Lydia - got a foam roller tonight, and I have to tell you that at some points on my thighs, pretty much all the way around 3-6 inches above the knee and some on what I guess is the IT band, my legs were cursing you and this whole roller suggestion. My calves, shoulders spine and hip flexors loved you all along. Once i stood up and my legs realized how much easier the walking was they remembered the love. Thanks!

Now I just have to get the technique down - how do you hold yourself up enough to roll over the thing without killing your arms and shoulders? Do I need a stool to put my hands on, or do I need to sit on something?

And I totally understand that the kids had to be included. They have missed daddy too. Though I do hope that they slept sometimes....

Alena - I have once lost both of my yoga mats. Bigger, much harder product to lose.... Glad you got some workout in!

Denver - I am the plan administrator for our insurance company and I hate them... Good luck with your filing.

Good night everyone! I'm taking my less sore legs to bed and thinking about getting up at six for the early registration frenzy for next year's marathon. Giving consideration to signing up for the full if I get in at the earliest time - minimally more expensive than the full and I can drop back to the half for a ten dollar difference at any point up until a month before, which would still make it $45-50 cheaper than I paid for this half. if I don't make one of the two early registration tiers I will likely sign up for half... Or I might sleep in and register for the half later in the day at the $49 tag (compared to the $80 I paid this year)... Decisions decisions...

Whoa, my days are long!

XFit totally kicked my butt on a not terribe difficult WOD, I think because I was doing it an hour later after being awake 2 hours longer. Amazing what little changes can wreak such big havoc. Sooner or later I'll get used to this.

Lydia- go for the closets! And I love the air mattress story.

Alena- Good for having a plan B!

Off to the train....

Mel

Mel, good luck with your new job!

Lydia ...OF COURSE you deserve a great house! Go for it and enjoy! OTOH...a smaller house imposes lots less on your time in terms of cleaning, maintenance, money left over after the mortgage is paid...you'll just have to find onde that is just right!

I feel lousy today, did 2x10 mins exercise after 5 weeks of doing nothiung, and it was totally useless, an uphill struggle. I'm still groggy & headachy with jetlag, and I've got stiff and sore shoulders. Jetlag...I'm sure it'll improve in the enxt days. Cannot be opld age can it? I turned 51 today, and I got a gorgeous present from DD and DS: a pair of PJ pants..in DDs size (small) and they fit. I still have to loose the famous 20 pounds, but at leat the PJ pants fit.

I guess I'll feel a lot better after a nap.

Have a great day all,
rabbit

Happy birthday, rabbit!



It's not old age at all.

Happy Birthday, rabbit!

Rabbit!!

I thought I had recovered enough to do some weights yesterday,and made it through a warmup and about 1/3 of a LB workout I'd done before and my stomach decided it didn't like it one bit. I tried one more set, and then nearly moved the nausea to the next level, so I went home. Felt only so-so all day, but much better this morning. About to go do today's UB workout. It's out, though the forecast is for snow tomorrow - booo!

Lydia - I watched way too many episodes of House Hunters when I was sick last week - so I know the kind of house you saw. I didn't realize the one you're in is so small - anything will look big to you! We're at about 1,650SF and I complain about the size all the time. Since we built it, I do have enough storage though.

Mel - Hope the new job is going well. I hear you on the longer commute, but at least part of it is on the train so you're not as stressed with traffic.

Everyone else

Happy Birthday Rabbit

Hope you felt better after your nap!

Shannon: Glad the foam roller worked for you! Here's a link to kind of help you get your positioning. There are a lot of them in YouTube that may also help as well. I just happen to favor the stuff coming from Cressey.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8caF1Keg2XU

Now. When doing SMR, self-myofascial release, the idea is that you are smoothing out the knots that occur in your muscle fascia. When you hit a knot, roll back and forth over the knot very slowly for about twenty to thirty seconds. As you found, it hurts like the devil but this is an effective way to smooth out the fascia so that the muscle can lengthen back to it's original state.

As far as moving and rotating yourself on the foam roller, it does take some upper body strength. I place myself on my forearms similar to the video link. Think of it as a little extra bonus for your upper body as well. It does become a more natural movement with practice. It's also why I prefer to do this at home.

In honesty, you don't have to run a half marathon in order to benefit from this tool. I really think everyone should be rolling themselves out twice a day. It just makes a huge difference in the healing process post workout and is a great addition to the warm up as well. I always run so much better when I remember to roll first. Everything just "works" better.

Back from Pilates class.

Nelie, thanks for the link you left in the groceries thread in WL Support.

I have to go back a few days and reread Lydia's instructions re the roller. ANd I will watch the video, but later, The Biggest Loser starts right now.

Otherwise, I am super excited. My new laptop arrived today (I settled for Intel i5 with 4 GB RAM DDR3), but I have to set up McAfee before I can let it loose on the Internet.
But, mainly, I am going to see a performance of Jesus Christ Superstar (with Ted Neeley!) end of April and I already have tickets. Woohoo!!!!!

Alena

Happy birthday, Rabbit!!!!!!!!!

I am going to have to check out the foam rollers. For me, my arsenal against muscle knots includes Traumeel arnica cream, Kiehl's muscle soak, ice, and of course....



Namaste! Hope you are having a great week! Denver is getting DUMPED upon at the moment and I might just have to work from home tomorrow.

Cardio done. But I have to admit it was only only what I would call a half-@$$ cardio, I went to bed late and got up early to get the exercise done (I have physio today and she doesn't want me to do anything else than walking on the treadmill the same day - but treadmill is now out of question).

Pat, Mel, I think I need to raid that surplus store your parts came from and get myself some new body parts - the existing ones are not working that well any more.

Lydia - thanks for that link, and the SMR info. I feel fantastic today, and I'm sure a lot of that is from the roller on Monday.

Mel - hope the job is going well, even with the longer commute.

Pat & Rabbit - I hope you guys are feeling better today!

Alena - I love Jesus Christ Superstar. I've seen it several times, once with the original Judas. I had tix for Sebastian Bach as Jesus once, but he got sick at the last minute and we got the understudy... Enjoy it!

No exercise for me yet today, can't guarantee I'll get it in tonight as I now have to go downtown for a bit so might be later getting DSS than I would like. I really need to get back into the habit of exercising in the AM at least on days we have him...

Good day everyone!

Afternoon all. After a forecast of cloudy and maybe snow, we have a lovely afternoon. I love it, and we're gaining daylight like crazy!

Did my UB workout great yesterday, and a sweaty zumba class this morning. I don't know if all of the zumba classes have as many squats and lunges, but I'm going to swap my Th/Fri workouts to UB/LB so I have another day for my legs to recover. We're getting a new - certified - instructor in 2 weeks, so the class may change somewhat. I like the gal we have now, but she's not certified. But she'll be taking the class with us still. (She also teaches 2 other classes at the gym, so I might pick up one of those).

And DH is coming home tomorrow night!! Of course, it's at midnight+ so I'll be up late to go and get him. He doesn't leave CO until 4 pm, and of course there's a 2 hour time difference.