Got up to go run with the group, but then heard the 15-20mph winds. Oh no...no running outside for me.

Went to All Saints then and figured I'd run on the treadmill. Ran 3 miles, with about a minute walk at the beginning and about 5 min walking cooldown at the end. Then got on the bike for 10 minutes...a good hard 10 minutes that tired my legs out.

Bill doesn't get home til late tonight, so I figured why get up early, I could exercise after work. Packed a bag to workout at All Saints, but as I left work I wasn't in the mood for that. Got home, changed and played on the computer a bit. Finally got going with exercise and decided to do the Biggest Loser Cardio 2 which is 10 minutes and the BL Cardio 3 (which I've never done yet) and that's 10 minutes too. Add the 5 minute warmup and cooldown/stretch, and it gave me a good 30 minute workout.

Have dinner planned with Mom tonight, so got up and did my workout right away. Decided to do the Boot Camp workout as it's simpler and doesn't use weights.

Have my workout with Anna tonight. Back is still a bit sensitive so I let her know and we agreed to just do single-planar things and no twisting. I don't remember everything we did, but lots of shoulder things, all different shoulder muscles, as well as push ups, and finished with plank. Not a particular tough workout, but my shoulders will be sore.

I didn't sleep well last night...nearly not at all, therefore I really didn't feel like exercising in the morning. After work, I didn't really want to go to the gym again, nor did I want to exercise. I procrastinated, ate dinner, watched Biggest Loser, was working on tax stuff....I just couldn't get in the mood. Finally I decided I had to, but still wanted to treat my back gingerly. Decided to do the boot camp DVD as that's not overly twisting and isn't too strenuous. I kept it light and easy, didn't do exactly the pace they were going, but still managed to break a sweat without hurting my back.

Back is still not 100% so decided not to work out this morning. Headed to the gym after work again, and after 2 doses if Ibuprofen again today. Walked on the treadmill for 0.12, then decided to try to run. Running actually felt pretty good, and did a mile in about 9:10 or so...starting with 9:30 pace and kept quickening the pace. No tweaking in the back. I probably could have run another mile, but wasn't on a treadmill that directly faced a TV and there was nothing good on the TV I could sort of see. Therefore I was a little bored. I decided to walk to finish out the 15 minutes. Then I did a superset of chest presses and flies, then I did tricep dips. I had now gotten into the show I switched the TV to, so I got on the bike for 5 minutes, but was bored. So I got back on a treadmill for 10 more minutes...figuring that's 30 minutes of cardio--not overly hard for the whole time, but at least I'm moving.

Yep, back is still tweaked. Luckily I still have some of the horsepills left (800mg Ibuprofen) from the butt thing, so I'm taking those and that's helping alot. Headed to the gym after Bill left and just got a good brisk walk with a 2-3 incline going on the treadmill. At one point I started to jog, but the back felt funny. It didn't really hurt, but it almost felt like I was out of alignment or something--just weird and weak. Decided not to push it and went back to walking. Did 30 minutes of that, then headed over and did 20 minutes on the bike. No twisting, bending, or weights, just nice single-planar aerobic exercise with no jolting.

We're in a winter storm warning, with snow starting at about 5am and still going and blowing. No running for me! Got up and thought about going to the All Saints gym, but I thought it better to drive less and just workout at home and then go straight to coffee.

Put in the 40 minute TJ Cardio Party. About 10 minutes into it I felt so sluggish and I was struggling. The big dinner last night really did not help. And last night my back was bothering me a little and during this workout it just got worse. All the twisting was really starting to hurt. I think doing these DVDs, although they are a bit different, is still working alot of the same muscles and they are crying for a break. I finished the DVD, although paused it midway for about a 2 minute water and breather. A good workout. Unfortunately as the day is progressing, my back is REALLY bothering me. Tomorrow is definitely going to be a non aerobic-type workout...maybe just go to the gym and run/walk on the treadmill and do the stepper or bike. Low impact, no twisting, give my back a break.

So today is the big WIN weigh in. I was going to get up and exercise, but then thought that might raise my blood pressure and I'd want to drink alot of water adding to my weight, so I decided I'd go after work. Then after work Jess texted that she was in the area and wanted to go to dinner. Went right away and chatted for a few hours, leaving me to get home after 8:30pm after a big dinner. Bill just came home also from being gone all week. I debated stopping by the work gym on the way home to workout but didn't really want to walk in the cold, change, exercise and get cold again, so I headed home.

