Coffee experiment

So, day two of the coffee/gym/metabolism experiment was a bit of a disappointment. I'm figuring out, I think, how to use this legal stimulant but I can see it's going to be tricky to balance everything.

Tired out from the Huge Gym Day on Fri, I didn't get nearly as crazy again yesterday and was pretty draggy most of the day. And that was with double the dose: I downed four... yes four ... double espressos through the course of the morning while puttering about the house, and it wasn't nearly the same. Got a bunch of housework done and later was still perked up enough to get on the bike and go pay the bills, but didn't make it over to the gym until 2:30 and discovered that, being Italian, the nice Gym Lady doesn't open in the afternoons on Saturdays. I wasn't disappointed, in fact, and was just as glad to go home again. Not a lot of energy left over by Saturday evening. Artificial stimulants, at least the legal kind, have limits, I guess.

I'm guessing that the explosion on Friday, and the 5.78 km power walk, increased weights etc, just made me more tired than usual and it's taking an extra day to recuperate. I'll go back tomorrow morning and see how I get on.

Also, have to remember to eat. The biggest factor in the equation in getting draggy was probably food. I forgot that one of the things caffeine does to you is suppress appetite. In fact, it gave me a kind of gloopy tummy; not sick exactly, just not interested in food. When I got back home on Friday, I just went to work as usual and felt fine. Just had cucumber salad and little gorgonzola on pomodorini for dinner.

On Friday morning I'd had protein, vitamin and iron-rich leftover Fegato alla Veneziana for breakfast, with a couple of peaches, and then poured in the coffee on top. Saturday morning, I was feeling gloopy, so just went with a little fruit, then forgot to eat anything at all for the rest of the day. By the time I'd got to the gym at 2:30 I was starting to get light headed when I stood up too quickly. So it shouldn't be surprising that I was feeling most of the day like I was wading through mud.

Sleeping was definitely interrupted. I was truly pooped by Friday night, but unsurprisingly had trouble sleeping. Last night, I had a work thing to finish which took till nearly one thirty, then couldn't sleep at all until nearly three.

Taking a control day today. Nothing but iced tea and fruit and yogurt after church, and am about to make some lunch and then might take a snooze. I'll try a little short dose of coffee again around five to perk up enough to go to the beach-o for a swim. That's about when Wicked Old Yellowface has eased off enough to make it safe to go out. Nothing like an evening snorkel to make you feel alive.

My friend who works in a fancy-schmancy Tea Shoppe in Vancouver tells me that the caffeine in tea and the caffeine in coffee are actually two different chemicals. Too much tea caffeine has always just made me jiggly and clumsy. Coffee caffeine makes me think I can RULE THE WORLD. So it'll be interesting to see what comes of this new thing.



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