a bit of tuesday evening adventure

For the past couple of days I have been struggling with sleepiness, which might just be from all the cold, rainy weather.  I don't know.  But after work I decided to get aggressive with it.  I tested out my bike shorts!  They work really well under my jeans, and make a real difference in my comfort level on the bike.  

Not far along the "river front bike path" portion of my ride, I encountered:  barricades.  They blocked all access to the path, and bore a big sign that said "sidewalk closed."  Grrr.  It's not a sidewalk!  And why is it closed?!  Looking ahead, I could see THREE sets of barricades - I have no idea what the point was of the middle set.  The path LOOKED fine.  But...I try not to assume that rules are made for real reasons and not just to muck up my day.  So I went with the assumption that something I couldn't see was an issue, and that I needed to not just walk my bike around the barricades and stay on the path.


BUT.  I wasn't willing to turn around.  So...I did something I absolutely wouldn't have had the nerve to do, this time last year:  I walked Lulu down the steep embankment, which was covered in all sizes of rocks.  We went slowly and it took quite awhile, but it didn't scare me at all - that's a new development.  When we got to the bottom, I rode her through some mud and some weeds and some puddles across some kind of industrial area, cutting across to avoid the closed bike path.  I'm not 100% sure I was allowed to do that, but there was no fence and I wasn't planning to hurt anything, and most importantly, I NEEDED TO GET TO THE 17TH STREET HILL.  The way there was NOT backward!  


Fun fact:  I rode about 50 feet further up that hill than I have been able to do before.  I'm gaining on it!  I really, really want to conquer that sucker while it's still 2011.  If I keep pressing in and the weather holds, I think I can do it.


And if I don't make it before year's end...I'm still gonna make it.  End of story.

ballercize, smoothie adjustments, and a bit of poking

As I think I already mentioned, I got an exercise ball (size medium) and a yoga mat this past weekend.  Purpose:  toning at home.  Thus far I am pleased to note that this has been quite helpful in motivating me.  Every night I have taken a few minutes to do a variety of situps and pushups, using the ball in the fun ways I've been learning at kickboxing class.  I do enough that I "feel the burn"...altogether something like 75 situps and 30 pushups...but I do them in little batches.  10 of these, 15 of those, and just keep switching up until I've done a whole big bunch of 'em.  What I like about doing it this way:  it doesn't feel burdensome.  I don't have to change clothes or go anywhere.  Don't need some big special "routine."  It's somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes of goofing around on the ball and mat, and I don't even break a sweat while doing it.  I know for sure it's helping with 1 of my 2 goals:  it keeps me from having horribly sore abs etc all the time.  Hopefully it is also doing some strengthening and toning work on me as well. 

I was interested to note yesterday that my smoothie kept me fuller longer than it was doing before.  I don't know if that's the changed recipe or what.  Here's my current method:

• plain kefir into the blender first...enough to almost cover the blades
• half a chopped apple
• 2 tbsp cherry concentrate
• 2 tbsp locally grown honey
• very small handful of frozen banana slices
• handful of frozen peach slices
• sprinkle of frozen tangerine bits
• couple of frozen strawberries

It's almost too much flavor - I don't like it quite as well as the ones I made last week.  I think the main difference is all that cherry concentrate REALLY flavors the batch, and the apple doesn't sweeten as much as my cantaloupe and more banana slices did last week (they are tart, crispy apples).   Nonetheless it's a pretty good sweet frozen drink to be nursing for the first hour and a half of my workday.  And it was nice to be less hungry than usual at lunch. 


So last night I was sitting in my bed watching tv and I absent-mindedly poked my gut and then had this "HUH?!" reaction where I had to poke it again, and again, and shift and turn and be all confused until I finally figured out...there is less of it there.  Thaaaat's why it seems so different.  Quite a bit less.  Less than when?  I don't know.  Less than the last time part of me was paying attention when I absent-mindedly poked my gut, I guess.


