Category Archives: Fitness

Getting back to normal

I spent an hour at the gym last night. I was actually very disappointed when my PT session was over, even though she kicked my butt. We talked a bit about my goals and Thursday (my last session with her) we’re going to sit down and work up a plan. I may extend my sessions with her since she said I could transfer them to another center if I move.

I managed 5 miles on the bike last night. My behind isn’t as sore as I thought it would be, but that was on the lifecycle. Tonight I’ll be back on it before I swim and then when I get home I’m going to get on the trainer and see how that feels. That’s where the most bruising is occurring because of the position of the saddle to my sitbones. My legs hold out just fine, which is still surprising.

Looks like I’m going to get an extra long weekend this weekend. We have housing maintenance coming on Friday to install garage door openers. They’re installing them in the whole neighborhood. We got notice a little over a week ago and after we talked about it I thought Kahuna was going to be there, but this morning he told me he was not going to be able to, so I’m taking the day off. It’ll be a nice weekend, with a tri-club meeting on Saturday night, Kahuna’s half-marathon on Sunday morning, football Sunday afternoon, and stitching.

I’ve been really good about getting my routine back into swing this week. I feel really good about it too. I’ve been trying to declutter my house 15 minutes at a time every evening. I’m focusing on my office during the week and will hit the other rooms on the weekends. The first room is my kitchen. My pantry is a disaster. I try to toss out a couple of things every weekend when I grocery shop, but it’s so crammed full right now I don’t know what we actually have in there. I need to get a better handle on that to make sure we continue to eat healthy.

No stitching last night. I need to take a photo of FAS since I’ve finished the 4th page. I still haven’t decided on what smaller thing to start or even if I want to start something else. I’m really enjoying watching it grow, letter by letter. Part of me feels like I should grab another WIP. Decisions, decisions. Maybe laziness will help me since if I continue on with FAS I won’t have to make that decision or get any supplies together 😉

It’s half way through the month (and week) and I can report that I’m doing well on my monthly goals. I still have a lot of miles to catch up, but I’m cycling away toward my 78 miles. I haven’t missed a WW meeting and have lost some weight. I’ve completed page 4 of FAS and posted a photo after I finished the 3rd page. And professionally, I have been plugging away on the revamping of the records. I purged a bunch of stuff from past years and have almost all of our accounts payable files in one drawer, and alphabetized. They were by category and it was always hard to find something that wasn’t used very often. There’s still a lot to do toward that goal though.

It’s back to the gym tonight for a 5 mile ride and a 400 yard swim.

Happy hump day!

Finally!

I finally went back to the gym tonight!

I finally got all my DMC organized!

Carry on.

Friday! Woohoo!

No meeting with PT last night. Don’t know why I haven’t heard from her either. That seems to be how things are going for me lately. My manicurist, who has been a friend for 5+ years flaked on me too, and even though I’ve called her 4 times, no return call. I try to give people a 2nd chance, but I think this pretty much wraps up that relationship.

I don’t know why I didn’t just go ahead and hit the gym last night. I’m having a heck of a time getting my mojo back. Kahuna will be getting up bright and early to surf tomorrow morning so I’m putting in a drag my lazy azz out of bed wakeup call in with him to go in the morning.

It looks like I’m way ahead of schedule to finish the 4th page of French Alphabet Sampler (probably because I’m being lazy in the fitness department and have spent it stitching instead). In fact, I might even knock it out tonight, depending on what happens when I get home from work, if not definately this weekend. I’ve decided that since I met that stitching goal, I’ll go ahead and start a small something or other for the rest of the month.

I did start pulling DMC for A Parrot, A Leopard, A Lion last night. The blues are so vivid! I could not believe how many of the colors I didn’t have though. Looking for them forced me to spend some organizing time in my office as well and I’m half-way through converting my DMC over from plastic shoeboxes to the drawers I put in my stash cabinet. The time consuming part of that is making the little labels for the drawers.

I need to make a trip to Joann’s this weekend anyway since my bulb in my OTT finally burned itself out a couple of days ago. I cannot believe it lasted 5 years. I’m fortunate to have 2 floor lamps so I just switched the bulb out of the other one, but need to get it replaced before I forget. I’ll pick up the other DMC as well.

