Very late start to the thread today! Sorry folks. I was away for 4 days in Northern Virginia enjoying some much needed down time with dh.

The Shenandoah Valley is absolutely gorgeous and we found plenty of things to do. Much to our surprise and delight, there are about 150 small wineries between Winchester and Charlottesville, VA and the four that we visited (these were suggested by a local restauranteur) made some excellent wine. I was really surprised.

We managed two day hikes, nelie- and BOY WAS IT HOT!!!!!! The park rangers suggested coming back in March or April- great weather and not nearly the insane crush of people that October brings.

Also went to the Virginia Scottish Games and listened to lots of live music, watched Border Collies do their thing (amazing!) and watched huge guys in kilts flinging weights and phone poles across a field I did not sign up to join them.

OK, here comes the truth- I made it to the hotel gym exactly once and rarely ate on plan. The rest of the week is going to be a major shock to the system while I get the system used to am cardio, lifting, and a lack of chocolate and wine.

Mel

Hey Mel, sometimes ya gotta LIVE, eh? Enjoyed the narration of where your 4 days took you. Who knew all that was going on up there in thar mountains!

Mel - Glad you had fun! My DH tries to tell me calories don't count on vacation

As for me, I don't think I posted before but I've started running. Ok I've only got 1 session in besides my 2 sessions of water running but yeah thats it. I went to a running store and got fitted and it was a great experience (but expensive, running shoes for both DH and I, a heavy duty sports bra, socks, etc). Oh and the sports bra... the lady laughed at me when she asked me about sports bras and I told her about my $3 walmart ones. I don't know if I mentioned this but I no longer wear regular bras, I just wear the $3 walmart ones or bra tops. Ultimate laziness. So I got a $40 plate of armor sports bra that is actually very awesome. I highly recommend it, moving comfort 'Fiona' bra. http://www.movingcomfort.com/Product/cd_005.html

Oh and I also got my new heart rate monitor which is very cool. I did my NRLW workout with it on last night and it depressingly told me I burned 91 calories. Today will be biking so that should be interesting with the HRM. Tomorrow morning is swimming which still makes me nervous about taking it in the pool but I'll be interested in seeing what it says.

Hi there,
I've never been on this particular thread before, but I lift and was checking it out when I saw nellie's mentino of the Fiona moving comfort bra.
I just want to say that I too recommend it highly I am currently a 36 D, but I have been a DD before too...and even running long distance (10 miles) it doesn't cause much if any chafing, where as I used to get terrible and painful chafing on my shoulders and even across the top of the braline even using other expensive bras...so , just wanted to give a "me too" to the fiona.

Cheers,
heather

Hey Mel, glad you had a great vacation with your sweetie. The hiking sounds great, the wineries sound great as well. I wouldn't worry too much about getting back into the swing of things - you're a 6 year maintainer so you can do it!

Mel: Welcome Back! I doubt that you could do that much damage if you also had some very exhausting hikes in your travels as well.

Nelie: Congrats on your purchases and joining the world of shin splints and achy joints. Oh, I mean running. You were very wise to get fitted for shoes and a good bra. Enjoy the experience! (Just make sure you keep working to keep a nice strong core and hip flexors)

Wow, we had some kind of storm here Sunday afternoon. We lost power in the afternoon and about 90% of my community is still out. We were lucky. Our power was restored Monday morning around 12:30am but my cable/internet connection was down just until now. The kids have been out of school and it looks like tomorrow will be another calamity day. This storm was all wind. No rain. The winds were clocked around 75 mph and took down a lot of healthy trees. Fortunately we did not sustain any real damage and the neighboring trees did not land on our house. Getting around town is still a little tricky though. Many of the intersections do not have working street lights and people do not know how to behave at a four way stop. In a few more days things will be back to normal but for now, my only ventures are to the gym in the wee hours before everyone else gets up.

Whoa.....leg day today was a shock to the system! I hope I'm not too sore tomorrow. My lower back muscle attachments have been bothering me due to a fibro flare which really limited my deadlifts and back squats. I did manage more weight on a set of overhead squats than I've done before, so I don't know whether the week off was good for me or bad. And I can definitely do significant damage in a few days food wise.

Lydia- Columbus sounds like a disaster zone! DD only lost power for about 1/2 an hour in German Village, but says some of her friends in other parts of the city have been told NEXT week! Seems that the electric company sent crews to Houston before Columbus got hit. I guess Houston really does have it worse. Does your gym have power? She had to go to the downtown location of hers because the suburban one has no power (not sure why she doesn't go downtown since that's where she lives.....)

One of my brothers lives in Houston and it really is a mess there. He is a pilot for Southwest, and they moved all the planes out of Texas before the storm hit and the airport is still closed. My SIL is a nurse-anesthesiologist at one of the hospitals and they are running on emergency generators and doing no surgeries, so she's on a sort of vacation.

Hi chickichicki

Nelie- you really are branching out fitness-wise. Good for you!

Mel

Mel - don't take this the wrong way but I love hearing about you going "off plan"! Not because I want to see you "do badly" but because I love knowing that even us "crazy, say no thank you to the treats most of the time and go the gym and work out like mad" people are also human. I'm not great with moderation, with my food, it tends to be all or nothing when staying on plan. The healthiest way of doing things? Probably not but it more or less works for me.

Nellie - keep us posted on the running. It's funny how runners say how cheap the sport is...just tie up your shoes and go! Hah! But after the initial outlay, it is minimal. Good shoes? Most important. I just bought a second pair of exactly the same shoes I bought last year and went out for a run today and they were great from the first moment, just like the original pair. Worth every penny! But a good bra...it's just as important. I see so many runners out there and I cringe and want to tell them to just buy a good bra. It makes all the difference. I'll check out yours but I've also done really well with one of the Champion sports bras...nothing moves!

