Playing Catch-up

Well!  I don’t know what to say for myself.  It’s been awfully quiet around here, which I blame on a long-anticipated trip to Chicago.  But here I am, ten thousand feet in the air, and I finally have some time to update this little journal of mine.  Fortunately, my exercise did not fall by the wayside in my frenzy of packing and cleaning, so here we go: a week’s worth of work-outs in one post. 

* Friday, May 7: A running work-out!  I bumped up my 2 x 10 minute work-out a tiny bit by making it 11 + 10: 11 minutes of running, 4 minutes of walking, 10 minutes of running.  This was great!  I felt strong and serene.  It was a hot and humid night, and there were storm clouds gathering overhead, but I had a great work-out.  And I was so glad I went, too—I felt much more relaxed after my run.  The post-run dinner was excellent too, worthy of a blog post itself.

Saturday and Sunday: No formal work-outs.  I rode my bike around town to do some shopping.

Monday, May 10:  Let the speed work begin!  One of my favorite speed work-outs is what I’ve always called a ladder: intervals of faster running that go up and then back down in steps.  For example, today I ran 1 minute fast, 1 minute slow, 2 minutes fast, 1 minute slow, 1 minute fast, and then returned to a slower pace to finish a 20-minute run.  It was hard!  Which is good.  It means that I was pushing my limits.

Tuesday, May 11: I felt awful, so I did some (untimed) bike-riding and aqua-jogging just because I thought they’d make me feel better.  They did.

Wednesday, May 12: I rode bike to/from work.  There was a ferocious wind on the ride to work.  I arrived with my legs drenched in sweat.  The ride was tiring, but I recovered quickly and had a good day at work.  (Estimated total riding time: 40-50 minutes.)

Later that day, before bed, I did Gentle Hatha Yoga #1—my favorite!  Ahhhh…

In the interest of full disclosure, I must confess that I’m finishing this post many days after starting it.  I’m back in Texas after my week in Chicago, and I’m horribly behind on this blog, to the point where I’ve considered deleting it.  It’s so sad!  But I will forge on because this one’s for me.

Also, I have another six-legged roommate.  He likes to stare at himself in the mirror.  And yes, I am quite certain that this fly is a he.  Six years of graduate school and I can sex the fruit flies that have invaded my home.  Woot!