Pat,
welcome back. How was New England? Did you make it to Bonsai West?
Last week was hard, my lower back was really acting up and I did not exercise until yesterday, when I decided back or no back, I have to start moving. I got 40 minutes cardio down, and then still red beet faced and with my hair wet from the shower, I arrived to the yoga class just a minute before it started. I think the yoga helped as usual.
Starting this week, there is an additional yoga class (Thursday nights), at least for the summer. Brad (our yoga instructor) announced that he will focus on inversion and his plan is have us all standing on our heads by the end of summer. Good luck with that!
I was sore ALL OVER today and I could not believe it. I don't know if it was from the fact that did not do much during the week or from the yoga (there were some new poses, like downward dog on your elbows (i.e. the entire forearm on the floor) - it's a lot harder than the regular version - I think my BUTT hurts the most.
The sore butt also could be from a pretty fast walk for 3 days in the row through a conservation area - I got a new little pedometer thingy that tells me that route is 2 miles and I cover it in 34 minutes (with the dogs in tow).
There was a blurb about
(well, stats mostly) in the last issue of Oxygen and I was surprised to find out that breast stroke burns 590 calories in an hour. Only butterfly burns more, and all other styles burn less. Also, it said that in a 25 m pool you need to swim 32 laps/64 lengths to cover 1 mile, so I decided to count it today. In my usual 35 minutes, I covered 58 lengths, so I was only 6 lengths/3 laps away from 1 mile (but I really can't stay any longer).
I don't know if it's good or bad (I consider myself a slow swimmer), I am sure I won't beat Dara Torres any time soon.
I have to admit though that counting the numbers pushed me to swim faster, also, I shared the lane with another lady who was quite fast (she was changing styles) so it was an additional motivator not to fall behind.
It was a great workout, even though it was only 35 minutes.
Alena
It is an amazing book and you can also get a complimentary DVD from startingstrength.com that is absolutely worth it 
My little man is still baking away, 2 weeks to go 
I can't wait to get back into my workouts 
After that I flew to Florida to see a friend and went to some tropical botanic gardens! Very different. ANd home to the beginnings of spring here. 
without wind. Need to start getting my butt in shape for longer rides. 
to everyone.
That's something to get excited about. Best of luck during these last few days. 
