C25K W3D3 and bike riding

Monday I tried something new: running after 1 full day’s rest. All my other C25k runs have been on at least two days’ rest. Even after Saturday’s taekwondo/running/gardening combo I was still feeling pretty good, so hey, I thought why not.

And it actually went pretty well. The first two running passes were hard – my legs felt like I was hoisting anchors. But I carried on and the remainder of the exercise went well. I got through the hard parts by concentrating on my breathing and distracting myself by looking around the park.

After the beautiful, warm day we had Saturday, it snowed all day Sunday! By Monday afternoon, a lot had melted, but there were still patches in the shade. I distracted myself by looking for the little blue weed-flowers of spring and watching birds. And thinking about how funny the weather is.

Back at home I did the standing portions of my stretching out on my back deck, where the rapidly-melting snow sounded like rain coming off the roof. It was a great contrast, standing covered in what sounds like a rain garden but looking out into a clear day. I saw robins, sparrows, a blue jay and lots of squirrels going about their busy business. It was very relaxing.

Tuesday and Thursday I enjoyed some active taekwondo classes, good workouts. Today’s class was focused on our form, and goodness knows I need to work on that. Whew. More practice needed for sure. Being lazy earlier in the cycle has not helped! But, c’est la vie. I’ll get it figured out.

However, Tuesday I nearly rolled my foot over sparring, and the rest of the week I’ve felt the effects in my leg muscles. First it felt sore around my knee, to the inside of my leg, and has worked its way down to along the inside of my lower leg. Thus, no more running.

I got ready to try to run today, but my leg still didn’t feel right once I started bouncing around a bit warming up. I’m hoping for tomorrow. But, no need to get myself hurt. I’ve got a race on the 30th!

I opted to go bicycling with Honey Bear this afternoon instead, for a lower impact workout. This was our first ride in a few months, and I expected for it to be rough. However, I guess running and other cardio is paying off, because I didn’t have any problems with my ride at all! In fact, I would have ridden further but Honey Bear wasn’t up to it, and I didn’t want to risk overdoing it anyway. Sure, my quads felt it, and I’m sure my muscles will remind me about the ride tomorrow. But, breathing/heart rate/fatigue-wise, I had no issues at all. Felt great, what a pleasant surprise!

We rode about 3.3 miles around our neighborhood. The weather was great – warm but breezy. I made an errand out of it and returned some books to the library’s drive-through drop box while we were out. After about two miles or so Honey Bear was staying way behind me, and in the past we have usually ridden pretty close together, so I knew he was struggling. After we made it nearly to our house we stopped to talk to a neighbor, then Honey Bear informed me he felt like he was gonna lose his lunch. So, I sent him on the house and took his bike up myself. Poor dude, overdid it a bit. He turned out to be OK, but now I know we gotta get him back into doing some fitness stuff.

I spent a nice thirty minutes afterward doing some stretching and yoga poses.

Oh, and before I go, a couple of milestones to share. Today I:
* touched my nose to my toes, sitting butterfly.
* touched my toes to the floor over my head, lying on my back.
* wore a medium-sized exercise top I haven’t been able to squeeze into in forever.
* wore on old pair of jeans I haven’t fit into in a year!
Woot, woot! 😉

C25K:W3D2 and flowery metaphor

Today has been full of activity! It started with taekwondo class with Ninjabreadmom, which was fun after I woke up fully. 🙂 Next was C25K week 3, day 2. The three minute running intervals were a little easier than a few days ago, though on the first 90 sec jogging segment my legs felt like lead. Luckily, that feeling worked itself out after I got further into my program.

I tried out a few new things on this run: new location, running capris and an armband for my phone. I liked all of them. My new pants were light and comfortable. My armband was a bit bulky, but I chose that particular one because it could hold more stuff (keys, cards, money, etc) if I needed it to. It worked well and I got used to it pretty easily. The new location is a park near my house with a paved trail around it. It was nice to mix it up and have new scenery. A cute little girl waved at me, I saw a sweet Mini Cooper with the Union Jack painted on the roof, there were kids skateboarding and I saw those pretty blue weed-flowers starting to carpet the grass so I know spring is coming!!!

Even after taekwondo and run-walking, it was such a nice day I decided to get out in my yard and begin sprucing things up. Out with the old, brown, dry, dead of winter to make room for new spring growth. Honey Bear filled the bird feeder for me, and I put some water in the birdbath. I emptied last year’s nest from the bird house in the apple tree, and later in the day I saw a bird flitting around the entrance with new material in its mouth.

I cut back the roses and the blackberry vines that made berries last year, hacked a bunch of overgrown bushes coming through the fence, and cleared out a couple of flower beds. I didn’t do much after the summer, so dead stalks and leaves abounded. The canna stalks were particularly sad looking. I got a good arm workout with all the chopping and pulling.

I was surprised to see that some lily and iris leaves are already coming up! Raking back a thick layer of brown leaves, I uncovered these bulbs and started having a metaphor moment.

Clearly these iris bulbs are missing a little top dirt. And are laid over sideways. They were hidden under a mound of leaves, which they supposedly shouldn’t like. But despite that they seem to be managing just fine. How fabulous they are! Despite some challenges they are still doing what they were made to do — growing and gathering their strength to bloom.

Quotes from yours truly

Poor Ninjabreadmom, she has her work cut out for her in taekwondo class with me. Exercise clearly cuts off some brain-to-mouth connections for me.

“I don’t even know why I’m here.” (Looking around, after skipping classes for two weeks)
“Wait, what are we doing again?” (Form, self-defense, exercise, pretty much all the time)
“Thanks for not internally decapitating me.” (Self-defense practice involving head twisting)
“Is my butt OK?” (Planking)
“Shit.” (A lot. During pretty much all cardio)
“I have no abs!” (Bicycle crunches)
“I’m starving!” (After class)