Aargh!

I went to the gym this morning, despite intermittent shortness of breath. That seems to be largely an allergic reaction, and not as bad in Midtown as up here.

While I was doing my first weight exercise--for the calves--my right shoulder was twingeing a little, so I decided to do no upper-body stuff: lower-body and core only, and use my left hand for unloading the weight plates from the calf machine. Leg curls, hip adduction and abduction, then over to the mat for crunches and back arches.

It was a good theory. My shoulder went out, painfully, during my third set of crunches. Sitting up after them hurt. Clearly, that was the end of the workout. I made my way, cautiously, back to the locker room, swallowed 400 mg. of ibuprofen, and took a shower, pouring lots of hot water over my shoulder.

I had lunch (pad thai and jasmine tea), came home via the supermarket (today's essentials only, to minimize carrying), and lay down on the couch with a book. Julian was most helpful--for the first time since he's lived with us, he settled in on my chest to purr and be stroked. That turned into a nap, which was ended by a wrong number phone call.

I'm reading email, making tea, will put up chicken soup in a bit, and try to be careful about my shoulder, which means much less online stuff than I'd otherwise do. And will make playing with Julian tricky as well.

Aargh!

I went to the gym this morning, despite intermittent shortness of breath. That seems to be largely an allergic reaction, and not as bad in Midtown as up here.

While I was doing my first weight exercise--for the calves--my right shoulder was twingeing a little, so I decided to do no upper-body stuff: lower-body and core only, and use my left hand for unloading the weight plates from the calf machine. Leg curls, hip adduction and abduction, then over to the mat for crunches and back arches.

It was a good theory. My shoulder went out, painfully, during my third set of crunches. Sitting up after them hurt. Clearly, that was the end of the workout. I made my way, cautiously, back to the locker room, swallowed 400 mg. of ibuprofen, and took a shower, pouring lots of hot water over my shoulder.

I had lunch (pad thai and jasmine tea), came home via the supermarket (today's essentials only, to minimize carrying), and lay down on the couch with a book. Julian was most helpful--for the first time since he's lived with us, he settled in on my chest to purr and be stroked. That turned into a nap, which was ended by a wrong number phone call.

I'm reading email, making tea, will put up chicken soup in a bit, and try to be careful about my shoulder, which means much less online stuff than I'd otherwise do. And will make playing with Julian tricky as well.

I'm now on two Wiscon program items

I had indicated interest in both of these; been put on one some time ago; and was just added to the other. They're both on the sort of broad topics that could lead to worthwhile exploration in any number of areas, or helpless flailing: "Technology as a Feminist Issue" and "Disappearing the Body"--the latter is supposed to include gender in cyberspace, and fiction and predictions of "uploading" human minds or otherwise separating them from human bodies.

I've had one email from the moderator of the first panel, mentioning some possible questions we could discuss. My reply to that email got an "out of office until June 28" autoreply; this may be true, but it was irritating, since I replied within hours.

I'm now on two Wiscon program items

I had indicated interest in both of these; been put on one some time ago; and was just added to the other. They're both on the sort of broad topics that could lead to worthwhile exploration in any number of areas, or helpless flailing: "Technology as a Feminist Issue" and "Disappearing the Body"--the latter is supposed to include gender in cyberspace, and fiction and predictions of "uploading" human minds or otherwise separating them from human bodies.

I've had one email from the moderator of the first panel, mentioning some possible questions we could discuss. My reply to that email got an "out of office until June 28" autoreply; this may be true, but it was irritating, since I replied within hours.

My workout of May 26, for completeness' sake

This was shaped to avoid stressing my shoulder, which seemed tender when I started on the calf exercises, and then abandoned when that failed:

Cardio, 7 minute warmup, top heart rate 118 (slowly increased through those 7 minutes; no cardio to speak of, but it was mostly to avoid muscle strain)
Calf machine, 80 pounds, 3 sets of 12
Seated leg curl, 95 pounds, 2 sets of 12
Hip adduction, 100 pounds, 12, 12, 10
Hip abduction, 80 pounds, 2 sets of 12

Crunches, 3 sets of 20
Back arches, 2 sets of 17
Alternated those, as usual--the shoulder started to complain near the end of the third set of crunches, and I shouldn't have finished out the 20. Getting up hurt. No stretches, because everything on the stretch machine involves holding on and leaning back. A hot shower helped a little.

My workout of May 26, for completeness' sake

This was shaped to avoid stressing my shoulder, which seemed tender when I started on the calf exercises, and then abandoned when that failed:

Cardio, 7 minute warmup, top heart rate 118 (slowly increased through those 7 minutes; no cardio to speak of, but it was mostly to avoid muscle strain)
Calf machine, 80 pounds, 3 sets of 12
Seated leg curl, 95 pounds, 2 sets of 12
Hip adduction, 100 pounds, 12, 12, 10
Hip abduction, 80 pounds, 2 sets of 12

Crunches, 3 sets of 20
Back arches, 2 sets of 17
Alternated those, as usual--the shoulder started to complain near the end of the third set of crunches, and I shouldn't have finished out the 20. Getting up hurt. No stretches, because everything on the stretch machine involves holding on and leaning back. A hot shower helped a little.

(no subject)

I'm still short of breath, and my shoulder still hurts (and I've tried all my painkiller options, waiting the appropriate time after each one failed to have a noticeable effect), but I am feeling much more cheerful: I had a very pleasant conversation with adrian_turtle, by phone because she suggested sparing my shoulder from the typing involved in a long IM conversation, and then cattitude helped me decant broth and we had homemade chicken soup for supper, just the thing for a sick hobbit on a chilly evening. Plenty of chicken and carrots, scallion and celery and ginger, and a julian_tiger who was quite happy to help with the meat, carrots, and celery, and to lick the soup bowls when we were done.

I am very fortunate in the people who love me.

(no subject)

I'm still short of breath, and my shoulder still hurts (and I've tried all my painkiller options, waiting the appropriate time after each one failed to have a noticeable effect), but I am feeling much more cheerful: I had a very pleasant conversation with adrian_turtle, by phone because she suggested sparing my shoulder from the typing involved in a long IM conversation, and then cattitude helped me decant broth and we had homemade chicken soup for supper, just the thing for a sick hobbit on a chilly evening. Plenty of chicken and carrots, scallion and celery and ginger, and a julian_tiger who was quite happy to help with the meat, carrots, and celery, and to lick the soup bowls when we were done.

I am very fortunate in the people who love me.