Sunday, January 18, 2009

Ice and Flowers

Today after my long run I took an ice bath. I'm a big fan of the ice bath. It's not the most comfortable 15 minutes, but it makes my legs transpire from torn up to fresh again. Today I wanted to try an experiment and see what my heart rate does in the ice bath. You know, just for fun. And because I'm into numbers, and dorky, and well, doesn't everyone try little experiments like this?

For my friends who come over and are offered a Coke and then told "sorry we have no ice, Charisa used it all this morning" I'm really sorry about this. Brian has discussed purchasing a commercial sized ice maker and I am 100% on board for his purchase! I'm still pretty sure it might take a LONG time to make it economical though . . . 


Peppermint green tea, bath full of ice and I hop in. 
Heart rate is 64 pre-polar-entrance.

The heart rate immediately goes up to 84. But it stops there an in about a minute it is back down to 67. Apparently sitting in a tub full of ice isn't really that much work for the heart except for the initial shock it receives. Usually once all the ice melts, it's about time to get out. So the picture below - I've got about 7 more minutes. And this picture made me realize painted toe nails look better on my feet.


After my legs were refreshed I went outside and noticed this:

Back in November I had spent a Sunday pretending I was Martha Stewart. I planted some bulbs and various other flowers around our yard. And voila! What do you know - I must have done something right - because they are starting to bloom! And I know - I'm completely spoiled with our warm weather. I enjoyed it this weekend for all of you in cold, snowy places - all of it, on the ride yesterday, my run by the coast today, and noticing the flowers start to bloom in January!