I LOVE ZUMBA!!!!

I went to zumba last night. My favorite instructor was teaching and I had a fantastic time. The last song (before the cool down) was my most favorite zumba song ever, so it was a good class. :D

My back

Well, my back locked up yesterday. It is still really painful today. When Ben went to rub it to help loosen it up, he could only do it very lightly or it was excruciating. Heat has been applied, but no socializing for me today. :(

backfired!!

1. Presented at a conference on Wednesday. One of the workshops I did was "Let's Get Healthy," during which I gave the child care providers ideas on how to use action songs to get the children in their programs active without seeming like exercise. We did Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes; Yogi Bear; Tony Chestnut. I think it worked a little too well, because my hamstrings are KILLING me. I woke up this morning and was getting dressed and wondered why my hamstrings hurt so much. It took me several minutes to remember the bending over and touching my toes I did during the first and last songs mentioned above.

2. Didn't go to zumba Wednesday. I got roped into tabletopping with the housemates. So, I thought I would ease my sorrows with the hip-hop class I've been meaning to go to on Thursdays.

3. Went to hip-hop class tonight. It was a big letdown. It was like Hip-Hop Lite (R). It reminded me a lot of the zumba class that I don't like, because she used the same 4 moves the whole time in every dance. I was telling Ben, it should have been a clue to me that it wasn't going to be very good when I saw the instructor of the zumba class I don't like as a participant in the hip-hop class. So, in keeping with my reaction to exercise classes that disappoint me, I left early. I got a good 30 minutes done, but I really couldn't stay any longer. I meant to weigh myself afterward, but I just wanted to leave. So, I don't know if I've lost weight. I doubt it, though. I gave into temptation at work during a forum we hosted and had two cookies. Look, I'm not proud of it! I tried to counteract it by eating a lot of veggies...that counts for something, right? Right?

Sigh.

Zumba. Next Wednesday. It is decided. No tabletopping will deter me this time!

Run, Forrest, Run

I ran on the elliptical today. I forgot to see how far I ran. Ben was right next to me and I just asked him how far he ran and he said 2.5 miles. I assume I was somewhere in that ballpark. We cooled down on the indoor track.

Zumba tomorrow after the conference I'm presenting at in Columbus. Yay! Thursday I'm going to see about making it in for a hip-hop class. We'll see how that goes.

GenCon=Exercise???

Ben and I went to GenCon over the weekend. We did a lot of walking. A LOT of walking. That counts as exercise, right?

I weighed myself at Dad's while we were there. 153...it's not great, but not terrible. I just have to keep going to the gym. We were going to go last night, but between me having a migraine and eating dinner late because neither one of us could decide what to eat for dinner, it didn't happen. We decided to go tonight. My poison ivy has gotten a lot better, so I think it's safe to wear athletic shoes again. I don't know what I'm going to do...probably the exercise machines, since they don't have zumba at the gym we'll probably go to on Tuesdays. Eh. Hopefully this time, I'll remember my headphones and I can watch TV while on the machine.

Excitement!!!

Ben and I went to the gym last night. I have poison ivy on my toe pretty badly and have had to resort to wearing flip flops most of the time so as to not spread the oil. As a result, wearing socks and athletic shoes was not really an option. So, I swam. This took care of the socks and shoes problem, as well has having the chlorine do its work on the poison ivy.

Anyway, I swam a mile in a little less than 40 minutes. Sometimes I lose count of my laps, so I'm not 100% sure that it was a mile, but it very well could have been more than a mile just the same. I was pushing myself fairly hard for the last 100 yards and in my last 25...as in the VERY LAST LENGTH...a brat in the next lane who was not swimming laps splashed water in my mouth as I took a breath.

I went through the scenario in my head. What are the odds of it being an accident, that she *happened* to be splashing at the exact moment and at just the right place and in just the right direction that I was taking a breath. It's pretty darn slim. Now, the odds that she *happened* to be splashing at the exact moment and at just the right place and doing it purposefully into my mouth is pretty slim, too. However, I think the odds are more in favor of it being on purpose. I think what really happened is that she meant to just splash me as I swam past, but she was unlucky and I actually took a breath as she went to splash me. I think she was mad because I started swimming in the lane that she was, again, not swimming laps in, because as soon as I got out after my 50 meter cool down, she immediately switched into the lane again. I think she also may have been mad that as I was swimming, water was being propelled by my arms moving and may have been getting on her as I swam in MY lane and she was in the lane next to me. It also may have been a little worse when I was pushing myself. Anyway, I was a little angry about getting water splashed into my mouth, but fairly satisfied with the swim overall.

I weighed myself before I swam and I am at 151 1/2!!!! That 1/2 pound is important, because 152 was weighted too low and 151 was weighted too high. I put it in between and it was perfect. I was happy with it and hope to make more progress.

I also measured my stomach this morning. I'm officially down to 36"!!!! I wasn't sucking in and did the same measurement as always. I even measured twice because I didn't believe it the first time. I am glad to be seeing results. Yay!!

Triumph nyah

So Triumph this month was a true overnighter. We ran from 6pm to 8am. ALL FRIGGIN NIGHT. I am just now recovering my regular sleep. I did almost 100% combat, which is different from what I've done recently. Different, but good. I was starting to feel badly about not contributing combat-wise. I just downed two fraps and some chocolate bars throughout the night to keep me going.

All in all, it was pretty exhausting, and I think part of that was physically as opposed to mentally. I'm not quite sure what to equate it to in terms of exercise, but it was a decent amount of running around, swinging and hitting.

I feel better and feel like I'm losing inches at the very least. I will check circumference in a second. I haven't been to the gym since last Wednesday, and hopefully Ben and I can go tomorrow sometime...maybe not, though, because I have the Triumph debrief and we may have to pick up the Alero from the car repair shop. We'll see. As a result, I don't know what my weight is at. Although, now that I think about it, I never reported Wednesday. I went with Ben and found out that my FAVORITE zumba instructor was teaching, so I was excited to say the least. I had a blast and loved every minute of it. I weighed myself afterward and I think I was at 153. I don't really remember.

Ok, I've stalled enough...circumference time. It's still 37", so at least I'm not getting bigger, right? I can lie to myself and pretend it's 36.5", but I know that all it means is that I'm sucking in. Ah, well. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, I.........