I reckon that's maybe too much a window into Karen's goofy little ways, but hey, YOU'RE the one reading a blog with the word "naked" in its title...


:-)  Thanks for reading!

advance food prep and a mysteriously good run

Yesterday was a nice slow-paced day that gave me all manner of little opportunities to get ready for the week.  In little pockets of time here and there throughout the day, I blanched, peeled, sliced and froze a bunch of my nectarines and peaches so that they are smoothie-ready...and got some bananas ready too.  Cooked up a batch of steel-cut oats - hey, that's cooking real food!  You heat them to boiling, wait 5 minutes or so until they start to thicken, and then simmer them on low for 30 minutes.  HOLY COW!  But it fit into my "doing dishes and cleaning up the kitchen a bit" routine like it wasn't even there, and oh golly those oats are yummy this morning.  Also blanched and froze some brussels sprouts, as there is no earthly way I could eat the whole huge bag I bought before they'd go bad. 


The rainy weather yesterday kept me off the bike - I'm bummed about not having test-driven my bike shorts yet.  But this morning I DID get to try out my new double-sided reversable sweat-wicking long-sleeved under-armor running shirt.  I love it!  Kept me reasonably warm and much less soggy.  And bonus:  the sleeves are way too long, which means I can pull my (always cold) hands up inside them.  Love it.  


I'm very puzzled about this morning's run.  Today was day one of:


5ish minutes warmup walk
2.5 minutes slower jog
5 minutes faster run
run 4 rounds of this
5ish minutes cooldown walk


I was determined to do it, but dreading it.  Was sure it would be almost beyond my limits.  But.  It wasn't?!  I mean, I did it...ran a lot further than I ever have (and my timing with counting seconds in my head and minutes on my fingers was dead-on perfect...weird...), ran pretty hard in the faster intervals, didn't even struggle all that much to regain more normal breathing on the slower rounds, stepped a little lighter in the second half of the run than I can ever recall having stepped before...WHAT THE HECK?!  Who advances on a Monday morning?!  


I'm not complaining...I just don't get it.  ;-)

grocery fun

Today was payday, so tonight was grocery night (apparently I MUST spend my money as fast as possible.)  I had more fun continuing my quest to improve what goes into my bod.  Thought I'd share.

Tonight I checked out Heritage Natural Foods in Moline, having discovered that Greatest Grains is not the only game in town, when it comes to shopping healthier.  It's not bad...part of me prefers Greatest Grains, but I don't know if that's just because I'm more familiar with it.  Going to go back and give it another try for sure. 

Highlights of tonight's purchases:

• locally grown honey - I'd like to integrate it into my daily diet, as it's a hedge against allergies.  Got a nice big quart jar of the stuff.
• cherry juice concentrate - it's supposed to help with joint and muscle pain, and as the weather gets colder, I feel it more in my joints for sure.  Hoping to get one-up on that by stirring 2 tablespoons a day into my morning fruit/kefir smoothie, along with a bit of that honey, which leads me to...
• kefir, PLAIN this time - the stuff I bought last time around was the only kind I could find at Super Wal-Mart - strawberry/banana smoothie flavor.  I'm not messing with sweeteners and flavors in it this time - I think the honey and cherry juice should take care of that (along with the various fruits, of course)
• cinnamon supplements - yes, cinnamon in a pill.  My reading indicates that cinnamon helps regulate blood sugar, and since diabetes runs in my family, it seems never too soon to go full metal jacket against the stuff, ya know?  An added benefit I discovered, AFTER I had decided to add this to my daily diet:  there are claims that it helps rid belly fat.  DUDE.  I'm not counting on it, but if it happens, I'll take it!
• fresh peaches, tangerines, mandarin oranges (more properly called clementines), apples, and bananas - I intend to freeze a bunch of the peaches and tangerines and bananas, to be tossed into my smoothies...and I think the apples and oranges will go in nicely fresh.  Should be a nice change.
• salad makin's galore - romaine lettuce, roma tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers in 4 colors, green and black olives.  I'ma feast.
• zucchini and summer squash and broccoli and brussels sprouts - no such thing as too many veggies
• all natural organic peanut butter and cashew butter, no sugar or salt added
• dried cranberries and organic fair trade light brown sugar for my oatmeal (this week I intend to try the steel-cut oats I bought last time...took me 2 full weeks, even eating oatmeal daily, to work my way through 3 servings of oatmeal this last time!)
• a bunch of kombucha (since I read up and I think I might be like 2 or more weeks from a ready-to-drink batch, even if I start tomorrow)
• an indulgence:  izzy sodas (fruit juice, sparking water, no added sugars, good stuff) and microbrewed root beer, ginger ale, and cream soda

