the neighborhood: it's a mile from home to St Marys

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Mallwalking again

It is still effing cold outside. While I am getting used to it again, and as long as I was driving home from yoga past the mall, I thought I'd have my walk inside today.

I actually wore my wool houseshoes to yoga class, because it is perfectly dry outside, and following Matt's instructions I am trying short walks with less structured shoes, to see how my feet take it. After class (we take off even our socks in yoga) I put on my new Chucks, or as we used to call them back in the day, Converse All Stars. (These days of modern times the exact same shoe is called Chuck Taylors, after the illegible signature in the middle of the logo that has been there all along.) I am assured that these jock canvas athletic shoes are now fashionable for everyone -- although I sure don't see many people in my particular age group wearing them -- and they come in all kinds of colors and patterns, including all black, which is what I got. And not hightops.

So I walked five times around the mall, in 35 minutes. That's two miles, and I'd had enough of that.

Gait analysis, or, Yr Doin It Rong

Before it disappears too far into my browser history, I want to make some links to a couple of the YouTube videos that Matt showed us when he was home last month. It's very easy to find this stuff he is interested in by putting "barefoot running" in the YouTube search. With "gait analysis" you are apt to wander off into physical therapy videos of people who have major problems just walking, or with "barefoot" maybe the teenage foot porn. (I kid you not.) But what Matt was talking to us about is the way most of our shoes are constructed in a way that makes us walk with the heel striking the ground first, and hard. The bigger the heel pad on the running shoe, it seems, the greater this effect. He has some wacko five-toed shoes that simulate barefoot running, and he is full of good reasons and rants on why bare feet are healthier than shod. But I'll let the professor explain:



This kind of close analysis is usually just for athletes, but knowing how it works is cool, and if I can avoid disabling pain I'm all for that. This next Aussie is awfully long-winded, and has his own program to promote -- and he could use a better script and tighter editing -- but the moving pictures are worth many thousands of words.

Yoga class

Today I did make it to yoga class, and a good thing too as she announced that next week we are meeting at the Dean West gym again, finally, after how many sessions out there beyond the beltline. They had some remodelling or other classes or something, for a year or more. I figure if I write this down in enough places I might manage to actually get to the right location next week instead of finding myself in an empty room on automatic pilot.

Today we did a lot of work on shoulder mobility, which everyone there needs, and high time in my opinion. First lying on my back, stretching arms overhead but without arching back. Then putting arms out "like goalposts", perpendicular to the body and to the floor, elbows on the floor, then laying hands on the floor each way, up and down, which I can't do all the way either direction. Susi says you'd have to be pretty flexible to do that all the way both ways. Then from the Table Pose (on hands and knees) we did a kind of back bend, placing hands out in front and then straightening out so the shoulders are directly over the hands, weight distributed throughout the hands and fingers, bracing with abdominals and increasing the curve of the back. Not too much. Then we did the Child's Pose to bend the other way.

Standing then we stretched arms up, and after that did the sort of swan dive bringing arms down while bending forward, to touch the floor. With back straight this is a sort of hip mobility thing and hamstring stretch, then dropping forward as far as possible, then standing up again. We're getting into that bit of the Salute to the Sun which Susi says she is going to have us doing eventually.

Then we did some balancing on one leg, the Tree pose, standing on one foot with the other kind of leaning on that foot or leg, then raise arms.

Then we went down on our faces, with a towel prop for my forehead and arms along the body. We always do parts of these poses in isolation before putting them together, and today it was with attention to lifting the arms slightly from contraction of muscles between shoulder blades. Then braced and lifted legs too, and head extending from neck, for the Boat pose. To bend the other way then we did the Downward Dog.

After that it was a whole long time on our backs with those damn belts, around your foot with leg in the air and stretching hamstrings, this way and that and without raising the other leg which is supposed to be resting the floor. Resting yeah. I thought I was getting better with this but maybe not. Then we did Knee-down Twists, with feet on the floor, and then with feet not on the floor which is a big back twist since I can go pretty much all the way over.

Finally the Corpse Pose, all warm with our blankies and pillows, and guided breathing and relaxation. It always seems to short but I did not go to sleep this time. I've been going to bed a bit earlier with that melatonin stuff, which actually seems to work. Moving my schedule to a new time zone, a little closer to home than Fiji.

