Today I had great plans. I was going to work out at the gym, plant my 15 hornbeam saplings which came in the mail on Wednesday, and then go buy a new bike. So, I got up at 6:55 to go to the gym. I have a training plan this Winter to build up my leg strength to prepare me for bike racing next Spring. I'm doing 250 lbs on the leg press right now and am anxious to increase that to 270 soon. I could do it if it wern't for my darn knees. Every time I try to increse the weight too quickly I get twangs of pain in my left knee. So today I stayed on 250, but I had a dull ache the whole time. I rode the stationary bike for an hour, and at the end I increased the resistance and stood up for three intervals. This hurt my knee too. I left the gym feeling discouraged and thinking I'll never be able to race if my knees keep acting up like this.
When I got home I did a little last minute research on the proper planting techniques for my hornbeam hedge. I discovered that late November is not actually a good time to plant. Early fall is good, but the ground is too cold now for any root development to take place. So I had 15 plants with nowhere to put them. I decided to plant them in a wooden trough and keep them in the coal cellar through the Winter and then move them outside next Spring. I think this plan will work fine, but it was rather disappointing to have prepared a bed, wait 6 weeks for the plants to come in the mail, and then not be able to plant them.
Here they are, the poor little twigs, stuck in a box of dirt in the dank, dark cellar.As for buying the bike today, I just couldn't bring myself to do it after my disappointing workout this morning. I won't give up though. I've been dreaming about this for over a year, so I'm just going to have to take a break for 3 or 4 days and let my knee heal and then start again. This time I won't try to increase too soon.
2 comments:
I feel like I have many of these days when my hopes for the day are dashed. Many times dashed just by the fact that I didn't do what I wanted to! No outside influences, just my lack of energy after lunch. How do I get over that?
Hi Sarah, I don't know if you'll get this, but I think you need to have a clear vision of what you're trying to accomplish in the discipline of the daily grind. I go to the gym three days a week because I know I want to be leg pressing at least 300 lbs by the time it's warm enough to ride outside, because I know I'll need the strength to do well in the Chippewa Creek race. I just picture myself riding up the 400 foot hill and know that I want to do better this year than I did last year. Pray and devotional times are more difficult for me, because I don't have a specific event to think of and know that I'll perform better because I prayed.
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