Trail of Tears Again

We had a fabulous time again this past weekend. Jason has turned into a bit of a wonderful motivator.   He is really helping me remember to push myself and keeping me motivated and moving. 

Our weekend started off with our normal grocery trip extravaganza. We typically end up going into three stores… Mostly because I’m cheap and we can get different things quite a bit cheaper at some places.  We went early and got all of our stuff purchased  and put away by 10:30 on Saturday morning. We grabbed the bikes and out we went. We decided to head to my favorite park and we decided to also take it easy and not really push ourselves too hard. I still pushed myself really hard.  There was one area that I have never even attempted, and I was determined to do it. I kept my head down and I was really chugging on.  I didn’t even tell Jason I was going to attempt it, I just kept riding toward the section and motioned him with my hand to keep going!  I was killing it until I looked up and forward and saw how much more I had to go to complete it.  At that moment my body just gave up....or rather my mind gave up and my body believed my mind!   No worries, I’ll get that one eventually. I have so many things that I need to conquer… And I will! It was a really good ride… And might I even say, it was a little bit fun!

We went home, and dropped off the bikes and within a very short period of time we were heading back out the door. We decided to walk all around downtown Frederick, the town where we live. 3 1/2 to 4 hours later, and my legs were toast! We moseyed through quite a few stores but the highlight (for me at least) was the open house at one of the old churches in downtown Frederick. The congregation for this church founded in 1784...that’s some age right there!  

Pipe Organ

We got home, showered and we had our weekly picnic… Grilling our dinner. I was one tired girl by the time we went to bed!!

On Sunday, I woke up and actually felt pretty good. I had a little stiffness maybe, but overall I was feeling pretty good. So we grabbed the bikes and out we went. Jason left the final decision of where we were going to bike that day up to me. I was so nervous when I suggested that we go to the trail of tears. Seriously, this trail has chewed me up and spit me out on so many occasions. Like here  Or here .    So, it is always with fear and trepidation that I go to the trail of tears. But, there was also a small amount of idle curiosity within me. You see, we had not been to the trail of tears in over a month. I have been riding religiously throughout that one month though. How would my body do on this trail. (And the trails that I do ride, are pretty difficult… Some of them are even ranked more difficult than the trail of tears… I just have some mental block to the trail of tears) but, I suggested it and off we went. Jason kept telling me that we didn’t have to do the whole thing and to not forget that it’s OK to walk. I hit the trail and I am proud to say that I made it the whole way out to the turnaround point without having to walk my bike over any hill!   I did still walk through the one feature… But I rode every other inch of that trail. There were sections that were hard for sure. But, they were not as hard as they used to be. Yeah, it kind of  shocked me to find it easier this go round!!!  I was so excited at the turnaround mark because I had ridden every section of the trail! I had not walked! I had not stopped to cry! 

  I was worried about the trip back though!   I knew I had at least an hour of riding to get back to the car!  I told Jason that I was worried and he reminded me that I can always stop to rest and I could always walk. I honestly fully expected to have to walk. I started back.  There were some sections that I was slow as molasses on the way back. But I am here to tell you, that other than that one big dip of a feature… I rode every inch of the trail back to the car! Yes, I surely did. So now for the really big announcement about the trail of tears… There were a few fleeting moments of fun-ness that happened. I’m not going to say it was all fun… I’m not even gonna say it was half fun… Because I would never admit something like that!  (Hahaha. Jason says someday I will admit it!).  But there were moments of fun for sure. I was flying on some sections… And I love to go fast! Am I ready to rename this trail to something other than trail of tears? Nope! Honestly, I think it will always be the trail of tears for me… Even though Jason insists that eventually I’ll call the trail of tears easy.

We dropped the bikes off at home at around 2 o’clock at home and since we were already sweaty and hot we figured why not go out for a hike. We didn’t go long or hard. Just an hour in the woods. Just enough to stretch our legs! By the time we were done… I was totally fried. Even Monday morning I was aching  something fierce. My biggest issue is the arthritis in my knees. But that’s OK, I know that I did good for my body this weekend!

We are killing it on the trails!   I just may become a badass mountain biker yet!!!

