This was a whirlwind of a week. It included some great workouts and music & festivities with friends, but also deep sadness and gratitude for life and health. An unexpected death in the community reminded me again to not take life and health for granted. I've been frustrated over performance fluctuations and of course when we're in the gym we want to perform well to train efficiently, but being healthy enough to go there in the first place and lift those things at all is a gift and a blessing. It's easy to forget that while we focus on this or that fitness goal.
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
My hip has continued being a bit cranky but is much better. I started this day with various hip rotations and stretches. Then in the afternoon I went to the gym.
Today I felt so good! My performance and energy were back to normal and everything was just... good! I warmed up with a variant of spiderman that was great for the hips, and then I did sumo squats, lunges, dumbbell chest presses, inclined flyes, standing dumbbell rows, one-dumbbell pullovers, upright rows and dumbbell shoulder presses. Finally I didn't rep out. I mean - 12 reps are still tough, but in the way they should be. It was a great session that made me happy.
Tuesday - St Patrick's day
Happy St Patrick's day! We went to town to see the parade and then join the music session at 4 pm. During the parade, I took, ehm, ONE photo. Below, imagine a nice photo gallery of parade photos I should have taken. LOL! We didn't get a good spot for photos, and it started drizzling too.
But the music session afterwards was fun as always, and later some of us had dinner together, before moving on to a second music session since it was on a Tuesday (the day of the normal weekly trad session). After dinner we were all nearly falling asleep! But we kept music going until some time after 10 pm. It was a good day.
Wednesday - gym
I was so tired today. It wasn't a late night - later than usual, but not late, and if you're wondering about drinking because it was St Patrick's day, I only enjoyed one single shot of whiskey at about 3 pm. I was still exhausted when I got out of bed. But it was Wednesday and I needed to take myself to the gym. Fortunately on Wednesdays I train at 5 pm so I had some time to fill up some energy. Caffeine, water and carbs were flowing and I could only hope for the best.
Surprisingly it was a great session!
I did deadlifts, step-ups, barbell chest press, inclined dumbbell chest press, good mornings, two-dumbbell pullovers, lateral raises and bent-over lateral raises. The step-up weights were increased to 8 kg dumbbells and I felt good, although I still feel weaker on my right leg. This is weird since my left leg is where I always struggle with balance - perhaps a sign the balance issue truly is a confidence issue only (after I had to rebuild from scratch after my stress fracture)? I repped out on the last set of barbell chest press and likewise the two last sets of dumbbell chest press but I still felt I did well. Everything else was good and like on Monday I felt my performance has come back to what it should be.
Thursday
This was a terrible, sad day. Early in the day I got the news that a local businessman, the twin brother of a good friend of ours (co-owner of that business) had suddenly passed away. It came as a shock for the entire town after he, with our friend and their older sister, received appreciation on St Patrick's day (looking great and healthy too) for running their family-based business for a combined 150 years between the three of the them. He was a lovely, friendly and cheerful personality and involved in a lot of good, important projects in town, and this is a huge loss to the community.
This again reminded me of how vulnerable life is and how we should enjoy every day that we have and don't hesitate to do that thing we want to do (writing this, Jenny's 60-mile ultramarathon on her 60th birthday comes to mind). Even if I had lots of work to do I dropped everything and went for a decent afternoon walk to celebrate life and the spring weather. I walked up the cow hill and back, and thought about various projects I'm working on and one I would like to start but haven't had the courage to initiate. Perhaps I should ditch the what-ifs around it and just do it, and also go more all in with everything else I'm involved in. Life is short and it's a shame to chicken out and not make the most of it.
The magnolia is in bloom, and looks like it has been for some time.
My cherry tree is in bloom too, but in my garden it was too windy for photos.
Friday - gym
I started the day with some foot strength work in the form of toe extensions with resistance band, heel raises with elevated toes, and pogo hops. In the afternoon I went to the gym. I did reverse lunges, Bulgarian squats, flyes, Renegade rows, dumbbell rows, parachutes, barbell shoulder presses and forward raises. The Renegade rows went quite well today. I did 12-10-6 reps, and those first two sets were the best I've managed to do for a long time.