Since the cold weather and high pressure came in I've been entirely off the pain meds, which is the usual effect, a gratifying change. My hands and arms are still sore, stiff and my hands often feel swelled up, but I can live with it.

Monday and Tuesday walks

Well, yes, I did. Monday the weather was still fairly mild, and I started out on just a trip over to the post office, as-long-as-I-just-get-out, and then went all the way over to Olin Park on the bikepath and then to the bay on O'Sheridan and back, 65 minutes. Feeling not that great, right foot, lower back, yadda yadda. Jon called on my cell and reminded me to do some shrugs, so I tried like three sets of ten, for what it's worth, trapezius still in knots.

Then the cold came in that night, with a bit of snow.

Tuesday I did manage to get out, wind still from the west but about fifteen degrees colder. I walked west through the parking lots and clinic over to Wingra Creek, then south on the bikepath and north on Beld home, for a grand total of 30 minutes, cause jeez louise it was cold.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Park Inspections

On Friday we drove out to Owen Conservation Park to walk. Trail onditions were about as perfect as possible for yaktrax on packed snow! First we walked up around the hill where the professor's house used to be, which is still heavily terraced with stone walls. Then we made a big loop around the restored prairie, following the outside loop of ski trail which is a good ten feet wide. Along the edges of the park you can see the outside neighborhoods and Old Sauk Road, now that the leaves are down, but throughout most of it you would hardly know you were still in town. We had the place mostly to ourselves too, although the packed snow seemed to indicate it's heavily used. Very hilly, too. We didn't go all around the new storm water retention basins, but our circuit of the park took forty minutes. I was feeling pretty good, and took these photos of stone wall on the hill, and the prairie restoration.

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Saturday I walked around the neighborhood for 45 minutes. It started out as just a little walk, down to the bay and back, but then I followed Rowell along the railroad track south and across Franklin Field to the bikepath, and home again from there. Took another photo of the Wonderful O, which is still standing, although heavily melted. It was beginning to mist when I got back, and we didn't get much of the rain forecast. I have been feeling surprisingly well considering the major weather front coming through. Lay down after that one for some yoga stretching.

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Today we went out to Governor Nelson State Park, to see how the trails there are in the snow. It turns out unfortunately that most of them are dedicated to skitrails and hikers are not allowed! It's up in the thirties today, a big thaw, and snow conditions were, shall we say, not so good. It's a big disappointment that we're not going to be able to hike the hilly forest trails to the Indian mounds until spring though. We didn't see much tree damage from the recent big snow, only a couple of branches, and one dead oak tree that took the opportunity to fall entirely over.

We took the "Morningside" trail which is the one that circles the prairie, along the entrance road, and then comes along the northwest shore of Lake Mendota through some wetlands. This trail tends to be wet anyhow, and today parts were turning to slush. Fortunately, I suppose, the snow is deep enough that we didn't get into any actual mud, and the yaktrax served us well. Walking in this stuff was quite a workout, and warmed up both of us (I took off my coat for a bit). The packed snow was giving way underfoot with every step, and only one pair of runners had preceded us on the back side of this trail, we could see plainly from their footprints. It was kind of like walking in dry beach sand, and the advice Matt has given about walking technique was really helpful: if you landed on your heel you tended to sink even further into the wet snow, but if you landed more on the whole foot you could stay more on top of the snow pack. Mostly. After a while I even realized that the more you can propel yourself forward, under such conditions, through arm motion or whatever, the less impact you make on the surface -- the trail teaching us how to walk it.

When we arrived at the place where a stream runs in a culvert under the trail through the red osier dogwood (above), it started looking familiar from last fall. Only without the leaves... and covered with snow... The whole way around only took forty minutes, but it was an unusually energetic forty minutes, and we used a lot of muscles that don't usually get so much of a workout.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Thursday

A gray day today in the twenties. With wind out of the north and east, it's kinda cold. I walked north on Park St and West Shore through Brittingham Park to the corner of Main St and Proudfit (that's the street that turns into Regent and connects to the John Nolen causeway) north of the bay. Then west on Regent St, with a stop at Fraboni's market for the The Best Pizza Sauce In Town. No sitting down. Continued west on Regent, then south on Brooks and Mills past St Marys to the Wingra Creek bikepath, then east, to Beld and home. An hour and twenty-five minutes walking (I turned off stopwatch while I was in the market).

