Weekly: exercise in my target heart rate zone (HRtarget) 4x (Happiness Manifesto Declaration #1)

until my lower back injury finishes healing!

until THIS.
(cross-posted from my other blog by request of Ms. V)

Collision with Segway
Score: Segway 1, Speed Skater 0.

It was shaping up to be a perfect day. Having spent time this weekend in the company of several true friends (groups and individuals), had made up for…some other, more trying obligations. What is a true friend? I’m reminded of Christian’s definition of “chosen family” (I’m paraphrasing here, Christian, tell me if I’m wrong!) Someone who’s real, connected, someone who understands me, and vice versa; is not afraid to be authentic and share of themselves, whether the topic be serious or frivolous. I’d awakened this morning in the arms of one such friend, who’s becoming more dear to me each time I see him. (If everyone could wake up like that, even say half the time, would there be so damn many wars, killings, atrocities—sheer inhumanity? I really doubt it.)

From that wonderful start, I launched into a nice breakfast, spending time with my awesome speed skater SKATE FIXING friend Jenni, and her girlfriend Sabine, at the Santa Monica farmer’s market. There was this adorable little boy, musta been about three or four, playing the guitar in the concert with his parents. I’ll post the picture on my photo gallery. He was exquisitely cute—and so serious! We were actually interviewed by the LA Times about farmer’s markets (we may be in the paper tomorrow, apparently). Then, a nice long skate, my knee having mostly recovered from Friday’s flop in the mud. I stopped for a long conversation with my non-genetic little sister Hillary; my God I am so grateful for her presence in my life. I really hope you all get to meet her on the playa or preferably beforehand.

It’s near the end of my skate. I’m heading back to my car to pick up my hoops and join the Santa Monica Hoop Group. (Does the weekend fun ever end in this community??)

Ahead of me I see this slow moving Segway. $%@ !! motorized vehicle on the bike path. He’s all the way over to the left, which tells me right there he’s clueless (slow moving tourist vehicle in the fast lane). But I’m already nearly sprinting (16, 17 mph) and I think I can squeak around him. I should, should should have called out “On your right!” as demanded by bicycle/skate safety and basic consideration. But no, I thought I could squeak by him.

I was about two feet away from him when he suddenly and senselessly turned to his right—RIGHT in front of me.

WHAM! I went flying. I have never hit so hard in my life. I bounced off the pavement four times. (There were some skaters in the nearby parking lot, putting on their skates and watching the whole thing from about five feet away. They were very surprised I could eventually stand up and that the ambulance wasn’t coming.) I just couldn’t move. It took me a good 10 minutes to get up.

All the guy could say (repeatedly) was “Sorry!” in a very thick Eastern European accent. I admitted my bad: I should have called out to him. I was just lazy. I paid for that laziness. (He had stayed up. Those Segways are really heavy.) I also explained he should stay to the right and be consistent in his steering; but I don’t know what he understood.

My left knee and the left side of my lower back hurt so much. Sigh.

Hoop group was fun, although unusually small and mellow. And cold. It was wonderful to see everyone. THANK YOU guys for the backrub; it really helped. Yet one more example of how awesome this community is. Where else can you hobble up and ask for a backrub and people you don’t know THAT well yet (Alli!), give it to you freely and w/o hesitation? I love the connections I’m making at hoop group. Including a new one: Kikiluv, who (of course) already has at least a few good friends in common with me. This is such a small world!

I’d planned on going to the Moor Bar to see the Pocket People DJ’ing tonight, but the body finally put our foot down: “We’ve had ENOUGH for one weekend!” it told me. I obeyed. I am soooo lucky my body is so strong and resilient. It puts up with so much from me. This is truly said in gratitude. I could have easily landed myself in the hospital with that one. I really fucked up. Guess I’d felt safer that it wasn’t a car (of course, I never would have come anywhere close to doing that with a car). Foolish skater girl.

This evening: chill out, hot bath, and to sleep, perchance to dream…
PS: I’m sorry to prattle on about this crash with the Segway, especially for those of you who were at hoop group & heard me complaining about it. It was traumatizing; and (as Freud figured out a few 100 years ago) talking about it helps to clear the energy from my system. Actually, on the drive home I started to feel shock-y. I’d never felt that way before; but I knew what it was. It was this weird fatigue where my consciousness started fading and I felt this odd sensation in my chest area and inner arms. If anyone knows about this stuff please send me some info! Also, if you are interested in reading about trauma & its processing in the human mindbody, drop a comment here & I’ll write something about it.

I caught a nasty cold on Sunday after my run in the cold; and after all the stress I’ve been subjecting myself to.

But workouts will resume soon—as soon as my body tells me it’s ready!

Saturday: several hours of hooping at the beach.
learned some new tricks.
It does get your pulse rate up, let me tell you.

Sunday: Trampoline, about 45 min. hooping
Also a 45 min. run. ??? distance, HR
I’ve just about given up on the Garmin. It’s so bulky, time-consuming and unreliable.

Tomorrow: I have to teach someone how to skate.
Fortunately I think that will mostly be in a parking lot and not terribly taxing on me.

