The Days We Miss

Friday’s (very short) Run (4/29/11)

After a long hiatus, I finally went running again.  According to the official record, it’s been 26 days since my last run.  That feels correct to me, as I know my fitness focus has been elsewhere: yoga and biking.  After the half-marathon, I had a feeling in my gut that I would take a break from running, enough time off to let me miss the sport a bit.  In fitness and in romance, a little missing can be a healthy and energizing experience.  For running in particular, time off can be good for any niggling injuries to heal themselves without much fuss.  (Wait, is this also true for romance-induced injuries?)

This week, I’ve been missing my running routine.  I’ve been missing the Thursdays when I would bike to work and then run after work—those days made me feel so healthy and strong.  So tonight, I went for a short, 10-minute run.  Just a mile.  It felt nice and familiar and freeing—nothing between me and the sidewalk but a pair of sneakers.  This evening I was reminded of something that Maura once wrote, that the road does not judge us, no matter how long we’ve been gone or how slow we are or how much we weigh.  The road welcomes us back just the same, every time.  That’s true for me, and one of the reasons that I feel like I will always be a runner, no matter how many days have passed since my last run.  I know it will always be there for me.

But I also know that running is more fun if you are fit and feel able to do it.  Now that Texas is teetering on the brink of summer, I need to figure out what my summer fitness plan is going to be.  My (not so) super secret goal is to be able to run a solid 30 minutes outside, even at the end of August.  It scares me to say that, having lived through a Texas August, but there it is.  The question is, how should I try to accomplish this goal?  Early-morning runs?  Late-night runs?  Hard-core treadmill time?  I need to think about these options, but I know some of you, sweet readers, also live and train in hot-hot places.  What are your summer strategies?  How do you manage to keep running when the weather is blisteringly miserable outside?

One more thing: happy weekend, everyone!  We made it to Friday!  

Let’s Not Skirt the Issue

Wednesday’s Bike Ride Commute (4/27/11)

Hey hey!  How has your week been?  Mine has been pretty good.  I had two big things this week at work, a seminar I organized and a lab meeting presentation.  They are both done now, and no tears were shed, so I shall consider this week a success.  But more importantly, let’s take bikes and skirts!

Last week, I was shocked and dismayed to discover that trying to bike in my favorite knee-length red skirt is a pain in the butt.  The skirt in question is not particularly tight, but it’s just tight enough and long enough to make it difficult to pedal comfortably.  So it was with some trepidation that I decided to try biking in another knee-length skirt this week.  This patterned black skirt that I’m wearing in the photos above hangs a little past my knees, as you can see.  Pessimist that I am, I didn’t expect this skirt to be bike-friendly…but it is!  It’s breezy and comfortable and I feel both sporty and girly wearing it while I pedal my way to work.

During the long Texas summer, I favor skirts over shorts, so it’s nice to find another skirt in my closet that will work for my bike-commuting days.  For modesty’s sake, I prefer to bike in longer skirts, but clearly not all of my longer skirts are going to work on pedaling days.  I want to know how Tania bikes in this skirt!

This was the wind’s response to my photo shoot yesterday:

Oops.

If a Tree Does Yoga in the Forest…

…it looks a little something like this!  (See Figure 1, above.)

Yoga Update (4/18-4/24/11)

I have discovered something very dangerous or very wonderful, depending on how you look at it.  It turns out that in the evening, sitting on a chaise lounge in front of a pool is even more relaxing than yoga.  Dangerous and wonderful, no?  Last week I had to bring out the big guns to deal with my stress and frustration: poolside reclining, wine, and too much time on the bike.  Strangely, I didn’t really turn to yoga, perhaps because right now it feels a bit like a chore, and to relax, I was looking for something that didn’t resemble a chore in the least.  No cooking, no housework.  But something cold to drink, a bikini, and a good book?  Yes, please!

I didn’t abandon my yoga completely last week; I just spent some time away from it.  I’m looking forward to yoga tonight, and I’m looking forward to a better week altogether.  What goes down must come up…or something.

Without further ado, the highlights of my yoga practice last week: 

Monday (4/18): I am completely sick of looking at a screen, so I decide to do a DIY yoga instead.  It feels so good to turn off the computer and focus on stretching my limbs instead.  Om…

Tuesday (4/19): I have a horrific day at work and desperately want to do yoga.  Instead, I spend an hour on the phone being comforted by someone who has the utmost of confidence in me, which makes me feel much better.  I devote the rest of the evening to dinner, kitchen clean-up, and trying to read a paper for journal club the next day.  I do a tiny bit of pajama yoga before going to bed, exhausted, and I promise myself that I’ll do a “real” yoga session the next day.  (FYI: I don’t count today toward my 40 days.)

Wednesday (4/20): Making good on my promise to myself, I do Morning Flow #1, and it feels amazing.  I find myself going even higher (deeper?) into wheel pose, which is one of my favorite poses.  Wheel pose is quite challenging, but it’s such a mind- and body-bending experience that I love it, no matter how hard it feels.  I think this is one of the benefits to doing the same yoga class over and over again—you start to own it, wheel poses and all.

