HL/WW Support Group - Week of July 30th

[Leslie Ferguson]

Greetings friends, neighbors, visitors, and lurkers and welcome to the next installment of the Healthful Living and Weekly Workout support group. We’ve had a busy week on most fronts and we’re starting to pick up steam (no pun intended) for family summer events as well as exercising and healthful living. Before I recap the past couple weeks (or so) I’d like to make a pitch for those who are just visiting for the first time or who might have been lurking for a while - please join us and help up keep our (and your) lives and workouts moving in a healthful and sane direction. Thank you one and all. With that said, over the last week or so things that have stood out include:

Jean (a.k.a. fuzzbo) - newcomers get top billing -- WELCOME! came out of lurking to say hi and joint the merry band; mom with a 3-year old and trying to balance her time and time for her child; finally worked back to pre-preg weight; exercises in the morning before the rest of the family gets going; we hope she continues to join us and that we can provide motivation (if needed) or if nothing else a place to come and have a smile and a vent if necessary. Greetings again and welcome to the group.
Terri - got back from SLC and hopped right back into work; found out some neat things about stamping (the rubber kind) for personal and home business use; spoke with her boss to clear the air - came to an understanding and thinks she’ll stay at work and not go looking elsewhere.
Me (Les) - quite ride this past week - only one run midweek but still on top of my workouts; spent time with Dad alone last weekend and will see him and sis this week for a golf date; beginning focused work on preparing for post-Navy employment and education in the Episcopal Church; getting more sleep (a good thing); on a weight plateau (moderately ok) but I’m not complaining (because I’m not losing again).
Karen - DS #1 and DS #2 home from camp and trying to find things to do inside without wrecking mom’s sanity; showed her mortality and took a break this past week :eek: ; getting DD ready for overnight camp next week; starting preps for kiddos to go back to school (but not too soon). In general, steady Karen on the course with plenty of good advice and insights for us (me in particular).
Laura K - keeping up with WW; hopefully got her outdoor painting done this weekend (a thankless job in her neck of the woods); she and DH getting their cardio workouts in; DH settled into his new job and things are good at home; positive reports on FIL post surgery - from here we’ll assume no news is good news.
Laura - MIA this past week; fiddling with DS and his swimming meets (and his state qualifying times); had a good trip to Seattle and DD picked a school to attend (WWU); had time with her dad while in Seattle.

It could be a hectic week for me and one that takes some wild workout bounces. I’ve got meetings on both sides of lunch on Monday that will impact my ability to get out for an early run; Tuesday I’m probably going to run in a 5k after work (whether I’ll race it all out or not is to be seen); I’m golfing with sis and dad on Thursday (that should be a blast).

Healthful living - I’m still working on getting more sleep (and alluded to above, I’m doing better). I’m also working on being more intentional about the things I do when interacting with people (part of the skills I need to bring back to the forefront for my believed call to ministry). Working on not sweating the small stuff and focusing on the things that are truly important.

Well, that pretty much sums up as best I can remember. I hope we all have a good week and I look forward to the spirited discussions to come. If there happen to be any other lurkers out there - please drop in and chat, we love having new people come by for a visit.

Until later friends, have a great week -

Peace,
Les

[karen w]

Les-Good evening and thanks for the weekly kickoff! Sounds like your Saturday run went well in spite of conditions. Did you get your tire patched yet? Glad to hear your getting a few extra ZZZzzzz's, too! ;)

We had a pretty good weekend here, but we are still battling with the excessive heat and humidity outdoors. It is supposed to get progressively hotter through this week, but it looks like we may get a break at weeks end(I hope). Yesterday I ellipticized;today I biked. Yesterday DS#1 went to a friends(he has a pool!) :) DH, DS#2, DD, and I went up to the town where DH works for an art festival. In spite of wilting and dripping during the hottest part of the day, we did some major $$$damage$$$! :eek: We got some book ends for both DD(cat) and DS#2(dragon), some rings for me(toe and thumb!! :D ), a picture for DS#2's room(his name done by an oriental artist), a neat basket made from the stump of a tree, and a huge mirror double framed in stained glass to hang in the front entrance of the house. After the fair DH went to work and I took the kids home. Today the boys decided to keep daddy company at work. They play on the computer, read, etc.... DD went over to the neighbor's house to play. I did some cooking and cleaning around the house. A quiet day for the most part.

Tomorrow I plan on swimming and boxing with kids in tow(all 3 this time since DD is now done with day camp). I still have to start to get her packed up for her week of overnight camp. She leaves next Sunday, so I really need to start that, but I'm guessing with all the heat predicted this week, I will want things to do indoors. Maybe I'll take the kids to the movies this week. DD also has gymnastics tomorrow evening. I'll have to bring lots of water as they do not have AC there!

Have a good week everyone,
Karen

[Leslie Ferguson]

Hey Karen it sounds like you did a little damage at the art fari. But it also sounds like you got some neat stuff for everyone (except DH unless the stuff for the house is his). I'm sorry about the heat and humidity - I think it is going to be that way all up and down the eastern seaboard this week (they're predicting heat index between 100 and 110+ through at least Thursday). I hope you find things for the kids to do inside because it could be a long week for them. Movies are always fun but unless your area is more conducive to reasonably priced movies during the day it could break you too. :eek: I hope the kids enjoy going boxing with you in the morning.

