the oceanfront, rockstar names, and a heart monitor

So I put bradley and i's rockstar names up on top of the blog...what's yours? I personally like his hair better than mine!

here we are at the oceanfront...my brain fell out on thursday after work and i spent friday cleaning some things around the house and (ewwwww) catching up on work...yes on my day off.

after bradley got home we packed up and kissed sammy goodbye (he's staying with ryan, pam and trevor next door) and headed to the oceanfront. we made a stop by (on of my heavens on earth) dick's to get a heart monitor. (more to come on that)....then went to one of our favorite places, machismo burrito bar for some yummy healthy burrito and tacos for dinner.we got to our hotel at about 9pm and opened the doors to the wonderful ocean. keeping true to an annual tradition, the doors to the ocean haven't been closed since we got here (ahhhhhhh) and won't be no matter how cold it gets in here. before going to bed we watched I Robot, which I hadn't seen and was actually very good...you should check it out....even if you're not a sci-fi fan...it's a simple plot and a good movie.

this morning, i put on my heart monitor and went to walk/run down on the beach while brad watched the 3rd matrix movie (didn't like that one so much -- i didn't understand it much --- i'll have to watch the whole thing...but i think maybe the matrix series outstayed it's welcome and should have stopped at the 2nd one. I ran/walked down next to the water and had to steer clear of the waves a few times. I didn't even take my iPod, which i'm practically married to, so I could listen to the waves....Why do I want to move to Minneapolis again, Dad???!!!

we are hanging out doing mindless things on the computer and listening to the water for the afternoon. ryan and tana should be here this afternoon - we are all staying at brad and i's favorite marriott....i just checked my myspace page and it looks like tana's shin splints have won and that she won't be able to run...i haven't talked to her yet...that will be a bummer.

so the heart monitor...well some people know that a couple of years ago i underwent a bunch of heart testing because i was having palpitations. the doctor was convinced from the beginning that it was stress (this was before i worked at target) but she sent me through the battery just to be safe rather than sorry. turns out my heart is just perfectly fine...but i do have an elevated heart rate. so it's higher than most people's and when i'm under stress or exercise, it goes up higher and faster than most people's. so i have to be careful because it can to over 185 pretty quickly.

the story goes that i started working out much more a couple of months ago and lost 6 pounds pretty quickly and in the past month and a half haven't really been able to lose anything (looking for another 15 pounds to get back to my ideal healthy weight). so i couldn't figure out why after eating fairly reasonably and working out more than i ever have in my life, why i wasn't losing anything...now i know that muscle weighs more than fat, but my measurements weren't changing much either, especially the "muffin top" which i lose fairly quickly. it struck me last weekend while in step class, as i had to slow down because my heart rate was getting too high, that in my classes i probably spend too much time over my target heart zone, where you burn stored fat. so after confirming this by researching online, i invested in a heart monitor. not only to help me closely monitor my fat burning zone, but also to help ensure i don't stress my heart needlessly. it was quite helpful in my walk/run today. i ran until it started getting outside the zone and then walked until it got to the bottom of the zone and then ran again. this is like interval training, too, which is also very good for you and good for weight loss...so we'll see how it goes...and i figured $60 was a reasonable investment to ensure my heart lasts longer :-)

happy saturday from the oceanfront in va beach!