December 23rd and 24th, Wednesday and Thursday, were “active recovery,” aka “active rest,” days. Tuesday was harsh.
Tuesday shows how much Paleo is “pseudoscience” and “wacko” — because I could not have done what I did on Tuesday if I were not on Paleo.
Oh. Wait. Let me think about the logic — i.e., the cognitive relation to reality — of that sentence.
While I think about it, back to the story.
Tuesday morning, I ate a moderate breakfast before 8 AM.
At 9:15 AM, I took two people out exercising in the woods over 2.25 miles and 2.25 hours. We did my usual type of workout, but lighter, for them: walk, jog, run, flip logs, walk on fallen trees, roll, squat, sit (in various positions using different techniques: for mobility), crawl, and more.
After we got back, I took a water break. And I spent some time in a panic looking for a phone I thought I had lost. That took about 20 minutes and half a mile. The phone was behind the cab of my truck, on the wall of the truck bed.
Around 1145, I took someone else out to train in the woods over 1.5 miles and 1.5 hours. Same general stuff, but with some more-intense log carrying and flipping thrown in.
At one point, when I was about one hour into this workout, I found myself feeling low in energy: I did not have the energy to effortlessly power up one side of a big log, part of a telephone pole, to flip it. I felt drained. But I was still able to power one side of the log up fast and strong to show the guy I was training, the junior high school football player, how to do it. I did it two or three times. Maybe more.
Back to the parking lot. Water break!
Time to rest? Time to eat? Nope.
I went to take care of my horse. Shavings. Manure. Water. All that.
Then, off I went to the feed store to buy three 40-pound bags of forage and one 50-pound bag of alfalfa, each of which I carried, when I got back to the barn, maybe 50 yards from truck to barn.
OK. Then I could drive home in the dark and have a 7 o’clock dinner.
I could not have done all that in my 20s or 30s. I did not exercise well enough nor did I eat well enough. Paleo has given me the nutrient stores from years of good eating, and has allowed my body and brain to adapt to using different energy sources: I can efficiently burn both carbs and fat, and no telling what else. And MovNat has given me the strength and efficiency I need for exercise and movement that varies in intensity, duration, type, and range.
So, Wednesday and Thursday, I did “active recovery” days. Heck no was I going to work out hard after Tuesday.
Someone else and I did an hour and a half of mobility sitting and crawling; walked around; did some stalking in the woods; climbed some trees; tossed some sticks and little pieces of concrete back and forth; did some two-armed hangs; and more.
Science works and is practical.