My right foot was playing up toward the end, and my lower back a bit, then not. Ready to lie down on the floor when I got home though, and ran through yoga stretches and a bit of breathing for fifteen minutes (while the cat tried to make me scratch her head instead). Hamstrings actually seem to have loosened up a bit with the regular stretching. Just a bit. Shoulders still tight.

Wednesday, not

Yesterday I missed my yoga class. Apparently I needed to sleep ten hours instead.

Eventually I had a walk. First a dozen Chair Pose squats, to get me actually moving out the door. Then I walked down Beld St and because the wind was from the east, I walked west on the bike path, to Vilas Park and then all the way around it, also the bear mound on Vilas Circle. After 61 minutes walking (maybe 62) I ended up at Zuzu's cafe, and later Karen gave me a ride home.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Tuesday

Today I walked over to Monroe St again. Did a dozen squats (Chair Pose) before I left. The watch was working funny (it needed winding, go figure) so I think it was about 35 minutes there (cutting across parking lots to Wingra Drive), and 40 minutes back. Sat and read in the library and the coffee shop for some time before starting back. Coming back the sun was getting low and the sidewalks started freezing, so I noticed I was clomping around with the heel-strike first, and slipping every so often as that is not the most balanced way of walking, so I corrected my gait the way Matt & I had talked about last month and managed most of the last half mile with the forefoot-strike and shorter strides. I can tell it's different muscles being used again though. Then fifteen minutes lying on the floor, a little stretching. Feet hurt, as usual, otherwise not bad.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Monday walk

Today I walked over to Monroe St and back through Vilas Park, one of my favorite walks. Approximately 31 minutes in each direction, an hour of walking, with stops at the coffee shop on Monroe St to read for a while, and also Trader Joe's. The library was closed today, duh. Feeling kind of low, but at least it was a sunny afternoon.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Two more walks

Saturday I texted Karen when I was setting out on my walk, and then when I arrived at Lane's Bakery on Park St. From the time records I see I spent 39 minutes getting that distance, which is not all that far, hardly more than a mile, even including the coffee shop and wandering along the bay and around the neighborhood. Then we went shopping, and I spent a couple more hours on my feet. Tired, so what else is new.

Today Jon & I went for another walk along the bike path on Wingra, and around the zoo and park, which at a relaxed pace took around and hour and 45 minutes. Lower back pain, and feet, but anyway. Then 12 minutes of yoga (ham stretches mostly) before we left to see a matinee. Nice to sit down for a couple hours and laugh (Tarantara Tarantara).

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Long Walk

Yesterday was Friday and it was gray but temperatures pushing up above freezing. It's been some time since we had the chance for a long walk, so it was around the neighborhood. I wasn't feeling particularly sore but took it slow, picking around the ice, although most of the pavements were dry. Except at the corners of course.

South on Beld to the bike path, then east behind Frankly Field under the Olin Ave bridge, under John Nolen Drive, all the way to the parking lot at Olin Park where there's a barrel to drop my coffee cup. Near the lake there's a footbridge across the creek, so we crossed there to the end of Lakeside. Then back to the bikepath under John Nolen (on the other side of the creek) and around Traffic Engineering. Colby St north to the O'Sheridan loop next to the bay, then west on Lakeside and South Shore. Following the bay we went north on West Shore to Emerald, where there's a new stoplight so you can cross Park St near St Marys. So west on Emerald, up the hill past the hospital and around on Mills, south to the entrance of the Arboretum and Wingra Drive. Then southeast on the bikepath along the creek (stopped for a photo of spray painting on snow at Wingra and Fish Hatchery) to Beld, and north to home.

I walked for 123 minutes, just over two hours. Usually I do only about half of this loop. I was tired but not in pain. More fatigued lately, even with nine or ten hours of sleep. This is what I mean by the pain and fatigue being junk information, not functional signals, because clearly my body is capable of quite a lot even when it doesn't feel like it.

Then I had fifteen minutes of lie down and yoga. Arms raised, ham stretch, knee-down twist, Child's Pose.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Thursday walk

Today I slept like twelve hours and was still tired but I got up anyway. I've been fighting a headache all day and tried all the aromatherapy things I have. But it is probably the usual effect of increasing medication so I don't know what else I can do. That and the weather, which is much warmer, wind from the south, temperature up in the thirties.