I did get my tire patched this evening and it was a little easier than I expected. But it was pretty hard to get the tire back on (I've never had to reattach the back tire and chain on a multiple speed bike). Thank good ness for latex gloves or it would have been a real mess. I may have to test my handywork tomorrow with a ride. :D While I was at the gym today LW got a call from mom (she and dad are in town) and it seems that they've had a couple minor medical mishaps since they've been here. Dad (this got mom mad) got stung by a yellow jacket on Saturday. His arm started to swell up a little (he hasn't ever had an adverse reaction to bee stings before) but he didn't do anything about it yesterday (not the thing you'd expect an EMT to do right). Well, long story short, he ended up going to "doc in a box" today because his arm was swelling badly. Needless to say he's got to go to his doctor when he gets home and get a bee sting kit to carry with him at all times. But mom is mad beacuse, as she chided him "if it had been me what would you have done? You'd have dragged me to the doctor immediately." Oh boy - don't cross my mom either, she's got the patience of a saint but once crossed -- woe be unto thee.

Then to top that off (if it couldn't get any worse) mom had a reaction (not unexpected) to her new medication (dopamine - years ago she couldn't take any of the med because it made her throw up immediately). She started taking the drug and some Canadian anti-nausea medication with good results. Her doctor started increasing her daily dose but she got a little ahead of her anti-nausea meds and got sick again. So now she's got to start all over again. But yuck, dad and his arm and mom and her throwing up. Glad I'm here and not there right now. ;) :)

Since I'm starting to like the ZZZzzz's I'm going to call it for the evening and head in. See you all on the 'morrow.

Peace,
Les

[fuzzbo]

Looks like several us are bracing ourselves for the heat wave hitting the east coast. I'm hoping the forecast is correct and it will move through by Thursday.

To get a jump on the week, I went to the gym this morning and worked out. It wasn't the best workout as I got a pounding headache about 20 minutes in. I pushed through for another 25 minutes - I figured I'm up this early I should take advantage! I feel better now with a little coffee and some ibuprofen.

Les, I like your healthful living goals. Sleep is high on my priority list! I'm fortunate (I guess?) that my husband's goofy work hours enables me to get to bed reasonably early each night. He generally works nights so I have evenings to myself and I can go to bed early without feeling lame! I definitely need to work on not sweating the small stuff. Sometimes I feel like I have to worry about something - no matter what it is. Wasted energy!

My goals for this week are to eat more consciously (I've been doing some random snacking throughout the day, which is neither satisfying or necessary), make some changes to my workout, and get to the gym 5 days this week.

As far as the username (I'm sorry, I can't remember who asked...) we used to have a supersized, super hairy cat when Tai Bo was popular. One day my husband called him Fuzzbo and it always made me laugh.

Here's to keeping cool this week!

[TerriAb]

Hi everyone!

Welcome back, Fuzzbo. Glad you joined us again this week! I'm with all of you on the sleep thing and am never embarrassed to say that I go to bed when the street lights come on (sometimes earlier!). I'd like to see all the people who stay up so late get up at 5am to work out!

Les, sorry to hear about your mom and dad - I hope they are both ok and on the road to recovery. My mom has really bad reactions to most medications, too (sounds like the same type of reaction as your mom). It's hard when they have to take it and it makes them sick. Be careful riding your bike around today - it was 86 around 10am this morning here - probably worse down your way!

Karen, the art fair sounds like a lot of fun, although it probably would have been better had it not been so hot! It's always amazing to me how talented people can be.

I'm home from work today. About every 6 months I need a day where I just sleep and today was the day. I wake up feeling just a little off and I know that I just need to sleep. I rarely get sick and I wonder if I would get sick more often if I didn't take these days. I think my body is probably fighting something and the best thing I can do for it is sleep. So, I had a 12 hour sleep, woke up, laid on the couch and slept some more. Usually by late afternoon I'm feeling better and am ready to go the next day.

However, with sleeping in this morning I missed my workout. My friend, who was supposed to run the Race for the Cure with me back in June, sent me an email about a 1/2 marathon in the Outer Banks in November (their first one) and would I like to do it with her? So, I agreed. Now I guess I really do need to start training. I printed off a running program from Runners World and today was supposed to be a running day. I'll have to adjust this week. I am going to have to give up a couple of my weekly classes (or do two a day workouts) in order to do this, though. Actually, I think I might have to only give up one spinning day and my Monday instructor is not great anyway, so I won't miss that one too much. With this heat, I'm going to train on the treadmill for a little while and then move outside. I will also join the running club to have someone to run with on Saturdays (my long runs). I haven't done any seriouis running since the Race for the Cure. Les, I'll take any running advice that you are willing to throw my way. Any books or literature that I should read? I have another friend who started running in her late 40s (a bit older than I am now) and completed a 1/2 marathon in her first year of running. I'm going to pick her brain, too.

OK, that's it. I've been off the couch long enough - time to go back and lay down. I never watch TV at night, much less during the day - I can't believe how bad daytime TV is!

Have a good day everyone! Stay cool!
Terri

[karen w]

Les-The major damage at the art fair was for DH!! He was the one who wanted the big mirror!! So he made out pretty darn good. Glad the tire is patched. As Terri said, I hope mom and dad are on the road to recovery now. I'll keep them in my thoughts for you. Don't forget your water this week. . . AND LOT's OF IT!!!

Fuzzbo-I was the one who asked about your name, and I like the origin. I hope the headache goes away quickly. Join the club of "worry warts." I never used to be one until I had kids; then it all changed! :(

Terri-Sounds like a vacation day was just what the doc ordered for you. Obviously, you are well tuned in to your body. I hope it did the trick and you are good to go for the rest of the week. Good luck with the 1/2 marathon training.

