The weather is just glorious right now --- cool and sunny, though it's suppose to get pretty cold (for Texas) in the next couple of days. I hit the trail right after breakfast this morning, without the dogs today (poor Lila's little pads were scraped up from yesterday's walk ... she's older now, and I think like older humans, her skin must be thinner). I like to use this time to memorize music, so I plug in the IPod with whatever opera score I'm working on at the moment, and just run it. I get lost in not only the day and the beauty of my surroundings, but the music; ideas and insights about character, vocal technique, and musical expression come to me and percolate around. So this is productive and enervating time, both physically and mentally.
And I saw a heron in the creek.
I did the whole loop, which takes about an hour and twenty minutes, and it still tires me out more than I think it should. This is very frustrating. I would like to be working out harder than I am right now, and I feel guilty that I'm not. At the same time, it's very important to pay attention to what your body wants, and right now, this is all it seems to want. So, I am trying to honor that, while staying alert to making excuses.
The group fitness class I signed up for with Groupon --- dumping it. I feel bad about it, especially since I had big plans to use it to jumpstart myself back into regular serious exercise, but there were just too many strikes against it. Inconvenient location and time (5:30 p.m. on weekdays only, which put me right in the middle of rush hour traffic both coming and going); low-rent sorta sketch location and facility with no heating, cooling, or showers; and it just wasn't all that fun or motivating. I'm keeping my eye out for something better situated but in the meantime, it's the daily walk and sometimes a session on the stationary bike, which I dislike but is doable.
Today was a big score in the "found" workout department. First, there was Christmas Ornament Box Tetris, which is a mind-body exercise involving many trips up and down the ladder to put all the boxes of Christmas decorations back up on their shelves; and includes much rearranging of said boxes until they all somehow fit but not quite the way you had them before. Swearing is optional. Then, there's the Dead Morning Glory Vine Row, in which you pull and untangle miles of ugly dead vines from the side of the house and off the utility boxes. (Bonus round: the "Found Evidence of Former Rodent and/or Snake Trapped in Vines Squick Dance"). Last, but by no means least, is the Pooper Scooper Squat. You must carefully observe proper form with this one, making sure you're directly in front of the offending item (so you don't twist the wrong way and risk hurting your back or knees), and execute a proper squat for each and every item. It's cheating to do one squat and grab all you can within arm's reach. Incidentally, this exercise also works with your husband's dirty clothing or your kids' toys, but I leave this to your discretion.
Having done several rounds of each of the aforementioned, I feel better about "only" walking this morning, plus my house and yard are in much better condition. The benefits of working out are many!
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