01 November 2008

First run in a month

So I went out this morning on my first run in a month. First off I have to say it was HARD!!! It's amazing how much you lose when you don't actually run for a while. I have been doing the elliptical very consistently so at least my legs were good. But still, HARD!!!

I decided to start slow. I walked for 3 minutes just to get the blood flowing. Then I broke into a light jog for about 2 minutes. Now it was time for the intervals. I took off running for 1 minute and it felt pretty good. At 1 minute I stopped and walked until I was recovered, about 1:15, then took off for the next one. I did not time the walk intervals, I just walked till I felt like running again. It generally took about 1-1:30 of walking to recover. I was cool with that. I did wear my Garmin just to see where I stood in my running and look what I saw:



Look at the low points. Those are my running intervals. All of them are below the 10 minute mark, all of them!!! Some of them are at 6:XX a mile. Hello!!! Even for 1 minute that is super speedy for me. I had something like this occur the last time I used the elliptical a lot. There are a lot of trainers talk stink about the elliptical but I think it conditions your legs in a way that none of the other machines do. My slowest minute interval was 9:xx. That is hugely speedy for me. I'm excited about this. I'm going to continue doing the ellipitcal but I'm adding running in 3 days a week. I think I want to run the New Year's Day 10k around the corner from my house. That's a good goal. Maybe good enough to stoke the fires of my passion :)

A short hiatus.....

Thursday night, when I realized I had no passion for anything really, I lost it. I took my Bodybugg off and left it in the car for 2 days. I ate whatever I wanted. I was giving up. I was figuratively throwing my hands in the air and saying WTF!!!! I do that but it usually only lasts about 24-48 hours. And thats all it lasted and now I'm back. I've got the Bodybugg back on and I'm ready to fight again. I'm thinking of entering the Xterra trail run championship. It's being held where I used to live and I think it would be fun. It's in December. It's a half marathon, 10k or 5k. I'm not sure which one I'll do yet but I think it would be big fun. I'm definitely going back to running starting today, in the rain. Running really is my first love and I think if I get back to it I'll find my passion again.

After that I have a pile of school work to do and I want to go look at office furniture. I think I need a new chair, since after I sit at my desk for a while my butt hurts. Hopefully there'll be time.

Okay, I'm off to do my strength training then head out for a run in the rain.

31 October 2008

The fire inside

I was driving around the other day heading to school or some such nonsense and I felt dull and bored. I realized that I have felt that way for a couple of days, maybe even a couple of weeks. I thought Wow!!! How can that be?? I'm back at school changing my career, which I've wanted to do for a really, really long time. I'm making plans to move to Colorado, another thing I've really wanted to do - return to the mainland. Things are moving along and falling into place, how come I feel so listless and empty??? I realized that I had lost the fire. Generally I have a fire, a passion, a burning desire for something..... I don't have that right now. I'm doing what I want to do and I know it's the right thing but I also feel like I'm in a bit of a holding pattern. I have a lot of plans and things are all moving in the right direction, but there's no burning passion. I think I need to find something to build a fire in me. I'm thinking I need to get back into sports again. The only thing that puts a passion in my soul is working towards something. I'm thinking I may have to go back to running and racing and such. I need to stoke up the fire to keep things interesting around here. I need new lighting fixtures to illuminate the spark in my life.....

29 October 2008

I'm going to Graceland,

and Florida and Nashville and Branson, MO. I'm going everywhere. Once I move that is. I'm so looking forward to living in the middle of the country and being able to travel just about anywhere. I can't wait.

This weekend was one of those where I just felt restless. I wanted to go somewhere or do something. Of course, it was raining so that pretty much ruled out everything. But I was antsy and wanted to go. If I had been living in Colorado I would have hopped in the car and went somewhere. Like Branson, MO.

Seriously!!! Branson Missouri is like Nashville north. There are all kinds of shows to see, acrobats, magic, and singers by the dozen. They have museums, water parks, nature trails, caves and caverns, all kinds of things to do!!! There's all kinds of places to stay, everything from a Day's Inn on up in price and luxury. And the package deals, don't get me started. You can spend 3-4 days in Branson for less then the cost of gas to drive there. I'm totally serious.

Okay, enough daydreaming about going somewhere. That homework is not going to do itself. {sigh}

Uhh. Who knew??

