Fiber Fool

(This is from my birthday last year, so mid-April 2011. I don’t have any newer “workout” photos. Looking at that, while I think I look pretty good, I can see some difference. Partly because those clothes are no longer compression wear and are baggy spandex on me. But I see a difference in shape and tone too.)

With Drew’s departure last Wednesday evening (yes, I survived the first week), my lack of any real strength training in 6 months since my club membership ran out, and the generosity of parents and grandparents on holidays and birthdays I rejoined Raintree Athletic Club last week.

There have been so many advantages to being back there:

• Strength training equipment of all varieties - medicine balls, resistance tubes, free weights, Star Trac machines and on and on.
• Pool! While I don’t often have terrible flares that would otherwise keep me from exercising, I do like to mix it up and get in the pool every now and then for some resistant cardio, but if I’m really achey it is especially nice. The steam room and sauna can be nice on occasion too, especially with allergy sinuses.
• Yoga classes - which not only help my body, but my brain as well. While I can do the yoga at home, for me classes are more meditative because I’m not having to concern myself with timing my positions (in Yin you hold the positions for 3-5 minutes so you really do have to time things unlike with a flow). I even took advantage of a couple workshops this past week - tennis ball massage and breathing into backbends.
• The free session with a nutritionist upon signing up. I didn’t learn anything new, but it was pointed out to me that I had slipped back into my habit of under eating. Since the bronchitis I just never really got hungry. But upping my food slowly over the week I noticed yesterday that I did get hungry. Still with a longer time span than ideal, but it is progress. A small sign that my metabolism is ramping back up
• The free session with the personal trainer. My session with Tracy this time around was amazing. She was my preferred water aerobics instructor last time around so she had a feel for my fitness level to a certain degree and we already had a rapport. But most importantly, she called me the night before to confirm the appointment and find out what I was looking for in my session so she could prepare ahead of time. Since I already knew how to run the basic equipment - treadmills, ellipticals, stationary bikes and the Star Tracs I asked to learn more about proper form on the rowing machine and for some non-Star Trac strengthening. She delivered! My arms and core are declaring it a rest day today.
• Even if I don’t really interact with anyone while working out the staff always says hello and goodbye with a smile and I’m surrounded by people. Sometimes that is all I need to chase away the loneliness.
• If you had asked me before I rejoined if people would remember me upon my return I would have told you that the instructors from the three classes I took most frequently would likely but no one else. But my previous personal trainer did as did a handful of people from the yoga classes that I hadn’t been to since my stint in working full-time outside of the home, so over a year ago. And while progress this past year has been so slow I almost don’t notice it, several of these people were astounded, which is always a nice boost for the self confidence.

I have had an issue with rejoining though — taking my time and wading in! I just want to jump in and try every class that is different since the last time and do this and do that. It has been difficult to keep myself reigned in. As it is, I think I’m teetering on the edge of over training again between my low caloric intake, having been not exercising beyond walking in over 6 weeks and the yard & garden work on top of the workouts. So today, I am really going to listen to and trust my body and have a rest day. I just have to keep telling myself that the classes will still be there next week and next month. None of the ones I’m most interested in are flagged as low participation so I should be good.

Are you a member of a club or YMCA? What are you favorite classes or pieces of equipment?

If you don’t have a membership, how do you strength train at home? Do you have some equipment? The only thing I really did was run when my club membership ran out. Occasionally I’d throw in some traditional crunches, pushups and planks but I was bad about doing it regularly. For equipment, all I had was a 2 pound and a 5 pound dumbbell from a stint of PT for my shoulder - yes, only one each :-/

Yes, my plans were quite lofty for the weekend. While I can’t check off everything I mentioned I feel like the weekend was successful — a nice combination of getting stuff done and resetting for the week to come.

