Back on the Horse

I'm feeling 200% better! Thank God! Tried to go for a run on Friday. I was ready. We went for 4 miles, and it felt wonderful. I felt zippy and excited. Jason kept telling me to stop skipping and jumping around or I was going to hurt myself. Like a filly out of the barn after a long winter! I did some quick weights afterwards just to get my muscles feeling it again. Saturday, we jumped in the pool, and I did some easy sets while helping to coach Jason with some drills. Again, it felt wonderful to slip through the water. I love that slippery feeling. Saturday afternoon we hit the roads with our bikes for a gentle 20 mile, flat ride. It all feels so good to be back in the saddle again!

Lessons learned:
I love how working out makes me feel. It gets all the juices flowing. I have all sorts of ideas running through my head about everything. It's like they were all backlogged and the run just sort of dislodged them. I'm having to write everything down. I think the downtime was good for me. Now, I feel rested and excited to get back at it again. That's lesson #1: Time off is good. Sometimes, time off, like a few weeks, is really good for the mind, soul, and body. Before, I felt so guilty about all the fitness I was losing. Now, I realize I didn't lose as much as I thought. I don't think it will be long before I was back to where I left off. That's lesson #2: Don't feel guilty about taking time off. I needed it. As a matter of fact, TAKE time off. Finally, I was panicky about all the workouts missed. I really wanted to double up on workouts to make up for lost time, even though I knew that was stupid. Now, I realize (get ready for lesson #3) you CAN'T make up for lost time. It's like Cliff said: don't cry over spilled milk. So move forward. I'm not going to beat myself up over where I was before anymore. Each day is a new day. Each workout is a new opportunity. I'm putting myself back in the Prep phase to get my body used to it again and to reassess how much I've lost. Hopefully, I'll return to the base phase next week.

The bike ride was very interesting, by the way. We didn't get going until early evening (6:30). I figured we had plenty of time to make a loop around Mission Bay and get back home before dark at 8 pm. Of course, as usual, I underestimate how much time everything takes. I also thought the ride would be 18 miles but it ended up being 24. We headed down the Rose Canyon Bike Path. Everything was fine. Just a slightly annoying bump, bump, bump in the bike tire because there's one damn spot that's not even for some reason (despite trying to seat the tube and deflate/inflate it, move it around, etc. repeatedly)....but I digress. We head down the second part of the path, which is more sketchy than the first. It's pretty routine to see graffitti and homeless people's piles of stuff under the bridges (as well as the inviting aroma of urine) in a couple of spots but since I've seen so many other bicyclists and joggers on the path and since so many people use it, I just sort of have been closing my eyes and disregarding it. It's such a great way to get down to Mission Bay without having to weave in and out of heavy traffic. Under the second bridge, five or six kids were hanging out on mountain bikes, blocking the narrow path. I screeched to a halt, clipped out, and politely asked them to move. The boys just made catcalls and wouldn't move. (Actually, they hooted, "Arriba, arriba!" which makes no sense. What are they, Speedy Gonzalez?) The girl started giving me crap about my jersey, which sported the Mexican flag (apparently, this is offensive to some). "You goin' to Mexico?" I asked them to move again, more firmly this time. "Chill out, homes," was the response. I think Jason's presence behind them convinced them to move out of the way. We finally were through. As we rode off they called out, "This is our neighborhood. Our home. You can't ride here!" Okay. Fine. You want the piss-filled, trash-covered strip of cement under the freeway? You can have it! After getting harrassed by the street gang, we decided to try and head back a different way. I'm pretty bad with sense of direction, and I kept going up the wrong street. By this time, it was getting dark. Plus, there's always a lot of traffic in that area so I wasn't happy at all. We decided to go back the way we knew how. As we were turning onto the bike path, I recognized the street that would have bypassed the trail (very out-of-the-way, traffic-laden, and not easy to get to--but it has a bike lane at least). We just wanted to get home at this point since it was dusk. Luckily, they had moved on when we returned. I've never pedaled so fast in my life! Nothing like the threat of being stabbed to get the adrenaline flowing and the legs pumping! It was quite the harrowing ride.