OMG, it's GILAD! and some other stuff

Like a beacon in the night, there he was. Popping up on my computer screen like some fit hunk of exercising goodness. His gaze piercing, his hair plugs darkened. Yes! It was GILAD! (Amy, I thought of you. Hey, where ARE you anyway?!)

I got an email from Discovery Health about their 2009 Body Challenge and I checked it out, because I'm not above wanting a free 90 gym membership to Bailey's. Yeah, only this year they were cheap-o and no free membership. Darn it. I was disappointed and slightly annoyed when I happened to glance down at the bottom of the screen and SAW HIM! WHO KNEW that all roads (or clicks) lead back to GILAD?!

I'm having high school nightmare flashbacks right. this. very. minute.

I'm seriously considering having a Gilad DVD as a Gym Mama Giveaway one week. Amy, I hope you win. (And I repeat...where ARE you anyway?!)



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So, I got so carried away seeing that Gilad DVD that I forgot to mention that I worked out this weekend on the treadmill. And yes. It WAS turned on. 3 miles in 30 minutes, thank you very much. I feel lighter and slightly less winded because of it.

It also gave me a chance to think about why I like working out in my very own laundry room/treadmill room/food storage area. Here's my Top Ten:

1. I can sing as loud as I want and no one will kick me out.

2. I can sweat and not worry about looking...sweaty.

3. I can do laundry (if my husband would ever bring it TO the laundry room, and btw, honey, I'm sorry you're out of boxers, but really, I can't carry the baby and the laundry down 2 flights of stairs without maxing out our health insurance coverage) and exercise at the same time.

4. I can walk at 2.0 mph without feeling guilty, because there's some lunatic going 8.0 mph next to me. (Seriously, you're on a treadmill. No matter how fast you run you're not going to get any further than right here.)

5. Did I mention I can sing as loud as I want and no one will kick me out?

6. I can finish exercising, walk upstairs and be in the kitchen. Hello, carbohydrates!

7. There is no one skinnier in the room than me.

8. I don't have to pay dues.

9. It takes me 10 seconds to get there.

10. I can sing as loud as I want and no one will kick me out. Did I say that already?

So, there's the top 10. Exciting as always. =)


By the way, I am still trying to find 10 walks that fit into my schedule. I haven't given up. =)

Oh! And go enter the Gym Mama Weekly Giveaway! You could win. =)

What's Wrong With Me?

I could be on the treadmill right now, but instead I was looking at THIS.

Sleep

Honestly, it's not that I didn't want to workout this morning...I was just sleeping instead. I hesitate to use the term "oversleeping", because that implies that you've had quite a bit of rest already. Somehow 6 hours of interrupted-every-45-minutes sleep hardly qualifies as a good night's rest. So, at 6am I am happy to report that I was sleeping. Finally.

My darling husband will be home later and I don't have to work tonight, so I may just hop on the old treadmill this afternoon. We didn't make it to the library to pick up DVDs (poky homeschooling children today), so unfortunately there will be no Gilad for me this evening.

Thanks for the fitTV tip, Amy, but we are a cable-less household. That leaves me yoga with the 85 year old lady in pink spandex at 5am on PBS. I'm certain TiVo was NOT created for that! ;)

Food, Mom and Morning Workouts

The smorgasboard (I like the word too, Jer) yesterday was yummy. And big. Although my meal consisted of mostly a salad, some mashed potatoes, some cold roast beef that should have been eaten warm, and a dish of apple crisp with vanilla ice cream. It's tough feeding a baby miniature size bites of things and still eating your food while it's warm. Impossible really.

Well, my mom flies back tomorrow. What a quick two weeks! Don't you find that time goes so much faster as you get older? Scary. Anyway, a wonderful time was had with my mom and it wasn't so much that we did anything super special....it was just being together that was fun. That's the way it should be.

I was thinking of starting to walk on the treadmill again tomorrow morning. It sounds like a good idea now, but tomorrow at 6am I may have second thoughts. So, please, don't hold me to it. We're also going to hit the library tomorrow, so I'll be checking out the exercise DVDs....maybe I'll get lucky and find Gilad. A girl can dream.