I also found a co-op for range-fed meat and eggs; I pick up my first month's batch in just under 2 weeks.  After reading up on the food renegade about the differences in what range-fed vs. regular supermarket meats do in my body, I'm ready to go back to what I grew up on:  something that wandered in a pasture.  And home-grown eggs...yumma!  


And I had already re-stocked my almond milk and coconut milk a couple of nights ago, and still have a ton of Genesis bread left in the freezer (along with a million green beans).


A funny thing about studying really, really hard on what's good for the body and simultaneously investing consistently in real exercise:  it causes a total shift in how I see the grocery store.  Ninety percent of the stuff I walk by, I notice, is NOT GOOD FOR ME and is often so bad for me it's basically self-destruction to put it in my mouth.  Just now I find I am not tempted to do that.

Which is pretty cool.

funner punching, fitness shopping, and faster she goes

Last night was my second time of kickboxing class.  Last week there were I think 8 of us plus the teacher; last night there were TWO of us plus the teacher.  Here's the fun thing about that, as my teacher pointed out:  it was almost like getting a personal training session!  I really did appreciate the extra time and the way the teacher was able to stop and help me work through some of the stuff that really jams me up.  And, I find that I really get a kick out of this business of punching the pads as my partner holds them up.  We did this new thing last night that, amidst a whole flurry of movements, involved punching first with the "front"...like, with my knuckles, and then with the back of my hand on the way back by.  OH GOLLY.  Not gonna lie, I felt like a real bad-ass.  I wanna do that again!  LOL


The problem of having only 2 in the class is that there is no excuse not to work out in front of the mirrors.  Last week I was safely down at the other, mirror-less end of the room.  Last night, I got to see me in all my glory.  And while I am learning to really appreciate the changing shape of me (which has gone from less "lumpy" to more "curvy"...though still with a very long way to go to "this is the weight that is best for my health)....working in front of the mirror showed me things I am not so fond of noticing.  Mostly:  upper arms.  OMIGOSH.  I mentioned a few days ago in a TMI moment that being less "full" has meant more floppy/jiggly/etc in a very unwelcome way.  Well my poor upper arms.  They are less like tightly packed sausages and baby, have they ever got movement.  They flapped like wings...I practically expected to take flight!  NOT.  PRETTY!!!


However, I have decided that this surprises really only ME...everyone else around me has been seeing these wonder arms all along.  So I just need to get over the horror and stay on track:  the objective is loving my body, not finding something to hate and dwelling on it.  Some of the upper arm thing will resolve itself as I continue to condition; some of it I will be stuck with, partly as a consequence of being so very overweight for so very long (the skin is still there, even if it ain't stuffed full of fat anymore, after all) and partly as just a natural thing...being 45 AIN'T being 16, thank God, and I'll happily take the flappy wings in exchange for not having to live the wretched emotions that came back with that uhhh perkier body. 


On a slightly related note, I'll be buying an exercise ball and mat tonight, because we did the situps and pushups on the ball-on-mat last night and I already know the clock is ticking...by this evening, I'm gonna once again be feeling my abs and other muscles in an ouch, ouch, OUCH kind of way.  I'm not willing to spend every weekend in pain and I'm sure as heck not giving up the fun of kickboxing (who KNOWS what groovy smackdown I might learn next week, after all?!) so I just need to start doing a few of those situps and pushups every day, to avoid the pain.


