Exercise:

• What : slow walk
  
• Time: 51:22 minutes
  
• Distance: 2.2 miles
  
• Lap Times: N/A
  
• Minutes/mile: 23.3

Slow neighborhood walk today. My toes complained, but I wanted to get out and do something.

Ouchie. I just got back from the dermatologist. I have rosacea. I have to use a special ointment and soap for the rest of my life. Not such a big deal. I just thought I had rosy cheeks. I also had 3 warts on my left foot frozen. Not. Nice. I have had them frozen twice before by another doc so I thought this doc might do something more drastic. She wants me to return every 3 weeks to have them re-frozen until they are really gone. Can I say Not. Nice. again?

I am abandoning the idea of bootcamp for these 10 days. We have eaten out twice already. And I may not be able to exercise with these blisters on my toes.

Speaking of eating out, I have discovered the perfect lunch. Panera Bread, "You Pick Two", bowl of black bean soup and half a cafe salad. Total point value (including the side of bread) is 10, includes veggies, carbs, protein and fat and is tasty to boot.

I have been investigating things to do on our vacation and discovered that we can rent bikes on the island for $25 a week! And our hotel is at the edge of the best biking area on the island! I am totally psyched. I don't want to turn this vacation into an adventure vacation, but getting a little exercise won't hurt.

I am so excited about the half marathon. The half marathon makes sense to me. It is a humane distance, a do-able distance. It doesn't require hours and hours of daily training to prepare for it, one long walk with several short walks each week is enough. To me it is perfect.

I was just read the last installment of the Road to Ironman series on MSNBC. I have been following it for several months now and the athlete has decided to take a detour, to not attempt to compete in the ironman. Her main reasons are that the training sessions are too long and boring (5 hours riding a bike? Several times a week? Competitively? I hear ya sister!) I am in the same boat. I actually enjoy exercising an hour a day. I can appreciate one "long" day a week of more than an hour. But I am not willing to give up multiple hours each day for training. The day is just too short. I want to spend time with my daughter and my spouse, to make a healthy tasty dinner to read a book, to check up on my blogs. Basically, I want a life outside of exercising too.

Half marathon, here I come.

Exercise:

• What : fast walk
  
• Time: 41: minutes
  
• Distance: 6 laps plus warm up and cool down
• Lap Times:4:03, 4:02, 3:58, 3:54, 3:54, 3:54
  
• Minutes/mile: 15.85

Best walk today in a long time. Had a lot on my mind, which seemed to keep me going faster instead of distracting me like normal. Dr.s visit was ok, but she is sending me to loads of specialists. I have to be checked out by a cardiologist before increasing my exercise program. (I had open heart surgery as a baby.) Now I have loads of dr.s visits to do, starting tomorrow.

The other thing is that I was asked to come and interview for a job I had applied for many months ago. The job would mean moving to AL this fall. It is exciting and scary, I am going down to interview next week.

Exercise:

• What : recovery walk
  
• Time: 41:03 minutes
  
• Distance: 5 laps plus warm up and cool down
• Lap Times:4:39, 4:27, 4:27, 4:31, 4:34
  
• Minutes/mile: 18.1

Today we did a recovery walk for a few reasons. 1) We haven't done an exercise walk in a while. 2) It was hot hot hot and humid and looked like it would downpour at any second. 3) Mike got food poisoning last night and was up for a couple of hours vomitting. I was fetching water and listening in horror. So not a great day for real exercise, but we got out there and moved for a little while. We were going to walk the long loop which is about the same total distance (2 miles), but since the skies were threatening, we stuck to the track.

I hopped on the scale this morning and saw a total of 39 lbs lost. It was an encouraging sight.

Tomorrow I go to the doctor for a physical. I have a list of things to talk about but the most important are "Is it ok for me to start running?" and "Am I anemic?" I am a little nervous she will tell me not to run.

Hi ya'll. I am back from the south where I have been stuffed with deep fried, mayo heavy southern food. It was a good weekend with the family, we attended two reunions and got to see Mike's old haunts, but the food was off the hook. On a good note, we did get out to walk twice while there, once at the zoo and once at a state park. Not great walks, but we were trying to be active.

