Knee pain... again.

I'm taking it a little easy right now. I think I may have hurt my knee while carrying boxes (still moving...). I feel it most when I climb stairs. I've backed off on exercise, and tonight I'm going to try icing it. I hope that helps. I'm craving a good run.

On a side note, I accidentally ordered a book on CD (I thought I ordered the book. Oops). I listened to it in the car and really enjoyed it. I don't have a lot of down time to sit and read, but now I have a 20-30 minute drive to work every day. I've decided to start listening to audiobooks while in the car. I'm really excited to finally get my county library card in the mail, so I can start checking out audiobooks. The county library will allow me to upload books directly to my ipod, from home! I don't even have to go to the library to return anything. I'm thinking this may be a fun way to run as well. I'll let you know what happens.

Can anyone suggest any books that may be good to listen to while running? Or any good books in general? I've decided I'm going to stick to reading Jeffery Deaver before bed... the good old fashioned way (actual reading, not listening), but I'm open to listening to other books.

Gym clothes

I was up way too late last night watching the new Harry Potter movie (YAY!). I met Caitlin at the gym this morning, only then to realize that I had forgotten the bag with my clothes and bathroom supplies on the kitchen table.... 20 minutes away. Which really going back that direction in the morning is more like 40 minutes due to traffic heading downtown. Soooo our work-out consisted of going easy and not getting sweaty, and I'm currently sitting at my desk at work wearing work-out clothes. Luckily I'm wearing loose long pants, and running shoes are close-toed, so that works out well. I've tried calling Chris to see if he can bring my bag when he goes to work, then I'd just go pick it up from him, but he either isn't up yet, or hasn't looked at his phone. I'm supposed to go to a friends dissertation defense at 11. Ah, what a great way to start the day! LOL


Update: I have the best boyfriend in the world! He didn't see my text message until he was already on his way to work, but he turned around and grabbed my bag for me. I just picked it up from his work, came back to my office to change, and discovered that in my very sleepy state of packing my gym back after the movie last night, I did not pack a t-shirt. Seriously?! Luckily I have a co-worker who hadn't made it into work yet, and she is bringing me a t-shirt.

And this is how the day starts.

Quick update

The 4th of July rocked. Chris and I drove to Ocala where my dad's side of the family all met. It was really great seeing everyone, including my grandparents.

I'm happy to be back to my weight work-outs this week, after taking last week off for house/dog sitting. Although I did do push-ups, stairs, and ab work-outs while house sitting. I also met with Caitlin for two short runs. Sunday I went rock climbing and had a blast. Chris and I want to go more regularly. And last night I went for a run with Chris and Kyle. They kicked my buts. We did 2.6 miles at a 9:30 pace, and I really felt it. Of course the glass of wine I had for dinner before that probably didn't help me (I didn't know I was going for a run until after dinner). I'm looking forward to the gym tomorrow. It's leg day.

Hope you all are doing great!

Some more pictures from London! (more still to come!)

St. Paul's Cathedral as seen from the Millenium Bridge

The London Eye
Big Ben Clock Tower
Gargoyles on the History Museum
Awesome car outside of Westminster Abbey
View of the River Thames
Top of St. Paul's Cathedral
View of the Millennium Bridge over the River Thames
Outside of St. Paul's Cathedral
Shakespeare's The Globe Theatre
Standing in front of Westminster Abbey (to my left in the picture) with Big Ben, Westminster Station, and The London Eye behind me.
In front of Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
Inside the History Museum
The History Museum

You've got to love chemical thermodynamics... (and a Diet Cook button??)

I am trying to read through my chemical thermodynamics text book before my class starts this fall (the class with the very difficult professor). During my reading, while attempting to stay awake, I read the following passage and cracked up laughing. I could not believe what I had just read. Since the passage references exercise and dieting (sort of), I just had to share it with you all.

Excercise is great for improving muscle tone and thereby firming up sagging tissues, but exercise is not an effective way to lose weight. A 1-hour brisk walk over average terrain consumes only about 580 kJ of stored energy, which corresponds to about one-fifth of hte energy content of a quater-pound hamburger on a roll. The two most effective weight reduction exercise are (1) the isometric exercise in which the teeth are tightly clenched in the presence of fattening foods and (2) the two-handed pushaway from the dinner table before the second helping or the dessert arrives. The energy values of some common foods are given in Table 7-4. The message is that calories (or better, kilojoules) count. (from Chemical Thermodynamics, Peter A. Rock, copywrite 1983).

AMAZING!


One other thing that has cracked me up, which I wanted to share with you all. On the microwave at work there is a "Diet Cook" button. I was quite perplexed by this, and my conclusion was that it only cooked half of your food forcing you to eat less. I finally Googled the manual and found out it is for lower calorie TV dinners. Apparently the regular frozen food button is not idea for diet frozen food. Interesting...

The gym this week has been great. Caitlin and I have done our weight work-outs, but have slacked on the cardio. The weight work-outs have felt really good at least. We also changed up the way we're doing the plank, which seems to hurt even more (no pain no gain!). We do a one minute plank on our elbows then move up to being on our hands (push-up position) for another minute. Eventually we are also going to add lifting each leg for 30 seconds, but my dear friend accidentally dropped a knife on her foot and putting too much pressure on that foot is painful. Next week I am house and dog sitting for someone on top of studying for a test to get a license for work. We will probably not go to the gym in the mornings due to my having to let the dog out on a schedule, but we plan to both work-out at home.

I have more London pictures, which I will try to upload tonight. I am spending tomorrow and Sunday painting! Chris and I painted last weekend after we bought new bedroom furniture. I can't wait for it to arrive! I hope you all have a very Happy 4th of July! I'm looking forward to hanging out with my dad's family.