The past few days have been pretty painful.  For some reason this lay off week is becoming a serious necessity as opposed to a planned relaxation.

On Tuesday (Day 27) I had a Ju Jutsu class which resulted in me feeling like road kill.  I’ve never normally felt as bad as I did that day and the aches I had from the previous days chilled strength training were getting worse as opposed to better.  This was meant to be a core, neck and forearms day but managed a pretty weak effort:

  • Wrist Roller: 3 + 3 + 1.5
  • Abs Roller: 2 sets of 10 reps

The abs roller was a nightmare because it requires tricep strength and for some reason my tri’s weren’t having any of it.  After the two sets they were dead.

Then Wednesday (Day 28) everything was getting terrible.  The pain (DOMS) wasn’t getting better as I’ve come to expect – it was getting worse!  Much worse.  I had an iai/kenjutsu class that evening and I felt ill before, during and after.  None of which was normal for me.  My triceps which hadn’t been targeted for over 48hrs were agony – what the hell was wrong with me?!?!

What was worse is the rundown feeling – I just didn’t want to do anything full stop but I managed the following ‘endurance strength workout’:

  • 10 V-Ups
  • 25 Push Ups
  • 3 sets x 15 reps Dumb Bell Side Bends (an attempt to make up for yesterdays poor core workout)
I know – pathetic…

Today (Day 29) I’m still feeling bad but things are looking up.  My fruit intake the past 3 days rocketted though I don’t know why…

I started to eat clementines again which is something I’ve not eaten in years!!

  • For lunch on Day 28 I had 4 bananas and 1 clemantine.
  • Breakfast the past 3 days has been muesli and bananas.
  • Today’s lunch was 2 clemantines and a banana.

For me – thats unusual!!

If I do an enhanced Interval Workout today I’ll post into a separate blog.

Why The Problems?

I’d guess its three things:

Poor Diet

At the weekend I bought a box of chocolates which I ate in two days.  Not bad – we all have our breaks form eating good food.  But then I ate loads on Monday and Tuesday too.  4 days of intense sugar intake for a body that had become accustomed to complex carbs and whole foods = crash and burn!

Glucose does compete with Vitamin C absorption so its feasible that high levels of glucose will diminish your levels of vitamin C to unhealthy levels.

This may also explain my sudden love of clemantines and bananas – was my body trying to tell me something?

Over Training

I started this programme 29 days ago and I kept increasing intensity over and over again.  My lay off week I hit running and I don’t think my body was ready to keep going as I’d timed it so I had an EIT day then an ICT day one after another.  Then a ‘relaxed’ strength day.  For someone who hasn’t trained this intense before it may not have been a good idea.

Sleep (or lack of it)

I’ve started to get more sleep than I used to.  I used to average 3-6hrs per night pre-programme.  Now I get 6-7 which is better but I think I need more.  When I very first started I got about 7-8hrs which was good.  As much as I hate to say this though I think I’m a long sleeper – and prolly need about 8-9hrs of good quality sleep!  This may explain the lethergy, insomnia (mad I know), low mood, etc.