Vaccinated!

 

The best thing happened today! I got an extra dose of the Pfizer vaccine. I got the call at like 4:45 and I was so excited, there were shoes flying around the apartment, the cats were hiding under the bed, and I was shaking. I went with a friend and we had to drive down the expressway - though we got to take the carpool lane. The shot itself didn't hurt at all, and we were both fine; my arm doesn't even hurt. I guess it can take a bit for side effects to happen, though they tend to be worse with the second shot. Now I just need to not get exposed for a few more weeks :)

It was a good day.

Shinjury

I did parkour twice today! First I practiced with my friend Anne at lunch and then I went to the Wed evening class for the first time.

I had two big successes practicing with Anne. First, I walked the length of the railing in both directions. I've walked it a number of times in one direction, but I always freak out going the other way - something about the long fall being to the left instead of the right. Anyhow, today I finally did it! It took forever and I had to sing to myself a little, but I made it. Second, I actually did some lazy vaults! I found a place on the railing where there is a cement step, so the rail is just the right height, channeled my inner cloud, committed to the moment, and went for it. And I was successful. The first one was pretty sloppy, but by the fourth or so, I felt OK with them. Lots of work still to go, but the first step is the hardest.

This evening I went to the class in Harvard Square, which I had been thinking about doing for a while, but you have to run, which of course I hate. And I was worried that I would be last. It turns out that parkour class running is very different from crossfit running in that no one leaves you behind, and it's really more jogging. I mean, the coaches are jogging for our benefit - I'm sure they run when they train. Anyhow, I was pretty psyched with myself because I was able to keep up and didn't want to throw up at all (though I did pull my mask down). I think we ran about a half mile. At one point we had to stop at a light (which I loved) and to let some folks catch up (which I also loved) and we hung on a rail while waiting. Oh parkour. We were doing a jumping exercise and I completely misjudged the distance and hit my shins on a really hard cement ledge and it really hurt, and there was blood on my spandits. I think my legs are going to be killing me tomorrow. But I will survive. 

Today I had a new cleaner come and clean my place. I spent the weekend tidying so she could clean. So now it's so clean in here! Like, it's barely my place, it's so clean! I'm going to have her back every other week I think. It's kind of a luxury, but also it's good to support women-owned businesses, and she seemed really nice. 

Blue Squares!

I skied the blue squares all day at gunstock, not a single beginner run! It was pretty hard, though I had some successful runs, and felt good about my skiing for some of the day. One trail in particular had a steep spot on it and I totally didn't freak out, I just went back and forth down it. Next year I think I'm going to try to take a private lesson at the start of the season and see if I can get some tips to improve and maybe learn to stop. I think that would be a good skill to have.

I actually went skiing with a friend and her boyfriend, which was really fun. It was the first time this year that I wasn't skiing alone - of course they were much better than me and we didn't actually ski together, but we waited on line together and sat on the lift together. Gunstock has a really awesome fast quad lift that we could sort of social distance, and that goes up the mountain in like 5 minutes. Love! I think I would go back there, except it was a bit expensive and the trails were kind of hard for me. By the end of the day my legs were killing me!

Core exercises - take 2

I've actually been doing really well with the arm and core exercises. I decided that on days that I don't do anything else for exercise, or that I feel like it, I will add either arm or core to my leg PT exercises (the idea is to alternate which I do - today I did arms, yesterday core). I did yoga yesterday and I could really feel that I was stronger in my legs, so I'm excited to feel that way about the rest of my body. The only thing is that I don't like the core exercises that I chose at all! I do the arm ones without any hesitation, but when it's core day, I'm like "yuck, do I have to?" So, here's core exercises, take 2, shamelessly stolen from self magazine. 

1. Low plank for a minute. Can take a rest if necessary, but do a full minute even if it's 2 - 30 second planks (but work to a minute).  

Then, work to three sets of 10:

2. Butterfly sit-up.

3. Dead bug. Lie on back in upside down tabletop. Bring left arm overhead and right leg straight to floor then back up. Switch sides.

4. High boat to low boat. These are hard, do 5.

5. Leg raise. Lie on back. Lift both legs together to 90 degrees, lower slowly to the floor.

6. Half kneeling wood chop. Kneel on one leg with the other in front, knee at 90-degree angle. Hold a dumbell in both hands by the knee that's on the floor. Bring the weight diagonally up to the ceiling on the opposite side of the body, twisting abs - hips don't move, then bring weight back down. Repeat on other side. 

7. Hollow rock, 10 seconds.

Two of my three siblings have gotten their COVID shots, and my brother just made his appointment - he's getting his at Heathrow airport, which is kind of weird. I want one too! It looks like it will be another month before I'm eligible. But, I'm glad that they are protected at least.

It's supposed to get up to 70 over the next two days! I'm so excited that spring is coming. This coming weekend we spring forward - It will be nice to get out and do a little more.

Slowest at Sprints

 Today in parkour we ran sprints across the basketball court (the long way) and I was the slowest every time. >sigh< The only good thing about the exercise was that at the end we were supposed to do a "splat cat" on the wall/fence, which I couldn't do well, but enjoy saying. Splat cat. It's when you slow yourself down by jumping up and hitting the wall with your hands and feet instead of just slowing down. I wasn't really moving fast enough to need to slow down....

