March Break post-housewarming walk :)

Saturday, March 20, 2010

We finally had our housewarming party with friends yesterday. We've had family over for dinner now and then, and small groups of friends have been over for various things, but we decided to make it official this time. I mean, c'mon, we moved in July 4...it was about time we had a housewarming :).

Sunday afternoon through Wednesday afternoon we stayed at a luxury motel right beside the lake in Cobourg, Ontario with my parents, my brother and sister-in-law, my 4 nieces and nephews, and a guide-dog-in-training. It was a good break. Being away those days meant we only had Wednesday evening, Thursday and part of Friday to get ready for the housewarming (though I was able to track RSVPs online and try to figure out what food to order from the caterer while still at the cottage). It was a lot of work, but actually didn't require the kind of panic I'd feared.

The housewarming itself went really well--just the right number of people came, everyone had fun, and we didn't run out of food or drink. We DEFINITELY did not run out of food or drink. I have never been responsible for arranging the food for a party this size before (even for our wedding, other people pretty much took care of that for me), and we ended up sending food home with people and stuffing a lot back in our fridge besides. We are going to be eating this for a while.

Admittedly, my physical activity level has been lacking lately, partly because I was getting an average of 5 hours of sleep a night before March Break hit as things were...I didn't know how to also fit in workouts, plus I was obviously really tired all the time. I did get out for a brisk 105 minute walk with some of my family on Monday, but turned down going on the Tuesday and Wednesday walks (partly because my shins were complaining about making them go on that 1 walk in my boots--I'd left my runners at home--partly because of fatigue, and partly because I was trying to figure out housewarming food or something else that made me want some alone time). If I'm not going to completely suffer from the effects of having eaten housewarming food yesterday & eating more of it over the next few days, though, I'm going to need to get some more exercise in.

We went to bed last night about 1 a.m. (after doing a very decent job of cleaning up from the party--our friends were pretty neat, but getting the leftovers gathered & packed up & jigsaw-puzzled into the fridge took some effort). Before going to bed, I located all my workout clothes so they'd be ready to go this morning. I set my alarm for 7:30 for some reason, but turned it off when it went off and stayed in bed until the much more decent hour (for that bedtime) of 9. Then, even though I was tired, I drank a cup of water and got myself into my workout gear...but added some warmer layers because I knew I wasn't up for getting on the exercise bike & needed to head out for a walk instead, even though I normally shun walking when the temperature is this cold out. When my husband saw me getting ready, he asked to come along, too! I hopped on here, figured out a route that would be an appropriate length, grabbed my water bottle & we were off.

Details:
Actual time: 42 minutes
Distance: 3.3 km (2.05 mi)
Average speed: 4.7 km/h
Average heart rate: 119 bpm

Ok, so my average heart rate wasn't very fast (I spent a whole 10 minutes in my target zone, according to my HRM), but that's ok for getting going again. My HRM still tells me I burned 231 calories. I made sure to stretch afterwards, and I drank my water, too.

I included in the route a loop of the local park where Martin and I have seen ducks before, and sure enough, there they were. There were a lot more males than females this time...I seem to remember the group being more balanced before. We saw 1 squirrel. We heard a lot of birds. We also saw burrs/"hitchhikers" on some plants, which I don't think I've seen in ages. Neat. I am really glad we live close enough to a park that I can include some exploration of nature in my walks.

I have to get some marking done today--some of my students were bugging me for updated marks before the break started, and Thursday night I had one of those "teacher nightmares" that I was back in the classroom Monday and STILL didn't have marks ready to give my students (and that they were really acting up besides). Many of us teachers seem to have a tendency to think we're going to get a lot accomplished during these holiday breaks, bringing home lots of marking and resources and so on, then finding that our good intentions don't play out as well as we'd thought they would. I did take marking to the cottage with me earlier this week, but I'm not really sorry I didn't touch it--spending time with my family and having a bit of a mental break was more important. I am also considering heading up to a Lee Valley Tools retail store to get a special water-bottle-washing kit they have, which uses ball bearings to get in all the nooks and crannies of bottles/vases/etc. that a bottle brush can't necessarily reach. The more excuses I can take away from myself, the better, right?

Have a good day, all. Too bad it's not as warm as yesterday, but hey, spring is still on the way :).

--Joy

  

Back at it

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Ok, so this cold isn't totally gone yet, but it's not bugging me too much. I did say I'd tentatively be back to exercise Thursday...that didn't happen. I got sidetracked with other things and basically forgot about working out Thursday. Friday I went to a goodbye party for a coworker; when I got home, I thought about trying to fit in a workout, but instead decided to go to bed at about 9:30 with a book and work out this morning.

