Maintainers Moving in May
 

It's a month whose name sounds indefinite: May I?

But we'll change it to one that's full of certainty: I will.

This is the place to log your physical effort in this beautiful time of year: Your runs, your gym time, your yoga sessions, your purposeful walks, your hikes, your ambles.

Take a step. Make a move. Pick up something heavy.

We're the maintainers moving in May.

http://www.visualphotos.com/photo/2x...wers_19300.jpg

Tuesday, May 1st:

15 minutes Stairmaster stepper, resistance at eight, aerobic intervals, happy because an enormous standing fan was turned directly on me
60 minutes shoulders, triceps and biceps, doing my bench pressing with the Olympic bar loaded with tiny little weights.
45 minutes Stairmaster stepper, aerobic intervals, resistance lowered to seven, very punishing for the last quarter of an hour

This was a hard workout and I am going to be feeling it by tomorrow morning. That, I can already tell. Also, this is weird, but there are tiny little veins visible in my face, mostly around my eye sockets. I suspect this is indicative of strain of some kind. It will be gone in a day or two.

Gym season is over and running season has begun (for me). Yay May!

F.

Great pic of you running through the woods Saef!;)

This was my first Tuesday not working Weight Watchers, so I was able to get to the gym. I took U-Jam (hip hop dance class), which I've only done a few times and not in at least 6 months. I did the best I could, had fun, and sweated! The instructor was great and made a point to learn my name. Hopefully I can make it my new Tuesday routine.

May 1: 60 minutes U-Jam

Totals for May:

1 day
60 minutes

Yes, Michele, I suddenly became tall and Nordic. It happens quite suddenly and spontaneously after you do enough Pilates ab exercises on a floor mat in the gym, working on that "long and lean" look. You grow four to six inches, your torso lengthens if you're short-waisted and your hips simply disappear: Poof! That's all it takes, lots of Pilates and wishful thinking.

Wednesday, May 2:

45 minute spin class, with me feeling weirdly good, in spite of a restless night during which I found it hard to sleep and got hungry around 1 AM
15 minute Pilates routine afterward, at which I am improving slightly. I wish I had my two instructors there to check my form, though. When it comes easier, I'm sure my form is off and I know there are modifications I could make to challenge myself.

Tuesday, May 1: 2.5 mile run on the bike path. Focused on speed and NOT TAKING WALK BREAKS, to considerable success.

Now that I'm picking up weight lifting again I need a place to log the weights and reps, so here I am again. I can't seem to stick to logging on this thread all the time. :?: Maybe this time will work.

Wednesday 5/2:
AM:
warmup, 28:46 run, 2.2 miles, semi-hilly, cooldown, stretching
PM:
Smith machine, weights include weight of the bar (which is 20#):
Squats @35#, 12 reps
Bench press @35#, 6 reps
Deadlift @35#, 12 reps
Squats @35#, 10 reps
Bench press @30#, 9 reps
Deadlift @40#, 12 reps
Squats @35#, 10 reps
Bench press @30#, 7 reps
Deadlift @40#, 10 reps

then a few minutes of abs (bicycles, etc.) + stretching

May 2: 30 minutes Turbo Kick (kick boxing class), 30 minutes strength training class

Totals:

2 days
120 minutes

Thursday, May 3:

45 minute spin class, because the instructor is now holding this on Thursday rather than Friday. I preferred to go to the Friday class but must adapt -- be flexible -- be open to change -- be agile. (This rhetoric is coming from my job, where the ability to change and forget the past is highly prized.)
15 minutes Pilates routine afterward, with me definitely getting better, except at holding my legs tightly together when they're raised up. I need to consult with a trainer or guru about what to do, and what bodily imbalance is causing this. My legs are pretty strong but there's something that's weak. It's not my abs, it's my legs.

Wednesday, May 2:
-20 minutes on the elliptical
-3 x 8-10 arms weights. Felt very weak. ~20 minutes.

May 3: 60 minutes Zumba

Totals:

3 days
180 minutes

Friday, May 4th:

15 minutes Stairmaster stepper, resistance at eight, aerobic intervals, with a big fan turned on me
60 minutes shoulders, back and biceps, as this is my lat pulldown day
45 minutes Stairmaster stepper, resistance at seven, and once again, oy, those last 10 minutes ... That's the whole workout. Getting through that.

Muggy at the gym today, and brilliantly green and damp outside. after a spectacular thunderstorm at midnight that woke me up and sent me to the upstairs windows, closing and locking them. The cat seemed annoyed that I disrupted his sleep, as he'd been pressed up against my right hip. "Dude, you'd better move," I told him. As the only male in the house, he is the Dude. The Small Dude, but the Dude nonetheless.

