Good Monday Morning, LWL!
Halleluljah, I go back to lifting today There's definitely an endorphin connection that I was missing last week. Cardio doesn't do it for me. I was mentally off, food was off since Thursday...I sure hope that's the reason

It's finally summer here. It went from cool and rainy to stinking hot in one day. I spent yesterday wilting, washed my car, discovered that my favorite used book store had finially gone out of business, hacked at the jungle landscaping for a while, and dreading 4 more months of steamy weather.

Back to my old split today If it's Monday, it must be chest day

Mel

Ha Mel, you beat Ilene!!! Glad you are back on with the lifting. Don't hurt anybody slinging all that iron around the gym. As for weather, I LOVE steamy, stinking hot! It was 93 degrees here yesterday and I was in HEAVEN!

Got up this morning at 5:30 and spent so much time trying decide WHAT to do for cardio, it got to be too late to get in a good hour so I cleaned my house instead. Mopped, did 2 loads of laundry, got everything in order. This evening when I get home from cheer practice, I can go straight into working out. I grilled enough food yesterday so the crew can feed themselves. I'm thinking its gonna be a Billy Blanks day.

Tiki

'Morning. Ilene - good luck with your Dad. My thoughts and prayers are with you. Glad you are lifitng again, Mel. Tiki, you and Billy seem to have something serious going on - are you to exclusive yet?

I did my run this morning, now off to do the Costco shopping with a stop by the running store. Now that it has gotten hot my feet are ready for some body glide. The shoes I was wearing yesterday must have rubbed the wrong way and I was feeling it today. Then an appoinment with the derm and a weight session this afternoon. Whew. Laundry will wait until Wed as tomorrow is just as packed. Have a great day.

Yep, Mel beat me to it this morning

Went to the gym did legs but I was weak for some reason and my right knee was bothering me so I didn'T do as much as I wanted but I had a decent workout just the same...

I may bike later right now I'm going to water the flowers, it's HOT here... Love it!!

TTFN

Morning LWL I think I'm back in the land of the living. I've been without cough meds all weekend, and am a much lower dose of decongestant. At last!! I have my gym stuff in the car and am planning on a legs session tonight. I'll do a little cardio too, working myself back up to a reasonable amount.

We had a very atypical weather weekend. Both days started out sunny and warm - we ate breakfast and lunch on the deck - then some huge thunderclouds built up and we had rain both afternoons. Yesterday's was an immense storm!! Lots of lightening and loud thunderclaps (even startled the sleeping cats ). The rain came down in sheets for over an hour. We had standing puddles of several inches on the lawn. Wow! I've lived most of my adult life in river valleys, and experienced this weather pattern on the east coast, but seldom in Alaska. Must be global warming, eh?

Sending good thoughts to your Dad, Illene. And yes, keep up the workouts and taking care of you - it's all that kept me sane when DH was going through treatment.

It felt GREAT to lift again I think I lost a little strength, but not much. I didn't try bench pressing because I still feel some tendonitis in my elbow, but other wise did a complete chest workout. Then my last morning client talked me into taking the noon spin class with her This passed weekend the Wachovia USPRO Cycling Championship was held here in Philadelphia. It is supposedly the fastest pro race in the world, and features the "Manayunk Wall": a 17 per cent grade climb for 2 miles up and 1.5 miles down. Men ride the course TEN times and women ride it four. For the spin class, we emulated it ONCE. I was dripping. Here's a link to the course: http://www.wachoviacycling.com/course_map.cfm/race_id/6
Note the little box with the race "profile"; that's the vertical profile of the course. It's a good thing I've been doing those insane treadmill workouts because that spinning class would have had me on the floor a few weeks ago!

Mel

Hi LWL,
I'm going throug a bit of a rough patch right now, so i am mostly lurking. I do try to keep in the cardio and lifting, but the food is definitely suffering.
From previous experience I'll just have to ride this out again, and hope that I will not slide as bad again.

I' m glad of the support of this group, just reading about what everyone is doing keeps me motivated to at least keep up the workouts.

Have a great day,
rabbit

*hugs* for all ... Mel, glad you are getting back, but what a course to come back to, yikes ... Glad you are feeling better WaterRat, one day at a time and soon the decons will be gone, too ... Rabbit, I know you will ride this out and be back in full-force-mode soon. Know we are here for you ... Ilene, take care of yourself while taking care of your Dad, too ... and one more hug to anyone who needs it right now ...

Hi all, Mel, great job on the suicide course. Ilene, how's it going lady? Keep your head and your spirits up, okay?

I just gotta say I MISS JACK!!! Meg, when you talk to him, tell him I asked about him and am really missing him in this forum. He was so crazy when it came to discussing sports and since the WORLD CHAMPION DETROIT PISTONS are in the finals again there is MUCH to talk about. Everybody thought Shaq and the Heat were going, but our defense shut them down!! Whoo hoo!! I am one tired chickie today - game didn't end until right at 11 and I was back up and in the gym by 5AM, but it was worth it.

DETROIT BASKETBALL!!!! GO PISTONS!!!!

