Stay of Execution

On The Ball

I've been doing a bunch of lifting and core strength exercises.  There are a bunch of them that are new to me, and tough.  My favorite pair, though, are not the most challenging, but are somehow really fun.  You sit on one of those inflatable balance balls and take your feet off the floor and balance there for a minute.  When I first tried this, I kept rolling off the ball, and so it took me a lot of tries before I could balance even for 30 seconds.  But this morning I did it for two minutes.  To make it harder you bring your hands (which initially I have holding onto the ball right behind or beside my butt) up into a prayer position in front of your chest; to make it really hard you bring them over your head to raise your center of gravity.  It's not a major strengthening exercise but your abs are engaged to balance you and for me it's really satisfying to see the amount of time I can stay there increase.

The other one is similar, only for this one you kneel on the ball.  Knees are slightly spread, maybe hip distance apart.  Start with your hands on the ball, and then as you get your balance raise yourself up and bring your arms in prayer position to your chest, then over your head.  This one works your inner thighs and your butt as well as your abs as you make lots of tiny adjustments to stay balanced on the ball.  I think it's a little harder than the sitting one. 

Twinge

On Wednesday in class I felt a twinge, as I was putting my weights away.  Just a twinge, in my left hip flexor.  I stretched into it a little bit and felt a little bit more of a twinge.  Hmmm.  Something you make a note of, and then ignore. 

On yesterday's run I didn't notice it.  Good.  But lifting weights yesterday it was there.  I leaned to stretch it.  Oh boy.  A bigger twinge. 

Ibuprofen, says my buddy the tennis coach.  Ibuprofen, confirms Neighbor(fka Housemate).  So I took some ibuprofen, last night and this morning.  I never take anything for anything.  In this morning's class I went very very light on the lunges, and was otherwise fine.  It twinged once or twice when I did yoga, but it's okay. 

It's a funny feeling.  Not exactly pain, not much, unless I twist and lean just so.  Instead it makes itself known as a small twinge now and then.  Not scary, exactly, just a presence.  Ibuprofen.  Here we go. 

Boot Camp -- Day 10

Okay, it's the end of day 10 of our 14 day boot camp.  I think I've logged 17 hours of exercise in so far.  I have it broken down into strength, cardio, and flexibility but that's all downstairs.  Most of those hours have been strenuous, although a few here and there have been a half hour walk or a playful hour of ice skating that I counted.  Even the flexibility sessions have been pretty hard core -- power yoga, muscles trembling, breath calm. 

I'll tell you, its not yet 9 PM and I'm pooped.  I mostly feel great, but I'm not quite sleeping enough and there's starting to be a cumulative wearinesss.  In general, I have more energy and there's a spring in my step that wasn't there before.  I can feel my body -- there's an awareness of my muscles, especially my core, that hasn't been there for quite some time.  And I can see and feel myself getting stronger and that gives me confidence and a good feeling of progress that I really like.  But I'm looking forward to a couple of days of rest when we're finished with boot camp, and to cutting the schedule back to something a little bit more manageable going forward.

Today was an hour of lifting, then 30 minutes on the treadmill, and then a hike this afternoon through the woods with the dog.  Tomorrow, an hour of yoga, probably half an hour of lifting and half an hour of running.  Over the weekend I'm travelling to a cabin in the middle of nowhere so it'll be a lot of cross country skiing, situps, pushups and wall sits.  I get tired just thinking about it.  In fact, I'm going to bed right now. 

Conversations

Conversation 1:
I called the bridal boutique today to make an appointment for Housemate.  The attendant I've dealt with before answered.  I said, "Oh, hi, M____.  I don't know if you remember me, but my name is Sherry, and I'm always the bridesmaid and never the bride, and I've been in several times and ----."  She cut me off.  "Oh, hi Sherry, of course I remember you, nice to hear from you."  On the one hand, it's nice to be remembered.  On the other hand, did she really remember me as 'always the bridesmaid and never the bride'?  I was joking.  Sheesh. 

