#3 - Willpower doesn’t equal ability
At the end of my most active week to date, my body firmly puts my feet back on the ground. I’ve done more than 250 km over the past 7 days. And while I’m proud of that little milestone, it also brought up some small issues. This morning I woke up to a body telling me something. While I reached my first target weight of 100 kg exactly this morning, my muscles clearly told me that going for a ride might not be the best idea today. So did some of my joints. They were put to the test the past week, and were begging for a break.
Not that I believe I went too far. I am constantly monitoring my body while riding. Every twitch, cramp or uneasy feeling, leads to backing of or even taking a break. I’m well aware I’m asking a lot of my body. For about 25 years, I let it of easy. I usually had jobs that kept me seated for hours on end, without much exercise. And when I got home, there wasn’t much that got me active either. It’s just what happened.
But now I want to change that. And I firmly believe I can. Heck, I have to. Early January, my bloodshugar levels were high. Too high. The hospital was mentioned in a context of '“either change this or it’s of you go in a very short while”.
Somehow, that’s all the motivation I needed to make that change. Since then, I lost 11,3 kg or 3,5 BMI points. As a measurement of my willpower, I’d say that’s a statement on its own. But as mentioned above, that also means my body has to do stuff it hasn’t done for a very long time. And it’s doing that on a changing diet as an extra challenge. I’m eating low-carb now while making sure I have plenty of energy to work out. But I can honestly say my diet is well balanced and I didn’t feel hungry for a second.
The biggest danger at the moment is to over do things. Pushing myself over my limits. And what I experienced over the past couple of weeks, is that the next day, the story might be slightly different then what my body tells me on a ride. Positive or negative. Take today for example. My hip joints are more painful than what I expected yesterday. Painful is a bog word for the feeling, but they don’t feel in shape for a long ride today. They feel as if they were a bit stiff. The same goes for my hamstrings. And probably, that’s pretty normal. The body is definitely not in top condition. And that’s not changed by a couple of weeks of working out. It won’t even be after a couple of months, I’m sure.
So that means I will have to be extra carefull. Keep listening to the signals. And most definatly, hold back on going further every time. Going faster every time. Wanting to beat my own personal bests. That will come, but it’ll take time. And for now, things are going good. My blood sugar levels are dropping and it’s clear that my riding has a very big role in that. 24 hours after a ride, more often then not, the levels are actually in the target range. And that’s an achievement that will motivate me to keep going. The willpower is there, the ability not yet.