I did get out to walk while it was sunny this afternoon, although it was after three. I went down Hickory and Emerson and north on Lowell to the bay, then east along South Shore to Bernie's Beach, east along Lakeside and around the loop to the bay by John Nolen on O'Sheridan. Then south on Colby to the bikepath at Olin Avenue. I knew the sun going down along the other side of the creek there would be pleasant. So along the bike path behind Franky Field all the way to Beld, then north to Park St and Spruce and home. It was 45 minutes altogether.

Jon massaged my head & neck & shoulders but my headache is still bad.

Yoga and walking

Yesterday I went to yoga class. It was another long routine, an hour, that I tried to note as best I could afterwards. The stretches lying down were arms overhead, hamstring stretches straight up and then to each side (abductor and adductor). Table pose, the cat and cow, the nose to knee quite a number of times, then Songbird pose, Child's Pose, Downward Dog, and Child's pose again.

Then standing, some backward bending, very careful to brace for lower back. Standing with legs wide, bend forward, with back straight. I did not really need a block to lean on as I can touch the floor especially considering I can do a pretty wide stance. Then Warrior 2 (with arms outstretched this time.

We spent some time with sitting, getting a proper pad to sit on so that you're high up enough not to strain hip joints when you cross legs, and still sit with your back straight. Then with legs straight out in front, we did a sitting twist that we hadn't done in a long time, where you cross one leg over the other so the foot is by the knee, then reach with your arm so your elbow is the other side of the knee, and your head and shoulders are turned as much as possible around, with your other arm in back supporting.

Then sitting with legs straight out in front, we used belts for another hamstring stretch. It is plainer how much any tightness there is restricting movement when you bend forward with legs apart, as I can get much further down that way.

Lying down then we did Bridging, and then extended that by rising up on shoulders as much as possible. Then the piriformus stretch, which starts with one leg bridging, the other side dropping down, so that the lower body is turned sideways and the top leg reaching toward the floor, relaxing, while the arms are in a T with shoulders flat on the floor.

Then we had the Corpse Pose for fifteen minutes of guided breathing and relaxation and not necessarily a nap. I was just dreaming of a voice saying very kindly and paternally, We're going to get you straightened out now, when it was time to sit up and open eyes. Then Susi was showing the woman next to me the way you can use a rolled-up gym towel under your back along the spine when you're lying down to release trapezius and shoulder tension, which she showed me last year and I rather overdid it then and hadn't tried it since.

After I got home and rested a bit, had coffee with Karen, and then went for a 40-minute walk, as it was a lovely day and much warmer, and I was feeling pretty good. We walked north on Park St to Parr St where it goes over to the bay, then along West Shore to Vilas St. There I crossed and went west on Vilas just to Brook St, south along there past The Little House I Used To Live In all the way to St Marys, then east again and crossed Park at the new stoplight and back to West Shore and the bay. Then followed the bay to Lowell and south to Emerson and Hickory and home. Very tired after all that though.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Tuesday is library day

I got out of the house a little after one today, and it was a nice sunny afternoon well into the twenties. Boots with aggressive vibram soles but no yaktrax, which was something of a relief to my feet, and hardly missed them as most of the sidewalks are clear now. I remembered to stretch a bit standing in the kitchen before I started off, Half-Moon Pose, bending backwards and then forward to touch the floor (barely), then half a dozen Chair Pose (yoga version of squats).

Then I walked west, into the wind, across the parking lots and straight over to Wingra Drive where the bike path follows the creek and the Arboretum north to the zoo. The zoo was well-packed snow and ice, but I've got my winter legs now, and I cut through there and then along a snowy path through the park up Grant St, Monroe St and straight to the library. I only had something to drop off, picked up a New York Review of Books and New York Times Book Review for some casual reading, and was off again. Forty minutes there, and then forty minutes back, with a long break between. I stopped at Trader Joe's for a couple things (they are no longer stocking the nice candied ginger from Thailand, but I got some ginger tea to try) and then the coffee shop for a lengthy sit down, coffee and cookie and reading book reviews. Much food for thought.