I had a great workout day and a rare "two-for" fitting in both a much needed yoga class and an equally necessary 5k. Beautiful weather and a nice run by the water. Other than the headwind on the way back, it was great!

I've been scarce lately since things got a little crazy at work. My boss got "let go" after more than 15 years at my company and with no warning. No one saw this one coming and we're all still in a bit of shock. It was sad, really.

Oh!! and I made Meg's (I think it was Meg's) Fibre One muffins and they're my new favourite snack/breakfast. I tweaked the recipe, if anyone wants to know and even my husband liked them...shocking really!

My food's been pretty good but we're out of town this weekend...heading to Buffalo for a bit of shopping and a Bills game with a visit to the Cheesecake Factory in there too. Destined to not be great but all I can do is try to limit the damage to two days and get right back on track.

to everyone!

I did biking and running today (30 minutes biking, 35 minutes running - 2.3 miles, 10 minutes stretching). My heart rate monitor said I burned nearly 600 calories. Now that is what I'm talking about! My knees felt great, my legs felt great, I felt great. I think I'm going to really enjoy running. It does send my heart rate through the roof though and when it does, I start walking until it gets to a certain level, then run again.

Hi all.

Lydia glad you guys got your power back quickly. It rained so much here this weekend I started looking for animals traveling two by two. Good luck getting the boys back on track after the school closing. Schedule changes, even small ones, can wreak havoc in a household with kids.

Nelie, running is such a great exercise. The high you feel when you finish and look back over the distance you just covered is AWESOME! And I'm so glad you found the proper gear as well. It's a wise investment.

Elisa, i love the wind at my back. Feels like it's pushing me along. : And have fun on your trip.

Mellie Mel, how are the legs and back doing today? Sore I hope but not too sore. And any time off spending quality time with the spouse is good for you, as long as you come back and hit it, which you did!

I've been a sort of bad girl. After the legs / Strike / Step weekend torture fest I haven't exercised a bit. I planned to take Monday off but yesterday and today I just couldn't do it. I got up both days at 430AM but instead of going to the gym or even doing TaeBo or biking at home, i just laid in the bed and watched Married with Children re-reruns. My food has still been squeaky clean (even passed up a choc raspberry torte yesterday) but I feel blah. Somebody kick me - PUHLEASE!!!!

Did swimming this morning - 900m which is a bit over half a mile. My legs are wiped out though!

Tiki: Consider it kicked!

I'm real busy right now. Will post later. Go to bed early tonight and get that workout in Tiki!

Confession: I got my two hour workout in this morning. I arrived bright and early at 5:30 left around 7:30, ate my warm oatmeal/cottage cheese/Ppowder concoction, took a hot half out shower and then crawled back into bed for another two hours. I successfully kicked my own butt. The only thing that got me out of bed was the desperate call of a girlfriend looking for a playdate They PROMISED that the kids would go back tomorrow. Unfortunately, DS2 doesn't have preschool on Thursdays. On Friday I begin a seminar that lasts for three days (insert primal scream) This is so not what I planned for this week. (grumble)

Lydia - when you're back later, can you tell me about your breakfast concoction? It might seem simple to you but it sounds so odd that I need details. How much of each (approximately) and which parts are hot and which are cold? So does it all turn out sort of lukewarm-ish (that's a technical term by the way ). I, as always, need more protein and would love to give that a try.

TIA....

Elisa: My typical morning breakfast goop as DH calls it. I actually crave this stuff though when I wake up so it must work well for me

.25 C of dry oats
.50 C of nonfat cottage cheese

Mix dry oats in with just enough water to make it float. Pop it in the microwave for 90 seconds. Add cottage cheese, a good dose of Splenda and cinnamon, stir, and heat for another 20 seconds in microwave. Add one scoop of protein powder and L-Glutamine if you use that too. Stir it up to mix in the powders. Sometimes I will add in a tablespoon or two of fat free plain yogurt if I want to thin it out a little bit. This and a cup of coffee keeps me humming through my two hour workouts everytime. I will also eat this if I missed dinner due to an extra workout like a bike ride or yoga class as was the case tonight. It's warm and snuggly and can put me right back into bed too. Kind of like an all purpose ready whenever I need it kind of meal.

That's my "glop" meal too I almost always travel with those ingredients, some pp, and apples.

Legs are pleasantly sore

Last night was a very short night. I didn't fall asleep until around 11:30, then couldn't figure out what all the noise was at 5 am. I was stumbling around for a while before I found the elliptical and the TV remote. YAY! New episode of House.

Gym time was kind of a bust. On my third set of overhead presses my shoulders just decided they had had enough! I couldn't even get ONE stinking rep. I gave up and did funky cable versions and got through the workout.

Food has been spot on since my wine and chocolate fest in Virginia My pants are too tight to stray off track again.

Lydia- Some years ago, we had a snowstorm here that closed school for two weeks about a week after winter vacation I thought we would all be by the time the dug the buses out of the drifts. Everything except the school buses were fine atfter about 3 days.

Tiki- go do that workout!!!!! Killing yourself on the weekend and being too exhausted during the rest of the week might not be the optimal plan.....

Elisa- I'm thrilled I can make you happy by going off plan Several years ago I admitted to eating an entire jar of peanut butter in an hour and there were more posts on this thread than I've ever seen

Nelie- You are doing GREAT! My last swimming experience was about the same distance and I thought I was going to pass out before I could get out of the pool (might have felt better if I'd had some food in me, tho).

Good night all

Mel