healthy

Learning to Run – Week 8 – Speedwalk Session 1 & 2 – Life and Relief!

Hello Chickies!
Bet you thought I fell off the face of the earth, didn’t you?  No such luck – I’ve just been up to my eyeballs with life.  I’m still at it with the speedwalking – First training on Tuesday evening at the Y, and the second one yesterday at lunchtime.  Yeah, I KNOW there’s supposed to be a rest day inbetween, but I just couldn’t resist the temptation of cooler temperatures.  More details below…
We’ve successfully released our oldest child into the wild.  She’s off on her college adventure, and the rest of the family is feeling pretty sad this week, especially Mom and Teen Son#2.  He’s been slipping into her room and sleeping in her bed. I did really well on move-into-the-dorm day; didn’t shed a single tear.  I was afraid that if I did, it would collapse the entire family into a slobbering mess and nothing would get done that day.  I only lost it last night when I set five plates on the dinner table instead of six.  Her chair looks so empty!
Relief?  This blessing came in the form of a cold front, knocking us out of those relentless 100+ degree days!  27 days in a row of temperatures in the hundreds and heat indices in the hundred-teens.  Yesterday the high was 82.  What did I do to celebrate?  Hit the pavement at lunchtime and worked on my speed for the 5K. Made it in 47 minutes, including warmup and cooldown.  It was glorious to be outside!
I’m also down another pound.  Keep up the good work, friends!

skinnyap

healthy

Learning to Walk – Week Seven, Second Run and STILL Blazing Hot

Hello, Chickies!
Okay – just how ridiculous is this?  I ran drove to WallyWorld late last night to pick up some more fruit and get milk for breakfast. At 10:38 pm, it was 96 degrees.  High today is going to be somewhere in the hundreds.  Somebody just pack me on ice until October, please.
I high-tailed my rear end over to the Y after work yesterday to a) get a parking spot in the shade; b) work through my learning to walk training session and then c) hang out with K, the crazed woman who directs the Body Pump class.  Learning to walk – fantastical.  This week’s schedule calls for 5 minutes warmup, 25 minutes at speed and a 4 minute cooldown.  I made 2.3 miles in the 34 minutes.  My pace is picking up! 
My YMCA. 
K?  She’s wild.  She’s electric, on fire.  Seriously.  She teaches a spinning class the hour before Body Pump, and she’s STILL be-bopping around and tossing free weights during our class!  The session was a lot easier this week, mostly because I knew what to expect, and I didn’t load quite so many pounds on my bar for the tricep interval.  It was a great workout, and I highly recommend it.
skinnyap
Image Courtesy anthill24.  No, that isn’t me, nor is it K.  It’s just a random photo of a Bodypump class so you can get an idea of just how insane I am for doing this.
healthy

Learning to Speedwalk Week Seven – First Run and a P.S.A.

Hello Chickies!  Week Seven, First Run Walk – Done!  I hit the Y Sunday afternoon and cranked it out on the treadmill because it’s still MISERABLE hot, as in sweltering.  Yeah, sweltering.  That’s your first word for the day, and it perfectly describes the conditions outside my door.  We’re facing our fifteenth? seventeenth? day of temperatures over the century mark, and thanks to a prevailing southerly wind, now it’s humid, too.  Pfffft

Your Second word for today is mammogram.  The dreaded M-Word.  I got the girls checked this morning.  Have you had your boobs smashed this year?  No?  Then call your doctor, get that referral and get it done.  It takes less than ten minutes (not counting the time spent walking from the parking garage to the office and filling out the update form) and it can save your life.  Or your rack.  Or Both!
Angela Pea
Image courtesy of  http://www.dobhran.com/