I did some gardening on Saturday in between three shows over the weekend.

Friday night was nothing; I was able to move to the groove as always.

Saturday night's gig went fine, but the hard, tile floor didn't help much after spending the afternoon weeding, planting, mulching, sweating, getting bit by mosquitos, etc. I was still able to get airborne on the pogo jumps at the end of the night, though.

It wasn't until Sunday morning that my legs called up to let me know they wanted to take a sick day. Did they forget about the outdoor festival?

The heat and humidity did not help matters. I noticed I was moving less, my legs trying to convince me that I should stand still and let my upper body do all the work.

I chugged some sports drink between songs and mounted a rally! Hydration: good!

But I know I didn't do that great big stage any justice.

Next time the gardening will have to wait. My legs don't seem to dig that scene.

I still haven't lugged my gear back down to the basement yet. Those stairs look evil!

I'll see if stretching helps. Got another 3-bagger coming up W/F/Sa doing the 2-band shuffle. (See what you get to look forward to, Ross? ) Nothing outdoors though, thankfully. (July 19th is the next one of those.)

Of course my wife wants to start her training for the 3 Day tonight. Hopefully I can convince her to go easy and only do a 5 mile walk to kick it off.

Oh, and in the past I've had run-ins with the rose bushes. Taking a thorn to a finger pad kinda sucks.

Man, I guess I have choose my career or bass playing......!

Quit whining you Pansie....

I amuse myself!

Rookie.

When you get done gardening (and maybe take it just a bit easier on that to begin with), take a nice hot shower and pop a couple of Ibuprofen or something.

I've been knocked to the ground by my 225 lb. ram and not been as lame as you were! It just takes conditioning. Stretching is good.

... as does being able to outrun sheep and goats.

Just start running 3 days a week. You won't have that problem anymore once your legs are conditioned. I ran 8 miles before my last gig. Finished my run at 6:00 and was on stage playing at 9:00.

What? You mean like on purpose?
Dude, I only run while being chased. If I had to walk 8 miles I'de have to play laying on a gurney.
You're hardcore Tates.

Eh. I was feeling seriously guilty when The Woman(tm) was hitting the gym 5 (or 6) days a week and I hadn't been in almost a year. I've been back to 5 days a week myself for two months and I feel ridiculously good.

I recommend bike riding. It's not as stressful on your joints as jogging but it is good cardio if you push yourself, and it's calmingly Zen-derful. If you have a girlfriend/wife (or partner, whatever) and you do those things together it's also a really good time to just be together in silence, strengthening the relationship without trying to force things to talk about besides, "Hey look at that oncoming bus, neat huh?" Obviously sometimes it's better to get on a trail than to make a big trek through the city, but both can be lots of fun.

Band bike trips are fun too, although on one of them I wiped out really bad and still have a decent scar on my forearm to prove it. The experience made for some good songwriting later though, just because all of the good images to draw from the experience. Lengthy bike trails give you lots of time to build up ideas and churn your creative juices.


...On the other hand I fully acknowledge that gardening can really whip your butt, and the main reason is because you THINK it should be easy if you don't make a regular habit of it. I always take on more than I can chew when I do it and feel committed to getting the job done. Yes, it can wear you out.

Tough crowd....

I'm having a hard time switching from running to biking. Running gives me a much more whole body workout in much less time, especially when I hold onto a pair of Heavy Hands. And the bendy-over thing on the bike disagrees with my hips as much as running does; I never use the bottom of the curly-Q handle bar thingies that are on my old school 10-speeder.

Whoo boy. I should post some pics of our house. My wife has a You-Cut flower farm on our property. She has 48 four foot by eight food raised beds full of deer candy, with more deer resistant stuff planted along the outside of the fence. And that's just the 'for sale' part of the gardens. That's some weeding, lemme tell ya. Good thing she's not a bass player.

2 words.. Recumbent bicycle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gold-rush.jpg

It's not that bad! OK... can be. For me getting back into long distance 50+ miles a day biking has been all about the "seat" area. I have no idea how I ever did the Seattle to Portland ride.



True dat. I have been using an eliptical on my off running days. Low impact and almost as good as running.

The answer is clear...time to quit playing.

Peace.
--SW

All 'a ya'all are nuts. I know some of you have office jobs. Gotta get exercise somewhere right? I get plenty between 6 and 2.
Talk about a full body workout - I lost 4 pounds in 2 days last week framing a second story deck. It was over 100.

Gardening? Pffft.

I got two words for ya....

I used to do that. The office job is a good way to get lazy. I look around work and every other person needs to lose 30+ pounds. I don't want to become one of those people. Hence the self-inflicted workout abuse.

On the upside it looks like I'd have an easier time getting on and off a recumbant. As it is, I have to sort of slide on and off from behind. And you have a dirty mind. Downside of a recumbant is that instead of just being a dork, I'd be crowned the King of the Dorks.

Word.
When I was a network design engineer I was 40 lbs heavier, ate off the roach coach twice a day and was a prime candidate for a heart attack. As I sneak up on 50 staying in shape is important - now if my knees would just magically rejuvenate . . .

Great responses, all!

Thank goodness no rams on my property. Just some vagabond deer, rabbits, and the world's most annoying ground chuck!

While I certainly don't have the workout regimen of some of you, rest assured that the hardest part about gardening for me is the squatting. I'd much rather walk, run, bike, jump candlesticks, leap tall buildings ... just about anything but squat. (Maybe it's just the pansy gene. LOL! And I do have a recumbent bike machine in the basement! )

Had a great show Wednesday; looking forward to Fri/Sat. Not ready to give 'em up yet, SW, not yet. (Still gotta pay off the PA! )

In all seriousness, and I know some of you will make some pretty crazy jokes, knee pads are a wonderful tool.

I agree. Both about the knee pads and the jokes.

I bike with my daughter in the trailer. That's a good work out. I get a rest when we get to the park.

In honor of the Tour starting tomorrow, I did a longer ride and included a nice climb on an overpass so I can have a sense of those mountain stages.