I had a good week, getting my exercise in, and in some nice weather too.
Spring actually came to our corner of Maine this year, unlike the last two years when it was like living in Seattle (nothing against Seattle, but if I wanted their weather, I’d move there). I got to walk outside in the sun three out of four days at work, which made me very happy. As long as I get some sun and fresh air, I am a pretty happy person.
Monday: an evening walk with my husband and Daisy after work. We did 1.4 miles at a fairly brisk pace, getting ready for our 5K walk on Sunday.
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: I planned on a morning run on the treadmill, but that fell apart. The good news is that I got to run 2 miles out on the road when I got home from work. Outside is always better. My knee felt very strange as I started down the driveway, badly enough that I decided I would stop if it didn’t get better. It hurts occasionally as I run, sometimes in different spots in the same run, but never for long. This ache was different, but also wore out before I went my first quarter-mile. I have decided that if I can run it out, I will keep going since if I stop every time it twinges, I will never run! Afterwards I did a (very) short yoga session to stretch out.
I follow that immediately, of course, with: if you are seriously hurt and it does not go away in a few minutes, STOP!! Better to rest now than not be able to do anything later! Or permanently hurt yourself.
Thursday: a quick morning run on the treadmill. Now that I have my 2 miles below 18 minutes, if I make my lunch the night before, I can stay that extra five minutes in bed. It’s the small things, really! I did a fairly slow pace, doing the first in 9:10 and the second in 8:40.
Friday: I went out for a long, relaxing run. I did my favorite path that takes me 5.22 miles, and I was surprised I managed to cut off 2 minutes from the last time I ran it. Guess those quick miles on the treadmill are helping! There are quite a few really large hills in the route, which makes it odd that it is my favorite. I think perhaps I just like that I can do it. Later in the afternoon I took Christopher Robin out to the riding ring. I rode bareback, and while he did fill out a bit over the winter, hanging on was definitely a good workout for my legs. He did exceedingly well, considering our normal disagreements about what we should be doing. He must have decided he likes me!
Saturday: I took Daisy out for a brisk 2 mile walk and then did an extraordinary amount of weights. No, it wasn’t really all that much, but seeing how I have been only doing 15 minutes recently; when I stopped and realized I’d done 38 minutes, I was like, wow. I did an extra set of reps and added some floor exercises to my session, which added up. In the afternoon, I slipped a saddle on Charby and went out to the ring with her. It all went well until I spontaneously decided to canter. Christopher Robin, who’d been grazing next to the ring, immediately decided he must race about too. I pulled Charby in before he decided to run circles around us, bucking and kicking. Ponies! I’ve been thinking about fencing the ring, and now I just might.
Sunday: my husband and I went down to Portland for the American Heart Association’s Heart Walk. They push a lot of cardiac research through, and my husband feels (quite rightly) that AHA probably saved his life. We didn’t raise as much as we had wished, but every dollar helps 🙂 As we got out of the car and I stretched, I said “huh, what did I do to make my arms and shoulders hurt?” Then I remembered the weights Saturday. Oops. The walk was wonderful, however. It was billed as a 5K, but they admitted upfront before they sent us out that it was really 3.5 miles. It looked a bit like rain, but it never did. Which was great because it was pretty warm and we would have baked if the sun had come out.