959.9 Miles

(10.2 bike)

I'll admit that I've not been listening to the book lately. I know that the traveling on the river doesn't take up a lot in the story, and I don't like to only listen for a couple minutes at a time. Soon, though, I will have to make a decision about which path to take. Will I stay with Frodo or will I go on with Strider?

Wednesday was a weights day again. I should be more specific since it's not just weight-training, but that's what I call the day. What it involves is various exercises that work the muscles of my body and I use 8-pound weights. Cardio isn't really a factor even though I do tend to get winded sometimes.

On these days I set my timer (an app on the iPad, but I can't remember what it's called right now) to intervals of 1 minute with a 10 second "break", repeated 12 times. During the 1 minute I will do an exercise for 30 seconds, then switch sides for the remaining 30 seconds. For example, if I am doing lunges, I'm doing the right leg for the full 30 seconds, then the left. The 10-second break gives me enough time to get into position for the next exercise. When an exercise works both sides at the same time (squats, for example) I will do them for the full minute. There are 12 different exercises that I do during these intervals so the session lasts 14 minutes. At this point I will take a short water break then start all over again. After that, I will do stretches and a few Sun Salutations.

So, when I say it's a "weights day" you now know what I mean.

Today's ride involved reading on my iPad. I've tried to knit while I'm pedaling, but when you're trying to maintain a speed of 20mph, your gauge just gets wonky.

Other movements

Between the sunburn and the pulled muscle, today was not what I'd hoped for. The sunburn is preventing me from wearing a sport-bra and the pulled muscle is hindering my walking, much less anything else. Still, I did a bit of yoga this morning and a light session of chains. I was starting to feel guilty about this until I remembered that I did do a little yard work yesterday. Not a lot of it, but there was some shoveling and pushing a wheelbarrow full of dirt a couple times.

So, a cool shower, some more salve on my back, a little arnica on my leg, another few glasses of water and another night's rest will set everything back on track.

880.8 Miles

(1.6 treadmill)

We are getting closer to an open glade, but the blindfolds are still in place.

I forgot to post this yesterday, but I was back on the treadmill! I only did a little yoga in the morning as a gentle way to stretch out the muscles & joints and it helped a lot. The treadmill has 4 programs on it and I've figured out 3 of them so far. I still am not able to finish them as they're set (one goes up to 6.5mph), but I can still change the speed, which is nice. I think the coolest thing for me is that it forces me to cool down at the end. The speed slows to 3.5 for a minute then 3.0 for 2 minutes and 2.5 for another 2 minutes. By the time I've finished that part I know that I can eat some lunch without any problems.

I think I'll be using the treadmill and bike in the mornings before the kids arrive (for summer break). That way I get it done in the early part of the day and I can do other things in my room (like belly dancing) while they are sleeping.

(I think I'd get better pictures if I turned the treadmill around, but then my back would be to the window.)

Recovery

Okay, I pushed myself yesterday morning with the thought that I would not feel so bad today since I'd already gone through this last week. Hah! I can barely move this morning. After I get the morning errands done (grocery store, etc.) I will spend a good deal of time stretching with yoga and drinking a few gallons of water.

On the very bright side, I can feel the muscles getting even stronger all the time. I don't know what will have been achieved by the Solstice, but I know that there has been a great deal of progress so far.

Edit: 9:13a - Morning stuff is done, 3 glasses of water finished off, 1 cup of coffee, arnica has been applied, and sun salutations have been completed. The muscles aren't quite as stiff as they were earlier, but they are still pretty sore. Once the recovery process is complete, I will be happy for this, right?

Recovery

Today was all about stretching and taking it easy. The pushing I did over the last few days caught up and made it difficult to carry on normally. Yoga this morning was very slow and the stretches throughout the day were very gentle.The arnica salve was definitely my friend, even with the humidity and warm temperatures. (I think I should learn to make a butter or something so that I can make a product that absorbs much faster.)

I've been drinking enough water to float a small watercraft, but it's still not releasing the tension from the muscles. No worries, since I'm sure I'll feel a lot better by morning.

Today I also made a gazpacho. I made some in December and liked the way it tasted, but that was definitely the wrong time of the year to appreciate a cold veggie soup. It was much more suited to this time of the year.

For now, I will keep stretching gently until it's time for bed. Tomorrow, I look forward to getting back on track.