10 day bootcamp is planned from now until our next vacation (leave July 8 for 1 week). Exercising daily, not eating out, eating veggies and fruit, drinking lots of water, staying within points. Here we go!

Edited to add: I added pictures over on Izzy's website. The theme of the reunion was telling me how great I looked and telling Mike that he was "too thin". We were a little defensive by the end of the reunion with all the comments on our weight.

Still here -- just bogged down with fundraising. Ack!

Solved part of my problem on Sundays -- eating. The Mr Bento lunch jar worked out great for me and the kid. Paul's got his own lunchbox but just wasn't able to sit down to actualyl eat it. So I think my chronic meal skipper spouse may need to actually have breakfast first!

Next week is easing up a bit so hopefully I can fit my walking in better. Keeping so many plates spinning is def. a challenge.

Landscaper people coming again tomorrow, helping someone move, playgroup meeting. coffee with someone, church work, seeing family.... yargh.

Had dinner with playgroup people last Thursday and one mom who I haven't seen in two months told me I look like I've lost weight.

I have, and it's nice to know it's visible, but I'd like to put on muscle too. And that's not going to happen with no workouts.

Just a quickie as it is currently thunderstorming. No walk today. Had lots of errands and a late dinner and now a thunder storm, me thinks nature is trying to tell me to hurry up and pack already. Will be back on Monday. Wish me at least one walk while we are away. Have a great weekend!

• Planned: 30 min walk
• Actual: not yet

Arrange, arrange, arrange.

My whole life right nowis arranging one thing or another. Yesterday?

Estimate for non-toxic lawn care #1.

Organic produce /chicken for Paul delivery.

Talk to various people on the telephone for fundraising.

Play group arrangements -- mod meetings or get togethers.

Meeting at church.

Plus baby care and some random house chores.

Today is more of the same, only I'm hoping to get a little mental break when I go for a playdate and then when Julai sacks out after that I want to get my walk done.

I'm in maintaining mode and hustling to get the fundraisign junk out of my way so I can start my schedule in late July as planned.

Exercise:

• What : long walk
  
• Time : 54:02 minutes
  
• Distance: 8 laps plus warm up and cool down
• Minutes/mile: ~17

Lost my lap info because my watch was full, but I did a little more than a 17 min/mile pace. To do 17 min/mile, I have to finish a lap in 4:15 and all my laps were between 4:15 and 4:20.

Today was my best walk of the week so far. I am feeling bloated and having stomach issues (obviously I need more fiber in my diet) so I didn't even know if I would walk tonight but my tummy calmed down and we set out around 7. It was great weather and we took it fairly easy. I was able to talk comfortably the entire time, not like when we do intervals.

This week has been really hard for me mentally. I am stressed at work, stressed at home, stressed about our trip on Thursday. I feel like I have hit a wall with my exercise and a wall with my weight loss. I am trying to take it in stride, to remember that all I have to do is to keep on keeping on and I will emerge from the other side of this crazy time and push through to the next level of fitness. But my inclination is to turn to food for comfort and to stop exercising when I don't see immediate results. The idea that I am going to start running in a month is a little hard for me to believe.

It might rain tomorrow, but I hope it holds off, I would like to get one more walk in before we leave. We will take our walking shoes with us, I am investigating parks in the area that we might squeeze a walk in while away. But with family obligations, you never know.

Hope you are all doing well.

Exercise:

• What : neighborhood walk
  
• Time: 32 minutes
• Distance: 1.6 miles
• Minutes/mile : 19

A hard walk today. We have all these things to do around the house for the HOA and I was out running errands for that while Mike worked late so we didn't finish dinner until almost 7. Add the late afternoon stress to the work stress throughout the day and I didn't really feel like exercising. It was the perfect weather for a walk though and I might not get any exercise this weekend while we are out of town, so I couldn't let a day slip by. My stomach cramped almost as soon as I got going and my feet started complaining not long after. (I really hope that during our vacation in July my feet can completely recuperate. For now, I am just pushing through the pain.) Anyway, usually after I start walking, my mind clears and I become eerily calm. Not today, I just kept running through the list of things I had to do when I got home so I made it a short but not so fast one. I still have a couple more things to do for the HOA tomorrow, but we are almost there.