The pool was quite crowded again this morning, and I imagine Les's theory regarding the hot weather driving people indoors is probably correct. I guess I'm going to be prepared for a full house all week. I did have a nice swim, though. The kids came with me to boxing later in the morning. Summertime is actually a good time to drag them along as other parents bring their kids as well, so they usually have company. DD always finds someone to play with;the boys play their gameboys. I hate those things, but sometimes they come in handy. I limit the amt. of time the kids can use them usually. After lunch we took a quick trip to the local dairy store(Stew Leonard's) as I was desperately low on milk. As I'm checking out one of the managers walks over to me and says "we always see you here alot. . . we'd like to make you customer of the month!" So to make a long story short . . . they took my picture with the kids and had me fill out a form with some info. that will be featured on a plaque for the next month in the store. What do I get out of the deal besides the acknowledgement that . . .YEP, I spend alot of money there!! They gave me a bouquet of flowers and a $20 gift card(which, of course, I turned around and spent on my groceries immediately!) Hey, that's $20 in my pocket. It'll pay for the movies later this week. Speaking of which I plan on doing Wednesday as that is supposed to be the hottest day of the week with heat indices up to 115 degrees! :eek: It will either be Monster House or Cars. Wrapped up the day with DD's gymnastic class.

Tomorrow DH is off, so I will squeeze in some shopping before and after my swim and boxing.

Stay cool,
Karen

[Leslie Ferguson]

I'd love to comment on all the posts so far but I'm running out of speed (going to bed earlier must be taking it's toll ;) ). Thank you all for your wishes for my parents. I talked to Mom tonight and she's feeling better now that the dopamine has started flushing from her system. Now let's hope her anti-nausea med's keep working. She also said that dad was doing better and was well medicated with prednisone, an oral anti-histamine, and a couple other things. After all that I'll offer a couple short comments:
Jean - I love the story of your screen name - and based on the story it sounds appropriate. I too hope your headache goes away quickly. My wife (a.k.a. LW) suffers from time to time with migraines so I appreciate (from the outside looking in) headaches.
Terri - I know the feeling about needing a day off to sleep every once in a while and it sounds like today was your day. I hope you're doing ok with the heat up there.
Karen - Heat index of 115 - do you live in Tidewater? ;) Congrats on being the customer of the month - and what should you do with a $20 gift card except for spend it? I hope the remainder of your week isn't too terrible with the heat up there. Good job being prepared for the packed pool too. And yes mom, I'm drinking my water and lots of it.

I rode outside today - it wasn't too bad on the road tonight and I only had one lady come up behind me and honk at me (scared the begeebers out of me too). It looks like my patch job was successful. Tomorrow will be weirder that I expected - I'm not going to race (or run for that matter) in the 5K. My ankle is starting to bug me this evening and I'm not sure what caused it: it could be the 14 miles from Saturday (not likely), it could be the seated calf raisers from yesterday (possible), or it could be where I banged my ankle riding this evening when I was trying to cleat in (you'd think I hadn't ridden my bike before if you were watching me). To top it off I'll be getting ready for the lab portion of my 5-year/pre-ordination physical and I have to fast for 12 hours. Since the race doesn't start until 6:30 that would make it near impossible to race and eat and be done eating by ~7:15-7:30 so I'm going to rule discretion as the better part of valor and skip the race. WIMP! I know but I'm not happy with my ankle right now and I don't want to make it mutual.

Time to hit it and get my beauty rest so until tomorrow - peace,
Les

[TerriAb]

Hi Everyone!

Karen - Congratulations on your big win! Hey, $20 is $20 and your picture on the wall is an added bonus!

Les - sorry to hear that your ankle is bothering you again. It sounds like you made the right decision to not run in the 5k (was that supposed to be this weekend?). Probably a hard decision, but you'll be happy in the long run with it, I'm sure.

I'm back at work today. I did a 1.5 mile run on the treadmill this morning followed by a 45 minutes total body conditioning class and a 15 minutes abs class. I found a few people to run with on Saturday mornings (starting in about 2 weeks, since some of them are on vacation this week and next), so that'll help me in my training.

That's it for me for today. Stay cool.
Terri

[karen w]

It's getting late for me so I'll be brief. Surprisingly, the pool was not crowded at all this morning. Go figure. I had a good swim, went to Walmart after breakfast to get DS#2 his boxers, and then to boxing. Boy, was I sweating like a pig there, and I'm not usually a big dripper! :eek: The temp with AC on BEFORE class was 75 degrees so it only got worse once we started moving. Seeing as how tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter here(I did not know that was possible!) I may lay off boxing for a day. After lunch ran a few more quick errands. Tonight we all went out to eat to someplace with AC no doubt. Too hot to cook! ;)

Tomorrow I will swim and stay at home after breakfast to bike or ellipticize in my AC'd house. I bought the kids some crafts today which should occupy them for a few minutes anyway. I may brave the heat with them and go to the movies in the afternoon. Otherwise we did pick up some from the library today so they have a few for home. I'll even pop them popcorn here if that's what it takes!!!!!

Stay cool,

Karen

[Leslie Ferguson]

Hey all, I'll start here first tonight and hopefully I'll have some energy (but I don't think it's going to work).