This was another very good session, but flavoured by yesterday's sad news. Every lift felt like a celebration of being alive and well but I also felt quite shaky while we talked about the situation and Irish funeral traditions (this will be the first funeral I attend here). Both leg exercises were harder than usual but with some determination I got through them.
After coming home we received news about that family member I mentioned a few weeks ago, and the news isn't as bad as I at least prepared for. We'll see how it develops and for now there is hope for a not-devastating outcome.
We went to a new bluegrass session in the evening. I was super tired but we had fun as usual and also as usual, I was reminded that I need to learn more songs, more classic bluegrass songs. Generally I've been slacking off a lot with music in recent years. This is one of the projects to go more all in with. More singing, more guitar (and concertina) practice, generally more music in my daily life.
Saturday
Talking about music, this was also the week when Dolores Keane, fantastic singer and sister of Séan Keane, passed away. I spent some time to indulge in some of her music today.
I didn't do much today. I had planned a walk and the weather was good, but I was tired and sad. I took a stroll in the garden instead to see how my plants from last year were doing. With some adjustments, I think everything out there is thriving. We'll move a few plants and probably replace a few others that didn't fit so well where they are.
Sunday
Today we're preparing to go and pay our respects to the deceased person and his family. Not much else will happen.
How are you? Do you have any good, uplifting news to share (about yourself, the world, anything)?
Comments
Sorry for the sad news this week. It's times like this that really make us count the blessings in our life and to reach out and lift others. I hope the condition of your relative remains positive. Sending hugs as you make it through this difficult time!
Aw! Thanks for the shoutout. Sorry about your friend/community member. It's always shocking when something like that happens. The best thing we can do to honor their memory is appreciate life. As you said, appreciate the fact that we're healthy enough to go to the gym/run/walk etc. And, don't put off the big things- none of us know how long we have left. I know you're sad, but I like how you're coping by embracing life.
Nice work in the gym. Now that my race is over I'm actually looking forward to prioritizing strength!
I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of the prominent community member that you knew well. Life is so precious and you're correct, we should embrace every moment. Sending hugs your way!
Oh, so sorry about your loss, as well as your community’s. Life is fragile, and we DO need to be grateful for each and every day. I used to work with a gal who refused to acknowledge her birthday. I was in charge of giving gift cards to the employees on their birthdays, and every year I had to say “here’s a card for you to celebrate another voyage around the sun” instead of saying “birthday.” Honestly, it was annoying, and kind of sad. Your magnolia treee looks beautiful! It makes me lonesome for the one I had in my front yard at my former house…
Life is so short and unexpected tragedies do often remind us that and also leave us feeling so helpless at times. Very sorry for your loss and the community grief as well. Sometimes those workouts that we dread or have low expectations for end up being super productive. Mindset is key powerful! Hope you have an ok week Suzann xo
Thanks Deborah! This coming week we'll need to focus on feel-good things, that's for sure. I totally agree about the low-expectation workouts - there's something special about them.
I'm so sorry to hear about your sad news. I hope the funeral goes well. Nothing wonderfully exciting here, except it feels like spring today! But it's back to Winter next week. I was actually just in New York at home, visiting a friend because her husband is dying of cancer. Lots of sad things happening right now it seems! Thinking of you.
That's terrible about your friend's husband. So sad. I agree, so many sad things happening. We all need some uplifting news and feel-good things now. Glad to hear about your spring-like weather!
Your St Pat's Day celebration sounds so fun! I'm so sorry about your sad news. When you read my post, you will see that I also had some sad news in the middle of the week when my mom fell and broke her pelvis. I was still in California when it happened. I'll tell you what, you are right, life can change in the blink of an eye. It's a good reminder to be grateful for all your blessings.
Nice work on the lifting, as always.
Oh, I'm so sorry to hear about your mom. That's terrible. An event like that can be devastating for an elderly person. I hope everything goes as well as possible. I'm quite distracted today so probably won't be around to properly read and comment until late.
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