The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men

My plans for this week went horribly askew when I decided to have an incredibly active social life. Truth be told, I wasn't too upset about this to begin with as I was horribly sore on Thursday and Friday from the workouts earlier in the week. By this evening, however, I was feeling frustrated with my lack of real movement.

One of my social evenings was watching other people be active but I've been told that doesn't count.

Despite the vast amounts of sitting and talking I did, I did make an effort to make good food choices so it wasn't a total slide backwards. It was hard given that most of my socializing involved going out to eat but I'm concentrating on the positives: I stopped when I was satisfied, I opted for the healthier option on most occasions, and I limited my beer intake to only three pints (which is very little seeing as I was at a hockey game one night). I wasn't perfect but I was happy with my choices.

Another social evening was watching an awesome friend sing awesome songs.

My vocal chords got a good workout that night.

Five nights in a row of social engagements plus a day time engagement on both weekend days is not the norm for me so I know that this type of halt to my activity won't happen again for a long time. I also know that I need to figure out how to balance being social with working towards my goal. I can't stop being social just for the sake of making it easier to stay healthy and plan my workouts. After all, I want to listen to my friend play his amazing songs and I want to enjoy a beer while I do it even if it's supposed to be a running night.

PS. I can't link to my favourite song because he doesn't have a video for it--hint, hint, Justin!-- but you can go to his site and listen to it for free. It's called "Oh Susanna".

What Doesn't Kill Me Makes Me Sore

Monday was my first foray back into running. It was sunny and clear and just a little bit crisp which made for beautiful vistas but slightly icy sidewalks. I headed out as late as I could but even at noon patches of ice persisted to hang around in the shade.

Almost took a spill on this patch as I walked home with coffee at the end of my run. Oops!

It felt great to run again.  I followed the run-walk pattern set out for me and although I could have run further, I was happy not to push it too hard the first time back. Still, I needed a little challenge so I ran up the stairs at Craigdarroch (Not Really A) Castle twice. They're not overly long or difficult but it was enough of an added challenge to get me huffing and puffing that little bit more.

See? Not really a castle, just a big ass house made of stone.

I felt a bit sore this morning (because I somehow forgot to stretch my quads after the run. Seriously, how did I miss those?!? I got everything else.) but it was a minor ache and so I pushed on with today's plan: an at-home work out. Instead of trying to come up with a workout on my own as I did in the past, I trolled the healthy living blogs I frequent and found Susan's At Home Workout she had designed for her sister.

I was familiar with most of the moves and I liked that no actual equipment was required, so I made a few adjustments (squats instead of squat jumps), blasted my workout mix (as Susan suggests), and started with the jumping jacks. It quickly became apparent, however, that I had overlooked one very vital piece of information: exactly how much Susan hates her sister.*

The workout was brutal. I'm not in great shape so that plays a part in this, but I did each section three times through like I was supposed to and when it got to the 'now repeat again from the beginning' I collapsed on the floor in a heap and decided that I'd had enough for today.

It occurred to me that I knew all these moves but the names I use all have expletives in them. The lack of those vital words lulled me into a false sense that this was some how easier. Doesn't 'mountain climbers' sound less intimidating than 'f*#&ing mountain climbers'?

This is my preferred method of mountain climbing. Männlichen, Switzerland.

As I lay crumpled on the floor quoting Shakespeare** and preparing for my inevitable demise, it dawned on me that I hadn't watched the new Hawaii Five-O episode from the night before. What if there was a gratuitous shirtless scene with Alex O'Loughlin which I was missing because I was slowly turning into cat food on my floor?*** That one little thought got me off the floor, stretched and showered. Thank goodness for the life-saving properties of a hot man's abs.

*Disclaimer: I'm sure she doesn't really hate her sister. Well, maybe a little.
**Just humour the crazy lady and smile; physical pain (good or bad) makes me quote the first four lines of Sonnet 29 and I don't actually know why. I've been doing it since high school.
***There was not, alas, a gratuitous shirtless scene in this week's episode. *Sigh* Fingers crossed for next week!

2010 is Going to Be My Year. Wait, What? 2011?

