Thanksgiving has come and gone and while I don't think I made as much of a pig of myself as I have in the past, there were many times when the choices i made were not of the good variety. But the turkey was yummy and the wine was flowing and I don't think I did a lot of damage. The scales will have their say on thursday.

This morning was a run day - I'm moving to a Tues/Thurs run, Mon/Wed/Fri elliptical schedule, at least until I lose more weight. The running is hurting my knees ever so slightly, and the not progressing on how long I can run at a time was bumming me out, so I figure I'll shake it up a little. I did 7x2:1 today for a total of 21 min walk/run and then a 5 min walking cooldown. I've not been able to do the 3:1 since that one magical time, so in order to keep running in my life, but keep me from getting all down on myself and discouraged and give-y up-y as I usually get, I'm going to run 2:1s until it they longer pose a challenge for me. I'm in no hurry to run long times/distances. Just as long as there is progression. And the elliptical is easier on my knees, and I like it more. It's just not as hard. So I'll push myself harder on the days that start with T and not as hard but for longer time on the other weekdays. Weekends I will do some activity like walking/cleaning (or in the case of this weekend, lugging trees around at the cottage: I feel like superwoman as I helped to fell some trees and lugged countless logs and branches for hours. And, I didn't get totally exhausted. Whoot.) I'll go to the gym if I feel like it, but there is no scheduled, structured, "i have to do this today" kind of activity. At least not yet.

I'm also aiming for M-W-F to be Curves days. We'll see how that goes. I need to bring more strength training into my life. I also want to do more pilates/yoga. I just don't know when all this is gonna happen.

I went to a different gym this morning - the Orleans Rec centre instead of Plant. I was there for 6 a.m. when it opened and was home again by 6:50. There are pros and cons to making this a regular thing.

Pros:
* No lugging of gym bag to and from work on the bus (unless it is a curves day - because then I need it to hit curves on the way home).
* I can shower and eat at home before leaving for work.
* There would be more opportunity to use Mike's car, therefore improving my stick shift driving skillz. (has absolutely nothing to do with my fitness goals, but much to do with overall quality of life *grin*)
* Did I mention the no lugging of gym bag to and from work and the showering at home? This is a big, big pro.

Cons:
* I have to get up at 5:30 (although, if I'm bussing to Plant, I need to get up about that time too. Usually Mike can drive me to Plant, but not always...)
* There are only 2 treadmills at the Orleans gym. So if I'm not there right at 6, I might not get one.
* There are only two ellipticals at the Orleans gym. And they're not the Precor ones that I like.
* There are no individual TVs like there are at Plant. Which means, I can't watch my Canada AM in closed captioning. Also, Canada AM isn't on at 6 a.m.
* Because there are fewer machines and the gym is much smaller in size, I feel much more on display that I do at Plant, even if there were only three other people working out. This feeds my insecurity and paranoia about others watching me red-faced and sweating.

I may try this a few more times to see if it is a trend I'd like to continue, at least on treadmill days. Part of me is screaming "don't mess with routine, that way madness lies" and another part of me is all for the less gym bag lugging. We shall see. I've been saying that a lot...