This morning, I followed through and got back on that exercise bike!

Things I did to help make sure I worked out this morning:
- I recognized that I will likely not want to work out later today, and may actually be unable to as I will be out with friends until at least 8 p.m. and possibly later.
- I laid out all my exercise clothes the night before. My workout clothes are not baggy track pants and old t-shirts, but stuff that inspires me by making me feel like I am someone who is serious about working out--SparkPeople technical t-shirt ("hey, I belong to and regularly use SparkPeople--that makes me special!"), Under Armor pants, a blue version of my favourite heartrate-monitoring sports bra that just arrived in the mail this week (blue is my favourite colour, and as I've mentioned before, I LOVE these heartrate bras, so seeing it makes me happy to put it on and start working out...if only putting it on & taking it off were easier, heh), and of course socks & undies, too, as well as making sure the Polar transmitter & watch that work with the heartrate bra were where I'd expect to find them, ready to go.

Waking up and seeing my gear all ready to go makes me go through this cycle:
- [groan]...why did I say I was going to work out in the morning? I'm tired. I don't want to work out.
- Oh, come on, you say that every morning you work out in the morning, but you know by the end of it you feel great and it makes you feel good physically and proud of yourself for getting it done the whole day.
- [during or after the putting on of the workout gear] All right! I am wearing serious workout gear--stuff that wicks sweat away and doesn't make me overheat and makes me look like someone who is actually fit and works out a lot! Ok, I am not as fit as some people that wear this stuff, but I do work out, darnit, and it's time to go kick some butt! Well, ok, not really kick some butt, since I'm getting on a bike, not fighting anyone, but time to enjoy working up a sweat for this stuff to wick away! Time to get into a sweat and make myself feel the need to use that water bottle! Time to go be as awesome as this gear makes me think I am!
- and then the workout happens, and then the stretching, and I really do feel good by the end of it, and proud of myself for getting it done.

At the end of a step aerobics video I have by Kathy Smith, during the final stretch (a back stretch in which you clasp your hands around your bent knees and make a "C" with your body), she says something like, "Focus on the good feeling you have right now, because that is what's going to keep you consistent." I have set up my post-cardio stretching routine so that that back stretch, or some other back stretch, is the last thing I do, and her statement always pops into my head...so I really do take the time right then to recognize that I feel good after doing my stretches, and I think that really does help with the consistency. Knowing that I said here that I wasn't going to use my cold as an excuse slack forever helps, too ;)...I didn't want to test out whether you guys really would have been on my back if I'd stayed away too long!

Oh, I didn't push myself too hard during today's workout...I still stayed in the heartrate range that makes my watch stop beeping and nagging me to work harder, but I did not work as hard as usual. I agree with a comment WORKTHEPLANANN made on an earlier status of mine here...it's a good idea to ease back into it to avoid hurting oneself after a break/illness. I did do the usual duration, but I would have stopped earlier if I'd felt the need.

My weight is at 135 right now; I guess even though I didn't exercise much during my recent sickness-induced break, I also didn't feel like eating too much, so I didn't end up totally derailed. My ultimate goal is still 130. I started my goal when I weighed 141 back in August, so I am just over halfway there, woohoo!

Today I am going to a friend's place to play D&D (we generally do this about twice a month). The list of food that people will be bringing is extensive and not altogether healthy. I often find myself snacking more at a D&D session than I would normally...even though it's intense mentally at times, it's really a time of sitting around a table for hours, which is physically boring & I guess my mind or body start to say, "ho-hum...let's get a snack to break up the monotony." I am going to try to be good today, really :).

So, there you go, I'm back at it. I didn't do the bootcamp video today, and I don't think I'll be doing tomorrow's bootcamp video of all that jumping (I'll do more bike time or find another cardio workout to do...maybe that kickboxing one I found and liked a few weeks ago), but I am no longer slacking, either. Keep an eye on me and make sure I keep it up, willya :)?

All the best to all of you as you work on YOUR goals this week. Cheers!

--Joy

  

Short update

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

I am still sick, but it's not too too bad...I still go to work, popping Tylenol Cold & keeping aloe-vera-infused Kleenex handy (I don't have to use them much as long as the drugs are working, but even so, crappy school Kleenex did murder on my nose last week...the aloe vera really does make a difference when you're sick!) and keeping my distance from students and coworkers to try and avoid infecting them, heh...staying at home would be silly with the slight symptoms I have, and as this is the last week of classes before exams I need to make sure my students are ready (or as ready as I can make them in the time we have left together).