And speaking of shopping...yes, it's paycheck day.  I've started working on my (healthy) grocery list but also on figuring out what fitness things I need to buy this round (after 9 months without a paycheck, payday is like CHRISTMAS, people!)  So in addition to the ball and mat, I also want to find:

• something warmer to run in - I need long sleeves for sure, and it's time to learn how to layer running stuff, because 5 AM is definitely getting colder as fall advances, so maybe some kind of jacket too.
• a good pair of bike shorts with the most diaper-like giant thick padded seat in them that I can lay my hands on...I'd like to say bye-bye to bike seat pain and I don't mind looking funny to do it.  I was going to get these cool combo capri-pants and skirt, but it's getting cold, so I think I'll just get shorts to wear under my jeans for now and by spring, I'll be a lot cuter in the skirt combo thing and it'll be a smaller size.
• maybe some more reflective tape and such - it's getting dark earlier and I'm not prepared to give up biking after work.

 In other news, my body continues to amaze me with how it keeps up with advances.  When I ran the 3/3 intervals on Wednesday, I was sure I'd be repeating them next week...felt like I was dying on the parts that were 3 minutes of faster running.  Wellll....this morning, I did the 3/3s again, and...when I ran faster...my knees didn't turn to jelly and I didn't feel like puking.  And I didn't struggle in the 3 slower minutes to catch my breath...it was like a 30- or 45-second recovery time.  So that means I advance next week.  Why?  Because darn it I WILL ride Lulu up that 17th street hill, and endurance is the crucial factor in doing that!  So next week's intervals (I looked them up today, so I don't fudge Monday from forgetting to find out ahead of time) are 2.5 minutes slower jog, 5 minutes running.  Kind makes me ill even imagining it, but hey...this bod continues to shock me...so I'm inviting it to do so again.  


Not bad for a Friday morning.

running harder, rafiki riding, and there's pie at the end of this one...

Yesterday morning I started my intervals of 3 minutes slower jogging/3 minutes faster running/repeat for 5 reps.  Oh golly.  It doesn't seem like such a big step, going from 4/2 to 3/3...but my body certainly registered it as big.  3 minutes of running faster turns my legs to jelly and sends me every round into "I'm gonna puke" mode.  3 minutes of slower jogging is just barely enough time to recover before it's time to speed up again!  Nonetheless, I DID IT and will do it again tomorrow...and I'm guessing will repeat it again 3 times next week before trying to move on to the next step.  I guess it does add a full 5 minutes of faster running, which is almost 20% more.  Afterward, even after my 5 minutes of cool-down walking and my shower, I STILL stayed overheated and my face stayed visibly red for quite awhile.  I'm counting all of that as evidence of progress, progress, progress.  


Last night I rode the Rafiki ride.  I had been so excited about it, but then as I was loading Lulu up on the rack, I started getting scared.  I watched the skies while I drove over to the starting spot at Heritage Natural Foods.  I sat in the parking lot, watching the wind in the trees and got worried.  I thought about how all the pictures from Rafiki rides show a bunch of svelte 20-somethings.  What the hell was I thinking?  I hoped the weather would cancel the ride.  I texted to ask, but NO, they weren't cancelling based on a few low grey clouds and a bit of wind.  I thought about driving away before anyone could see I had been there.  I thought about all the massive, steep hills in Rock Island and Davenport.  What in the WORLD ever possessed me to think I could do this?  It just got worse as people started arriving...almost every single person was riding one of those bikes with the tiny, skinny tires...the kind that can be easily picked up with 2 fingers (whereas I actually grunt from the effort when I pick Lulu up to put her on the rack.)  Lulu is HUGE and very, very heavy compared to those.  How was I going to keep up?  I was still considering sliding out before the ride; even if it would embarrass me, at least I wouldn't be humiliated by not keeping up. 


