Reality Testing

The climbing crew is all over the place. Patti is dealing with some wall situation. It's Chris' son's birthday. Joe climbs as his schedule allows and Becky -- not sure what she's doing. All that to say, climbing will take place tomorrow; I shifted gears, called Anita who swims with me and doesn't mind going on Saturday or Sunday.

I took my bike along too because today was gorgeous and I couldn't resist hitting Grant's Trail after swimming.

I often feel like I need to say something like namaste before I get in the pool. Despite my struggle with front crawl breathing et al., the pool provides untold peace. In addition to working on front crawl breathing, I also worked on doing the sidestroke on my left side.

By the way, I so want this Halloween-inspired swimming suit available at Swim Outlet. Then, I could really assume my identity as Super 'Drea. ☺ After all, I do change (quickly) into a lot of costumes. Really, you should see how fast I get from work to Kate's class and how I change clothes somewhere in between.



And guess what? I just happened to win a $100 gift certificate from Swim O.

Congratulations!

SwimOutlet.com has sent you a $100.00 gift certificate!

MESSAGE:

Congratulations Andrea! You have won a $100 gift card in honor of our Twitter launch. Thank you for being a valued SwimOutlet customer!

My shoulder feels great. I lifted my bicycle out of the basement and onto the bicycle rack with no problem and I also encountered no nasty tugs when I did the sidestroke. I wanna thank the academy my massage therapist who has been significant regarding my shoulder success.

In other news, I felt that reality testing was in order.

I have been quietly freaking out about the number on the scale rising. Ironically, my friend was uncluttering and came across some pictures of when I was really living large...

I took a few pictures which set my mind at ease to a certain degree...

If you exercise with others, does the scheduling ever get complicated?

Hope you're having equally stunning weather in your town and that you were able to exercise outside.

You are exercising, aren't you???

Holding On

The shoulder situation made a comeback and I've been treating it with massage therapy but a funny thing would happen on the way to massage therapy: the pain, discomfort and soreness (from exercise) would just about disappear.

The second time the pain disappeared prior to my appointment, I figured something psychological might be going on.

The day after the last massage that I had the discomfort, which had already switched sides of the shoulder, returned to my upper right arm, my shoulder blade and sometimes on the side of my neck. The shoulder blade situation felt like a tight little radius of intensity and heat with a kink right in the middle.

My friend (HC), her sister and I went to Community Acupuncture's open house today. After treatment, my friend asked me what I thought.

Me: It is what it is...

That's when I realized I was in a foul mood and stressed-out.

I have been feeling stuck and there is little wonder that my muscles are in a holding pattern.

I'm frustrated with rock climbing no matter what my belay partners tell me about my tenacity and strength.

I'm frustrated with front crawl breathing even though I've been told that everyone struggles with it.

I'm frustrated that I seem unable to lose more weight. One year plateau anyone?

I have angst about my new body and I didn't see that one coming.

I may have fitness fatigue.

And my face? Even it looks strange after weight loss.


While I was waiting on my friend and her sister to finish up their acupuncture sessions, I read through The Asian Diet book and one of the things it said about stress is that your body holds on to weight. Imagine that...

A few weeks ago, I was talking to my friend Lori and I was reluctant to vent. I told her that I sounded ungrateful and she told me that I wasn't being ungrateful; I was just expressing how I feel.

I also have a tendency to not want to own up to sadness etc. because, in the back of mind, I feel as if things might get worse if I vent. Not sure where I got that idea from and, having said that, turning the calendar page from August to September made me sad. I even took the calendar off the wall for a while.

I went rock climbing yesterday and swimming today. Clearly, if I had a serious shoulder injury, I would not have been able to climb or swim.

Just acknowledging, though, that I haven't been feeling cheery has taken some of the weight off my shoulders. I'm sure that floating helped too...


Postscript: Since I'm getting stuff off my shoulders, even though I swim laps, my treading bites and I am not wholly comfortable with the deep end.

Something Amiss

I did something to my shoulder while rowing and, while the pain is not intense, there is something amiss. I took Aleve for about three days which didn't alleviate the tenderness. Actions that cause me to move gingerly include:

Belaying (taking out slack with left hand/arm)

Lifting my bike out of the basement (duh)

Parallel parking

Putting on an article of clothing

Towel Tug of War (left hand at lower back, soap in the middle and right hand at upper back)

You really don't miss your water until the well runs dry.

When I went swimming on Tuesday, I didn't stay for very long since any stroke that involved back (crawl, elementary backstroke...) was out of the question. If I were more confident with the front crawl, I would have stayed longer.

I'm assuming that I tweaked my shoulder because I was port side while rowing and my left arm is unaccustomed to handling a heavy load.

I went rock climbing last Sunday and I went again today. It's a very weird situation in that I can climb without feeling discomfort unless I'm over gripping.

I guess this is just another reminder to fully appreciate when the body is working in concert.

If you look closely, you can see that Patti has her right ankle wrapped. She sprained it during an encounter with a brick while gardening about two weeks ago. I joked with her that gardening is far more dangerous than rock climbing. Patti, if you're wondering, got her doctor's permission to climb. I also know that Diane's Training... has been exercising while not completely up to par. So, I'm going to keep on keeping on and if something doesn't feel right, I'll just stop.

A newbie, fresh out of class, walked over and introduced herself and climbed with us for awhile. Patti provided back-up belaying while Susan (the newbie) got some practice. I love rock climbers; they are such a welcoming bunch or am I biased? :)


Route Tally:

Beware of Bats, 5.9
Bright Idea, 5.8
Chag, 5.8/5.9 (hunh?)
Face Plant, 5.8
Hallelujah, 5.8
Rainbow Bright, 5.8
The Seven, 5.7

Hope you all are having an active and enjoyable weekend...