I wanted to do an ExerciseTV routine for something different, but none would load--must be a problem with the channel. Arrrgh. I needed 20 minutes, but they didn't have to be too hard, right? So I loaded the BL CardioMax DVD and looked at the customize options. There was the 5 minute warmup, level 2 cardio for 10 min, then 5 minute stretch/cooldown. I've never done the level 2, but figured even if it was harder, it was only the 10 minutes. Did all that and actually like that level 2. It was high cardio, lots of jumping and running, but a good burst of a workout. After dinner, this was enough to break a sweat and get the heart up, without going too hard.

Since I only worked out once each of the last 2 days, and I have nothing planned tonight, I thought I'd try to get two workouts in. Did the 30 day shred in the morning to get a good combo of aerobic, weights, and abs. Then after work I did the Punch, Kick, Jam--which I've only done once before and found myself getting lost in the workout often. I need to do that alot more as I fell behind alot and had to stop to just watch for a second to figure out what we're doing. It's 50 minutes, though, so hard to do too often, but need to get better at it.

Got up to exercise, even changed, but just wasn't motivated. Went back and layed in bed with Breezy. Went to the gym after work and ran a mile, then walked out the rest of 20 minutes on the treadmill with an incline for about 5 minutes of that. Then did 20 more minutes on the bike.

Got up and wanted to just do cardio today after the workout last night. Did the Boot Camp. Thought I'd also go to the gym after work but got out of work late, so didn't.

So, I really want to get back down in weight, so with Bill gone, I'm going to try to step up my exercise a bit. Got up and did the TurboJam 20 this morning. Then had Anna tonight. I asked her to focus on abs a bit more as we've only done a bit of those in recent weeks. So we did a variety of ab/core exercises, in between shoulder push downs, lunges, pushups on the alternating arms on the medicine ball, rows while tilting forward and kicking a leg back, one arm alternating rows.

Melissa texted last night that she was looking to run at 7am on Sunday for an easy 4-5 miles and wondered if we'd join her. We had brunch with Mom, but we could do just the 4 or so. Met at Panera and ended up running 4.2 miles. I ran with Melissa the whole time which was nice to have conversation and keep moving, ending up with a 9:36 average mile---not too bad.

Planned on going running with the group today as we were doing a brand, new route--West Lawn cemetary and down 90th street into Sturtevant. Bill left early to get extra miles in, and...for some reason....the alarm never went back off for me. I woke up at 7am. I was really mad, but the TV was set right so I wasn't mad at anyone, just mad at the situation as I really was going to run today. I then decided I'd still go and just run by myself. I rushed around to get ready, still very upset, and drove to the parking spots. Arriving at 7:36am, I figured I'd run routes that the others probably weren't as I didn't want to deal with everyone heading back and I was just heading out and the questions that would go with that. I did West Lawn cemetary loop. There was a set of footsteps in the snow (it was flurrying, with about 1-1.5 inches already on the ground) so I just following those. I found out later that I did more than just the 'outside' loop as the footsteps curved in at one point, then back out, adding to the run. That was OK as it was peaceful to run in the cemetary. I came out and headed east on the frontage road, behind the retail areas and back out to the frontage road, turning around just east of Charcoal Grill just before Stuart Rd. As I headed back, I still felt good and so I did another loop, reverse, in the cemetary, ending the morning with 5.5 miles. Everyone was already gone to coffee, but Bill had driven through that last cemetary to say Hi, and Andy circled back as the lead for the 'committee for no runner left behind' to make sure I was OK. Then joined the group at Panera. Glad I did it as I felt good to do the run (although slow due to the snow) and it alleviated my anger.

Didn't get going this morning and figured I'd just walk at work. Unfortunately that never happened, so I went to the gym after work and just walked for 20 min on the treadmill at a 3.8 pace. Not really hard, but at least got the blood flowing.

Skipped the gym last night, so had to do it tonight. Ran 2 miles on the treadmill, with 2 quarter mile cardio bursts, then walked out the remainder of 30 minutes. Then did 15 minutes on the bike reading a magazine just to move the legs a bit, but relax also.

I brought clothes to work to workout in the gym after, but just wasn't in a treadmill mood. But did want to do some weights and not just cardio as I did weights Monday and only cardio on Tuesday. So I came home and decided to do the Biggest Loser CardioMax as I know that has lots of lunges, squats, and some free weight work. Did just a quick 1-2 minute warmup, then the 20 minute routine, and then the 5 minute cooldown.

So it was supposed to get up to 60 degrees today....in February!!! I don't know if it reached that as I was in work all day, but it made me really want to exercise outside. So I slept in with the goal of running after work. Got home and convinced Bill to run with me. We just did the 2 mile loop. It was a bit windy at times, and I don't run as well at the end of the day (having eaten and not as fresh as first thing in the morning), but I still managed a 9:30 pace for the 2 miles.

