Hmm, Just another Sunday
Good morning. I think we are getting up later and later. This morning we didn’t wake up until 9:45 am. Well, we were up once earlier to go to the bathroom and finish some ice cream, but then instead of staying up we went right back to bed. *Sigh* It WAS good ice cream though!Rich and us did something special yesterday. Well at least a couple something specials. We went out for a Chinese dinner, and then afterword we went down to the point across from Navy Pier and watched fireworks, and then we stopped by and got some ice cream on the way home! Wow What a night!
Earlier, he’d gone golfing with his kids. This morning he went early like getting up at 4 am to go fishing with Bob. And, then he’s going to be going out to dinner tonight I think with his kids. So we might get him for some time in-between, but I think he’s going to need catching up on some sleep when he gets home. We’re waiting to share leftover Chinese with him for lunch, then I hope he is going to take a nap and I’ll go out swimming, or if he’s going out earlier with the kids and not going to be taking a nap, I’ll hang out with him this afternoon, and then go to the pool later when he goes out. One thing is for sure is that for now I want my writing time so we’re not going anywhere this morning. I just have to remember that the gym/pool closes at 7 pm. I’ll have to remember that I should look to see if it’s open on labor day tomorrow. I will hope to get there then too, because I figure that Rich is going to get in time to either work, or he’s going to be around the kids again. It’s a big deal now because both Jill and Jon are in town. So, we’re trying to be real flexible.
Hmm, seems like we should be slowing down and getting in some time to explain some or all of the above. There’s a lot of little experiences between the things we’ve outlined above.
First I think we want to mention the gym. We’d written yesterday’s entry about up to the time that we went … we first uploaded our entry from the day before thinking we were going to get further, but we decided since we were dressed that we should just grab our iPod and head out the door. That was a good idea. I think the gym seemed more crowded than I had hoped, but I didn’t have any trouble getting on the machines.
There were a couple of exceptional things happening. The first … I went all out and I did 15 minutes of walking … yes … you heard that right! 15 entire moments of walking. That’s an extreme amount of difference from the days I could only walk 3 minutes. I think I’m going to remember that span in a terrified manner for the rest of my life. There’s no telling how long I’ll be able to walk after this is all done and over and I’m in my 90’s!
I think I could have walked further but I didn’t want to wear myself out. I’d just taken a big chance in going from 12 minutes to 15, and I didn’t want to overdo it. I’m thinking that some part of it has to be because of the weight, but then again some part must be building up energy, and I think even walking in the pool has a lot of difference. The last time if you remember we’d walked 62 lengths of the pool. I have to think that is making some difference in my stamina. I think I’m in the pool and moving for about an hour or so. The one thing that I know is that I keep moving after I get in the water. I do the lengths without stopping. I’ve seen swimmers doing a lot of stopping at one end or another, but I figure they are working harder.
Most of the swimmers really look like they know how to swim. They are doing strokes that keep them under the water as much as anything. Sometimes they do the backstroke too though. That one looks a little more relaxing. I like watching them though because in general they really look like they know what they are doing and seem to be smooth and contiguous.
Hehehe Umm, I get that word because I’m defragging my C drive. Yesterday I cleaned up extra files and now this. I’m really working on improving my machines ability to move. I hope that it will make some difference in the sluggishness.
So, anyway … yesterday’s walk felt really pretty good. I turned it up to 2.0 right away. A lot of the walkers and runners … there seems to be a lot of runners are able to do their movements without holding on … I’m really not up to that part yet. I don’t have the balance that I need to do that. I really appreciated listening to the music. I found myself looking at the TV screens somewhat, but I also remember watching the other people. There’s like about 4-5 really long rows of machines … and the end of the machines to the left are a perpendicular long row of low bikes and in back of that is the length of the pool. All the machines are right up next to one another and they all face a terribly long mirror. Toward the back of the machines along that long row are the offices of staff. You can always look in and see the next person being signed up. That is pretty much being mostly done by the general manager as he did me. I think that he’s specialized in it and it’s his way of getting to know who all are in the gym. I’m not nearly as heavy as I used to be, but I’m probably one of the most heavy I’ve seen – especially for a female.
Most of the people that go to gyms, seem to be people who are in great shape. I’d like to think if I were here for a couple of years, I would look just like them and get as much a feeling of comfort for being here year after year. Most of the people working out seem very serious. That is except the older men that seem to frequent the big whirlpool. The whirlpool is as long as the short end of the pool, so in truth about 4 lanes wide. Sometimes the men and sometimes women … will get done with the whirlpool, but not ready to move yet, so they will sit or lay next to it and have the appearance of sea lions resting on the beach.
The walking felt good though and that’s an important element. I want not to get scared of what I’m doing. I’d like to think that people accept me there as much as anyone else. I don’t know what they think of really big people, but what we’re imagining is they are thinking … wow … she let herself go … I hope she makes it and comes back until she looks healthier.
