Well, we're getting into the wind down exercise wise, with only a month to go to lift off...I was really pleased with myself recently when my rowing was up to speed again, and I completed 1000 metres in justover 5 mins with the setting on high resistance. My shoulders ache a bit today, but I'm pleased with myself... Thinking about exercise in Mali: Stacey, I bought that skipping rope.....I have gone for a really good leather one, and it came with an exercise programme. We also got a resistance trainer - a sort of loop thing you put inder your foot. I think with running up and down stairs and the skipping and resistance we should be able to keep muscle tone up. I'm definitely fitter than I was when we went last year, so I hope we can keep it up. I just hope I don't get dysentry again!!!!

Hey, Rejoice with me ....I did a personal best time today rowing two kilometres in eleven minutes 45 seconds at resistance 8 (10 is highest). During the Steve Redgrave (our olympic gold medallist, and a memebr of the gym where I train) rowing challenge earlier this year that would have been a good time for my age group. I was really pleased, my previous best time for 2K was 12 minutes 35 ....so that is a substantial increase ....

Way to go, Maggie! Major breakthrough.

Yeah, great feeling ....just how I wanted to leave the gym ....on a high note. Signing off from it tomorrow ....until March. Challenge now is to keep up the muscle tone in Africa ...we leave on 19th Oct. Got the skipping rope and rubber stretchy things for resistance ...and of course there's stairs to do ....heard we have an apartment on the third floor ...that should keep us pumping up and down stairs!!! Look in Travel and Cultures for updates ...

hi y'all! well, 4 months at the new job. it's good! really nice folks. Biogen is a bio-tech, specifically they make AVONEX, a drug for MS. the commute's a bit of a drag simply because i didn't have to do it for so long. but all in all, no complaints. no time for workouts... BUT the AIDSRIDE did go well...

Have to admit - have not worked out AT ALL in Mali - except for climbing 6 flights of ten stairs to our appartment several times a day. It's too hot to do mcu exercise - hit 118 on Saturday, only 105 today! I'm melting!!!

You are going to melt! 118! That even puts our Texas summer to shame. And you say only 105, melted Maggie.

OK, I'm back in cool UK!! Must get signed back up to the gym and get going on getting rid of the flab i've collected in Africa ..... actually I lost a little weight but not as much as I'd hoped after malaria and other unmentionable things... Did go swimming last sunday when friends held a goodbye pool party for us at a hotel.

Swimming! That's not fair, Maggie. I still am waiting for the water to warm up in the pools around here. It's still 50 degrees. What's the water temp in the pool where you swim?

The hotel pool didn't have a guage it felt like a warm bath though!!! Here (UK) the inside pool's are kept much warmer than when I was a kid. We have a 'water world' fun park not too far away and I plan a visit in the near future. They try to make a tropical atmosphere and keep it warm. Very few outside pools in the UK - we'd freeze!!!

I haven't checked the pool temp today out in Cedar Creek, it was 51 at Quail Creek yesterday but we may be in for a stretch of warm weather. Can't wait till swim season starts here because that's when I really get some good workouts in the pool.

Managed a good swim in a nice 'tropical' pool whilst on a mini-break to Devon. Looking forward to going back there again in a couple of weeks. Still haven't sorted the gym out yet ... boy am I going to be stiff once I get started again!

I've been swimming 3 days now, the water's up to 71 degrees and climbing. Looks like swim season is here to stay.

That's nice for you. Any pool parties planned???

Yep, a big pool party is planned for next month. Out of towners welcome! (There are two very nice guest bedrooms in Cedar Creek). I'll let you know when I set the date.

booking my ticket! *grin*

Boy do I miss stacey in here!!! Where's my workout partner?????? Getting back into it ...Been to the Gym three times this week and did my re-programme on Monday. I've put on 9lbs whilst in Africa ... BUMMER!!!! Now doing cardio-vascular (bikes and stuff) Mon and Weds, and resistance (weights) Tues and Fri. We go swimming on Thurs. Got a fitness test next week to give a base-line ot measure from.

I got a bike yesterday! My friend Eric won it in a contest and he already has a stable full of bikes so he sold it to me dirt cheap. It's a Trek dirt bike, red with silver speckles, it rides nice!

That's so cool, Terry! I played squash last night for the first time in a couple of weeks - great workout!

