Author: gracefulfitness

May wrap up

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What a lovely last day of May to end an amazing birthday month.

My day started at the Tranquility Spa in Kathmandu.  Nearly three hours were spent getting scrubbed down, massaged, and finally, a facial!  This luxury treatment came as a late birthday present from my sweet husband.   Everything about it was fabulous but the scrub was the real highlight.  My skin looks and feels AMAZING!  And let me tell you, she scrubbed ever inch of it!  The scrub was made up of

  • coarse ground coffee
  • rice powder
  • honey
  • milk

I will definitely be trying this at home.

Looking over my exercise log for the last month makes me feel great (and proud) about what an active month I have had.  Out of the last 30 days I have only had three complete rest days, like really slow and lazy days.  I have done

  • 6 arm
  • 6 ab workout
  • 2 swimming workouts
  • 12 days hiking
  • 1 bike ride
  • 1 run (YIKES!)
  • many, many hours on sightseeing walking tours

It’s been a while since I cataloged a whole month of exercise but I find it really helpful to check in at the end of the month and inspiring to see how much I have moved!

The thing I am most inspired by and proud of from this list is the amount of yoga.  I have been a yoga devotee for a dozen years but have struggled with finding a home practice, prefering classes or dvd’s.  Something changed this month.  I have a yoga practice all my own.  And I love it.  My body craves it.  It takes about 20 mintutes and is easily adabtable to different locations.

Best locations this month were “Poon Hill” at dawn with a view of the Himalaya and on a rock in the river on the last day of our 9 day backpacking trip.

My practice is

  • 3 half Sun Salutes
  • 3 Sun Salutes A
  • 3 Sun Salutes B
  • Chair Twist
  • Warrior I with a flow between Reverse Warrior and Side Angle
  • Triangle
  • Half Moon

Sometimes this is it, sometimes I do some additional poses on the floor.

Do you have a home yoga practice currently?  Have you had one in the past?  What is your preferred time of day for a home practice?

One puny run this month!  What a contrast from last May.  On this day last May I ran my first (and only to date) marathon!  It was an amazing and surreal experience.  Tate and I ran the whole thing together (although we barely said a word to each other the whole time, had to conserve energy) and finished in a respectable 4 hours 36 minutes.  Our goal was 6 hours.

The low abs/arms numbers are due to so many days spent on the trail.  We backpacked in the Annapurna Conservation Area mid-month for 9 days and by the time we stopped hiking and were clean and fed we would fall into bed totally wiped out.  This will change next month because tomorrow we set out on a 7 days road tour of Tibet.  We will be at high altitude and abs/arms/yoga will be my best bet for exercise.  Which brings me to…

JUNE GOALS

  • Abs/arms everyday (alternating workouts) check out the “do a little daily” post for more on these workouts
  • Minimal refined sugar intake (no more than once a week)
  • Food/exercise journal-log food intake and exercise output everyday

Chicken or coleslaw

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It is an ongoing process for me in my quest to “make good choices” to be able to politely decline food.  I am always worried about offending people or bringing too much attention to myself.

Case in point.  One summer Tate and I were sea kayaking in Alaska.  We were a full days paddle from Juneau and decided to set up camp by a cabin inhabited by two older couples from Georgia.  The women took pity on us (it was raining) and invited us up for dinner.  I offered to bring some vegetables but they said they had everything we needed.  When we sat down to eat I was dismayed to see BBQ chicken and coleslaw covering the plates.  I have been a vegetarian all of my life and while I do occasionally eat chicken broth I’d never actually eaten a bite of meat.  And I despise mayo so much that my sisters used to chase me around the house with a spoon dripping with it to tease me.

So, rather than offend these generous Southerners and their hospitality, I pushed the cole slaw around, shaved off the tiniest little bites of chicken, and guzzled beer.   Tate came to my rescue by scarfing his down and emptying my plate onto his.  Our hosts must have though him a controlling husband or something when he said “she’s had enough” when they tried to offer seconds! When we got back to the tent I feasted on raw broccoli and carrots.

Have you ever been in a situation where you ate something you weren’t interested in or more than you wanted to avoid bringing attention to yourself or causing offense?  How do you gracefully handle these situations?