Thursday: 15 min yoga stretching session

Once you are settled back into your apartment, do you have any interest in increasing your household by one new kitty?:)

May 4: 40 minutes Stair Climber-- resistance 9 and 10

Totals:

4 days
220 minutes

Michelle, I go back and forth with myself about getting a cat, but I have a very small and very formal apartment, in which it's hard to envision keeping a litter box. When my mother comes to visit and brings Fritz with her, the box sits in the middle of my hall between the bedrooms and it's very much evident & underfoot. I have trouble getting around that problem.

Saturday, Cinco de Mayo

60 minutes Stairmaster step mill, resistance at seven, aerobic intervals, with me keeping my hands folded behind my back for about half of this, whenever the intervals were easy.
15 minutes Pilates routine afterward

I love my pets. But I think every pet owner has to be able to handle the destruction of things. Breakage, chewing, clawing, peeing/puking/pooping on - it is all done. I think your place has museum quality one-of-a-kind furnishings saef. Litter box placement aside you have to be willing to have those damaged in some unbelievably creative ways.

As I post Mudpie is puking up grass on my office carpet for the third time today. I never buy any solid-coloured rugs any more. I think I am the only tourist ever to come home from Morocco without a carpet. I fell in love with several there but knew they would get the "Mudpie" treatment if I brought them home.

Unless I hung them on the walls. Then she would jump, rip them off, and then claw them. I did have a lovely tapestry hanging before I got Mud.
We also don't buy curtains any more. DH found Mud caught by her front claws in the front room curtains about 10 years ago. I think that was the day when most of his hair turned grey.

I love Mud and will cherish all my good memories of her too. She has brought much amusement and love to our lives. And we are now dedicated IKEA shoppers.

Dagmar :p

May 5: after going to San Francisco with dd and indulging, I forced myself to go to the gym. Hopefully, I'll make bikram yoga tomorrow to flush some of it out.

40 minutes stairclimber

Totals:

5 days
260 minutes

Sunday, May 6th:

15 minutes Stairmaster step mill, resistance at seven, aerobic intervals
60 minutes shoulders, biceps and triceps routine


Feeling deeply guilty for not also fitting in the usual 45 minutes of cardio afterward. But I had to hurry home to shower and get on the road to Pennsylvania, to pick up the tall chest of drawers that's been living in my aunt's carport with tarps pulled over it. It really needs to be someplace drier and safer. What didn't help was that the gym did not open at 7 AM, as it was supposed to. People started gathering outside, waiting & waiting. Some left. Finally, just after 7:30 AM, a trainer in the crowd (who didn't have keys) managed to get hold of someone at another branch who came & unlocked the place. I was really annoyed by this. Of course it was on a day when I had the Pennsylvania trip planned & told my mother I'd be ready at a certain time.

May 6: 90 minutes Bikram Yoga

Totals:

6 days
350 minutes

Hi. I was 'lurking' but had to drop in re the 'pet comment'. My kitty is my best little buddy, and I would not trade her in for the world. BUT It is difficult to keep things in um....showroom condition. There's always some little bit of something where it doesn't belong. I'm thinking of transforming one of my closets into a 'litterbox' room to get it out of the way (my bathroom is too narrow).

But all that seems insignificant as I watch her curled up in an amazon shipping box, as she keeps an eye on me . . .

Still, the only way I could have anything white in the house is if I got another (white) cat ! :)

Monday, May 7:

90 minute endurance spin class, with me inevitably wondering if not doing more than 15 minutes of cardio the day before made this class harder than usual, or if it was the instructor pushing us, or if it was me pushing myself. Whatever it was, I was on the edge of maybe not finishing, maybe stopping. But I made it through the entire ride. Everyone in class was talking about the Mountain Goat run in Syracuse the day before.

May 3: 30 minute walk, shoveled cheeseburgers into my face
May 4: Almost nothing - just some crunches and planks in my office
May 5: 12.6 mile mountain hike with boyfriend in the Adirondacks, took 8 hours.
May 6: 3 1/2 walk with mom

May 7: 30 minutes body pump, 30 minutes strength training.

Totals:

7 days
410 minutes

Tuesday, 8 May:

15 minutes Stairmaster stepper, resistance at eight, aerobic intervals, pouring sweat at the end due to high humidity from the all-night and all-morning rain
60 minutes chest, shoulders and triceps workout, with me bench-pressing my ridiculous little plates. I do a lot of reps, though -- I try to get in 16 or 17.
45 minutes Stairmaster stepper, resistance at seven, aerobic intervals, again really feeling the last 10 minutes

Exhale 15, that's a good idea to keep the litterbox in the closet -- but I've got a prewar apartment, dating from when people had few closets, usually for linens. (They owned fewer clothes and kept what they had in freestanding wardrobes or folded in dressers.) So I'm pretty sure my blouses and slacks and dresses would smell catt-ish.