Traumatic Mountain Bike Weekend

Hello July!   Where in the world did June go?  Seriously, I blinked and it was gone!   I did manage to work on my monthly goals and I feel as if I made some amazing progress during the month of June in some areas.  However in others I feel as if...well...as if I’m spinning wheels and going nowhere.  We had another amazing weekend....even if it was a bit rough at times!  So lots to talk about it all today!!!

The weekend

Wow...Saturday was hot!   

We spent Saturday morning running our errands.  It was also grocery week so that took some extra time!  But by lunchtime we were ready to head out with our bikes!  Did I mention that it was hot?  Oh and did I also mention that my shoulder issue that I wrote about in early May had reared its ugly head again?  Why yes...the arm was aching more all week.   But even with these two factors, we were determined to get out there and keep up the trend that we started...the good habit of riding on the weekends.  I was a bit hesitant about the ache in my shoulder and the heat...but I am tired of being fat and unfit so out I went!

My legs were stiff and tight when I started but they did eventually loosen up and I had a surprise for Jason.  I usually lead the way so I led him to a new trail within the park that we were riding in.  The trail turned out to be short but really cool.  You climb for a short bit and then you ride a ridge for about a half mile. All was going well until.......yup, it happened!  I was traversing the trail and well...I don’t rightly know what happened. I know I skidded a bit and then I was flying through the air.  I ended up in on the side of the trail, tangled up with my bike!    I didn’t care about the bike at that point and just worked to untangle my legs and get the bike away from me!  Jason was by my side in mere seconds.  Honestly, I feel for Jason. I have gone down two other times in front of him...one spectacularly on a trail with a drop off to my right!     Each time I can see the utter panic and terror in his eyes!  Anyway, back to this wee little tumble. I got myself to a sitting position. I had fallen on my right side and my bad shoulder/arm took the brunt of the fall.  But somehow my left wrist ended up scraped.  My right leg had brush burns from my calf up  to and covering my thigh.  And somehow my left ankle ended up with brush burns.  Literally all four quadrants of my body got mangled.  (I don’t THINK I went over the handlebars...but maybe I did!). I sat on the side of the trail a bit.  I may have cried....but not out of pity...out of shock and pain....remember my bad arm/shoulder took the brunt of this fall. The tears stopped and  then I began to moan!   Oh no, I wasn’t in any physical distress!  But I noticed my bike!  My poor perfect baby!  She is perfect no more!  She had a scratch on the front fork!

After whining about my scratch, I got back up on that bike and started riding again.  We rode awhile  and then headed up a big hill.  Halfway up that hill I knew I had a problem.  I stopped.  I started to walk. I didn’t know what the problem was, but I suspected that it was just a let down from the adrenaline rush I had experienced through my tumble off the bike.    I however knew I was pretty much done riding for that day. (Other  than for the return ride back to the car) I pondered my options.  We hadn’t seen a soul on any of the trails. (Did I mention that it was hot...REALLY hot...no other fools were out!).  I caught up with Jason who had stopped to wait for me.  I told him I just wasn’t right... he was concerned but I told him that I wasn’t sick or anything, just probably the after affects of my accident and my shoulder hurting.   I sent him up the hill to finish the trail that we were on/heading to. (It was an out and back).  I took his knife (I knew he wouldn’t leave me out there without some form of protection) and I sat down in the shade to wait for him.   It was exactly what I needed.  

Turns out I was suffering the very early stages of heat stroke. I figured it out while I sat there.  I have had some serious issues with this in the past...even to the point of passing out. But it has been quite a while so it took me a while to put two and two together.   Sitting in the shade sipping my water for the 20 minutes it took him to finish the trail and return was just what I needed. 

He returned to me and we set off back for the car....I was fine!    Well...sore but no longer feeling sick!

So on Sunday we headed out with our bikes again! I was still sore...all over, but I’m no sissy!

