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THJORA's Recent Blog Entries
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Tuesday, March 26, 2013
That I've been off the grid for a month being uber productive - from a health standpoint. But it would be a lie. Won't even get into the self flagellation here. Would just be a repeat of stuff you've read 100 times already.
My knee is still messed up, but I'm going to suck it up and work around it as well as I can. I've been walking maybe 4 days a week, but not nearly enough intensity to make up for the lack of duration and the calories. I have a modified plan for the P90X stuff. I'm going to pull the exercises to a list and do it at my own pace, which should let me combine most of what I can do into 3 days of strength training. Walking (faster) will hopefully lead me back to running before too long.
My theory - which I am unable to prove at the moment - is that if I get back to the strength training, my body will allow me to get back to the running. I'll let you know how that works out. In the meantime, I started walking stairs again today so that I'm not sitting for 8 straight hours. I've done 8-9 flights (22 stairs each) of stairs each hour today.
I have been productive in other areas though. Long story, but the books are moving forward, my business plan is moving forward, and I have a bead on a job that might be a huge pay cut, but would allow me the flexibility to work on my writing and other stuff. As an added bonus, it ties directly into the marketing and outreach that I need to develop for the other pieces.
Whether that job works out or not, it has completely changed my ideas and perspective on what possible options and moves lie between my current location and my desired location. I should know something about it by the end of April. In the meantime, I'm studying to set up my own website for my first public blog.
Biggest drawback at the moment - I can't decide on a name. Not putting the whole idea out there because I think it hasn't been done yet, but I'll link to it when I get it going in case you're interested.
If you have a rare knack for creating great acronyms . . . .private message me. :)
In other news, I pitched my BIG BUSINESS idea to a roomful of people on Saturday and every single one was in - hook, line, and sinker!!! I have several offers of help and connections!!!! So stay tuned for that too!!
Shauna is back from Afghanistan and getting settled back into the real world. She and her Dad are down in FL visiting his father. Ty is in Miami with his lacrosse team to play games during spring break. So I have the week to be an empty nester! So no excuses.
Tired of putting out things that I don't follow up on - and coming back to see about it. But my goal is ten pounds before Memorial Day. But mostly, to have the waist of my pants be loose again by then. So we'll see how that goes.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
So . . .
I started to post a bunch of times over the past week and decided to spare you all. Here's the Readers Digest Condensed Version.
Stress; too much to do; have to pack; hate flying; missed our connection; throat is scratchy; turbulence; raining; dinner with Gran and the family; head feels like it's filled with cement; sudafed; 7.5 mile walk along the beach with Shauna; beach bar; couch; 4 inches of rain in 12 hours, thunder that sounds like we're sleeping on a bombing range; walk out to the dock; stuffy head and runny nose; flight home.
On our landing into Reagan, our pilot said: "We're beginning our final descent into Regan National Airport. The temperature is 44, visibility is 1000 feet, winds are at 22 mph from the east, gusting to 30, and we're landing on runway 1. For those of you who know Reagan, you know it's a short runway under bad conditions. So if you were looking for the smoothest landing you ever had, don't look too hard. This is not gonna be it." All that being said, he managed one of the best touch downs I've ever had at Reagan, so that was a nice surprise. :)
The rest of the week has been trying to kick whatever bug is ailing me. Today feels better. Last night I had my second myofascial release therapy. I've got a ton of muscles that are way too tight and twisty and she's doing a great job working out the kinks. We found a couple more areas for me to focus on before my next appointment. I'm really hopeful that we'll get everything worked out so that I can start running again in another treatment or two.
In the meantime, getting back on a schedule, changing gears and focus again, and really trying to be careful on food.
I'm toying around with focusing on a Mediterranean type diet. It matches the direction I'm going in with food - for the most part. Staying away from processed foods and sticking with more plant based foods, olive oil, and fish. I know last week (give or take) I was talking paleo and anti-inflammatory . . . . but the Mediterranean isn't that far off either of those. Just trying to figure out what works best.
Info on results of a new study: www.nytimes.com/2013/02/26/health/me
diterranean-diet-can-cut-heart-disease
-study-finds.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
And a picture from the beach:
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Don't even know where to start!!! Shauna came home from Afghanistan yesterday!!!!!! I've known for over a month, but couldn't say anything anywhere because yesterday was my Mom's birthday and we wanted to surprise her. :)
Shauna landed at 6:30 in the morning at Dulles. Ty got up to go with me to the airport!!! So cute that he was willing to get up so early to go with me. We brought her home and she got a shower and we went out to breakfast before Ty headed back to school. Shauna and I went to get her set up with a phone, we went back home to get her packed, and we headed out to Reagan to put her back on a plane to go down to FL and surprise my Mom.
Then I headed to an appointment for myofascial release. Oh. My. God. What a difference!!! DISCLAIMER: Not entirely sure what I'm talking about yet - but this is the gist of it. She looked me over and saw a major problem with a muscle in my waist that was pulling me twisted to one side. And since the shin bone is connected to the hipbone . . . . yadda yadda yadda yadda . . . . it is pulling a lot of everything in the wrong direction - making things too tight or not aligned, etc.
