Badminton + Zumba = Aching Calves

I think I overdid it this week - badminton, zumba and then weights in 3 consecutive days. I cannot feel my legs as they have gone numb - especially my calves, which has been aching since Monday. I can only go down the stairs one step at a time now, and it doesn't help that there are stairs everywhere at work - to come into the building there are several steps before you get to the door, to get to my desk I have to climb a flight of stairs, to go to the bathroom I have to go down those stairs (and up again on the way back), to go to other departments we collaborate with I have to go down those stairs and up another set of stairs...

On Monday we skipped Body Combat because Michelle was gonna head out for wings, so I had the opportunity to play some badminton. Boy, was it intense!! Ususally we go to the session from 8pm to 10pm and because there are so many players and only so many courts, we have to take turns to play. Which means for every 15 minutes or so we would get to rest for 5 to 10 minutes. However, this Monday we went to the session from 6pm to 8pm, and there weren't any line-ups at all! We got to play for 2 hours straight and we didn't even have to share the court half the time. It was awesome and I felt great afterwards, except for the numbing pain in my calves and right shoulder the next morning.

Despite the muscle pains, I went to Zumba on Tuesday evening, thinking I've had enough rest. Plus, I really don't want to miss that class - it's one of the only things I really look forward to during the week (the others being Fridays and every other Thursday when the paycheck comes). I thought if it was too much I can always make it more tame, and if I really couldn't stand it I could leave half-way. Wrong! It was so much fun that I had almost forgotten that my legs were hurting, and only after I got home I had realized that my calves were aching even more!

I half limped to work on Wednesday and had to rely on a couple of advils to last through the rest of the day. The only times I left my desk was to grab some coffee in the morning and for lunch. Otherwise, I stayed put, trying to minimize any actions (like climbing stairs) that might further aggravate my aching calves. But since Michelle has missed Zumba on Tuesday, we had decided to meet up and work out. Really, I should have stayed home. My legs were hurting and I almost wanted to take the elevator to go up to the gym. But I wanted to keep Michelle company, since she hasn't even gone to the gym once this week and our goal was a minimium of twice per week. It wasn't a great workout though - I couldn't warm up before going to the weigh machines because it hurt too much to do the bike nor the treadmill. I could only work on my abs and lower back, and in less than 30 minutes we hit the showers. Sauna was nice though, and definitely helped releasing some stress and relieving the muscle pains. I love to be in the sauna. Especially when it's so cold outside.