<p>midmo…yeah I could use one of those! i remember seeing a desk recently that was part of a treadmill. Now that would work even better.!</p>
<p>I am tied to my desk due to my work, and for now, I’m trying to take frequent breaks. My chiro gave me a good tip. Drink LOTS of water…keep a huge bottle on your desk. That way you HAVE to get up fairly frequently, plus the water can keep appetite down.</p>
<p>Two of my law partners have stand-up desks. The problem is that when they decide to sit, they are in a chair staring way up at their computer monitors! It’s pretty funny.
I actually sit on a Swiss ball (the big inflated exercise balls) at work about half the day instead of my chair. It is good for my back and core strength. At first everyone laughed hysterically when I rolled it in, but after an article in the WSJ a few years ago, everyone wants to come in and try it.</p>
<p>70 minutes total today on 3 different ellipticals. I do NOT like the Precor EFX because it has a steep angle even at the bottom incline setting and hurt my calves and felt more like a climber than “running”. I was watching the Country Music Marathon news coverage on TV during my workout and felt sorry for myself- except not so much since tornado warnings caused the race to be “called” and everyone with over a 4 hour expected finish was diverted and not allowed to run the whole race. They started the race 15 minutes early due to the anticipated weather problems. Some of the elite runners did not get the word, and the winner of the women’s half marathon was in the portolet when the race started! She had to catch up, and obviously did… (She also has a 10 month old and this was her first-ever half marathon…geez)</p>
<p>“the winner of the women’s half marathon was in the portolet when the race started!”</p>
<p>^^That just made my day :)</p>
<p>MoWC, did the half-marathon finish? I had a classmate running the half-marathon for the first time. Yesterday when she left, she was freaking out since it was her first one and due to the weather…</p>
<p>It appeared as though most of the half marathoners were permitted to finish. They had to get back to LP Field somehow! The marathoners were forced onto the half-marathon course or simply re-routed if they were going to be longer than about a 3:50 finish.</p>
<p>Note: I wasn’t going to run this race even if I hadn’t gotten hurt. The weather is NEVER OK (last year it was in the 80s and sunny for my first marathon since 2001 and people were dropping all over the place) and it is a complete zoo. I prefer smaller races. This thing has 36,000 runners- most of them half-marathoners- and one of my friends got tangled up with a half-marathoner who was hula-hooping the race for a charity thing.</p>
<p>We’ll I finally hit a wall on this exercise stuff. I was stiff and sore all over for a couple of days. Not painful sore, just workout sore. I took Thursday as my normal rest day and then did pretty hard intervals on the bike last night instead weight exercises. I think my stronger effort on iPod workouts with heavier weights and stronger form had worked some stuff harder than I had worked it.</p>
<p>Finally hit the 20 pound milestone this morning after a bit of a plateu for a few days. That real inspriation and now I set my sights on 25 pounds.</p>
<p>idad, there’s no deadline here. It’s a process. Continuous improvement is all you’re after. So you hit a wall?? Just bump against the wall for awhile. You’ll eventually move beyond it.</p>
<p>WHOOT!! Congrats on the 20 pounds. That’s excellent! Go pick up a 20 pound weight and realize just how much you lost!</p>
<p>I don’t even need to pick up a weight. I feel it every day. It’s a very apparent metamorphosis, because I can also feel muscle tone developing, especially in the core and abs. So that fitness curve is headed one way and the fat coming off is heading the other way. I now find myself bracing my core/abs for any old routine activity, just from all these exercises that drive it home. I’m still an old fat guy, but can see where this is going and it’s very motivating.</p>
<p>The two curves are doubly interesting because almost everything I do in terms of workouts is focused on bodyweight resistance. So now when I do pushups or squats or steps, I’m not only stronger, but I’m also lifting 20 pounds less (which is a lot of weight). It’s a double payoff and I feel it in my workouts.</p>
<p>I have a little graph where I’ve been tracking my weight. I make the bottom of the chart the next five-pound goal and when I get there, I extend it by just five more pounds and focus on that. That way, I’m always making significant progress towards the next immediate goal and feeling like I’ve hit a milestone every three weeks or so.</p>
<p>32 miles with H through the middle Tennessee countryside this morning (on the bikes- not running). Hills and wind in my face the entire way out and some of the way back. I was proud that I didn’t blame it on H and be a b1 tch. Some of the long uphill pulls did not feel great on my hamstring, though- I am still getting the hang of my gears and needed to be in a little lower gear sooner. I am wiped out. It was 2 hours 25 minutes in the saddle. H says that is like a 16 mile run or so. You double the speed and double the distance for biking v. running. Ave. speed seems low, but with the wind and hills that was the best I could do. We stopped in Leipers Fork for breakfast at the turn-around, which was fun.</p>
<p>I just did my 2 mile hilly walk through the Episcopal retreat down to the river. Absolutely gorgeous with the sun peaking through clouds, brilliant green farm fields, wildflowers, and all the trees just starting to bud. Looked like some kind of Impressionist landscape.</p>
<p>I intentionally backed off the pace out of the gate a bit. Increased my total time by 1 minute, but enjoyed the walk a lot more. Peak heart rate on the hills was 85% instead of 94% on the hills.</p>
<p>Nice to slow down and smell the roses a little bit.</p>
<p>Nice architectural desks tend to be fairly adjustable. When I was pregnant with my first I got a kneeling chair (like the top one on this page [Balans</a> Kneeling Chairs Overview | Which Type To Select](<a href=“http://www.officechairadvice.com/ergonomic/kneeling/reviews/balans-ergonomic-chair.html]Balans”>http://www.officechairadvice.com/ergonomic/kneeling/reviews/balans-ergonomic-chair.html) ) to use with it. It was much more comfortable for my back.</p>
<p>We have standardized furniture at our office, but the “standers” can raise the height of their desks quite a bit.</p>
<p>mathmom - that’s the kind of chair my massage therapist (who has a master’s degree in exercise physiology) uses when she’s at the head of the table working on my head and neck.</p>
<p>Lots of yardage today! I mean cubic yardage: bark, garden soil, gravel, brush… No running or weights, but I feel sore from the yardwork!</p>
<p>Yardwork counts. I think the whole concept of “exercise” grew out of a need to replace the exercise of working the family farm!</p>
<p>Hi All! Back from my weekend away and I hit the gym again this morning. Did 12. 5 miles in an hour on the bike and then 20 minutes on the dreadmill as a cooldown. Knee feels fine! Not sure of weight loss but the elastic needs tightened on my Adidas capris as my pants kept slipping down! Yay!</p>
<p>Congrats idad on the 20 lb. milestone!! Hooray!</p>
<p>An hour and a half of cardio! You are hittin’ it. Loose pants is the best measure of improving fitness there is, in my book!</p>
<p>Teriwtt - I am here. Just been mainly lurking. Thank you for thinking of me.
Going through a disappointment in my life. Nobody is sick, or dying or anything like that. So I will be okay. And I am, so far, successfully going through this down time without using food as a crutch.
I will post more details at a later time.<br>
So far I have lost 28 pounds.
Eddie</p>
<p>eddie…nice to hear from you. Hang in there. Hope things start looking up soon. </p>
<p>I had some minor surgery on Friday and went off the wagon a bit over the weekend. Nothing horrible…just lots of sushi, quite a bit dark chocolate, and a few extra glasses of wine. The scale doesn’t show much damage…but it’s not going down either. Did lots of long walks over the weekend, and yoga today. Will lift weights later today! (Elbow is better but back is still balky :()</p>