Weekend!
At work, there are a handful of us that exercise every day. We show up at the administrative office, get changed into our exercise clothing, then jog. I make jokes about it and call it our company’s “Wellness Initiative” but it’s really only 3-5 people who jog after work.
Well, until very recently, I powerwalked. We go down a half mile, hit the lightpost that marks the spot, turn around, then go back. Well, some of the people (the ones still in their 20s) go further. I go to the 1/2 mile lightpost.
Very recently, though, I started jogging for part of this. Jog to the first lightpost. *THEN* powerwalk the rest of the way. Then it was “jog to the utility box”.
Now I’m doing this thing where I jog for .1 miles, walk for .1 miles, jog, then walk, then jog, then walk… and alternate the entire way. Five of each.
It’s absolutely dreadful. My breathing turns into doggy panting somewhere in the middle of the second jog and I spend the walking periods unable to do more than monosylables. By the time I might be able to string a sentence together, it’s time to jog again. At 0.9 and we enter the last walk? Oh, jeez. I want to die. So far, I have done this alternating jogging thing twice. The main thing I’ve noticed is that my ribs hurt. Like the muscles involved in doggy panting don’t get worked out that often so they feel sore when I take a deep breath.
The worst thing is the feeling like I’m in an episode of Baywatch. I feel like I’m jogging in slow-motion and everything is bouncing. I try to put more effort into forward motion than in the up-and-down, but it fails. And it’s hot. And it’s humid. And I can’t breathe.
As such, this weekend will involve not running.
So… what’s on your docket?
(Image is “Play” by Clare Briggs. Used with permission of the Briggs estate.)
It is supposed to be hot here, but nothing I am not used to from living there. So, beer and siestas…Report
After pushing near 100 earlier this week, today’s high is supposed to be 65 (currently it’s 49). I’m planning on wearing long pants for a change of pace…Report
One thing I have learned since becoming a “woman of a certain age” and also having to take a beta blocker and heavy-duty antihistamines: I have exactly zero heat and humidity tolerance left. I work out indoors and even at that, if it’s an unusually humid day out, I can feel it – even with air conditioning AND a dehumidifier running in the house.
The local weather guy was speaking in mildly apocalyptic tones about the heat and humidity for today. I scrubbed the antiquing trip I was planning because it’s just not worth risking heatstroke/car refusing to start over.
Tomorrow they are promising it will be cooler (well, they originally promised TODAY would be cooler). If it seems to be, I’ll go then, but bleah, today is awful – I went and did about 1/2 hour of care-taking on my research plots and that was about all the physical activity I can bear for today.
It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity. If it were this hot and I were in Arizona I’d be fine, but dewpoints in the 70s feel like a punishment from God.Report
Hah, know what you mean. I grew up in the dry country of eastern Washington, then moved to the east coast. 30 years later, I still can’t stand the humidity. I spent two weeks without A/C when it went on the fritz and, while the weather was mostly cooperative, there were a few days of heat and humidity..ugh…glad it’s fixed now…Report
This weekend I am replacing my back fence and erecting a pergola over the patio. The old fence was crap. It was too tall and the pickets too close together, and the posts were sunk into the concrete footings, rather than attached to an anchor. This meant that as the footings settled, the posts got covered by dirt and mulch and the previous owners didn’t try to keep them clear, so the posts rotted out (even treated lumber will rot if exposed like that). Also, the fence rails were not cedar, or treated, so they rotted out as well. I had a wind storm (remember the pickets were too close, can you say ‘sail’?) find one of the rotted posts for me, and I found two more as I pulled the fence down last weekend.
So this week I dug out the old footings and poured new ones, complete with anchor bolts. Concrete should be nicely set by tomorrow morning, so up goes the rest. And of course it will be in the 90’s all weekend.Report
Well, despite the heat, and with the help of some friends, I got the posts raised, the fence rails attached, and the frame for pergola built. I was hoping to get farther, but from about 1000 until 1700 both days I had to spend more time out of the sun than in it. Just too damn hot, I’m not used to that kind of heat anymore (read, this is why I don’t live in AZ).
