Howdy!
I've been sooooo good, I deserve a gold star, but I can't find a gold star smilie so I'm giving myself this little guy :woohoo: Why? Because I have dragged my butt out of bed before work every single day and done 30-45 minutes of cardio, and hit all my workouts either at lunchtime or on the weekend. I have to do legs on Saturday or Sunday- no way can I do that at lunch and be back in time or in my clothes! :faint: I'm loving the new gym although the price still makes me gag. I have no intentions of using the spa, classes, pools, courts, cafe, etc., and resent the enourmous price tag. But it sure is convenient and NO blasting heavy metal music :dizzy:

Oh yeah, eating has been good too. Everyone warned me about office food, but so far there hasn't been any office food. There is talk of a Friday pizza lunch, but I honestly cannot eat pizza due to my wheat intolerance so, haha, guess it's chicken on a pile of greens with a bit of sweet potato or brown rice for me!

Sounds like everyone had a lovely relaxing weekend. My mother is a gardening dervish and was appalled by my jungle. I spent quite a few hours unhappily helping her redo or hack back a lot of my gardens. I'm so ready to just declare chemical warfare or dump rocks all over! Right nw it's really pretty with lots of blooming bleed hearts and columbine, and the lilies are on their way, but the weeds will be back :devil:

Pat- your knees must be holding up pretty well to do the 10 miles on Saturday! Yay!

Elissa- Great going on the 5K :D

Shan- My back to reality is always Sunday night...sigh...lots of cooking and packing.

Lydia- glad the party worked out! Can you identify who belongs to everything? We always have stuff left after parties and I don't have a clue to whom it belongs. I once acquired a raincoat that way and 3 years later gave it to a charity. I was relating the story to a neighbor and she started laughing- it was hers and she couldn't figure out where she'd lost it. I thought I'd called everyone!

I'm seriously sore for the first time in a long time from yesterday's chest workout. New equipment = new workout! I guess I should go do legs there someday. I get a lot of stares because of my bosu ball and stability ball antics. The place is kind of stuffy!

Mel

Rabbit- You're a braver woman than I...I wouldn't ride my bike to work in the wind and rain!

Hey Mel, since you are a Northeast girl (or anyone?), have you had any experience with <city> sports clubs? The one here is Washington Sports club.

I'm doing good myself. I've been working out at home. I'm changing my diet slightly, cutting down on carbs, counting carbs and calories and fat... phew. Not anything close to atkins but trying to keep carbs under 100 per day.

But Nelie, what happened to the lovely bride?? :)

So I am trying to kick my butt back in gear.

Lifted today after my week off. Felt good. Boy is it tough to get back into the swing of things. But I think I needed the break.

Everything else has been good. Food good. Lots o running.

Sounds like everyone is doing very well.

Pat, the bride is nearly 6 months old!! :) I actually need to take a different pic and I love cows so it is my temporary place holder :)

Whoa nelie! (Just wanted to type that :) )
I've been to two different Philadelphia Sports Clubs and they were both excellent facilities- clean, well equiped and expensive. Nowhere near the absurd country clubish thing I just joined, but a luxury, compact version. They really were nice. I think they are run by the same management organization.

Hi Hiker! Glad you are back in the game :wave:

Mel

Hi LWL,

Just checking in to tell that i've been good.
Went to power class monday after biking to work and back (total 2.5 hours excercise), and went to powerclass again this morning (1 hour). My goal is a minimum of 4.5 hours excercise per week, so I', OP.

BTW: I'm getting into the groove again...I felt the familiar endorfine rush again this morning, after 45 minutes of power class. I'm relieved, I take it as a signal that I'm shaping up again.

Mel - gold star vibes coming your way...
Hi to pat, nelie and hiker,

have a great day all,
Rabbit

Yes, they are expensive. Ever since I watched "Buff Brides", I've wanted to go to one. Our local one charges a fee for their trial membership, *******s. Anyway, through my medical insurance, it is $70/month with no other signup fee. Considering every other gym offered through my health care is at least half that price and my current Ballys membership is 1/10th of that, it is definitely expensive :) The only reason I started thinking about it is because one of the areas we might move to has one right around the corner (walking distance). Although I think DH and I will buy a weight "system" once we move into a more permanent location and build up our home gym.

Wow, has it really been six months Nelie?? The cow is cute, but I miss your smiling face. :)

Mel - my knees don't seem to be affected by the long walks. I did have that lovely "how am I going to sit down" pain in my thighs the next 2 days though. :lol: Shorter walks the rest of the week, then another 4 hour one on the weekend. Luckily the weather is nice, though we had a real downpour for about an hour yesterday. Started as hail, and changed to rain after about 15 minutes. Effectively stopped me from going for a walk at lunch! After work, everything had dried up and it was sunny again.

DH left last night for 2 weeks to visit his family, esp his 94 year old Dad. It's a good length of time for him to be gone - enough for me to get some things done, and still some time to watch movies he won't, etc. :lol: and enough to get to missing him, but not badly, if you know what I mean. First however, I have 2 more nights of meetings to get through (had one last night too), and Relay for Life on Friday night.

:wave: to everyone. Glad you're back in the game Hiker and Rabbit.

Pat – Your weather sounds about a psychotic as ours in the “in-between” seasons. Luckily it looks like we’ve firmly moved into spring, the surprise snow storms should be behind us! I’m even going sleeveless today. Enjoy your “you” time. I also like it when DF is working evenings sometimes so I can watch DVDs he doesn’t care for, spend a little more time on my workouts without feeling guilty, and not make dinner into a production. However he has had the evening shift for three weeks now and I’m so glad he’s going back to dayside next week. I’m sick of having to catch up with him by e-mail and phone!

