Commando workout, or, should I join the Marines?

I have a new routine for Saturday workouts. It's very new. I only started today, but I like it so much I plan to make it a routine.

First, go to the gym and walk on the elliptical for over an hour, keeping heart rate in the lower fat burning range at least half the time. That's the hard part-I always want to work as hard as possible, but keeping your heart rate low part of the time and higher the rest of the time is interval training and will not only increase endurance, but also help you shed fat. According to the elliptical I burned over 500 calories doing that.

Next, do thirty minutes on the bag-the kickboxing bag. There's something so satisfying about punching and kicking a bag. You'll just have to try it yourself. One lady at the gym told me that she does that on her Wi, but I can't see how a virtual workout would burn as much calories or feel as good as actually hitting something.

Thirdly, take the regular Saturday bike ride. Matt and Mir came over to bike and since Matt was pulling the trailer with the two kids behind his bike we could go a lot farther and faster. He's in such good shape and so strong that the rest of us, Mir, Chelsea and myself, could hardly keep up with him. At times he got so far ahead he was just a speck in the distance. The kids love riding in the trailer. They both fell asleep before it was over. It looks so comfy in there.



While we were out, about ten miles out, I remembered that Chelsea needed to be at a volleyball game, so Mike graciously came and picked her and her bike up and took her to the game. He swears I have radar and know when he's fixing something to eat so that I can call and ask him to do something so that it will be most inconvenient. That's crazy. It's just luck!

So, Matt, Mir and I finished the 20 mile ride. I hurried home to take Emma and a friend to the movies, but luckily Bill arrived home to take them so that I could shower and eat lunch. It was a great ride and a fun ride. Mir and Chelsea were singing for us at one point and we passed some other bikers going the other way and they thought it was great, too. I can't wait to do it again next week. I figure I burned almost all the calories I will eat today. That's awesome.

Thought for the day:
"Some give up their designs when they have almost reached the goal; while others, on the contrary, obtain a victory by exerting, at the last moment, more vigorous efforts than ever before."
Herodotus

It hasn't been the best of weeks

Sorry I haven't blogged this week, Mom, but it wasn't the greatest week of my life. I won't go into everything. One of the annoying things this week, just annoying, were all the repairs that had to be made. Here's what our water looked like on Monday.




I wish that had been the worst of it. That only took two plumbers and $650 to fix. It seems like our house had a 7 year life span, because I have now replaced both hot water heaters, the second one last week; the double oven, both dishwashers, the ice maker and the microwave. Also, I had an electrician here for two days, upgrading the electrical wiring to handle the new stove. Next week I get to have a carpenter and painters to repair the holes made by the electrician. And I also need to get a roofer to fix the roof where it has already been fixed twice. Then the painters will come back to make the inside repairs. That kind of stuff never ends. I'm looking forward to downsizing in a couple of years when we only have two girls at home.

Anyway, that's not why I've been down. Like I said, those are minor annoyances.
The good news is that I'm still doing well on my diet and exercize program. I've lost 13 pounds and added a lot of muscle. As I posted previously I feel so much better and have so much more energy. Mom, I can even get up without groaning and moaning!

Earlier today Bill and I took Emma and two of her neigborhood friends on a bike ride.



Biking is so fun. I think I enjoy it now as much as I did when I was a kid. We ride down to the river (the Rio Grande) and go alongside it on a wide sidewalk for as long as we want. Bill and I have tried to reach the end of this trail before, but have never found it even though we went ten miles down it and of course ten back-the longest bike ride I've ever been on.

Today, because we had the kids, we stopped a lot to look at things. We even went out on the river, because in the winter, there's hardly any water in the Rio Grande. New Mexico has it dammed off up-river and only lets it out in the summer for the farmers to irrigate their fields. Here's what the river looks like from river-level.



Here are some fun sights from our ride:cotton from a cotton field, a long horn bull, and horseback riders.






Riding has also helped me conquer some fears. When I first started riding I was afraid of/exhilarated by this hill. Now it's not scary at all, but it's still fun.



Then there was this little bridge with no railing across a ditch. Bill always rode right across with no problem, but I would get off and walk my bike across. This week, for the first time, I rode across. A small victory, but a fear conquered nonetheless.



Finally, an important, for the kids, stop on the way home.



So, a one hour, nine mile bike ride for Saturday. Even as I sit here icing my knees, it was worth it. I'm glad that Jen and Mir both have bike trailers and want to make Tuesdays our day for riding to the park by the river. They stop and play with the kids and I keep riding and rejoin them for the trip home. Now, if I could just find someone who wanted to go out on Thursdays I'd be set!