My sister has agreed to run a 5K with me in September, there is one in her home town (45 minutes south of DC). It will give me something to shoot for, a nice warm up race before the half marathon to make it all feel real. I keep looking for 10Ks in November, but haven't found a local one yet. I may have to do a destination run.

Mowed the front lawn. Took about 30 min. Did not do the back -- it's looking all rainy.

I'm really tired too -- It's a tough week this week. A lot going on, and the 4th death in our family this month. Not a relative this time, but a close friend of my mother's. So naturally mom is upset. The wake is this weekend.

There's happy news too -- Ney's getting married, and a new friend just found out she's pregnant.

I'm running around a bit distracted.

No real walk today but LOADs of work around the house. I am exhausted. I hope we have a walk tomorrow, the weather is just too good to pass up.

Exercise:

• What : walk with sister
  
• Time: 40 minutes

Another walk of unknown length today.

I am so tired. Iz was up most of the night and then slept last this morning. After she woke, we headed to my sisters early since she was already going to be off on her nap schedule. We went to lunch (I had salad) then Iz fell asleep on the way back to her house. We walked around her block, hoping to let her sleep, but she woke up when we started and never fell back to sleep. Then we got all packed up and went to the pool. Iz and I stayed in the baby pool, frequently joined by my sister and neices. It was Iz's second pool experience, the first being last summer when she was just a couple of months old. She liked it, but she was more interested in the other kids and pool toys than the water. After we got out and I got her fed, she walked around the pool area until I finally felt like I had to get her in the car so she could nap. She was asleep before we left and got a good hour nap on the way home.

So I had a walk, a nice day with family, and some pool time. What more can I ask for?

Tomorrow is a rest day from exercise, though we will be busy doing stuff around the house. Mike wants indian for father's day, I can't wait!

Exercise:

• What : long, slow, but hilly walk
  
• Time: 40-60 minutes

Had a nice walk today with my friend Mary. It was supposed to be a restful day, but there were hills, well one BIG hill.

I am tired. I hope I get a good nights sleep tonight. Tomorrow might be a walking day with my sister, or maybe just a rest day. We are going to the pool with the girls (Iz and her cousins) so I may be too tired to walk.

It was beautiful here today. Supposed to be great all weekend. Like spring again!

I feel like I do "drive by posting" lately. So busy fundraising! and the drama never stops...

Believe it or not... workout today was 30 min walk en famille. Julia in a sling on me. Paul and me barefoot, knee deep in water and armed with cameras.

We had a bad storm and the drains were closed, so we flooded! So we hiked around taking pix for insurance and junk. He had to park his car 1/4 mile away and slosh home. We took a pix of that too.

The landscaper who came this morning to in stall my last bit of sod? I called him first and told him there were kids going by in a raft and what should I do if my sod up and flaots off and he was in disbelief.

Shoot, *I* am in disbelief.

Julia was hooting out the window at the kids "Pool! Pool!" because she thought it was time for her to swim.

Now tomorrow I have to call city draina nd stree people. Grrr.

Exercise:

• What : interval walk
  
• Time: 39:16 minutes
  
• Distance: 5 laps plus warm up and cool down
• Lap Times:3:54, 3:57, 4:08, 3:56, 4:10
  
• Minutes/mile: 16.1

Another hard walk today. I have been blaming the weather for the hard walks but today it was perfect weather, cooler than normal and breezy. Maybe I should have taken a rest day today after yesterday's hard walk or maybe I am anemic or dehydrated. Or maybe this is just the limit of what I can do right now. Tomorrow is a long slow walk with a friend, so it will be more restful. I am trying not to get too down about not progressing more quickly.

Cat- thanks for the tip about the stitch. I will try it out next time. I found a girls swimsuit with a rashguard shirt at target for $12, should suit us at least for this weekend.

Amy:

Stitch in side -- walk with your hands up over your head in "stick 'em up!" pose. Looks dorky but helps the stitch resolve itself.

Julia wears Tuga brand swim wear. She has the no print purple "scuba suit" looking one and then a rashguard shirt one to wear with her swim diapers. Check out the clearance page... her plain purple one is on there toward the bottom.

