Day 51 Muscles Need Fuel
If you’d have told me in January that I’d be tackling a 60-Day Bikram Yoga Challenge as soon as we got back from Maui, I’d have snorted rum through my nose. I knew I’d be getting back into it, and I’d even tossed around the idea of a 30-Day Challenge, but 60?
And now I’m almost there. YAY ME!!!
Of course, this past weekend, I almost threw in the towel, so I better not get too cocky just yet.
It’s reassuring to have a strong day, especially after a few rough ones, and now I’ve had two strong days in a row. I did all my postures yesterday and today, even Camel, the deepest backward bend. My problem areas right now are my lower back and my right knee, who knows why. I haven’t hurt them, that I remember. Parts just seize up for no apparent reason, it seems, once you’re in your (ahem, late) forties. My hamstrings, of course, are still very tight, but they loosen up quickly in class. Will they ever stay more flexible? I doubt it. I spend too much time at my desk for that.
I find I’m less concerned about my weight – which still hasn’t changed much – and more focused on function and form. My back-fat and meat-flaps are still there, but they seem longer, distributed over visible muscles. I’m definitely leaner, according to the fit of my jeans, and lean and strong is good. Let’s face it: if I really want to lose weight, I have to eat less and I just don’t want it that badly.
If anything, I’m eating even more. I recall going through this earlier in the challenge. If I wasn’t in my (ahem, late) forties, I’d suspect PMS but that excuse is no longer reliable. I’m ravenous, especially at night. The other night, I got up three times between midnight and 6 am, because my stomach was hurting, I was so hungry. (Some yogurt first. An hour later, a half a banana. Two hours after that, a glass of milk, a fig bar and the rest of the banana.) Probably I wouldn’t have noticed if I’d been asleep, but that’s another joy of the peri-menopause stage: insomnia.
Anyway, I put those restless nights to good use, thinking about what I want to eat the next day. So, I’ve got a luscious lasagna bubbling in the oven right now, home-made with fresh pasta sheets, extra-lean ground beef, diced Italian plum tomatoes, ricotta, loads of spinach, and a mixture of Italian cheeses. Also, a loaf of two-cheese sourdough to go with it. Oh, and a strawberry-rhubarb pie for dessert.
Don’t judge me. I told you. I’m hungry.
Day 38 Recovery Cocktail
There comes a point in each Bikram yoga class when, in the words of my favourite blogger-commedienne Allie, of Hyperbole-and-a-Half, I’m so thirsty I’d “shank an infant for juice.” I’ve read her post on her experience running a marathon in Texas several times, and each time it makes me laugh more. I love the way this woman’s mind works.
But anyway. Yoga. I always make sure I’m well-hydrated before the class, and I usually drink a full bottle during, but still. By the time we’ve finished the balancing series and move on to the floor exercises, I’m feeling the heat, like a living thing, pressing down on me. My clothing feels like those warmed blankets they put on you in the hospital after surgery. Except hotter, really, really hot. And all I want is a breeze. Cool water. Ice. A meat-locker.
This past January, about a half-hour after my husband and arrived in Maui, I came down with a virus. I’d been fighting it valiantly in the weeks leading up to the trip, pounding down Vitamin C, guzzling water and green tea, doing yoga like mad. But I still spent the first few days in paradise alternately sleeping, resting, napping, dozing or, if I was feeling particularly energetic, reading. All the while coughing like a walrus.
And thirsty, so thirsty.
The first night, Ray trotted on down to the resort store, in search of something that might, if not cure me, at least cut down on the whinging. He came back armed with juice of several varieties, an array of Vitamin water flavours, various exorbitantly over-priced over-the-counter remedies, and ice. Then he started mixing and matching. My special vacation cocktail: OJ and Vit C water on the rocks, mmm, better than mai tais.
I kind of got hooked on the combo. Now I throw in some coconut water, which is said to be loaded with potassium — and has the flavour of dirty socks. Mixed with the others, however, it’s palatable enough.
Is my special recovery cocktail any more nutritious than plain old OJ? Don’t know.
Don’t really care, either. Honestly, sometimes the only thing that gets me through the last couple of postures is the knowledge that it’s waiting for me in my car.
Maybe it’s the association. Ray served me like my own personal cabana boy, while I languished on the couch, upset that I was sick on our vacation. And he reassured me that it didn’t matter if we did nothing the whole time, the main thing is that we were together. So I guzzled my recovery cocktails, rested, and a couple of days later, was back to normal.
Our Visa bill was a little higher on incidentals. But that feeling of being cared for? Priceless.
Travel days
- At March 03, 2009
- By Roxanne Snopek
- In Roxanne Writes On
- 0
Travel Days
Sunday – Fairmont Hotel, YVR. Dave and Cheryl drove us to the airport so we wouldn’t have to leave our car there. Had a wonderful dinner that night, sable-fish and some kind of awesome hot potato salad. Grainy mustard, white wine vinegar and a bunch of other stuff I can’t remember right now. Yum. And sable-fish, oh what a treat.
Monday – 4:30 am is not friendly to anyone. Had gross hotel room coffee until we got to the secured area where we inhaled a couple of Starbucks lattes. We both slept on the plane, until we got to LAX, where we considered getting lunc during our “layover”. Ha. Good thing we decided to find our terminal first, instead. We barely made it in time to buy a sandwich before boarding for the next leg. Oh, and there was an exciting bit where I got on a down esclator that wasn’t going where I expected. Picture me dashing up against the current while Ray yells “Rox, Rox!” from the parallel escalator. Good thing no one was behind me.
Napped again on the plane, then arrived bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (yeah, right) in Maui, where our cabbie gave us an entertaining explanation for various things, some of which might have even been right. We had enough energy after checking in to get a bite and sup at the bar-and-grill before crashing.