Karen - Sorry it was so hot today - it was sweltering down here too if it's any consolation. It sounds downright oppressive at the gym/kickboxing. I hope you hae a good day tomorrow and don't have to go too far in the heat.
Terri - GOod job on your classes today and your exercise. The race was supposed to be tonight - a fund raiser for a scholarship fund in town (the honoree was a big time cross country runner in the area). I had planned on running just because it was a good cause even though I don't like running at the site - I've never run well at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens and there's no reason for the issues. I hope you enjoy the Outer Banks half this year. We'll have a bunch of folks running from Norfolk/Va. Beach.

Today/this evening was a little weird to say the least. I am on my 12 hour fast before blood work time right now. I packed it in at dinner time (consuming a meal and a half's worth of food) but I'm still getting hungry right now. My body is fighting back and telling me to go to bed even earlier tonight. So I might listen to what my body is saying and turn in. That and I have 0 energy right now. In fact I'm srooling all over the keyboard so it's time to hit the hay.

I'll really respond tomorrow - but for now that's about it folks.

Peace,
Les

[tmsl]

Gosh it is Wednesday already!! :eek:

My week has been somewhat normal. I went to the gym Monday and it was busy(again, people working out inside instead of outside in the miserable heat). I have been using mostly elliptical for my cardio but could not get one with out waiting so I hopped on a treadmill and ran for the first time in a long while. I was slow compared to what I used to do, but it's a start. I also biked on a recumbent as we have a 30 min time limit per machine. I have a few muscles telling me I haven't run in a while and I gave them the night off last night. I was tired after work, don't know if it is the heat or what. Anyway, I'll try the treadmill again tonight to try to work out the muscle issues. I have lost about 5 lbs in the last two weeks, so I am on the right track.

Les~I hope your bloodwork went smoothly this morning and that you had a big breakfast afterwards. Ya think the 0 energy is the heat?? I was in the same way last night.

Karen~Back to conquering the world, I see. I bet the swims in the morning feel really good this time of year. Enjoy some movies for us!!

Terri~Glad you enjoyed your day off with rest. Sometimes we all need that. Good luck with your training for the half. I have not done more than a 10K so I can't advise on that distance.

Jean~Keep up the good work!!

Happy Hump Day,

Laura K.

[TerriAb]

Hi Everyone!

I convinced two coworkers to show up for spinning this morning, so I took the class with them. It'll be one of my last spinning classes for awhile, as my running will start to replace my other classes. :( I'm kind of sad about that, but I know it's only for a few months. Class was hard - don't know if it was harder than normal or if the heat has taken it's toll. Whew, I had to walk to our other building earlier (can't justify driving the 1/4 mile) and it is HOT! Unfortunately, I feel like I could build an iceberg inside, so I'm wearing long sleeves, which made it even hotter! My electricity went off for about 90 minutes last night (around 6pm). If it was still off when I went to bed, I was going to go to a hotel. Fortunately it came back on before it got too hot inside.

Les, hope your bloodwork went well and they found you in tip top shape. It sounds like you might need a sleep day, too given that you're draining energy level.

Laura K - good job on your weight loss and your run!

Karen - did you get to the movies yesterday? The thought of being there sounds good, but getting there in the heat is miserable. Do the kids mind the heat as much as we do?

That's it. Have a good afternoon! Stay cool!
Terri

[Leslie Ferguson]

Hey folks,
A crazy day what with the doctors’ appointment this morning. All they did today was take blood and other specimens and review my record to make sure I didn’t need any other lab work or shots/inoculations. What a simple thing to do after a 12 hour fast. Now I get to go back on Monday for the actual poking and prodding by the doctor and hopefully a clean bill of health. I think my sleepiness last night was partly caused by the heat but I also think it was compounded by my eating regimen or maybe I should say the change in my eating regimen. I ended up trying to eat my whole evening’s worth of food in one sitting (which would be about 1200 calories or more) instead of spreading it out over the span of a few hours. So I was going through the lethargy of a HUGE meal and the modification in my eating habit. It was even worse overnight because I thought I was going to get sick about 2 am (and again at 3 am) - almost like I was going to throw up bile. YUCK! But by 6 when I got up things seemed to settle down a little.

What has truly unseated me today? A baby robin sitting at the end of my driveway in the street. Luckily it isn’t in the sun any more but the thing is so small that it can’t even hop. I’m beside myself because I don’t want to see it die (even though I know deep inside it probably will) because it is a cute (ok not quite that cute because it isn’t even a fledgling yet) baby critter - one of God’s creations. I called animal control (luckily I didn’t speak to a person there because they probably would have told me to just let it go) and Wildlife Rescue (voice mail). Wildlife Rescue told me to leave it alone (on the voice mail directions) and see what happens. Of course, nothing is going to happen because there’s no way for the parent birds to pick it up and carry it back to the nest (wherever that may be) so most likely it will just die right there in the street. :( Something I want to have nothing to do with. I’m waiting for Wildlife Rescue to call me back with directions but so far nothing. I’m really upset and even called my wife at work (don’t ask) just so I could talk to someone and cry a little. That silly little thing is choking me up.

Terri - I can give you some advice about training for a half marathon if you’d like. I’d also offer for you to come over to the Virtual Running Buddy (VRB) thread. There are a few pointers for training for a half but the biggest thing is to not try to increase your overall distance too fast. Likewise, one of the things I tell folks about running marathons (full ones that is) is the easiest way to run one is to nor run every step. That sounds weird but walking, even if only through the water tables, will make the race that much better. Lots of other things I could tell you but for now I’ll hold it at that. PM me or drop me a real e-mail and I’ll chat/share advice.
Laura K - Sorry that your legs/muscles aren’t happy with you right now but I bet they’ll start being nicer shortly. Congratulations on losing the weight over the past 2 weeks - great progress and I hope it keeps coming off as you plan.
Karen - I don’t envy having to deal with your kids and the heat - it’s hard enough doing that for myself so I can’t imagine dealing with heat with young ones. How was your workout at home today after the swim? I too think swimming will be great at this time.
fuzzbo - I’m a little off right now (and I’m composing this offline so I don’t have your comments close at hand - sorry). I hope that you are fairing the heat wave well. How has your eating plan gone this week?

