Pain: a warning sign, or weakness leaving the body?

I gleefully ran another early morning mile yesterday, continuing to ease back into regular running. Daily calf stretches seem to be helping.

The previous night, hours after doing pushups, my arms ached at bedtime and I took a pain pill so I could get to sleep. So, the bottom line for Pushups Week 3/Day 1 - (a) I did not complete 5 sets of pushups, and (b) my arms got seriously achy. Rough start to the "week" (I am falling out of alignment with the calendar week, oh well).

Tonight was Week 3/Day 2 of pushups. The program calls for 27/19/19/15/max (25+) with 90 seconds rest.

I did 27/19 (felt like max effort)/12 and stopped. Whew! I could add more rest between each set, but I think I'd feel I was getting away from the program, and I don't have all day to do these.

So, I'm finding my limits this week and earning some pain.

Looking ahead, Day 3 calls for 30/22/22/20/max. That is clearly beyond me right now, unless I take maybe an hour break between each set. I'm weighing pressing the reset button on Week 3 next week, or rolling these gains into a revised program of my own. I like my exercise goals to be challenging but attainable.