Oh, Michele, that sounds so lovely. Those Vegas hotels have some of the nicest gyms I've ever been in.

Thursday, 7 April

60 minutes arc trainer, intervals, resistance at 9
60 minutes Pilates class

Friday, 8 April:

15:07 rowing on the Concept 2, doing 3,028 meters for 2:24 at 500 meters and 37 s/m with a projected total of 6,142
60 minutes weights
45 minutes elliptical, resistance at 8, half backward

Originally Posted by traveling michele:
April 7: 90 minutes Bikram Yoga

Total:
7 days
585 minutes

April 8: 90 minutes Bikram Yoga

Totals:
8 days
675 minutes

Saturday, April 9:

45 minute spin class
60 minute Pilates class

And me running back out the door afterward, changed into freshly laundered street clothes but unshowered, to get my thrice-yearly highlights & a haircut for the wedding I'm attending tonight. That was the only appointment I could get with Patrick today, and I don't miss Pilates class ever, if I can help it. I hope I am not too aromatic while seated in the chair. I've sprayed myself with a nice light L'Occitane cinnamon orange cologne. The chemical smell of the stuff put on my hair may overwhelm any other scent. (Oh, I am sooo not a European.)

Originally Posted by saef:
(Oh, I am sooo not a European.)

Dearest saef, what on earth does this mean?? I can take it.

Originally Posted by silverbirch:
Dearest saef, what on earth does this mean?? I can take it.

I will let Saef put her own comment in, but I don't think she is referring to Brits! Not to offend anyone (hopefully), but some Americans think (perhaps incorrectly?) that some Europeans (Germans, French) may not bathe everyday. Most Americans are fanatical about bathing daily, using deodorants, etc.

Saef-- I'm sure you didn't smell too badly! Since I've started Bikram Yoga, I try to go right home after to bathe as I drip sweat like nobodies business. I have almost no sense of smell (nerve was damaged) so I have no idea if I smell though I must. Some days (like today), I make a brief stop but I try to steer clear of everyone around me!

Originally Posted by traveling michele:
April 8: 90 minutes Bikram Yoga

Totals:
8 days
675 minutes

April 9: 90 minutes Bikram Yoga

Totals:
9 days
765 minutes

Re bathing daily - that's something I have to do 2X per day. Part of waking up for me (and I work out in the a.m. too) is having a hot shower. I also have to shower off after work or I smell like a mix of sweat and dogs (not DH's favourite). I am usually also covered in grime, sand, saliva, and worse. :p

From what I've experienced/heard about in a lot of countries other than North America is that the plumbing is not as efficient as ours. Nor is there an unending supply of hot, hot water. I had to go several days without a shower in both Morocco and Peru and no one seemed to really notice.

But if everyone doesn't bathe fanatically then they all smell about the same, yes? :shrug:

Dagmar :cheese:

I do not mean to generalize to all people of a certain European country; however, in my younger days I was once trapped in a meeting room for a long meeting with some male programmers from this unnamed country, and we were all ready to faint by the time the meeting was over. This meeting was in the U.S., and the programmers were being put up in a local hotel by the company, so the availability of hot water was not an issue.

On the other hand, according to rumor, the reason the company I worked for gave out so many free new-product T-shirts was that it was the only way to get the tech guys to change their shirts.

So... Make of it what you will! ;)

Jay

Oh, dear, I have put my foot in it, haven't I? I'll try to explain. My comment is really about my experience working during my one of my grad student summers "off" at a B&B in Greenwich Village which served people visiting Manhattan from all over the world. To generalize, based on my interaction with a clientele looking for economical accommodations & likely to prefer the charm of an old red-brick 1830s B&B with a walled garden over a luxury hotel, the Germans, Belgians & French were **not** the most fanatical showerers & users-up of the hot water supply. They were quite clean but seemed to "wash up" or "bathe" more than showering -- and I'm comparing their habits with some of the American females who showered in the morning & then again in the evening before going out & whose habits got others who shared that floor's bathroom very irritated. These frequent showerers, I used to think of as the Antiseptics. My problem was the house's plumbing was still akin to a one-family house, instead of one that now had five guest rooms when running at full steam & only two bathrooms. When we were busy, I used to practically pray that the bookings included guests from the continent.

Interesting reflections. Thanks. There are many different ways of getting clean, of course, and the boundary between what is clean and what is dirty shifts about between cultures. I'm a bath person myself (at home) and I'm thinking about starting a new bar of soap after reading this. Only thinking about it as yet ...

(Joke)

I use the shower at the gymn.

Thanks again, saef. Great topic. Illuminating.

Sunday, 10 April

15:06 rowing on the Concept 2 for 3,067 meters at 2:22 for 500 meters, 37 s/m, for a projected total of 6,218 meters
60 minutes weights
45 minute spin class

Up at 4:30 AM in a Marriott hotel room, and having not been very pleased with the contents of the so-called fitness room, I checked out at 6 AM & drove home in a beautiful pink sunrise -- which looked autumnal from the red buds on the maples in the Connecticut Hills -- and went straight to my gym at 7:45 am. I had just four hours of sleep so I will be dragging later, but oddly enough, my rowing time seems unaffected compared with other recent times.

Originally Posted by traveling michele:
April 9: 90 minutes Bikram Yoga

Totals:
9 days
765 minutes

April 10: 52 minutes running on treadmill

Totals:
10 days
817 minutes

Originally Posted by traveling michele:
April 10: 52 minutes running on treadmill

Totals:
10 days
817 minutes

April 11:
90 minutes Bikram Yoga

Totals:
11 days
907 minutes

Monday, 11 April:

60 minutes arc trainer, hill intervals, resistance at nine, which felt easy tonight
60 minutes circuit training class

I felt unusually good walking out of the gym, partly because the weather had turned mild, but some of it has to be those exercise-induced endorphins. The forsythia bushes on my apartment property nearly glowed in the dark. A lot of people were out walking the streets of the village, and everyone seemed happier.


Tuesday, 12 April:

15:06 rowing on the Concept 2 for 3,072 meters at 2:27 for 500 meters, 37 s/m for a projected total of 6,125
60 minutes weights
45 minutes arc trainer, half backward, resistance at eight

I'm going out to dinner after work tonight -- one of the work-from-home people is in town for a few days for some kind of training & meetings, so my dept is taking him out to dinner. Since I'm up for that managerial job, it seemed to behoove me to say yes. Which means no evening spin class. :-( So I got to my gym at 5:30 AM to do my routine before work. Tried to hurry my morning commute in, but of course one lane was closed on I-95, which made me arrive really late for work. So I feel slightly behind & disoriented. But hey, I got my workout in. Now I just have to live up to the other part of the maintenance pact with myself, which is to choose judiciously at dinner tonight.