Okay, I'm thru - for now.

Tiki

Hi,

When I read about your exercises, I feel like I am doing nothing... Well, let's see - biked to work yesterday and back home. Forgot to drink my protein shake before heading home - crawled last 1 km uphill like never before - so protein shakes do work! Will never forget it again. Also, did UBW yesterday at the gym, today stepped on the scale and it has mover UP 2 pounds!!! Go figure. I am blaming it on medication against asthma - I take more when I bike home and it seems to cause some weight gain.

Biked to work today - I finally got into timing plateu - I started with 1 hour 4 min to work and 1 hour 15 min home, now it is consistantly 49 min to work and 55-59 back home which is fine with me. Sometimes I made some challenges and did it in 46/52min but I was puffing so hard and could not sleep all night due to the asthma attack - so what I have now have to stick...

Tomorrow is tape day - I will probably do some power yoga and pilates. Walk the dog for an hour.

I scheduled swimming for Thursdays in summer - prepare for my first triathlon in August - will do 1 hour every Thursday during lunch - by boss signed up with me and goes with me to the swimming pool - which makes it all much easier...

Sandy.

That's cool Sandy. I wish my boss would sign up for cheerleading with me so then he wouldn't be mad when I take off at 5 on the dot each day!

Tiki

Today was a 40 min hill training run on the treadmill and a yoga session.

I am in a bad place and having problems shaking it. How many of you have been here and what did you do to get out of it?: Yesterday my trainer did my measurements - 1st time since Mar - lost inches but gained 1% body fat (caliper). Last measurement was in the morning and this one was in the afternoon. Does it make a difference? Man, what else am I supposed to be doing? I'm not saying I would do it, but I sure see how women go into eating disorders over crap like this. How do you move away from the numbers and concentrate on _____ - what goes in that blank? I am usually so good at shaking this stuff, but am having a really tough time of it. So much for all that inspiration I was giving out - sure hope no one catches this crappy mood (Sorry, I will be better tomorrow). Rats, rats and double rats. And compared to some of the things you ladies are going through, this makes me feel even smaller. I'm sorry

Ellen and Sandy -- *snap* out of it girls!! WE including ME, all have those days and they are just ONE day in the 30 days before that we did so well on... So heads up everyone and, ''This too shall pass''...

Ok, I haven't gone to the gym yet today!! Not sure if I'll have time or energy either, we'll see!!

TTFN

Ellen- It's the running. When I did a half marathon 2 1/2 years ago, my trainer (now my boss) was dismayed and kept telling me I'd lose muscle and gain fat. I told him he was crazy. How could I possibly get FATTER by running? Well, he was right. By the time I finally ran the ^&$# race, my body fat was up 2.5% even though my weight was down a few pounds. Your body adapts to the kind of training that you are doing, and right now you are not training for muscle mass. You may still be doing resistence training, and that helps, but long distance runs (or any other endurance sport) chews up muscle. You can't be all things at once. Don't worry about it, and go for what you enjoy. You are losing weight, you're healthier, and you enjoy running and meeting the goals you've been setting. Your body fat % isn't tatooed on your forehead.

My last food fall was over a body fat reading. I was basing my muscle mass on a reading taken 6 months ago when I was 12 pounds heavier. Dumb- of course I lost muscle, too. When I was re-calipered and the number was higher than I thought it was based on my calculations, I went into a 3 day tailspin. Why? Nothing change...the same clothes fit me (ok, not after those 3 days!), I was as "fit" after I knew the real number as when I was living in la-la-land, but it took me a while to get over it, too. It's the same as the scale. You know now not to get upset by daily fluctuations...what you are seeing is body composition fluctuation to to the training effect. Hang in there!

I went to the gym this morning intending to do shoulders and cardio, but found a lifting buddy about to do legs. She's crazier than I am (and a whole lot younger) so I couldn't pass up the chance to have a partner for a change Since I'm starting back from a week off, I figure it really didn't matter whether I did legs today or tomorrow. OMG, am I ever going to be sore

Ilene- I've looked all over and can't find the post where you talk about your Dad, but I figure he's sick. I hope all goes well.

Tik- Now that the 76'ers are OUT we don't get much BB news in Phila. Larry Brown is not on anyone's favorite list in this city.

Sandy-You are braver than I am for biking to work! I like my exercise where there's a "way out"

Pat- Welcome back to the land of the living!

Mel

Ilene and Mel - thank you both so much. I am feeling better already and will hopefully be back to myself tomorrow. I must admit I took a long hard look at the soft pretzels at the Baseball game tonight and almost caved. What stopped me was the realization that they would never taste as good as the ones from the street carts in downtown Philly and that is what a pretzel sohuld taste like. Gee Mel, do they still do that in Philly or are theirs frozen and tasteless, too?

I have a session with my trainer in the AM and Pilates in the afternoon tomorrow and I plan on going into both with my normal gusto. Sandy, I'll be thinking of you while I am there - we can get back on track together.

Tiki - if you want to talk about baseball, I am in - my Nats are in 1st place!!