This week’s SBQ is an easy one for me.

What was your favorite finish of 2007? I only had 1 finish in 2007 and it was almost a 2006 finish. The Token. It’s the #1 item on my to-be-framed list and that will happen this year since I’m entering it in the county fair.

Getting gazelle

Somehow or other over the past 3 weeks I have lost my fitness focus.  I know it’s a combination of things but it’s aggravating me all the same.  I took this morning to figure out what has been going on and to decide what to do about it.

I have not been consistently journaling my food.  I am always conscious of what I’m eating, but I will focus more on quantity.

My heel is still giving me grief.  I am going to pass on running the 5k on Feb 3, but I will focus on other cardio exercises that will allow my heel to heal, and allow my body to continue becoming healthy.

I was very good about my weekly meal planning, etc., but somehow got off track.  I will have my grocery list ready on Saturday night and go to the store immediately after my WW meeting on Sunday morning.

I will be more consistent in tracking my stats to see where I am during the journey and not be surprised at the end of the journey.

I will review every week.

2007/2008

Normally this time of year I’m looking back over my stitching accomplishments and setting my stitching goals for the next year; however, this year it’s a little bit different. I have replaced going to college with another time consuming something…getting fit.

Since I already had my 2007 stitching goals down, I’ll start with those:

2007 Clear out some WIPs

* Make Castle Sampler my get-together piece – I only went to 1 GTG and no stitching happened there! LOL
* Finishing PV – July Quilt for all Seasons – didn’t’ even pick it up.
* Continue to hunt for TSL – Peace – don’t think I ever looked for it beyond whatever I was currently rummaging around for.
* Continue on Dimples – Haiku – did a little bit, but not enough to talk about.
* Continue on Mirabilia – Fairy Moon – same as Haiku
* Continue on Quaker Needlework Treasures – With My Needle – nope!

New starts for 2007 – the year of large new starts!

* Le Marquoir de Justine – starting today – I got a LOT done on this beautiful design while recuperating from my surgery. I haven’t touched it though since returning to work in March (I think).
* Mother’s Tree – TIAG – didn’t start
* My Son – Indigo Rose – didn’t start
* French Alphabet Sampler – currently working on this project and loving every stitch.
* Spot RR – haven’t received my piece back yet – but it’s over.
* Houses of Hawk Run Hollow – Carriage House – maybe – still collecting fibers
* Village of Hawk Run Hollow – Carriage House – maybe – still collecting fibers

There are also several smaller designs I want to start. We’ll just see how the year goes.

Frame, frame, frame!

Shop in Paris!

Didn’t’ frame and didn’t shop in Paris. Still planning on going though 🙂

My stitching suffered a lot in 2007. I took a rather long hiatus. I don’t know if it was burnout, or what, but there was a period of time I considered selling it all. Then that tiny spark began to burn and I’m back to stitching as much as I can.

Another reason I sort of quit stitching was my new interest. Running, then swimming and now biking. 2007 saw me do something I never thought I would do. Complete a 5k race. I know I’ve talked about it before, but I never really ever thought I’d do it.

So, what do I foresee happening in 2008?

Stitching

Just stitch. I have so many beautiful things started and I’d love to get some of them finished and by finished I mean also framed, or made into whatever they should be made into. For so many years I’ve wanted a stitching wall but I’ve always put it off. 2008 will see me moving and I want my new home to have something on every wall, including stitching on a couple.  I’ve said this everytime I’ve moved, but this time, I really mean it! 😉

There are also so many beautiful designs in my stash that I want to start, but I need to get some of the large WIPs completed to make room in my conscious for the new ones. I would like to start some smaller designs since all I seem to have are large ones, so I may go ahead and start some smaller designs.

I know there’s a new Hawk Run Hollow design coming out and I’ll need to add that to my collection. I am more than halfway through collecting the silks for the first 2 and will continue on until they’re all 3 collected for. I won’t wait to start the 1st though once all the fibers are collected since each square is like a small design all its own.

Me, me, me.

I failed to follow through on some obligations last year.  I will be working very hard over the next month or so to get those taken care of and to mend whatever hard feelings were created because of that.

For the first time since I set this goal, I’m so close it’s exciting. I want off my blood-pressure meds. I have 3 more months of my prescription and I’m really hoping that I won’t have to have it renewed.