Never tried either ...have I lived yet? Last time I played badminton I ached for a week .... Today my workout is furniture removing and cleaning .. daughter 2 is moving out from home

I don't have any aches from last night, luckily. We had ten minutes before the court was free so I took advantage to warm up properly, which is something I don't usually have time for. Didn't make a huge amount of difference last night because I was exhausted (why do I always book a court for Friday night?!) but I feel better for it today. Gotta get back into my abs routine. I injured my back a couple of weeks ago whilst I was exercising and haven't got back into it properly yet.

Just went to Walmart and picked up some patio furniture and about 20 more plants for around the pool, it's going to get very tropical out there. Just went for a little swim. So that's my workout so far, carrying patio chairs and tables and swimming. I'm hungery, time for lunch!

I think lack of warm up and cool down was the prob when I last played badminton .. that and using muscles I don't using use. Talking of unused muscles ... got a new weights machine to work on pulling the muscles round my shoulder ... I'm hopeless at names of these ..I'm still aching a bit from that on Friday. I've switched from a machine to dumb bells for one exercise and seem to be coping much better with that. Silly really that I was scared of using the hand weights rather than the machine ... I think I thought I couldn't do it wrong on the machine. Trying to do all round body exercises now. If I do the whole routine my personal trainer set it takes an hour with warm up and cool down.

That's one of the problems I have with workouts - the amount of time it takes. I have a short attention span when it comes to lifting things, or doing any kind of repetitive exercise. I much prefer something like squash because at least there's a point! Doing that together with a short abs session (like, 5 minutes) and a set of press-ups (another 2 or 3 minutes) every night keeps me in reasonable shape. I don't need to be an Adonis :-)

We usually do 1/2 hour to 45 mins. I was amazed when I went swimming on thrus how much quicker I was. Home within the hour. I think I prob need this more than you do .............. What abs are you doing??? I'm using one of those roller bar thingies ... it beats sit ups for me ... and then some floor exercises. Have you ever tried one of those electrical impulse machines?

I'm just doing regular sit-ups. One set of 40 (can't be bothered with more), hands behind head, knees bent. I hate those roller bar things - they make my back and neck ache. I'm probably just not using them right, but I've never managed to get comfortable with them. I must start the press-ups again. They are actually a good anaerobic cardio workout, too (for about two minutes ;-) I'm supposed to be doing the Battersea Park run soon. I haven't run for ages...it's 3.5 miles. Not sure how I'll get on!!! I might do the Nike 10k later in the summer, but I'm not sure. That would mean training for it ;-) I don't have enough time as it is... I could always run to work I suppose.

If the roller bar thingy makes your neck ache you aren't doing it properly ..position seems v impt with it. I'm comfortable with it ... can't sit up on my own from lying anyway after old back injury when I was a kid. When's the Battersea Park run? Hannah did that a few years ago. We walked round the village this evening .. I decided to start jogging ...bad move ...Nothing is on the level here ... tired myself out ... one day ....anyway the walk was OK. Plan to try and do that most evenings unless its raining ...I think its a couple of miles ... takes about 25 mins at a briskish pace. Never do press-ups .. seems ot be a male sort of thing ..(but then was weights! and I enjoy those).

I'm tired from working in the shop all day, swimming, and entertaining friends, and showing the cottage to prospective renters.

Have a nice coool drink ....and RELAX ... and think of those of us just srating the day .... I really must get some writing done today ........

Back in the gym this morning ... hard going ... just biked, rowed and abs ...now I need to shower and get going writing ... got out on the bike yet Terry?

Not yet, plan to soon. Oh, I did ride it around the block.

Damn it, I'm still slacking on the exercise front. Did plenty of singing tonight, though, which is good for the abs...

Oh, and I screamed very loudly when I burned myself, which is also good for the abs ;-)

Beat you!!! I did them properly at the gym this morning ..bet I ache in the middle tomorrow! Onto weights again tomorrow I think ...we're out of sync this week cos we didn't go on Monday cos house male was feeling weak. Fitness test on Friday!

Did an hours weights today .. full all body programme ... so feel good. No aches from abs so thats good too. Back to writing ..

Half hour swimming this morning ... proper stuff ...lengths etc. House male has got a bad back ..trying to figure out which of the weights did it ....and no it wasn't me ...

Sounds good. I played squash last night, but I have managed to catch the world's worst cold. It's been travelling down the desk all week but, true to form, I am suffering from it 10 times worse than anyone else has. ARGGHH. Just in time for the Foxy French Girl's arrival in England. Where did I put that nurse's uniform....(oops! Wrong conference...:-)

I missed my Tuesday evening golf game this week, it's becoming a ritual. I'm hping to do some electrical work this evening on the new construction project, the conference center with the 8 guest rooms, I want to run the wiring and get a registered electrician to come in and to the finish work and main panel.

