Michele, I'm taking you as inspiration for my forthcoming trip Upstate. I may try running at the nature center on at least one day. The footing is softer there, which may help.

Tuesday, 16 August:

9:34 rowing on the Concept 2 got me to 2,014 meters
60 minutes back and shoulders routine
45 minute spin class

There was an older man standing in the doorway watching the spin class tonight. It felt weird. Really weird. He did not seem to be watching to judge whether he might take it. I trust my instincts on this, about when something is off somehow. But I still can't figure out what was going on.

Be careful Saef. Just take it slow and listen to your body. When I'm outside I usually run intervals which is supposed to be the best way to run anyway. I listen to music and will run for 2-3 songs and then walk for 1 song. It helps me to know I will get a break soon.:carrot:

Aug. 14: 90 min. bikram yoga

August 15: nada

August 16: 60 min. elliptical

Totals:
15 days
895 minutes

saef As someone who also can no longer run (plantar fascitis and general decline of my feet after 16 years of dogwalking) I can say that walking on a different surface does really make a difference on the feet.

I mostly walk on sand, grass, and boardwalk (real wooden boards - not plastic). Those times when I do a dog sit that requires an extra walk in the evening (usually on concrete) or when I have to walk the dogs on the street I really feel it in my feet the next day. The plantar fascitis flares right up.

So good luck with trying running on a natural surface - it might feel really good!

Dagmar :beach:

Michele, thanks for giving me a song count. I, too, listen to music, and that will help me work this out. Dagmar, the nature center has a real wooden boardwalk through the wetlands and dirt roads and in the forest, the paths are covered with a mulch-like substance which is particularly soft.

A lot of runners go out there. They hold races there, too. In fact, there is a 5K & 10K this weekend. I ran the 5K back in 2008, the only 5K I've done, and my mother brought my father to see it (he was ill & had just two and a half more months to live). But I'll be at a big outdoor antique show with my mother on race day.


Wednesday, 17 August 2011

45 minute spin class, with weights
30 minutes boring old Pilates mat routine, on my own


I need to try the Pop Pilates routines that Jessica showed me, but I tend to do Pilates in the gym, in a studio, with two mats under me and mirrors all around, rather than in the privacy of my home. So I'd have to bring my laptop (and hope the gym has Wi-Fi) to try a routine there. Or do Pilates at home. I must admit, when I am on the floor in my apartment, I'm distracted. (My thoughts are running like this: "Just look at the floor under the furniture. I need to get out a dust mop. I missed that little dried leaf when I vacuumed two days ago. It is a dried leaf, right, not a dead bug? God, I hope it's a dried leaf that stuck to my sneaker ...")

8/16: 40 mins stationary bike, 30 of which was an interval ride. 9.85 miles total avg HR 161.

8/17:
- 6.7 mile bike ride this AM (28 mins, 14.4mph)

Saef, could you do the routine at home to learn it, then do it without the video at your gym?

August 17: 60 min. elliptical

Totals:
16 days
955 minutes

8/17 addendum:
- 20 mins pilates at lunch, abs & back (couldn't get on the wireless so I had to do it from memory, boo)

How are you feeling Jessica? Do you think the steroids are working?

Michele, I'm not sure. I thought they were working a few days after I started taking them, but now it seems like they didn't really do anything at all. I'm down to 3 pills a day at this point. Maybe I just need a higher dosage? I go back to the rheumatologist on the 29th so we'll see what happens at that point. My podiatrist said that if the steroids didn't work he would do some more diagnostic tests on my feet like nerve conduction tests or maybe an MRI to get more details of what the tissues look like. I feel like I could deal with everything else if my feet would just get better.

Thanks, Jessica, I'd also wondered how you were feeling. Also, I was remembering reading about Joseph Pilates. Apparently he worked out his exercises to help bedridden & recuperating soldiers regain their strength. No wonder they work so well at times like this, when you have to be off your feet.