Thursday (4/21): I have a Self magazine clipping for a yoga abs routine, which I used to do more frequently.  It’s a fun set of moves and a nice alterative to Pilates.  I don’t do “yoga abs” too often any more, but tonight, during my DIY yoga, I decide to incorporate some of the yoga abs poses.  I think these poses really do build abdominal strength, but I’m not going to lie: I do yoga abs as much for abdominal strength as I do for those nights I spend sitting around in a bikini top.  Oh, vanity…

Friday (4/22): I skip yoga in favor of doing…nothing.  I sit in front of the pool for a while, and it feels great.

Saturday (4/23): I skip yoga again in favor of…nothing.  In my defense, I’m tired after bike commuting, working, grocery shopping, and cooking dinner.  Actually, I’m not just tired but drained after my week from hell and a busy Saturday.  So no yoga tonight, just some time to putter around and nurture my exhausted self.

Sunday (4/24): After three hours on the phone, my head is spinning and I decide that yoga is the perfect before-bed calm-me-down, so I do a few minutes of pajama yoga.  It does the trick.  And those crescent lunges are still hard to balance in, especially if I try to lean into a backbend in them!  Practice, little yogi, practice.

* * *

One last piece of yoga news.  Did you see Chrissy’s review of Poser: My Life in Twenty-three Yoga Poses by Claire Dederer?  I really enjoyed the review, though I haven’t read the book yet.  Not to overstate the obvious, but I enjoy conversations about how physical activity affects our mental and emotional well-being, so this book and Chrissy’s review of it are right up my alley.  Now I’ve got another book to add to my reading list!

Have a wheel pose kind of week, my dears!

Bike Update, with a Side of Randomness

(Almost) Nonstop Bike Commuting: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday Bike Rides (4/19 and 4/21-4/24/11)

I have apparently become addicted to the convenience and stress-relieving properties of the bike.  I rode my bike to and from work three out of the past five “working days,” and I rode it to and from the lab yesterday and today.  I’m not working on the weekends because I love working all the time; oh no.  Rather, I’ve got experiments going that require daily attention, so I’m trying to be diligent about doing the experiments to the best of my ability.  Hence all the bike-riding to and from the lab.

Bike commuting has actually been really tough lately.  The wind has been blowing with unbelieveable strength, and it seems like I’m fighting the wind during every bike ride.  I’m actually looking forward to taking the bus to work tomorrow because I need a break from the wind!

In other bike news, I almost ran over a squirrel three times this weekend.  No, not the same squirrel.  That would be absurd.  A different squirrel, but three times!  The squirrels must be getting dumber down here.  And of course, when a squirrel comes thisclose to meeting my bike tire, I squeal like a little girl and slam on the brakes.  Oh boy.

In Flickr news, I have apparently been found by a few foot fetishists.  I find this both creepy and amusing.  Since I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being a foot fetishist, it’s totally benign.  But it is pretty funny to announce your preference to a stranger on the internet.  My new “fans” wrote,

“miss u got some pretty feet”

“sure do”

Um, thanks?  Maybe they just have a thing for silver toenail polish.  I can’t blame them—it does look really nice, like my toenails are tiny mirrors.

‘Tis almost time for my afternoon snack, so on that note, adios, amigos!

Every Day Should be Earth Day

Happy Earth Day, dear readers!  I’m just popping in to say hello and to reassure any worried readers that I’m okay.  It’s been a hard week at work, but today is Friday and the weekend is almost, almost here.  I have a lot of work to do in the next few days, but I am hoping to celebrate Earth Day properly by sitting outside and staring at the clouds and flocks of birds overhead.

Here’s to a good weekend for you and for me!

Tuesday Lists

Tuesday’s Bike Ride Commute (4/19/11)

Despite my horrific day at work, the crying and hyperventilating that followed said day at work, and the sudden and unbearably hot and humid weather, there was one good thing about Tuesday: I got to ride my bike again.  Actually, there were a number of really great things about Tuesday: the bike ride, eating lunch outside (trying to recover from my wretched morning), beautiful evening sunlight in which to photograph my everyday life, and a phone call from a handsome gentleman who responded to my SOS signal.

Life never unfolds in tones of black and white.  It’s always grey, sunshine and clouds and the occasional rainstorm all circling around each other.  I may not be a rockstar scientist (YET!), but I have my health, my bike, and good shoulders on which to cry, metaphorically or in the flesh.  All things considered, I’m doing pretty well.

I’m hiding in my cave right now…

…because it’s too damn hot now!  We’ve had 90+ degrees of heat this week, which is just about right for August, but it is way too hot for April.  For some reason, my writing studio always stays cooler than the rest of the apartment, so that’s where I’m hiding.  It’s my cave, my cool dark cave.  Between my writing practice, sending and receiving e-mails, and watching television shows on my computer, I spend as much time in this room as I do in the kitchen.  And that’s a lot of time.

My weekend was gorgeous.  It looked like this: 

Which is to say that it was lovely.  Somehow I managed to go to the lab on both days and had plenty of time to relax, cook, read, and unwind before starting another crazy week in the lab.  As usual with my weekend lab days, I rode my bike to and from the lab, for a total of about seven miles per round trip, or fourteen miles for two days.  It was crazy windy, like it has been for the past few weeks, so biking was an especially good work-out, whether or not I wanted it!