How we talk ourselves out of good stuff...

So I'm really enjoying life at the moment. I'm finding more balance in many things including exercise. But the other day I gave myself a good reminder lesson on how we humans talk ourselves out of awesome things.

I love running. Running gives me a feeling of freedom that I have never found anywhere else, it's easy and I've found runners to be extremely supportive as a group. Running is a whole body sport toning not just the legs, but arms, torso and even your neck! It can be as cheap or as expensive an exercise as you'd like.

The only thing that stops me from running regularly is my tight IT bands. They're tight because I sit at a computer for many hours of the day, then I go home and sit on a chair, and then I curl up on my side in bed, almost in a sitting position but lying down, and sleep that way all night. My legs are almost permanently drawn upwards! Overall I've not been very active and those IT bands have just shrunken and tightened. They're not the worst case I've ever heard (one of my friends had trouble getting in and out of her car hers were so tight!) but they're bad enough that my kneecap has been pulled out of alignment so that when I run, it rubs the wrong areas of my knees and hurts like a mofo.

So, I've been back on my old friend the foam roller and booked myself in for weekly massages to help loosen my legs. Running (slowly as I do) in short bursts is harmless so I decided to get back on the C25K bandwagon. I was really pleased with it last time. So I went to the C25K site lo and behold! They've moved with the times. There's apps so you can see where you've run. OMG! I love apps. http://www.c25k.com/

This is where the madness begins.

I decided that I didn't want the app on my work iPhone because I don't know how to just make the app work and not be interrupted by the phone. So then I decided I needed to get an iPod. So then I looked at second hand iPods because I like buying things second hand but most of them were totally munted and not too far off the price of new ones... which were over $250!!!! Exy... now things are tight here at the moment. I don't like to admit that because it feels like failure but everyone goes through that at time right? So I decided, that until the purse strings get looser I won't buy an iPod. So then I can't download the app. then I can't do c25K. So I can't run.

See how we do these things people? For fecks sake it's madness! Once I got back to 'Ah well. No running for me' and went to go and do whatever the hell it was that I was going to do, I just slapped myself! What? My conversation with my new BFF (me)

'Dear Jennie, you are a dingletwang. What on earth did you use to do C25K last time?'

'My mp3 player'

'Jennie, where is that mp3 player?'

'In my bottom drawer'

'Then use it dear Jenniiiie, dear Jenniiiie dear Jenniiiiiie'.

Doh... yes it still works and if it doesn't then there's a good two or three other old mp3 players in the house. They haven't been used for years but they still work.

AND I'm sure there's instructions on how to turn off the phone so it doesn't disturb me while I'm running on the work iPhone or on my personal android phone. One of the options would work I'm sure!

But that guys, that's how we talk ourselves out of things. Unless I'm alone. Am I alone here? It's true that I may have reached new levels of patheticness but you know, I slapped and sang myself out of it so booyeah to me!

Looking forward to running soon. Woo hoo! Looking forward to having the IT bands massaged? Ummm... no. But it feels so good when it's finished. 

xxxxx

Exercise... the cleansing effect

I have to say there's a benefit to this whole exercising thing. When I do it regularly, I poop like a champion. Not what you wanted to hear? Too bad! I've been pooping and pooping like crazy. Tummy has flattened out  a lot and I'm also sleeping a lot better.

I rode to work and back today. As I was going through a roundabout, I looked to the left and saw this old bloke struggling up the hill. He didn't look like a pro, just an average Aussie battler, so I called out "You can do it!" to which he didn't respond but looked at me like I was crackers. Minutes later, I'm heading up the biggest hill on my way home. I talk myself up this hill. Loudly. So I can hear it. I was saying "You can do this Jen", pedal pedal "this hill is your bitch" pedal pedal "you can get to the top of this hill" and then I hear "You sure can!" and the old nugget glides past effortlessly on his bike. I kid you not, I was standing up on the pedals, red in the face, huffin' n puffin' and he was sitting down, smiling.... cruising along. He could have been singing "riding along on my pushbike honey" but he didn't.

His bike was sneaky and his bike was silent. My bike rattles and it squeaks. You can hear it from a mile away. This guy, he was a cycling ninja. I jumped out of my skin and the resulting adrenal rush gave me the energy to power over that hill and the next one (which is smaller) also. Thanks old nugget! He didn't have an ounce of fat on him.

I kinda liked the karma of it though. First, I encourage him, then he encouraged me. I hope I see him again!

xxxxx

Cycling... Is This What Confidence Feels Like?

So I've started riding to work. I kid you not, I had no idea how much I value the perceived safety of my little battered car. The first morning Mr JDF was out and about doing his own thing and I thought he was running late so I thought "Yay! I don't have to ride and I can make it seem like I am upset about that but geeez.... I'm relieved" but then he called to say he was on his way home. What the? Now I had to ride.