Didn't sleep well last night and woke up before the alarm this morning. Therefore I thought I might as well exercise. We have Anna tonight, so I just wanted to get some cardio in. Did the 20 minute cardio bootcamp. Then tonight with Anna we did lunges with hip flexors, chest presses on the ball, plank w/ downward facing dog, hamstring curls, one-legged presses, chin ups at an angle, shoulder presses standing on one leg, and tricep/shoulder presses (neck on the ball, rolled out, with one weight dropped back behind head and lifted up above chest). Not a particularly hard workout as Bill's need was bothering him this past weekend and Anna didn't want to irritate it. For the next 4 weeks, it's just me and her while Bill travels, so let's see what we can do.

Although yesterday supposedly reached 50 degrees, it was windy most of the day. Today the high was "only" supposed to be 40 degrees, but the wind was alot less--about 4-6mph. After making an egg bake for us for breakfast, then making a lasagna that we were going to have for dinner, I decided to go for a run. I needed to take advantage of my motivation to do so, and the nice weather.

Got ready and got out there. Hoped to run the 3.7 ish route out the neighborhood, around to Douglas, to 4 Mile, and back home. Gave myself an out that if I hit 3 Mile and was struggling, I could turn west and do the 2 mile route. Well, I felt pretty good at 3 Mile, so just kept going. Overall it was a really good run. I struggled a bit on the hills and into the wind, but really felt good running with the sun beating down on me and the cool brisk air. Averaged 9:45/mile for the first 3.1 miles and 9:35 for the last 1.7 miles---totalling a 3.8 mile run. Not really long, and certainly not the best pace, but for the first outdoor run since 1/3/09, and the longest run past 2 miles, this was a good run.

Hopefully we'll keep some medium warm winter days like this so I get out a bit more and can work on this pace and distance a bit.

It's Saturday and I really thought I'd run with the group today. Bill was up at 3:30am as it was a long run day. It was in the 30s-40s so temps were so much nicer than they've been.....unfortunately there's a very strong wind. I checked and it was 20mph from the SSW and we're doing the church run where the first 2-3 miles are into the South. Since I haven't run much at all in the past month, the thought of running into the wind when I have so much trouble breathing into the wind just doesn't appeal to me for my first run back.

Therefore I'm going to just exercise at home. Put in the TJ Cardio Party for the good 43 minute workout. Had the weighted gloves on for the first 15-20 minutes, but was getting pretty wiped for some reason, so took the gloves off and finished without them. I really break a good sweat with this workout!

Tonight's a dinner and movie night with some of the running girls, so I knew I had to exercise this morning...even though I didn't want to.

Therefore I did the TJ 20 minute workout as it's familiar and won't require too much concentration since I've been doing it so much. It's still a good workout though, always end up sweating by the end.

I was awake this morning to exercise, got up and changed, even came out to the living room and picked up the DVDs. I couldn't decide on one and just couldn't get into it. Went back to bed.

Took my tennis shoes to work and decided to go for a walk this afternoon, doing a good 20 minutes with a small incline on the treadmill, then the walk back to the office. Another light day....I really should have done more, but just needed a little break. At least I'm doing something for 20 minutes.

Anna tonight and we did an all around workout, with a cardio burst early on (running up and down the tallest stepper). Did flies and push up supersets, bicep curls with tricep dips, rows on the Bosu, Roman chair, lunges with a bent knee forward kick (for hip flexors), situps with straight legs and scissor legs. Lots of different muscle groups and some that really tired me out.

Since we have Anna tomorrow, I just want to do cardio. Got out of work a bit later than I wanted to, so I was rushed. I literally ran into the gym, changed, and got right on the treadmill. Walked 1 minutes, then ran for 19 minutes (2 miles), then walked for 2 minutes to cool down. Quickly stretched and rushed home to make dinner before Bill's village board meeting.

Ok, so I didn't keep up too well on posting here, so I'm writing this on Thursday and can't remember what I did on Monday. I know I exercised in the morning to a DVD, as I had a GOP meeting at night. But I can't remember which routine I did. I'm pretty sure I did the Turbo Jam Ab Jam, then also added just a few of the floor butt exercises from that bootylicious routine I did last week.

Had the time tonight, so did a new (well, not new as I've had it for a while, just never did it) DVD by Turbo Jam--Punch, Kick, Jam. It's a 50 minute workout and really never had the time most other times to do this long of one. It's always hard doing a new one, just keeping up with all the new routines, but luckily there are alot of the same exercises and transitions so I didn't get too far behind.