The extra family has left for home, and I'm about in the middle of recovering my energy, I think. I'm trying to work ahead on the blog again, but it's slow progress thus far.
I had a chat with my doctor regarding the intermittent fasting diet, and she doesn't seem to think it's working for me, at least not in the way she was hoping. So I'm thinking on whether I want to continue it. I kind of do, because I think it really limits how much snacking I do, but on the other hand, it's kind of unpleasant in the morning when I'm lined up to exercise but don't have even a jogger's breakfast to draw on.
I'm also mulling over finding a place to jog. I mentioned last week how very poorly I did when I jogged, and how it unnerved me, but the fact remains that it is definitely better exercise than biking. Your heartrate actually stays elevated for a lot longer after you jog than after you bike or row or some other form of exercise. This translates to more calorie-burning potential. In addition, I think in general jogging uses more muscles than biking. And I do kind of really want to play Pokemon GO while I exercise. So, I don't know. I probably won't do it, because I'm not sure how many revolutions I could run around the park near my house before I get seriously anxious about weirding out other people at the park, or thinking about what they must be thinking. I'd run in completely abandoned places, but that's also a great way to never be heard from again, so... bleh.
On a happier note, I got to go kayaking last weekend! A friend got a bunch of people together and secured permission to borrow his family's lake house, so we all visited on Sunday. It was a nice place, big tall trees with a soft grass and mossy carpet near the house, a nice view of the ocean, and the house itself had running water and electricity and such. There wasn't actually a whole lot of beach, because grasses like to grow in the sand dunes, and the grasses serve a purpose by keeping the sand from eroding away. And there was a huge set of stairs going down from the house to the beach (but hey, that means the beach house won't get swept away anytime soon!). We hung out at the beach area, ate watermelon and pizza, and chatted a bit.
But yeah, they had a kayak, which I promptly took out on the lake. This is one of the Great Lakes, not a little tiny thing you can see both shores of, so I didn't have much frame of reference for how far out I went. But I made very sure to take note of where I'd come from, and conveniently, there were 2 white outdoor chairs on one side of the staircase, and 1 lavender one on the other side. So that made it pretty easy to keep near the right piece of shore. I had a pretty good time, too, because it's relatively quiet on the lake once you're far enough out. And the paddling is good exercise.
I hadn't done that sort of thing for years, so I got tired fast, naturally. But since nobody was yelling at me to keep rowing (like say, on a rowing team), I was easily able to take breaks. It's somewhat similar to riding a bike in that way. That kind of makes me want to get a kayak and go out to a smaller, nearer lake around here. It'd be a bit of an endeavor to do that, so I'd probably only do that once a week. Or maybe on Saturdays, as exercise day #6? I dunno. There's a very slim chance that Chris will win a kayak from his workplace's raffle, so if that happens, I guess I'll consider it more seriously. If it doesn't happen, I guess I can think about putting one on my wish list. My van will hold a kayak or two, probably. It fit an 8 foot conference table, so it's probably safe enough.
My only concern will be my hands... I had to turn the kayak back earlier than I would have liked, because I developed a blister. I recognized it pretty quickly, which I'm pleased about. The first time I went out in a kayak, I managed to get like 5 blisters and tear a few open before I got tired, and those hurt a bunch for a good while. So this time I was smarter, and I'm happy to say the silly thing is entirely healed up now. I did also manage to bruise both thumbs, but the solution to both bruises and blisters is very simple: gloves. I have nice fingerless gloves somewhere, which I used to use in my rowing team days. They'd work just as well for this.
The last bonus for doing kayaking regularly is the muscle groups it exercises. Most of my exercise focuses on my leg muscles, and pretty much just those. Kayaking is mostly arms, shoulders, and some back muscles. I have a pretty strong back, but historically I've been rather poor about exercising my shoulders and arms. So this would be a good development, if it works out.
I had a chat with my doctor regarding the intermittent fasting diet, and she doesn't seem to think it's working for me, at least not in the way she was hoping. So I'm thinking on whether I want to continue it. I kind of do, because I think it really limits how much snacking I do, but on the other hand, it's kind of unpleasant in the morning when I'm lined up to exercise but don't have even a jogger's breakfast to draw on.
I'm also mulling over finding a place to jog. I mentioned last week how very poorly I did when I jogged, and how it unnerved me, but the fact remains that it is definitely better exercise than biking. Your heartrate actually stays elevated for a lot longer after you jog than after you bike or row or some other form of exercise. This translates to more calorie-burning potential. In addition, I think in general jogging uses more muscles than biking. And I do kind of really want to play Pokemon GO while I exercise. So, I don't know. I probably won't do it, because I'm not sure how many revolutions I could run around the park near my house before I get seriously anxious about weirding out other people at the park, or thinking about what they must be thinking. I'd run in completely abandoned places, but that's also a great way to never be heard from again, so... bleh.
On a happier note, I got to go kayaking last weekend! A friend got a bunch of people together and secured permission to borrow his family's lake house, so we all visited on Sunday. It was a nice place, big tall trees with a soft grass and mossy carpet near the house, a nice view of the ocean, and the house itself had running water and electricity and such. There wasn't actually a whole lot of beach, because grasses like to grow in the sand dunes, and the grasses serve a purpose by keeping the sand from eroding away. And there was a huge set of stairs going down from the house to the beach (but hey, that means the beach house won't get swept away anytime soon!). We hung out at the beach area, ate watermelon and pizza, and chatted a bit.
But yeah, they had a kayak, which I promptly took out on the lake. This is one of the Great Lakes, not a little tiny thing you can see both shores of, so I didn't have much frame of reference for how far out I went. But I made very sure to take note of where I'd come from, and conveniently, there were 2 white outdoor chairs on one side of the staircase, and 1 lavender one on the other side. So that made it pretty easy to keep near the right piece of shore. I had a pretty good time, too, because it's relatively quiet on the lake once you're far enough out. And the paddling is good exercise.
I hadn't done that sort of thing for years, so I got tired fast, naturally. But since nobody was yelling at me to keep rowing (like say, on a rowing team), I was easily able to take breaks. It's somewhat similar to riding a bike in that way. That kind of makes me want to get a kayak and go out to a smaller, nearer lake around here. It'd be a bit of an endeavor to do that, so I'd probably only do that once a week. Or maybe on Saturdays, as exercise day #6? I dunno. There's a very slim chance that Chris will win a kayak from his workplace's raffle, so if that happens, I guess I'll consider it more seriously. If it doesn't happen, I guess I can think about putting one on my wish list. My van will hold a kayak or two, probably. It fit an 8 foot conference table, so it's probably safe enough.
My only concern will be my hands... I had to turn the kayak back earlier than I would have liked, because I developed a blister. I recognized it pretty quickly, which I'm pleased about. The first time I went out in a kayak, I managed to get like 5 blisters and tear a few open before I got tired, and those hurt a bunch for a good while. So this time I was smarter, and I'm happy to say the silly thing is entirely healed up now. I did also manage to bruise both thumbs, but the solution to both bruises and blisters is very simple: gloves. I have nice fingerless gloves somewhere, which I used to use in my rowing team days. They'd work just as well for this.
The last bonus for doing kayaking regularly is the muscle groups it exercises. Most of my exercise focuses on my leg muscles, and pretty much just those. Kayaking is mostly arms, shoulders, and some back muscles. I have a pretty strong back, but historically I've been rather poor about exercising my shoulders and arms. So this would be a good development, if it works out.
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