She wears iplay brand reusable swim diapers, hats, and sunglasses. Those I get at Target. She's still wearing last year's Tuga so we're getting two seasons out of it. Yay! :)

Nikki:

How's the online WW going? And the scale thing? Hahaha -- your kicked your Paul's butt for pace while walking! WTG! Now if I can catch up to MY Paul's pace I'll be set for Disney. He's so tall and so long his "casual" walk is 4 mph.

I got two of the three sports bras I ordered from Title Sports. One is encapsulation and the other is compression. I'm going to wear the encapsualted one first... I have a headache, I don't want to walk fast, so the higher support one can wait til tomorrow.

Ok, here's goes....

Exercise:

• What : interval walk
  
• Time: 40:57 minutes
  
• Distance: 5 laps plus warm up and cool down
• Lap Times:3:50, 3:58, 3:56, 3:57, 4:19
  
• Minutes/mile: 16.0

Tonights walk was HARD. Isabel was sleepy and grumpy so we went out at 6:30 instead of 7. My stomach was still full of dinner and I was burping a lot on the way over to the track. It was still pretty warm, but cooler and breezier than yesterday. We got a great start but I had a stich in my side right away, a problem I haven't had since I started walking. I kept walking through it. I stopped for water after the second lap and it went away. I had to stop for water again after the fourth lap, then didn't walk intervals on the last lap. All in all, a good effort, the most I could offer today.

While I am out and walking, I always think of things to write in the blog, but then by the time I return and sit in front of the computer, my mind goes blank. I had to go shopping again today. I am having a pants issue. Remember all the pants I brought down from the attic a few weeks ago that I was amazed that fit? Most of them are too big now. But they are only too big in the crotch area, not in the waist. My waist is still a size 18 or 20, but my butt and thighs are a size 16. Today I was wearing some shorts that I really like, the waist was almost too tight, but the crotch was so baggy and low, my thighs were chafing. So I went and bought some stretch capris. They are size 16 and seem to fit everywhere ok. I also tried on a cute bathing suit, but I already have 3 old ones that still fit and can't justify buying a new one. I will try the old ones on again the week before my vacay though and get a new one if they are the least bit baggy.

I am going swimming for the first time this weekend. I am looking forward to it. I need to get Iz a bathing suit though. I saw some cute boy bathing suits at target that had little shirts to go with the long shorts. I want her to have the most cover possible. Why do they make little girl bathing suits so skimpy? I am just worried about her sun exposure, not her great tan!

Oh yes, I just remembered, shin splints. I was reading some info on beginning running and how to avoid injury. It talked about shin splints which was an immediate problem for me the last time I started running. It said the reason for them was tight calf muscles and undeveloped shin muscles and gave some stretching and exercises to do to help with the problem. I have been doing them lately to get ready to start running in July. It is hard to exercise your shin muscles. I dont' even realize I have a shin muscle until I try to exercise it. But they feel good. Makes me want to do isometrics.

Exercise:

• What : brisk, long walk
  
• Time: 42 minutes
  
• Distance: 2.2 miles
• Minutes/mile: 19

It is hot and steamy here in DC. Mike and I were planning on doing an interval walk, but when we saw the weather we opted for a slower walk around the long loop through the neighborhood. We were able to maintain a respectable 19 min/mile pace even though the route is a bit hilly. It was a good walk. It is supposed to be cooler Thursday - Monday, so more intense walks then.

I have had an emotional roller coaster day. Seeing extended family at the wedding this weekend opened up some feelings I am not ready to deal with. As always, the exercise helped me sort through them and clear my head.

Eating was ok today, not enough fruits and veggies. After work I went by all three supermarkets and stocked up, we had nothing at home. I made tacos for dinner with soy crumbles. It turned out great, definitely something I could have again.

Hey all, I am back from my moms. I did exactly one walk while I was there, 2 miles in 51 minutes with my mom in tow. The wedding I went to didn't turn out the best. Iz chose the reception to get sick with 101 degree temperature and throw up all over me and my new dress and her and her new dress. We left before the bridal party got there. We drove an hour back to my moms in gooey grossness. I got to see all my relatives minus the party, though, so that was good. Iz must have had the 24 hour bug Mike and I had last week because after a bad night, she was much better the next day.

