July 31, Check-In

[muck_a_luck]

Hey, EED community!

Bad mod! Went out to do errands without posting a check-in! Hope everyone is enjoying their Saturday!

If you are posting for the first time, or new to the community, please review the community's standards, below.


1. Mod (that's me!) will post a Daily Check In post, for those who prefer to note their daily activities in response to a prompt. Please only place exercise comments here.

2. All members are encouraged to post daily independent posts about their activities, if they prefer that to a prompt.

3. Please place any NON-EXERCISE comments in independent update posts and behind a cut. Some people are sensitive to discussion of diet and nutrition. That is integral to many people's exercise activities, so I want members to be able to discuss that, but for those who are here strictly to log exercise, I would like them to be able to avert their eyes.

4. Everyone is encouraged to introduce themselves, discuss their exercise goals, and post updates on their activities. "I finally made it to running a mile!" or "I kicked up into handstand today!" are updates that we all want to hear about and share! Please put long posts and entries involving diet and nutrition behind a cut, though.

5. Aside from intro posts and injury announcements, please try to include an exercise update in every post.

Comments

[alexseanchai]

Ow ow fuck fuck ow. Survey says: rest day. I can't even do the upper-body stuff because I don't know what the fuck I did to my shoulder.

[shanaqui]

Owww. I hope you feel better soon!

[green]

Hope you feel better soon, bb.

[sapote]

:( Feel better!

[shanaqui]

Despite the most awful night of stomach pain (I get stressed, my entire digestive system throws in the towel, goddamnit), I have strangely done more today than the rest of the week. Did about half an hour's worth of yoga, altogether, ran thirty minutes on the elliptical (with five minutes walk before and after to warm up and cool down), did a lot of stretching after the run because of how much I'm stiffening up, changed my bed (a bunk bed, so it's an acrobatic sort of activity), tidied my room, and am now in the process of cleaning it. I'm tired.

In odd news, despite yesterday morning being so stiff I could barely touch my knees when bending down, yesterday night I got my hands on my ankles with my legs still straight. I was back to just below the knees this morning, but I think last night was probably the most I've ever bent. Odd.

[rydra_wong]

Wow. Doing anything at all after such a bad night is impressive!

Re: forward bends and flexibility, you might find this discussion at sun_salutation useful.

[shanaqui]

I'll certainly sleep tonight, no matter what!

Hee, I'd found that already, but thank you for the link!

[green]

That is awesome that you did so much, and the flexibility sounds good.

[shanaqui]

I'm exhausted now, but pleased I got things done.

[green]

Yay! I mean, boo exhaustion, but sometimes it's good to feel worn out, knowing you did so much, you know? I'm happy for you.

[sapote]

Wow, props!

[shanaqui]

Thanks! Of course, now I'm tired and not good for much... *laughs*

[muck_a_luck]

yesterday night I got my hands on my ankles with my legs still straight

I am a morning yoga person. But I know at least one person who always does yoga in the evening because she needs the day's movement to open up her body and bring out her flexibility. It's possible that your body is like hers, and needs the day to warm up.

If you start practicing postures that open your hamstrings, you will probably find you have more experiences like this, of bending the most you've ever bent. :)

[shanaqui]

I do a little in the morning and a little in the evening, at the moment, which I like -- I'm not exactly graceful or flexible in the morning, but it's a nice way to start my day. When I'm back at university, I might not have time, though, and then I probably will just do it in the evening.

[just_ann_now]

The weather and my weekend schedule were finally in alignment, so I got to take a nice long walk in my nearby park. I rambled through both woodlands and sunny meadows, so it was just perfect for the day. Then, when I got home, I went out and weedwacked some since I was sweaty anyway.

I'm hoping to do the 108 pushups later today; pure laziness would be my only excuse not to.

[shanaqui]

That sounds like a lovely walk. *envious*

*cheers you on with the pushups*

[just_ann_now]

*still managing to postpone the pushups*

[green]

Sounds like a great day! :D

[just_ann_now]

Yes, indeedy, and there's still lots of it to go!

[sapote]

That sounds like a beautiful walk. Also, yay weedwhacking - I'm so far behind on the yardwork.

[just_ann_now]

The grass and the garden have pretty much given up, but the weeds are still going strong.

[rydra_wong]

Morning yoga, then I went with a friend for a swim in the Serpentine Lido. I love, love, love being able to swim in a lake in the middle of the inner city.

Note: "swim" here means "half an hour's very slow breaststroke with my face well out of the water, watching out so as not to swim into a swan by mistake."

Some more yoga may happen later.

[green]

Do you have to keep your face out of the water, too? I can't go under the water or I panic.

