I was soooooo nervous before starting my 800 jumps today. My knee was feeling a lot better but still not pain-free, so I was worried about how much the jumps were going to hurt. I dawdled and procrastinated and threw another load of laundry in the dryer and checked my email again and... finally put on my exercise clothes and my shoes and grabbed that jump rope. Guess what? It was fine. Totally fine. A little twinge, but nowhere near as bad as the last time I jumped, two days ago. My form was definitely off, though, and I couldn't sustain many consecutive jumps. I started to get frustrated, and then I reminded myself to smile.
The physical act of smiling, even when you don't feel like it -- especially when you don't feel like it -- can really improve your mood. It feels kind of fake at first, but then the brain chemicals kick in and then you start to feel a little bit lighter. I find this especially useful when I start to take myself too seriously. (Which I do all the time. And I often forget to smile.)
So I grinned like a goofball as I tripped my way through 800 jumps. Lots of stretching before, during and after, so it took me a while. I worked up a good sweat, though. I took an awesome pic of the pool of sweat I left on my floor after doing the incline pull-ups (which are still an exercise in futility) but I can't upload it at the moment. If anybody reallllly wants to see a picture of a pool of sweat, let me know and I'll make the effort. :)
In other news, I'm mourning the loss of carbs from dinner as of today.
In other, other news, I'm down 6 pounds from 2 weeks ago, and I can see some muscles in my arms. So I guess I can take the carb thing in stride.
Happy week 3, everybody!
Okay. I am inspired. I am heading out right this minute to see if I can do 800.. I already think I can't...but I'm going to try. My knee is really feeling fine! I'll go slow. I'll trip and I'll keep smiling just like Tara.
ReplyDelete(I'll get back to you when I'm done to see how I did...)
I'm back. Sigh. I didn't make it. I am too embarrassed to tell you how short I fell from the 800. But let's just say it was about 400 short. You can guestimate. What is wrong with me? My knee is just the teeniest sore. So it's not that.
ReplyDeleteI huff and puff and I TRIP every ten jumps. So it takes so long to simply get through them. Mostly I'm feeling bad about myself. That takes a huge amount of energy right there.
Then after 50 I sit down and feel even worse. OH dear. It's a dip.
I am going to go out later and try and jump more.
The saga continues.
Deborah, good for you for trying! But you have to remember that I worked my way up to 800 jumps. If you've been doing 350 or so, then 400 today is really good! Sometimes I get through 40 or 50 jumps without tripping, sometimes I get through 2. It's frustrating as hell and it takes me a long time too.
ReplyDeleteBut I think the most important thing is to do it every day, and to do your best. Maybe your best right now is to huff and puff and trip every ten jumps. Hope it goes better for you later on! Your persistence is inspiring.
Those knees are coming back to life ladies!
ReplyDeleteTara thank you for this tip about the smiling! I do a similar thing with saying a nice thing or being nice to people. When I'm feeling most annoyed with people I take a moment and ask someone about their life or where they got their pretty dress, and suddenly I'm the opposite of annoyed.
ReplyDeleteGlad your knee's feeling better!
ReplyDeleteThat smiling trick is hard! It does feel fake, but your right, it works.
I'm glad your knee is feeeling fine. AND " MAKE IT WORK" bahaha, love the TIM gunn.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you did make it work!
show that bloody jump rope who is boss! don't let it slap your toes no more
Hooray your knee is feeling better! hmm I will have to try the smiling thing, thanks!
ReplyDeleteSmile though your heart is aching, smile even though it's breaking....
ReplyDeleteI really like your smile trick!
And I am glad your knee is better now!