What to do...

I've decided I need to do one of two things. I either need to get myself to the gym 4 days a week, every week, or I need to just usemy treadmill at home. It makes no sense to keep the gym membership if I can't manage to get myself there early enough in the morning.

Even though I have the treadmill I find it harder to use it than to get to the gym. Imagine that. It's not because I don't want to, it's because I get distracted. The treadmill is in the laundry room which is in the basement. So, I think, "Well, since I'm going down there I should throw in a load of laundry. So, let me gather laundry from upstairs. Oh, wait, I have to put these other clothes away first. Now, let's take these downstairs. Hmm, clothes are in the washer and dryer already. Gotta' fold the clothes in the dryer first, then switch the clothes before I can put a new load in to wash." 45 minutes later it's too late to get on the treadmill for more than 2 minutes, because then I have to start dinner or it's time for my hubby to get ready for work.

At least not going to the gym can be attributed to not being able to stop my bionic arms and not to doing chores.

So, with 4 weekdays left this week, I have to go. Every. Single. Day. Call me. Hold me to it. Even on Thursday (our 9th wedding anniversary) and Friday (the 4th of July). I have to just GO!

Let the observation begin!

So, I started my stalking, er, trainer observation today. I hopped on the treadmill at 6am and watched as people went from machine to machine. Honestly, it was pretty much a no brainer. There were only a couple of machines that I haven't been doing that I think I'll add to my routine.

I had to hop off the treadmill after 20 minutes though, because I was wearing a workout skirt/shorts thingy that was just way uncomfortable. I thought my thighs were going to just chafe their way thin. Ugh. Maybe I should have followed the washing directions and NOT dried it in the dryer. Good to know for next time.

I have to work tonight....5-12. So, I'm pretty sure I will not be going to the gym tomorrow morning. Wish me happy days of coffee and maybe...a donut! ;)

At Last!

Can you hear that? It's the sweet, sweet sigh of relief this morning. I actually made it out of the house at 5:50 and stayed at the gym for a good 45 minutes. And it felt so, so wonderful.

When I came home my husband even asked, "Feel better?" My enthusiastic "absolutely" was a welcome relief to all of us. Who knew I needed this as much as I do?

So, I ran and walked on the treadmill and did some ab work. Yes, that's right...I ran. And no one was chasing me. And there was no gun being held to my head. Yep, a banner day at the gym. Oh...and I sweat. Gross, but much needed. Did I mention I devoured almost an entire box of frozen Thin Mints in the last two days? Probably not something I should mention, because I know I'll be hearing about it.

I told my hubby I was an emotional eater on Monday night, and after polishing off almost an entire sleeve of Thin Mints he stared at me in shock and asked, "Good Lord, woman, what kind of emotions make you eat an entire sleeve of Thin Mints?!" Not the whole sleeve. There were 5 left. ;)

Romance at the Gym

Now I know what you're thinking..."Romance at the gym, eh? Aren't you married?" Yes, and quite happily at that. Which is why I find romance at the gym so gosh darn amusing!

I forgot to charge my iPod last night, so I was sans music for my early morning workout. And a good thing that turned out to be. Now, as I recount this tale of budding romance keep in mind that it's 6:15 AM. AM. "AM" as in "before most people are awake" AM.

So, there I am...happily walking along on the treadmill to warm up for my killer (HA!) upper body workout, watching the local news channel with atrocious closed captioning ("Te weher wl be 605 drges a7DBy patly cpulhy" - HUH!???!), and plotting my plan of attack on the upper body machines when along comes...Tra la la la! Mr. Yellow Shoes Romeo! (The shoe colors of all persons involved have been changed to protect their identity.) He had escaped from the Testosterone Zone, I think.

