I am Jester. Hear me whimper.

[firecat88]

Status report for the past couple-a days:

Yesterday, I did a good 30-40 mins of leg presses on the TT. After that, I rounded out the hour working through a few eskrima drills with my dad. It's something we used to do a few years ago, that I kinda fell out of doing. I know, shame on me. But! He and I are starting to get back into it and he's teaching me some new routines.

Day before yesterday, I did, of course, a full hour of TT as I mentioned before

Day before *that*, an hour of HR to make up for pigging out at my friend's bridal shower.

[raw456]

I have gotten myself back into a routine after the debacle of a couple of weeks ago. I have been uping the intesity and resistance during my gym workouts and even my trainer has commented that I am doing better.

I have mapped out a few different walks I can do from my house that vary from 2-6km and include hills.

I officially registered for the City2Surf in August, so I will be in serious endurance training from now on. My aim is to do the walk in under 3 hours. I did 8km in 87min at the Mothers Day Classic, so 14km should be doable. My biggest obstacle is going to be Heartbreak Hill, approx 4-5 km of continuous climb

I also pick up my bike on Saturday, so looking forward to that

[Sapphire Silk]

Testing day today. Got my Green Stripe, but I wasn't too happy with my performance on my form (poomse). There were 5 of us testing for Green Stripe, and I know all of them but I haven't been training with them as much lately because my work schedule changed so I've been going to the late evening adult class whereas most of them go to the noon class or the family class. We're supposed to all move at the same speed, but I hadn't practiced with them, and I kept losing my balance trying to keep up It frustrated me because I was doing so much better a job in class on my form.

1 step sparring went well though. I was top of my class last time around, and I know I did as well or better this time. Board breaking went well, too. This time I had to demonstrate board breaking with an axe kick (a high rising straight leg kick meant to break collar bones). I broke the board into 3 pieces

But the thing that bummed me out most was, I lost my pedometer. It was clipped to my bra when I went to class, and was missing when I got home. I'll check with the manager when I go to class tomorrow and hope someone turned it in.

[firecat88]

Killer workout on the HR today. My sister (who was on the bike) and I watched Best of Riverdance during the workout, and went for a little over an hour.

[Sapphire Silk]

Had a good TKD workout tonight. Got started learning my new form, and we actually got through the whole form very quickly. It is similar to the one I just learned, and it's one I learned years ago at my old school so I guess it is coming back quickly. Also got started "learning" (relearning in my case) side kick.

I remembered how to do it but I've lost a lot of flexibility since quitting TKD years ago. I'm going to have to work on that. I bought a streching bar to use at home; hopefully it will help.

Found my pedometer! I had gone to Applebees after testing with some others from the class, and lost it there. The manager put it in a safe, but he can't open it until tomorrow at 4pm. He promised to have it for me then. Whew! That's a hundred bucks I didn't want to spend again!

[trailerparkmedic]

I ran my 5K today. I finished in about 44 minutes and I'm thrilled with that--it was my first time ever running a race or that far. I didn't run the whole thing (I didn't expect to) so that's my next goal--a faster 5K time done totally while running. I think I'll wait until the Race for the Cure in October, if we do running and walking teams from school. I want to wait at least 2 months before I do another 5K and I am not running a 5K in August in Texas. Today was hot enough.

[Elspeth]

owiieee. The YMCA finally opened next to where the hubby & I work. They have zumba classes 3 days a week and that sounded better then walking on the treadmill for cardio.

Yay that hurt. I didn't do all the movements because of my knee but kept moving for a hour. Not too sore this morning so that is good.

I love Zumba but I hate Zumba. I will be going back on Monday

[Sapphire Silk]

I got my 4 days of TKD in this week. I've learned my 1 step sparring for my next test (two months away) and have it down pretty good.

One of the techniques include a crescent kick, which I suck at. No flexibility in the hips. I'm working on that. Another includes a side kick, which I equally suck at for the same reason.

I bought a stretching bar to work on my groin stretching at home. It doesn't work as well as the nice stretching machine I had years ago, but it was a fraction of the cost and it works so I will use it until I can afford the nicer machine.

My sprained ankle is mostly healed. I still have loss of flexibility in that ankle, but am working on the exercises my doc gave me and I do expect it to get better over time. Knees are still pretty bad too, but better than they were. They are less of a priority than my other issues right now.

I've lost a total of 27 pounds since January. I've got 3 more to go to hit my goal of 30 by the end of June. It's doable, but I'm cutting it close: my weight has been fluctuating by about a pound for the past several weeks. Waist size is down six inches. Clothing is getting looser.

I'm most concerned about my blood pressure. I'm on two blood pressure meds (since February): Atenolol and hydrochlorothiazide. I've been really hoping my blood pressure would go down enough that I would not need the medication once the weight started coming off, but that's no where near to happening yet. Indeed, I'm concerned because my blood pressure hasn't even come down to a good range yet.

I'm giving it another couple of weeks. But if it doesn't get better soon, it's back to the doctor for me.

Hey, Jester! Haven't heard from you in awhile! How's the training going?

[Cat]

Gained 4 pounds in my trip!! Ikes. and its not muscle, as we only had one good hike.

Back to the grind today....watch what I eat, and back to the gyms. (and I have to food shop....worst part)

[Sapphire Silk]

Fabulous! Glad to hear that

I'm one pound away from my 30 lb goal. Weigh in day is tomorrow.

[raw456]

As I am 8 weeks out from the city2surf - I have really had to ramp up the training. Spending a week in Tasmania with my dad didnt leave a alot of time for training. (Hubby and I did do a walking tour of the James Boag Brewery but I dont think that counts )

I am concetrating of distance as I need to get up to 14km (just under 9 miles) and I tend to get wobbly legged at about 8-9 at the moment. I have some really good routes around my house I can train on. everything from 2km flat to 6km hills.

I'm only hitting the gym about twice a week to keep up the resistance work. I was hoping to do some decent riding on my bike, but being winter here, it's dark by the time I get home and I'm not comnfortable riding at night just yet.

One of my managers has also signed up to do the run, he is planning to run it, I'm planning to walk (with small bursts of jogging) but it's nice to know I will have some company