The Next Decade

Hello Readers!!

Y'all probably think I have died, or worse, quit this blog. Truth is, I forgot I even had this thing.

We are SEVERAL years away from my last post, and there have been some amazing high points, and some deep, dark lows. No time to delve into that right now, but I just wanted to drop a note out there and say that I am STILL (always) struggling with weight, food, exercise, health, etc.

It's been about a year since I was last fit and in shape and healthy and moving in the right direction. I am going to once again give myself the attention I need in order to be my best me. I am in my 40's now, so it's going to take that much more effort, but not as much as it will at 50, so I better get on it! Getting my mind to the right place is going to be key.

I am grateful for still being alive and capable, and I am going to work daily towards my goals - a full, happy, healthy life where I consistently put forth my best effort. Starting today! 3/31/2016.

xoxo,
peace

Q4-2012

Well readers. Today is October 2nd. There are 3 months left in this year. One quarter. Like 12 weeks. Now that we have the facts out of the way, let me play my broken record for you one more time.

I started this boot camp thing this morning. I have done boot camps before, I have done HIIT workouts. I have done this literally a hundred times before (underestimating the number of times I have done workouts like this to 1.5 years as I started in April 2009 and have been off and on since then.... 78 weeks x 2.5x per week average = 180). Yet somehow, what I did this morning was horrifying and unexpected. We were inside a gym and there were no readily available bushes to puke behind, nor random buckets available. Very unsettling to not have an escape route planned. But, I pushed through, and I held my own with these other two girls who were there. BTW - I wonder where the rest of the class was???

Here was the workout (recording for my own posterity, don't bother reading - it's quite boring.)

Warm Up

HIIT #1 (High Intensity Interval Training)
20 seconds frog squats or some other ridiculous sounding term that looked easy but after 100 of them not so much
10 seconds rest
20 seconds high-knee jumps
10 seconds rest
REPEAT 8 times = 8 minutes

Walk around between each HIIT, get some water, towel off some of the sweat. OMG do I sweat.

HIIT #2
20 seconds medicine ball overhead
10 seconds rest
20 seconds medicine ball pull up move - i do not know how to describe this
10 seconds rest
REPEAT 8 times = 8 more minutes. WTFF turns out i have NO upper body strength

HIIT #3
20 seconds lay down jump up stand up (suckville)
10 seconds rest
20 seconds spidermans (which I ended up just planking. F that)
10 seconds rest
REPEAT 8 times = 8 more minutes

HIIT #4
20 seconds lunges
10 seconds rest
20 seconds other leg lunges
10 seconds rest
20 seconds lay on your back and flutter kick
10 seconds rest
20 seconds hold plank
10 seconds rest
REPEAT only 4 times = still 8 more minutes

That's 24 minutes, yo. I about died. This definitely makes running mindlessly for 45 minutes sound EASY PEASY. So there's my upside.

Oh!! I have also joined a running team, training for the Charleston Half Marathon (Jan 19th, 2013). We are running together on Saturday mornings, and we are pledging to raise $500 pp for Pattison's Academy. So now I, like, have a running coach, and someone else to answer to if I don't do my planned long runs on the weekends!!! Outside accountability is a wonderful thing.

There are only 3 months left in this year, and I want to make the most of them. I don't want to do the same stupid freaking New Years Resolutions as always. I am getting a head start on those. Maybe I can be in a better place come Dec 31. For once!!!!!

What could derail me? Trips......1 to California in October, 1 to Disney in November. I need to come up with a plan for those, so I don't lose too much progress.

Mondays - 30 minute hill workouts on a treadmill
Tuesdays - boot camp
Wednesdays - leisurely 3-4 mile run outdoors
Thursdays - boot camp
Fridays - OFF
Saturdays - long runs with training team
Sundays - OFF

Anyway. There you have the current facts (date, time, weather, etc.) and also my silly opinions (what I plan to do). Written goals are better than ones that are just thought inside my head. As my blog has totally proven so far. LOL.

What are YOU doing between now and January 1st!!!???

For the Quote Board

On the Shem Creek fishing pier, Ansley to a girl who had just caught a couple of fish: “Are you going to make those into fish sticks?”

Riding in the car to school, a bug crawled across the back of the front passenger seat and stopped where she could see him. Ansley to me: “Mommy get him!!! He’s waving his antlers at me!!!!”