I have a habit of haphazardly setting resolutions. January 1st rolls around and I think "I'd like to do this" so I set it as a resolution and then don't actually bother to think about how I'd like to make that happen. It's all fine and dandy to say "I'd like to climb Mount Everest" but if you don't bother taking any steps towards making that happen, you might as well be saying "I'd like to build a working TARDIS". (Actually, you'd grow a working TARDIS, but that's a discussion for another blog.)

This year, I wrote down a few resolutions (or goals, which ever term you prefer) and then thought long and hard about how I plan to accomplish them.

1. Run the TC 10K in 1:15:00 - I had a goal of running it in 1:20:00 last year. For a first time runner, I took 12 minutes off my best walking time and figured I could do that. Well, an unfortunate bottom-of-the-foot blister at around the 6K mark put an end to that goal but it had been within fairly easy reach up until that point. This year, I'm going into running knowing that a) I can run and b) I like to run. I'll just make sure I wear better socks this time.

2. Run the Gunner Shaw 10K next November - I wanted to do this this year but it occurred at the tail end of my hip problem when I hadn't been running for almost two months. It is not a race you want to enter into unprepared.

3. Hike the Juan de Fuca Trail - This one was put on hold last year due to other events. It won't be put on hold again.

4. End the year within 15 lbs of my weight goal - This is do-able. In fact, my actual weight goal is totally do-able in 11 months if I lose at a healthy rate without ever hitting a plateau or having a week where I gain, but I want some leeway on this. I don't want to worry about not reaching a certain number if I decided to have the fries instead of salad once and while. Also, I hesitate to set an actual number for my final goal because a lot of it is how I feel. Feeling and being healthy is more important than the actual number on the scale, so 15lbs puts me within spitting distance of all the numbers I would consider as a 'final' number. The easiest way to make this happen is to set lots of short term goals for myself. Weekly. Monthly. Whatever they are, I need to set them and go after them. It's really easy to slide when you think "I still have 11 more months before that goal comes up" but not so easy when you think "I have four weeks". Expect to see a lot more short term goals floating around here.

Has anyone else set some interesting resolutions/goals for this year?

Another 365 Day Come to a Close

Christmas has come and gone and so to has my experiment with mentally over eating to prevent actual overeating. I made a concerted effort at this on the Sunday prior to Christmas when my mom and I made (Great) Grandma's Molasses Cookies. On the bus ride over to my mom's, I imagined eating 30 of these cookies. I picked each one up in my mind, felt the weight of it in my hand, took the correct number of bites and chewed. Around the twenty-first one I actually started to feel nauseous. I made it to 25 before I elected to stop because I just felt too sick. I'm all over trying the mental experiment, I'm not all over throwing up on a bus to complete it!

My imagination didn't do these delicious cookies justice!

I would like to say that the experiment was a success and in a way it was, but not for the reasons that I think the original experiment was successful. The original experiment had people eating less because they felt full of the item of food after imagining eating it. I ate fewer cookies that I did in previous years because this experiment was running through my head the whole day. Every time I thought about eating a cookie, I thought about my experiment results and opted not to. In the end, I had a grand total of three cookies over 8 hours. That's why I'm calling it successful even if not in the way it was intended.

Christmas Dinner ends with Lemon Meringue Pie. I love traditions!

I did fairly well over Christmas in general when it came to food. I did enjoy a few sweets but they were generally few and far between. After a relaxing Christmas Eve/Christmas Day with my Big Bro at our mom and stepdad's (and a visit to my dad's), I headed up to Nanaimo on Boxing Day for some time with my stepmom and Baby Bro. The rain in Nanaimo kept us indoors more than we had originally planned but that's okay because we had Sherlock and Doctor Who to watch and Rummy and FIFA 11 to play. Also, staying at the house meant a very limited amount of food to be consumed so I was happy with that aspect of it.

Even the Aloe plant got some festive lights.

Every year I make resolutions. They're usually concrete goals with vague ideas of how I'm going to achieve them. This year, I'm changing that. I've written up a few resolutions, now I'm siting down and mapping out how to make them a reality. A few of them are health and fitness related so they will be making it onto here soon but for now, I need to get ready for my rocking night in! That's right, I'm staying in. I was supposed to go to a friend's house party but while coming home from a board meeting last night at 9:00pm, I realised that I haven't been home for longer than a few hours (not including sleep) in the past eight days. My next two weekends are pretty full so tonight I'm just going to cuddle with my kitties and watch a few movies. Right now it's a toss up between Hot Fuzz and Office Space.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Christmas is Coming, The Goose and I Are Getting Fat

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat

Please put a penny in the old man's hat

If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do

If you haven't got a ha'penny, God bless you!