It was past three-thirty by the time I left, shadows getting long, and I headed straight down Harrison and then Van Buren to the park trail just below Vilas Ave. Then south and east along the whole drive, walking mostly in the road to keep the good footing, at least as far as Midland, where I decided enough wandering and cut straight east across the isthmus between the creek and the bay. Followed West Shore and South Shore along the bay to Lowell, then south to Emerson and up the hill to Hickory and Spruce. My right foot hurt some. When I got home there was still enough daylight, and energy, to clean the floors.

Monday, January 11, 2010

I seem unusually tired today. Walked to Walgreen's again and back, twenty minutes each way, by the same route as two days ago. Not sure if it's a good thing when the pharmacist recognizes you. Hips painful, also some lower back, but mostly hip joints. The yaktrax were good only half the time, where the sidewalks and street corners weren't clear. A gray day, wind from the north, but at least it's above twenty degrees.

Sunday mallwalking


You can't get one of these at the mall. Nest on buckthorn branch (note fruit) that was saved from the fire.

It was still cold yesterday. (This week is supposed to warm up, for which I am all too ready.) There was a wind too. So, regretfully, we abandoned any plan for our Sunday walk in the woods, and drove all the way out to Westtowne. Westowne. Whatever. The regional mall. It's bigger than Hilldale, and we actually had a couple things to shop for, so it made some sense. Skipped the food court, as it was crowded, and who needs the extra smells.

It's been ages since I was there, and the first brisk walk around all the wings took 15 minutes. Maybe a mile? hard to believe. So we did that four times, and only on the last lap slowed down to shop. Jon was looking for crampons at the sporting goods store, which they didn't have. I looked for various stuff. It is surprisingly hard to find a stove-top kettle, the kind that doesn't take up counter space, these days. Williams Sonoma had em for like $150. Yeah, right.

Then we went over to Hilldale, for groceries. Another mall. By the time we went home, I had been on my feet more or less three and half hours, which was more than enough. Right foot arch is giving me pain, in particular. By late in the day the pain med I took in the morning was wearing off too. And of course the weather change coming in.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Saturday

Went out today in the midafternoon, temperature down to twenty again but sunny. Boots and yaktrax, which were helpful in the packed snow areas. At the coffeeshop I stretched a bit, and remembered to do some squats, half a dozen while I was waiting for my latte. I am able to get down far enough that my thighs are very nearly parallel with the floor, without raising my heels or losing the arch in my back. Yes, highly eccentric behavior, but what do I care.

The wind was from the north, and I walked south down Beld St to Park, and then along Park even though it's noisy to Walgreen's. All that including the coffeeshop took 25 minutes, say twenty actually walking, and it is mostly uphill on Beld. I had a new prescription to pick up, and spent half an hour mincing around the tile floor at the drugstore so I wouldn't fall down as the yaktrax are incredibly slippery there. Looking for aromatherapy type products that might help me keep from getting the inevitable splitting headache with the higher dosage of meds, flavors I looked up on the internet last night.

Then seventeen minutes back, cause it's downhill, down Fisher St through the hood, to the footbridge over the creek and north on Beld and Park to home. Yeah, it's about a mile each way. How did I feel? Beats me, I 'm on pain meds. Feet hurt.

Then I lay down for a little stretching, a little resting, hamstring and back stretches, Crocodile pose and Downward Dog, until kitty came out from her nap and insisted on being petted and then on playing with her Monster Rubberband String toy.

Friday walk

Well yes I had a walk on Friday. West through the parking lots and clinic over to Wingra Drive, then southeast along the bike path. Stopped at the post office to pick up stamps for a few minutes. Including that the total time was 55 minutes. Followed the bike path northeast past Frankly Field and under the Olin Ave bridge, north on Colby. Then I was not really feeling up for the extra loop and went straight west on Lakeside. South on Whittier, up the Emerson hill, and home.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Warm enough to snow



Here are the new yaktrax, on the left, before I put them on the boots where the old ones were being held on with string.

Finally got out the door, with boots and yaktrax, at two-ish, while it was still snowing. Walked for sixty-one minutes, including the five to seven minutes spent in the coffee shop yakking with the barista. Hardly any wind today.