Eating was ok while away, actually forced my mom to eat in 2 times a day. I did use up almost all my flex poitns for the week though, but that is better than what I have done in the past which is basically not count points at all.

Back to regular exercise tomorrow I hope. Nikki - I live in DC but it is plenty hot and humid here too!

• What: 30 min lawn mowing

Fast post -- have dinner going and baby wreaking havoc. Aaaack!

• What: treadmill walk
• Distance: 2 miles
• Duration: 38 min
  
• Speed: varied

Another late walk. Watching a movie en famille and Paul tried to keep Julia off to one side of the living room but she kept roaming around making me nervous so I'd slow the treadmill down anticipating needing to jump off and catch her or something.

Once I hit the 2 miles I quit. It was too nervy. I'm going to have to break out the playpen. She has to be asleep or contained while I'm on the treadmill or I just can't concentrate, relax, nor enjoy the walk.

But it's done.

A lot going on this week -- I'm going to have to do some schedule shuffle but apart from exercise at home I want to hit the gym twice.

Back to movie, then shower and bed.

• What: treadmill walk
• Distance: 3.5 miles
• Duration: 1:12
• Speed: 2.5 mph warm-up (6 min) and cool down (6 min), 3 mph walk

Late walk tonight -- Paul took Julia and I popped a movie in and got it out of the way. Easy, but bad socks. Gave me hot foot after a point. Too threadbare. I chucked them into the trash when I was done. Don't want them mixing back up in my sock drawer.

Ordered 3 new sports bras from Title 9 Sports and some new T-shirts (casual) from Motherwear.

Still need new shirts for gym, and then pants/shorts all the the way across the board -- gym, casual AND dressy.

So. Exactly when does your body shape normalize post partum? Geesh.

• Planned: 3 miles or strength
• Actual: Rest

Swapped Friday's (rest day) with today. Not that I actually rested.

Apart from babycare, I scrubbed down the bathroom and the nursery, did 3 loads of laundry and put it away, made double dinner do I don't have to cook tomorrow, and dealt with volunteer work. I'm wiped.

Exercise:

• What : fast, long walk
  
• Time: 51:04 minutes
  
• Distance: 8 laps plus warm up and cool down
• Lap Times:4:12, 4:16, 4:08, 4:12, 4:15, 4:15, 4:15, 4:06
  
• Minutes/mile: 16.8

Last night, when Mike and I discussed our workout today, we decided to do a fast walk without intervals and increase our distance to 1.5 miles (6 laps). But I was so inspired by Cat walking 2 miles yesterday, I wanted to match her. Mike had to take the pets to the vet after work and when he got home it was starting to rain. Mike is anti-wet so I knew he wouldn't want to walk in the rain, but I had been looking forward to this walk all day and I wasn't going to let a few drops stand in my way. I went by myself and really enjoyed it. There were kids playing baseball in the field next to the track, some other people walking and some small children playing in the middle of the track and some kids getting coached on hurdle jumping. Lots of things to watch while letting my mind wander on its own. Today was a really good walk. When I finished my 6 laps, I thought to myself "I could go home now," but then I remembered how VJ walked 9 hours mostly alone last weekend and I kept chugging along.

Time to pack for my weekend trip to my mom's house. I will check back in on Monday. have a great weekend!

Exercise:

• What : interval walk
  
• Time: 39:15 minutes
  
• Distance: 5 laps plus warm up and cool down
• Lap Times:3:52, 3:55, 4:01, 3:52, 4:01
  
• Minutes/mile: 15.75

I had a good walk today! We went out to dinner (had to go and rent a book on cd for the trip on Friday). I had the baked potato that I was planning on having at home, but felt really full afterwards and wasn't sure how that was going to play into the walk. But, look, I reduced my pace by .25 min/mile! The walk felt good, but it wasn't that fluid feeling that I very occassionally get where I am just in the zone. But I didn't feel like i as fighting myself either, so all is good. BTW, we decreased our "slow" time this walk, it looks like it paid off.