Oh well, at least you'll get some s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g Terry ... Hugs for the cold Mike ....nurses turn you on eh???? Make the most of the 'nursing' Mike! (*grin*)

Golf is extremely popular where I work. Sadly, I think I would be absolutely appalling at it :-)

Have you tried it, Mike?

Never with proper instruction, no. I get frustrated quite easily, and golf clubs are expensive... :-)

Well, I got the cheapest set they had at Golfsmith ( http://www.golfsmith.com ) and they work pretty well, I'm about 6-2 so I had to make sure they were long enough, I don't care much about the score, I just like to get out and walk around a scenic course and have the thrill of occasional good shot.

Well, maybe I will learn eventually. I'm playing squash a lot, which is also a very corporate sport :-) Good for the heart, though, so I'm going to carry on. Golf clubs are also very, very expensive to join in this country.

It costs about $8 to play one of the local courses and I prefer to carry my own clubs rather than rent a golf cart or have one of those golf bag caddies on wheels. It's pure enjoyment, that's why the score doesn't matter to me much, I just like walking around in a beautiful setting chasing after a little white ball. My biggest thrill recently was a 250 plus yard drive on the 9th hole of the Hancock Golf course. It went all the way to the water just beside the green.

Sounds great! I imagine there's a few golf courses in the wiiiide open spaces of Texas :-)

Quite a few, and many are very reasonable. We have the State Park course out in Bastrop which is picturesque and easy. There's also Colo Vista, which is one of the top courses in Texas, but it's a private club. My sister has been playing around with the idea of doing a golf travel website called golftravel.net and she has been booking folks with golf courses that have accomodations. There are a number of good public and private courses in Austin.

I watched some golf on TV over the weekend...fantastic spectator sport (as long as you're at home in the chair). There's few things I like more than falling asleep with golf on. Especially as the commentators in the UK have very soothing voices :-)

Golf on tv is very restful and relaxing, especially the Masters where there seems to be a higher level of reverance. The announcers at the Masters aren't even allowed to talk about money.

Sort of back in the gym after a sprained ankle and knock on the head ..didn't last long today though ....

Ooooh, hope you're recovering well, you sound like your in the condition of a lof the players in the NBA Finals right now, banged up!

I'm back in the swing of things, guys and gals! I have a chart up on my door reminding me to exercise and allowing me to see my progress. So far my mini program is: press-ups - 50 first set, 25 second set sit-ups - 40 first set, 20 second set dumbell curls - 12 first set, 14 second set (8.5kg - about 20lbs i think?) doesn't take me too long (which is very important) and concentrates on the upper body which needs the most work :-) also, the press-ups are a reasonable cardio-vascular work out!

I went swimming today, I do every day after work.

sticking with my programme...wish me luck! swimming just makes me eat, which is pointless because I don't need to put on weight anymore (which is a bizarre thing for me since I've always been really thin - it's quite nice now to have filled out a bit).

workout programme is going well...definitely seeing some improvement already. won't be many weeks / months before I have the Body Beautiful!!! playing squash tomorrow night, too.

Went for a swim just now.

Been back in the gym again ...ankle healing but slowly (doc says it may take months for the torn ligaments to heal properly) .. managed three gym visits and one swilm last week. Keeping to cycling for cardio vascular and weights for toning. Keep it up Mike and Terry!!!

I went swimming and played pool basketball a lot yesterday. Three couples from "Nia" dance came over who live or have ties to the Bastrop area. We had a huge discussion at the dinner table about culture and cultures, but I'll save that for another topic.

What's Nia dance Terry? Looking forward to hearing about your discussion on cultures ....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MAGGIE

It is still your birthday here - arrrrrgh!

Grin....thanks for the wishes

Happy birthday Maggie. I think there's something about that in the cultures conference, I forget which topic number. It's a dance/aerobics class they have in Austin, I've been to it about half a dozen times.

Thanks Terry. The dance sounds fun ... I'll have a look ...BTW I made a stab at answering your questions there. They started belly-dancing keep fit at our sports centre ..well .. I thought about it ...

Went swimming yesterday ..ankle holding up well ..OK on breast stroke, but doesn't like the waggling on crawl! Aching today though so didn't go to gym.

Ok .. Terry and Mike ..how's the keep fit?????? I did 50 mins at the gym this morning . so feel quite pleased with myself. Did 5.8 km on bike at level 4 in 10 mins ..which was good for me.

