Happy Birthday, birthday girls!

Wow Nellie you look gorgeous!

I am badly in need of a three day weekend. Kids, kids, kids.

Yeah yosemite was great. And I am so close. You know I am not sure that I got much more than a mile from the parking lot myself. My 2 year old is good for about 2 miles so with her we have a 3 mile max (we have a backpack but she doesn't like it much).

Also I am super afraid of heights. Some funny equilibrium thing. I always feel like I am going to fall off the edge...even when the trail is 4 feet wide.

When the trail is in fact 4 feet wide I can talk myself out of it. It has taken years of practice. I am afraid I will never be a mountain climber. But those mountain climbers sure are fit!

Anyhow, I spent a lot of time running around in the Valley. Even there though it is fairly easy to loose the crowds.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday Nelie and Anne!

Nelie - I checked out your photos, and you look great! I really like your hair like that - it really adds to the transformation! I'd never seen your "before" photos - you've made such a change if your life!

Mel - the job interview was my idea - it's time for a change - I've been in the same job for 6.5 yrs - the longest ever for me! Hopefully I'll hear soon

Have a great Memorial Day weekend those of you in the US!
Cindy

I guess it's the holiday weekend there that's causing it to be so quiet around here! I hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend.

I got back from NY last night and had such a great time. I ate too much (of course) but we walked for miles and miles. I don't think that it completely balanced out but I hope that a couple of days, everything will be back to normal.

Mel - I have to also confess that the 5lbs. that I gained before even going away (over the course of three days) did go away as you predicted!! I was extremely diligent about food and exercise and drinking lots of water for the few days that I had before I left and the morning of the trip, I was shocked to see the 5lbs gone! That's why I'm trying to wait before I get on the scale this time. Thanks again.

Nelie - I also love your new haircut...really cute on you.

Hi to everyone that I've missed...I hope you're all relaxing and enjoying your holiday weekend.

I think I really need to get out a do a little running tomorrow. I will get below 130 lbs.! I'm just going to keep saying it until it happens!

Elisa: Good to hear the five pounds are gone again. Time in NY sounds like a great way to spend the weekend.

Hikerchick: Well, did you get a rest over the three day weekend from the kids? I hear you...our DSs were yesterday. We really did ask too much of them though. We spent an hour driving through car dealer lots trying to decide upon a new vehicle. DS2 is a complete sports car maniac and was freaking out when we would not let him see the big "hot wheels" inside the showrooms. DS1 was just disturbed that he had to sit next to DS2 during his brother's "meltdown moment." ~sigh~

Pat: What a relief it is to be able to walk outdoors without all the added winter gear. Glad to know that you were able to enjoy your walk outside with just shorts and a short sleeved shirt.

We had a nice little hike today in Clifton Gorge http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/dnap/location/clifton.html We hiked about an hour and a half with both sons in tow. They really did great. DH had to carry DS2 once in a while during the last half hour but for the most part they really enjoyed the scenery.

Tomorrow its back to the gym. Upper or Lower...after looking at the photos from todays hike I think I'll do lower.

Hope everyone else had a great weekend too!

Morning all. Still cool and overcast here, but it should be warm enough to enjoy a walk outdoors after work. Training schedule calls for only an hour, so I'll do some UB work beforehand. I'm getting antsy to be done with this half-marathon training. I took my bike out this weekend, and I'm itching to start changing up my weights program. Sure sign that just one type of excercise gets boring - at least for me.

Yesterday I was doing my knee exercises on the living room floor and as soon as I got down there, the cat appeared. One of them is doing bridges (i.e. lying on your back, knees bent, lifting hips) which I ended up doing with a 10#purring weight When she tried to ride my hip while I was doing leg lifts it was just a bit too much.... I finally had to banish her to the outdoors.

I did get a bunch of flowers planted, and DH got the veggies in. Plus he cut down some dead trees, and got some manure from a neighbor. A productive weekend. And - ta da - my eating was 95% on track! Yay! Helped that we ate at home for all our meals. Plus Sat I cooked a whole salmon (we had frozen several whole for BBQs etc, and have a couple left). We ate salmon all weekend, and still have some!

Hi all! Sure is slow around here...hope everyone is out enjoying early summer.