I have 2 5Ks planned for 2008. February 3 and April 6. I also have a Super Sprint Triathlon planned for May 4. Depending on how these 3 races go, I may register for a Sprint Triathlon in July.

I also plan from this moment through December 31, 2008, to lose 50 pounds; however, I’m not losing it for the number on the scale, but to feel good and let my doctor tell me when she’s happy with my health.

Spend as much time as possible with Kahuna.

Spoil the puppies!

I’m moving some time in April. It would have been sooner; however, Kahuna has a half-ironman at the end of March, that’s here, and we don’t want to move until that’s over since he has a ton of training to do.  I want to have my stitching room squared away before that happens, so I’m not packing junk.

Withdraw my investment from its current place, to make it more accessible as a down payment on a house here.

Spend my parents’ 50th anniversary with them.

Enjoy life.

December goals

It’s been forever since I set down any goals in my blog. I’ll have to check what my goals were for stitching on my old blog before this month is out to see how dismally I failed at them. 😉

But, it’s December and I’m making monthly goals.

Fitness goal 1: I’m in a swim challenge right now. My goal is to swim 3,550 meters.

This is a small amount compared to some of my team members, but it’s what is scheduled for my training this month.

Fitness goal 2stick with my training.

This is my first day, of my first month of triathlon training and it’s a bit daunting to look forward and see all that’s expected of me.

Stitching: Continue working on French Alphabet Sampler as often as possible.

It’s rather hard to stitch these days because of puppies! Bandit is so used to sitting next to me while I stitch, and Harley wants to be included. Twice last night I ended up setting my stitching aside because Harley would jump up in my lap and slooooowly slide off until she was sitting on Bandit’s head. He would get grumbly, so I’d put my stitching away so there would be more room in the chair. Then if I had to get up, like to check the laundry, I’d come back to find my fibers birdnested and an innocent looking Harley giving me a “what???” look. Stinker. Bandit used to do the same thing and I guess I need to be retrained to put my stuff very far away when I’m not using it. I’m trying not to discourage Harley from wanting to sit with us. She’s a bit of a growly girl and can be possessive, so the fact that she’s jumping into my lap while Bandit’s sitting there and not getting growly is a positive step for her. Patience.

We had a super busy weekend and it was nice. Kahuna hasn’t been able to surf because we had a major rainstorm on Friday. Saturday morning we hit the fitness center and then went to see a house. Gang members had broken in and tagged the inside. I feel really badly for the owners, but it’s obvious it’s been empty for awhile. The great thing about looking at it was that it allowed us to adjust what we’re willing to spend and the square footage we’re looking at. Afterwards we went to grab some lunch to go and headed home to watch the LSU game and Ironman. Sunday I left the house around 8:30. I made a quick stop back to drop off groceries, eat some sushi and Kahuna and I headed back out and didn’t get back home until 4. Productive day, though.

And now it’s Monday and I’m back in the office doing things I don’t want to do. My feet and hands are cold and even though I keep bumping up the heater it’s not helping. It’s causing me to drink more hot tea than I should in an attempt to keep warm. I wonder how well heated up Propel tastes?

It's beginning to look like

the stitching bug has bitten! I bought stash today.

The only newsletter I did NOT unsub from was The Attic in Mesa, Arizona. There’s been several things in the newsletter that I considered, but until today, nothing that made me want to whip out that credit card and phone. I ordered both the November and December (A Christmas Sampler) samplers of the month. I’ve never used the fibers and am looking forward to the feel of a new silk. I guess I better get some more organizing done in my office!

On the fitness front I took Wednesday off, and last night just hit the treadmill. I also signed up for a personal trainer and will begin working with her next Tuesday for 6 weeks to see how that works out. She’s going to help me with my strength training and gear it toward triathlon training. Kahuna suggested to me this morning to see if there’s anyway I can hook up a HRM to the treadmill to do my running based on 50-75%. I know they have those handle things you can hold on to, but that’s kind of awkward to do that and run.

I’ve been clock watching all day today. I want out of here! Tonight is swimming only. Tomorrow I’m going to run and swim, Sunday I’m off and Monday begins my official triathlon training schedule.