Yay yoga! \o/

[rydra_wong]

Do you have to keep your face out of the water, too?

Yup! I've never, ever managed to deal with putting my face in the water when I swim.

The excellent thing is that with outdoor swimming, it's quite a sensible way to swim anyway: I'm happy to swim in the Serpentine (as long as I get a bath afterwards to wash the algae out of awkward places), but I wouldn't want to drink it. Also, I am not kidding about the swan.

[green]

*grins* I dogpaddle with my chin way up, so I totally know what you mean. I get made fun of for it, but I love to swim. Have only been swimming once this summer, I hope to do it again soon.

[just_ann_now]

"half an hour's very slow breaststroke with my face well out of the water, watching out so as not to swim into a swan by mistake."

*gigglesnorts at the swan*

Yep, I'm one of those who can't have water on my face, either. *shudders*

[rydra_wong]

Swan, and vast quantities of geese, not to mention a bunch of gawky teenage swans moulting their baby fluff on the bank!

The Lido is just an Olympic-pool-sized section of the lake marked off with buoys, so the local wildfowl wander in and out and are completely unfazed by swimmers.

I got to be right underneath a flight of geese doing a takeoff from the water, which was unexpectedly awesome.

And the swan hung out in the middle of the pool, preening its feathers and being HUGE, with all the swimmers detouring round it.

There were also shoals of tiny tiny fish; if I sat very still in the shallows, they would swim round me and occasionally nibble me in case I was a loaf of bread.

[sapote]

I'm imagining the comedy of swan collision, but I'm glad you avoided it.

[rydra_wong]

It would not be comic! Swans are tough bastards.

[cofax7]

Kicked myself out of a rut and ran the four-mile hilly route today, counter-clockwise (which is backwards from the way I usually do it). Which entails going downhill, then a longass steep uphill, and the final mile and a half is flat/downhill. Sadly had to stop and breathe twice, but I went.

I am getting rather tired of wearing a thermal overshirt to run in July, though. Frelling Bay Area weather...

[green]

Wow, that's some amazing running! *envious*

[green]

A couple of sun salutations followed by 40 minutes of my new yoga video (the one I did yesterday). Did the plow pose for longer than two seconds! I didn't count, but I got some great slow breathing in the pose. My form is probably off but I am doing as good as I can at home without someone to correct me. I'm reading everything I can about correct form so I can get this stuff right.

10 minutes of pilates stretches/warm up.

wunderground.com says Heat advisory in effect from 11 am this morning to 6 PM CDT this evening.... I was planning to push my daughter's wheelchair down the road today and get some exercise that way, but if the heat is going to be that bad (it's supposed to get up to 110 today) then that's out of the question.

[just_ann_now]

Breathing makes such a difference, doesn't it? For something so simple we don't give it the attention it deserves.

Heat advisory in effect from 11 am this morning to 6 PM CDT this evening....

I'm so sick of the heat this summer I could scream. *screams*

[green]

And it's so humid here on top of the heat. It's ridiculous.

[carolyn_claire]

I worry about form, too--if I'm doing it wrong, at least I'm moving, but I'm not getting all out of it that I could, and may even be doing myself harm? I'd take a class, just to learn good form, if one was available.

[green]

I found one listing for yoga in my town, and it's in someone's house. I don't know if I feel comfortable doing that. I might drive past it and see.

[carolyn_claire]

Maybe you could get someone to do it with you?

[green]

My friends probably aren't interested, but I'll ask.

[rydra_wong]

FWIW, I was entirely self-taught until a few months ago (when I started going to RL classes too). I've hurt myself a few times doing yoga, but it's only ever happened when I've persistently pushed for a pose and ignored warning twinges of pain or strain.

If you've got chronic pain or joint problems, you may obviously have different issues to navigate, but generally, you do get warning signals if something's not right.

And there are some online resources that have excellent stuff on alignment (and RL classes which are crappy at it).

[lullabymoon]

Today was technically a rest day, but I did about a mile of walking after work as I went shopping for a sports bra.

The happy thing is, if I had done that 2 months ago, I would be in a heap by now. Instead I'm fairly wide awake and aware. YAY!

[nicolakgreen]

I was feeling so good after my 20 mins yoga this morning I tried another of the podcasts - and managed the whole 30 minutes of that one too. It felt really good, which was nice because I was planning on going to the gym today but woke up with a big mosquito bite on my foot and thought putting shoes on would be a bad idea. I hope it goes down by monday when I have my next session with my trainer booked.

[rydra_wong]

\o/ This is one thing I love about 20-30 minute podcasts -- they're short enough that I can fit one in impulsively.