I guess midnight last night was the actual half way point. Today is the first day of that easy, downhill slide for home.
Easy? It hasn’t been so far
Take a look at the rules of my self imposed challenge. You can look at the sister post for day 15 here.
Day 16 in Figures
Day 16 Thoughts
This is the real half way point.
Despite all my narrative on how difficult the challenge has been it is good to note that I am currently a long way ahead of the base challenge. When I set the stretch target at 20% above the base figure I was convinced that I could never achieve it.
Now, the stretch target looks very achievable. It could be a little more difficult from next week though as I am scheduled to return to working in the office. With a 2-hour each way commute, the time for doing push ups (even if it is only 4 minutes a day) could be difficult.
Returning to work in the office next week could limit time available when I can get push ups done.
It is bizarre to be thinking of completing the stretch target. At the end of day 1 my tricep was sore and I thought I might have to give up before really getting started. There are still a lot of aches and pains from protesting muscle groups too.
This morning was still a difficult start. 30 seems to be something of a limit for that first set. That may be largely down to the post cardiac event drugs which tend to keep my resting heart beat very low. It is not a major problem but it does mean I need to warm up for longer before my body is ready for exercise.
It now feels like 35 push ups in a set is the current plateau. Normally if I feel I have plateaued I would take a day off and then try again. Taking a break allows muscles and brain time to recover. It can work a bit like a computer reboot. You don’t know what is causing the problem but shutting down and restarting cures many problems.
In this challenge you cannot afford to miss a day. That may be for the better. You know that you are working your muscles if you have to apply some clear effort to the last few press ups in each set.
On that note, I am glad that i wasn’t videoing that last set. There was plenty of grunting and I am sure my eyes were bulging by the time I got to numbers 39 and 40.