For post-birthday hangover recovery (I’m kidding, I didn’t drink anything besides water on Friday night and DH didn’t even come close to over imbibing) we had a warm, chewy bowl of steel cut oats topped with virgin bananas foster. The bananas were virgin due to the lack of dark rum in our liquor cabinet, but it still tasted like an awful decadent bowl of oatmeal. I had wanted to make the maple roasted apple and cheddar cheese oatmeal from the Kitchn, but discovered we had only one apple. We did have a bunch of not quite ripe bananas so I improvised by sautéing one large one in 1-1/2 tablespoons of butter with 3 tablespoons brown sugar and a tiny pinch of sea salt and divided it amongst our bowls of oats. Some pecans would have been a nice touch.

I don’t know about you, but both DH and I seem to do much better if we have one day out of the fray. No driving, no crowds etc. So Saturday kind of turned into a PJ day. I knew I needed a rest day after two runs with less than 24 hours between them. We were extremely leisurely about breakfast, loitering around the table discussing various and sundry things while sipping locally roasted coffee from the French press. I put together a batch of new tea for kombucha and left it to cool. By late afternoon we retreated to the basement and an embarrassingly long marathon of Lost Girl on NetFlix. I don’t know what it is, but I am totally hooked on that show. DH thinks it is the outcast discovering there is a hidden world in which she fits in. He may be right.

Sunday was our “do” day, but there was plenty of rest mixed in. I took a decent soak in the tub and read a bit first thing. Then DH and I took care of the kombucha, bottling the last batch and getting the next batch going with the cooled tea from the day before. Then, we hopped on our bikes – yes, in late January. Despite this being my 14th January in Colorado it still boggles my mind to see temps near 60 degrees and weather favorable for biking in January. Sadly, it was my first January bike ride ever. We logged nearly 9 miles at the end of the day, with some decent walking in between the rides. Not too shabby of a calorie burn! My sitz bones are definitely protesting today, but the rides overall were not as bad as I feared given the time away from the saddle. There was lots of stretching upon arriving home, a little more reading and some Downton Abbey and more Lost Girl viewing to end the day.

I also baked some multi-grain bread. I used the bread machine for the dough and then did the final kneading, shaping, rise and baking myself. It was *amazing*! We had a little taster after dinner. It was so good DH and I both thought it tasted like another slice even though we weren’t really hungry. We were good and resisted seconds. It was based on the Daily Whole Grain Bread recipe from Beth Hensperger’s The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook. I used cooked quinoa, did fake buttermilk by mixing 2 parts milk to 1 part greek yogurt and upped the whole wheat by ½ cup and reduced the bread flour by the same. We did have to add almost 2 tablespoons of water, likely due in part to the yogurt thickening the milk and the higher whole grain content, plus my quinoa was slightly dry/al dente and not as moist as say the rice I’ve used in the past. I think it was a combo of the ¼ cup of rolled oats and the yogurt that gave it such great flavor plus a bit extra time on the second rise. We’ll definitely be revisiting that one whenever we have left over cooked quinoa that needs using!

How was your weekend? What did you do? Did you manage to get reset for the week to come?

Some food I’m contemplating this week:

• Ginger Noodles with Kale & Shiitake Mushrooms (I’m leaning towards soba noodles as calorie-free food weirds me out
• Pasta with Lemony Brussel Sprouts
• Baked Spaghetti Squash and Cheese

Some making I’m contemplating this week:

• A clever way to maximize the length of skirts made from refashioned tees
• Seaside Bath Salt Soak

This is a good kick in the pants topic for me as things of slid with the combination of the cold weather and lack of gym membership. Below 0 morning temps have me failing to be very active lately. I’m going to need to listen to #10 and use #8 heavily for the moment. My “workouts” of late have mostly consisted of DDR II - fun, but not super aerobic. Better than sitting on the couch watching TV though!

