Gouldhome, Canyon Ranch, April 7

April 7

I slept pretty well last night, but I woke up at 5am and couldn't get back to sleep. I decided my bed was too comfortable to get out of until 6am. At 6 we were all up. I think we were just waiting for the others to wake up.

At 7am breakfast opens (it opens for the omelet bar and the cereal/fruit/breads bar at 6am) but we wanted to see what was on the full menu. I ordered 2 pancakes (mango and blueberry), a poached egg and an almond and apricot muffin. Everyone else went for pancakes too. They were good but small and I was still hungry so I went to the cereal bar and was unhappy to find that there was no granola out. Ah well. I got some banana bread to eat, and some to take with me if I got hungry during the day. Canyon ranch keeps bowls of fruit out for their guests, but sometimes after so much exercise I want something more substantial and banana bread is great for that.

We all had about an hour before the 9am classes that we wanted to take so I went back to the room to journal. I kind of lost track of time and noticed it was getting late so rushed back to the spa to change into my shorts and get to Gym 5 for Energy stretch.

Energy stretch is a mixture of muscle work and stretching. They would fatigue a muscle then stretch it out. This isn't bad but I like the pure stretch classes better.

My 10am class was Mini Power. Which I was a little too in shape to take. I didn't get my heart rate up enough. But I had fun.

11 am was Get On the Ball. I enjoyed bouncing around. Though once again they worked my gluts to failure. Every class I've taken so far has had glut work, and two of the classes worked them to failure. This was the second class I had to do pushups with too. I know what muscles will be sore tomorrow.

Lunch today was Mexican pizza (which I tasted) and ceviche which was a gazpacho like soup with shrimp and fish. It was quite tasty, but I always think soups that are cold are weird. In addition I had one of my favorite salads - southwest avocado and red pepper salad (which was actually always on menu for lunch). Karen tried some and loved it too. Today was raspberry sorbet, always one of my favorites. The blueberry was better, but since I liked raspberry sorbet so much I liked this a little more. I ordered my molasses and ginger cookies to go since I was no longer hungry.

After lunch I had to get my body composition done. They take little folds of skin at four different places and add them all up. I was in the suggested range but barely.

Then it was off to the spa so I could sit in the hot tub for a bit. It is so relaxing. Karen was just getting out as I was getting in.

At 2 I went to Yoga Basics with Randi. He is also a great instructor. It seems all the best instructors this year are male. I've loved every one I've had. He teaches yoga much differently than George, more energetically. Today I've started to notice that I'm having trouble with certain parts of my body. Like my neck. Yoga seems to exacerbate the problem. Certain things that I do at home I have no trouble with, but the constant use of my core muscles, I just don't do. I obviously need more work at it.

My next class was ranch bo. I had a great time with it - well all but the 5 minute of jumping rope. I was quite ready to stop long before the end. Unfortunately I had to leave early. I was scheduled for a 4pm Thai massage.

I showered quickly but forgot to bring new clothes to the spa so had to put on my sweaty stuff. Yuck. There is nothing more disgusting than putting on sweaty socks when you are all clean. But I didn't have time to stop at our room. I had to head over the Life Enhancement Center where the massage was. The center is very confusing. There was no information desk, so I wandered a round for a bit and found the women's locker room. I figured there would be an attendant just like there is in the main women's locker room at the spa, but no one was there but a guest. Luckily she helped me out. I sat by a little fountain in a hall. No signs or anything. Usually everything is well enough labeled that you know what you are doing.

Finally my masseuse came out and brought me into a small room. It had a large mattress on the floor - sort of thin like a futon mattress. For the first few minutes she describe what was going to happen and any limitations I might have. Then she started. Thai massage is very strange. It is half assisted stretching, a quarter acupressure and a quarter massage, with a few other strange things like traction. I have injuries in two spots, my knee and my shoulder. My knee I usually consider the worst, but she said for an ITB injury I've kept up a lot of mobility in those joints. My shoulder however was quite another matter. She said it was being drawn in and wouldn't open up, almost like the injury is in the front not in the back/shoulder. She said I needed to work on opening out my shoulders. It sounded to me like I need more Yoga. Focusing on opening the heart would do me a lot of good. Afterwards I was very loose, but it didn't last, by the end of dinner I was all tight in my shoulder and neck again. Sigh.

And speaking of dinner - I rushed over to meet the others at 6pm. We all had places to be at 7. I ordered the lamb and Donna and Karen ordered the candied pecan chicken. Karen loved her chicken. I just thought it was good, I thought my lamb was much better. Dessert was peanut butter ice cream and Kahlua cake. The cake I thought was very good, but Donna and Karen said just ok, but it didn't taste much like Kahlua at all. Just chocolate. The peanut butter ice cream was just like I remembered it, wonderful. The first time I tasted this, two years ago, I thought the concept of peanut butter ice cream very strange, and couldn't believe how wonderful it was. Since dinner was a little slow we took off right after we were done.

I went to the Native Southwestern Culture, History, Metaphysics and Crafts lecture. It was put on by a wholesaler of Indian artifacts and crafts. He had the most beautiful baskets and rugs with him. I wish my mother had been here to see them. He taught us all about the different tribes and the patterns they used and the meaning of them in the religion of the different tribes. He went way over his allotted hour time limit, but none of us were willing to leave. I was supposed to meet Karen at 8pm, but didn't get there until about 8:30. We sat in the spa and gabbed about stuff, including the color of nail polish she chose (bright red). When Donna was done with her massage we all went back to the room to sleep.