This week I’ve had to put aside another pair of pants as being too big. I can’t remember the last time I wore them so they’ve probably been big a lot longer than a week. I did go ahead and take advantage of a sale and order some of the pants that are getting bigger on me in a smaller size. I hate being between sizes. I’m trying to keep the same pants in a couple of different colors for work. Since most of my weight is around my middle, I don’t shrink out of the tops as fast as the pants. Not that I’m complaining. The scale is not moving and I’m clueless right now as to what I’ll find at WI Sunday morning.

Not much going on this weekend and I hope to get to stitch for quite a bit. We are going to look at a house tomorrow morning. There’s probably no chance of making an offer, but we want to see if it’s what we’re looking for as far as square footage, etc. It’s in an okay neighborhood and happens to be across the street from one of Kahuna’s surfing buds.

And can someone help me find November?  I seem to have misplaced it.

I want to be a SAHW*

It was tough going back to work yesterday. Mostly all I have on my desk is some file management stuff and bills to pay. So I basically did a whole lot of nothing yesterday.

Immediately after work I went home and changed into my “gym” clothes and headed to the fitness center. I felt awkward going in since it’s been forever since I’ve been in a place like that. It was a good time though, since there were several empty treadmills and ellipticals. I got someone to explain to me how their ellipticals and treadmills worked, locked my swim stuff in a locker and went back out to the ellipticals where I lasted all of 3 minutes at a crawl. It picks your knees up higher than what I’m used to and it was very uncomfortable. I wanted to stay off my heel, but I want cardio, so I hit the treadmill until Kahuna got there. I kept my HR down below 75% max (what my tri-advisor ordered) and did a comfortable high speed walk for 20 minutes.

Once Kahuna got there I changed and met him at the pool where I did a 50m freestyle WU, 100m pull buoys, and 50m freestyle CD. I was pooped and hungry. Can’t wait to do it again tonight. I have a free fitness assessment to do when I get there tonight so depending on what the PT has me do, I may only get in a structured swim. We’ll see. I know I can’t do any hard core exercises since my ab is still hurting every now and again. D*mn adhesions!

Too tired to stitch last night. I did think about it several times, but never got the energy to get it out. I think if I didn’t have to put it away each night because of Harley (oh the joys of puppy mentality) I would have stitched some, but I mostly sat there icing my heel after supper (baked chicken and some left over dressing).

I want to be a *stay at home wife. I loved my long weekend. Was all domestic and all. When people ask what your dream job is, I always say SAHW. I know I have a practically brand new degree, but I’ve been working off and on (mostly on) for 25+ years and I’m ready to stop. I never used to enjoy housework, and I guess you can say I don’t “enjoy” it now, but I don’t mind it so much and I like puttering around the house. I also like the ability to go wherever I want, whenever I want. I wish I could do the grocery shopping during the week, early in the morning. I wish I could go to the fitness center early in the morning, and take some of the classes they’re offering. I wish I could sit and stitch during the day. I just wish my job didn’t get in the way of so many things. I always figured I get into the “career” mentality once I had my degree, but it just isn’t happening. Kahuna has told me I can “retire” when he does, but I worry about that, and trying to live here. I guess this is the downside of a 5-day weekend 😉

Here's to 3-day weekends!

I need to figure out how to get 3-day weekends every weekend. I can honestly say this was the best weekend I’ve had in a very long time. I don’t know if it was because Kahuna returned on Saturday afternoon, or because of the shopping, stitching, housecleaning, DVD or TV watching I did, but it was great!

Saturday – I got up and started really early on the housecleaning. My kitchen and dining room were in desperate need of a dust and scrub. Kahuna touched down at the airport around 10. He didn’t get home until almost noon, just as I was finishing the kitchen. That’s how bad the traffic was headed north. The puppies were soooo excited to see him! I spent the rest of the afternoon catching up with him and doing the laundry he was so kind to bring me, then we ended up going out to dinner at a seafood place just up the road from us. We never can remember why we don’t go there often, because the food is great, until we get the bill! LOL

Sunday – Kahuna went surfing and I went to WW. I gained 4+# but am not surprised. I could not stop eating Friday and Saturday. My leader says my body will probably do that every now and then since I’ve ramped up my exercise. The rest of the day was spent getting the majority of the laundry done while I stitched and watched TV. Since being able to go without my wrist braces during the day, I can stitch comfortably now and thoroughly enjoyed doing so while the puppies took turns fighting over who was going to help me.

