Playing hooky from plank position

It’s been a week since I pulled a pec doing too many pushups. (In yoga a sun salute involves half of the pushup - from plank to cobra position, so it’s more like a slow drop down…).

The doc had said no pushups or plank for six weeks (!). I had said, no way!

But then I allowed myself to stay home every morning this week, to not rush off to strength training or yoga classes at 7:30am and it has been LOVELY.

I miss the exercise, but not the rushing. Which tells me something I don’t want to hear: that if I don’t want to rush I’d better be getting up a lot earlier (and going to bed a lot earlier too, because I need at least 8 hours of sleep).

This morning I really really was going to go to yoga, and just chill in the back of the room in a restorative pose whenever we were supposed to do a planky sort of position. But here I am at my desk writing, hoisting a cup of coffee instead. Happy.

I’m one of those people who is slothful enough at heart that if I don’t routinize my life with specific commitments to be at a certain place at a certain time to exercise it won’t happen. ANd I’ve discovered that if it doesn’t happen first thing in the morning, it generally doesn’t happen at all, because the day takes over.

On normal weeks I go to a strength training class 2x a week, yoga 2x a week and I walk with a good friend the other 3 days. My pulled muscle did not prevent me from walking except for the first couple of days when I could scarcely breathe, but my friend was out of town, so I didn’t even do that.

Little vacations from routine are a good thing. I hope by Monday I’m eager to get back with the program.

Pain from pushups?

At strength training class we all moan and groan about doing pushups.

Not I. I am proud of my pushups, having moved from the knee position to full plank about five years ago. Machisma! (Of course I only get my nose half way to the floor because if I allowed my nostrils to reach the floor they’d be permanantly flattened because I don’t have the triceps strength to lift off.)

Pride goeth before a fall. Last Thursday I felt a little twinge at about the tenth pushup. But I did a second set anyway.

Then, instead of listening to the twinge (which lingered…) I went to yoga on Saturday and did a number of sun salutes which also require a pushup-like maneuver.

Big mistake.

Since yesterday afternoon my left rib cage hurts so much I don’t want to breathe deeply, or cough or sneeze. Today was the day I was going to tackle my weeds with a vengeance, but I can’t even pull a puny petunia.

It hurt enough that I actually went to the doctor - a rare thing. She pressed and prodded and concluded that nothing was broken, but that I would be laying off pushup-like poses for a couple of months.

I’m not at all pleased. Who ever thought I’d WANT to do pushups???

Patience

One week and six hours ago I turned on my computer to discover it hung at the Windows screen.

*I rummaged thru my geek experience and pulled up a bunch of tricks. Tried them. Nothing. I went online and looked for more tricks (I have a laptop too). Nothing.*

[Repeat several times from * to * while breathing deeply.]

I slept on it and tried more tricks the next day with the help of a techie pro. Nothing.

Thinking it was a bad drive I ordered a new highly recommended one from Newegg.com and tried to move on to other things for a few days. I took lots of yoga classes. Breathed deep. A gal in my yoga class shared about having to pull life-support from her severely damaged newborn. Another spoke of trying to make peace with her dying mother. And I’m hyperventilating over a hard drive?

Breathed some more.

Patience: 1. The quality of being patient, as the bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune, or pain, without complaint, loss of temper, irritation, or the like.

2. An ability or willingness to suppress restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay.

The new drive arrived yesterday afternoon and I transplanted it where the sickie had been. Partitioned it, loaded Windows. Or so I thought. When I turned the machine back on it hung in the very same spot.

[Repeat from * to * above while breathing deeply.]

No dice. So…

As I said earlier, “phuck that!” This morning I did what I should have done a week ago – I took it into the local computer shop. They’ve got the spare parts and they have the patience.

In prior incarnations I’d have been rending my clothes over such a disruption, but there’s still plenty room for improvement in the patience department.