It is safe to say that the end of 2010 did not go as well as the start. Knee problems then a hip problem then getting knocked sideways by a flu have left me sliding backwards as far as my goal go. Clothes that were loose are feeling a big more snug. There are a few shoulda-coulda-woulda moments in the last three months, but I also cried on three separate occasions from the pain and discomfort in my hip so I'm not going to beat myself up about it. I'll just pick myself up and move on from here.

I attended a Christmas get-together in my apartment building last night. Our awesome building managers put out quite the spread along with their homemade wine and kid-friendly punch. I came away from the afternoon realising that other than a grand total of five plain chips I ate very healthy. Maybe the holidays don't have to be a worrisome time of year!

I am making Grandma's Molasses Cookies with my mom today. Grandma always had these cookies all year round so I'm not quite sure why it became a 'Christmas Only' cookie in our house but they're one of my favourite traditions of the season. To be honest, this is one treat I always overindulge in so I've already started mentally eating my 30 molasses cookies and seeing if it stops the random snacking throughout the afternoon.

Mindful Eating

I went for a 'run' on Sunday and again on Monday evening. I use the term run very, very loosely as I have pretty much lost any sort of cardio I had and found myself struggling after a few minutes. It reminded me very much of my first couple of times out running with THR last January. It was such a struggle and I remember thinking that I would never been a runner. My one saving grace this time around is that I know I can be a runner. I love it now and as much as I struggled, it will get easier and I will be able to push myself further. My hip, which I was worried might be sore after two days, felt fabulous. Running is officially back in my workout regime.

I have made no secret of the fact that I am a geek (or nerd, dork, dweeb... I'll answer to any variation thereof) both on here and on my other blog. As a result, my RSS reader is filled with both health and fitness blogs as well as science-geeky blogs (that's the technical term). Today in my reader, I found this article about mentally overeating the food you're about to consume so you eat less of it. I, of course, found this fascinating.

When I think about the mental aspects of eating, it's about the choices I have to make. How do I make a salad seem exciting when those fries smell sooo good? How do I convince myself that I'm satisfied when there's still food on the table/plate? Is it possible, however, that I've actually been overlooking a simple step to help control my eating?

I wanted to read more about the study, but the link provided in the article goes to the study and you have to pay to read it. It's $15US just for 24 hours access. Not going to happen. Still, the article has given me a lot of food for thought *rim shot* about how much I may have overlooked the mental aspect of weight loss. It's definitely a self-experiment that I'm going to try out over the next few holiday weeks. At the very least, it can't hurt to try, right?

Question: Do you have any mental tricks you use when it comes to food?

I'd Jump For Joy But I Might Break Something

Somewhere over the very busy past five days, I stopped limping and started walking like a normal person. My hip is still sore, but it's that dull ache from over-compensating it for so long and that seems to get less and less every hour. I had my ergonomic assessment on Tuesday and regardless of if that was the cause or it was just added to an underlying issue, I'm really happy I had the assessment done. Even after just two hours in my adjusted workspace, my body was feeling better.

I was really looking forward to taking my much-less-sore hip to West African Dance tonight except I was out very last last night at a very awesome Leonard Cohen concert so I came home, opened my email and fell asleep sitting upright on my couch. That's what 5 hours of sleep does to me.

When I awoke 40 minutes later (with my fingers still over the proper keys, I may add), I decided a short walk was in order as I missed the dance. I didn't go to far, but I walked for 20 minutes then even ran for 2 minutes. I am very happy to report that there was no pain. It did feel a little tender and sore, but gone was the tear-inducing pain of my last running attempt. Could this be it? Could my days of feeling like an invalid finally be over? Could I actually be back to regular runs before the end of 2010? Could Ross really be the one for Rachael after all this time?

I don't want to get my hopes up too high but my body isn't 100% yet (and given my track record, I'm sure I'll pull a back muscle tomorrow) but things are definitely looking up.