CRAZY

Hello Irene, my husband and I are leaving for Lake Lure, NC tomorrow. We are meeting my sister and some friends for a weeks vacation in the mountains. Hope to have some cool weather and maybe some rain.

DREAMING

I'd like a big hunk of ice floating in my pool right now. Yesterday I went out a little too late to try to run, needless to say I walked most of the three miles. I picked a path that I thought had a lot of shade, even that didn't help.
This weekend we are leaving for a week in North Carolina, up in the mountains. Hopefully we won't be washed out by hurricane Irene. I'm looking forward to some cool weather. I can dream can't I?

REWARDS

I've pretty much decided that I am going to put more focus on my running and less on boot camp for now. That being decided I needed to get out this morning and get some miles in, before we hit our record high temperature of 107 for the day. I left the house just as the sun was coming up and headed for the usual trails I take. When I came to the part that was near the killer hill I turned and took an extra loop. This brings me out to a very high overlook in my neighborhood. I'm facing east towards the lake. My reward for doing the extra loop was spotting six hot air balloons coming my way. My second reward of the day was spotting the road runner out in the field.

HELP

I feel like Alice when she fell down the hole. I'm stuck with my training and running. I don't know which way to go. This morning instead of going to boot camp I headed to my other gym and used the treadmill. It's not that I don't like boot camp, it is the warm up that is tiring me and making me dread going. My running has suffered because of the heat I just haven't felt motivated to go out and run.
Help, how do you motivate yourself when your stuck. I know some people have changed their programs and dropped the heavy weight lifting. Maybe that is the way to go.

OLD FRIENDS

My husband and I just got home from a visit to Hot Springs , Arkansas to see some old friends. We have known them for over 30 years. It was just like we had seen them yesterday, conversation flowed and we had the best time. They live in The Villages of Hot Springs which is the largest gated community in the U.S. It is located in the mountains and there is lots of wild life. Coming home from dinner we saw a deer with two fawns.

We went to Hot Springs and toured the bath houses and then on to the winery for a sampling of 10 Arkansas wines.

This is bath house row. At one time they were bustling with people who had come to take the waters and also get the healing bath.



This is the men's resting room. The statue is of De Sota receiving the healing waters from an Indian child.

The ceiling above DeSota. There are numerous stain glass window in the buildings and beautiful mosaic tile floors throughout.

This morning I got on the scale and saw the damage I did in Arkansas, so I headed for the gym and did 30 minutes of cardio. It's a start.

HELPING THE CITY

We had a phone call from the city today. We're still using too much water and need to watch or will go to phase 3. Time to eat out again. We went to our favorite fish restaurant Rockfish.

I took the day off from running and working out. I was tired and my knees are still a wee sore. I'm planning on getting a run in early tomorrow morning because we have a funeral to go to at 11.

DOING MY PART

So last night on the news they were talking about rolling blackouts and how we should be trying not to use a lot of power during the hours of 5-7 pm. I wanted to do my part so we went to dinner at the Blue Goose. Sure beats cooking and using my electricity and it tasted great !

This morning I was up and out the door at 6 am. I was surprised that at that time with the temperature in the high 80's it was not so bad. I am still doing more walking than running but figure it is better than doing nothing. My knees felt sore but soon loosened up. I did 4.75 miles and who cares about my time.

STAY COOL

I have managed to get in nine days of some type of exercise. A new record for me. I did three days of boot camp this week and added a 30 minute Tabata class. I have walk/run outside in the heat and even gone to my old gym and done 2 programs on the treadmill. The one thing I haven't done is gone in the pool to swim.
Boot camp continues to be hard with her insane warm ups.
This was today's warm up: 4x
25 burpies
25 push ups
25 mountains
1 lap

After the warm up we were out side for lunges and squats with over head weights. I prefer inside where I can stay cool but we were out side.
I'm looking forward to the weekend off from the gym!

HOW HOT IS IT ?

www.wimp.com/swimoutside/

How hot is it ? When it's too hot for even the dogs to swim outside !

I REMEMBER

Right now standing in snow sounds divine. We just keep having record temperatures with no end in site.
I went to boot camp and there were a lot of people back that hadn't been for awhile. It's always nice to see them return. We were split up with partners, I'm not a fan of this but some people like it. Today it was arms and we gave them a work out. biceps, triceps and shoulders. Tomorrow I am planning to go to LA Fitness and do my cardio. It is just too hot to be running out side. I remember this winter when it was too cold to run out side. I'd do it today.