Thursday, August 18th:

60 minutes elliptical, resistance at eight, half backward
60 minutes Pilates class

Our charismatic, talkative and probably not-completely-stable Thursday night Pilates instructor returned to the gym today. She had cancelled at the last minute for five consecutive Thursdays. I thought we might not see her again. But there she was, expressive and enthusiastic as ever. Which means my butt muscles will hurt tomorrow, as that's her specialty.

August 18: 45 minutes Cardio Dance Party class
I had to leave 15 min. early to get Dewey from the vet. I figured it was better than nothing.

Totals:
17 days
1000 minutes even!:carrot:

My exercise during weight loss consisted of 30 minutes in the treadmill doing intervals at various speeds. I only skipped 2 days in the last 6 months and did other forms of exercise those two days. Now that I am entering maintenance I need to figure out how to incorporate strength training, with my busy schedule it needs to be something I can do at home...that will be my project to add on to my routine right after Labor Day. Maybe I will start with doing simple sit ups, push ups and squats with a couple of weights I have at home. It needs to be something I can do forever too and that I enjoy, is that too much to ask? :) . Suggestions are welcome. Thinking that elastic bands could help too though I have never used those... Or something with the Wii maybe?

Friday, August 19th:

9:33 rowing on the Concept 2 got me to 2018 meters
60 minutes arm & shoulders routine
45 minutes arc trainer, intervals, resistance at nine

Managed to get to the gym while packing and finishing off stuff in my apartment before departing on vacation. I put in a full workout, thinking all along that I should be on the road already. (And I'm not, I'm online here typing, but about to power off the laptop.)

A horrifying weigh-in this morning. No question that when I'm stressed, I tend to put things in my mouth, chewing and drinking continuously. Even if they're healthy things, it's just not good. I will try to focus on the food thing as well as the workout thing, where I'm no slouch.

Have a good vacation, saef! :hug: I wish it were longer for you.

Jay

August 19: 90 minutes Bikram Yoga

Totals:
18 days
1090 minutes

I did not go to the gym today.

Instead I walked around a big outdoor antique show from about 10 AM to a little past 5 PM, getting quite a sunburn on the backs of my arms and calves in the process. I also got a brown & white quilt stitched during the 1860s for the bed in my guest bedroom, a covered dish made by the Doulton pottery in England between 1891 and 1902, when they became Royal Doulton, and YAY! a plate to replace the one that I broke earlier this year. (Not easy to do as these plates were made in the 1840s.)

I'm trying not to think about not having gone to the gym. But I did not eat kettlecorn, a snow cone, a pulled pork barbeque sandwich, a Nutty Buddy. Or sadly, any piece from any of the pies baked by the Methodist Church ladies for sale at the show.

(I regret only the pie. No one makes pies anymore. Except maybe at Thanksgiving, or else The Little Pie Company in the city.)

Charin--not sure if I have suggestions for you. I go to the gym usually. Maybe check google or you tube for suggestions/ routines?

Saef-- you were still super active. That's what counts.

August 20:
60 minutes spinning
90 minutes fast walk with dh

Totals:
19 days
1240 minutes

Charin I do strength training 3x per week at home. I set up a series of 4 appointments with a personal trainer and specified that I wanted to set up a home gym in a limited space with a tight budget.

The trainer gave me exactly what I wanted. I use a ball, bands, and free handweights. I use my stairs for cardio bursts and I bought a small balance disc (that's one of my weak areas). I get new routines from print - magazines and Women's Health Big Book mostly - but that's just me. I'm sure there's a ton of stuff online and on DVD.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

Dagmar :strong:

August 21: 90 minutes Bikram Yoga

Totals:
20 days
1330 minutes

Sunday, Aug. 21:

Again, no gym, but once again walking continuously from 10 AM to 4:30 PM, with very few breaks. This day at the antique show was rainy. I got only jewelry: vintage Fiorati bead jewelry made in Murano, probably in 1940s-1950s, and a pair of earrings, maybe Navajo, that look like tiny squash blossom necklaces. That's a lot of walking for just that. Which sometimes brings about an existential crisis, so I wonder what is the point of walking and looking. Also sometimes I get disgusted by all the stuff, so much stuff, why do people need so much stuff, all of it ought to be dumped or sent to outer space just to get it off the planet.