1. Choose activities you enjoy. If you don’t enjoy it, you’ll make excuses to not do it!
2. Schedule it! If it helps, think of it as a less expensive doctor’s appointment. If your work can be unpredictable pencil in 1 or 2 options in case an appointment falls through.
3. Plan ahead. If you exercise at home, set out everything you need ahead of time so it is ready to go and you have no excuses. If you go to the gym or exercise mid-day from work, pack the bag the night before- since I adopted that approach I’ve never forgotten a critical piece of clothing. I think it is the fact that I’m fully awake when packing.
4. Pace yourself! Don’t jump in with both feet and go from doing nothing to cardio for an hour three times and week and weights three times a week. Ease into it. Even one day a week of a brisk walk over your lunch hour is a great start and something to build upon. Make that a habit first, then find other places you can squeeze in some more physical activity. This also reduces the chances of injury or overtraining syndrome.
5. Mix it up! Not only will that keep you from getting bored, but your body will stay alert and the effort you put in will be more fully realized. You can mix it up doing something different several times each week, or every 4-6 weeks you can change your routine. Whichever suits your lifestyle and personality.
6. Reward yourself. At first one of the few things that got me on the treadmill at the gym was the fact that I was much too busy to read much, but I could read on my Kindle while walking (I don’t recommend trying it while running unless it is an audiobook, though your experience may differ from mine). That made going to the gym a bit of a treat because at the same time I got to enjoy something I did not otherwise have much time for.
7. Along similar lines to the above, multi-task to work it in when needed. Suggest a walking meeting with co-workers. Bike, walk or run to work (or the bus stop) to combine your commute with exercise. If needed, review documents while on the treadmill, elliptical or stationary bike. You get the idea.
8. Choose to be less sedantary. Stand when answering the phone at work or doing other small tasks away from the keyboard. Take 5 minutes several times throughout the day to do some stretches or even do some cheater pushups on the edge of your desk or some squats. Choose a distant parking spot. Choose stairs over an elevator or choose a bathroom on a different floor. It is truely amazing how much these things can keep your metabolism boosted!
9. Set realistic and attainable goals. If you have a large overarching goal, break it into smaller goals that are easily measured in shorter intervals. Set mini rewards for attaining those goals - prefereable rewards that aid your fitness further like new workout wear, a fun new water bottle, a massage etc.
10. No guilt! Do not get mired down in guilt if you miss a workout and don’t meet your goals. Acknowledge it and move on and perhaps figure out a way to prevent the stumble from happening again (BTW, this applies to dietary changes too).

How about you? What helps you stick to your fitness routine, or really any new routine?

Well, I had a very anti-climatic end of 2012/beginning of 2013. Due to sleep issues which have rendered me awake at 2:50am on the button most mornings and unable to fall back to sleep before my 5:30am alarm I was sound asleep at the stroke of midnight. Knit night did run a tad longer than normal and even included a short glasses of champagne for many of us. Thanks to DH we had hot from the oven Limpa (Swedish rye bread) and fresh churned butter along with all the other fabulous goodies provided by Sarah our host for the evening and many of the others.

I did cast on that yarn I showed in the last post, along with a contrast yarn into a project I think is going to shape up into something really great. In fact, I’m currently so excited about it (the first since starting to work outside the home full-time) that I may hold back on sharing it in hopes of publishing it somewhere. It is mostly simple with just a sprinkle of interest so it even works for watching TV or reading or any activity that may interrupt knitting time unexpectedly - just the kind of projects I require these days.

I’ve been waffling back and forth about resolutions. Should I or shouldn’t I? The more I think about it the more I like the approaches to set an intention or choose a singple word to define the next year. 2013 is likely to be another year of a lot of fluctuations in many ways. I think the key to weathering those (while I’m no fan of monotony in my daily tasks I’m not very good with changes) is going to be self-care. So for 2013 I’m going to focus on caring for myself - physically and mentally.

Physical Self-Care

• I need to get back into some semi-regular fitness routine, cold weather and lack of gym membership aside!
• I would like to take at least 1 soak a week to detox and restore my muscles.
• If I can budget it, I would like to get a massage once a month to keep my chronic pain levels in check.
• I wish to continue learning about and creating more of my own beauty/health and home cleaning products.
• Continue to eat nutritiously, balanced and in proper portions with a focus on whole foods and a mindfulness of seasonality and origin.

Mental Self-Care
Through much of 2012 I struggled with having the energy (and in some cases physical stamina due chronic pain issues) to persue any of my creative interests after hours. So that will be the focus for this area as I think creative outlets and learning are cornerstones for my mental health.

