I’d like to start by saying that todays session was completed with zero whining, however, there was a “you’ve got to be kidding me” moment, which I’ll get to in a minute.

I had a 6:00 personal training session with Moe scheduled for today. I went to bed around 9 o’clock last night, right after another dreadful episode of The Amazing Race: Family Edition (I wonder why I even bother watching it). There I was, sleeping comfortably under a few layers of blankets, when I woke up at 3:00 for some reason. I basically laid there for two hours hoping to go back to sleep, which happened right before 5:00. The ol’ clock radio came on around 5:20, so I got out of bed, had my Special K, got dressed and headed on over to Body Business (Anderson Lane).

I strolled in about three minutes late, and I saw Moe talking to another member. I think the woman was trying to steal my trainer away (how dare she!), cuz she looked really disappointed when Moe did the whole “Oh, here’s my client now” thing.

Moe was her usually chipper self. I am not a morning person, even on a good day. I used to be nice and peppy on Christmas morning, but that was before I got older and stopped getting the really cool presents from Santa. I’ll save that discussion for another day, since Thanksgiving is the next holiday…but has anyone else noticed that the Christmas stuff came out really early this year. Last Friday we welcomed Santa to Highland Mall, and my office building put up the tree, lights, and decorations over the weekend. I don’t really feel like getting ready for Christmas until Turkey day has passed and I’ve made a schedule of all the stores I wanna hit the day after. Anyway, moving right along…

For the warm-up, we went into the “spinning” classroom. It was my first time on one of those bikes, but I guess it’s not much different than the stationary bike I have at home (except at home, the seat is much more comfortable). I enjoyed the warm up; so much so that when I get back home, I’m gonna dig out the classroom schedule and see if I can make time to attend one of the classes. Before I digress further…

We did some circuit training. 45 seconds on each machine…if you can call ‘em that. There was one that was just a big metal stick. I think it was called a “Joy Stick,” although it didn’t bring me much joy to do it. I admit, I got a lil’ workout moving that stick around. There was another machine that I nearly tipped over, with me on it, but I was saved by my cat-like reflexes.

So after the circuit training, we went on into the big room for the weight training. We started off with the leg press. Moe put 110 pounds on the machine. “You think I can handle 110 pounds?” She assured me that it would be easy, and sure enough, it was. Here comes the “You’ve got to be kidding me moment”: Moe put 170 pounds on the machine. I told her I didn’t think I could do it, and she shot back with a “I can’t believe you said ‘I can’t.’” Sorry, but at 6 something in the morning pushing 170 pounds, I tend to lose my “can do” attitude. There was still no whining, though. I was distracted from the pain as Moe regaled me with tales of another event she participated over the weekend. Really, where does she find the energy?

We made the rounds on all the different types of equipment. I hit my head on one of the little doohickeys (can you believe that word actually comes up okay when you run a spell check?); it didn’t leave a mark, but I did get a slight headache as a result.

So now that I’ve had a good, hard workout, I’m ready to stuff myself silly with some turkey. Too bad Thanksgiving isn’t ‘til tomorrow. Guess I should clear my schedule next week, cuz I’m gonna have to work off some of that food.

Join me again on Monday as I complain about how much I ate and slept over the long holiday weekend.

Now I had every intention of waking up early enough to do some warm up activities before my 6:30 Pilates session with Suzanne over at Body Business (Davenport).

My alarm was set for 5:30. It went off at 5:30. In that 10 seconds that I was awake, I decided I did not want to "snooze" for seven minutes at a time for the next half hour, so I reset the clock for 5:55 and went back to sleep.

I woke up to Toni Braxton's "Another Sad Love Song." I was able to get dressed and scarf down a small bowl of raisin bran before I left, and still made it to Body Business by 6:30.

We had a brief discussion about our purses (mine, a bootleg Louis Vuitton I got in New York last year) before getting to work.

If you don't know much about Pilates, it's a program that help work out your core muscles, and as a result it improves posture, balance, and gives you more flexibility, among other things.

After warming up, we...well I, spent most of my time on "The Reformer." Does that not sound like a device used to beat people into submission? It sounds threatening, but I rather enjoy the work I do on the machine. It looks kind of like a rowing machine, complete with strings and pulleys, and straps. You'll have to see it to know what I'm talking about...unless you already know what I'm talking about.

Anyway, I did a number of different exercises, including the dreaded "100" which is just more evil ab work. Speaking of ab work, there was more to be done on the ol' floor mat.

My Pilates session really seemed to fly by this week. Suzanne said that she can already see some differences in my body shape, and I have to admit, my clothes are fitting better on me (some of which I just bought a few weeks ago).

I'm also feeling more flexible these days. While my right side of my body is still a little tight, it's not nearly as bad as it was a month or so ago.

I think today's going to be a good day, especially since we're having our lil' potluck lunch at work today. Yay, free food!

I'm in a good mood today. Why, you ask? Because today is my day off. No, not from work, from exercising...well, the hard exercising anyway.

When I woke up Saturday morning, I could barely move, and it had nothing to do with the happy hour I attended the night before. Granted, I can't hold my liquor like I used to, and really, I feel I'm too old to get drunk, so I limit myself to two drinks, usually. Anyway, I digress...