Sorry there was a weird start to this post - I’m just wrecked by that silly little bird (it’s still sitting there and Wildlife Rescue hasn’t called yet). One of it’s parents is sitting in a tree near it but I’m not sure what good that will do - it’s not like the robin can pick up the little one and carry it back into the nest nor can the little one fly back up into the nest or even hop closer to wherever the nest is. I’ve got latex gloves to pick the bird up if I need to but I’m not sure what to do with it if I did. Why are things like this so hard?

Thanks for listening and I’ll see you later. I may try to get out and ride a little to get rid of a little emotion about the bird.

Peace friends and I’ll talk to you tonight.

Les

[Leslie Ferguson]

It looks like the baby robin will live!

I wouldn't normally back-to-back this soon but I've got good news - the baby bird was last seen hopping off towards a neighbors tree behind its parent. I hope it can get into the nest before one of the neighborhood cats gets it but I was so happy to see the little bird and its parent hopping off into the sunset (actually towards the west from my house - no kidding).

I am so relieved that the bird didn't die at the end of my driveway but I'm more happy that it is back with its family!

Just thought I'd share that tidbit. But, of course, I didn't ride (but my tire seems to still have a leak - a slow one but a leak none the less) because I was fiddling around with Animal Rescue and their representative in Norfolk but it was for a good cause.

Take care - off for dinner and a celebratory toast! :) :cool:

Peace,
Les

[karen w]

Les-I bet that made your day!!(about the baby robin living, that is). I can see the big smile on your face right now. Good news in my book, and worth back to backs. Glad the blood letting at the doctor's was not too traumatic, either. I hope all goes well for the poking and prodding next week.

Laura-Yay, on the 5#. Keep up the good work.

Terri-Good luck on the running. I wish I could offer advice, but that is definetely a foreign sport for me. I'll just offer my words of encouragement instead. :)

We had ANOTHER scorcher here today. Ugh, this is getting miserable. My swims in the morning definetely feel really good these days, and today's was no exception. After breakfast I did ellipticize at home. I was a bit more drippy than usual, but at least I had AC and a fan blowing right on me the entire time. The kids must be going stir crazy, but they have been troupers thus far. We'll see how the next few days go as we are still supposed to have a few more hot ones. And to top it off, we lost power tonight. Luckily it was only for an hour, but boy was I freaked out as I remember the big East Coast blackout a few summers ago and I don't want a repeat of that. . . ever! :eek: DD played with the neighbor all day at our house. After I gave everyone lunch, I popped popcorn in the lethargic microwave(due to the heat) and we did go to the movies. We saw Monster House. That was the kid's choice;not mine. I think I would have preferred Cars. They liked it though, and that's what counts. FYI...I did not care for it. The kids all came back here to play, and I fed them dinner just before the power went out. Phew! I ended up waiting to eat until power came back. Much longer and it might have been a dry cereal night! :eek: Anyway, we just walked DD's friend home. She did not want to go, but that is a LONG story(messy, ugly divorce situation). The kids are now watching a movie that we got from the library yesterday(Narnia). With the heat we've had, I've lifted the TV restrictions for awhile. They still must do their reading, though! ;)

Tomorrow a swim is a must again. From there I'll play it by the forecast or what I'm up for in the morning. It may end up being another exercise at home day, but that's not a bad thing at all. In the afternoon, I take DS#1 to the orthodontist. He is getting his palate expander off(yay!!! we will understand him better now) BUT. . . he's gettin braces! UGH!!

Goodnight everyone,
Karen

[Leslie Ferguson]

Karen - I knew you'd understand (as will the others when they read my posts). It was comforting to see the bird live and head home. Kathy was so "I wouldn't expect anything else from you" when she got home but was also frustrated because there wasn't anything she could think of or do. I assured here all I needed was to have someone to talk to and cry at. She understood which was comforting. I think I'll keep her :rolleyes: ;) Sorry about the power outage and the kids going stir crazy. I can only imagine having the power out right now - especially after last summers fiasco. I hope your weather changes before ours does but I think I saw you'll have the same basic conditions we have down here (hopefully not quite as hot) until Firday or so. I hope you have a good swim tomorrow. Thank you for the "Monster House" review. Not something I was looking forward to - I think I'd have rather gone to cars too but... as you say if the kids were involved in the show then all the better. Best wishes to DS#1 with his orthodontist visit and the shift in oral aparatus. Sorry about DS's friend and their home situation - that must really suck.

It looks like it may be a nifty day to go golfing tomorrow - dad, sis, and I are heading out at 10:20. The heat index is supposed to be in the 110-115 neighborhood tomorrow again (it was 100 heat index at 10:00 this evening :rolleyes: ). But I think it will be fun regardless. Lots of water and water based beverages (and few carbonated beverages if I can avoid them).

That's about it for today - I'll be a little scarce for most of the day tomorrow since I'll be drowning golf balls but I'll be thinking of you. ;)

Peace and stay cool and hydrated to all my friends,

Les

[fuzzbo]

Hello all. I'm hopping on the computer this morning before the office gets unbearably hot. I can't wait for this heat wave to break - tomorrow, hopefully. I'm a little unfocused with my eating goals (random snacking at night - my 'danger' zone) so I need to get back on track with that. Workouts continue, but I plan to do a few adjustments to the resistance training portion so I can keep progressing.

