This Week

It’s funny how when things are going good, bad days really aren’t as bad as they are when things are going bad overall.

Not a great week, but I’ll take it. I got wrapped up around the holiday and only got in two workouts this week because of some poor planning. I would have had to go to the gym yesterday and today to make it three, but today I’m a little sore and tired so I took the day off.

My plan is to work out tomorrow on my usual planned day off. I was home from work the past four days with the holiday so I don’t really need Monday for my usual relaxation. Flexibility in the plan is a nice mental booster. It’s what has kept me from missing one workout and blowing up the whole week in the process.

Diet-wise, I didn’t do terribly, but I give myself the day off on Thanksgiving and ate some stuff I haven’t had in a couple of months, like dessert and other stuff. I also had some meals in the last few days while I’ve been home from work, that I wouldn’t have normally had.

I’ll be getting weighed when I drop by to see my parents later, but I’m not really expecting a loss today. That’s OK, because I got right back on track today. A bad day and a couple of not-so-great days once in a great while aren’t going to ruin the overall effort.

I’ve been having some soreness in my back lately, since my most recent round a week ago. I had dealt with a herniated disk in my back with physical therapy with good success. Over the last month or so, it got to the point where I was having no pain at all.

After I played last week, the pain returned, but not to a terrible degree. Mostly spasms and intermittent pain. I think it might have had something to do with the cold. I stretched and warmed up and tried to stay loose, but it’s almost impossible on a blustery day like that.

As the round wore on and I got tighter, what likely happened is that I started to hang back on my right side a little (a flaw I’ve fought for a while). My upper body turns quickly, too far ahead of my lower body, putting strain on my back. I’m suspicious that this flawed action caused my problems in the first place.

Tweaks

The big tweak this week is to make darned sure that my regular routine is fully resumed next week after I let myself wander during the holiday weekend.

The other tweak is to resume the exercises that I was prescribed by my physical therapist to treat my back last year around this time.

I hadn’t done them in a while because I was lapsing on all my workouts. Then, when I resumed working out, my back felt good, so I went with my usual routine. Most likely, the exercises and weight lifting that I do at the gym don’t strengthen and stretch the areas where I need work to help my back.

I’ll have to make sure that I continue to do them regularly to stay flexible and strong in the critical areas, even when I feel good.

I just realized that I also neglected to get in any putting work this week like I had intended. It’s been somewhat cold so putting hasn’t been at the top of my mind. I’ll be sure to bring my putter inside, where seeing it will give me constant reminders.

I’m going to try and plan on 30-60 minutes of putting work per week for now, and see how that works out. If I get a weekend day where the weather is half decent, I’ll include half an hour or so on the practice green whenever I can.

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