She spent over two hours on me, but I'm pretty much pain free for the first time in as long as I can remember. No pinching, pulling, aching, numbness, etc. I'm a little achy this morning from getting worked over, but the work itself wasn't painful at all. I'm going to go back once a week for awhile and see what we can do. In the meantime, she asked me not to try and run yet until we get things loosened up and staying where they belong. Will be amazing if I can get everything loosened up enough that I'm not blowing something up every time I move!!!! Highly recommend checking this out for anyone with nagging, chronic, and/or recurring "soft tissue injuries" that doctors say they can't do anything about.
Then off to a board meeting and karaoke!! Won't get all into that, but had a good time at karaoke, even though it was a smaller crowd than normal.
Paying for not enough sleep two nights in a row - but ALL WORTH IT!!!
PS - Breakfast was a little out of hand, but the rest of the day was really good for food. :-D
Monday, February 18, 2013
Friday night was bad movie night - already covered that.
Saturday I walked, met Jonah for coffee, did a couple of hours of reading/research, and went first to our friend's Chili Cook Off, where we got to try a few of the 11 entries into the contest. I had a tablespoon of about 5 different kinds. YUM!!!! And we got to see a bunch of our friends for a couple of hours.
Then we were off to another friend's game night. There were at least twenty women there. We knew about 1/3 of them. Maura played poker most of the evening and I played Trivial Pursuit. Very weird to have to keep remembering that the version came out in the late 80s - therefore, all of the answers had to at least have been born by then. :-D
I didn't break any of the rules - even though there was a huge triple layer dark chocolate cake, tons of cookies and chips and dips, and all other manner of sweet and/or fried stuff. I probably could have had a few less of the baked cheesy crackers, but I did have a bunch of fruit too.
Yesterday I did four miles with Linda in the driving wind - thinking in the range of about 20 mph. And it was COLD with the wind - in the 20s. After that I had to be an episode of the Mod Squad to shower, get dressed, pull my stuff together, run out the door, get coffee, and drive to Leesburg to meet Stacy for our venue checking out outing. Had to get gas too. Met Stacy later than planned, but had a nice drive and visit on the way to Frederick.
We made it to the Dublin Roasters www.dublinroasterscoffee.com/ , where we checked out the facility and met with the owner. Really nice place and we're looking forward to planning a couple of events there - dancing and/or karaoke. In discussion with the owner, discovered that she also brews grains for some local breweries. So of course, we had to go test that out too. :)
We were directed to Brewer's Alley www.brewers-alley.com/ in lovely old town Frederick, MD . Great food, great atmosphere, fun people, and really good service - and of course the beautiful stout, Brewed Awakening. :) Split food with Stacy that included some fried - but stayed within calorie limits for the day easily - because with all of the running around, that was breakfast.
BEST news of the day - that I can talk about - I have a friend whose knees are one move away from needing to be replaced. She has bone on bone, no cartilage, and has barely been able to walk for a long time. She found a woman who does myofascial release therapy - and after a couple of treatments, she can do a deep knee bends - NO PAIN. I got a card and have made an appointment to see if she can help me work some of the issues out of my hamstrings and knees. My issues are in no way as acute as my friend's, so I'm actually hoping for what I will consider a miracle. Appointment tomorrow afternoon. Fingers crossed!!!
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Came home from work yesterday and got dressed to run. I headed out for my walk and a combo snow/rain started. I headed back into the house. I hadn't dressed for rain OR snow and I didn't have protection for my phone. So I figured I'd take my first stab at trying to fix the elliptical. Not gonna happen. Thought/hoped it would be a couple of bolts I had to replace. It's actually broken. A big huge hunk of metal that holds one of the legs on sheared right off (from what I can tell). So have to figure out if it's possible to get the part and to get it fixed. Otherwise, I've got the hugest, heaviest, and weirdest shaped door stop on the plant taking up an immense portion of my living room - and not in a place where it could actually stop a door. :-/
So since the elliptical definitely wasn't going to happen, I checked weather, just for fun, and it said it wasn't supposed to really rain for a couple more hours - so I went back out and did my three miles after all. And there was running!!!! I only did four songs - alternating with walking songs - and I took it really easy, but it went really well and I didn't have any trouble sustaining the run for a whole song. I also did quite a bit of down hill stuff comfortably.
I did a decent walk today. Tried a little jog, and probably would have been fine, but decided to just walk.
I'm motivated to pay way more attention to my food lately - hoping that sticks. :)
I know this is a broken record - but when I'm not eating sweets, I'm not "hungry" unless I'm really hungry. I don't argue with myself all day trying to rationalize eating everything not nailed down.
We were at a party last night. There was Costco birthday cake (one of my absolute favorite things), cannolis, homemade cookies, etc. etc. etc. Didn't bother me at all, didn't care. Didn't eat anything except for a piece of pizza for dinner - had to have something in my stomach. Have made the decision to try and stay away from beer. Getting in the habit of having red wine or scotch and soda if I'm drinking. It's actually a lot easier now that I've fallen in love with porter and stout. #1, Most places I go don't have a good porter or stout on draft; #2, I don't like most of the other beers anymore; #3, It has to be a GOOD porter or stout because it's like 300 calories a glass and there is NO point in wasting those calories on something I don't love. :)
Going to a game night with friends tonight. Will be food there. Trying to decide what my strategy will be. Had a bagel with peanut butter this morning around 8:30. It's 2:30 now and I'm not really hungry yet. Not a normal thing for me to not be willing to eat all the time. Hoping it's "the new normal." :-D
Anyway - not feeling particularly chatty today. Will check in again soon.
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Member Comments About This Blog Post:
I loved the convinced version I could see it all - just in high speed
