Head, Shoulders, Calves and Tailbones
I’ve got some sore calves. And I don’t mean baby cows. They’re on the farm, doing just fine. I’m referring to those fancy little muscles on the back of the leg. You know, the ones that quake and scream with every step after an exhilarating session of riding a stationary one-wheeled bicycle to the tunes of the 1970s. There is actually a variety of reasons why a calf could hurt, but since mine is ailing due to the previously mentioned scenario, we’ll run with it.
It was my intention to take a photograph or two of myself for this blog yesterday. It has been an intention with nearly every post that has been written to date, and has yet to come to fruition. Blogs are more interesting with photos, and I feel at the least I owe you proof that I am indeed a real person. But more importantly, I wanted you to see what we’re working with here. One of the things I’m trying to stress in this chronicle is that I’m working from a very out of shape starting point. I’m also trying to stress that if you looked at me and didn’t know me, you wouldn’t assume that to be true. So, I promise to be caught on candid camera soon. Then, to my own chagrin, you can see the one bit of me that actually does look out of shape: my little popsicle stick legs.
Thin, muscleless legs and a big head… I’m a golf tee.
Back to what I was saying – my calves are wrecked. I can already see a development in my cycling, however. Since I’m so unfit, my instructions are to keep my heart rate very low. This has kept me from participating in all the aspects of the class – such as standing climbs, for instance. I have yet to do one because it would undoubtedly spike me well above my limit. That said, I’m already finding I can do more than I did two weeks ago with my heart rate at the same pace. This is a good sign, as it suggests that conditioning is taking place.
Now I don’t expect the muscle soreness in the calves and elsewhere to stop. Continuous soreness means continuous progress, and I have plenty of progress yet to make. But damn if that seat doesn’t make my butt hurt…
