Saturday, Dec. 24th:

15 minutes Stairmaster, aerobic setting, resistance at seven
60 minutes shoulders, back and biceps workout
45 minutes arc trainer, hill intervals, resistance at eight


On this workout, I keep returning to the lat pulldown bar. Today, the great female trainer was there making a client use various pulleys and work their bodyweight. This woman has the most defined legs I've seen on a woman who's in the same room with me. When I saw them, I remembered what I heard about her the other day: She competes in figure competitions.

Dec. 24: 90 minutes Bikram Yoga

Totals:
21 days
1478 minutes

Not sure if I'll get in any formal exercise tomorrow as both the gym and the yoga studio are closed. I'm hoping for a nice long walk with the dog (s) to the dog park.

Sunday, Christmas Day:

Went for a lovely run of about four miles in the morning, not long after it was fully light outside. I had the country roads pretty much to myself & did not worry about hunters in the adjacent fields either. The woods and fields were lovely. The air smelled good. I hadn't run since the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day and it felt good, and at moments, even superb.

Monday, Dec. 26:

60 minutes arc trainer, resistance at nine, 2 to 1 intervals

And damn it, I missed yoga class. Because I had more time than I'd thought to get to the yoga studio, and so I stopped at a drugstore to pick up a few things. But my browsing was too leisurely and when I checked my car's clock after getting back in with my bag of stuff, I saw class had already begun. So no yoga. :-( I had been looking forward to it more as a therapy session for calming and centering me than for exercise, although as always on the day after a long hard run, I could use some stretching too.

Dec. 25: none-- didn't feel well and everything closed.

Dec. 26: 90 minutes Bikram Yoga and 60 minute dog walk

Totals:
22 days
1628 minutes

Tuesday, Dec. 27:

15 minutes Stairmaster stepper, aerobic setting, resistance at seven
60 minutes arm, shoulders & biceps routine
45 minute recumbent bike, manual setting, resistance at a steady eight


No one on the roads this morning in our Upstate village at around 5:30 AM, because of the schools being on break and probably many others having taken off work.

The gym was like a refrigerator this morning from being closed down for two days -- but once I started sweating during my warmup, I was fine. My iPod Shuffle was dead when I tried it. No signal lights at all. I believe this is my fifth Shuffle to give out on me in five years from hard daily usage and exposure to sweat. I'm not sure Apple will keep letting me port my library onto Shuffle after Shuffle -- I think there's a limit to how many devices you can put your music on.

Dec. 27: 60 minutes spin

Totals:
23 days
1688 minutes

Wednesday, Dec. 28:

I woke up a bit later, thinking we'd be in the midst of a snowstorm, but it was still raining. There were more people out on the roads than yesterday, either having returned to work or out while the weather was still navigable.

45 minute spin class, with jumps and a lot of sitting and standing at high resistance


The young spin instructor told me that her mother frequently takes her spin class. The mother usually sits in front of me. I haven't remarked on the resemblance, but I'll look for her next time. To me, teaching a spin class with my mother in it would be deeply weird. I am trying to imagine the kind of athletic, suntanned family where everyone is fit and they, like, go hiking or biking or skiing together, rather than hanging out in front of the TV and eating enormous bags of chips. But I can't. My imagination art-directs it into a Tommy Hilfiger or Ralph Lauren advertisement.

Here's the exercise I did while in LA:
- 6 20-min wogs, first couple were still 3:30::1:30, rest were 3:00::2:00 walk::run, plus a little time warmup and cooldown to make about 25 mins total
- 2 yoga classes, one "all levels" and one "easy" (both were hard)
- 30 mins or so pilates on my own
- a really long hike down into a canyon and back up again

Dec. 28: 60 minutes Body Pump class

Totals:
24 days
1748 minutes

Thursday, Dec. 29th:

15 minutes Stairmaster stepper, aerobic setting, resistance at seven
60 minutes chest, shoulders and biceps workout
45 minutes recumbent bike, manual resistance set at a steady 8


I had to remember how to drive in snow today, backing very carefully out of the garage and into the road, which was a mess. Thank goodness for the garage, which kept me from having to clean off my car. It was 18 degrees outside. I went about 30 mph much of the way, on roads emptied out due to the school break for the week, and braked way ahead of time, quite gradually, and was rewarded by just a few slips along the way. When I was done with the gym, cleaning off the car was easy, as this morning's snowfall was that light, intricate, feathery stuff that looks fake: This is what Hollywood producers want snow to look like. (Except it doesn't pack very well into snowballs.)

The spell is definitely broken. Or perhaps now the spell is upon us. Winter was held up for a while, but now it's in da house and making sure we know it.

12/29: another dog wog, 20 mins of 3:00::2:00 walk::run, plus w/u and c/d

Friday, Dec. 30th:

45 minute spin class, with lots of jump intervals


Another fine coating of snow overnight, enough to make me drive carefully on the street at 5:15 AM and then the country roads till I got to the main truck route for the Budweiser Brewery. The pavement there was clear & wet. I was thinking how many mornings are going to be like this, and I had better get used to it.

Dec. 29: 90 minutes bikram yoga

Dec. 30: 40 minutes elliptical, 30 minutes walk

Now to decide what exercise to do tomorrow for the last workout of the year.

Totals:

26 days
1908 minutes

Saturday, Dec. 31:

60 minutes on the arc trainer, hill intervals, resistance at eight
60 minutes beginning Gentle Dharma yoga class

When I enter the yoga studio, I feel like: "Ahhh." So why don't I rouse myself up from the sofa in the early winter dark and drive through the cold rain & snow to get there? Because despite the momentum needed, and the physical discomfort, there's a reward at the end. I need to remember that.