When he got home I was just about to leave. Then he checked my tyres and said "You need air. My frazzled nerves sang as I said "Oh I can't ride then. I have no idea how to do that". Mr JDF very patiently told me how to do it, told me to call him if I got stuck. Another Yayboo.

So I went and put air in my tyres, following his instructions and then... I was riding to work. Crazy! It's so much easier with air in the tyres. One was down to 7psi and the other at 5. No wonder my poor neglected bike had been so hard to ride. I just thought it was knackered and I needed a new one. Time to learn some bike maintenance.See?...

I got to work ok. I was stressed all the way because I hadn't ridden in heavy traffic before ever. I wasn't sure where all of the bike paths were and I was worried I couldn't ride and I'd end up walking my bike and looking like a tosser or worse, passing out. Neither happened. I rode to work, it was both harder and easier than I expected and I can't really articulate why that is.

When I got to work I didn't have a huge burst of energy that usually comes after exercise, but I did feel I'd acheived something. I was so grateful to Mr JDF for gently encouraging me to get out.

I did have one major issue. Period! I won't write about it in this post but you can read about that HERE. 

I rode to work for the second time today. It took me an hour to get out the door and I couldn't work out why. I was doing all these little useless things that I don't normally do. So I sat for a minute and just let the fears arise. Main two fears, other cyclists. My dad once said to me that the nastiest group of people outside of business were cyclists which is funny because my dad used cycling as a form of exercise for years. But he had a lot of encounters with pelatons going past with full groups of people screaming "Nice bike" or "get out the way you old c%*t" etc etc. So that was my fear. Once I knew what it was, I thought of the cyclists I know. They're all really encouraging so I decided that they were the sort of people I'd meet if any.

I made myself look as least like a cyclist as I could. See... don't be jelly of my outfit

I don't look like a racer, I look like a commuter. I did have one encounter. I quietly crapped myself when I heard someone behind me at the lights, pasted a big thousand watt smile on my face and turned to see three guys behind me. I greeted them with "Morning guys! You want to go in front of me? I'm really slow" and they looked at each other and LAUGHED! One said to the other "You don't say" with an admirable level of sarcasm. I didn't know you could get that sarcastic off tv! They didn't deign me worthy of an answer, but when the lights went green they took off so fast I felt the burn as surely as I'd been sitting behind a launching jet plane.

You know what? I didn't feel upset! I didn't take on their stuff at all. I'm not sure why as in the past this would have crushed me. I'd have died a little bit inside and been sad for weeks. A sign of my growth. I was so happy that their behaviour, lack of grace, lack of manners and derisive attitudes washed off me like a duck off water. Is this what confidence feels like? Or at least the beginning of it?

So here I am at work, not working. Still procrastinating but ah well. I've neglected the blog lately due to being overwhelmed and exhausted. I've been doing little bits of exercise but not enough. The bike riding is good though. It's really enjoyable.

Periods and cycling.

I'm going to talk about periods for a minute so guys if that makes ye queasy, don't read it!

I do not recommend riding a bike during the first day or two of having a period. I was on day three which is usually a light day for me and definitely started that way, but by the time I got to work, every time I pushed down on the pedal, blood squirted, yes squirted, like Tarantino was directing the whole thing down there. It was a little very frightening. So I got Mr JDF to bring me a change of jeans and got to work. By the end of the day, things had calmed down again and  I'd forgotten all about that so I rode home. The same thing happened but it started earlier on in the ride.

I arrived home in semi darkness just as Mr JDF and my son got home. My daughter came out to say Hi to us all and I couldn't move! I just stood there, and could feel blood running down my legs at a rapid rate as Mr JDF gave me a present... a new chain for my bike (yay!) and the kids were telling me about their day and I was worried I was hemorrhaging. I couldn't say anything in front of the kids because I didn't want to freak them out so I waited for the opportune moment and dashed inside where I went and stood in the shower and just watched my very own episode of Dexter happen. It was scary stuff.

Searching online helped me see that some women just can't ride on certain days and others can. I lost a lot of blood, so much that I was dizzy, but I'm ok now. I might have also been dizzy because:

a. I'd exercised and my brain was unused to the oxygen
b. Fear.
c. Psychosomatic stuff
d. Past life issues

I was not very wise. In fact, could be called stupid inexperienced for riding home after that happened to me in the morning, but I just didn't think in the night. I was so worried that I'd be arriving home in full dark, on a black bike with dark pants and not enough reflective material that my body just didn't enter my thoughts.

I've done a search online and found that this can be an issue for many women.

Women also have reported chafing from pads and even tampon strings. Many recommended menstrual cups like The Keeper, and other brands as well.

If you're new to cycling, then perhaps have a back up plan if you need to ride on the heavy days. You might be one of the lucky ones who are not affected. If so... go for it! If not, work around. it.