Cycling in France

Well I had a great ride today in France. Well not actually. Our trainer Casey gave us a pretend story for our ride today. We were in a cycling race viewing the beautiful countryside of France. We saw some very pretty scenery, and we had to race hard to pass all the riders on the race. I wore my HRM today so I did know that I was probably in my 90% of my maximum heart rate. I could come up off my saddle (seat), but not for too many times. It was a great ride- I was sweating and my quadriceps were burning, but when I finished I was not exhausted. Yesterday I did make it on my 4 mile walk. I love to walk when the outside temperature is in the 50's. Would you believe for about 5 minutes we even experienced sleet? Still no weight loss for about 2 weeks now. I do know I am shifting things around though because my clothes are fitting different. In another month I will retake my measurements. Yes, it is difficult to keep motivated when the scales don't show it. But I do know that I feel good, neither my back nor my knees are bothering me. So.... I will continue on, and I hope you will continue with me. Don't get discouraged! Keep on keeping on!

Women

Okay, I gave my comments about why I love men, so I want to give the women that I love equal time. I do love women. Again, I am not gay and this does not mean anything sexual when I say I love women. But I think about all the women I have had in my life since I was a child until now. My mother, my grandmother, my aunts and my great aunts, my mother's friends, my teachers, my friends' mothers, my sister, my cousins, my daughter, my friends. Lots and lots of women have been there for me in all the ups and downs in my life. Good times, bad times, sad times..... you can count on women! They listen to you, and they don't have to fix it for you! They just listen.... they don't offer answers......they listen. You want to cry... they provide a shoulder, or they cry with you. They get your humor. They just look at you and you at them... and you have to control your laughter. They say what you are about to say before you say it. They get excited about those little things in life- like when you lose 2 lbs. They encourage you. They defend you. They compliment you. They share with you. Even though they don't agree with you sometimes or they don't like what you said, or they are even mad at you... let an emergency come up, and they are there for you. So you know who you are- all you women in my life- you have added so much to my life and I have been blessed by knowing you.

Feeling good

Yeah, I am feeling good! Just having that feeling of accomplishment. You all know what I am talking about. When you are working your muscles and you have sweated and had a good workout, it definitely gives you that feeling of accomplishment. The best way to feel good about yourself with your exercise is to compare you to you. Are you getting better than you were last week? Are you able to work harder (increase intensity), last longer ( increase endurance) or do more ( increase repetitions)? We try not to compare ourselves to other people. If we do, let's only do that in a positive tone. We can use others as a goal we want to accomplish. But don't let what others are doing discourage you. You keep working hard, and you will get better and better. Today I did make it to my swim. Hey.... I had to because I had made myself accountable by telling you yesterday that I would. I swam 24 laps. I am not going to exhaust myself so I am still not swimming all of this with the crawl. Here was what I did. I did sets of four. The first set was crawl down there, breast stroke back. The second set was crawl down there each time and back one of four ways- side stroke on left side, side stroke on right side, breast stroke, and back stroke. Then repeat until I had done 24 laps. Then I made it to fitness fusion. We used the medicine ball today with lots of twists. We worked our abs, we did some lunges, and we did alot of planking along with some pushups. I plan to walk this afternoon. Yes, I know that this does take time. And right now I am probably spending more time than most people. But I say, spend an hour a day. I mean you have 24 hours. Somewhere work it in even if you have to divide it into segments. Okay.... don't know what tomorrow will bring. I love getting your comments and emails. Let me know what you are doing.

Non eventful

Today was pretty non eventful. I went to my spinning class. I am still not there where I can do exactly everything that the instructor tells us to do. However, I do continue to get my heart rate up. sweat, and become breathless. It was a great workout, and then this afternoon, the weather was great for our walk. We went 4 miles again this afternoon. I love walking down this country road on this cool winter day. I hope to MAKE myself get up early and go swimming in the morning. I had my alarm set to do that this morning, but I just could not make myself do it. Okay, I just have to say I can do this! I can do this! I can do this!

27 Years Ago Today

Whoa! Talk about feeling old. Twenty-seven years ago today I had my firstborn. Time passes so quickly. I just happened to think about her age and my age, and I realize that she is closer to forty than me! Now that will really make you feel old. But how blessed I am that God gave me a daughter who is also my best friend. Happy birthday!!! Today I made it to my fitness fusion class. I am doing better and better on making it through this class. The lunges are actually not bothering me as much, and I have no soreness the following day. This afternoon I walked with two of my walking partners. We made it four miles. I have not jogged in several days. I have some friends that think I sometimes overdo it and I am too obsessive. Hey.... I don't have any grandchildren yet. I don't know how old I will be when I have them. I want to be able to get down on the floor and play with them. I don't want them to know me as an old lady. So, this exercise that I do is not all about me. It is about my future offspring. So all you grandparents out there- get moving!

Cold and Rainy

It is cold and rainy in the deep east Texas pineywoods. Yesterday I completed my second full week at Synergy. This time in my fitness fusion class we used the resistance bands. We did some of the exercises alone, and then we grouped with a partner. There was a lot of ughs and grunting going on as we used the resistance bands and our partners were pulling us toward them and we were pulling away from them. It was a great workout. Many of the exercises we are doing involve very little equipment- dumbbells, bar, elastic bands, styrofoam rollers and a mat. This means that we can do great benefit to ourselves by using this inexpensive equipment at home instead of "renting" the gym equipment. However, this takes lots of discipline to do this at home! And I can tell you that I do struggle in that area. But I just say, do what works for you. We are all different and we all like different types of exercise, doing it at different settings, and at different times of the day. I love to begin my day with exercise and then I know I have done it and I am good to go. Then later in the day if I feel good, I can do more. But if I wait and skip in the morning, many times I am just too lazy to do it later in the day. Yes, getting up early in the morning to go swim or sweat or exert myself is still very difficult. I just keep saying to myself that "I am resolved to do this." Do what works for you, but do something.

New Additions

Well thanks to my daughter I have new additions to my blog. My photo is now on my blog and I now have the correct time zone.