Hmm, why not? Might as well think the best. I think most of the people are pretty aloof, but then there are a lot of barriers being crossed. You’ve got a whole lot of people packed in on their machines like sardines. Everyone seems to want to come in and do their thing without interruption. There are a lot of people like me now that have some kind of ear phones. And, there are some people who come in and read instead of looking at gauges. I think the most popular machines are the ones that go up and down as you walk and the handles move too. I’m not sure … I think they are considered elliptical machines, but I’m not sure.
Yup, yup that’s what they are. Those machines fill up faster than any other. Yesterday all but a couple were taken up all the way down the line. They are really top rated looking machines. Nothing like the kind you get at home. The quality of all their machines make it really seem worthwhile in coming to the gym. I see very few machines that aren’t working and the ones that are broken are fixed right away. I think they realize it’s money down the drain and poor attitudes would build with broken machines. This place really seems to be taking care of itself and the number and choices of machines, PLUS pool make it SOO much superior than the Women’s workout world gym. The thing I remember counting there is how many machines were broken and how old they were. I think the gym manager Mike said they were getting new additions of either building or machines, I’m not sure. They use every square inch of space in the place.
Ok, so back to the gym … hmm, looked at the defragging first and put on Sarah Brightman radio … that’s nice. Seems to add to the general flow I feel when my fingers are moving fairly quickly. The defragging seems to be going well, I am seeing little portions of blue that are getting thicker … blue good, red bad. We’re only 6% complete though … it’s going to take a while.
It’s ok, I can do everything I want with it running in the background. Hmm, it’s now 11:45 am too. Rich said he’d be back around noon, but I imagine that is in part with how good the fishing is. I’m hoping he doesn’t go out for lunch afterward. I know that Bob likes to … it’s just that I’m waiting for a bit not to eat the Chinese leftovers to make sure we fairly split it with Rich. Last night we got the pork fried rice and eggrolls like we usually do, but we only ordered one meal. Rich got what he usually gets and I did some of that, though it was pretty small. I had gotten filled up mostly from the eggroll. We still between us and one order had plenty for lunch left. But, I’m not going to want and wait all day for it. If he’s not here by one – all bets are off.
I should probably get the phone anyway just to make sure I’m here when he calls in. There all set up. It’ like Rich to call in to say he’s done with whatever activity an about when he’ll be back. Keeping an eye on my swim time too. We should think maybe getting to the pool by either 2-3 pm. I think that we’ll work fine. It will give the food a chance to digest. We’ve got to remember to turn in our old Netflix shows too. They’ve been just sitting here for a week. I’m not going to be able to get the African dancing one in time I’m afraid. We’ll have to go to blockbusters maybe on Rich’s card. I think he still has one.
Ok … we’re NOW getting back to the gym. After we got done with the walking … we were a bit dizzy, but it was a short walk over to where the bikes were. These are the kind of lower ones with the big seats and fancy displays with the numbers on it … just like the treadmills. It took us a sec to remember how they worked in general … we’d been on them at WWW. We got very gutsy and decided to shoot for 10 minutes. We put it on a speed of 6. That’s from my memory. I don’t know if we got past that before, but remember being on that number. Maybe it goes 1-20. I’m not sure … can’t remember now. It felt like a good number to be on and we did the 10 … we could have gone further, but we were a little sore and we still had to climb the stairs and go up to the weight machines.
We fell to watching another lady who had stood next to me in the gym. She had to be 6’2” and thin. Was like wow! Do women like that really have to work out too!?? She looked very used to the machines and seemed like an athlete in her speed and clothing. Those kind like to run on the treadmill. She went to the bikes for a shorter time, but then when this one stair machine I hadn’t seen before freed up, she went to that. There were two of them and they looked like a 7-8 step escalator, but the steps go in a round circle under the machine before coming up again. The thing is it looks like you have to climb the step above – and it’s a big one … and by doing that weigh down the top step moving the machine.
I’d watched another couple guys on it before when I first got on the bike. One was doing ok, the other looked like he was dying. I felt bad for him, but he must have been pretty tough, because when he finished this scary stairs, he went over to the elliptical and looked pretty routine there. I should have figured the amazon woman was going for that. We just watched her for a few moments before it was time for us to leave. I was very glad to have the music all along. It gives me a personal sense of space. Everyone really has it here because they’re looking straight forward and people don’t usually look around as much as I am. They are working through to their own zones. I’ll learn to do that better too, but for now everything is new and amazing to me.
After we were done, we went upstairs. The climb didn’t feel too bad. It’s like going up to the third floor really, because the ceilings are so tall. When you get to the top you are in an open space and if you go to the right you get to the weight equipment I work on and if you go straight ahead you’re going to be on the track that goes around the gym. A little to the left past the track is a heavy metal railing and you can look downstairs over the heads of the treadmill, elipiticals, and bikes with the swimming pool in the background. Slightly to the right are where the free weights are. To the left on the other side of the thick wall are where the second set of regular weight machines are. I think they are about the same size as the machines blocked to the right and the free weights, but it goes by degree. I’m on the easy side, then the other weight machines, and then free weights. The free weights have super strong looking men. They look bulgy. The other weight machines seem to have more women and guys who are athletic looking but not as bulky as the free weight guys. And, I think my weights are more for regular people, but there are some very strong looking men. There are always more men than women on my side.
