The last eleven posts have been a travelogue about our recent trip to Alaska. Are you tired of them yet? Well, I am, so I'm going to take a little break before I finish up the last few days. However, the flowers you see in this post were from wildflowers we saw in AK. :)
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The weather has been miserably hot here, so I am especially happy for a working AC because that's not what we came home to. The squash, zucchini, and cucumbers have been enjoying the heat and have been prolific recently. However, the bugs have joined the deer in using our vegetables for a tasty dinner, so I don't know how much longer before the plants succumb to the pests. The tomatoes have been suffering from deer munching for a while, but we'll soon have our first ripe tomato. I can't wait. The first ripe tomato is a highlight every summer.
I am slowly getting back into exercising. I hope to soon be back at the fitness level I was before the trip, but I gotta tell you that some of the early classes I did after our trip were brutal. Keeping with my effort to hold myself accountable, below is my exercise report for the last week or so.
We were away for 15 days on vacation without any regular exercise. Some days on our trip, I reached 10,000 steps or more, but many days it was much less. I was a little hesitant about jumping back into classes, but it had to be done.
Zumba: I haven't been to a Zumba class in a long time, but the last time I remember going to one, I found it exhausting. I didn't really want to start back with this class, but it was the only one that fit my schedule. It turns out that I found it both fun and tiring, but was able to recover from it fairly quickly. I will seek out this instructor again.
Friday, July 4, 2025
Stretch and Tone: This class sounded like just what I wanted. The description made it sound like a gentle combination of yoga and pilates. There was nothing gentle or easy about this class. While not high intensity, I was sweating the whole time doing the challenging exercises. I was not alone. Most in the class couldn't do everything, including Ward, who is very fit. I was so challenged that I felt sick by the end. I stayed the whole class, but just did the bare minimum at the end. I like the instructor, but I won't be trying this class again for a while.
Free Day: I needed a recovery day after yesterday, so I didn't do much exercise-wise today. However, we spent a lovely afternoon at a baby shower for my niece.
Sunday, July 6, 2025
Free Day: I was just not feeling it for exercise today, so I didn't do anything extra physically. Instead, I puttered around the house and yard, catching up on things.
Monday, July 7, 2025
Zumba: I went to a class with the same instructor that I had on Thursday. I mostly kept up and enjoyed the class, which gave me a good aerobic workout. Unfortunately, this instructor has only been subbing for other instructors who are on vacation. Rumor has it that she teaches once a month at the gym. I'll have to find out when that is because I like her style.
Tuesday, July 8, 2025
Line Dance: We were back at our regular Tuesday morning class. It was fun to be back, and we learned a couple of new dances. I got most of the steps and definitely had a good aerobic workout by the end.
Wednesday, July 9, 2025
Free Day: Even though it was only a couple of days ago, I can't remember what we did. But I do know that I didn't do any formal exercise. Wednesday doesn't have any classes I'm interested in.
Thursday, July 10, 2025
Beginner Line Dance: It was good to be back in this class. Several of the dances seemed new, but that just may be because I hadn't been to class for almost a month. Some of the dances went really fast, and I struggled to keep up. But I mostly did. I watched a bit of the advanced class, and someday I hope to be able to do those complicated dances, too. I had a good aerobic workout in this class, but it didn't wipe me out.
Friday, July 11, 2025:
Strong and Balanced: There was a sub today in this class, and she had us moving every minute. There seemed to be a lot of shoulder work that I got very tired from. But, I guess that means that it is an area that I need to work on.
Until next time...
The leaves on that one plant looked a bit like Devil's Club, the bane of AK hiking. Curiously my younger brother called Saturday. He never calls me unless on the way home from work. He was in Seward, with his wife, and was trying to find the falls he and my other brother saw when I worked up there and they came to see me, middle of winter, minus 50, and they couldn't take it. Waterfall was frozen at that time. Took into more memories.
ReplyDeleteI think the plant was Devil's Club, and it was everywhere everywhere. Some places had warning signs up about its sap. I wouldn't have lasted in the middle of winter either.
DeleteLovely flowers. Sounds like you got back into your regular exercise classes without wasting any time. Well done!
ReplyDeleteExercising is still an effort, but maybe someday I will get that exercise high people talk about. :)
DeleteSuch pretty flower pictures!
ReplyDeleteI hope the deer will share your tomatoes with you. Our veggies are not quite ripe enough for our resident groundhog evidently. I have seen very little of him this summer but I am sure he is waiting for the green beans. They seem to be his favorite.
The roadsides were covered with colorful flowers and about halfway through the trip, I start taking pictures of them.
DeleteThe deer have definitely stunted the growth of the tomato plants. :(