We did do some other really fun exercises that I want to remember and keep doing. First, we traversed along the side of the shipping containers. After planning out my steps, especially the last step - which was the hardest - I was able to go from 32 seconds to 20 seconds. Not bad. Also, we climbed a chain-link fence.  Which, surprisingly, I could do better than my classmates. The only thing is that it really hurts your hands and once you climb up, you have to get down somehow. I guess that's two things. But, definitely something to practice. The keys are that you should move opposite hand and foot instead of the same side at once, and that you don't need to reach super high, you can do smaller reaches.

Yesterday in parkour we did dashouts, which are really hard and I didn't think I would ever be able to do. Not that I can do them now, but coach told us to break it down into two steps - first jump up and land on the wall in a squat, then hands down and push off. Which I could sort of do. Also, we jumped over things, which I have a mental block about, but eventually managed to do a jump that everyone else did. 

Upper Body and Core Exercises

I feel like now that I have these PT exercises that I do every day, I can add some upper body and core exercises on days that I don't do other exercise and have a mini-workout. I did some research on exercises for women, and here's what I decided for my program:

Upper Body: work to 3 sets of 10

Dumbell Curls: targets biceps. 

Overhead Shoulder Press: delts, triceps, core. Arms at 90 degrees, by head, lift to overhead.

Dumbell Front Raise: Anderior deltoids. lift from in front of legs to slightly above horizontal.

Lateral Raise: delts. Arms from in front of the waist out to the side at shoulder height.

Bent Over Dumbell Row: back, bicep, tricep, shoulder. Bend forward, arms hang down to knees, bring up to ribcage. 

Bent Over Tricep Kickback: triceps. Bend forward, arms by side, bring back until arms are parallel to floor.

Chest Press: chest, shoulders, triceps Lie on floor, elbows to the side to 90 degrees, then straight up.

Incline Pushups: pecs. 

Core:

Inchworm to plank: hold plank for 15 seconds, 10 sets

Sit ups, Hip lifts, Bicycles: rounds of 10, work to 5 sets

I just went through the routine and learned that #1 I really need to do this because I am in very bad shape, for the shape I'm in and #2 it takes about 20 minutes to do the full PT leg routine and then today it took me 20 minutes to do arms and core, but I did one set on arms, all the inchworms to plank (though I just counted to 15, and my counting got faster in the later reps) and 2 sets on the sit up, hip lift, bicycle torture thing. Maybe it's an hour in total to do the entire thing? And it will take me a while to work up to it! I'm going to shoot for doing arms and core 2x a week, and see if I start feeling stronger!

PT Home Plan

I can't believe we are approaching a year of COVID! We were sent home from work on Friday the 13th of March last year with instructions not to come back. For sure no one expected that a year later we would still be working from home. It's still two weeks until the one-year anniversary, but what a year it's been. There have been some positives, like the lack of a commute, outdoor parkour through the winter and the new community there, slowing down and realizing the things that are important in life, and all the books I've read, things I've sewed and meals I've made. And, some good friend/family time on zoom. But also, a lot of real crappiness, especially losing my mom. I guess we'll all be thinking about this a lot over the next two weeks.

In the meantime, one happy thing that happened was that I discharged from PT today! I think the physical therapist was getting tired of my sour looks, and sent me home with a home plan. So, here are the exercises:

Bridge: using abs and glutes, with a yoga block between the knees. 10 times, 3 sets. Progression = alternate knee extension.

Prone Hip Extension: lie face down, lift one leg, knee straight, hip stays on floor. 10 times, 3 sets. Band at ankles if it's too easy.

Prone Whale Tail: lie on stomach, knees out, feet together. Lift knees using butt muscles. 10 times, 3 sets.

Hip Abduction: band at ankles, lift leg slowly to side to strengthen hip dip area. 10 times each leg, up to 3 sets each side.

Monster Walk: band on ankles, knees bent, step forward at a diagonal 10 times, then back at a diagonal 10 times. Feet point forward, use butt to control movement, pull forward (back) with the landing foot, don't push off the second foot to step. 3 sets. 

Squat: 5 normal squats, 4 squats down on two legs, up on one, 3 one legged squats on each leg. 3 sets.

Balance: Balance on one foot on an unstable surface for 30 seconds, switch feet. 2 sets.

Hamstring Stretch: foot on step, with straight leg, lean forward, each leg separately, 30 seconds, 2 sets

Calf Stretch: stand on step, knees slightly bent, stretch foot over the edge. Each leg separately, 30 seconds, 2 sets.

Boom!

This weekend in parkour I did a speed vault over a cement wall that's a little over knee hight! I was super excited about it - I've been working on them for forever. That was the fourth place I've done one. I feel like each new place is a little easier. We also did running step vaults which we practiced at a low height which was really hard. And, we balanced at height on banisters, which I need to get back into practicing. For a conditioning drill at the end we did a route where you climbed the wall from lower to upper playground levels, did 5 vaults, ran to the playground and touched the fence, and then QMed down the stairs. It was tough! I did about 5 rounds in 12 minutes. Definitely a good HIIT routine.