(no subject)

[jianantonic]

I went for a walk yesterday afternoon to savor the nice weather, since the forecast shows a week of dreadful crap starting today. I saw Ellis Paul having lunch at Miller's, and I really wanted to stop and chat, but I figured it would be kind of rude, so I didn't. But neener neener, Ellis Paul lives in my town:) Um, if you don't know who Ellis Paul is, then we can't be friends anymore. J/f, but look him up - he's amazing.

I took a very necessary nap between work and bridge when I got home. The fact that I was actually able to fall asleep in the mid-afternoon shows just how tired I really was. In all of my adult life, I've probably slept less than 15 hours' time that was not my regular overnight sleep - including all the times I've woken up for the morning and fallen back asleep. Once I'm awake for the day, that's pretty much the end of sleep for me until I turn in for the night. It kind of sucks.

Waking up from a nap and then trying to get going again as if there's more day left ahead of you is like telling me to do ten pull-ups after an upper body workout with my trainer. And I can't even do one pull-up when I'm at full strength. More on this momentarily. But anyway I dragged ass all the way to bridge, and when I got there, I realized I'd been blacked out most of the way there. I had absolutely no memory of getting in the car, how I got there, or how I got to the bridge table. And I suddenly noticed an excruciating stomach ache, which didn't go away until I was sound asleep last night. I was secretly hoping that not enough people would come out for a game and I could go home and crawl back in bed. And not enough people did show - we had 5 pairs, enough for 2.5 tables, and we need 3 full for a game. Or so I thought. Paul polled the audience, and being the only one who didn't want to have a game, I decided not to ruin everyone else's night by going home, so I muscled through. I was miserable the whole night, couldn't count for shit, and played some of the worst bridge I ever have.

But we won.

Cause that's just how I roll. A 25-board game with a 5-board sitout - every board was played only twice, and despite my embarrassing play, we still came out on top. Yeesh.

I went home and had a fantastic sleep - thankfully, the note I left for the neighbor worked, and I haven't heard that alarm clock for two days now. :-D

So, pull-ups. I made the mistake of telling my trainer that a goal I have for myself is the ability to do pull-ups. When I look at a pull-up bar, I feel strong enough to do it, but then I actually try, and it's embarrassing how much I've overestimated my own strength. I haven't tried in a while, but I'm fairly certain I couldn't quite do it still. So my trainer has this really goofy-looking strength-building exercise that is specifically designed to help you get better at pull-ups, and have I mentioned that I hate this exercise and feel like an idiot doing it? Every week when I train with Jen, she gives me a new least favorite exercise ever. Just when I think there's nothing more painful or humiliating than that lunge-plie-backwards lunge-squat combo she gave me, she tops it. On the plus side, it makes the other stuff just a little less horrible for me. It's all about perspective.

Today is our last DI practice before regionals tomorrow...wow. Bridge on Sunday, work/train on Monday, then I get to welcome home my roommate! With all the great stuff I have going on this weekend, is it wrong that Monday is what I'm most looking forward to?

Peace.

Comments

[kixeldorado.livejournal.com]

Trust me, when you get to one pull up, you feel SO AWESOME that you were able to do it.
It only gets better with the more you can do. :)

So in the interest of wanting to be able to do more, what's the goofy looking strength building thing she's making you do to help with pullups?

:)

And congrats on the nap. I've never really been able to get the hang of those things either.

[jianantonic.livejournal.com]

She has me stand on a box and jump up to the pull-up bar so I start with my chin above it, then lower myself down as slowly as possible. 15 reps, 3 sets. It hurts. And I feel like a moron.