[saef]

Yes, yes, it's far it's too clean. Because there are no empty soft drink or coffee cups mashed on the floor, there is no dog hair, there are no mud splashes (because this family only walks on dry, clean grass when they're doing their outdoorsy things). Most of all, there is no smell. For a family going out into the country? What?

I remember what my mother's station wagon was like when I was seriously into riding and had to be ferried to lessons & shows & etc. with paddock boots, rubber stall-mucking boots & saddle & sheepskin saddle pad with aroma of horse sweat and protective helmet with aroma of little girl's sweaty hair. And never mind the bits of straw and fragments of dried horse manure (despite all the stomping on the gravel outside the car that occurred, under mother's strict orders, before I got back in to ride home).

My verdict: That family doesn't actually go outdoors, it just dresses up like it's going to. Then it goes shopping or something.

Which is, actually, what the majority of people who own such vehicles do.

Those vehicles (or a variant thereof, usually black & shiny) are also very popular where I used to live among what would euphemistically be called Urban Youth. But I never see Urban Youth with their car stereos blaring from the cannon speakers in the trunk used to sell these vehicles.

[traveling michele]

Originally Posted by traveling michele

Oct. 5: I went to the gym for a Zumba class because I thought it was Thursday! Oops..... stayed and did the elliptical instead.

60 minutes elliptical

Totals:
5 days
330 minutes

October 6: 60 minutes Zumba (right day! Hooray!)

Totals:
6 days
390 minutes

[saef]

Friday, Oct. 7:

45 minute spin class, after getting melted frost off the car at 5 AM. As with every year, when the weather changes, I forgot whether one is better off blasting hot or cold air on the inner windshield in the morning after a frost. Which one clears up the moisture & which one creates more fog?

This spin class was sparsely attended, with just five people, but apparently it's the first time it's been offered on a Friday morning. There are some serious athletes in that class. The leg muscles on those people! I am keeping up, but have not yet adjusted to riding on the different brand of spin bike. Everything that I once did unthinkingly feels labored & stilted & off-balance. Which is a good metaphor for the rest of my life, too.

[saef]

Saturday, Oct. 8:

60 minutes on the Stairmaster stepper, resistance at five, finally getting the hang of this thing -- most of the time.

60 minutes Kripalu yoga class, with the class full of more than 30 people, on a splendid sunny Saturday in October, a throwback to summer but with a slight crispness in the morning. I think I'm figuring out my body through this class. My hips are very tight and inflexible. But I do cobra and sphinx quite well, so I have either abs or back muscles that are flexible. (Maybe from over a year of thrice weekly Pilates classes.) My hamstrings aren't that bad. But my quads are extremely tight, so much so that it's painful for me to kneel & try to sit back on my feet. I'm putting all these findings together into a clearer picture of my physical strengths and limitations.

[saef]

Sunday, Oct. 9th:

Ran a 5K today at the Apple Festival down in Lafayette, in the most gorgeous countryside imaginable, in perfect weather, with the trees nearing their peak foliage colors and the corn and soybeans and pumpkins all coming in. Our start line was just over a little country bridge, a very modest one made of poured cement, probably from around the turn of the century. The water flowing there was the color of chocolate milk from all the recent rains. I heard a bird overhead singing in a whispery way, recognized the song, put my head back to look directly upward at a nearby telephone wire and discovered an Eastern Bluebird looking down into the crowd of fidgeting runners.

I think my time for this race was close to last month's time. My mother accompanied me this time and seemed to enjoy the pre-race bustle and the free bagel that I snagged for her. (She loves it when things are free.) I asked her to watch the timer for me when I crossed the finish line, but she didn't recognize me. She thought I was wearing an orange shirt; I was wearing a lime-green shirt. I'm not sure why she forgot the color because she helped pin my number on it. She was still looking down the chute, alertly watching for me to arrive, when I came up behind her, finally finding her in the crowd, and asked her what my time was.


ETA: I looked up the race results. My time was 32:23, not as fast as my last race, at 32:21:80, and with the same pace at the mile of 10:26. If I take the time to learn how to run -- to use better form, and to pace myself -- I really do think I can do this in a half-hour.

[traveling michele]

Originally Posted by traveling michele

October 6: 60 minutes Zumba (right day! Hooray!)

Totals:
6 days
390 minutes

October 7: 32 minutes running on treadmill

October 8: 90 minutes Bikram Yoga

October 9: 60 minutes walk with dh and Dewey

Totals:
9 days
572 minutes

[saef]

Monday, Oct. 10th:

45 minute spin class with the instructor who sets the resistance very heavy for most of the class. I did better this time, mainly because I believe I've figured out the settings for this brand of spin bike.

