Continued Tiredness but Improving

This stunning Sparrowhawk turned up in my garden on Wednesday morning at 8am. It swooped in, grabbed one of the juvenile House Sparrows, alighted on the fence for a moment and then was off into the woods behind. It absolutely made my day. It's the first time I've seen a wild Sparrowhawk up so close, with prey....and in my back garden!

It's been a week of not really knowing what my resource levels are or will be each day. The start of the week was characterised by exhaustion (not helped by the neighbour's tumble drier regularly waking me at 5:30am-ish). My body/mind seems to think now that 5:15am is 'morning' and it's been hard all week to stay in bed or get any more sleep after that time. I missed table tennis on Tuesday. I was just too drained and was dealing with various aches/pains and episodes of feeling faint. I was also feeling pretty depressed about everything.

The Sparrowhawk experience on Wednesday morning lifted my spirits and I then had a thoroughly enjoyable time at the pool. Missing table tennis on Tuesday evening paid off and, once I'd completed the usual exercise routine, I managed 10 lengths (of 25 m) - 5 breast stroke and 5 on my back using flutter kicks. It felt fantastic! There was some pain in the left shoulder tendon/bursa but overall, I was really pleased and encouraged. It's only taken 18 months to get to a point where I can manage to swim 125 metres of breast stroke but it's progress and that's all that matters!

On Wednesday I decided to buy some blueberries just because they were half price. The weird thing is that I've actually felt a lot more alert and 'well' since starting to eat them (80-100g per day). I've been getting rubbish sleep but I seem to be coping ok with it, which is very unnerving, lol. I guess time will tell if the blueberry hype (Link) is true.

The bike work today felt ok although my left shoulder/arm is a little tired and painful. There was the usual LHS mid/lower back and RHS front of hip/groin/quad tightness/pain but those problem areas do seem to be gradually improving. I'm hoping that I won't need to sleep this afternoon. I'd love to get to a point where I can manage 25 mins on the exercise bike without then needing the rest of the day to recover.