Been working out LOTS lately; taking Tuesday off!

OK, so I’m exaggerating.
I wasn’t hit by a car; I didn’t fall and break fingers like a certain well-beloved nurse we know. And it didn’t rain or snow.

But other than that….

• SLOW sucky skates, I mean very super-slow
• very cold (well, for Southern CA, anyway)
• 25 mph winds
• carrying heavy bag with books and shoes
• And it was uphill all the way back.

Ohhhhhhhh, that was difficult.
My quads are aching with fatigue.
And I fell asleep in the drugstore parking lot for 45 minutes after the skate! zzzz….

But then I made up for the sucky part:
HOOPING
Total time: About 2 or 2.5 hours. Hard to tell—the time goes so fast when you’re hooping!

I learned some new tricks today as well. I can now hoop around my knees, most of the time. I can pass it from my waist over my head and back to my waist again. I am starting to get it up over my shoulders.
(BTW, the studette in the hooping picture isn’t me! But I can do this move.)

I tell ya, this hooping is addicting.
But…...
I am very tired….

Cardio time: 45 min. on the elliptical trainer. I was really jammin’, too. Dumping all of my stress into that thing.

Next, I boldly strode into the aerobics/yoga class room, empty as it was this late time of night, my hoop over my shoulder.

Hooping: about an hour and a half
Oh, my God, I had so much fun!
I think hooping is more fun (and easier) barefoot. It grounds you better. It allows for superior control of the body, required for hooping moves and tricks.

Most of the time I was listening to Royksopp’s “What Else Is There?” It’s a truly awesome song and I hoop so well to it.

My hooping friend K. called me in the middle of my workout. She wants to see me tomorrow. We’re going to hang out and get into some sort of trouble. Most likely involving hooping.

And then, after she called—all of a sudden, I could do the waist-to-overhand hoop trick!
Man, I’d been struggling with that one for over a month.
A guy in San Francisco this past weekend had given me a crucial hint regarding what to do with my fingers. This evening, it all came together.

But darned if I didn’t get that move down! I’d despaired that I ever would.
It’s tricky; you just have to follow the hoop around and let it do what it wants to do. You have to guide it up without getting in its way.

Then this guy came up to me and said, “That’s the coolest workout I’ve ever seen here at this gym!” I think what he really meant to say was, that’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen here. Cause hooping is sexy, yes sirree, there’s no argument about that. Anyway, we talked for a while (he wouldn’t try my hoop, too bound up by embarrassment, the poor chap). Says he’s also interested in becoming a vegetarian. Cool.

Alfonso called me and invited me to work out with him at Gold’s.

Cardio: 25 min. elliptical; 15 min. running
Yoga: about 25 min. stretching and poses
It’s amazing how much easier Plank & some other poses are, now that I am hooping regularly!
Weights: Cables, bicep curls, and various things that killed my triceps in a good way.

Am satisfied. Will probably go running and hooping tomorrow.

Yesterday (Sunday) in Golden Gate Park
for about 3 hours
plus walking to the park and from the park
Some guy brought hoops to share. was totally kind of him. He’s a super nice guy.

Cardio: low to moderate
but long duration
Satisfaction: HIGH
Core workout: excellent
Fun: off the charts!

And hey, not so bad for a cell phone pic, huh?

I’m really stoked.
I set up this workout space in my garage.

My housemate had brought in a pullup/leg raise station. He also hung my punching bag, which had been unused for the past 10 years. (I also have some gloves for it.)

So I put down some carpet, so my hoop won’t scratch when I drop it. It’s also great for yoga and stretching.

It’s so windy out, I can’t really do my hooping outside right now. I can’t do overhead hooping in the garage, but I can work on my waist.

Hooping is also cardio work. You don’t notice it cause you’re having so much fun, but it is cardio work. I would say I get into a good zone. I should probably put on my HR monitor and see. Of course, the trampoline is also good cardio work.

I had a goal to be more springy and light. I think the core strength, the hooping & the trampoline are doing it!

And it’s really fun to sock the heck out of the punching bag. It turns my scowl into a grin within a few seconds.

I will post a picture of my hoop as soon as I stop being so lazy about taking the photo.

Saturday night: a few hours of hooping on the beach at a bonfire
Sunday afternoon: three and a half hours of hooping near the beach with other hoopers.

• fairly reliably transfer the hoop from overhead (on my hand) to my waist
• hoop on my chest and on my hips, and a little on my knees
• enjoy greater control of my back/abs core muscles

This is definitely a cardio workout too, let me tell you.
Also: some (10-15 min) skating as transportation.

Tonight:
Very tired, but had to deposit $ into ATM.
Skated in slow skates about 1/2 hour or 40 min. total.
Shouldn’t do that when I’m this tired. I didn’t have full confidence in my skates or complete judgment about how to time my movements w/ the car traffic. No more going out when I’m this tired.

I think I’ll take tomorrow off.

The other problem is that I am suffering from another bout of adrenal exhaustion and need to rest some more.