This bootcamp just doesn't feel as hard as the last one. The last time I did it I had had a bad week before and eaten out a lot and hadn't been exercising. This time, I feel like nothing is that different. Of course, I haven't been as religious as I was last time either, esp. with the sweets.

OK, Cat, I am hopping on HH schedule with you on the second go round! Glad to hear the gym membership is working out.

• Planned: 2 miles treadmill walk
  
• Actual: 5 min warm-up and cool down @ 2.5 mph, 2 miles @ 3.5 mph
  

Amy -- second round of Hal Higdon schedule starts 10/17.

Paul got an hour walk in last night watching the pilot to The X-Files. So this was good. I knocked more junk off my list last night and this morning.

Which includes dropping $110 on my gym billing. I'm still pissed off about the billing snafu and my being penalized $50 that I don't think is fair, but as a concession I got 3 mos of daycare free out of the manager I was talking to ($30) so I'll take the net $20 as a loss.

Point is, my gym card is back on, I have kid care lined up for the kid, so there.

I ought to be good for this summer, in a gym whose air conditioning system doesn't bonk seasonally. (Hear that Bally's? ) Gah.

And there's water aerobics on Sat. Whee.

So now I'm trying to finish off my list so I can start the gym thing without naggling little errands.

And we're back with more people at my house... this time painters painting it. Roofer, landscaper, now painter. Maybe we can get general contractor in and out of here too and then take a much needed break from all this house junk!

Walk was brisk -- Deep Throat episode of the X Files. Basically a straight 3.5 all the way through. Wasn't in the mood for intervals.

Debated doing it at 3.8 mph but I'm not ready to go there in this bra. I need to do some shopping for a middle bra. Something in between a snug regular bra (which is fine for very slow walking) and an Enell (which is good for lots of impact, but really not what I want to wear all the time. It's ok when I'm empty but when I'm full of milk... not my fav feeling.

I'll have to cruise the Title 9 catalog and see what's out there in Bra Land.

Exercise:

• What : slow walk
  
• Time: 37 minutes
  
• Distance: 1.6 miles
• Minutes/mile: 23

All day I was debating about what kind of exercise to do tonight. I was feeling pretty crummy, either from my workout yesterday or from AFs visit. I took a 15 minute stroll around the grounds at lunch time, thinking it might be cooler down by the water, but I just ended up getting very sweaty and having BO the rest of the day. How do people exercise at lunch time without showering? Or walk to the subway in the morning for that matter? I get BO just looking at the humidity. Anyway, decided to put off formal exercise until 7 and ran to the grocery store after dinner. Turns out Mike wasn't feeling well after his run yesterday (we worked out separately) so we decided just to do the 1.6 mile loop slowly for a recovery day. I am trying to hold back on my temptation to run to the track every day and see if I can take 1 sec off my average time, but in reality, I should have hard and easy days and not stress myself every single day. i am so into following the numbers, though, anxious to see what will work to improve my lap time. Next time I walk intervals, I am going to try to shorten my "slow" walk time and see if that helps without tiring me out.

Today's To do List:

• feed pets
• bills
• dishes
• diaper laundry
• clean kitchen
• post office
• gym billing change
• mow back lawn
  
• bake muffins for neighbors as thank you for house sitting
  
• regular laundry wash
• regular laundry dry
• regular laundry put away
• clean living room
• sort produce delivery
• make dinner
• clean car
• get car detailed

Gah. I know I'm not going to get all this done -- I'm just hoping to get the bulk done so there's less tomorrow.

Over breakfast I did double check my schedule. I still have another month to go before starting. I'm doing Hal Higdon's 12 week novice schedule twice for the half marathon. Which mean I have to start 7/25.

Which means from here til 7/25 I can just repeat week 1 over and over. I'm going to try to just pick it up whenever I get through this chore list. Maybe late tomorrow... maybe Thurs. But here it is:

Mon: stretch & strength (lower)
Tues: 3 miles
Wed: 2 miles or cross train
Thurs: 3 miles + strength (upper)
Fri: Rest
Sat: 30 min cross
Sun: 4 m

Likely I'm going to swap saturday and sunday workouts a lot. I just have too much going on Sundays with church junk to be dealing with long days then. Saturdays are better.