From the coffeeshop I followed a man running a snowblower (not so quiet) across the street and down the block on Beld St, and then across another street and down another block, before I asked him if he often does his whole block this way. When he feels like it. A lot of people walk from the bus stop down there though, so it seemed like a praiseworthy bit of volunteerism. Our walk had already been shoveled by both Gary AND Mark. I can imagine a whole maintenance program based on retired guys getting their exercise.

Anyhows. It's so lovely and quiet walking in the snow, with so many beautiful things to look at -- picture postcardy stuff, like the white snow lining every branch on the warmer white black-striped birches, against the flat white sky. I followed the bike path all the way behind Franky Field to the Olin Ave underpass, then north on Colby St (the hockey boards are finally up at the ice rink) and the O'Sheridan loop, east on Lakeside to South Shore at Bernie's Beach, then all the way along the bay to Lowell before I turned north. Beginning to feel tired, particularly in my hip joints. Up the Emerson St hill, south on Hickory to Spruce. Basically the three-to-four-mile route.

It was really unusual how many people were not only out shoveling, but more than willing to take a break to exchange some words. I was so warm by the time I got back I had unwrapped my scarf and taken off gloves, and went over to talk to Jenny (who was shoveling) and her friend across the street, and we stood in the street and talked for half an hour, including with the hippie down the block who was driving by in his 250K mile truck and stopped to exchange jokes. Finally after quite a bit of running off at the mouth I got quite cooled down and came inside. Took a couple minutes to sweep snow off the back stairs. It may have seemed like thirty degrees, but the thermometer on the back porch said 24. Heat wave!

Then I lay on the floor for fifteen minutes, with a little stretching. Hamstring stretches, like the ones I did yesterday in class only without the belt, the Dead Bug pose (arms and legs at ninety degrees, straighten opposite limbs alternately), Downward Dog as long as I could hold it, and a bunch of Knee-down twists. With feet off the floor, that one gives me a strong stretch in the opposite underarm area. I don't seem to be particularly sore from class yesterday. Can't recall if I had a half a pain med this morning though.

New yoga session begins

Thank heavens. Sore and tired this morning, but managed to make it to yoga class before it actually started, and rolled out my mat right in the front. Funny how everyone lines up along the back wall first, spacing themselves far apart and then gradually filling in, just the way they fill up seats on a bus, everyone maintaining largest possible bubble of personal space. So under the teacher's nose, which you might think the most desirable location, is last filled. But I don't seem to need much correction, I've been at it a while and must be doing things right.

Since it was the beginning of a new session and it's been a whole month since the last meeting, Susi said she assumed everyone would be stiff, but as you know bob I am the jock of the class who actually practices outside of class. Gasp. Making everyone else look bad? I'll try not to bring it up, even in response to the person who talks all the time. I don't know what everyone else's issues are, but this is Continuing Yoga for Chronic Pain and Fibromyalgia, so everyone has pain issues, but it's the advanced class (Continuing), so we don't just lie on the floor relaxing so much like in the Beginning class.

First we did lying on the floor centering, and then stretching, with arms overhead, still a problem for me. Then we went to the Table pose, with attention to alignment and weight distribution, and some Tiger rolling, which I was very feeble at today. Then the Songbird (stretching hand forward and opposite leg back, balancing) which we hadn't done in quite some time, a little wobbly. Then a big set of Thread the Needle, to both sides, which I was also not feeling too vigorous about.

I think then we went to the Downward Dog, which of course is the one I do rather frequently, not every day by any means, but it is as they say energizing. Also aligns my shoulders well. It was about then that my feet weren't cold any more. Then the Child's Pose, kneeling back on the heels, with an added stretch of the arms to each side, hands walking just a bit to one side and then the other. Then a Crocodile Pose (face down, with hands supporting forehead) and that leads naturally to the Boat, first lifting head and arms by sides, with attention to alignment and extension of spine, then lifting legs just a bit as well. There may have been another Child's pose after that too. She was really piling them on today.

Then we stood up and did the Warrior 2 pose, just the leg position and posture, not leaning back too much. Keeping weight on both legs, bending front leg, in time with breathing, knee lined up over ankle tracking over toes, and the rear leg turned out from the hip with glutes and hamstrings active, rear foot not turned out too much for us, but at like a 45-degree angle. (This is a pose that has a lot of variations.)

The Chair Pose is actually quite like a squat, only not so deep. It might be interesting to compare them. Susi made us some handouts with cool diagrams (chakras all lined up and radiating) and detailed description.