We headed to the Trail of Tears.  Yes, back there again.   I had completed it both of the previous weekends so I had no doubts about my abilities.  We also went much earlier in the day to beat the heat.  We started to ride.   I could tell that I was riding a bit more tentatively, I’m assuming due to my tumble from the day before.  About a mile or so into the ride my shoulder started to ache....and then that pain started to radiate into my chest.   Now, I KNOW that the muscle/nerve issue that I’m having will cause that chest to hurt...but when your chest hurts it is hard to NOT obsess about it!   But I kept going.   For some reason my feet would NOT stay on the pedals!  (I will be soon upgrading from the stock cheap pedals to a good pair!).  Then  my hands started to sweat and my grip was constantly slipping!   It was ugly!  My shoulder started to pound with each bump we hit!  And I was stopping constantly to take breaks.  Finally We decided to turn around.  The ride back was BRUTAL!   The pain in my shoulder and arm only intensified.   My right hand and thumb became excruciating pain any time I squeezed the handle bars, shifted gears or used my breaks.   I actually cried the last mile of the ride.  (Yes, I cried while riding...and at one point we stopped to rest and I just kept my head on my handlebars to ‘rest’ and hide my tears.). It was a bad ride all around!  The Trail of Tears took me down again!   But in all fairness...I’m sure a lot of that had to do with the aches and pains from my tumble the day before.  

Even with the two rough rides...between the accident and the bad ride, I saw improvements.  I saw myself get further up a hill than I have before.   I saw myself handle each and every stream crossing without wimping out and walking across.  I definitely saw improvements even amidst the ruin!

My thumb was in bad shape the rest of the day...as in I struggled to hold Jason’s hand because my thumb was that tender.

It was a gorgeous day that we didn’t want to waste.  So after dropping off the bikes.  We turned around and headed out for a hike.  Yup....we were out for about two hours hiking.   Felt good!!!

So we had another active, even if traumatic weekend of exercise!

Food wise, I nailed the weekend!  I was within my target each day!

Monthly Goals

At the beginning of each month I set a few goals for my month.  I have them in the back of my mind during the month...but they are not something I have to think about each day.  (Well...maybe I should!). June was no exception.  I set some goals in this post. 

Here are my June goals with the results!

1.  Track every bite of food!   Victory!
2.  Put money into my savings.   I totally smashed this goal and put quite a bit into my savings account!
3.  Weigh less than I do now!  I don't care if it's a measly ounce...I want to weigh less!   As of the 31st of May that number is 247.2.    I managed this one also...maybe not a smashing success...but I managed this...as of the last day of June my weight was 246.0 (I did see 245.6 on Saturday!)
4.  Do something active (a walk suffices) at least 3 times a week and at least two runs a week.  I had to adjust my goals mid way through.  I decided that I couldn’t focus on biking AND running and have any success at both.  So running is on the back burner until a time when biking is easy and then I will jump back into running.  But in terms of exercise. I walked at work most days...and we got at least two HARD bike rides in each week!  So VICTORY!!  I have also seen some incredible improvements on the bike!  I have been mountain biking religiously each week and it seems as if each week I see some sort of improvement.  

5. Keep my eating in check for at least 6 days a week. I managed this.  There were a few days that I was higher but it was almost always totally in check!

7.   Walk at least  of 5 k steps a day at least five days a week..no more average for the month!!!  This is the rough one. I didn’t make this one!!  But I came very close.  I will be adjusting this goal in future months!

8.  Transparency with my weight...even if it goes up!!! (Not gonna.. thisis my month!!!). I feel as if I have continued the trend of transparency!!

So what are July goals?

1.  Track every bite of food! 
2.  Put money into my savings. 
3.  Weigh less than I do now!  I don't care if it's a measly ounce...I want to weigh less!   As of the 30th of May that number is 246.0.
4.  Do something active (a walk suffices) at least 3 times a week and aim for at least two bike rides a week.

5. Keep my eating in check for at least 6 days a week. 

7.   Walk at least  of 5 k steps a day at least four of my work days.   Weekends...I need the steps OR a bike ride!  

8.  Transparency with my weight...even if it goes up!!! 

So there you have it.  My crazy weekend and a recap of my monthly goals.   July goals are quite similar with just a few tweaks!   But I am confident that July will see more weight loss and even more improvement on the bike!!