It's my favorite month, and not just because my birthday falls here. I love the leaves, I love the light, I love the CRISP FALL AIR and all of the apples and pumpkins, please. I love the chiminea on the patio with the twinkle lights behind it. I love all the birthdays, especially mine and my nephew's, and of course I love Halloween.
This month I'm getting back into regular weight training. What's working for me so far is doing it first thing in the morning. Believe me I almost never want to peel myself out of my warm, cozy bed to do a workout, but regardless of my early morning toddler mentality, I'm always very happy I just did it anyhow. I like the results that come with CONSISTENCY.
I had to give up Trainer Road rides last week because my LeMond is in the shop. There is a recall on certain Shimano Ultegra and Dura Ace cranskets on bikes sold between 2012 and 2023 (that's an 11-year period!) and you have to take your bike in for inspection to see if it's affected. I am glad I checked, I'm glad I took it in, because I have damage due to the issue. I'm in the first batch of cranks the bike shop sent back to Shimano, so no idea on timing, but hopefully I'll get that bike back by the end of the month. In the meantime, I'm adapting - I now join the Trainer Road group workouts on my erg! I turn off the camera so as not to give anyone motion sickness, and I've figured out that erg watts do not, in any way, translate to the bike watts prescribed on Trainer Road... but I can use the % effort gauge just fine. The weather is WAY too nice for me to put my other road bike on the trainer just yet, so, this works for now.
Every October, my cousin hosts a fall camp-out on their land, and it was this past weekend. People bring their own RVs or tents, but they also have a guest bedroom, cabins, and RVs to stay in. In the past, we've stayed in one of the RVs already down there, but this time Mr. Scandinavian Mullet thought it would be a great opportunity to test out tent camping with both dogs. Well, overnight lows here in CO were slated to be in the high 30s for the weekend, and It's been a good TEN YEARS since we pitched a tent. So last week, from starting the Gear Closet Cleanout project to find equipment, all the way through the Frantic Cooler Packing session just before we departed, let's just say I was less than thrilled about this dog-camping-in-the-cold experiment. But once we got there and the air mattress was blown up inside the tent (hey, it is car camping!) I felt a LOT better about it all.
It was so nice to see my cousins, it's been over a year! Catching up with them, and with friends, was wonderful, even more so because we had perfect fall weather - a warm afternoon that rolled right on through a beautiful sunset behind Colorado's southern mountains. And then as the evening cooled off, we were around a gloriously warm campfire with the best smelling wood on the planet! The dobers were CHAMPS. They had lots of dog friends to play with, people to give them pets, and when it came time for us to go to sleep, they were SO happy to be cozied up with us in the tent. I didn't expect us to sleep well, but we were actually super comfy and surprisingly warm, and Patrick's Garmin even told him his sleep score IMPROVED! It's unlikely we'll camp again this year, but now we know the dogs are no issue, hooray!
For me, camping does not bode well for ANY sort of consistently healthy behavior. Neither does ending the camping trip with a big BBQ meal out. But I have to say I did better than I had on past camping trips AND BBQ meals! While camping, I opted out of s'mores... believe me I never ever thought THAT would happen. I had one more adult beverage than I planned, and I really did my best to stay away from the food area (95% success). Was I perfect? No. Did I fall short of how I wanted the weekend to go, health-wise? Yes. But did I wake up feeling good? Yes. And did my healthy behaviors improve when compared to the last camp out? Absolutely, by leaps and bounds! And when we went to the BBQ, I didn't end the meal with peach cobbler, because I recognized I was totally satisfied. And I did that - recognized satisfaction - all weekend. So yes, I CAN CHANGE, I'm doing that and I will take those wins and say GO, ME!
But I won't pretend that there weren't a LOT of mental gymnastics going on all week leading up to, and then throughout the camping weekend. Giving myself grace like that last paragraph is still very hard for me to do. I had several conversations with my internal meanie, but I ultimately ended up being nice to me, and so was able to have a great time enjoying my family, friends, and the beautiful surroundings. I wish I were better about getting to that point SOONER, but I know that takes practice. This is a process, and I am grateful that this weekend gave me the opportunity to keep practicing.
This morning I got right back on the consistency track with my Trainer Road group (still on the erg). I'm looking forward to a healthy week with resumed consistency ahead, so... Onward to a HEALTHY and HAPPY OCTOBER!