Les-I hope you get through your round of golf with your dad and sister! I am a complete heat wimp and usually poop out by hole 14 when it's that hot.

Terri-It sounds like you have a lot of good places to go to get running advice for your 1/2 marathon. I'm no expert, but I can tell you that Les's advice 'not to run every step' really worked for me when I ran my one marathon. Not sure if this is what he meant, but when I was dying after 7 miles (and freaking out that I'd NEVER get through 26 if I couldn't make it to 10) I read about a run/walk strategy (run 8 minutes, walk 1) and I ran faster and longer the next week and it felt easy. I remember hearing comments, too, during the race, when I started walking 8 minutes in (it's a little hard on the ego, I admit!) but I passed all of those people around mile 12! Anyway, that particular strategy worked for me.

Laura - 5 pounds! Wow :) Good for you. What is your goal?

Think cool thoughts!

Jean

[TerriAb]

Good morning! Thanks for the running advice and you all have taken a huge load off of me by saying to walk just a bit. I found a training schedule on runnersworld.com and it has me doing 6 miles on Saturday. I was starting to get a bit freaked out by that, especially because I've never run over 3! Granted, it has me running 6 miles at just over walking pace and I know I can walk 6 miles, but it's good to know that I can combine the running and walking. Fuzzbo, I like your 8 minutes running, 1 minute walking idea. I may try that on Saturday. This morning I did a treadmill run/walk. I ran 3 miles and walked 2. It was a good workout and I felt good when I was done.

Les - have fun with your golf today! I haven't played much this summer, but not sure I will until it cools off some. I'm glad the baby robin made it's way back home! That would have bothered me, too!

Karen - sorry the movie wasn't good for you, but glad the kids enjoyed it. Swimming does sound good these days. Is your weather supposed to break this weekend, too?

Not much else - work is getting a bit frustrating again. My boss is out on vacation next week, so it looks to be another slow week. Have a good day!

Terri

[Leslie Ferguson]

Hey all - I'm really laughing... really. Good news first, I had a great time golfing and cooked my body in the process. I was a trooper on the front nine and actually walked it but about the 5th hole I called uncle and said at the turn that I'd take a cart. It wasn't so much that I couldn't have made it but the heat on the front was oppressive. And honestly on the back it seemed cooler, mostly because of the nice breeze. And it did top off at 103 (or more) today after setting a record at 101 yesterday. My sis won the round (not that we were really competing because we all don't golf that much) and I came in second but still had a blast, even in the heat. It was great seeing the both of them and now LW and I are set up for dinner tomorrow evening with my folks (sis has to drive back to the DC area tomorrow). The ironic news, guess what is sitting in my flower bed, just off the step of my front door drum roll please... a fledgling robin. That makes 3 days in a row. LOL - why me? :rolleyes: Luckily this one's mother is feeding it (as long as I stay out of the driveway). I thought as I was driving up that it would be ironic if I saw a bird in the street again today and gave a sigh of relief when there wasn't. But not so fast... I think I'm either going to be nicknamed robin or Francis (as in St. Francis).

Jean - Sending good vibes for you to get your danger zone snacking in check today and that you keep tweaking your workouts too. In my case I wasn't specifically saying that I do a run/walk regimen but the team I assist with is part of a nationwide team headed up by Jeff Galloway (of Runner's World fame).
Terri - Echoing what Jean said, I have run with many folks over the past 6 years who do a run/walk routine. Some of them start with run 1 minute/walk 1 minute and others who have been at it a while (or are naturally faster) are up to 7 minutes of running and 1 minute of walking. But I'd say that most of the group is either 4 run/1 walk or 5 run/1 walk. Most of the group runs their marathons in 4:30-5:30 so you can figure out their speed from there. The 4/1 group is probably running in the 11-12 minute per mile range and walking about 16-17 minutes per mile. So, for your first half I'd recommend looking into something like that - contact me off line or via PM and we can set up something to help you.

Howdy to everyone else, I'm going to check on my bike tire to see if it has air and maybe go for a spin. I'm also going to check on my next robin and see if its mother is still out there (on the QT).

I'll check you all tonight so until later... peace,
Les

[karen w]

Hi Les-We are usually not on-line at the same time! This is a rare event indeed!! I'm usually the early bird;you the night owl. Anyway, glad to hear no robins in the road today, and that they are being fed by their mommy. Sounds like you had a good golf game, too. My hats off to you for braving the heat.

Fuzzbo(I love that name!! ;) )- I'd take things one step at a time. Get the workouts going full speed(which it sounds like you are doing a good job of) and then focus on the snacking. I'm one of those infuriating people who can't eat on the run, while standing, cooking etc... I have to sit down for a meal, snack etc... but maybe you can try to have some things readily available that would not break the bank when the munchies hit. Things like cut up veggies, low fat yogurt, nuts, rice cakes, popcorn, pretzels etc... Good luck!! Hope that snack monster stays at bay for you.

Terri-Sorry to hear work is still getting to you. I'm sure the heat does not help things either. The weather front that is supposed to break our heat wave is actually coming through right now. It is raining, lightening etc... Tomorrow afternoon is supposed to be much more tolerable.

