Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

 

Two weeks ago today, the website for my work was the victim of a cyber attack. That attack came right at midterm and at a time when students were already feeling incredibly overwhelmed. Not being able to get into the site to complete work and to communicate with their instructors sent some students into a tailspin. While our fantastic IT people were able to get some components of the site up and running last week, the damage had already been done. About half of my students in two classes are MIA. I've been posting announcements, trying to entice them to return to class, but so far, I've only heard from three or four. They'll be back, they say. I hope so. 2020 just keeps piling on. I learned ten minutes ago a colleague passed away yesterday. He was the same age I am. 56. Earlier this semester, a member of our Board of Trustees passed away. He was 57. Seems far too young. I know, though, living to see tomorrow is never a given. For anyone. Still . . . Now I'm finding myse...

Our first hiking day in Iceland ended on a good note though my body was aching like I'd never experienced before, and I was certain I would wake up to not being able to move the next morning. Thankfully, and I chalk this up to doing so much walking and hill climbing the month before leaving for Iceland, I woke up feeling surprisingly good. A bit of soreness through the shoulders, but other than that, the old body said, "Let's get on the path!" I knew it was too early for Angel Baby to be up, so I putzed around, taking pictures of the landscape around the campsite and having breakfast. Finally, Angel Baby emerged from his hut and we set off. Not long after we began, a drizzle started. We pulled out our rain pants and raincoats and put them on, then wrapped our packs with waterproof covers. Though the day was cool, I felt snug and warm in my layers. For the next few hours we walked along in silence. Angel Baby walked ten or so yards ahead of me, sometimes further sinc...

The cycling was interrupted this week with the unexpected visit of a friend. She came in on Wednesday and resumed her journey late Thursday afternoon. Because I tend to be quite anal about the condition of our home when company is coming, I spent Wednesday cleaning before her arrival, so the ride didn't happen. While I longed to get out, I think not riding was a good thing after my 133 miles on Sunday. Having extra recovery days most likely didn't hurt things at all. During Sunday's ride, I thought some about the effects I would feel from cycling over a hundred miles. I found out day by day this week. Monday my quads were sore, like I'd done a lot of squats, and by mid afternoon I needed to take a nap. Tuesday, the soreness had eased, so Hubby and I went for a short ride, actually two short rides. The first was an early morning twelve miler around the lake. The air was cool, the sun was shining, and according to the turbines the wind was non-existent. The second ride ...

This past week I upped the mileage with both cycling and running to the point that today, as I was running my second mile, I was toast. The fatigue set in and I just couldn't find the gumption to do the third mile. On the spinner, I hit mile eight and called it quits. From there I went to the weight circuit, completed one lower body round, and said enough. To finish up the day, I got in two sets of ab exercises. At that point, I had nothing left in the tank. Now, as I look back over the stats for the past four weeks, I understand why I'm tired. This past week I managed 51 miles between the running and the spinning. The closest I came to this kind of mileage was four weeks ago with 27 miles. The week leading up to the stair climb I only had 5 miles since I was focusing on using the stair climber and the elliptical. I also got away from my six meals a day this past week. I returned to the three meals simply because I had a lot on my schedule with work and it was just easier to ...

After a 27 miler on Friday, a 36 miler yesterday, and a 32 miler today, I'm wiped out. Yesterday I pushed it since I was alone. I wanted to see if I could maintain a 16 mph pace, and I did. It caught up with me today as we rode into a 13 mph head wind for about 12 miles. Now, as I sit here, my body is saying take a break tomorrow. I know I should, but when tomorrow comes the urge to get out and enjoy the countryside will push me to not heed the fatigue. Maybe just a real easy ride, the kind that feels completely and ridiculously slow. That will satisfy my desire to be out while not overloading the fatigue. Part of me loves feeling this way. I feel like I actually put some effort into the rides. Since I ride with Hubby most often, I don't push it since he's not at the same fitness level as I am. I'm no elite athlete, but I can maintain a faster pace than he can for a longer distance, so when I ride with him, I slow down so we can ride together. Whenever a hill looms in f...