Chronicles of the Treadclimber-girl

Five years ago today - I kissed my hubby for the first time. We are celebrating with a nice steak dinner and some Luigi Bosca Malbec. Mmm.

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Well 2009 is coming in with a bang.

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The Master Shower project is going strong. Our tile guy has gutted the bathroom, put up sheetrock, and yesterday he finished the shower pan. Today he's supposedly going to start putting up tile. I can hardly wait. By Friday we may have a new bathroom already? I can't wait! I'm sure Sport will be glad when he finally isn't cooped up in the Zen room all day long too!

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New Year's Resolutions are being met so far too. Even though I was fighting a nasty sinus/throat/ear infection last week, I still managed to do at least 30 mins of yoga or pilates daily (including Saturday). I also stuck to my fruits/veggies diet (at least for breakfast/lunch), and it wasn't until Saturday that I got a little off track. However, it WAS Matt's Mom's birthday lunch at Red Lobster, and I DID skip breakfast, so it wasn't a total loss of a day.

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Remember how I have a YMCA membership? Well, they have this machine called a "Treadwalker" there. There are 2 Treadwalkers at my Y, but only ONE of them is working (and up until recently it was out of service as well - but they fixed it in December finally). WELL, anyhoo. Every day I go to the YMCA, the SAME strawberry-blonde-petite-girl is on the Treadwalker. She must get up at the crack of dawn, or sleep on top the machine, because she is ALWAYS there. I tried for 3 days in December to get to the YMCA before it opens at 5:30am, and get inside JUST as they open the doors, and she STILL manages to hog the machine. I just wanted to TRY the damn thing. She never uses any of the other cardio machines (that I have seen), and she doesn't GET OFF of it after 30 mins (even though there are signs posted everywhere to please share the equipment and only use for 30 mins or less). Beeotch.

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There's 2 ROOMS full of Treadmills, elipticals, rowing machines, 2 kinds of bikes, etc. But only 1 treadwalker, and she acts like it's HERS.

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Come on, doesn't she know you aren't supposed to do the same workout every day, you have to mix it up for best results?

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I would say something to her, but she always had headphones on, and she never seems to talk to anybody. So, I asked the front desk lady about it. She said the "Treadwalker-Girl" will move if you ask her, but yes they have talked to her about it. Blah blah blah.

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so then it was Christmas Vacation, and then I was sick, so I haven't been to the YMCA in a long time.

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FFWD to Monday!

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I get up, go to the YMCA. I'm 10 mins early. I'm thinking of the treadwalker-girl. I'm thinking, ok-self-you may not get to use the machine, it's not the end of the world. You are the bigger person, although it's worth a shot. BUT lo-and-behold. I arrived to an empty tread-climber! it's mine for Monday! YESssssssss!

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After realizing that this machine enabled me to LITERALLY burn 400 calories in exactly 30 mins, just by walking at 3.0 setting . . . I can finally understand why she hogs it. This thing helped me burn more calories than all the other machines could have. I can't jog - I get asthma. but I usually walk at an incline, or do the eliptical as fast as I can muster without risking asthma. But this Treadclimber really really works. It's like walking up and down stairs for 30 minutes without all the lunging. And since the tracks on the climber are spread out a bit (not like on a treadmill where your legs are still together) - it works the INSIDE of your thighs too. HOT DAMN!

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However, I am not a greedy person. Tuesdays & Thursdays I am doing weights, so I didn't even TRY to get to the Treadclimber today (being a Tuesday). I just did my weights and tried not to look over at that machine, but imagine my very minor-disappointment that Treadclimber-girl wasn't there today either. I could have had the machine again today after all. But that's okay. Someone else now has a chance to use it. And it's my weights day, so whatever.

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Although, I am secretly proud. As I got off the TreadClimber Monday morning (after the maximum 30 minutes), I heard someone say "Thank you." Yes, that's right. I used a machine that nobody's been able to use in many a morning. But I SHARED. I got off after 30 mins, and freed it up for the public. I didn't hog it. I worked my inner thighs and burned 400 calories, but I did it the RIGHT way. And I was thanked for it. Damn that felt good.

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Walked the dog for 2 miles yesterday too, and Matt & I did Wii Fit for 30 credits each. Not minutes, credits. For those of you who know the Wii Fit, that means it could have taken 1 hr to get those 30 credits. But we did it. I kinda did 3 workouts on Monday. Do I get extra credit?

Sobering up to Reality

Photo Credit goes to Matthew Lane of www.zazenphoto.com

Dreaming is one thing. However, the holidays are upon us. Now is NOT the time to be buying new furniture, when there are gifts to purchase. Yes I already have a couch. Yes it is still in good condition. However, it doesn't support my back very well, and I tend to get out of alignment when I sit in it for long periods of time. So what? My friends and dog love the couch. I will compromise by doing the lotus pose on the floor while watching TV. That's better for my back anyway right?

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Besides, I not only dream of a new couch, but I want a King-sized platform bed with a relax-the-back tempura-pedic mattress. Oh sure, if you have about $4000. oh well. I am so over the sleep number bed idea, been there, done that, didnt' love it. I can survive for now with my J-pillow & cervical pillow, and china gel applications. right?

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Well, this weekend we are visiting the family and meeting Matt's Aunt & Uncle up in Tennessee for a artisan/craft show thing. It's for wholesale buyers I hear, so we probably won't shop too much, but it will be nice to see everyone again.

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I'm just cringing because this is the fattest I have EVER been in my life, and I can't blame it on anything like pregnancy to get away with it. Nope. I just love food and wine, and my day job is me sitting on my rear-end for 8 hrs doing reports and scheduling. So I'm getting fat. Working out is not helping me at this point, but I cannot tell you why. It's like my body is saying "oh yeah? screw you, you can work out all you want, but you're STUCK!" ha! well we'll see about that. I haven't been dragging my butt out of bed at 5am every other day to hit the YMCA for nothing.

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Holiday stress is hopefully not going to be bad this year. I have a couple of nifty gifties already and have planned out the rest. The only dilemma (which we solved last night) was WHICH family to visit WHEN and the logistics, etc. Looks like we are planning to stay HERE for Thanksgiving, but still deciding what we are doing for Christmas and afterwards.

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Whew, it would be nice if we could suddenly find a couple of thousand dollars laying around someplace that we forgot about. Yeah right. Toodle-loo for now.