Traveling Michelle and dagmar, thanks so much for your suggestions. I will definitely google info on strength training at home. My BIL is like an adhoc personal trainer and offered to help set me up with a routine though that was when I had a gym membership so now it is a bit different. But I am confident I will work something out, starting right after labor day.in new York this week. No access to treadmill which kills me a bit but wearing my pedometer everyday and counting my calories at maintenance level.

Have a wonderful week.

Monday, Aug. 22:

60 minutes on creaky Star Trac elliptical, resistance at nine, hill intervals
30 minute Pilates mat routine on my own


I should be more relieved to be back in the gym. Such as it is: The long slow but unrelenting decline at the gym in my mother's small Upstate town continues. I got on three ellipticals before finding one that worked. (The two nice Nautilus models were down, though without "Out of Order" signs on them. Maybe they ran out of these signs since there were about three of them on the treadmills.) Even then the working one I was on felt bouncy and not all that great -- I got nowhere near the workout I get on the LifeFitness elliptical at my gym back home downstate. Then Pilates on my own. I then drifted downstairs to check the weight equipment. Here, the gym shines. All kinds of bars and cages & etc. I have never used a Nautilus brand Gravitron (Stairmaster made the one at my gym) and will need one of the trainers or even desk attendants to show me how briefly. But that's for tomorrow.

August 22: 60 minutes Body Pump

Totals:
21 days
1390 minutes

8/22:

40 min. elliptical
45 min. walking the shaggy dog and shaggy hubby (hills and flat)

Tuesday, Aug. 23:

15 minute warmup backward on elliptical, resistance steady at eight
60 minutes back and biceps routine
45 minutes elliptical, steady resistance at eight

August 23: 60 minutes elliptical

Totals:
22 days
1450 minutes

Tonight I hit my 200th day of exercise this year! :carrot::carrot: I originally was aiming for 300 days and then realized I had missed too many days to get there. Rather than being mad at myself :mad:, I reset my goal to make it attainable. So, I hit it today. I'm going to see how much further I can get now. I'm going to reset it for 250 and hope to get there.

YAY Michelle! That's a lot of work, and that's also a useful lesson in goal-setting and being practical.

As for me, on Wednesday, 24 August

I ran continuously for 4 miles and walked about another half-mile to cool down afterward. The running part took me about 35-40 minutes, I'm not sure how long.

This is a familiar route, one that I used to walk-run for years when I lived at my parents' house. I was never certain of the distance, though, but that wonderful site MapMyRun shows that, as I thought, there are a lot of runners around here. Many have marked their favorite runs, and many of them run along my old route and worked out the distance.

Did you enjoy the running Saef?

:wave: I'm not really in your league but I do keep moving. With the 11 year old pacer, I've been swimming and am now going running & basket balling. Is that a triathlon? (Emphasis on the 'try', I think.)

Michele, it was exhilarating. The air was very cool this morning, even chilly; I'd slept with a blanket over me the night before, and also my mother's cat beside my right knee. I felt reluctant to head to the gym and realized the creaky elliptical held no appeal. But the country road did. So I decided to try my old route. I also ran this on Easter morning earlier this year. I certainly have the breath for it, no trouble there at all. I tried to be lighter on my feet so it felt less like pounding. The blacktop was new and more forgiving than I'd thought. (In my old neighborhood, downstate, the streets are poured cement & that is not at all good on knees and feet.) I did notice a slight discomfort in the small of my back. I don't know if that's due to impact or posture. Other than that, I felt really good. No quad soreness, which I suspect may be from spinning building up my quads.

I won't run again probably for months but it's good to try now and then. A really cool clear & gorgeous country morning in August was as good a time as any. It was like early October. Autumn comes sooner up here than downstate.

