Pool etiquette, or lack thereof

I need to vent. My girlfriend and I, who are trying to train for a triathlon in 5 weeks (eek!) went to the pool today for a workout. We have to call no more than 2 days in advance to reserve a 1 hour block in the childcare room. The room books up on Fridays, so you've got to call first thing in the morning. Ok, so we got a slot. I was running a little bit late (kids) and my friend, even later because her 6 mo. old was actually taking a long nap and she didn't want to wake him too soon. So by the time I got to the pool, the time was ticking on our workout because we only get the time reserved, even if we're late. The pool was having family time, which meant that only 2 of the 4 lanes were available for lap swimming. Anyhoo... I got there right after 2 older women (who were together) entered the pool and each took a lane. I proceeded to enter the pool and waited at one end for the woman to swim back and asked her if she had a preferred side for splitting the lane. She just said, "Oh, I can't share a lane." She outright refused to share a lane because it would interfere with her workout. Are you kidding me? I've never heard of someone refusing to share a lane. I stormed off to the front desk to ask what the gym's policy is on lane sharing. "You can share a lane..." Of course I CAN share a lane, but what do I do if someone won't share a lane? Basically, she said, they won't make anyone do anything -- a totally non committal answer. When my friend arrived, seeing that I was fuming, decided to try to talk to the women and to appeal to their common courtesy by telling them that our kids were in the childcare room and we had very limited time. You won't believe what the response was to that. "I don't have kids." No kidding. I gotta say, the word that kept entering my mind over and over and over was b****. Anyway, luckily for us, shortly thereafter, the 2-lane area where the families were swimming cleared out and we were able to swim there (sharing it with another swimmer and offering it to a 4th who opted to wait for an open lane,) and luckily no other families came to swim until we were done. I looked up "pool etiquette" on the web and I could only find rules for how to actually share, but nothing on what to do if someone won't share and nothing that said you could refuse! Why are people so inconsiderate? And I can say, that after my 3 month membership is up, I won't ever re-join that health club because they did nothing to facilitate my time time there! (Perhaps if they come out with a pool etiquette policy, I'd be willing to consider it.)

Plugging away

Weighed in at Curves yesterday, and lost a miniscule (but measurable) amount of weight. I keep having to tell myself I feel better when I go - I've lost all momentum since Memorial Day. And this week and next will be a little wierd. William is out of school sooner than JC and Rachel, so I'll have two regular Curves days that he'll be home and they won't, which makes it hard to go. And I scheduled all the doctor and dentist appoinments for the next two weeks, so it'll be a little wierd.

I still haven't figured out the 3 weeks that JC will be a camp. I may try to hook up with Curves friends who also need babysitters and we'll alternate days or something. But if I can keep any sort of momentum over the summer that will be good.

Doesn't help that it's SO DARN HOT here. They actually sent the kids home from school early yesterday, and will again today because of the heat. Snow days I understand, but these are my first heat days! But it's brutal. Betting the front tonight will have wicked thunderstorms, given our heat and humidity!

June Flu

Honestly, it started at the end of May, but I still feel like crap and it's JUNE! I can't believe I really got the flu, but I got the aches and pains and total exhaustion and conjunctivitis (pink eye) and sore throat to prove it. I've been fighting it since last Friday, but two days in bed (not consecutive, I am a MOM after all) and lots of cat naps later, I'm still tired. The sore throat is getting better, and so is the pink eye (or at least I'm optimistic).

I just want to get better before we go on vacation. Partially because it'll be more fun if I don't feel like crap, but mostly because I need some energy to get us packed to go!

Sometimes I feel like I can't catch a break.

Confessions

Well, since my post last week about swimming a 1/2 mile I've gotten NO exercise. And I've been eating poorly, to say the least. I think I've put back on about 2 or so lbs. Help! Steve was away most of the week and I'm so tired at night that I pass out in front of the TV so quickly, I never get to the workout or any of the other tasks on the to do list, for that matter. I'm feeling pretty unhappy with myself. Ugh!

Swimming update

The pool membership is turning out great! Actually, it's a gym located in a local hotel. So there's more to the membership to just the pool. Here's some highlights of my gym/pool use so far:
- The first time we used the childcare room for our kids (my 2 and my friend's 2) they claimed that there was nothing to do and were bored the whole time. The next time we walked them in and pointed out a handful of things that would be fun, and they did have a good time. Phew! We were afraid the childcare thing wasn't going to work out!
- Friday night I swam at the pool with both of the women that are training with me. I actually did an entire 1/2 mile. I was so tired at the beginning, I didn't think I could go that far, but at the end when I started to get close, I just said, "I'm going to bang out these last 4 laps to get to a half mile," and I did. Those were probably my best 4 laps of the evening. (Then we went our for martinis!)
- Tuesday night I went in for a 1/2 hour cycling class to get myself started on the biking part. It was a great class and a great alternative to going out on the road to get the legs doing the right thing.
- I may also look into taking some other classes, like a strength training on the ball, so I can get some good routines under my belt that I can work on at home.

Still Curving

Ok, I've been really faithful going to Curves three times a week. I've lost maybe 5 lbs. since January, but gained back a couple in the last month BUT at my last weigh-in I was down a couple percent on body fat and a couple of inches here and there.

Not a lot, I know, but combined with generally feeling better, it's incentive! And I haven't tackled diet yet. I find that VERY hard.

Of course, the bad news is that the neurologist decided I don't have a hereditary neroupathy, so we don't know what it is. But the MRI, while not showing any issues with my brain, did show that I have "sinus disease" so she recommended going to an ENT. I've been feeling like there was something going on, so I guess it's good to know it actually IS all in my head!

I have to keep reminding myself that I can't wait for all the health issues to be resolved before I work on the rest of my life. It's the "I'll start on Monday" syndrome. Gotta start NOW, even if it is Thursday!

These shoes....

were made for walking... So I made the realization the other night when John and I were doing a longer evening walk then usual, that I've walked over 3100 miles in the last 5 years. That was really staggering to me. That's not counting when we walked 7 days a week versus just 6 days a week in the morning now, or when we walk longer then our average 2 miles a day in the morning (the dog and I do the walking). Plus now we walk in the evenings with the neighbors but not as far, it's more for social time then exercise.

Hmmm... how long till I could have walked from one coast to the other. Guess I should figure that out!

Somehow it just boggled my mind.