Then we lay down and did some very extensive hamstring stretches, with the belts. Not only holding each leg straight up, as far as possible, with the belt around ball of the foot for resistance and support I think, but then taking the belt in one hand and then the other to stretch (still straight) down to one side and then the other, for abductor and adductor work, I forget which is which though. I can get down prety far on each side, although my tailbone makes interesting crackling noises. We spent quite a while on this. Then some relaxing Knee-down Twists, and it was time for our fifteen-minute Corpse Pose, with guided relaxation and maybe a little nap.

After class I went right out to the car and wrote down everything I could remember. Then although I didn't have any grocery shopping, I went by Hilldale on the way home anyway for a bit of mallwalking, as it is still below twenty degrees and I was not up for much.

I hadn't been really planning on that, though, so I was wearing my leather slides, which don't have much of a heel but are the most girl type shoe I still own, very easy to get in and out of for class. Also after a couple times around the mall, they were feeling kind of tight, so I took them off. (DON'T PANIC! DON'T TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES! I was thinking of the Firesign Theatre's I Think We're All Bozos On This Bus. Good times. I still like that mall, even if the art fairs went away for me so catastrophically.) It's a very clean mall, and I was wearing my big wool socks anyway. It was early in the day and a weekday, so it wasn't crowded, and everyone politely refrained from staring at me walking around on the cement surface (carpet is pretty thin) in my stocking feet. Crazy lady. My feet didn't feel any better or worse than usual, although it's more in the arches that is bothering me now. So I made five times around in all, which is two miles, in 35 minutes.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Tuesday

It was still below twenty degrees today and I was pretty low but I managed to get out to walk before 3:30. Did a little stretching and a set of squats before I went. Wind from the north and west, so I headed east up Spruce St to Olin and over to Van Deusen, then south on Colby to the Olin Ave underpass and the bike path. The ice rink and the walk along the frozen creek were quite beautiful in the late afternoon light. Sore feet, as usual. Boots, good footing particularly on the bike path and I got moving pretty briskly, with a scarf around my chin it wasn't bad at all. North on Beld to home. Thirty-one minutes, a couple miles. Then I lay down on the floor for a bit. Still feeling pretty sad though.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Monday

Today I was out amongst it for thirty minutes -- less the five to seven minutes I was standing around in the coffee shop waiting for some people getting their lattes, and then chatting with the barista who I haven't seen since last week. It was so cold, I knew it had to be a short one, and twenty-some minutes was it. But it was sunny and I was dressed for it, so "This isn't so bad" I was thinking on my way up the block. Then with the wind at my back I went south on Beld to the bike path, and followed that to Frankly Field. Instead of following along there as usual I cut north across the parking lot from the dog park, and took the path through the park behind the pool up to Olin Avenue.

Even facing north, I was thinking, way better than the mall. The sound of a jet way on the north side of town cutting through the air, the rattle of leaves in the oak trees, none of the assault of smells and sounds and dodging through the crowd. I took a photo of a big snowball someone had made with a hole in it, "The Wonderful O" (see fun pirate story by James Thurber).

I wore my boots, and traction was generally good but feet are having the expected aches from adjusting to the new shoes, left arch in particular. At the corner of Olin and Gilson there are a couple of big dogs in the yard, who like to bark at people, and the black bulldog mix was jumping high enough to get his forequarters over that fence if he was really interested. But I crossed the street, where they won't bark at ya, and said Brave boys, out in the cold! Up Spruce St to home.

I lay on the floor for ten minutes and stretched lower back a bit, with bridging and piriformus stretch. The bridging I tried as repetition, in time with my breaths, like Matt suggested, but after twenty or so was still not feeling any strain and was getting bored with counting, so I held it then until I was tired which didn't take so long. Then Karen came over and we went out for a couple hours, shopping at Trader Joe's and then to the public library. So I was busy and on my feet for a while longer. Ready to lie down again now.

Sunday walk


Yesterday it was fiercely cold again, so we went to the mall. It is no where near as enjoyable as going to a park to walk. The parking ramp is called "Arboretum Park" and when we sat on the comfy sofa looking at the sign I couldn't help but reflect on the irony. It's a car park, as they say over the water, all cement, with each level decorated with monocolor line drawings and the name of some tree. We parked on Pine level, with giant pinecones. Yeah, right.