August 24: 95 minutes Bikram Yoga

Totals:
23 days
1545 minutes

Thursday, 25 August

60 minutes arc trainer, hill intervals, resistance at nine
60 minutes Pilates class


Back to my gym, appreciating anew the clean and working equipment, the free towels, the free classes in all their variety, and even the voluble, over-sharing Thursday night Pilates instructor. Who really is a gifted teacher.

Glad you enjoyed the run Saef. My back often twinges when I run as well.

August 25: 60 minutes Hip Hop dance class. I'm bummed because the instructor announced that today was the last class. They are replacing it with a Zumba class and making it 30 minutes earlier. At my gym the Zumba and U-Jam classes have been ridiculously full and you have to sign up for them. They keep adding more to try to keep up with the demand. I hate full classes and I'm not sure if I can make it there early. We'll see....

Totals:
24 days
1605 minutes

Friday, 26 August

9:53 rowing on the Concept 2 got me to 2,000 meters
60 minutes biceps, triceps and shoulders routine
45 minutes elliptical, resistance at eight, half backward
60 minute yoga class


Woke up worried & then became tense and obsessed with morning TV weather reports. Went to the gym mostly to work off adrenalin and tension. I felt better when leaving. That's also because I ran into someone in my building complex who's on the Safety Committee and she offered some details about planning & preparedness that helped the rational part of my mind believe a lot of precautions were in place, such as pumps and generators.

August 26:
30 min. walk
27 min. elliptical

Totals:
25 days
1662 minutes

Saturday, Aug. 27:

Did not go to the gym, but it was open, with spin & Pilates as always, as it's on higher ground than my apartment complex.

Packing and walking and lifting and carrying. That's it.

Really didn't feel like going to the gym today because I had to get up at 4 am to work. I ended up taking a long walk with dh instead.

August 27: 60 minutes fast walk

Totals:
26 days
1722 minutes

Sunday, Aug. 28:

Not much activity. Pretty much curled in a foetal position on a motel bed and crying. Lots of crying. And twiddling with a battery-operated radio dial. Also punching buttons on a cellphone.

I heard that people were out jogging. I actually felt badly for not feeling able to put on gym clothes (yes, of course I saved some of those, and my iPod Shuffle also) and go out jogging in late afternoon when it was just windy. But I was really afraid & did not want to leave the room or safe radius around the motel. It was a kind of agoraphobia, that's the best way to put it. People were walking out of their houses after the storm & talking with neighbors in the poor neighborhood behind the motel, one family was having a barbeque, and I looked out the window at them but felt unable to get out the room for the longest time.

I did finally go down -- emergency stairwell pitch black, had to count steps & feel my way along the walls & use light from opened cellphone to light the way for my feet. I went to the gas station next door. No power there. Plastic bags over the pumps. Pair of clerks sitting on the curb, holding their knees in the arms, staring out at the world. They both stood up when I asked if they were closed, said no & opened the door. They seemed relieved to have someone to talk to or something to do. All the glass doors of the coolers were sweaty and the drinks & food inside still somewhat cool. Do you know I had an urge to binge -- I wanted to fill my arms & a bag with convenience food -- but ended up getting two bananas, an apple & a Diet Cherry Pepsi before walking out. (I did talk with them a bit about Indian food, thanks to my dinner from just two weekends before, when life was still normal & the biggest obstacle in the world seemed like eating dinner at a friend's.) Neighborhood empty outwardly, though not in the houses of course. A few people walking here & there. Just walking & looking. No traffic on Route 95. Some debris blowing in wind. A kind of pesto spread all over the streets (wet shredded green leaves). Felt like a Zombie Apocalypse movie.

My binge: Maybe six handfuls of trail mix, made myself stop, curled back up on bed. My default behavior from Saturday through Sunday: Lie down & curl up on my side. And cry. No bingeing, just kind of giving up. Half-drowsing. Hey, I finally caught up on my sleep.