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Monday's PT session is bright and early at 8.30am. Clearly I'm not used to having to be somewhere this early in the morning - just as I'm about to rush out of the door, I realise I have my leggings on inside-out! Half an hour later I arrive at the gym - leggings now on the correct way around - only to discover that I also have my top on inside out!
I'm not really sure what's going on with my brain this morning - not a lot apparently.
A sweaty session
Today's session is mostly outside. The weather is muggy and clammy, with thick fog. I seem to be swimming in sweat today. It's dripping everywhere. As I'm reeling away in sweatiness, taking in deep gasps of the muggy, clammy and oppressive air, my mind drifts back to the terrifying book I was reading on climate change last week.
"This is probably how the air will feel all the time in 30 years from now," I think.
A run in with a lamp post
Wednesday's session is at 10.30am. I spend the early morning doing loads of yoga. Then at 10am I get in the car and drive to my training session, feeling chilled out, well-stretched and relaxed. As an added bonus, I have all of my clothes on the right way around this morning, so everything is off to a good start.
Everything is going just fine. Until I reach the car park.
As I drive forward into the parking space I notice that I'm uncomfortably close to a lamp post on my left hand side. I press the little button to pull my wing mirrors in as I go further forward, as it looks like the left one might hit the lamp post.
"Actually, I'd better reverse a bit," I think to myself. "...and then drive myself back into the space, a bit further away from the lamp post..."
As I reverse there is a slight 'crunching' noise.
"I wonder what that noise is..." I think to myself. "It doesn't sound good..."
The car doesn't seem to be going backwards, despite my foot being down on the accelerator. So then - and I have no idea why I do this - in retrospect, it seems like a completely stupid thing to do - I decide to put my foot down harder and push through the crunching sound.
There is lots more of this 'crunching' noise, as the car eventually starts to move backwards. Finally, I'm out of the space and away from the uncomfortably close lamp post.
On reflection, I decide that I don't like that space very much, and that I think it's a bit of a stupid place to put a lamp post anyway - practically in the car parking space. So instead I drive forward into a new space, with no lamp posts.
Once parked, I decide I'd better take a look to see what all of that crunching noise was about.
"Eeeeeeek!!!!" I exclaim to myself, as I stare in horror at the front bumper of my car. It turns out that the left hand side of the bumper is half hanging off - the lamp post must have somehow got wedged behind the plastic bit around the wheel as I reversed.
All of my morning yoga calmness and relaxation dissolves away, and is instead replaced with a sense of panic. What do I do? How did this happen? Is the whole thing going to fall off? Is it safe to drive it home like that?
As I arrive at the gym, I explain to my PT how I've broken my car, and how there was a lamp post in a parking space - and how I think that's a really stupid place to put a lamp post anyway. Who puts lamp posts in car parking spaces??!
During the session I don't know whether to laugh or cry at the situation. I instead find myself full of a sort of nervous energy, which I take out on the battle ropes, imagining as I'm slamming the ropes, that I'm slamming that stupid lamp post that got in my way, and broke my car.
1 & 2. Taking my fury out on the battle ropes 3. The offending lamp post
A moment of reflection
As I look back on the incident, my overwhelming thought is that I honestly don't know how it happened. It seems like such a random, unlikely, freak event to have happened to me, and I find myself wondering whether it happened for a reason. Perhaps it wasn't really my fault. Perhaps the universe conspired to make this happen to me on purpose, for some greater reason, or purpose.
"Perhaps the universe is telling you to get a bicycle instead?" suggests my PT, when I tell him my thoughts.
That's not a bad thought actually.
Maybe that is what the universe is trying to tell me.
Weekly food diary
This week I have been eating...
Monday
Breakfast: Muesli with oat milk. Two cups of black coffee.
Snack: None today.
Lunch: Three scrambled eggs, on one piece of brown buttered toast, with spinach.
Snack: Two cups of tea, each with a dash of oat milk.
Dinner: Mindful Chef's parsnip, kale and kidney bean hotpot.
Snack: A small bowl of muesli with oat milk.
Tuesday
Breakfast: Muesli with oat milk. Two cups of black coffee.
Snack: None today.
Lunch: Two scrambled eggs, on one piece of brown buttered toast, with spinach.
Snack: Two cups of tea, each with a dash of oat milk.
Dinner: Mindful Chef's sticky Asian salmon with carrot salad and black rice.
Snack: A small bowl of muesli with oat milk.
Wednesday
Breakfast: Muesli with oat milk. One cup of black coffee.
Snack: None today.
Lunch: Two poached eggs on one piece of brown buttered toast, with spinach.
Snack: Two cups of tea, each with a dash of oat milk.
Dinner: Mindful Chef's sticky Asian salmon with carrot salad and black rice.
Snack: A small bowl of muesli with oat milk.
Thursday
Breakfast: Muesli with oat milk. Two or three cups of black coffee throughout the morning.
Snack: None today.
Lunch: Two scrambled eggs on one piece of brown buttered toast, with spinach.
Snack: None today.
Dinner: Mindful Chef's smoked tofu, Spanish rice and roasted peppers.
Snack: A small bowl of muesli with oat milk.
Friday
Breakfast: Muesli with oat milk. One cup of black coffee.
Snack: None today.
Lunch: Two scrambled eggs on one piece of white Irish soda bread (from myloaf), buttered and toasted, with spinach.
Snack: Two cups of tea, each with a dash of oat milk.
Dinner: Mindful Chef's smoked tofu, Spanish rice and roasted peppers.
Snack: A small bowl of muesli with oat milk.
Saturday
Breakfast: Muesli with oat milk. Two cups of black coffee.
Snack: None today.
Lunch: A spicy chicken wrap with a side salad from coffi co.
Snack: None today.
Dinner: Mindful Chef's sticky harissa butter beans and mango salsa.
Snack: A small bowl of muesli with oat milk.
Sunday
Breakfast: Muesli with oat milk. Two cups of black coffee.
Snack: None today.
Lunch: Two scrambled eggs on one piece of white Irish soda bread (from my local bakery - myloaf), buttered and toasted, with spinach.
Snack: Two cups of tea, each with a dash of oat milk. A small piece of bread, dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Dinner: Mindful Chef's sticky harissa butter beans and mango salsa.
Snack: A small bowl of muesli with oat milk.
1. Sticky harissa butter beans & mango salsa 2. Parsnip, kale & kidney bean hotpot 3. Sticky Asian salmon with carrot salad & black rice 4. Smoked tofu, Spanish rice & roasted peppers
Up next: my weight loss journey week 36
Lisa
