with chest press (but I'm not actually sure, I'm always up and down with them).
Elsa! So spicy! I love it!
I'm glad you didn't suffer any ill effects from your storm. We are freezing our butts off here. We even saw snow flurries in Florida! A ton of people in our neighborhood had frozen pipes and irrigation systems, us included, so we will just repair and move forward. I'm taking advantage of the cold to get some extra sleep. No need to get up super early if it's going to be so cold.
I'm also glad you're feeling better!
Oh, frozen pipes is NO fun. I've been worrying about that during cold periods because some of our pipes are on the outside of the house but it hasn't happened yet and I'm so grateful for that.
Elsa is adorable!! I have a weakness for kitties - while I have 2 laying on my legs right now, haha! I hope you are continuing to feel better post-cold! I've started doing more strength training over the past few months but haven't reached the heavy weights yet - nice work!
Cats are such entertaining animals and can be so sweet (when they want to)! Elsa prefers my husband but it happens that she comes to sleep on my legs. And she always sleeps on the back of my knees early in the morning in bed.
That's great for you that you got started with strength training, so important for runners! I've been training for almost 4 years. Incredible how time flies.
Your spring pics are beautiful! While we don’t have any of that color yet, I now have a full sunrise to enjoy on my drive to work, and full daylight long after I get home. Just having so much more light is a boost amidst all the winter cold. I’m glad you’re feeling better!
I totally agree, the stretch in daylight makes such a big difference for the mood, (almost) no matter the weather!
It's so nice to see how everything is greening up by you. It will be a while before we see anything green here, lol. White and brown are the main colors right now.
Renegade rows are the one thing I just cannot do. They hurt my wrists, and it's just not worth trying. So I modify. The coaches don't like it, but I'd rather get a good workout in than struggle to do even one.
Elsa is so adorable! It's hard to believe she hissed at your neighbor!
Renegade rows are so tough! For me it's more cardio-wise than strength-wise or anything else. They work on so many (if not all) muscle groups so I'm not surprised! How do you modify them? Or do you just do push-ups instead?
Ouch about the colours.... or lack thereof. When I lived in Sweden, the lack of colours for such a long time was almost harder than the snow and cold itself.
I usually just put my hands on the floor instead on the barbells; and row from there.
I am glad you are feeling better and feeling good with your gym workouts. Ah spring can you send that our way!? Thanks
Aw, I'll do my best! We're getting heavy rain again this week... but definitely much better than snow and ice!
I am very jealous that you're seeing spring flowers popping through the ground! It's always such a treat to see in the early spring! We are completely snowed/iced in so there's no green to be seen! I'm so looking forward to warmer weather!
Please keep those pictures of Elsa coming! :-)
It was so lovely to see the spring bulbs (I think they're daffodils), it gives such hope even if we know real spring won't be here for a while yet. At least a sign of going in the right direction.
I really hope you get some warmer weather soon! It looks really awful in the US right now!
I was very happily surprised how well our cat Sam has taken to a scratching post. We've always had front declawed cats but will no longer be doing that (it was a thing!). It's so hard to get a good picture of kittens in motion - sleepy ones are just as cute, so keep the pictures coming! I can't wait to see what you build for her. She is a queen!
How nice that there are signs of spring in Ireland!
Wow, front declawed cats? I've never heard of that being a thing. Then they must be indoor cats only? Claws are so essential for them to do what cats do, like climbing and taking prey. I read this week that cats need to scratch to relieve stress and so much more than just sharpening them. Elsa isn't too interested in the new scratching post but perhaps she'll find it. I took some catmint inside to help making it more attractive.
Oh yes, strictly indoor cats for us. No ever even gave declawing a thought back then! We had to show our cat (and the former foster kittens) how to use the scratching post just a few times and they never scratched our furniture. I hope you have the same success!
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