Day Nine

I didn't get a chance to weigh-in today. But I have been hitting the gym consistently. I've done two workouts thus far this week, mostly strength work. I'll get some conditioning in tomorrow and Saturday, and see if I can't squeeze in some hill sprints or something on Friday. I hit a PR clean and jerk today, 260 lbs. I've never jerked that much from the front rack, and it was a big surprise as to how easy it was. I guess just going through the motions in my class each week (remember that I teach an Olympic weightlifting class on Wednesday nights) has improved my own technique, even without actually doing anything heavy for a few months. It's pretty interesting stuff.

What's also interesting is how some days in the gym feel great and others feel terrible, and there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. Monday I was back squatting, and I was feeling really stiff, I didn't feel like I was getting a good bounce, and the whole thing just felt awkward. But today I came in, got a good warm-up, and hit a PR in less than 20 minutes. Nothing has changed, but I felt really good today. I guess it just goes to show that not every day is going to be great, and that doesn't mean you're failing as an athlete or overtraining (necessarily). It might just be an off day.

I really feel like I'm getting back up to speed with my training, and I'm feeling really good about it. My diet has been really solid, getting big protein (~200g/day) and keeping calories below 2500 each day. I'm also starting to feel more solid in terms of muscle tone, i.e. that my muscles are kinda waking up and being more active throughout the day. Just gotta keep going. 9 days down, 83 to go on (according to the plan). Although, if I'm not where I want to be by then, I'm gonna keep going. I want to get rid of this extra layer once and for all and be done with it. Good riddance.