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.

:)