Bike Seats and Backaches

Enter Midol. I took a pill two nights ago to curb some of the pre-menstrual irritability I felt coming on (it soothed). Then another yesterday (also helpful). It relieved me right into a state of forgetting menstruation and I proceeded to work-it, work-it. I gardened more, hand-tilled my lawn for new seed, and rode my bike for nine miles, after a three-season hiatus (Vagina Challenge Level: moderate-high). My vagina decided it does not like bike riding.

           I could write a vagina diatribe cursing the seats and stone roads of my junket but instead, I'm moving on. My new Super Kegel, from the church, can wait to be test-run. No working-out today! My vagina will be lounging in sweat-shorts and I will be eating stale brownies from the pan. I will not be clenching. I will not be limbercizing. I will be bleeding. And I will be plotting data collection methodology so that I know better next time and spare the bloody underwear.

           Page two of the Super Kegel manual features:

Diagram from page 2 of The Super Kegel product manual.

"The Super Kegel comes with the adjustable tension device preset to the lowest tension setting and should remain so throughout the program....Once you can go through the entire Super Kegel program, complete all sets and repetitions and get the wings completely closed, you may want to increase the resistance tension to create a challenge for your yourself and to maintain optimal fitness."
          Yah SK, put me in my place. My vagina needs to remain on the lowest tension setting. It needs me to give it a spreadsheet (pun!) and leave business of surgical stainless steel and a pliable outer body alone. It needs a break from the bike, and a new set of vulvawears. It needs me to complete all the sets and reps of daily vagina existence before bringing on the strain. It needs to know that I'm paying attention.
*Day 1 of a woman's menstrual cycle, marked by first signs of blood, is an excellent day to begin tracking. 
**There are iPhone Apps designed to track menstrual cycles and fertility including weight, breast and mood changes.