Damn. Just thought of another thing for the chore list. Get batteries for my HRM. I tired to do that before vacation and I couldn't get the back off it to see waht kind of battery it takes. I'll have to get Paul to get the back off somehow.

Man. It's going to take a few days to get all caught up post-vacation. Not thrilled about that. I have a monster headache. Blah. I kid you not -- this whole manage-the-house-care-for-the-kid obstacle is going to be my biggest training problem this year.

I love her but I felt like if I heard a piping little voice go "Mami! Mami!" one more time I was going to scream. To her, I'm all smiles and enless patience. To myself, in the privacy of my own head, I think things like" God, no! Not another freakin' dog!"

(Julia thinks all non-bird animals are dogs, and she feels the need to inform me of their whereabouts at every turn. Given the amount of actual living dogs in the neighborhood, stuffed animals, puzzles, picture books, kiddie clothing, and other nursery paraphanalia, there is no shortage of "dogs" of all kinds around here. Ack.)

Paul got the bank done, and I got the groceries done. Front lawn is done. Called church for volunteer junk so that's done. Called my parents. Done.

Nice thing about groceries was taking a peek at my blood pressure -- 122/67. Rock solid. And I manage to food log AND stick to 2000 calories. Now to just cook ahead for the week...

Never made it to the back lawn so tomorrow that's on my list. Laundry, washing the car, bills, mail, general cleaning, cooking, gym membership -- all on the list.

Exercise:

• What : interval walk
  
• Time: 36:06 minutes
  
• Distance: 5 laps plus warm up and cool down
• Lap Times:3:53, 4:01, 4:02, 4:02, 4:04
  
• Minutes/mile: 16.1

Hard walk today in 90 degree temperatures, very humid. Next time I will do it at night. Felt great until the last lap which I felt sick during. Didn't change my time too much though.

[later, after refreshment]

I am feeling much better. Bootcamp is going great and my reward at the end will be new makeup. I don't wear makeup often, and everything I have is really old so I thought it would be nice to spruce things up. I am sure I will want to wear some on our vacation.

The only thing I haven't been able to do this bootcamp is limit myself to 1 sweet a day. I have had 2 each day so far. But veggies and eating in and water and exercise, everything else is top notch.

I "came clean" today with a girlfriend about my weight. My girlfriends are very supportive of me and always ask me how the healthy lifestyle is going, but I always say things like "I have lost 6 lbs this month and 30 lbs total" without giving the exact numbers. Today I finally spilled the beans and told her all my numbers in gory detail (including my weight history). It can't be too much of a surprise. You have to be pretty overweight to lose 35 lbs and still be considered obese (and have 20 lbs to go before you cross into "overweight").

I just read VJs update today about her marathon walk this weekend. What an inspiration!

We're home from vacation. My eyeballs are crunchy and my nose is crispy. Something about the weather in the mountains and then the long drive home in the car has done a number on my body's moisture. My skin? We could play tic-tac-toe on it by just scratching the lines on with a fingernail. Ugh.

But aside from that, we had a very nice time.

It was interesting.... sharing a cabin with most of my in-laws.

Got to meet my grown niece and her kid for the first time. Julia got to horse around with the little cousins. Paul fell out of his canoe into the river and horsed around on actual horses and got his thighs all chafed up because he had no chaps. I sat in the hot tub, shot pool and played basketball. I'd like to ride horses and canoe one day... but not when I'm a nursing mom. Julia's sleep schedule was all crazy as it was -- I didn't want her eating/nursing schedule to go to hell too. so I stayed on the grounds.

Julia got over the cold thing, the fever thing, and the diarrhea thing. She gained three new teeth, stopped the crazy saliva, and put on 1/2 a lb while away. Yay. That teething episode is now over!

Now that we're back, I'll probably be a bit scarce for a few more days as I get the house in order. But then it's back to normal on the fitness front.

My gym membership thing has been sorted out (hurrah) and I'm ready to get into summer training.

