I woke up arguing with myself. This week’s workouts have kicked my butt and I need a rest day. I have that exhausted feeling from top to bottom. I am not sure why I’m worn out – no extra mileage this week but I suppose I did do some workouts that I haven’t done in a while. At any rate, I need a rest day. I’m a big believer in the value of rest and recovery time for your muscles so I shouldn’t have an issue with it. So where’s the argument? It’s all about timing.
I am going to take today off, I thought about it last night and feel even more certain this morning.
But if I don’t workout today I may not get to workout all weekend and that’s THREE rest days. That’s just excessive.
If I get up early tomorrow I can go for a run. Well, if I pack tonight for our weekend trip AND get up early in the morning, then I can go for a run.
But we have friends coming over and we both know you’re not going to want to get up early, especially since you’re not in training for anything right now. There’s no schedule to make you feel guilty about resting.
Exactly – I’m not on a training schedule right now, I’m just maintaining and having fun. There’s no good reason to push it.
But I really need more time on the bike and even if I do manage to drag myself out of bed tomorrow there won’t be time for a bike ride. Today there’s time for a bike ride.
I am a stubborn person and I’m not sure if I’m stubborn enough to stick to giving myself a break – even if it means I don’t workout for three days in a row. Because there’s a part of me that is equally as stubborn about taking advantage of the schedule, and today’s schedule works for a bike ride. But really… what’s the big deal in taking a three day break anyway?
See, I’m still arguing.
At least once a week we eat fish or a meatless dinner. Salmon is one of our family favorites and I’m always looking for easy ways to cook it. Taking some inspiration from Rachael Ray, I came up with this recipe:
Roasted Garlic Soy Salmon
- 3 lbs salmon (skinless or not), cut into ~six inch fillets
- 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 2 minced cloves of garlic
- 1 TB ground coriander
- In a 9×13 pan mix together the soy sauce, garlic & coriander. Place the fillets in the pan to marinate while you preheat the oven to 400 degrees. After five minutes, turn the salmon and let it sit another five minutes.
- Prepare a broiler pan by lining the bottom with foil and spraying the top with non-stick spray. Lay the salmon on the pan – skin side down if it has the skin on. Roast for 20-25 minutes. The fish is done when it flakes easily and is light pink throughout. Remove skin before serving.
We served this with steamed broccoli and brown rice. Healthy, yummy and on the table in 30 minutes.
My youngest is eight years old and as I’ve come to remember in recent weeks, this is the age of lying. There is more than one age of lying of course. There is the 3/4yo lying phase where they come up with outlandish excuses that make you want to burst out laughing. There’s a teenage lying phase where the lies could be downright dangerous if not detected. But this phase appears to be all about self-gratification and pulling one over on mom. (Though I suppose all lies are about self-gratification aren’t they?)
My son has decided to focus his sneaky behavior on his ipod. A few weeks ago we noticed that he was awfully tired in the mornings. One night I went in his room late to shut the windows because it was raining, he was sprawled across the bed sideways. I smiled and went to gently move him back only to discover he had fallen asleep on his ipod. WTH?!?
He was grounded from it for a few days after a stern lecture. And since that time I’ve tried to make sure the ipod is downstairs at bedtime. It’s usually on his bookcase and I’ll just take it out with me after I tuck him in. Two nights ago I forgot to check. Yesterday I had a hard time waking him up. When he came downstairs after getting dressed he walked over to the charger in the living room, squatted down to hide said charger and tried to slip his ipod out of his pocket while making it look like he was picking it up off the charger. I watched the whole thing. When I asked what he was doing, he had the nerve to look me in the eye and tell me he was taking his ipod off the charger.
I reminded him that I had been standing there for a few minutes and asked if he’d like to change his story. He got that sheepish look, stared down at the floor and confessed that it had been in his room and yes he had played late at night. I told him to plug it in and leave it there for the day.
Bedtime last night, I noticed the ipod wasn’t on the charger. I hadn’t seen him playing with it but asked him when I tucked him in where his ipod was. His answer? “I think by my legos.” I checked under his pillow, asked if he was sure it wasn’t in his room and he said he was sure. I said goodnight and went looking.
It wasn’t by the legos or any of the other usual spots. I went back to his room, turned on the light and told him to give me his ipod.
J: I don’t know where it is.
Me: Are you sure it’s not in this room? Because I can’t find it anywhere else.
J: I’m sure!
Me: Silent stare… Is it in this room?
J: (pause… mumbling) yes
Me: holding out my hand, still staring
J: (crying) I don’t want to get in trouble.
Me: If you give it to me right now the trouble will be far less than if you stay in that bed one more minute.
J: (still crying, pulls it out from behind some books) I’m sorry. I’m sorry.
Me: You lied to me two times today. Two. Times.
J: I know and I’m so sorry.
Me: You should be sorry.
I might have also laid on a bit of Catholic guilt by suggesting he say the Act of Contrition before he went to sleep.
I learned something about myself on September 11, 2001. I can only take so many images, so many words, so many reports of tragedy. I distinctly remember being glued to the television all day that day and then at approximately 9:30 that night I stood up and said enough. I would read the headlines to keep up on the news but I was done with the exhaustive reporting, the never ending images of destruction and death. Done.
So today when these unbelievably sad, terrible things happen… the Newtown shootings, the Boston bombing, the tornado in Oklahoma… I learn what’s happening. I find tears welling up in my eyes as I imagine the pain and fear and sadness those people are going through. I pray. And I turn off the news.
In today’s society there is so, so much to take in with these tragedies and I can only take so much. I’m not burying my head in the sand. I’m doing what those people wish they could do, I’m living my life. I’m loving my children. I’m praying.
I do not have a lot of coordination. Certainly not of the hand-eye variety, but if I’m being honest, I don’t really have much coordination anywhere in my body. Somehow I made it on dance team in high school despite the fact that our coach was constantly having to correct me on which was my right foot and which was my left. The fact that I can run regularly without falling down is little short of a miracle.
I have an assortment of bruises on my legs and arms and have no idea where they came from… because I run into things all the time.
I trip going up the stairs… regularly.
My kids don’t even want to be on my team if we’re playing any sort of physical game (or video game)… because I’m a liability.
So a few years ago when I tried my first triathlon, it was more than just a challenge of endurance – it was a challenge of coordination. I hadn’t ridden a bike (aside for a few slow rides on vacations) in years. It took weeks before I could successfully pull my water bottle out of its holder and take a drink without nearly falling over. In fact, I’m almost certain that the first few times I had to stop the bike to get a drink. In my first race I almost ran off the road and took a spill – not because I was racing so hard, but because I was trying to look at my watch for some feedback.
Knowing all of that about me, you’ll appreciate that I’m a little nervous today. Because today I’m going to try out a road bike for the first time. Skinny tires, low handlebars (my toes won’t be clipped in because I don’t have bike shoes, still they will be stuck in cages)… keep your fingers crossed for me. I’ll be using all of mine to hold on. And I’ll probably have to stop when I need a drink.
Update Good news! I did NOT fall off the road bike (though I did have one wobbly moment as I struggled to get my foot out when I had to stop for traffic). And I went faster than I’ve ever gone before on the bike yet felt comfortable and easy the whole time. 15+mph without trying compared to 13mph with full effort? I officially have bike envy.