60 minute beginner Kripalu yoga class. This is week four of a six-week session. We were learning the
"ocean breath" last night, which I plan to practice today.

[saef]

Tuesday, Oct. 11th:

20 minutes Stairmaster stepper, aerobic setting, resistance at five
60 minutes shoulders, chest and triceps routine. This is the one with all the pushup intervals. I do girlie pushups using pushup handles.
40 minutes Nautilus elliptical, intervals at nine and four, half backward

Oh, and those pushup handles that I use during this weight routine? I got them from TJ Maxx. I had to cross gender lines to get them. They were not with the exercise equipment for women, such as the yoga mats, the pink dumbbells under seven pounds, the Pilates bands, etc. No, I had to go over to the men's section of TJ Maxx, and there they were.

[traveling michele]

Good job on the 5K Saef. Your time is really pretty good! And I'm sure you can improve it if you wish.

[traveling michele]

Originally Posted by traveling michele

October 7: 32 minutes running on treadmill

October 8: 90 minutes Bikram Yoga

October 9: 60 minutes walk with dh and Dewey

Totals:
9 days
572 minutes

October 10: 10 minutes elliptical, 60 minutes UJam dance class

Totals:
10 days
642 minutes

[paperclippy]

Catching up . . .

10/7: 15 min dog walk
10/8: 75 min yoga class, 22 min doggie powerwalk
10/9: 90 min doggie powerwalk (Carter was such a good boy!)
10/10: 15 min dog walk, ~20 min pilates video (abs/legs)
10/11: 28 min 2 mile powerwalk at lunchtime.

[k15g15]

Can I join in? I am new to maintenance as of a week ago...

Today:15 minutes running, 30 minutes eliptical

[traveling michele]

Originally Posted by k15g15

Can I join in? I am new to maintenance as of a week ago...

Today:15 minutes running, 30 minutes eliptical

Welcome! Please do join us. I find it quite helpful to post my progress here and see others as well. Congratulations on your weight loss too!

[saef]

Welcome, k15g15. Personally, I find the accountability of this thread very motivating. And when I feel like I'm an immovable lump, I can look back through it & see that's not so & I am being too hard on myself.

Michele, thanks for the encouragement on my running. I have watched a bit of some YouTube videos on running form and have picked up some sensible advice about avoiding heel striking, which is counter to how I've been using the elliptical and arc trainer, where you want to push down with your heel. I know for a fact that I run too heavily, like a Clydesdale. Also, I may be running with my body too rigidly upright, which would explain why I feel it in my back. I hear so much about correct form in exercise that I thought there had to be a better way to run, but I didn't know. YouTube is such a godsend for this kind of thing. I do want to get better at this, particularly because good form is always easier on the body, safer & a better way to avoid injuries.

Wednesday, Oct. 12:

45 minute spin class, with the instructor who's into peddling more slowly and with heavy resistance, and who only occasionally has us stand up. No jumps, no squats, no peddling while crouched low over handle bars, no holds, no weight intervals. In other words, no fooling around on the bike. Apparently this is the Schwinn Method or Schwinn School. It simulates actually being on the road. It makes the other spin classes I've had seem very frou-frou, as if they target a demographic with an attention deficit that requires lots of entertainment & variety to keep going.

Oh, and let me rant a bit here. Girl on the bike to my right. If you want to talk to your Best Friend Forever for 10 minutes (quite a ways into the class, not during the warmup period, before anything has happened or during stretches) about what you're both going to wear to your friend's wedding in two weeks, and then want to check your text messages for three more minutes, why the --- are you in spin class? Other people around you are trying to sweat hard and listen to the instructor. You know, like get a workout. Like, really focus on their physical fitness. Babe, if you want to multitask, go out of the classroom and use a stationary bike. A class is a class. There's an instructor up front. She's there for a reason. You owe that instructor attention and respect. No matter whether she's relating a history lesson or leading you through hill sprints.

Ahem.

[traveling michele]

Saef-- I don't think my spin instructors would allow the talking. How rude. I have taken spin from only a few instructors but they sound more like the Schwinn School-- we alter resistance and do some standing but I've never done jumps or anything like that.

I feel like I need to post here because I usually do each day but I couldn't exercise last night (worked from before 7 am till 7:30 pm) and I won't be able to tonight or tomorrow night (bookfair until 8:30 pm each night). I hate getting out of my routine--- it just makes me cranky-- I wanted to cry last night-- but I think it is just sheer exhaustion. Dh said Friday after the book fair I'll just crash, and I told him I was going to the gym first!