Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 186

Day 186 The past week was a little different than last week. Last week I had some very long physically exhausting days. I didn't really do anything that pushed me to the point of failure but the accumulation of lifting things and demolishing basements for hours left me totally wiped. This week I didn't have to tear up any basements, so I had a little more time and energy to commit to really pushing it with my workouts.

This week was all about intensity. On a couple occasions I decided to really test my limits and find out where my breaking point was. For day 183, the halfway mark to 365 days, I tried to see if I could do 100 burpees without stopping. I hit the wall at 75. Then a couple days later I tried to see if could do battleropes continuously for 10 minutes. The good news is I succeeded, the bad news is I still have 10 more minutes to reach the ultimate goal of 20 minutes. I also, did about 40 minutes of all out sprinting with my conditioning group

Although the workouts weren't very long, they pushed me to the limit. Not surprisingly by Thursday I was starting to get really sore. When I woke up on Friday I was walking like a had stick up my butt and my shoulders were screaming at me when I washed my hair in the morning. Basically, being in my invalid state I was left with no choice but to do a regeneration / recovery workout.

Today's Workout

Stationary Bike: 20 minutes / Level 10 / 80 - 85 rpms

Full Body Foam Roll Session: 20 minutes (Extra emphasis on hip flexors and IT bands)

Full Body Deep Stretch: 20 minutes

I felt a little better after trying to loosen things up. I'd say I went up a level in mobility from a zombie (not those fast zombies from 28 days later or that Brad Pitt movie, but the slow ones from The Walking Dead) to Mr Burns. Needless to say, slow progress. The plan for the next workout was still pretty much up the air. If I'm still feeling pretty useless I may just have to do another regeneration day.

At least I've been sleeping really well. I have no idea why. Having tried everything under the sun to improve my sleep with little success, I'm suddenly sleeping through the night. The most puzzling part is that I've been breaking all the "rules". During the flood recovery, my diet went completely off the rails. Drinking beer everyday, having pizza and cookies with the other volunteers, and this week I've even had the occasional caffeinated coffee. Maybe I've just been so tired that I'm trumping my insomnia out of pure survival. We did recently get an air conditioning unit in the bedroom which is definitely helping. Whatever, it is I'm not going to complain. I think I'll still limit alcohol, wheat, and caffeine just because I feel better overall when I limit them, but for the time being maybe not stressing out about what I put in my mouth is really nice.