• Weekly dates with my camera. I have no excuse for having hardly taken any photos in 2012 unless I was given a project. For one, I work in a beautiful area that is full of wildlife and other natural things so at worst (if you can call it that) I can get out on my lunch hour.
• More knitting *and* designing. I think the key to that will be to have something at the vanilla stage of knitting (loads of Stockinette stitch or garter stitch for example) and something a little saucier to occupy my brain if it is obsessing on something.
• Continue to learn more about sewing, including perhaps taking a class or two.
• Practice Yin Yoga, a very slow paced, mostly floor-bound style focused on letting go and releasing muscles rather than toning or building strength that due to its pace is extremely meditative and helpful for stress management and sleeping issues.
• Continue reading, hopefully averaging a bit more than a book a week. While I’d love to surpass this year’s 80 titles read that seems too high pressure so I’m aiming for 62 once again and will re-evaluate as the year progresses.
• Learn more about making fermented foods like Kombucha, Kefir, Water Kefir, sauerkraut and fermented pickles.

Likely those bullet points will evolve and change throughout the year and that is okay as long as I’m still aiming to care for myself.

How about you, do you have any goals, intentions or resolutions for 2013? Any tips for me on adhering to mine or suggestions of additions or alterations?

1. CatEye Loop Rear Light ($11.77, Amazon); it has an adjsutable bungee attchment system so I can attach it to my cargo on my bike as needed or in this case to the back side of my headlamp for added running safety. DH attaches it to his backpack for when he is walking to/from the bus stop in the dark now that the nights are getting longer.

2. Black Diamond Gizmo Headlamp ($19.95, REI); a relatively simple, low-end headlamp that increases my visability while filling in the shadows of my running route where trees block the streetlights.

3. Tek Gear Raglan Performance Tee ($30, currently on sale for $18, Kohl’s); just your basic long sleeve running tee with moisture wicking and flatlock seams.

4. Active by Old Navy Compression Pants ($30 regular price, sadly no longer available); for affordable running tights, these are awesome with good reflective detailing, zippered bottoms for a nice snug fit but easy on and off, back waist zippered key pocket and while still available were not too hard to get for $15 a pair which is a steal for compression. They do have breathable mesh at the back knees which is making them a tad on the cool side now that running time temps are around freezing.

5. Brooks Ghost 5 Running Shoes ($110); a gel cushioned neutral running shoe that got top reviews from various running publications this year. Weird insole issues with my first pair aside, these felt like a natural extension of my foot, I knew they were it as soon as I put them on.

6. REI Winterflyte Jacket ($99.50, but used my member coupon); I tried to go cheaper, but I wanted thumbholes and a phone/headphone compatible pocket and reflective details in addition to warmth and some protection from the elements and this fit that bill.

7. Manzella Sprint Tech Tip Running Gloves ($20, REI); light weight gloves so they don’t get too hot once I get going, with tech-friendly fingertips so I can run my iPhone and fleece on the thumbs for controling the cold morning nose run!

8. Tuneband ($21.99, Amazon); I don’t always use this now that I have the jacket with a media pocket, but this band takes my phone without having to remove it’s hard case which is nice. I do suspect there may be a better option out there, but I not a fan of the plastic sheets over the screen - especially when combined with tech gloves.

Now that we’re into mid-October and I get up to run around 5am my runs are chilly and to some extent dangerous since it is well before the 7:15 am sunrise. So warmth and visibility are top concerns in choosing my running gear. I also still need to be careful about skin management so compression where possible, moisture wicking and flat-lock seams are key features too. But I try to be as thrifty as I can get away with without compromising on these concerns.

This is my current typical uniform, plus an old commercial hat I don’t much care about so sweat on it doesn’t concern me. I do on the colder mornings also add my Faux-Pidge (aka Fidge) around my neck/shoulders to keep their angriness at bay (warm is key to keeping those muscles more relaxed for me). It works great! I could use an earband or low-profile hat to add, but they aren’t essential purchases right now (that doesn’t stop me from looking whenever I’m somewhere that carries such things though, LOL).

What are your outdoor exercise essentials for colder weather? I’d love to hear what you wear for cold weather running, walking, biking, snowshoeing or cross country skiing!