The photo is from the hiking trail Natural Avenue in the Arboretum, from our Sunday walk in mid-December.

I was dragging, very tired and sore in spite of pain med, sacroiliac with a little radiating down my right leg. We walked 62 minutes, and made seven circuits of the four-tenths of a mile. Then from the theater we walked back down to Quizno's and had a snack before the movie. We saw the late matinee of Invictus.

I wore my chucks again, which was probably a mistake. I felt like I was getting blisters again on my little toes, although no signs of actual blisters. Today I'll try the boots and the great outdoors, if only for a few minutes. This is the time of year when those of us From Around Here start using the word "balmy" as soon as it gets up near twenty degrees F (that's seven below C).

Today I have the sore-all-over like the flu thing, with special bonus pain in my shoulders. It is clear that the way one naturally tenses up in the cold is no help at all with my condition. It is a good thing my yoga class starts again on Wednesday.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Kitty exercise

I actually got up at an ungodly hour this morning because kitty was crying, as she does, and I had the idea that if I had the exercise journal going, I could post a note here that she is getting lots more exercise than usual. In her age and decrepitude, she has begun playing again with string. Nice stretchy yarn. This cat hasn't been enticed by a string in ten years!

Then we found a giant rubber band, another favorite from her youth, tied it to one end of the yarn, and that is nearly endless fun, until she gets tired anyway. Partly I think because it is big enough for her to see quite well, even across the room. She has already torn the string in half so it had to be tied together again.

We tried a silk Xmas tree ball too, on another piece of string, but that is too tiring or annoying or small or something. She used to take these to bat and bounce around until they went down the stairs and got lost in the basement. Now she needs more interaction.

She chases counterclockwise (to the left) much easier than she circles right.

The more attention she gets, the more she seems to demand. Still she's keeping an eye on the bedrooms for more of her people to emerge.

New Year

New Year's Day it was cold, like I am not even going to discuss how cold it was. The pinnacle of my achievement that day was to get my wool socks laundered, so I could go out to the New Year's Day party at Tom and JJ's before six (not at three, when I had been kind of expecting to make it an afternoon thing) and shlep around eating everything in sight for a couple hours. Jon drove. It was good to talk to people, and I didn't eat anything bad for me.

Saturday, the second of January, it was still bitterly cold. (As you know bob.) Eventually I got in the car and drove to Hilldale for a little mallwalking. It always comes to this some time in January. I was hoping not so soon. I wore my new chucks, and paid occasional attention despite distractions to the business of not landing on my heels but on the forefoot. They seem kind of tight, but no blisters yet. And posture, always posture.

I used to walk at the mall quite a lot, although I find it incredibly annoying during the Xmas season, which is fortunately over. The crowds, the smells, the general sensation of being in a small and poorly ventilated spaceship with muzak aimed directly at my demographic, the least unpleasant part. I often like the muzak at Hilldale. And then there are the window displays, which give one something to look at during the endless circuits. (That big thing in the atrium is The Biggest Gingerbread Man In The World, so they say, with icing piped over the cracks in sheetcakes of gingerbread.) Eventually of course one is enticed to buy something, which is the whole marketing purpose behind mallwalking.

I made six, no seven circuits of the mall, including the wing as far as the back door of Macy's. From using my pedometer years ago, I know each of those circuits is four-tenths of a mile. So I got my three miles in. I was moving along well in spite of obstacles -- that is happy shoppers -- and it took 55 minutes or so. On the last lap I stopped in a couple places for shopping, and looked at some movie previews. Turned off the stopwatch while I bought clothes. Then I went grocery shopping too. It ended up being at least three hours on my feet, at least that's what the clock said.

Once in years past I walked around Hilldale fourteen times. It is hard to keep track. For a while I inked tally marks on my hand. Now I transfer pocket change from my right to left pocket, when I pass the entry point or very soon after, and seldom wonder if I have already done that. I had quite a number of good ideas and notes this time. Maybe today we will make it to a movie.

New Exercise Journal Place

So, we're trying something different this month.

In the month of December I kept an exercise journal in a Google Doc, which you can see by clicking right there.

A doc, as in document, not a dog. Inside of a dog, like the man said, it's too dark to read. We'll see how this works here.