Back in the Saddle

Until a few years ago, I was an avid pedestrian, transit user, and bike rider. Growing up, I was transit dependent, which continued through college. When I started work after college, I rode my bike to work most days. Unfortunately, I began commuting to grad school in Davis by car, then lengthly road construction blocked the safe paths to work from home.

Well, the road construction ended mid-last year, and I have been complacent in my driving. I do often have meetings that necessitate driving, but I often have meetings where a bicycle would ease parking troubles. I decided, once my broken leg healed, to stop being a hypocrite and start being a bike commuter. I'm happy to report that I started in earnest two weeks ago.

So far, I've ridden to work three times, and actually have had meeting conflicts the rest of the days that made driving the only option. My schedule should calm down, and I plan to ride at least two days a week, with my goal being riding every day that I don't need my car to get to a meeting. Six miles each way is a piece of cake, and the weather has been so nice lately.

Since I haven't posted my running goals for the year yet (oops), I'll post a lifestyle goal:

In 2013, I will honor my values (sustainability, conservation, physical activity, health) and ride my bicycle to work, errands, and play whenever possible. 

Since I don't have a photo of my bike handy, here is a photo from the internet of a 1968 Peugeot UO-18, which looks remarkably like my bike. Pretty.

Photo Credit: PDXaero on velospace.org

Calamity Jane

Last Saturday, I actually ran for 20 minutes (no walking). Despite all of my connective tissue being very angry with me, I was super excited to ditch walking and get to running again.

I drove down to San Jose, and went outdoor climbing at Indian Rock (Castle Rock State Park in the Santa Cruz mountains) on Sunday. It was a blast! I took some falls (on toprope, of course), and managed to get scraped up a bit. Halfway into the drive home, I noticed that my right ankle hurt. By the time I reached Sacramento, I could barely stand on it. Oops.

Needless to say, I haven't run this week. I stayed away from yoga most of the week as well. Climbing on Tuesday brought on a worsening of the weird pain in my left bicep that I've been feeling for the past month. On Wednesday, the pain was radiating down my entire left arm. I climbed a few easy routes Thursday, felt the twinge, and went to yoga instead.

My body seems to be trying to tell me something. Maybe it is just stress, and some rest will provide a cure. At least I rode my bike to work yesterday, providing some cardio to offset my beer-drinking.

This all just goes to show that if it isn't one thing with me, it is something else.

Excuses, Excuses

I've been in a rut. After I progressed my run/walk ratio up to 3/2, progress halted. By 20 minutes in, my leg hurt at the break site. I got discouraged, and figured I'd be better off taking some time to rebuild muscle and stability, then trying to run again.

The reality is that run/walking is not motivating at all, and I felt like a total tool being on the treadmill at the gym. I hit a (small) roadblock, and decided to quit, at least for a bit. It was easy. I rode the recumbent bike a lot over my holiday break. I burned myself out on weights and climbing, and I'm now climbing 11bs!!! I forgot about my rehab. Bad news.

With the second full week of January came the realization that I have to get back to running. I can't just give in to the lack of accomplishment I feel when I run/walk for a half hour. If I want to do long runs, compete in races, and be myself again, I have to do my time in rehab. Period.

Friday I did an easy 30 minutes of 2/3, and today I did my first 3/2 without pain! According to my PT, once I'm past 4/1, I can go straight into running! By the end of the week, if my hectic schedule and motivation don't get the best of me, I could be running for a solid 20 minutes!

A girl can hope...

New Year!

This year is off to a fantastic start! On New Years Day, after not waking up when they oh so politely set off fireworks at 8AM, I decided to hit the hot tub. Happy new year to me! I'm going to try to get in more often; I think it will help me recover from my workouts faster (so I can do more)!

Mid-day hottubbing; a great start to the new year!

The second highlight of the first week of 2013 was this pizza, made in spite of repeated food science and equipment malfunctions. Yes, this pizza was made without a working oven. Yes, it was also delicious. A great team effort!

Pesto, mozzarella, parmesan, olives, chicken, roasted pepper, tomatoes, zuchinni, yum!