My day....kinda funky. My swim was refreshing and cooling this morning. I decided to stay at home and use our elliptical after breakfast again instead of overdoing things at boxing. I really am enjoying our new machine, too. And I don't even use half of all the fancy programs it has available. I also worked on labeling all of DD's stuff and getting her packed up to go to camp(she leaves Sunday). Then I was busy playing psychiatrist to the neighbor and her mother who lives with them in their basement apartment. This is the neighbor who is going through the messy divorce(DD's friend's parents). These are also the same neighbors who I used to refer to with the statement that "sometimes fences make the best neighbors" as for years they would not speak with us, hated us etc.... We asked on multiple occasions if we had done something to offend them, but they always said "no." So we have always just steered clear of them. Eventually they had a fence put in between our houses(but not between their house and the one on the other side). How's that for a slap in the face!!? Well, it turns out this was all the husband's doing. He is mentally ill(manic-depressive, I beleive) and forbid both the mother and grandma to talk to us etc... Yesterday and today they spilled their guts out on the phone with me. Mom even broke down in tears. I feel so bad for them. They have been very nice to us ever since the husband moved out. DD plays over their all the time with their daughter now. Unfortunately those kids are really suffering because of all of this now. Last night when I walked the little girl home from our house(and she did not want to go, either), Dad was waiting in the driveway. He had come unannounced. As I headed back into our house, I heard her screaming! I called grandma right away to make sure she knew what was going on. She did. Dad wanted to take the little girl out for ice cream, but she did not want to go. The older son ended up calling the police at some point to get Dad out of there. I think he was afraid grandma was going to collapse. What a tragedy. :( I hope for the kids sake, their lawyers work it out quickly, but somehow I don't think that will be the case.

Anyway, sorry about my long diatribe there. I'm just feeling a bit emotionally spent from listening to them these past few days. And it is confusing when these same people would not talk to DH and I for years. I know it was him, but it is still so weird.

After lunch took DS#1 to get his braces. The orthodontist decided to leave his palate expander in as well in case he decides he wants more space in a few months. He just has the upper braces on the front teeth now. The rest will come in phase two way down the road. Yep, DS#1 is in this for the long haul. After we stopped at Friendly's as DD got a gift card there for her b-day. We bought 2 pints of vanilla yogurt so they could all have a cool treat after dinner that would not hurt DS#1 as well as a little celebratory dessert in honor of DD"S 7TH B-DAY TODAY!!!!! :) We are sticking to yogurt or lower fat stuff these days since the boys did come home with a bit of extra cargo from camp!!! :eek: Finally, had a little bit of a scare(or two) tonight. First was when I very clumsily fell down the 4-5 stairs leading from the house into the garage. Caught the side of my rib cage good, and have a nice bruise and scrape to show for it(Klutzy me :o ). Then I'm making dinner and wondering why it is so hot in the house. I notice the upstairs AC unit is spinning, but not downstairs and there is no air coming from the vents downstairs. I went into the basement to check the circuit breakers and they are fine. To make a long story short(since I've been going on alot here tonight). The AC unit was plugged into an energy saver box which died. I unplugged it from there and plugged it directly into the outlet and Voila. . . AC again!! AHHHHH! :)

As for tomorrow....swim and likely box if it is cooler.

Good evening,
Karen

[fuzzbo]

Les-
Don't worry, I didn't take you for a run/walker, don't worry ( :D )...not that there's anything wrong with it! It totally worked for me and I was training at a 4 hour pace at 8:1 intervals, but race day was a different beast for me. Can't remember my time (4:30, I think) but even now when I do run (short distances) my times are much faster when I do the run/walk intervals.

No snacking for me tonight. I'm too hot and full from dinner (a rare occurence - it's not a feeling I like.) I think it was all the water I had before dinner. In any case, I'll just be enjoying more water throughout the night and turn in early for my morning workout.

I'm currently melting in my office, so I'm off!

Jean

[Leslie Ferguson]

{{{{Karen}}}} what a story about your neighbors and all the junk going on there. My head is spinning just thinking about what is going on up there and YUCK - it is tiring thinking about listening to the stories and the pain that's going on (but good for you to listen when your neighbors need it - you're a saint). YIKE - a slip and fall and bruise... what are we going to do with you? ;) I'm glad you've got AC back. I'm getting spoiled down here but considering the high was 102 and the heat index was well into the teens I'll take anything I can get.
Jean - Honestly, run/walk isn't a bad thing and I've actually used it a couple times (even recently in a 10k). There are times when my body needs the short rest intervals and I'm also a believer in the program - it helps folks complete a marathon without hurting themselves and actually enjoying the whole event. Congrats on resisting the munchy temptation tonight - that's one day down. :cool:
Terri - I hope your work week next week isn't as bad as it seems to be shaping up to be.

I did ride tonight - only about 36 minutes but still a nice ride and still hot as the dickens. That silly little bird was still sitting in the flower bed when I got home - gave it some water and decided I wasn't going to get wrapped up in a baby robin again. Buy the time LW got home about an hour later the bird was gone and the dish of water was still there (and there were no feathers hanging around either - a good thing).

Tired to beat the band (gee I wonder why). So I'm done for the day and I'm headed to bed.

Until tomorrow --- peace,
Les

[TerriAb]

Good morning! Well, now I know why I come in so early and work out! I took the morning off, since I'm running tomorrow and left about an hour later than I normally do and my normally 30 minute commute was 1 hour and 15 minutes! Argh! I guess I'll be coming in early whether I work out or not.

Karen - what a horrible story about your neighbors. I just wonder what those kids are going through and how it's affecting them now and will affect them in the future. I'm sure your DDs friend loves coming to your nice, stable home. I hope things calm down with them (although it doesn't sound like it will). Glad you found your AC problem and got it fixed quickly.

