I am in the beginning stages of switching over to a twice a day regime. I have pretty well converted my walks from epic to normal, and the plan is to stay that way. Now I am adding three times a week swim, and in the next few days it will be joining a gym.

My goal is to head into a 16 week cycle where I will:

3 days a week short beach-walk + swim
3 days a week short beach-walk + gym
1 day a week freestyle; could be a long beach-walk or f* it and go to a movie. Whatever I feel like.

I have some pretty specific goals in mind, and just to be contrarian about it, I won't really know what they are until I get there. What I mean is, I see one of two potential outcomes happening, one is preferred, but I don't know yet which one is physically possible. But what I don't want to do is end up injured in someway. So, progress will have to be judged somewhat on the fly.

Then I take the month of January off from the gym, (to avoid the resolutioners), and assess how well I can maintain those gains in my home setting. At that point I can push plans further out based on outcome.

That's the game plan anyway. For today I did 3 miles on the beach and washed my car a lot, probably about three times. 2500+ miles of baked on bugs took a while to scrape off. Then, just because I had everything out I did a broom scrub-down on my front porch, steps, and sidewalk. All of that should count for a little something. :cheesy:

Had a nice walk in the woods today and the day before :)

I had an abbreviated workout this morning...because I went back to sleep...

I did 25 minutes on the interval setting (18 max elevation!) then did some weight machines....talked to the trainer that I want to train me :) He's a cool dude and I think we will get along famously...

45 minute walk in Riverside Park with a friend.
she was tired and didn't tell me that ahead (normally she's a fast walker) so the walk was slow.
nice but drove me a little crazy not to walk faster.
planning on the gym later.

I found a geocache today. Did about a 3 mile walk. Started raining on my way back.

I did a 10 minute warm up on the stationary bike then weight machines (upper and lower body and abs) for about 30 minutes, then 25 minutes (as prescribed by the trainer at my gym) of heavy intervals with higher elevation. I'm looking more at elevation distance now when I'm on this machine. In 25 minutes I did nearly 400 ft of elevation. I want to work up to over 500 even if it means a longer duration. I also want to ask them about possibly getting the weighted vests; unless everyone would be ok if I used my hiking pack for resistance....but people are strange about backpacks now....

ohhhh I forgot...

I found this wonderful weight machine. It's called a pullover. I'm absolutely infatuated! It does numerous things at once; shoulders, triceps and even upper abs! (which I felt this morning when I woke up, after trying it for the first time yesterday)
This is especially wonderful since I have a shoulder that is prone to injury (old skiing accident) and since the arms work co-operatively, I don't have to worry about over tasking the bad side, but am still able to do a heavier weight. :)
I have to say, after doing upper body work, I find myself standing straighter throughout the day...even when I was tired on the treadmill doing the elevations, I managed to keep my shoulders down and back...
Feels sooo good to be back at the gym!

Yesterday I wrote a second post but it got lost because the site was being a little wonky. Is it not one of the most annoying thing to have a fairly long post or email disappear? It never comes out as good the second time. Anyway...

Yesterday afternoon I went to the gym and did the Arc Trainer, Interval program, L 5 for an hour, and then L 7 for 30 minutes. Then I did half an hour of weight lifting, stretching, and yoga.

Today I did a two hour walk in the park (thanks to this break between summer school and regular school which lasts for all of August!).

Here is a comprehensive description of Jill (the obsessive at my gym who I am always observing and sort of trying to figure out):

-pale white skin
-hard to determine age... maybe low thirties? Her personality is very 20-something --meaning kind of immature but not bubblegum, more with a harsh edge. Her face looks older, worn down and with heavy-ish make-up
-her hair is shoulder length bleach blonde and always in a ponytail coming out of a baseball cap
-her body is weird but quite young looking, more like as if she is in her twenties, no body fat, six pack abs, the tightest butt imaginable, and lean, muscular legs
-she has this hulking shoulder thing going on that is quite masculine-ish. Her masculine edge is also amplified by her her small chest (She always wears tight black shorts/leggings with a black Underarmour brand bra)
-she doesn't look anorexic but also doesn't look like a bodybuilder
-she wears perfume which I hate

We spend many an hour together not acknowledging each other at all. I imagine that if we spotted each other in a foreign country we might smile and come up to each other and say, "OMG, hi, what are you doing here?" Maybe we'd be in Italy...

Yesterday as soon as I got home from work I rode my bike around Prospect Park. it was cool out, in the sixties, and you could smell the trees as soon as you got on the path. If you know that loop, you know that the first couple miles are easy and the last mile is a slow incline that usually has at least one person walking his or her bike at the end. I never give up though. I will probably die on a bike, my heart pounding out of my chest. I want to see green when I go down.

