Being tired is a terrible thing. I vividly remember having a newborn child, a 15 month old toddler, and a husband who regularly travelled away from home on work courses. I remember living in some sort of mental fog and being able to jump from tears to manic laughter in a split second, and wondering what the actual definition of mentalness was, and, more importantly, how far away I was from achieving it!
OK - so I'm not quite at that tired stage, but I am feeling a little weary this week and my concentration isn't quite what it normally is. Example; A couple of days ago I set about making a yummy protein shake following a wickedly heavy weights session. Plastic shake container on the bench, insert 300ml of cold low-fat milk along with a large scoop of double-chocolate protein powder (life is tough!), then a snappy handful of frozen berries. I then inserted my little white, powerful whizz-stick and hit the pulse button.
At exactly that moment, someone started up some sort of heavy-duty machinery somewhere in the house and the sound was horrendous. I continued whizzing my shake while furiously scanning the lounge for what the hell was making that sound!! I experienced a little resistance in my shake but assumed (uh-oh!) that it was just the frozen berries being a little harder than usual.
"For crying out loud!!! Stop that bloody noise! You're driving me mental" I predictably yelled at no-one in particular, and continued to jam the whizz-stick a little harder into the container to try and break up those concrete-hard berries! I accepted the fact that the shake would be lumpy today due to aforementioned berries so I stopped the whizzer and then, and only then, did I realise that I had left the little spiral metal shaker thingie in the bottom of the shake container. My whizz stick had managed to half suck the life out of the spiral thingie that was now well and truly wedged three times around the blades.
The cause of the tiredness? Nothing in particular but everything all at once. I'm not going to dissect and complain about my week because there is nothing, not one thing, that I'd omit and nothing I regret taking on. So let's just accept that some weeks are more full-on than others and it's ok to admit to weariness as long as it doesn't cost me too many small appliances.
I haven't really given any time to my wonderful weekend away in Darwin so I'll backtrack a little. Michelle and I drove up on a Friday afternoon and checked in at about 3pm. By 5pm we had our runners on and, with great enthusiasm, we headed over to The Stairs (the Esplanade is its other name). We had no idea which way to go but spotted a 'fellow runner' (hehe!) emerge from the stairs with a red face so we headed to his direction. Quick stop to adjust the shoe laces (does anyone else suffer from the over-powering need to always adjust their laces just before running/??!! I drive myself mad!!), a few more minutes to ensure good music (another one of my near ocd tendencies!!) and we decided that M would be the forerunner while I kept up the rear. I like to think it's my fine police training that makes me the logical person to remain out-back to ensure we aren't 'hit from behind', however the truth is that she's faster than me and I like to hide the fact that I'm half-dead from her. I think she suspects the truth but is too gracious to bring it up in conversation. On ya Michelle!
Off we roared, down the stairs and....what an anticlimax!! Only about 15 stairs down!! Oh well, we'll keep going and surely we'll hit The Real Stairs soon. We had the choice of a left or right turn, we took the left and bounced past a carpark, headed toward the water, wondered why there seemed to be no sign of person or vehicle and realised why when we hit a dead end along the wharf front. Damn!!! Quick re-group. Turn around, along the wharf, past the car park, back up the stairs (that had turned from 15 into about 100!!) and left along the Esplanade. We headed up and down all sorts of little obstacles and made it to a road that headed to Cullen Point - about 7.5kms in total, probably about 5km the way the crow flies!! We took all of the scenic routes! Back to the hotel and off to dinner we went.
The following morning we headed to Time Out gym for our much anticipated Bootcamp session...only to find that Darwinites are a little on the soft side and the session was cancelled due to a light rainfall the night before. I can't say the thoughts that went through my mind but I felt a little tiny wee bit of pride in our Katherine Bootcamp that has never been cancelled...and never will be if I have it my way!
Instead we settled for a CX-worx class followed by a boxing class followed by a little tour around the gym. In short we were stretched and punched and it felt great to be bossed around by someone else. Michelle is a monster with the gloves and I tried to swap places with the guy next to me but he was too much of a scaredy pants to hold the pads for her. To be honest I think she near dislocated my shoulders but I started making funny faces and doing little dances to put her off her game. It worked and I managed to get out of there in one piece.
The afternoon was spent with shopping and the movies followed by a dinner consisting of....can you believe it!!!...a Coles green salad, tuna from a can and a boiled egg mashed on top! Only a special friend could share these moments with me and enjoy them!
Sunday morning was another sleep-in and then off to yet another gym. This time Ultimate Gym & Fitness in Winnelie Road. What a fantastic setup! If you're looking for a gym with everything in it, plenty of parking and spanking new gear, go there! So I finally met up with my trainer, Sammy Laughton. What struck me first was just what a tiny frame she had ....until she showed me her posing techniques and then I got to see lats that went forever and shoulders that could make me cry with envy! We got straight to work and my first 'homework' is to learn the quarter-turn poses. In all honesty, they hurt almost as much as my current chest press routine.... I said almost!!!! It is all quite technical and there are a few special tips to remember that might just make the difference between a good and a great pose. An hour and a half of that and my mind was overwhelmed with all she had to teach me.
We headed home on Sunday afternoon, stopping at a random truck shelter to scoff down yet another green salad, and of tuna and boiled egg! True friendship! We had such a great time and I'm so grateful for my very special friend.
So I've been putting in a bit of time in front of the mirror since we got back and it's not unusual for my family to find me in gym shorts, a sports bra and very high clear plastic stilettos, prancing about while chanting something like; "feet together, thighs out, chest high, lats spread, shoulders straight...and for gods sake...keep those hands soft!! They look like claws!!!" It's definitely not as easy as it looks and I feel very clunky rather than graceful.
With this new challenge I feel further away than ever from my goal because it's unfamiliar and an area that just doesn't come that naturally for me. And I still have spangly bikinis, fake tans and big hair to come! So what's the option - give up? Hardly!! Face it and give it my best and put the hard work in - sounds good to me.
Certainly can't complain that life isn't exciting that's for sure.
Til next time!
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