Got a decent run in last night, though I’m getting a little worried about taking my dog with me as it gets warmer. I had to take a walking break because he looked like he needed one, I don’t want him to get heat exhaustion!

Hiker – Sounds like you’re doing awesome, keep it up!

Pilates and LBWO tonight. Is the weekend here yet?

:wave: Morning! It's cool here this morning, but above freezing at least. :lol: And the grass is turning green, the leaves are coming out, I think spring is really coming! Plus we're over 17 hours of daylight now.

Not much going on here. I have an appt with an orthopedic surgeon this morning to get the scoop on my knees. I'm really hoping that there's some help for them short of surgery. I was told at least 6 years ago that replacement would be the likely outcome down the road, but I'm not ready for that yet!!

Workout schedule for today calls for only a 45 minute training walk, so a good time to do an UBWO along with it, which will work well as I have a church council meeting at 7, and the church is only about 3/4 mile down the road from the gym. :)

Hi LWL!

I'm having an okay food/exercise week. Not great but not bad at all. I'm all about the routines and when I lost my favourite step class, I struggled to find a new routine. I need to just know that I go to the gym on certain days and do certain things. Then I can't sit there wondering "what should I do at the gym today? oh, maybe I won't go!" Do you know what I mean?

Anyway, I did some UBWO on Monday (skipped Tuesday :o ), did Power yesterday (love the hurting today ;) and then I think tomorrow, if I'm good, might be some weights at lunch and maybe a run after work?? Who knows..the weather is supposed to be nice so we'll see.

Oh, except Sunday my family goes out for this big Mothers' Day brunch. Do you think it's filled with healthy options and of course I only choose the good clean food? I'll let you decide. :)

Pat - your weather does sound so intriguing! It's just above freezing and yet the days are so long. Sounds cool to me.

Nelie - I also wasn't sure it was you posting with that new picture...but I love it.

Mel - do I remember correctly? Did you say that your "fancy" gym has all these amenities that you just won't use?? What the ? If you're paying the money, use the fun stuff!! And enjoy. I try, when I can, to get the most out of my gym. If I'm paying the "big bucks" I'm going to try to get the most out of it. Tuesday night I was meeting some friends for dinner after work. I didn't quite have time for a workout but I had about half hour to kill so I stopped by, took a nice hot shower and got ready for dinner. I think it's called an Executive Workout. ;)

Have a great day everyone.

:D

Oh yay! My knees are suffering only what I've known for a long time is wrong. The "wandering kneecap" syndrome where the patella slips out of its groove and grates on the ends of the femur and tibia(?). Anyway, 6 weeks of PT and he'll reevaluate, but chose not to x-ray it today as my symptoms are quite specific and fit the differenital diagnosis. Yippee! I can do this, esp as the PT is about a block away.

Hi Everyone:wave:


Wow, it's Friday already! I'm so behind this week. Just wanted to pop in and say "Hello." Eating has been 90% clean.

ELISA: Executive Workout. :lol3: I LOVE IT! I don't think I have every had one of those. But really, shouldn't those include a massage too? :s: Maybe a little hot tub time with a cocktail. :dunno:

MEL: :high: You do deserve a gold star for the week! Don't think twice about the bosu stunts either. After a while the onlookers will the get used to you and not think/look twice at you. Not that I think it would matter anyway.:devil: It sounds like you really are enjoying your new gym.

PAT: I'm glad that you are avoiding surgery at this point. Hopefully your knees will respond well with physical therapy. I can't believe that you can continue your training through all this too. You are made of stronger stuff than me! :hug:

Exercise has been mostly lifting this week. My cardio sessions have dropped to just the 15 minute warm up prior to my lifting. I'm working up a really good sweat during that time and during the lifting but I can't make a habit of skipping the rest of my cardio later in the workout. There is just so much I'm trying to fit into my sessions and two hours just isn't hitting everything. :dunno: I can't even believe I'm saying that two hours at the gym isn't enough for me to do what I think I need to do. It's really irrational and I need to take a good look at my whole routine for the week in general. :yes:

Yesterday I had a great NSV. I had a checkup yesterday and my blood pressure was 112/62. :woohoo: Big difference from two years ago when it was 190?/85?. :dizzy: I must be getting some cardio in somewhere. :lol:

No really, I need to get some 50 minute cardio sessions in between now and next week. One of my neighbors asked me to join her team for the Race for the Cure next weekend. I wasn't planning to do it this year but she asked and the knees feel better. We will be walking so there really is no excuse.

Have a great weekend everyone. Hopefully I'll have time later in the weekend to check up on the rest of the thread and move out of lurker mode soon. :s:

Morning - it's gorgeous and sunny here :sunny: and I HAVE THE DAY OFF!! :D I'm still sitting hee in my robe at 10 am! I cannot remember the last time I was this lazy. :lol: Of course the cat thinks I'm here for her pleasure and gets on my lap everytime I sit down.... Okay, I have had a shower, emptied the dishwasher, and done 2 loads of wash. Not totally slacking. I'm meeting my Friday-lunch GFs still at 12:30 and then doing some shopping, including for groceries. I'll hit the gym while I'm out. It'll be nice and quiet I'm sure.

Lydia - some days 2 hours is not enough, and others it's about 1 hour 50 minutes too much. :rofl: As for the training, walking really doesn't aggreavate my knees much, as long it's on the level. I have a PT appt set for 8 am Monday. I'm very happy not to have to wait to get started. ANd good for you doing Race for the Cure! We have a local gal who sometimes trains with us for one in Denver(?).

Elisa: Gotta love those executive workouts! :)

Okay, really need to get something done here. :wave: Have a great day.