I did get my wife to agree to using decorative hardware, so the timbers are all attached with powder coated black fittings, so it’s looking good. My neighbor keeps coming over and telling me it’s gonna be a fortress (the pergola posts are 6x6x10′, and all the beams and rafters are 2×6)Report
Shaved most of the beard off last night, at least as close as the buzzers will cut. Will likely have Rigs cut my hair tonight or tomorrow. He is getting pretty good at it, the first time I was a little concerned. Now he’s cut a dozen times and the last few I didn’t have to trim the sides to match or take off any thick parts. He’s picking it up pretty good.
Looking at putting another pressure tank in my water network.Report
I’m going to figure out What It All Means.
Either that, or throw darts a bit.Report
I made a Worcestershire sauce.
2 tbspn tarragon vinegar
2 tbspn apple cider vinegar
2 tbspn Red Boat 45N fish sauce
2 tbspn Brer Rabbit blackstrap molasses
2 tbspn reduction of 6 ounces tamarind juice
1 1/2 tbspn avocado oil
1 tbspn soy sauce
2 tsp lime juice
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp fresh ground ginger
1/4 tsp mustard powder
1/4 bay leafReport
My recipe has received a rave review from a pit master who said it was tangy, though he notes that it’s also a little bit sweet. He used half the bottle on smoked turkey wings, then made a stew. His wife was slurping up the sauce directly off the plate, and he was drinking it out of the bottle.Report
Good for you, Jay. I’ve been horribly slack in the physical exercise department this Spring/Summer–only hiked a couple of times, two ascents of the incline. As much as I hate running outside of playing a sport, I’m actually considering taking it up! Yuck.Report
Your jogging sounds like my jogging. I prefer powerwalking, but I haven’t been doing much of that since I hit the third trimester. Only five more weeks and baby boy will be here, finally. It was 100+ all weekend so I went swimming and tried to hang out in areas with air conditioning. Between the volunteer work and the heat I didnt get nearly enough sleep. 🙁Report
I joined you in not running.
Also, started the Better Call Saul binge. It’s starting slowly, with episodes full of “characters doing elaborate things in scenes with no dialog that I have to read Alan Sepinwall’s review to fully understand.” Though I did catch something the AV Club reviewer missed, so I got to feel smart one time.Report
I mentioned the Figgy Goat Cheesecake to the guy I talk to at the diner I go to and he nodded and said that savory cheesecakes are next level stuff. I mentioned possibly making a cheesecake without sugar and with bacon (pepper bacon!) and he got excited and said that I should put onions, chives, and garlic in it. Oh! And I shouldn’t bake it. I should *SMOKE* it.
So I might make a bacon/onion/garlic cheesecake.
But I won’t smoke it.
But I might substitute liquid smoke for vanilla…Report
Jay,
I had more luck using a treadmill. 40 pounds ago, when I was starting (god I love saying that) I took a hand me down treadmill, put it on like 1 mph no angle and watched tv for 30 mins. Jeebus, I thought I’d die. Now I use a better treadmill set on 3.5 mph at 11% slope as A WARM UP for jujitsu class.
At least with the treadmill you can watch good tv. I play dvds of tv/movies I like. Your mileage may vary.Report
I have an exercise bike in the basement and Maribou bought me Seasons 1 of both Black Jesus and Rick and Morty and told me “you can only watch these if you are using the exercise bike!”
I’ve watched a handful of episodes…Report
Bad habits are as hard to break as good habits.
My GF has, in the past, complained about not seeing me as much as she might like, specifically on Saturdays. I can be very tired from class and have taken to naps. My response was “You’ve told me I should loose weight and jujitsu is doing that, and now you complain that I’m taking jujitsu and have not enough time for you. You can’t have it both ways. Choose 1.”Report