Hot Pool

After a weekend of sitting on the porch, drinking a little, eating a little, watching baseball games, playing Words With Friends, going to the movies and doing a few chores, I hit the pool this morning. It was tough! The pool temperature was 84 - by my 8th length, I was sweating bullets. Did my 20…that's 1,000 meters. Usually I leave the pool a little flushed but today I left the pool HOT!!!!! Loved it though!

I think too the hubby's cigars bug me. Stop my head up. Maybe that's what my problem was today! Haha. The distance was easier - I was just so hot!

n

Swimming Pools

Clearly MountainView Aquatic Center has got their Fridays confused. The pool, because of budget cuts in Cobb County, has had to close some days and take furlough days on others. The new schedule is that they are closed on Sundays and closed on the last Friday of every month! Imagine my surprise when I went to the pool for my Friday morning swim and it was closed. By my calendar, the last Friday of the month is June 24. That's not today! But, I checked the schedule and, oh yeah, they're closed next Friday too - swim meet. I'll be swimming somewhere else!

Went to LA Fitness to swim and much to my surprise, had a great swim. I was able to get right in, didn't have flailers or floppers trying to share my lane with me and was able to get my 1/2 mile finished in, wait for it, in a little under 30 minutes!!!!! Woohoo!!!!! Its a 25 yard pool and I felt like I was flying! I guess there is a benefit to working out in a 50m pool.

Shipping my old pots and pans to Joe. Finally joined the 21st century with some new shiny Calphalon pans - can't do nonstick - Tim tears them up. So, bought some fabulous stainless steel pans. Now to just train Tim to make sure he uses these in the most beneficial way. It was exciting buying new pots and pans. I decided not to ship the popcorn pot to Joe - it's one of my favorites.

A little girl maintenance, going to the golf course with Tim and friends - only putting - because I still can't really hold anything in my right hand…my right hand has taken a supporting role lately because of my golf cart accident last Friday! I still don't like golf - I love the social part.

n

When I Diet I Don't Eat

Yesterday I had a quick meeting with Jill Gregory from Venice Nutrition (www.venicenutrition.com). She's been working with several of the clients of Pilates Tutor (www.pilatestutor.com). Through the pilates studio, I got a free one hour consultation from her - thought I would see what she had to say. One of Jill's first questions was "are you a dieter?" I kind of am but as soon as I hear the words "you can't eat that" of course, that's the first thing I really want to eat! I told her that my biggest issue is that when I feel like I need to try to loose weight, I don't eat. That's what I did when I was 18 - we didn't eat - we just drank beer, cheap wine and tequila! Provided all the nutrition I needed - I went to college and lost 20 pounds.

What I got from our short meeting is that Venice Nutrition's primary focus is on maintaining stable blood sugar levels - eating several little meals a day with each meal having a good balance of carbs and protein. I think that basically I'm fairly sound nutritionally. However, I'm not a big breakfast eater…particularly when I first wake up in the morning. Eating first thing in the morning is critical to maintaining stable blood sugar. I'm going to start with a part of a protein bar. Today I used an Atkins Day Break Bar. The other interesting tidbit I didn't know was that when you are looking for balance between carb and protein - the numbers should be within 5-7 grams of each other. So, 30 grams of carb and 5 grams of protein isn't really a good balance! There's a whole lot more to it but we didn't get a chance to really chat about all the details. We are meeting next week - weight and body mass/fat measuring - YUK!

Did Pilates this morning - mat focused TRX. So hard. Then went to LA Fitness for a spin class. Always fun!

n

More Frustration

Last Friday, I agreed to go golfing with my husband and another couple in the neighborhood. I don't particularly care for golfing, no that's being nice - I hate golf. It's just a waste of time and after about 30 minutes I'm bored. I enjoy driving the golf cart, having a cocktail and hanging around outside. The golf part I can totally do without.

And, if there is another time I golf, I will drive the cart. We had a little accident with the golf cart - well, how to put this gently - I got hit by the golf cart, knocked me down, severely sprained my wrist - casted at urgent care *fortunately no breaks*, braced by orthopedic. The driver wasn't drinking…at all! I was!

A sprained right arm/wrist totally wrecked my weekend and the first few days of this week. It's pretty hard to do anything when you only have one hand, as I did for four days. Saturday I spent napping and sitting around - I actually took one pain pill and it wiped me out. Sunday, was a little better - still very limited movement in my hand and still a fair amount of pain. Sat around again - did what I could - not a lot though. Went to ortho on Monday - he gave me a brace to wear for the majority of my time, and some drugs that, as the pharmacist says are "jacked up motrin." They are anti-inflammatories and pain pills…took one yesterday - wiped me out - I had to keep walking around the house to keep from going to sleep. But, I do not enjoy sitting around. There's nothing worse - just sitting - trying to figure out something to do to keep me awake/interested.

