Week 8. Weak 8?

Welcome the the recap of Week 8, also known as the week where I finally waved the white flag.

As you all know at the beginning of the week I was powering through, hitting the wall and busting out the other side. Well that lasted one more day. What I finally had to admit last week is that I am sore. Not the good sore, the look at how these muscles are growing sore, but the my knees sound like cellophane paper when I walk up stairs and the ice and Advil aren't keeping on top of the step, ouch, step, ouch cycle. And the my back feels like it is one slight twist away from being out.  All the time. After adjusting my shoes, my workout surface, adding in another day of rest and none of it making a difference I had to just own up to the fact that I cannot do that much exercise in one day without paying a really stiff penalty.  So I threw in the towel.

And it was fine. No big deal at all to accept that I set this challenge and I have pushed through the mental barriers and kept going only to be derailed by the fact that I physically just cannot do it. I was fine with it. Fine. Which is why when I told Brent on Thursday that I was stepping back to one work out cycle a day instead of two because I couldn't hack it I only cried a little. Just a few tears, so obviously it was no big deal right?

Okay, yeah, it was rough. But today when I worked out my left knee didn't scream at me during every lunge.
And after having Brent help me work a knot out of my low back yesterday today was the first day in I can't tell you how many weeks (though my guess would be about 7) where my back wasn't giving me fits. There is still this piece of my brain that says I might try and step it back up to two sets a day again after a few weeks down at one, but there is also another part that says, NO!

So what does this mean for the 6 month challenge? It's still going. Just modified. Instead of working full time I've gone to part time to keep the workout like it's a job analogy. Instead of two sets a day 5 days a week and one set on Saturday I will be doing one set a day 5 days a week with Saturday as an optional day. It means my results probably won't be as drastic. But it also means that I should be able to walk without looking like an old lady.

And yes, it still sucks a bit that I couldn't do it the way I had planned. But that's also part of a challenge right? Sometimes it's just knowing how far you can go and pushing beyond. And sometimes it's knowing how far you can go and realizing that, yep, that's how far. And I'm fine. Really. Fine.