Sunday, December 28, 2008

Holiday Weekend Recap

Have made it through the holiday weekend. Have had 5 separate major family holiday meals in the last 5 days - not kidding. That's what happens when you and your spouse have a lot of family in the area, and siblings coming in and out on different days. So despite the sodium coma I thought I was going to lapse into after my mom's super-processed-casserole extravaganza, I actually managed to still work out. Here's the recap:

Friday - 30 minutes on the stationary bike, 30 minutes veeeery slowly running on the flat treadmill to try out the achilles, and then 30 minutes swimming. All in all a big success! Achilles felt great and I got one of those "The Stick" massager things to try to keep the calves slightly less knotted up. That ought to help the achilles some. It's a cranky s.o.b. Total mileage, using my totally non-scientific way of figuring this out, would be 7.5 for the 90 minutes of exercise.

Saturday - was a beautiful day, so scrapped the plan to head back to the Y and instead Clark and I went to Carrier Park (the only flat place I know to run in Asheville) and ran 3 rather easy miles - again achilles felt fine. Also officially signed us up for our races - We're going to run the Potomac River Run in DC on May 4 - Clark's doing the half and I'm doing the full.Woohoo!

Sunday - back to the Y, since I didn't want to push my luck, and did 30 minutes on elliptical and 30 minutes swimming. Was rather fun - Clark went with me and confirmed that at least I do actually have something resembling a real freestyle stroke. This isn't all that impressive to him since he was on the swim team from ages 6 through 18, but he does agree it's progress. I also lost my mind and bought a road bike sight-unseen from Craig's List. It's basically the exact same bike the local shop was trying to convince me to buy, except this one is a last year's model that a guy bought his girlfriend hoping she'd decide to ride - she didn't, so after one ride and then sitting in his hall for a year, he's selling it for $450 off current retail. You know I'm a bargain shopper - couldn't pass it up.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Back in the Pool

So, I haven't been in a swimming pool in about two years. But today seemed like the perfect time. In other words, looking to change things up a little since I'm still resting the achilles. So I pulled out my copy of Total Immersion (great book for convincing the non-swimmer that they really can swim), read a few drills, found my swim cap (surprisingly easy), suit (surprisingly hard) and goggles (a little funky looking since Sam's been using them in swim class), and off I went to the Y. Overall had a great time - was a little better than I thought I'd be (somewhere between the college swimmer home on break on my one side, and the chunky fellow with the snorkel on my other). The drills were a little iffy since I couldn't decide if it was my achilles the fins were aggravating or my ankle - so I didn't do too many. In restrospect I'm pretty sure it was the ankle, which is no big deal, so I'm going to do the drills next time. At any rate, I was there for 30 minutes, so I'll count 3 miles. In other Y news, it was a contentious lot in the dressing room today. Women almost came to fisticuffs over whether to prop the door to the showers. Think that needed a reminder that it's - CHRISTMAS EVE! Merry Christmas!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

My Arch Nemesis Part Deux (aka the Elliptical Machine Again)

Back to the Y and 30 min on the Elliptical (strangely had lost the magic today - not that it had much to start with), and then 10 minutes on the recumbent bike (totally the strangest way to exercise I've yet experienced) and then 20 minutes on a regular bike once one opened up. Achilles felt great - yay wonder sock! But am going to try to be smart and still not try to run on it for a few more days. So I guess I'll count 5 miles today if you use my formula for 10 minutes = 1 mile on elliptical, and 15 minutes = 1 mile on an exercise bike, but it really didn't feel like it. I'm thinking I may start doing more of my recovery runs in cross-trainer mode. It's soooo easy to keep the heart rate in recovery zone on an elliptical or bike, and pretty hard to do it while running on hills - which is all I've got. Also may allow me to get more good hard days in if I'm not doing any pounding on the recovery days.

Finished up the day with dinner at Early Girl with Clark, Lewis & Jenny - very good as always. Was over at the farm this morning to meet the farrier - who's one of my favorite people, and also exceptionally good at getting along with the Crown Prince of Spotted Dog Farm - Finn Duncan - which is not a skill all that many people have. Finn actually stood like a semi-adult to be shod - major improvement. While I was there took a look at the flower building where all of the dried flowers were stored for wreath making. Ack! Major cleanout happening as soon as the New Year gets here. But for right now I've sworn off anything that seems like real work. So instead I'm knitting myself a pair of socks. First thing I've knit for myself in ages, and I'm a total snob about hand knit socks - warmest things you'll ever put on your feet.