I went swimming quite a bit last night. Back home in Texas now.

anyone still working out??? I get most of my exercise pushing a stroller, carting around a six-month old and picking up toys!! (just popped in to say 'hello'... we're fine and healthy and happy!)

Wow, glad to hear you're in good shape. I'm swimming and bicycling a bit, not much running or workouts though. What's the six month old's name?

Ah! HI PAUL! How've you been???? Silly me. Kendall is her name. She is absolutely amazingly incredible! Wowzers, I still find it hard to believe I had a hand in creating her! And to all you like-minded fitness individuals out there... breastfeeding is a GREAT weight reduction strategy. I have a hard time keeping my pre-preggo weight ON now. And the breast sizes... my how they grow! (sorry Paul, no intention of spoiling your delicate sensibilities *grin*)

I've been pretty good, Stace' I've been fixing up the Cedar Creek house, this week the big project was moving about 5 tons of flat rocks into an area between the pool deck and the pool fence. That counts toward workout time! Shocking, Stacey!

No workouts for a while since we've been moving around. But ... now I'm only 1/2 mile from the university we plan to get bikes and cycle in to the uni gym. How are you all doing?

Working out less since the end of swim season, around November 18th was the last good swim day. Maybe I need to join 24 hour fitness, anyone heard anything about this chain of clubs?

Well, 10 months later, I'm sure you've already joined a club... HOWEVER, I will be glad to enlighten you on my opinion of the 24 hour fitness chain. I joined back in January 1999 when I was doing the business travel thing. My primary alternate location was in northern California and, when I went in to inquire about purchasing some sort of day pass, they let me use the facility free for a week. I was impressed with their selection of equipment and the fact I could go ANYTIME and avoid the meat market scene. When I returned from that trip, I joined one locally. With my membership, however, I have access to all 24 hour fitness clubs everywhere... I think I pay $34 month for both Brandon and I (he was an add on after two years) but I know their rates have climbed considerably in the past few years... HTH!

I haven't, I keep too busy on my construction site in Cedar Creek, that's my "workout". Actually there's a makeshift workout room on the first floor. Some pix I took today: http://www.wholetech.com/deck 24 Hour Fitness is in the old Q hq. $34 a month sounds about right. They have a 30 month free trial which I might try, when I get some of this construction work behind me.

I did the mailbox run in 17 minutes and 57 seconds without any performance enchancing drinks. Tomorrow I'll load up with Trek before, during and after the run and see how I do. Hot and schweaty!

*grin* Running 3x week again. Signed up for another marathon! Smiles!

Joined 24 Hour Fitness Lance Armstrong Club. Cycling. Running. Swimming. But no cardio. Need a trainer. After http://touroftexas.com TourWatch2005 I'm going to start working out seriosly.

famous last words... *grin* how the heck are ya?? *** Short 4 mile run this morning. I also signed up for the San Francisco 1/2 Marathon the end of July... a training run, if you will!

I'm havin' one heckuva good time, stacey. My event, http://touroftexas.com, got mentioned by Phil Liggett of OLN yesterday. I put his remarks in my today's podcast.

Awesome Paul!! Congrats! I ran the SF Half yesterday! These events are so different now that I have my two kids cheering for me! I LOVE it! Of course my 2 1/2 year old said, "oh, Mommy didn't win..." All black and white with that child! *grin*

I've been cycling just about every day. I just recently did the "Pedal through the Pines" in Bastrop, 17 miles. It was a nice ride and some kind soul stopped to help me fix a low tire.

8 miles at El Rancho in Los Altos Hills... At 6:30am the day was bright but quiet. I saw a buck, two doe, several quail, a hawk and a BOBCAT for the first time ever! They are quite little but I understand quite fierce as well! Gorgeous run...

In the triathlon in Austin today the man's race winner was only 2 minutes ahead of the women's winner. They were both around ... well here's the quote With a 10K split of 34:43, Cleveland broke the tape in 1:55:30, 39 seconds ahead of Bonney, who had a 10K split of 37:03. Kozub clocked 1:56:22 for third. Austin's Lance Parker had the fastest 10K split of the day with 32:40 and finished fourth. . . . Ficker didn't let that last long. Coming off the South First Street bridge late in the first loop, she trailed Marsh by only a few seconds and moved to the front before starting the scenic bike loop. Still, Ficker took nothing for granted. The run is a strong point for her, and though she was never seriously challenged, she pushed hard to the finish, posting a 2:04:32. So there ya' go Stacey, that's what you missed. http://www.statesman.com/sports/content/sports/stories/other/05/30tri.html