But I do love my mother's cat very much. He's one of the few good things about my sojourn Upstate.

I've always kept the litterbox next to the toilet. We've had cats so long that I don't even notice the box. It really doesn't take up much room....

May 8: 60 minutes U-Jam

Totals:

8 days
470 minutes

Wednesday, May 9:

45 minute spin class, a tough one with several tabata intervals
15 minutes Pilates routine

May 9: 40 minutes stair climber.

leaving today for dd's graduation and won't return until Monday night. I packed exercise clothes and shoes, but I'm not sure how much, if any exercise I'll get in. Crossing my fingers that I can get some in at least.

Totals:

9 days
530 minutes

Thursday, May 10:

45 minute spin class, also difficult in its own way, though this is a different instructor who's into more riding while standing, in position No. 2 and No. 3
15 minute Pilates routine afterward. The Hundred was harder this morning & I don't know why. Also I dislike the corkscrew.

Monday, May 7: 25 min elliptical, upper body weights routine. Upped bench press machine to 70 lbs!
Tuesday, May 8: Nothing
Wednesday, May 9: Ran just under 4 miles in 38 minutes. Speed!

Thursday, May 10: 30 min elliptical, upper body weights routine for a total of one hour at the gym.

Friday, May 11th:

Ran just over 4 miles today, because of the gorgeous weather, but discovered there was quite a headwind for about a third of my route.
Then 60 minutes of back and biceps routine at the gym in the village, surrounded by guys lifting after work. Not even one other woman in the free weight area.

And a gorgeous day after leaving the gym. The breeze is scattering petals from the crab apples and magnolias all over the green lawns.

Saturday, May 12:

60 minutes Stairmaster stepmill, resistance at seven, aerobic intervals, in a hard sweat
15 minute Pilates routine and also some stretching

Even more gorgeous outside, enough so that I'm thinking of going for a walk a little bit later. With binoculars around my neck, of course, though it will be late in the day to look at warblers.

Luther (12 year old black lab) and I went for a gentle ramble in our local ravine. He is a good boy and stays on the trails with me. We admired some wild trilliums, Ontario's provincial flower and official symbol. And saw a couple of small yellow and black birds - goldfinches? I also did some yoga this morning. Off to visit Lola my cousin's bulldog - mayabe a walk there as well.

Dagmar (almost :bike: season)

May 10: none

May 11: 30 minutes elliptical, 20 minutes weights at hotel gym in Spokane. Eating way too much! Glad I got one workout in.

Totals:

10 days
580 minutes

Mother's Day, Sunday, May 13th:

15 minutes Stairmaster step mill, aerobic intervals, resistance at eight, for a warmup
60 minutes shoulders, biceps and triceps routine
45 minutes arc trainer, hill intervals, resistance at nine

Late to the gym after making a batch of muffins for my mother. (The recipe was unfortunately an epic failure: The muffins turned out hard, dry & inedible, mostly due to my adding grated pecorino romano, rather than cheddar.) I figured that my sore muscles would warm up a little while working out, but no. I am still moving like Oz's tinman before he'd been oiled.

Monday, May 14th:

45 minutes spin class, working on steady rate endurance
15 minutes Pilates routine afterward

I felt powerful today, and nearly ache-free, except for a slight gnawing in my right calf. Still, spin class humbled me.

And I am looking at the gym differently. After hearing of a death early this morning, I looked at the people all working out on machines at the gym & thought of us all putting in our time there, trying to do something for our health. Usually, I think of athletic achievement, and my appearance, and finally, of my health, but this morning I was thinking about our very precious lives.

Friday, May 11: Terrible 2 mile jog, body fought me the whole way
Saturday, May 12: -
Sunday, May 13: -
Monday, May 14: 15 min elliptical, arms/shoulders/back lifting routine, 5 min on treadmill at 7 mph

Tuesday, May 15th:

15 minutes Stairmaster stepper, aerobic intervals, resistance at eight
60 minutes chest, triceps and biceps routine
45 minutes Stairmaster stepper, aerobic intervals, dropping resistance to seven

When I was benchpressing, an older guy came over to me and said, "Just want you to know ... if you need a spotter, I'd be glad to do it."

I said, "Thanks. I don't do very heavy weights, though." (I do the Olympic bar, and had loaded on about 10 pounds. So I think that's 55 pounds total.)

He said, "But you do a lot of reps."

"Yes, I do." I try for 17. I was surprised he'd noticed. Anyway, I thanked him for offering.

Generally, as the only woman in the weight section in this particular gym, I feel both conspicuous and invisible. It's a strange sensation to feel that I have actually been noticed. But I am thankful for the offer.