I Got Nuttin'

Don't know where to begin. It's been so long since my last post, and a lot (yet, not much) has happened. How about the top 15 things since May 9th? (these are NOT in order of anything)

1. Ansley started gymnastics class, and she's good at it.
2. Ansley went to her first dentist appointment, and she was good at that, too.
3. Have learned again, for like the 900th time, that most things are not as bad as you think they're gonna be.
4. I got a bike. With a baby seat on it. And Jimmy got a bike too.
5. Went to NYC and loved it, missed it.
6. Started CouchTo5K again, for the like 6th time, after about 6 weeks off from running after that calf injury. Mooooooo.
7. Have pretty much stuck with no carbs, with the exception of the NYC weekend and Memorial Day Weekend.
8. Have lost 11 lbs, current project is losing 10 more lbs.
9. Have started back up with Barre class on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.
10. Went to a wedding. A really fun wedding. It's been many years since we've been to a good fun wedding!
11. Had a nice memorial day weekend, including the wedding.
12. Turned 38. Yikes. Did not have any cake. Worked like a dog on my birthday.
13. Have been to the beach like a good 80% of the weekends that have been beach weather.
14. RAGNAR Relay Chicago happened just this past weekend, and I wasn't in it, after all. Fine by me, given # 6.
15. Have only had 1 bottle of wine at home since April 25. And that was last night. And I am paying dearly for it today.

Can't really think of anything else.

June 11, 2012. Shocking that we are almost halfway thru this year, but I feel like I am finally moving in the right direction with some of my personal crapola!!

Ugh. Will talk to you sooner than later let's hope. Cuz this is just riveting.

Peace!

Movin on Up

Well, last Friday I moved up at work. I'm on the top of the building looking down on creation. I can hear the rain on the roof. It's so quiet up here. Even the AC doesn't hum in this part of the building. My new desk is sparkly and clean. I got rid of a lot of junk. I feel cleansed! New start, new perspective. I had been in that last desk since 2006, so it was definitely time for a change.

This move nicely aligned with some personal things I've been working on... and that is that I am now on my 10th day with no carbs or alcohol. Well, I did have a tiny portion of a vodka and water on Saturday. It was so disgusting that I could not even finish it. Anyway, the results thus far of this cleansing are:

• increased energy
• elevated mood
• springing out of bed in the morning
• lack of hunger
• cessation of emotional bingeing binging (how do you spell that) and pantry raiding
• the third digit on the scale has gone DOWN from a 8 to a 9. (do you know what I mean - one more lb. until it's a 10-lb. decline) I realize some of that is just the natural fluctuation of my weight but whatever, I am counting it cuz it keeps me on track!
• pants fitting better

I owe all of this to my darling husband. He is doing this with me, and without him as a teammate, I surely fail.

Oh. And, every day since April 30th, I have arrived at work before, at, or 2 minutes past 8:00 a.m.

That's all - adieu. TTYL!

PS - received a box of cupcakes yesterday, and there are still the full dozen in the box. No sabotage!!

Weepy 2

And I JUST realized I never wrote my name on my passport.

Weepy

So we had a Volunteer Fair at work today. Like 30 non-profits from around the area came and set up booths in the atrium for meet and greet with employees/prospective volunteers/donors, etc. They have this little passport thing; you get a stamp at each booth then there's a chance to win prizes. Encourages participation, see? I don't normally really have time or desire to do these things, much less time or desire to become a volunteer. But, I was feeling lucky today, and really just wanted a prize, so I went. I went to every single booth and got my passport stamped. (On my 2nd to last booth, I read the instructions and saw that you only had to get 5 stamps in your passport in order to be up for prizes. But I digress.) I spoke to each table for at least 3 minutes. Except the "Be A Mentor" table; I straight up told them I have no desire to be a mentor; it will be a wonder if I can manage to raise my own child to 18. But anyway, I was shocked at how much I teared up. I started crying at like 10 of the booths. Camp Happy Days (camp for kids with cancer). MUSC Childrens Hospital. HALOS - saving abused and neglected children. I even cried about the Fields to Families one (harvesting local crops and taking them to soup kitchens and shelters) because, for that one, I envisioned Ansley being a little strawberry picker volunteer. Anyway, it was just a big cry fest and I don't know what that was all about.

So, I am going to pick one, and try to fit some volunteering in at some point. Need to get Ansley on board with that too.

I also found a good one for JW - - I think he would make a superb Junior Achievement instructor!!!

Nighty Night!