It feels like I spent all Memorial Day Weekend cooking. The usual ritual of preparing everything for the week, plus a couple of salads and gluten-free desserts for our neighborhood pool party. I need to go armed with choices for my ds so he doesn't just get depressed looking at a big buffet of food he can't touch. Gee, sounds kind of like my life...except I don't actually get deathly ill from eating fattening foods in the short run!

Lydia- How long a drive was Clifton Gorge? It looks lovely! When I go visit dd we are always trying to think of places to go other than to Easton to spend $$. At least I am trying to find other mother/daughter activities

Today I went to a "complimentary" yoga class at lunch time that I thought was going to be a pilates class I'm sooooo NOT a yoga person! I knew I was in trouble when we started out with the "asking for patience" pose or something like that. Grrrr..... Just give me some weights to heave around. An exercise class that requires patience is not my cup of tea...yeah, yeah, I probably need it. Despite knowing that it's rude, I left after half an hour. Luckily the room was dim enough that I wasn't really obvious. It was also dim enough that I could barely see the instructor. Or maybe I'm just dim. I don't get yoga

Tomorrow is cardio and shoulders. I still call each day a body part split, but in reality I do s many bizarre whole body exercises along with "the part of the day" that except for legs, the split concept is getting deconstructed.

Unfortunately, I haven't found any way to deconstruct cardio and still have to get up at 5:40 and hop on the elliptical or the treadmill!

Off to make tomorrow's breakfast.....zoom!

Mel

Oww, oww, owww.............every time I re-start my lifting I have 2 questions:

1. Why do people let their w/l slide, knowing how much it will hurt to start again

2. Why do we even think of starting again, knowing how much it will HURT!!

Oh, my shoulders and arms feel like I've been run over by a truck! They hurt all the way down to my fingertips. Yikes! And this is WITH the ibuprofen.

Fran - what doesn't kill us makes us strong! Glad to see you're back at it. I did a more "normal" UBWO this evening, and am actually looking forward to being a little sore. Wish my stupidknees would only be a little sore - the exercises the PT has me doing are not helping - at least so far. I've not got a lot of patience. I want them to feel better NOW!

Oh Pat, sorry to hear the knees are not improving. That's one of those areas that affect how your whole body will work.

Last nite was bad, people.....B-A-D. I have never felt such pain short of being in labor. I fell asleep on my side bc the compression seemed to help my arm. Woke in radiating pain on the side facing up - ugh. Then could not lie down and get comfortable. Too soon to take another dose of ibu. I finally fell asleep sitting up in bed, leaning forward, with my arms pressed down under my legs, like stiff. It just hurt too much to relax them. So weird. Woke up in pain again at 2:30, but by then I could take more ibu. By 3:30 I fell aleep until morning. And this was no weekend warrior workout! I went down a weight from where I was on my last workout even. Sheesh. I feel fine this morning, and back to what I would consider a "normal" sore. Now the caffeine wd headaches are coming, I can feel them. Might need to cheat with a diet coke. Did the treadmill this morning and felt better too. Put on my old 6+ months of wear shoes - my new ones just make me plod along (literally, I'm going clomp clomp clomp) on the treadmill. Same brand and everything, just new. I might actually wear them on the street/outside to break them in awhile before I try working out in them again. Well, good day to everyone!

Geez Fran you must be exhausted after a bad night like that. Go to bed early tonight if you can.

I remember a few nights like that too. Those are the times when I ask myself why do I do this? Am I really a gluten for pain and self punishment? Two days later I'm healed and back at it again. Then there are times when I am no longer in pain and Ive had my day of complete rest and notice that my body is just so remarkable stronger in doing ordinary tasks. Those are the moments that make it worth it for me. No one can "see" how much easier it is for me to move about, get up off the couch, lift my three year old, but since I have to live in this body I can feel the difference and that is a bigger motivator to me than just looking fit.

Glad to hear you are lifting again though. Hang in there, you'll feel better real soon.

Mel: We are so cut from the same cloth. I'm hesitant of exploring an activity that requires a sticky mat and bare feet. Ewwwww. My DH has taken classes and loves it. I'm reserving it for a time when I need a break from the bench. Asking for patience pose....It would be a major switching of gears for me to relax enough to benefit from the class. Someday I will try it. But it won't be tomorrow.