Monday – Kahuna back out surfing, I went running. Then I went to the grocery store while he went for a LSD run. After some lunch we headed out. First stop was to get my car detailed. Then we headed out shopping. Believe it or not I needed floss to finish a project, then we went hunting for running gloves, skull cap for Kahuna to keep his nekkid head warm while cycling, a stop at Trader Joe’s for some FAGE (I’d love to say that’s all I bought but I am weak in that store! LOL). On the way home we stopped by the 24 Hour Fitness closest to us and went in for a tour. We (I) were really hooked when we found out they had a saltwater pool that’s open 24 hours. We’re now members 🙂 I’m nervous and excited about that.

I’ve never been a member of a fitness club. I know practically nothing about working out in one and can’t wait to learn. I’ll have about 7 months to get trained by Kahuna, because it looks like they’re sending him to Iraq in June. This is one of the reasons why I decided I wanted to do triathlons. It’s a great social sporting event and I knew I’d make some local friends while staying healthy and motivated while Kahuna was gone. I am hoping membership at a fitness center will help do the same thing. Give me something productive to do instead of sit home depressed and eat the whole time he’s gone.

Reading back over this it sounds like we were super busy, but everything was at a slow, take our time, pace and I really didn’t feel like we were out doing a bunch of stuff. I was rested for work this morning, but still didn’t want to come in.

So, here’s to more 3-day weekends. Hope yours was equally great.

c25k – w3d3

Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 1:10 minutes of jogging and 1:40 minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes.

 First, let me say thank you for your support.  It really means a lot.  I sometimes cannot believe how hard this is!  LOL

I increased my time by 10 seconds this morning, since that’s 10 percent.  Let me tell you that 10 seconds is looooooong!  I did 3 1:10-intervals, which was my goal.  I figured out that for the first 2 I’m going uphill.  I failed at my first attempt to do the 3rd one and walked through it and the 1:40 walk portion, but succeeded on the next attempt.  My goal this morning had been to complete 3 since I had managed to complete 6 1-minute intervals.  Depending on my progress by next Friday, I may repeat this, but I’ll deal with that next week.

 I have been unbelievably busy at work this week.  We had a motion due today and in typical Boss fashion, he waited until the last minute to give us our assignments.  I spent almost all day yesterday gathering and organizing 39 exhibits and proofread one document so many times that if I shut my eyes and thought about it I could probably list all 130+ statements right here!  I got home at 7:30 last night.  4:45 a.m. felt like it came really fast!  Once I got to work I felt like I had come home, eaten, showered, changed clothes and gone back.  I think this may have been why I felt unable to complete 4 intervals, but I did get up, and I did do my best, so I felt good about my run.

Tomorrow I’m following Kahuna out to his surfing spot and I’m going to walk 2 miles on the beach (if the tide’s cooperative).  Sunday, repeat.  I think taking 2 days off between Friday and Monday is making Monday hard.  I’m also going to be adding in a 3rd strength training day next week.  I’m to the point where I don’t have time for a proper workout and will do different body parts on different days of the week.

I have a major career decision to make this weekend and would appreciate any and all crossed fingers and prayers.  There’s a small company near where I work that I’m thinking about sending my resume to.  I ride the train with 3 women who work there and they’ve been encouraging me to do so.   Their legal department revolves around patent issues and when I read the qualifications for some of the positions I feel very unqualified; however, one of the women is a senior paralegal and she keeps telling me I can get hired.  The benefits are extraordinary and include 24-hour fitness center and lap pools throughout their “complex.”  Not to mention the salary range that I mentioned would be met, if not far beyond my expectations.

Mom, don’t read this next part!  LOL

I told Kahuna tonight that if I do get a position there, it will probably be entry level and if that’s the case there is a future for me there….one that would make me want to stay here, meaning it might be his turn to sacrifice for me and find full time “job” after military retirement so we can afford to buy here, instead of heading back to Louisiana.  We’ll see.  I’m not one to count my chickens so to speak, and I haven’t even turned in my resume.

Have a great weekend.

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