Inspired by surviving the cookie weekend, and 2 days to recover, I decided to take Lil’ Red out for a lazy SUP trip. I slowly paddled out about fifteen minutes and let the current do most of the work on the way back.
It was fantastic to be back out on the water, and equally fantastic to have 2 days to couch surf as needed to recover.
My New Workout. (Linked to Amazon)
The test results reported on the last post could lead to a label of adrenal fatigue. Adrenal fatigue is an unrecognized medical diagnosis. From the reading I have done so far, it seems the only acceptable adrenal diagnosis is adrenal insufficiency or Addison’s Disease. Two of the hallmark symptoms of Addison’s are weight loss and hyper-pigmentation. I have weight gain and hypo-pigmentation. What I do have is fatigue and low blood pressure.
Not feeling refreshed after ample sleep
Feeling tired most of the day with more energy after 6pm
Salt and sugar cravings
Varicose veins
Feeling dizzy when standing up
Difficulty recovering after stress or heavy workouts (may take days)
I was determined to get out on my paddleboard yesterday. Weatherman said there is rain coming, but not until later that day. He also said that there was some wind, but not too bad. That is what I heard anyway. Thus began…
Lil’ Red and I started our way out of the protected launch area.
As we made our way across the lake the wind was blowing left to right. I can handle this. It was blowing me towards the bank so I could not rest without risking being driven into grassy shores. I can handle this. Continue reading
Shady characters in the parking lot.
I celebrated my one year blogging anniversary by taking the week off. To avoid withdrawal symptoms, I tried to keep myself busy…
A friend had told me about an environmental awareness event at a state park this weekend so I decided it would be a great chance to use one of the great parks. To make the most of attending the event, I decided to go stand up paddleboarding in the park’s spring. After a little SUPing, I went for a hike on one of the trails.
As I came off the trail, the speeches were beginning. A lovely day, a great workout, and I was asleep early last night.
I explored a new lake last weekend. It is not as popular with the local stand up paddleboarders as my usual spots, but some do go out there. As the first speed boat passed by, I realized why I was the only paddler there that day. There are very few wake free zones. There were only a few boats out that day, and it is a big lake, so it was not a problem. There was no launch fee, so, I will go back.
Have you explored anywhere new lately?
I have two new favorite toys on my smart phone. They are fun and informative so I want to share.
This app is a great tool to journal and track your diet and exercise. It can help you set your calorie goals and will take into account calories burned through the activities you enter. There are countless exercises and food pre-loaded into the app. You can also add your own or just enter a calorie amount. A great bonus is that it tracks several nutrients and will display daily and weekly summaries. It helped me to realize that my iron intake is about half of what it should be. I thought all of those green, leafy vegetables were enough, but now I know that I need to make more of an effort.
I am having the most fun with the bar code scanner that will automatically load all of the information of the foods you scan. You just adjust the number of servings and you are done! The only thing close to frustrating is that when I am making juice, it does not have the juice of a leaf, just the whole plant. There are specific juice recipes pre-loaded, so I did use one that seemed close to what I made for one meal’s “add”.
Keeping a journal can help you be more aware of what you are doing. this app makes it closer to fun to track exercise and diet.
As my new favorite form of exercise is paddleboarding, I took Lil’ Red out to the river on my day off. The water level was really low through already shallow areas. Between that and the water acting like a mirror, I was really nervous about running into trees that have fallen into the river. I was concentrating so much on where I was going that many pictures were less than focused. I almost ran over a turtle. The poor little guy couldn’t dive to get away because of the water level and I did not see him until I was almost on top of him. I had my first otter siting but by the time I decided it was safe to try and get a photo, he became shy.
A few months ago I took my first photography lesson. During the lesson she suggested that I start using Lightroom to edit. It took awhile, but these are my first LR4 edits. It is a neat little program and look forward to playing with it more.
Kicker Remix
I had to figure a way to stand up paddleboard (SUP) in cold weather. My feet were my biggest worry. They get cold with socks on in the house. I needed to find something to wear in the water. At REI.com , I found a few different things that I could try. I decided on NRS Kicker Remix Wetshoe Water Shoes – Men’s.
I followed their sizing guide and was mindful of the comments on the page. So I ordered a size 10 in mens though I wear a 10.5 in womens. It was a good thing because the pair that arrived was the perfect size. My foot is apparently too monstrous for the women’s version.
Real Woman's Health 