I think the difference is where I’m lifting about 60 pounds on my legs, they are lifting like 300 pounds. It’s about the same for the arms, but on those I lift about 35 pounds, sometimes less depending on the machine. I’m still trying to get to most the machines, hit at least each twice while stationed there, and I try to improve myself, but will temper my weights depending on how strong I feel from the one before it. I’ve seen other women doing lighter weights like mine, so I don’t feel so bad. It’s a matter of moving the peg where you are comfortable with it. I haven’t seen anyone look at me for doing less on the machines.
For the most part … everyone just kind of grazes around hitting the machines they do that are open. I notice the guys use more the big tree-trunk-like machines that have several options on each of their four sides. There are three of them standing next to each other, but enough room to be moving around. There are some pretty hard weights there that demand more standing than sitting.
I’m still studying the machines that other people are using. There are a few that I won’t try because of my size and poor shape. There’s one for example that you lay on your tummy and put your leg up on a rest above your head, but backward and you push up. I’m sure that’s a good exercise, but I’m not too crazy about being upside down. There’s another one that is kinda up in the air and you have to sit on cushions on your knees and then you go up and down with your arms like you are doing a sit-up. That machine looks frightening.
The scariest two machines I’m on are both for the arms. My legs are stronger than my arms naturally. The one machine you sit back on a 45 degree angle and you have to lift the bars/weights up over your head. That one is a torture. And the other hard one is where you hold onto the bar straight out in a crucifix format and then while keeping your arms straight you pull them together. My arms are still feeling that one! It looks real cool though if you can keep your elbows straight. When I start to lose the form I’m imagining you should practice on the machine, I have a tendency to stop. There were two times where I cut my number short because that muscle was shaking by trying to do another. You gotta be careful you don’t hurt yourself. I’m all for a good red-faced workout, but I don’t want to make it so hard I stop coming in. So far, so good.
After I did the work on the machines – visited about 18 of them, then I took a couple last walks around the track. Just an 1/8th mile. And, THEN! I got to go home … Pwshoo … it’s tough stuff. I feel though with switching back and forth from swimming to the machines, that I look forward to the next time back to be doing the other. That’s a pretty good deal.
I’m not sure if I’m going to make it though much further before I have something to eat. Rich is only 20 minutes late, but I’m hungry now.
Mmm. That’s good! I made two plates and really loaded his up. I just took a small plate, but there’s plenty on it. Wow! That was some timing … I just sat down and had one bite and then he came in. He’s in the bathroom now. The first thing he said was did you leave me any, but then I showed him his full plateful and how I didn’t forget him this time or eat two meals from his serving. He was very happy with me. He said you didn’t know when I was getting in and I shouldn’t ever have to wait for him. That was nice of him. I like to eat with him, but tummy counts first! I feel proud of myself! I didn’t overeat for myself, or bother his food.
I still didn’t microwave my food, but I did pretty good. I even put cellophane over his dinner. That’s really a lot for me. I’m so happy to be seeing him. I followed him into the bedroom to talk about schedules. I told him I wasn’t sure when to go to the gym, but he said he wouldn’t be leaving until about 5:30 pm. So, I might have to go before that? Hmm, I could go at the same time and that would give me an hour and a half, then I could get some hours in with him. I did tell him though I thought he should sleep because I was feeling guilty for having slept until 9:45 am. He chuckled.
Hmm, I forgot too to mention … I’m down to 260. It’s only a pound, but since I had a Heath bar milk shake yesterday when we ate ice cream AND ate Chinese out … I thought that was doing pretty good.
Ahh, lunch is over … we’ve got a half bottle of water left and now the defragging is 12%. Moving right along. The capacity on my comuter is only 145 GB and I’ve got 29 GB left (19%) and on my flash drive I have 8 GB and I’ve got 2.6 GB left (34%). I’m going to need a computer because of how much I use it and for what, but I’m hoping I can make it last another year, because I still have to budget in meeting up with Thom. Rich and I should be planning for that, but it’s going to take some time even for that. I think he said that he will be coming home most likely first. He said that most of his time will of course be with Alexis.
He said he won’t see as many people this time, but I didn’t think he saw a lot before. He said he would make time to see us. But, maybe we’ll only get one visit. He’ll be on a 96, which means what 4 days. That seems like a good deal to me!
Ahh, Rich is out now and is getting his dinner ready. I got a drive by smooch in the mean time. I think he’s going to come out here and have his lunch while watching TV. He asked if that was ok, and of course it was. I love to be around him. Well except when he’s cleaning and then he’s not as much fun. I’m thinking he’s really going to need that nap. Hmm, maybe if he naps, we’ll be wanting to nap with him. He said to go ahead and keep typing which means he has other stuff in mind, but don’t want to miss my Rich time.
Hmm, we’re back again. It’s about 3:15 pm now. Rich has been home for a couple of hours we watched a movie he’d turned on that was pretty silly while he napped. Now we’re going to type for a bit while he watches his fishy shows. We’re going to have to try “getting into it now.” We already did our little bit of smooching. Hmm, was it enough?
posted by Ann Marie @ 9/01/2008 07:02:00 AM
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