Les - glad to hear that you had fun golfing! It's always good to get out there and not take yourself too seriously, which it sounds like you didn't. Funny about all the baby birds that you are seeing - what a treat, though! I would love to see that around my place. I do get a lot of birds, but have yet to see any babies.

Jean - I'm going to take your advice tomorrow and do the run/walk. I'll try the 8/1 method and see if it works.

Nothing really new to report for me. Didn't work out this morning (feels weird), so I do need to watch my eating today.

I actually have work to do, so I'll say goodbye for now.
Terri

[karen w]

Good evening everyone and happy weekend!! :p

I had a kinda oddball day, but a good one in the end. As I left the house this morning(5:15 am) it was thundering, lightening, and raining. I guess I was not awake enough to remember that they close the pool with lightening and thunder. As I pull into the parking lot, the light bulb goes off. Anyway, the storm seemed to be passing and the skies brightening so I figured I give it a chance. They said they would open the pool at 6 am unless conditions changed, so I hung out in the locker room(where there are no windows) for the 30 min. At 6 am I call the front desk to see if they are going to open the pool, and they tell me it is even worse out now. Apparently another band of storms came through. At that point I threw in the towel, got back into my street clothes, and headed home. I got absolutely drenched between the building and my car since it was coming down pretty darn good at that point. So I figure I'll crawl back into bed with DH(after drying off a bit). When I get home, he is up and on the elliptical. I figured....oh well...I'm dripping wet anyway. So I got in my workout clothes and hopped on the bike for 30 min. What a weird start to the day!!!! :D After breakfast I did go to kickboxing since it was not as hot today as it has been for the past few days. It was still quite warm and I was a bit "drippier" than usual after class, but it was a good one. This afternoon the front finally pulled through here, and cooled things down a bit more. Ahhhh, releif!!

No big plans for the weekend. DH NEEDS to go to the brand spanking new Loew's that just opened up here last week. He says he needs to just take a few hours and stroll slowly down the aisles!!!! :p :rolleyes: I've convinced him that he might need to take the boys. I must finish up getting DD packed. We take her to her one week of sleep-away camp Sunday afternoon. I'll probably ellipticize and/or bike as usual both mornings.

Have a good weekend,
Karen

[Leslie Ferguson]

Terri - One of the things I don't miss living and working where I do in Norfolk - it pretty much takes the same amount of time to get to and from work regardless of the time I leave. But I've lived many places where that wasn't the case (including San Diego). It does sound like your day was a little weird and I hope you have a good weekend to counteract it. You might also look at a shorter interval (run portion) it 8/1 isn't doable. You'll have to fiddle with it a little to figure out what pace is best for you. I do love having little birds around (as long as they aren't pigeons). This year we've had 4 dove nests over our porch (only one had babies make it to flight) so I appreciate the little birds a lot.
Karen - Your day does sound quite odd and disconnected. Luckily you pulled it together and had a good day none the less. Have a great weekend.

Well, not to sound like a broke record but today was the 4th day in a row with baby birds. But this time it wasn't robins and it didn't have a happy ending. It appears that the dove chick didn't survive (I'd almost bet it nearly cooked in the eaves with the temp in the 100s over the past day). The odd thing was I looked at the nest when I picked up the paper and momma was hunkered down in the nest then when I walked out the door less than 20 minutes later there was a dead dove chick on the hand rail for the porch (and it looked like the bird died a natural as opposed to cat-induced death). Disturbing and unsettling but I know it's part of being a bird.

Need to head to bed - running at the trail in the morning and since the temp is going to be downright chilly, 77 (I might have to wear sleeves ;) ) I need to be ready for anything.

So until tomorrow - NO BAD NEWS from me ok... I promise.

Peace and have a great weekend.
Les

[fuzzbo]

Terri-I hope you have a great run! How many miles? I assume Saturdays will be your long run day? How far and how many times do you run during the week? Whatever interval you find works best for you - I hope you find the run/walk combination helpful. I honestly couldn't believe what a difference it made for me. I enjoyed my training so much more.

Karen-I admire your tenacity in getting in a workout. I would've happily turned around as soon as I figured out the pool wasn't going to open! I'm not sure I would've waited a half an hour, although, there were 2 times when I arrived at the gym at 5:30am only to find it closed (once I think the opener overslept!) and I did wait that out - I figured since I got up this early I should stick around. You sound very committed to your workouts.

Les-I guess that's the upside to 100+ temps, 77 feels frigid! Hope you have a good trail run.

Tomorrow's plan (technically, today's plan) is to get to the gym in the morning. Sunday's are usually an off day for me b/c there's no daycare at the gym, but I may try and get dd out to the trails for a 4 mile walk - we'll see what the weather does.

Have a good weekend!

Jean

[Leslie Ferguson]

I hope Terri had a good run today.
Jean - It's good to see another night owl on the thread... ;) I wish I could say it felt frigid but I'd be fibbing. But it definitely was better than last week and better than most days this week. I hope you got to the gym this morning and that you get out on the trail for 4 miles tomorrow.

It was hot and steamy today. But slugged through 14+ miles. I got my Rock 'n Roll half marathon confirmation packet today so I'm officially in the swim and have a number already. The race is during the first weekend in September so it might or might not be hot and sticky - you just never know in Norfolk.

I hope the remainder of the weekend is good for everyone - time to actually clean up and get some stuff done today so until this evening -- peace,
Les