this time i'm giving up. simply giving up on you.

NB: This post contains exercise and fitness talk.



I had a heck of a time dragging myself out for a run today (had a hard time falling asleep last night, with a result that, um, I didn't get up at 6:30 as I had planned. Silly Bear. And I woke up moody and sad.) and the first two miles were grim determination and lies. But I got there, and then it got easier (I like jogging at Scott's house: Wisconsin is a hell of a lot flatter than Massachusetts!) and I wound up doing 7.6 miles in 11:30 minute-miles. With enough left at the end to... well, not exactly sprint, but at least run rather than jogging the last 2/10th of a mile, which actually felt really good. I like it on those rare occasions when I can actually run, when the meat cooperates and I feel powerful and swift and springy. My hip was hurting, but I'm kind of used to that; it's been dodgy since I was in high school and I'm used to just kind of working through it.

Even the last mile wasn't too bad. The sun was warmer than I like, but the air was beautiful and cool, and for bits of it I actually had a good wind at my back. I may have found myself, um, enjoying those bits. Well, it's only taken five years to stop hating the whole thing...

Then, of course, I promptly had an asthma attack, but that's why God made Ventalin. :-P

I'm doing more weight circuits and hiking here, and (alas) no climbing (I have fingernails! It's so weird!) but I'm trying to do a distance run at least once a week, preferably twice, so I don't lose my hard-earned wind--and I've been exceptionally good about my yoga. Tree pose with my foot actually on my thigh! And when Rodney says "Knee to nose" I can actually do it, now! This makes me think my belly and thighs are shrinking, though my clothes don't seem any looser and the scale's not budging--I think I look different in the mirror around the ribcage, however, and my bras seem to fit more smoothly through the band. And there are great and terrible abdominal muscles in there. I can feel them!

Possibly I'm trading fat for muscle. That'd be nice, considering how hard I've been working out since Worldcon... I feel like I've earned some muscle mass.