“Guilt is like a big bag of bricks. All you gotta do is set it down.” John Milton, The Devil’s Advocate

21st Feb – Days to go on 100 days dry: 50. Days until the Dartmoor Way: 83

I’ve written before about bumps in the road. I hit a couple of big ones this week. Specifically, no weight loss recorded and a big dip in my Heart Health score on my fitness tracker.

My first reaction was incredulity. Having been at this now for the best part of 7 weeks, I had a little crisis of confidence. What had I done wrong? (I have a list.) How could I not have lost weight after starting strength training, completing two of the 5 minute interval runs and walked nearly 30 km and burning about 4k calories?

So first, my guilt button clicked into place. I had a kebab this week. Look, I have eaten really well for the last couple of months, no alcohol, really cut back on carbs and garbage, but time got away from us on Saturday when I got back from the walk and I ordered a lamb kebab. My thinking at the time (read: justification) was that this was not going to break the trend, as I have been working on this diligently for some time now.

Then I thought back over the length of time that I have been filling my face with beer, carbs and garbage and cut myself a little slack. I even spent Sunday afternoon graphing out the various KPI’s that get measured and saw that even though this week didn’t show an improvement it was still within the trend. I have to stop giving myself a hard time and keep at it.

The second jolt to the system was the Heart health score that I get once a week. Again, having seen an improvement trend over the last 7 or so weeks, this was the biggest drop I’ve seen. Looking back I shouldn’t be surprised, this weekend was the biggest impact on my stamina in some while. The program allows for two rest days, as this was the biggest hike yet, so I will recover according to the plan. But the plan tomorrow is for strength training in the morning and the last run of week 4 in the evening.

Next week the #couchto5k program steps up a notch, finishing with a 20 minute run. That is going to be a challenge, but one I am determined to beat. There will be self-congratulatory fives all round when I do that. It’s good to have something to aim for.

“You want to get out of that hole? First you have to put down the shovel.” Rick Decker, Incredibles 2