Conversation 2:

I felt very virtuous today after running the stairs in the gym and then doing the cross country ski team's workout.  The cross country ski coach meandered past my office and I said, "Coach!  I did your workout today."  He came in and sat down while I asked him some questions.  On the erg machine, what's my posture supposed to be like?  I thought I should do it this way, but I also caught myself doing it that way, and I wasn't sure.... "That's because you're weak!" he said.  "You have to cheat!"  Well, I am weak, coach, but I figured that was the wrong way so I tried to do it the other way, just wanted to check.  But man, speaking of weak, I had real trouble doing this other move.  "You're weak!" he said again.  "You're not healthy!"  Well, I said.  I have gotten a little soft, and I've got a long way to go, that's for sure, but I'm making progress.  "Get on the floor!" he said.  "Do you know the plank exercises?"  "Well.... I know some of them."  "Watch that butt, don't let it sag.  Now raise your right arm and your left leg."  "You're killing me, coach."  "Watch your butt, get it up."  I was trembling.  He walked me through a bunch of different exercises.  He's right, I'm weak.  He used to train the olympic skiiers -- both US and Canadian teams.  When he let me get back up I sat in my desk chair and he leaned against the door.  "My team keeps shrinking," he said, shaking his head.  What do you mean?  "My kids are quitting.  They don't want to train hard."  Well, I said.  You've got me.  He didn't seem comforted. 

Boot Camp

The exercise jump start is going well.  I can feel muscles where they've long been dormant.  I'm not sure they'd be perceptible to anyone else, but the pleasant ache and stretch reminds me I'm alive, and getting stronger. 

I do get grouchy when I don't get to write enough.  That's happened this past week a little, with major exercise commitments, plus a flurry of wedding and house-purchase errands and conversations.  I find myself having the same symptoms that I get when I don't exercise enough -- irritability, a low-level restless frustration.  Need to make time to write. 

Exercise Update

Housemate and I instituted an early-January boot camp, to slam us back into the exercise habit.  I've been hitting the gym and re-instituting strength workouts into my life since December or so, but these two weeks are intense.  She's on break from school so has extra time.  We're aiming to exercise 12 hours each week, including at least three hours each of strength training, flexibility/balance (e.g. yoga or pilates) and cardio. 

I've been to five exercise classes so far this week, which is kind of a fun change from working out on a machine or outside or alone amidst meatheads in the weight room.  Why is it that women like exercise classes and men don't?  I've not seen a man in my class yet, nor in any of the classes that were going on while I was at the gym doing other things.  Men like to play games together, they seem to like to run and bike together.  But they eschew exercise classes.  What's that about?

14 Degrees is Very Cold

This morning it was really hard to get out of my warm, warm downy bed, in the dark.  Housemate and I considered getting our cross country skis out of the garage rafters, but sleepily decided that might be perilous.  We decided to walk our three and a half mile loop instead.  We looked at the dogs, who were wagging and looking up at us and prancing from foot to foot.  It's always a hard decision whether to bring the dogs or not.  If you bring the dogs you can't really have a serious walk, because they're always crossing leashes and stopping to sniff and pee and when they poop you've got to pick it up and then carry it to the nearest wastebasket, and it just makes keeping a stride or a pace or an interval nearly impossible. 

Once upon a time a friend of mine was seeing a therapist, who told her, "If you have to choose one, guilt is better than resentment."  I've always remembered that, because I thought it a rare occurrence that a therapist would make such a definitive value statement, and because it made me aware of how often in life you face choices where you'll either feel guilty and selfish or resentful and burdened.  This morning I scooched down to pat my wagging dog and while she was licking my face I said, "Should I choose to feel guilty or resentful?  Hmmmm?  Guilt or resentment?"  We couldn't resist the doggies and got their leashes and the plastic baggies we needed for their poop and loaded them into the car.  Then on the walk every time they pulled us around on the leash or wouldn't keep up or criscrossed around a stranger's knees, we would exclaim, "Resentment!  I'm so resentful of these dogs!"  It was 14 degrees, which I had forgotten is a very pinchy and sharp and relentless kind of piercing cold.  "The fires of resentment are keeping me warm!" we said to one another.  "But not quite warm enough!" 