Exercise:

• What : interval walk
  
• Time: 38 minutes
  
• Distance: 5 laps plus warm up and cool down
• Lap Times:3:58, 4:00, 4:07, 4:02, 3:53
  
• Minutes/mile: 16

We got up this morning and took an early walk, but I pushed the wrong button and deleted the times instead instead of saving them. The lap times I put in above are from my memory. The time we were on the track was right at 20 minutes, so just at a 16 minute/mile. We didn't break any records today. It felt like I was walking through molassas. Maybe because we had such a long hilly walk yesterday or maybe because it was in the morning and warmer than most other days, or maybe because my foot was hurting, or Mike was along so we chatted a little bit. Any way, a good walk. I am happy to have it over with today. I will be going to the market after my shower to pick up last minute stuff for our BBQ then driving our guests to the airport. After they leave, we have laundry to do and preparations to make for the week.

Exercise:

• What : "long" walk
  
• Time: > 2 hours
  
• Distance: ?

My exercise today came from walking around different areas sight seeing with our house guests. I have no idea how far we walked (meant to wear my pedometer, but forgot), but it was a ways. We walked all over the estate of Mt. Vernon and then through Old Town and back again. Iz didn't have much of a nap today so she konked out while we were walking and we stopped for pizza instead of eating Thai as we planned. It was good, but there goes my one time eating out during bootcamp and I don't know if I like it.

One sour note, I did all this walking in sandles and now my big toe on my right foot hurts, must have strained it somehow.

Nikki - glad to hear you are ok! Congrats on the weight loss!

Notes:

• This week, I went over by 6 points (bad wine!)
• I exercised 4 times: 1 long, 1 fast, and 2 interval. My best walking time was 15.9 min/mile.
• I tried two new foods. One was bbq crisps that are tasty! The other is meringues from Trader Joes. We were in search of a cookie substitute. They are ok, they have grown on me. My favorites are the minty ones.
• I weighed in this morning and have lost 6.5 lbs this month for a total weight loss of 34.5 lbs. I don't want to make weight loss my main goal in this journey, but Damn! that feels good!
• This week is Bootcamp II. I am excited. I am trying to think of an appropriate "prize" at the end of the week for successful behavior, haven't come up with anything yet. I want an mp3 player, but Mike is going to get me one for my birthday. Maybe just $50 to spend, guilt free, on CDs and books? I need to get some more summer reading and tunes to put in my mp3 player. Or maybe a really expensive swimsuit, the kind I never buy myself. I need a new one for our vacation.
  
• Five weeks until our vacation!
  

Oh my. I am not feeling well today. It is either because a) drank too much wine with dinner (everyone else drank beer, what is a girl to do with an open bottle?) b) AF decided to arrive mysteriously early, or c) a stomach bug courtesy of Mike who had one early in the week. I came home from work early and have been quietly suffering since. Probably no exercise today, and yesterday was a rest day while i cooked for my guests. Tomorrow starts bootcamp which means exercise every day, 5 fruits and veggies a day, staying well within points, only eating out once.

Adrith - I checked out your site, way to go on getting your walks in !

Exercise:

• What : interval walk
  
• Time: 34 minutes
  
• Distance: 5 laps plus warm up and cool down
• Lap Times: 4:05, 4:02, 3:49, 3:59, 3:59
  
• Minutes/mile: 15.9

Isn't it great how a new piece of technology just gets you all excited? I am loving my new watch! Today I went to the track to try out the lap timer. Even though the track is almost in our back yard (we face a school), I had to walk around the school to get into it which gave me a 6 minute warm up. I did 5 laps with the interval mode going and finished the five laps with a better than 16 minute pace! How amazing is that? I was so excited to get done with the 1.25 miles and see less than 20 minutes on the timer. My worst lap was my first one probably because there were other people and kids around and it feels kind of dorky to launch into full out speed walking in front of others. I got over that pretty quick though.

I feel like I am just discovering what I can do when I push myself. I think working on the track will be helpful since the laps provide an easy way to measure distance.

Tomorrow is either a slow walk or a rest day, I don't want to burn out or injure myself pushing daily just because I am excited. Plus I am cooking a big meal for my guests tomorrow so I will have lots to do.

Can I say it? Woohoo!