Oh Joy!

It's Friday...Thank Goodness. This Sunday is my and Miguel's third anniversary. We're staying tomorrow (Saturday) night at a local inn and having dinner in their restaurant. It's supposed to be in the 80's here this weekend and they have a pool so I'm planning on doing plenty of lounging. Still, tomorrow morning we're planning on going on a bike ride, don't know where just yet.

By the way, what I really need to do right now is stop typing and go to the gym! But, I remembered what the third thing was...

So my friend Joy asked us along on a rafting trip later this summer. She described how leisurely and fun the whole thing is so we decided to do it. A couple weeks after we paid I decided to check out the rafting company's website. A quote from the description of our day, "You will venture through rapids such as Widow Maker, The Elevator, Mad Mike, Mario Andretti, and many other thrilling rapids." Ok, what? The Widow Maker? Mario Andretti? Am I a rafter? No. Do I know the first thing about rafting? No. Is this the sit back, relax, drink a beer while on a river rafting trip Joy described? uh, doesn't seem like it. So I called her all nervous and she assured me it's a piece of cake. Then she said, "if you fall out just float down." uh-huh. Well, this isn't until August so I'll be quiet about it until then.

Oh! I almost forgot, I lost 1.8 pounds at weigh-in this week! Yay! After all the meals out I wasn't expecting a loss. Slowly but surely. And, I rode my new road bike to the meeting. Riding a road bike is so different than a mountain bike. The pedals had these strap things you slide your shoe into (kinda like in this pic I found) and that made me very nervous. I've never ridden a bike with my foot encumbered in any way. Also, I felt much more like I could fall off the bike, like if a big breeze came along or something. I think it's because the bike is so light compared to a mountain bike, I don't feel grounded or something. Well, it's just going to take some getting used to. So after the meeting Miguel met me at a nearby coffee shop and took off the straps. I felt much more comfortable on the ride home. I think I'll ride like this until I get more comfortable on the bike and then consider toe-clip shoes. Being able to turn my foot and quickly get it off the pedal seems less scary than getting caught up in straps.

I'm going to ride it to the gym now, where I belong.

Update: Whew! My legs got a workout. Rode to the gym (about 2.5 miles relatively flat), did 15 minutes on the elliptical, then did c25k Week 4 Day 6 (which means on to Week 5 next week!), then 10 minutes on the stationary bike. Today's weight training was legs. I do squats, lunges, the leg press machine, standing and seated calves, hamstrings with the ball. I mix in Core work throughout doing crunches, oblique crunches, hanging leg raises and lower back extension. I do three sets of between 8-12 reps (depending) on every exercise. I had to rush toward the end because it was getting dark and I don't have lights on my bike. Rode home and had a nice, hot shower. I'm ready for the weekend!