At the end of the walk I said out loud, "I'm glad I got out of bed for this."  On these very cold, very dark days it seems important to keep reinforcing that.  I can't seem to remember it from one day to the next.  Exercise is better than sleeping in.  I am ALWAYS glad to have exercised.  But every single day the bed whispers to me: stay here.

Training Update

This morning Housemate and I walked our usual 3.5 miles.  We did intervals, lamppost to lamppost, walking at top speed, then back to base pace or even slower.  Base pace is pretty fast -- a brisk walk with arms bent at the elbows and pumping.  Max pace is the extremely dorky looking racewalk and we are both breathing hard by the end of the interval.  We were trying to regulate our pace with some kind of a scale.  We used a 10 point scale but agreed that we would only use the even numbers -- so the hardest we could push was a 10, and the easiest recovery walk was a 2.  We took turns calling the pace, so as we approached a light pole one of us would say, "This one's an 8," and then the other person would decide what our pace would be for the next lamppost.  We pushed one another pretty hard, and it felt great. 

We haven't decided what we're going to train for this winter.  Our choices are: walk another marathon, run a half-marathon, or walk a half marathon at an aggressive timed pace (e.g., a 12 minute mile or faster).  I suppose we could choose to run a marathon, but that seems like a recipe for injury.  The timed-pace walking half-marathon would probably be the most rigorous and demanding.  It's harder to walk fast than to run, for sure, and building up our speed over time and distance would be a structured challenge.  There's something that I really feel proud of, though, when I run a distance that's farther than I've ever run before.  Walking doesn't give me the same sense of satisfaction.  I know I can walk.  Running makes me feel like a hero or an athlete somehow.   I'd also like to do some kind of cross country skiing event, if there is such a thing, but I have no idea what a reasonable but challenging distance to train for would be.

We've decided that until we settle on a training goal, we'll run one day a week, do walking intervals like we did this morning one day a week, and walk at a fast, sustained timed pace one day a week.  I'll probably run on my own another day a week, just to get myself back to a place where I like to run.  We're also talking about starting hot yoga again.  When I used to do that regularly I felt so good.  I miss it. 

Trembling

I met with one of the trainers at the college to develop a weightlifting workout for the sailing team.  She came with some ideas, and as I told her about the moves we do and the muscles we use she got even more ideas.  It was great to watch her face light up as she said, "Oooh, I just thought of a good one."  Then she would walk me through the exercise, and I would react to it, and ask questions or request modifications.

She's tough.  I did some squats for her and when I got to the bottom of the squat she squatted beside me and said, "lower."  I went even lower, as low as I could, and she said, "lower."  Oog.  I went even lower, and wow, the top of my quads started to sing.  Then she had me squatting on this rubber ball thing and doing lat rows.  The ball thing (a Bosu-ball) was squishy enough that my quads were working hard to hold position in a balanced squat.  I got off and said, "That's great -- it will really help my team."  She got a gleam in her eye.  "If you want to make it a little harder, turn the ball over and stand on the flat platform."  I tried it, and after a few moments my thighs were trembling and the platform was shaking.  I kept trying to stabilize it but kept ending up in tremors that got bigger and bigger.  I had to straighten my legs to slow down the shaking, and when I squatted back down the shaking came back.  Wow.  "A little harder?" I said.  She grinned.  It was fun, although I feel pretty weak and out of shape.  Not for long, with this new workout plan, though.

Training Update

Ack.  What training?  I haven't run in a week.  I'm reaching the stage where I don't have the desire to run -- it doesn't sound like fun at all.  Tomorrow, I run.  Oh, sheesh.  Tonight, I run.