I could survive for 57 seconds chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor

Created by Bunk Beds.net

I am an English snob....

It dawned on me the other day that I am. I hate, with a burning passion, the way people use letters and numbers as shortcuts for writing words. There are some instances when it's cute, like on license plates. You only have so many spaces so being creative to get your point across is different. But when people use it in comments they leave, or god forbid actual posts, it drives me right up the wall. Are you so incredibly lazy that you can't type out two or three extra letters??? Actually, being the snob that I am, I always assume they don't know how to spell the word right or they don't know which form of it to use. I got a comment the other day and the person used a number of letters for words. I deleted the comment. If you can't take the time to write in proper English, I can't take the time to post your comment. I don't even use abbreviations in text messages, which drives my daughter crazy :)

This week seems to have just gotten away from me. I've got a couple of decent sized projects I'm working on for school and that is eating up a lot of time. I need to get to a dentist and I just don't have time. I guess I'll do that over the Christmas break. I also have to find a new dentist since mine retired. I liked the old guy. Hopefully my new one won't be as expensive as a Washington DC dentist.

Things on the exercise and diet front have been going very, very well. I had class last night and I guess was much more tired than I thought, because I could not get out of bed this morning. The alarm went off and I rolled back over for another hour. That's okay. Today will be my rest day.

Well, I probably should start getting ready for work. I have to get moving or I'll sit in this chair all day :)

26 October 2008

I don't know what I did today

Seriously!! I don't know. I worked out this morning. I cleaned the house. I did laundry. I went shopping. And the next thing I knew it was 5:30. Those things do not take me that long. I should have been all done by noon. I did eat lunch around 1. Seriously, I have no idea what I did all afternoon. This is scary!!!!

I didn't get much school work done at all. That's not good. I've got a lot of stuff to do this week. This will not be fun.....

One day at a time...

Well, after my post yesterday I just went with the flow. I didn't try to do anything crazy or drastic, just my normal routine. I ended the day burning ~2100 cals and consuming ~1150. I did not consume this little on purpose. My stomach and gut were so messed up from the run in with the donuts on Friday that I couldn't eat. If I ever needed confirmation that wheat and wheat gluten don't agree with me, I got it yesterday. I could literally feel the donuts moving through my intestines as this huge blob (haha, I almost wrote blog here). I knew my body wasn't digesting them properly, I could just feel it. Let's say this morning I'm not moving far from the bathroom. Anyway, so I really couldn't eat that much yesterday. I did eat good stuff though, salad, lean protein, veggies. For dinner we had ostrich burgers - god I love having a Whole Foods here !!!! Bottom line - things are much better this morning and I'm feeling pretty darn good.

Now, I wrote about this on Flo's Place but it is of such monumental importance I decided to write here too. At the end of August I went to Sears and got new glasses. I've been wearing bifocals for a couple of years but still take my glasses off to read. Since the frames that I really liked were too small for bifocal, I decided to go with just distance since I take my glasses off to read anyway. Yeah, that didn't work. I found myself taking my glasses off in all kinds of places and circumstances that just wasn't right. In the grocery store. Talking to the kids when I'm in class. I also found myself trying to walk out without my glasses on because I took them off and laid them down. But, by far, the worst problem was the computer. I could not see the computer. With my glasses on I had to sit too far back. Without my glasses I had to get close and my back hurt from bending over my desk. After trying for about 6 weeks I gave up and went back last week to get some bifocals. I got them yesterday and how amazing they are. I can see the computer from wherever I sit. I can see my laptop plain as day. These are so good either, my prescription changed a little or my last bifocals were junk. I had a hard time watching TV with my last pair of bifocals. With these, no problem at all. I also noticed that my eyes were getting very tired and achy by the end of the day. Not yesterday, and I did a lot of computer work. So 2 thumbs up on the new glasses :) Plus they are rose colored!!

I had toyed with the idea of going for a run this morning, but it rained all day yesterday and appears to be doing the same thing today. So I guess it will be some ab work and hit the elliptical for an hour or so. Then it's house cleaning and school work. If it rains all day it will be the perfect day to curl up with my schoolwork.

Conversation with Hubby

 So yesterday morning I presented my idea of working out at home to the Hubby. Once I presented it to him, he said he was in. I told him I h...