Thursday: Three Workouts

You know, I am clearly one of those nerdy, accomplishment driven people that thrive on tatting up their "to do" list at the end of the day. It is what I do and probably why I find this blog so deeply satisfying.

To all of you wondering about when Sloan Manor may be completed, you may not want to hold your breath. The porch is finished to the point that it probably meets some codes, and the windows do not have pane dividers, but are functional windows from which I can see the pile of sidewalk stones that have not yet been used to make the new sidewalk. We do have up the new molding, but it has not been painted. The lump in the front yard has been shaved off and re-sodded. AND TODAY, we got seven new trees AND new drapes. It seems that we Sloans are starting many projects that do not get completely finished in the originally assessed amount of time. NOW, I will tell you my strategy for tying up loose ends: throw a party. In the month of February or March, I am planning on setting a date to invite many people to my home. This will throw my husband and I into a frenzy (A FRENZY) of project finishing. All loose ends will be tied up in a week; mark my words. So watch for a party invite from the Sloans and let the FRENZY begin.

Now, Ivan and I had a good three mile run this morning, and when we came home, Ivan had a ride on the tree diggers backhoe. Ivan and I then took a walk and had coffee and got home to find that The Beast had killed a mouse. So fabulous!!! It is the only reason to have a cat: we are mouseless.

After, dead mouse removal and a diaper change, Ivan and I did Gilad. After Gilad, I made Ivan some mini-quiche for lunch and he did not eat any of them and I ate all six. Yes, its true. Then Ivan went down for his nap and I rode the trainer for half an hour at top speed, while I watched National Trust Gardens: Stourhead edition. It is my favorite program on our HD channel. It is a video tour through all of the National Trust properties in the UK. The gardens and homes are just amazing.

I got ready and headed into work, which was so nice. I then came home and worked with the new drapes and made dinner before settling in for the Thursday night line-up. Parks and Reacreation made me laugh outloud!!!!

Getting ready to knit and watch the Project Runway Finale: Part I

Back to swim tomorrow!!!1

Sunday: My Workout is on Target

So, one day I will post a picture of myself on the trainer. Today is not that day, because my vanity cannot handle it. Being on the trainer is rather depressing for more reasons than the vileness of being trapped on your road bike in a locked-down stationary position.

Another reason the trainer is depressing is that I wear my oldest paint-the-house, lock-the-doors-so-no-one-sees-me, I-wouldn't-be-caught-dead-in-that clothing. You get revoltingly sweaty on the trainer, so it is necessary to pull your hair back and wear a sweatband `a la 1973. Then I wear the oldest t-shirt and sports bra I can find. Today, for instance found me wearing the last of my bright yellow Wave Country staff t-shirts (complete with bleach spots and a suspicious stain that could be blood or something worse) and a pair of bike shorts so old that the back was completely transparent and the elastic cracked as I pulled them on.

If you ride on the road, you wear your nice stuff: your cute riding tank, the good shorts, the helmet with your hair in pigtails, and the socks that match your helmet. I climb on the trainer looking so heinous that What Not To Wear would not have me. Tim Gunn would cry himself to sleep for three weeks. I caught a glimpse of myself as I walked past my mirror today in full slack biker regalia and shuddered. Yellow is not my color.

Anyway, I rode the trainer for 45 minutes. I stayed in zone 2 on my heart rate monitor during the scheduled television programming then rode in zone 3 during commercials. I watched the exciting finale of Jockeys. It was the Derby episode and I watched the actual Derby race twice, because it was so exciting. It was a great episode with lots of unexpected twists. As usual, Mike Smith had a lot of wisdom to offer and there was some great music. Joshua Radin, always amazing, had the finale closing song called No Envy, No Fear. It was completely inspirational.

After biking, I did a Gilad workout. It was a good set of lunges and a weak set for ab work, I thought. Most of the ab work today was plank position, and it was challenging, but did not leave my abs screaming as it typically does.

I made myself a late lunch and headed out to our first Sunday pool swim for fall. Workout as follows:

• 300 warm-up
• 6 x 200 (swim, back stoke, six-kick-switch, fist drill, and some others I can't remember)
• 3 x 200 (25 fast/25 easy/25 easy/ 25 fast/ 50 fast/ 50 easy)
• Then we did several relays with our feet tied together, where we left from the middle of the pool-EXHAUSTING

Headed home, and had healthy enchiladas for dinner. Only two more days of sugar bust. Worked on my Bible Study, which is just great. Studied Romans 2:17-3:8.

Went to Church this morning where the minister preached on Matthew 5, a killer passage and it deals with divorce and also Job, another killer passage as it deals with the persecution of one of the Lord's faithful. Ivan came back into the sanctuary with me for communion, and was reasonably well behaved.

Today was a lovely day!!!

Picture is from Thee Blind Wines, a fundraiser for Franklin's Heritage Foundations

Thursday: One Hour on the Trainer

So, today I took Ivan to practice his swimming at the MTSS indoor pool. He did a great job of floating on his back, and I am just pleased that he has retained the information because it was expensive and redoing it would surely mean that I would not get to have a new pair of jeans or maybe a beaded Feed Bag. So we are keeping up our practice on a weekly basis.

Workout wise, today was less than great. I was able to get in some Gilad and some work with my foam roller. My goal was to be on the trainer for 1 and 1/2 hours. This seemed like an insufferable amount of time and honestly, I spent all day dreading it. There are people in my swim class who I have heard talk about staying on the trainer for hours at a time. More than two hours is something I can't imagine. Anyway, Missy told me that she DVRs an hour and half of television and then rides in zone two while the show is on and the rides in zone three during commercials. I made it through Saturday Night Weekend Update Thursday edition and Parks and Recreation. Only one hour. My husband helpfully told me that he doesn't think that there is any point in staying on a trainer for longer than 45 minutes. I almost wish he hadn't told me this opinion, as I will now probably never be able to stay on for longer than 45 minutes ever. EVER. Also, tonight, for a different vibe, I put a phonebook under the wheel since the back wheel is elevated by the trainer and without front elevation it simulates a downhill ride. However, the phonebook scooted around, and from time to time I would have to step out of the pedals and kick the phonebook into place. Also, disappointing, I think that I mostly stayed in zone one. I was just a wuss on the trainer.

Anyway, I was actually supposed to host book club tonight, but no one finished the book and most people couldn't come, so we postponed the event in favor of getting coffee sometime next week.

Anyway, swim tomorrow!!!! So much more fun than the trainer!!!! Sugar bust going well, only four more days left.