I survived the weekend, which saw me become the hapless victim of one hour of remedial massage. It was a mixture of relaxing and refreshing; with a splash of harmless pain, and soreness in the day that followed.
The first thing I noticed post-massage, however was just how much looser my hamstrings were. I had discussed this with Georgia, the massage therapist, prior to commencing, in addition to speaking about the piriformis and sciatic issues that I'd experienced previously.
She focused her efforts, and for 48 hours, I felt like a new man. Then today, I probably ruined it all by stepping foot into the gym again, keen to beat that 2 kilometre time on the treadmill again.
I'm pleased to report that I did. By twenty four entire seconds.
My progression is tabulated below:
| Date | Seconds to 2KM total | Average Speed | Minutes | Seconds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14/06/2018 | 815.00 | 8.8 | 13 | 35 |
| 18/06/2018 | 774.00 | 9.3 | 12 | 54 |
| 19/06/2018 | 762.00 | 9.4 | 12 | 42 |
| 26/06/2018 | 740.00 | 9.72 | 12 | 20 |
| 2/7/2018 | 716.00 | 10 | 11 | 56 |
I've even made myself pretty charts to plot my performance over time!
The other thing that I have noticed is that there's a distinct lack of appetite for things that are sweet in my life. I'm not having as much trouble giving up sugary things as what I thought I might, with a daily serving of fruit stifling the hunger for things that rot your teeth.
I kind of cheated this evening, I had a small piece of steak, in addition to my turkey salad, but it won't be the sort of thing that will impact the scales in a meaningful way.
I have not had an additional weigh in at this stage, but I am noticing increased resilience when weight training, and more endurance on interval training exercises (like the rowing machine).
Progress is going well, and I've got another massage booked in for a month's time. I'll also be seeing the physio again this week to reassess my recovery. I've got a slight niggle today in the hip, probably caused by breaking my 2km record again.
The next update may see some food photography come into it, as I've become very skilled at cooking chicken in a most delicious manner; even if some people would argue it is bland. I don't care - it is nutrition. Who said nutrition had to taste bad? Nothing tastes bad when you add garlic. :)
Plus, you get to keep vampires away.