But Jonas assured me again, the ride is kept at about 10 miles per hour, and some walk their bikes up the giant hills, and all stay back with the slowest, and it would be just fine.  I have no idea if he understood how freaked out I was (I was doing my best to play it cool)...but he was pretty reassuring. 

So I went through the funny "induction ceremony" including the installation of a Rafiki card in the spokes of Lulu's front wheel and an unsolemn oath:  "Bikes.  Mayhem.  Pie." 


Just let me say this:  I am so glad I didn't surrender to all those doubts and fears.  The ride was so much fun.  We did all sorts of things I'm too afraid to do on my own:  

• Rode through downtown Rock Island and downtown Davenport
• Crossed Arsenal Island (that's not just one, but TWO bridges made of mesh; the first one makes a lot of "I sound like I'm falling apart" noises as you're on it, and the second is one that even makes me a bit nervous when I drive my CAR across it.)
• Made some pretty tight turns, and I didn't have to stop and get off to do that, much to my surprise, though I did kind of shriek with fear on the last one...
• Rode in the dark (something I've always wanted to do, but really haven't much at all because Small Town Karen is still alive somewhere there inside of me, insisting that I don't yet know which neighborhoods are safe for that.)

The ride was short - only about 11 miles round-trip.   We climbed the giant hill in Davenport and I was able to ride up part of it (and had plenty of company on the parts I had to walk)...and just let me say, riding DOWN that hill...WOW...what a rush!  I felt like I was 5 years old again.  

We stopped, as is custom, at Village Inn (Wednesday is free pie night there) and enjoyed a relaxed, unhurried time together there.  I hadn't realized anyone would be having anything more than just pie and a drink, so I wasn't carrying much money.  I learned that some actually eat supper there, and I'll plan accordingly next time.  As for last night:  I made do with just a piece of pie for supper.  This too is something I couldn't have done before this year - I'd have convinced myself I needed more than just a piece of Chocolate Caramel Delight pie and a small glass of milk.  But you know what?  I really didn't need anything more.  

This was a long one...wonder if any of you made it to the end for the pie...

Have a great Thursday! 

doing badly is a good enough start

Fall is my favorite season.  It was easy last night to get out there on Lulu after supper and just enjoy the beauty of the evening.  I rode out to Sunset Marina again, up to Schwiebert Park, and then climbed the 17th Street hill again to come home.  Having left earlier, I made the whole ride in daylight, with the sun just starting to set as I walked Lulu down my hill and home.  


I can manage stoplights with my taller seat.  It's not as convenient as the short seat was; I jump off, get my right pedal moved to the top, and then stand there with Lulu leaned into me, balancing on my left foot with my right foot poised on the pedal, waiting for takeoff.  I do believe some of the drivers of the cars around me were amused at the little chunky lady at the stoplight, but oh well.  I've been funny before, I'll be funny again.  I yam what I yam, eh?  Meanwhile I am trying to work up the nerve to experiment with how hard or easy it would be to stay on my seat and just lean her over so I can put a foot down.  Sounds like a good way to fall and make even more a fool of myself, but I might do some experimenting on that out where no one is looking.  


I was thinking this morning how this whole biking thing has been a good lesson for me in just doing something, even if I can only do it badly.  I have been riding Lulu for 18 months, and for more than 17 of those, I had the seat set wrong.  But you know what? I still got exercise, still lost weight, still fell in love with riding.  It's nice now to have the seat right and feel how much better it all works...but what a loss it would have been, if I had waited until I could do it *perfectly* before getting started.  I suspect that the same is true with my running...a year from now I will probably know things about it that will cause me to realize I "did it wrong" at the start.  But meanwhile, I am getting stronger every day, enjoying an activity I only knew how to dread and hate before now, and learning much about disciplining my body.  


So who cares if I'm not doing it perfectly?  Not me.  


Go out and care enough to do something all wrong today.  You'll get it right eventually!