Me and the Wild Rider Fitness Challenge

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Arnold Schwarzenegger, bodybuilding, exercise, walking, weight lifting, winter, Wisconsin

Last month, Susie at susielindau.com challenged readers to her 90-day Wild Rider Fitness Challenge. It’s easy, really – exercise at least two or three times each week, and make one of these an outdoor adventure.

I’ve talked about my exercise routine before. It’s not always easy, but every morning, I lace up my shoes and head out, rain or shine. Or snow. Or ice. The only thing that stops me is lightning or extreme cold.

And since it’s July in Wisconsin, you’d think I wouldn’t have to worry about that. Did I say July? In Wisconsin? When it’s normally in the 80s and slightly humid? Not today, happy readers.  (Bottom number was the outside temp this morning…)

According to the chirpy TV weatherman, living near Lake Michigan brought luck, though: inland areas of Wisconsin were close to the freezing mark. I felt really good about that – not!– as I put on my winter hat and headed out.

Over the years, I’ve found that walking itself wasn’t enough. It brings many benefits, and is worth every step. I just needed more. So I added Pilates and really enjoyed that for a few years. Then I heard that a local school offered free use of its workout room to employees and area residents. My half-Hollander genes, the ones that have my radar keenly honed to freebies, kicked in, and I checked it out.

Not me. Really.

At first I thought weights would get me looking like some female Ahnold, which I didn’t want. But the more I learned, I realized that at my advanced age – cough, cough, 50 just around the corner – I really needed to incorporate weights into my routine.

Six days a week, I head to the weight room after my walk. I alternate – upper body one day; lower the next – and have Saturdays off. I’ve noticed a difference in the way my clothes fit, my posture, and my overall strength.

I use www.bodybuilding.com, which posts lots of motivational videos and workout ideas, to keep things fresh and interesting. Any kind of workout routine can become boring after a while, so mixing things up helps.

And thanks to Susie, my goal this summer is to try paddleboarding. I’m looking forward to this – when it warms up. I can’t imagine paddleboarding with a winter suit on, but I may need to. Stay tuned…

Wisconsin summer…

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The Cinderella Car Wax

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car washing, car waxing, Cinderella, dog, humor, washing, weather, Wisconsin

Not our usual spring weather…

Spring is coming slowly to Wisconsin this year. By now, we normally have temperatures in the upper 40s, sunny days tugging the buds into existence. Lately we’re stuck with grey, damp weather that clings and chills.

But that’s OK.

It delays Car Waxing Day, that morning when I lug the hose reel, thumping across the patio, hose nozzle rattling across the bricks, stopping as I reach my car. It’s followed by the bucket with the car wax, rags, and sprays that promise to shred the bugs off my windshield in a single squirt.

I used to think I was pretty good at waxing my car, but really, I’m not. Washing? Not so much, either.

I try, I really do. I crouch down, rag in hand, scrubbing the offending streaks of salt and dirt that accumulated over the course of a long Wisconsin winter, rinsing them away to dissolve in a puddle in the driveway. Things look so promising at this point.

I wax mostly according to the instructions on the orange Nu Finish bottle, sometimes forgetting to park the car in the shade first, and often being too impatient to prudently apply a coat to one small section, letting it dry before I remove it and carefully start on the next section.

A car, waxed by someone who knows how to wax…

I apparently do this with my eyes closed, though I don’t mean to. After I finish, my car sparkles like Cinderella’s carriage the night of the ball. The next day, it’s a sad looking pumpkin in the driveway, streaks of dried wax clinging to the finish here and there like misplaced ersatz racing stripes.

I thought I got them! I really did! But they pop up for the next week or two, here a streak, there a streak, every where a streak streak.

A few years ago, our church had a fundraising car wash. Our family signed up, and my husband snorted that it was a good thing St. Mark’s wasn’t holding a car wax, too. I had to laugh because he’s right – something bad happens when the orange bottle of Nu Finish is in my hands.

There’s also another ritual that’ll happen once the weather gets warm: the dog loves an outdoor bath.

Thank goodness he doesn’t need to be waxed!