I literally rolled out of the bed because I was having difficulty moving my arms and shoulders. But, after having eggs and a grilled cheese sandwich for breakfast and a 45 minute ride on the ol' stationary bike, I felt much better.

I had actually contemplated heading over to Body Business to enjoy the Steam Room, Sauna, and then Jacuzzi, like I do most weekends when I want to relax, but then I got lazy.

There are people in the world who live to exercise. I am not one of those people. When riding my exercise bike, I have to distract myself by listening to my mp3 player while reading a book or magazine. Yes, I must do both, otherwise I'll tire out faster. I've tried watching TV, but I get too engrossed in the program and my peddling slows down.

Yesterday (Sunday) was much better. I went for a three mile walk around Town Lake, and then I did the homework(outs) Moe taught me once I got home. Thankfully, my body is getting used to the work-outs, I didn't have to take nearly as many breaks between sets.

For the most part I hate exercising, but I'm always glad I did it once it's all over…kind of like going to the dentist.

I'm tired.

One of those "I can barely think" type of tireds, so bear with me.

I got to bed at around 12:30 am, but it was one of those nights when I kept waking up every hour for some reason. Alarm went off at 5:30, which meant it was time to meet Moe over at Body Business (Anderson).

I rolled out of bed, and made myself a couple of eggs, since I had no milk for my Special K (and having learned my lesson on Tuesday…see my last blog).

After breakfast, I hunted around for my workout clothes. It was too cold for shorts, so I had to break out the sweat pants. Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember what I did with the pair I had just washed a coupla nights ago. Now granted, I should’ve pack everything last night before I went to bed, but I was dog tired. So after frantically searching for my clean sweats, I had to give up and grab some off the floor cause I was quickly running out of time. I sniffed ‘em. They definitely weren’t clean, but they didn’t exactly have an overpowering smell either.

So I was off to Body Business for my personal training session with Moe, the Iron Woman. Our dear Maureen participated in the Iron Man triathlon this past summer…I would’ve had a heart attack about ten minutes into it, but anyway…

I arrive at Body Business at 6:25. There’s Moe waiting for me with a cheerful greeting. I don’t know what she puts in her coffee to be so cheerful that early in the morning, but I need some.

So we walk across the courtyard to the personal training area. We started off on the elliptical machine. I think I was supposed to warm up on it for 5 minutes or so, but honestly, I didn’t even make it to 4 minutes before I started whining.

Now understand, I’m not a whiner by nature, but I did a lot of it this morning.

After my failed attempt at the elliptical machine, I warmed up on the treadmill.

Okay, so now I’m all warmed up, and Moe has me doing some mat work. We started with crunches. I don’t like crunches. I had to do 100 of them and I was not happy. In fact, I told Moe “You and I cannot be friends” after I was done.

From there I did push ups, and a bunch of other stuff that I can’t remember because I blocked it out because the experience was so traumatic.

My next clear memory was of stretching after my work-out. I thought the stretching came before the work-out, but our lil’ Moe set me straight. You stretch after the workout, because your body is warm and therefore more flexible and less likely to strain in one way, shape, or form. See, you learn something new everyday.

Anyway, this was my second meeting with Moe, but my first actual session. I must admit (despite the whining) I had a good workout. I’m looking forward to next week, cuz she gave me some homework(out) to do over the weekend, which should have me better prepared for our next session.

If you’re lookin’ for a personal trainer, I’m telling you, Moe is the pooh...even though we can’t be friends cuz she made me work out hard and I’m already in pain and am having trouble typing cuz my arms are sore.

Okay, I’m done. Happy hour awaits.

This is my first attempt at blogging, so forgive me if it sucks.

So anyway, I was up this morning at the butt crack of dawn for my Pilates session with Suzanne over at Body Business Davenport. My session used to be at 1:30, after I'd had a coupla meals and was at my peak energy. Today, I was dragging. I didn't wake up 'til just before 6:00, and my appointment was for 6:30...just enough time for me to throw on some clothes and wipe the crust out of my eyes.

Now normally when I get up in the morning, I have a big bowl of Special K with red berries (why they can't just call 'em strawberries, I don't know). Today, I was running out of time, and since I haven't mastered driving with my feet, I knew I couldn't eat and drive. I downed a tall glass of milk and ran out the door.

This was my third Pilates session with Suzanne, but the first time I had to do it so early in the morning. Everything went great. Suzanne said she was amazed at how quickly I've caught on. I was a little amazed myself.

I admit the first time I walked in and saw all the torture devices, I was a little nervous. But Suzanne said, "Don't worry, it is a lot worse than it looks." After I flashed that look of fear, she corrected herself, "I mean it looks a lot worse than it is." Flash forward a coupla weeks later, and I'm thoroughly enjoying myself.

So here's the fun part. But not really. I'm driving home, I've gotten onto Mopac, and suddenly my mouth is watering...in that I'm about to throw up kinda way. My stomach is cramping, and I'm spitting into a half filled water bottle I'd left in the car, while praying to God not to let me spew all over the interior. Luckily, I made it home without incident, had a coupla eggs, and got dressed to start my day.

The moral of the story: don't exercise on an empty stomach, idiot.