Readers’ Workout — July 23
Welcome to Readers’ Workouts, the weekly event where we share workout stories, goals, successes, and challenges. Join us each Tuesday!
I got into chiggers more than a week ago and it turns out that exercise makes them itch more! So I didn’t have a terrific week, but I managed to get in some exercise. Especially when I figured out that it took about 10 minutes for the itch to get bad, so one day I did 70 minutes of exercise in 10 minute stretches! But I’m going to have to average nearly 70 minutes a day for the rest of the month to reach my goal of 1500 minutes. I’ll give it a shot — even if I miss it, at least I will have ended the month strong and in good shape for next month.
How are you doing with exercise? Answer on your blog (feel free to grab the logo) and link to your post below or join us in the comments! Be sure to visit the other participants to see how we all did.
I actually had to take it a little easy today. A day or two after I added Pilates to my routine, I noticed a swelling in the back of my knee. I immediately backed off doing hard cardio and lower body strengthening exercises. I carefully tended to my swelling by first walking our dog to see if my knee would be okay (it was) before trying to do my morning yoga (which also went well). But I should be back to full exercise mode by the end of the week.
I gave myself a challenge to do add 1 sun salutation a day to my morning yoga and today I did a series of 23 sun salutations. It’s amazing how much of a sweat you can build up even when you are doing a slow series of sun salutations. Tomorrow I’ll be doing 24.
What are Chiggers? I’m sorry for the itching and discomfort!
Writing my post this morning (which took a long time, I edited it several times) I had a realization. One that will help me move from a fog to celebrating an accomplishment. For this, I’m grateful and feel a lightness returning.
Now it’s time to start planning my next challenge!
Have a great week Joy.
A chigger is a microscopic mite that, in its larval stage, hangs out on the tops of tall grasses and other plants in order to hitch a ride on unsuspecting mammals. It eats by inserting digestive enzymes into the skin causing many humans to have an allergic reaction. Every one’s different in their reaction. My husband’s red welts were much larger but only itched for about 4 days. Mine are smaller but itched twice as longer. If you’ve walked through a prairie, like we did, you can get dozens of bites.
I was most frustrated because I haven’t had this many chigger bites since I learned that rubbing your legs down at the end of a hike kills them before they have a chance to bite. But that was an odd night — we were in dress clothes for a dinner party at a farm that had a prairie. Something about being in dress clothes made me forget a habit that I would have remembered if I were wearing blue jeans.
Aww. Too bad about chiggers. I didn’t know what they were until a few years ago when a comic book about them was published. I hope the itching goes away soon. The other day I did 65 squats and got on my bike for the first time in six months or so. Not bad but it could be much better. My legs are still sore but I’m going to do more squats again today.