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So if you click on one of the banner ads on this page, and then enter one of those codes, we both benefit.  Thanks for helping me out, and enjoy your race!

Back into gym with last stages of a cold

I've gotten my semi-annual cold and seem to be into the second week of symptoms.  Normally my colds are fairly textbook-come on over a day or two, one pretty bad week, a few days of good and bad moments, then two or three days flushing everything out.  Today marks day 8 and I am feeling more energetic and "real" than I have in about a week, so it's time to get back in the gym.  Of course the temptation is to do way too much, so the old adage from a Corpsman at Dive School will apply.  He had a great saying, "Too much can-do can do you in"!  I sure don't want to drive this cold down into my lungs, or wear myself out where I can't finish recovering.  So I'll probably stretch really well, do some light calisthenics like short sets of push-ups, PVC pipe squats and crunches and then spin the bike easy for a while.  Just something to keep the blood flowing and the flexibility up without taking two weeks off.  And I'll accumulate a few more points for the Presidential Fitness Challenge to boot.

The fancy name is Nocturnal Gastrocnemius Hyperactivity, but it still hurts!

2 nights ago I was awakened by an excruciating cramp in my left calf muscle, i.e. a nocturnal Gastrocnemius cramp.  While my muscle relaxed after a few minutes, it has been sore until this afternoon with some response to stretching.  I haven't worked out since before the cramp-I have been active, walked around and worked in my garage but haven't "loaded up" the calf muscle.  What happened, and how can I keep it from happening again?

First, I have begun lifting again, and while the weights aren't very heavy, I have worked at both full range of motion and pushing from my heels for all the lifts like squats, deadlifts and overhead presses.  I also have tried to walk more.  On top of this activity, my diet this past week hasn't been very good (breakfast the best meal of the day but a few trips to fast food places for the standard fast food meal as well).  To top it off, I donated 1 trillion platelets earlier that day, and this was my third donation in four weeks.  I'm guessing I dehydrated a little bit, ran my body down a bit more than I thought, and got my foot in an odd position.  Viola, massive cramp, waking up in pain and another reminder I'm getting older and vulnerable to maladies that used to be purely academic.  I'd read about them in training literature but not identify with them.  Not anymore!

So I googled "Nocturnal calf cramps."  Some websites offer info all over the place-of course potassium is important, as is magnesium and drinking lots of water.  Some discuss supplements and even one talks about using a small bar/hotel bar of soap.  I'm not really sure how that works and am not in a hurry to try that.  But the standard advice should work as it should-plenty of water, whole foods, vitamin and mineral balance.  I probably messed some or all of that up and am paying the price.

As always, unless you have specific dietary needs, eat it as close to how God made it as possible, and when things change-high stress levels, illness, blood or blood product donations-make sure you focus on a good diet and plenty of water.

And with that bookkeeping, I'm the newest Bronze Presidential Champion!

I just logged in to the President's Challenge website, and since I count "motorcycle repair" as home repair, and any lifting/hauling can be credited, I crossed over 40,000 points tonight!

Celebration, we're gonna celebrate and have a good time!

Presidential Champion Challenge Bronze Award

 

I would expect everyone to be awed, but its the first and easiest award.  Silver is another 50,000 points-more than I've already earned, so I'm immediately back to only 44% complete.  Also, my guest columnist Stephen "Wally" Siebel has at least one of the one million point Platinum awards, and the Grandmaster of the tae kwon do school I used to train with has multiple Platinum awards.  If I consistently work out, and more consistently log activity, I may have a shot at at least one Platinum award.

What do you do to stay motivated?

Quick update

Just a quick post to update the blog.

Back doing a modified Stronglifts 5x5 but not being consistent enough yet.  Getting there on getting multiple workouts a week in, and happy with how the weights feel so far.

Working on getting more sleep and eating a bit better.  Platelet donations through yesterday definitely show the effects of a fatty diet, but BP and cholesterol numbers are checked each time and they are good.  BP yesterday was lowest I've had in a long time.

Once I do the data entry, I should have the Bronze Presidential Fitness Challenge Award!  Yea Me!  Actually only 40,000 points, so I have a long long way to go compared to many.