It has totally sucked since Saturday. Tweaked my knee before I even hit a ball. Figured it was nothing and stayed on the court over 2 hours. All was good till I got home later that day and it hurt. Have been injured enough times to know the difference between being sore and in pain. But did good respecting my knee and have not done anything since except rest, ice and NSAIDs. Was concerned it was serious but thankfully it's slowly been getting better. Maybe I'm just not feeling the pain with the NSAIDs but I'll take it right now. Maybe I'll be able to get on the court over the weekend. If not, then restart next week...hopefully.

So, what's your story? Do you play professionally or what? You have pointed our your love of tennis/the fact that you are very involved in the sport, so I am curious.

Nope, I'm a working stiff who loves the yellow fuzzies...a lot. Wanna play? ;)

Music optional.

:)

Four year Varsity Letterman in high school, but rarely play anymore. It's great that you are so nuts about it. :)

I've been working out like a demon for the past two weeks and today was no different.

Need to shift the post ankle injury tub.

Today i've just polished off 50 mins on the stationary bike followed by squats and sit ups.

I'm going to go for a walk around the lake this evening to add to the fun.

I took another two hour walk in Riverside Park today. Squirrels seemed to be the theme. I saw a lot of them, rustling in the leaves and scurrying into the brush. Squirrels are so beautiful, and I am in awe of them. In fact it was a joke in my family that I was taken to the zoo as a child and seemed bored by all the animals but then saw a squirrel in the parking lot and pointed it out with much excitement. When I got cats, I remember thinking, it's like getting to have big squirrels that don't run away from me. But, really, squirrels are in a class of their own.

Here were the two oddest squirrel moments:

-a squirrel in the trash can seeking out food (one of those trash cans that is made out of a mesh pattern so it's easy for small animals to squeeze right in)

-the end of a squirrel's tail just sitting by itself in the middle of a path

I also came upon another site that I found myself thinking about. It was an old stone little one-room "house" right up against the woods with two windows and no other observable way to enter from the way I faced it. The windows had rusty, jail-like bars on them. Inside the house there were piles of leaves and dirt and nothing else. There were two shopping carts outside the house, each one tethered to the bars of each respective window. A mother and child passed by, and the child said, "Does anyone ever go inside?" And the mother said, "No one goes inside," and pulled her away. It was a creepy site, but then I started thinking how those shopping carts were most likely stored and hidden there by homeless people to use for storing and transporting stuff, like recycling bottles for money. There were a few empty bottles in the carts. I thought, "What if I reported those carts and tried to have them taken away?" Then I thought, "What a terrible thing to even think of as a fantasy! This was a smart idea, and they are being used for disenfranchised people's livelihood." The stone structure reminded me of a mausoleum in disrepair but still beautiful, while the carts seemed sad and ugly. But then when I thought of them being used by people and carefully locked there, I felt touched by the sight of them, as if they themselves were silenced people.

Then I found a winding staircase in the park with 87 steps called St. Clair Stairs, and I ran up and down it a few times.

Beautiful.

beautiful
 

The above post was beautiful to read. Thankyou. Moved me for several reasons.

A squirrel tail in the pathway...very interesting as well. Ive spent quite alot of time around squirrels watching them in transportation mode.

Exercise: I am determined to start my day stretching...
Shopping, however, has to be named as the outstanding exercise today.

Ok..my continuity here is flawed, but... I have a squirrel story....

I was visiting a favorite childhood park one day...now pretty much abandoned sadly. I heard a strange noise coming from the pavilion so I went over. The noise was coming from a trash can there. I carefully peeked inside...only to find...2 squirrels mating... :|
They paused and looked up at me...it was an awkward moment so I stepped back and left...and so did they...my only thought on the matter was...in all the great outdoors...they choose to mate in a trash can??? Although, I had a friend who was in the Navy and was on shore leave and had to have sex in a port-a-potty because of necessity...or so she says... so... really....have we risen that much above animals? I think not....back to regularly scheduled programing...

Umm I took a day off from the gym today...my body just said NO....but tomorrow morning I will begin again... :)

Okay, too much coincidence. Squirrels, porta-potty, parks... I wasn't going to share this, but what the heck.

I don't think I have mentioned this before, but the beach that I walk on is part of the state park system. One thing that is helpful for very long walks first thing in the morning, (post coffee), is the fact that there are restrooms every 100 yds or so. Sort of a "emergency only" situation, privvies that flush, rudimentary, small and dark.