Mel, the park is about twenty five minutes from Columbus. Use mapquest for the best route from DD place. Yellow Springs, the community closest to this park, also has an awesome rails to trails path that connects to Cincinnati. Research this for your next visit to Columbus and plan on bringing your bike. I've taken this trail and it's beautiful. It cuts through farms and goes over little rivers. Lots of green. Yellow Springs is a really cool college town. Go check it out.

Had a great workout this morning. 40 minutes Elliptical, needed to recover a little from my run on yesterday. Lots of UB lifting. Love those days. It's getting crowded now in my gym with all of the college and high school kids. I can still get in my workouts but I'm tripping around a few more people now. It's okay though. It makes me happy to see so many people working hard to maintain their level of fitness. I say this until the morning I can't get my squats in with the BB.

Fran - I hope you get some rest and are feeling better soon. I agree with Lydia, soon enough you'll be right back at it!

Got in my 5k run on lunch yesterday. It was a beautiful day and not too hot. Today it's my power class. I'm usually really looking forward to it but today I would just rather go home. I have to go though because it's too easy to just stop going and it's a slippery slope for me! And I still have 2 New York pounds to shake off!

Hope everyone is having a good day!

Fran Don't stop again I've only been that sore once or twice and it was always from doing somebody's stupid challenge. In recent memory, my "how many times can you do complete rollouts with the power wheel" event was the worst. My only consolation was that another trainer (who is younger than me and did less) called in sick for two days because he was so sore he couldn't move. I thought my abs would be sore--- they were beyond sore but what was really crippling was the pain in my traps and lats and shoulders. Hmmm..my triceps hurt a lot too. So thinking back, that would imply that using that thing is most of an upper body workout!

My biggest complaint lately is that I don't get sore

Elisa- I forgot to congratulate you on getting bak to your pre-disaster weight before your trip I always use the four day rule...if you know the scale is going to be up and you know why, don't get on it just to beat yourself up. There are enough feel bad moments in a day without providing a few extra guarenteed ones! If you've been off-track for a while and are really restarting, OK, get on the scale. But not after a big weekend. Glad you had a good time in NY!

Lydia- The college students showed up at my gym last week. I was watching a girl today with her field hockey program notebook who looked really familiar, but she was too young to have gone to school with my dd. Turn out she was the little sister who used to run around the sidelines at her older sisters' games. I'm really happy to see the girls at the weights but the 19 yr old boys just annoy me. Their conditioning coaches haven't taught them much in the way of gym etiquette! And they mostly stare at me like I'm a freak.

My half hour of yoga cost me dearly. Not a weight in sight and somehow I strained a bicep tendon. It's really painful and not in a good, sore muscle way. I managed to lift shoulders today, but I think doing back tomorrow is going to be more of a problem. I may have to shift it to Friday

Mel

Thanks for the encouragement everyone! Rest - ha, not an option, you all just tease me. For now that soccer is over, swimming has started, so it's lacrosse and swimming taxi time. At least now I'm getting my little dd (5) into summer swimming (it's less intense) and she's holding up. Not the athletic kind like her sis, but she freestyled a whole lap tonite which is more than I can do, so, it's all good. I might get to sleep in the next hour.

I didn't have to dose myself today until tonite. I'm not taking any chances with sleeping thru tonite. The headache was bearable all day, so that was good.

I'm going to stick with trying to do the FBWO 3 days/wk, at least thru summer if possible. W/F/S going forward, so that gives me one more day until Friday to be able to lift my arms before working out again.

AH HA! My suspicions were RIGHT! Mel, I hope it won't take too long to heal for you.

Had another good workout this morning. 30 min elliptical, 20 minutes run/walk on the treadmill, bb squats, smith squats, stiff leg deadlifts, bench stepups, one legged squats, crunches on the ball, crunches with the ball under my knees, decline crunches oh yeah, horiz. pull ups. (love those) I tend to throw those in on leg day because on UB days it takes too much strength from the rest of my lifting. I'm feeling like noodle woman right now. Tomorrow is a rest day for me. Rumor has it there will be coffee cake involved. I'm bringing fruit along but I'm not making any promises

Grrrr. I went to use the main free weight area Tues night, and there were at least 8 of these HS/college guys just sitting around BSing on ALL of the benches. And mind you this is a gym where the owner is in love with signs! there is a sign on every single machine/bench/mirror about not hogging the equipment. I went to the secondary area where I just had to compete with 1 older guy for the stuff. If it happens again tonight, I'll be speaking to the staff - who unfortunately are teenagers too.