I am tentatively saying that Thursday I will do some exercise again. I'll use my heart rate monitor as usual to make sure that I only work as hard as my body is ready to handle. (On a side note, I ordered & received 2 more of the special heart rate monitor bras that I use, since I consider the one I had tested & true & now want to be able to use them every workout day without having to wait for them to air dry after laundering them.) I am OK with it if my body needs a lighter workout that day, but I don't want to keep going without having exercise in my routine. I also am only going to expect 4 30-minute cardio sessions a week out of myself rather than 5...I think that is more realistic given my lifestyle (job, commute, things like Bible study and worship team practice and Dungeons & Dragons sessions that take me out of the house). 4 sessions a week is still more than I was doing a couple months ago, and I do think that rest days are important as well, even if only psychologically.

This morning I read yesterday's dailySpark blog entry "Why the Scale Goes Up When You Start a New Workout Plan" ( www.dailyspark.com/blog.asp?post=why
_the_scale_goes_up_when_you_start_a_ne
w_workout_plan ). I am not a fitness expert, so I don't know how accurate the article is, but if it is true then I am much reassured about why my weight was doing funny things not too long ago (since I know the "muscle weighs more than fat" idea is not as true as we would like).

This morning I weighed less than my Jan. 11 weight, which I reported that day was my lowest since Christmas Day, hooray! My scale told me I was 134.8 this morning. I don't think I'll hit my goal weight of 130 by my Jan. 31 birthday, partly due to this little sick break I've been taking, but perhaps I can come down another 1 or 2 pounds by then.

See you Thursday!

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

NANCY-GIRL 1/19/2010 12:15PM

Take care. And thanks for your faithful comments on my blogs. I get into different tracking modes, too. I have also used the spiral notebook journal. I did that a lot when I was working & had "down" time at the mall while my seniors were shopping. I journalled in the food court to keep myself out of the stores, LOL. Since we hit the road today for a week, I will again bring my "handy dandy notebook" ((c) Blues Clues?) for tracking & stuff. It will be good to be in the States where restaurants have to post their nutritional info (effective when? I don't know) so I can enter it into the 'puter in the hotel. Feel better. It will feel good to w'out again on Thursday (or whenever).

Sick :(

Sunday, January 17, 2010

I have not been going to bootcamp lately because I've come down with a cold :(. I guess I can't pull almost-all-nighters to catch up on things problem-free like I used to anymore. It's not a real bad one, but enough that my body is telling me it is too congested, weak and fatigued to try to push through it and exercise; it wants to devote its energy to getting better.

Today I will focus on getting through my remaining marking and getting a couple of things ready for the coming week of classes--the last week before exams, woohoo!

I promise to come back to bootcamp as soon as my body is ready. If I still claim to be too sick to bootcamp in a week, ya might wanna poke me and ask if that's really the case...but for now, I think this is the wiser course. For the rest of you, though: go go go! You can do it :)!

Ugh...catch you when I'm better.

--Joy

  

Bootcamp day 10 complete.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Going to try to make this quick...

Bootcamp video: done! Used larger weights than last week & it was okay (as in an appropriate-and-not-harder-than-appropriat
e challenge). I had inflated the ball a little firmer sometime last week and some combination of that and maybe having some stronger muscles due to the training so far meant I didn't feel burny during the laid-back parts as much, but I also did not monitor my position as much as last week and needed Nicole's reminders.

Bike workout done! 242 calories burned, according to my HRM. Enjoying this routine of being able to watch through Babylon 5 (which I never saw when it was on the air & have been introduced to through a friend's DVDs) while being able to pat myself on the back about having worked out.

No idea what my weight was this morning as I woke up late (hit snooze a few too many times, apparently...guess my alarm eventually decided to stop trying) and hence my morning routine was much-condensed.

Today I decided that I have been consistent enough (not perfect, but good enough :)) to move myself out of Stage 1 (Fast Break) of the SparkDiet and into Stage 2 (building healthy habits). This week I'm supposed to learn about serving sizes and portion control. Not sure this is a big deal for me, but I did pick up a couple ideas while reading a couple of the suggested articles. For example: I did know that the serving size the nutritional info is given for is not necessarily the amount of food you are used to eating (e.g., a "serving" of ice cream is usually half a cup--what a joke!), but the thing I picked up about it is this: if you decide to eat the whole box of mac & cheese, just scale up the amounts shown on the label accordingly and make sure there is room for it in your meal plan for the day. No mention in the article about beating yourself up for eating so much and not having the willpower to only eat a serving's worth--just a reminder to be aware and to use strategies to make sure that choice doesn't throw you too far off track.

Still feeling the crunch about work stuff, and not sure what else to report for today, so I'll leave it at that. I have now done 10 days of the program, with very little slipping up...that's kinda neat! Cheers to all of you who are motoring through this with me :).

--Joy