There are also hundreds upon hundreds of California ground squirrels out there. Whole colonies of them, relatively tame as they are accustomed to being fed.

Yesterday morning while on my walk I stopped to use the facilities. It was only after I was all locked in and in what we will call a 'compromised situation' that I realized I had company in there. :blink:

I'm not sure which one of us got out of there faster.

US Open comng up!
 

The US Open will be starting soon: 8/26 - 9/9. Western and Southern Open in Cinncy going on now. Federer is my tennis God...he lost today. :|

I got to the gym this morning around 630am...only to find that the slackers don't open till 8... and I have to be to work at 830.. :|

I totally forgot it was Saturday...sigh

If cleaning counts as a workout, I will still get one. I'm going to do some cleaning once the landlord and his kiddo are out the door... :) Then I can come home to a nice clean house after the weekend's adventures...

It was a beautiful summer day out, and I went to the gym, making for a nice quiet gym experience.

I did 75 minutes on the Beast (which I guess is what we are calling the Arc Trainer these days), Level 5, while watching Bait Car (so embarrassing to admit). Then I did 45 minutes of weight lifting, core, and stretching on a new floor that blasts the same music mix constantly. There aren't enough women singing on it, though I can't argue with getting to hear old 80's favorites like "Turning Japanese" by the Vapors and "Let's Go Crazy" by Prince and the Revolution.

I ended up having a lengthy chat session (at least 20 minutes, I'd say) with a locker room friend, a strong fullish-figured straight African American woman who wears beautiful dresses. She does double work-outs, arriving right on the dot at 5am on week days and then also coming after work. She was changing during our conversation and did that weird thing where people change so that you never get to see any skin. I haven't come out to her lest things become even more careful :D

Nadal has it all...
 

I was really bummed out he didn't play last year...and Andy Murray...well enuff said:blink:

Federer played in the US Open last year. Lost to Berdych in the quarters.

I did 30 minutes of stair sprints on the gym steps (not to be confused with the Stairmaster), alternating between using weights and not using weights. Fun!

I rode my bike in the neighborhood and around Prospect Park yesterday afternoon.

It was cooler out than it's been, and the streets were full of people walking and biking and sitting on stoops and at sidewalk cafes.

It's getting easier going around the uphill side of the loop at the park, and I'm happy at how quickly I'm building stamina.

I have two bikes; one a hybrid racing/trail bike, and one a folding bike. I've been taking the folding bike out, but the wheels are really small and while the workout is good, I don't get up to the speed I can reach on the other one, which I think I'll take out tonight when I get home.

I've also been stretching. I took my yoga mat out on the balcony this past weekend. It's pretty private; I'm up high.

I have been remiss in keeping up here.

Dialing back the hands of time to last Wednesday. I did my short Beachwalk and on that day I added an extra mile and a half barefoot. The sand and tide conditions were just right, and I had not done that for a while. That is my secret weapon in keeping PF at bay, it's really good for exercising all the little muscles in my feet when I get just the right squishiness and texture. It felt good, and I could tell that I needed it.

I also had another swimming lesson on Wednesday and learned a whole bunch of new stuff. I decided it would be good to start learning the fundamentals of breaststroke and treading water. Boy, who knew there were so many different ways to kick water. :blink:

Flutter kick makes sense. Frog kick is just plain weird, I can see where someone probably saw a frog doing it and it worked for the frog so they decided to try it, okay I get that. Scissor kick is a stretch but I guess maybe somebody watched an octopus one day or something. The one that absolutely befuddles me is the eggbeater. Who could ever possibly think this was a good or logical idea is beyond me. The whole scull with hands while egg beating with legs is just slightly worse than trying to rub your stomach, pat the top of your head, and chew gum, all at the same time.

I thought treading water was supposed to be the simple relaxing thing that you do after falling off of a boat. :seconddoh:

The rest of the days have been pretty simple. Short, three-mile beach walk each morning, adding swim practice Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

I like Metro's combination of activities, seems well-rounded and complete.

Gemme is right about the ellipticals. Your arms are supposed to be moving, especially the folks who are hunched over and support part of their body weight with their arms. Totally cheating.

I always just used the ones that also had the moving arms to have to hang onto. There's a built-in penalty for cheating, they keep moving even if you let go. With my level of coordination, that means that if I let go I will probably just end up hitting myself in the face with one of those waving metal arms.

Okay, I think that's about all. Today's roster includes leaving now for the beach for a regular three-mile walk, and midday today I will have a practice session at the pool.

:theisland: