Calluses

These are not my hands.

Image credit: CrossFit

But at our gym, a few people's hands look like this. Holding the weightlifting bars, the pull-up bar, and the rings will give you calluses after just a few days. I didn't want mine to rip, so I looked up some info about it. Wow. There was lots of info and advice about calluses--one person even uses a  Dremel to file hers off! Another guy had this whole spiel about soaking your hands and scraping them with a butter knife. Gross and time consuming. I thought I'd just take a page from my running days. (That made it sound like they are over--I've got to do some more running!)

Lots of running will give you calluses on your feet. If you don't file them off, they get too thick and can rip or cause deep blisters. Same thing with calluses on your hands. I used to file down the calluses on my feet with a pumice stone in the shower and put lotion on afterwards. I've done the same thing with my hands, and it has worked well. Orange and Ginger Bath and Body lotion to be precise. It smells so naiice.

Anyway, you don't want to file your calluses right off or they will be too tender to grip the bar. You have to keep a little callus-ness. If you are a hand model, I don't know what to tell you. You might have to try some fancy gloves or something.

Riding Is My Ritalin...and My Prozac

Riding Is My Ritalin is a great article from bicyclingmagazine.com. It makes a lot of sense to me because I’ve found that exercise is sooooo critical for me. It helps me sleep, digest, feel more happy and energetic. Last year just before Christmas, I was not exercising at all. I didn’t like my gym, and I couldn’t find anyone to run with me in the dark, cold mornings. (What? That doesn’t sound like fun?) I was a piece of work, crying over dumb little things, stressing, and feeling CRANKY. That works really well for my family…

In January I started exercising again at crossfit and that, along with some other stuff, helped me do a 180 turn around. I just felt like the troubles of life could roll off me like water on a duck’s back. My very, very favorite thing is exercising outside in a beautiful place. Nature kind of rejuvenates me somehow. My next favorite is at least getting outside anywhere and exercising. And then if all I can do is exercise inside, that’s still pretty good. I know not everyone is so rejuvenated by exercising, but I wonder if it does have at least some of these positive side effects for everyone. And I wonder how I can get my kids to like aerobic exercise as much as computer games. Wouldn’t that be nice? If they were constantly asking me if they could go outside and ride their bikes and fighting over who got to go first? They do at least like riding. And they love the trampoline. So that’s a start. Maybe I’ll tell them the doctor insists that they exercise for at least a half hour a day before they play computer games or watch tv. Would that be naughty?

Mountain Bike Race at Five Mile Pass

This is how the terrain looks at Five Mile Pass. The race went up and down all the foothills in the mid-ground.

Race number two: I almost beat my sister! She started out faster and took off into the hills. I figured I wouldn’t see her dust until I crossed the finish line. But then, not too far into the trail, as I approached a steep climb, I saw her ahead, walking. “Are you okay?” I asked her as I rode by. “Just went out too fast,” she said. I was ahead of her for most of the race, but then in the last half mile (or maybe even less) she passed me and beat me by just a few seconds. She came in second, and I came in third. I think I was stronger on the MANY steep climbs, but she is stronger in endurance. She rides more often, and I, of course, crossfit more often. We missed the snow in the morning, but after our race it started to hail. Buh-bye trail. See my sister's version of the story at http://girlcycles.wordpress.com/2010/05/03/lehi-5-mile-pass-too-crabby-for-photos/

I missed crossfit for five days and wondered if I would lose strength that quickly. Nope. I actually did better than I ever have on my front squats today (squats while holding the bar up by your neck and kind of resting it on your clavicles). My best one rep max was 90 pounds, and today I did 5 reps of 80 pounds—so I think I could definitely do more on a one rep max. Also, I am down to two bands on the pull-ups. I did that a while ago but forgot to mention it.