We had a mini Mango Tree Foundation fundraiser on Monday night. It was a lot of fun and we raised about $800. It was a Mary Kay cosmetics Makeover Fundraiser - 50% of the total sold in cosmetics will be donated to Mango Tree Foundation. How awesome is that? Still working on Girls Night Out for September. We need to figure out how to make sure we have enough people - 150 would be freaking amazing! Want to do it at Pico Autentico - a Latin American theme - tasting Latin American wines and eating Latin American food! Maybe even a little music?!? Would be so much fun.

I was able to swim on Monday - no pain in the pool. Took yesterday off - mostly because I was so tired from being up on Monday night until midnight. Then realized that, already, I'm out/off my "new" workout schedule. I am ready to go today. Will swim, try pilates tonight. Meeting with a nutritionist this afternoon at 5 - before pilates. Going to movies with friends tonight.

I have got to, got to find something mental to do. I can't continue to be as bored as I have been…it makes me whiny and needy.

Work in progress.

n

PS - Swam 24 lengths today…in 40 minutes! 6 breast, 12 free style, 6 kicking…first 16 in 30 minutes. Pool was a cluster - ended up having 3 other people sharing my lane - two older guys and a lady (for a while). Bumped into one of the men - who told me we are supposed to always swim on the right side of the lane - okay, that's cool - but then don't freaking flop around in the middle of the pool…I'm willing to share but seriously! Aarrgghhh!!!!!!!!!

n

Frustrated

I've been awfully irritated lately. Trying to figure out why. As I swam today I started thinking about just what the freak my problem is. Here's what I decided my problem(s) are:

I've been so frustrated since the pool changed from a 25 yard pool to a 50 meter pool. It has given me serious irritation. I get half way through a length and think, oh shit, I still am only halfway.

I think what has frustrated me the most is that I don't feel like I've gotten more fit since I started swimming laps 6 months ago. (I'm probably being too hard on myself.) Suzanne tells me I've just got to stop eating bread…I don't eat bread except for on pizza night - Friday night - when I have two slices of pizza.

I swim three days a week. My goal has always been to swim 1/2 mile. Today, I just said forget it, I'm going to swim and just get it done. And, I did. Maybe it's a breakthrough for me.

Swam 22 lengths in 40 minutes…1100 meters. A mile is 1609.34 meters. So, I'm 500 meters off from a mile (that's another 10 lengths).

While I was swimming I decided that I really needed to set some specific goals. Like swim 1/2 mile in 30 minutes. So, that's the goal. I want to swim 1/2 mile in 30 minutes.

Plus, I think that I'm not getting enough cardio workouts in. How to fit in more exercise. I go to pilates MWSa - sometimes T/Th. I swim MWF - water aerobics and then laps. Should I add more days of swimming? Perhaps a spin class or 2 a week. I could probably spin on T/Th and then swim laps after that around 1ish. But, realistically, is that even possible for me to do. Next week, I will give it a try.

Sort of plan:

Monday - water aerobics, laps, pilates

Tuesday - spin, laps (afternoon) or yoga instead of laps

Wednesday - water aerobics, laps, pilates

Thursday - spin, laps (maybe yoga instead of laps)

Friday - water aerobics, laps

Saturday - pilates, tennis (for only two more weeks)

Sunday - tennis

Tennis doesn't count as cardio for me - too much stop and start.

Then how to make the food stuff fit what I am doing - fuel my body without gaining weight. I have always struggled with this aspect. The more I work out, the hungrier I am. The hungrier I am, the more I eat. Vicious cycle. So, how to organize great nutritious food with the workouts to keep myself FIT!!!

If I'm lucky, take good care of myself, I can probably keep doing what I am doing for another 10-15 years…should I tell you how old I will be then? But, if I don't do anything what the heck will I be missing???

Then I thought my frustration might be related to the weensy bit of estrogen my doc prescribed, if I wanted to use it. Took 2 doses, one a week for two weeks - cutting that stuff out now.

Or, it could be the extreme heat. 13 days in a row of over 90 degree heat. Sucks, sucks, sucks. I love summer but when it starts in June being so damned hot, I hate it. Leaves no where to go but continued hot, hot, hot.

Maybe it's all of the above.

n