I noticed that he was sort of peeking at the left hands of all of the female treadmill aficionados as he chose, and quite carefully I might add, his machine of "Wait until I show you how in shape I am as I run really fast on this treadmill!" So, he swaggered on up onto the treadmill, adjusted his ripped at the sleeves and cut (with apparently dull scissors) at the midriff tank top, flexed his not so defined (also can be read as "flabby as heck - oh, my gosh, did you just have a baby muscles) muscles, and gave the poor, poor woman on the treadmill next to him a "Hey, how you doin'?" See what I would have missed had I charged my iPod last night? Fate was truly on my side.

"Looks like it's gonna be a nice weekend. Got big plans?" says Romeo who is now walking at...I kid you not, a 2mph pace.

"Not really," says poor, poor woman on the treadmill next to him....who is running at a 5mph pace. Keep running, honey, but you can't escape him...you're on a treadmill.

"Yeah, me neither. I remember I got engaged this weekend in 1998. Didn't work out though. She was busy with grad school, I was working....just didn't work out." He's now walking at a 2.5mph pace.

"Oh."

"Yeah, she never was a morning person. Looks like you are. I am too. Do you work out every morning at this time?" He does his little neck rolls...well, assuming he had a neck...it was hard to tell...his head just seemed to be plopped onto his shoulders.

"No." (That was actually a tiny fib on Poor, Poor treadmill woman's part, because I see here there every morning at the same time. Don't worry though, I won't tell Yellow Shoes.)

"Oh. Well, yeah, it feels good to workout first thing in the morning though, doesn't it?" No pause for a breath. "It's good to gauge how hard your working out by how much you can talk. Don't you think?" Keep in mind he's still only walking at 2.5 mph.

"No."

"Yeah, me neither. Well, this was a good workout. See you around?" A good workout? At 2.5 mph for 5 minutes? Man, I want the workout guidelines he has!

"Doubtful." She muttered it. He was already gone and waving to her on his journey back to the Testosterone Zone.

Ah....budding romance. It's worth the gym membership just to see how this one progresses.

Doors, Cats and Some Smaller Size Jeans

Sometimes exercise isn't the only thing that can raise your heartrate to "High Intensity." Try walking down the stairs at 6:30 in the morning and finding your back door WIIIIIIDE OPEN. Yep, thought I was going to lose about 10 years of my life on that one this morning. Thankfully, my pony, er dog, was by my side, so I wasn't worried about an intruder. Anyone stupid enough to break into my house after seeing the size of our dog really deserves what they get.

Apparently, the deadbolt was not locked and since it was, and still is, exceptionally windy, the door had blown open. Yes, the bottom lock was locked, but apparently, the door was not shut tightly. Thankfully, no one had come in. I then had to run around the house frantically searching for our two indoor-only cats. One of them, the smart one, was sound asleep on top of a pile of soft, squishy stuffed animals. The other one, the mischevious one, was no where to be found. So, I began calling him and heard a faint, "Meoow" from outside. Out from under the 90 year old wisteria bush he emerged and into the house be ran. Thank God.

So, after that I figured my cardio was done for the day. Okay, not really. It was close though. Since it was too late to head to the gym I jumped on the treadmill for 20 minutes and got a good workout in. I'll do some upper body resistance stuff later, but just ran out of "me time" this morning.

Some exciting news on the clothes front...I was able to stuff myself into jeans that have not seen the light of day since 3-4 months before I got pregnant last year. That's down 2 sizes from when I started this journey a month ago. I'm getting there...

Mid-Week

Today was my mid-week gym day. A break from resistance training to give my muscles some recovery time.

So, I hopped on the treadmill and maintained my maximum heart rate for a good 30 minutes. I was going to use the recumbent bike, but Shawn was working and he told me he'd come drag me off the recumbent bike if he saw me on it. I tend to believe him, so I didn't chance it. I'll have to try it the next time I'm there in the early morning, because he doesn't start working until 8 or so. Have to choose your battles wisely.

Not a big gym day, but I went, I sweat and I'm tired! Oh,and I've lost a couple of pounds since last week. That has to count for something! =)