Well, the dentist wasn't all that bad. I went in thinking I had 5-6 cavities, and would probably have to have a root canal for my horrible toothache. Turns out I only have two small cavities, and neither cavity is in the tooth that was hurting so bad! The dentist and hygienist both think the tooth pain I experienced in my upper left tooth was actually sinus pain. Whatever it was, I am glad it doesn't hurt anymore and that I don't have to pay to get it fixed!
The hygienist said that for not having my teeth professionally cleaned for five years, they really weren't all that bad. That makes me feel good about my oral hygiene. The cleaning was going so well and was relatively painless, until the hygienist began digging plaque rocks out of my gum line with a high powered WaterPik. That was pretty awful. I didn't even know that could happen! But apparantley, plaque build up can turn into calculus (...anyone remember MTV's "2Gether"?) which is a rock like substance. I will go back in about two weeks to get the cavities filled.
Tips for not accumulating rocks in your gums:
1. Floss at least once a day
2. Visit the dentist every 6 months for cleanings!
This past weekend my sister Megan competed in the CrossFit FX Texas Games Unleashed competition in Allen, TX (near Dallas). She did awesome in this absolutely insane physical competition - she came in 3rd overall female!
Visit her blog at www.texascrossfitter.blogspot.com to read all about the competition. I did a few CrossFit workouts with her when I was home for Christmas and they absolutely kicked my butt. I can't even imagine the physical strength it takes to do a day long competition! Megan is hoping to do well in the CrossFit Games qualifiers this year, so these local competitions really help with her training and preparation. Go Meggie!
My trainer rides seem down right wimpy compared to the workouts Megan is doing, but I've really grown to love the trainer for three main reasons:
1. Allows you to work on your form.
When you are riding on the road, there are all kinds of things that you have to pay attention to. You need to be looking forward paying attention to what the road ahead of you holds (traffic, turns, cliffs, hills, etc.)and watching the road below you to make sure that you don't get into any loose gravel or broken glass or other hazardous materials.
And there are probably a hundred other things that cyclists subconsciously are aware of when they are riding on the road. When you are on a trainer, you don't have to worry about any of it! You don't have to worry about traffic or road surfaces, or upcoming turns, hills, descents, etc. This allows you to work on your form - back straight and not hunched over, feet flat, hips to the back of the saddle, etc. - more so than you might be able to do out on the road.
2. Forces you to stay in constant motion.
As the Fat Cyclist pointed out in a recent post, it is easy to coast on a bike. You can coast as you are coming down a hill and you can coast on a flat section of road. One thing that "Coach" Cody told me last summer was "never stop pedaling." He said that he took all of the hills of Kentucky for granted and got used to coasting, but then he went cycling in Indiana (which is pretty flat) and found that he was exhausted from pedaling all of the time since there wasn't really any time to coast. That made sense to me, so I try to pedal all the time when I am on the roads, even if it means spinning out of even my biggest gears. The trainer really forces you to pedal constantly. If you're not pedaling, you're not doing anything. If you want to ride, you have to pedal!
3. No excuses allowed.
There is really no reason to skip a trainer workout. I love that I can wake up at 5:00am and be on the trainer at 5:05. It doesn't take near the preparation that running takes (at least for me, and I'm talking mostly about preparing to run in the cold) and it doesn't matter at all what the weather is like. The trainer has been especially useful this winter with all of the snow storms we have had. There have been days were it would have been impossible to run outside in the morning without breaking my neck on the ice, so I have substituted trainer rides for runs. Now I know that the two are not equal, but if I can't spend 50 minutes running, I'd rather spend 50 minutes riding on the trainer than 50 minutes sitting on the couch.
Workout info for the week:
The storms we got on Monday and Tuesday night have not been good for my running. It is Thursday night, and I have not run yet this week! I am planning on getting in 4-6 in the morning, and then doing 13 on Saturday. We'll see...
Monday 2/8/10
-Scheduled rest day
Tuesday 2/9/10
-45:00 minutes on trainer
Wednesday 2/10/10
-Rest day
Thursday 2/11/10
-45:00 minutes on trainer
2 comments:
Meredith, your blogs are so well organized and interesting! I hope you know how much Katherine and I enjoy them. Harper doesn't care for your writing as much, but everyone's a critic, even babies.
Thanks, Rob! I appreciate it. Babies - you just can't please them! Tell Harper she will learn to love my writing as she gets older and wiser.
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