Good Morning to the few of you that may read my blog. :) With 2012 coming to an end, it's now a time for me to reflect on the year that has gone by and think about my goals for the upcoming year. I have heard people say, "I don't make resolutions" or have heard people talk about the silliness of resolutions. I personally don't think that there is anything wrong with it. For me, it gives me hopes and plans for the future and it gives me some sort of road map to help me to be better and do better. It's not an end all to be all, just a guide. :) I'm going to make my list here on line to help me to be more accountable. Granted, not many people read this blog and I do it more for myself anyway, but once I publish it, it will be out there in cyber world. LOL
Resolutions for 2013 (I reserve the right to modify or add to this in the upcoming days)
1) Organize my finances (This one is huge and requires many steps. Ugh!)
- Call Consumer Credit Counseling Agency
2) Make running a habit again. :)
3) Complete a marathon for Maddie, Ila-Jean, and many other child angels.
4) Organize the Fall Festival/Pumpkin Carving Contest
5) Eat healthier
- Pack lunches for work
- Make smoothies in the morning
6) Invite friends of mine and my mom's over for dinner once or twice a month
7) Invite Robin, Kevin, and Erin & Garrett to something at least monthly for a year to try to establish a family relationship
8) Cross-training activity once per week
9) Learn to play guitar
10) Take an actual vacation - preferably somewhere with a beach!
11) Continue once a month book club
12) Write down a positive thought each day and put it in my New Year's Jar
13) Organize and keep rooms organized
14) Complete foster care process
15) Participate in at least one fun/out-of-the ordinary activity a month (i.e. Painting class, cooking class, hike)
16) Blog more frequently
17) Have more patience and take better care of my mom
OK - I will stop my list for now, but I'm sure there is more. If I think of anything, I will add it as I go along.
P.S. I forgot the reflection part, which is the title of this entry so I will take a moment to do so now. :)
This past year has been difficult for many families locally and throughout the world with so many children dying senseless deaths. I have been overwhelmed by the strength and the courage I have seen from local families that I have come to know who have done such positive things to remember these angels. In February, Matt and Erin Musto lost their beautiful 5-year old daughter to a rare-inoperable brain tumor. While they grieve, they have also done so much through their organization Maddie's Mark to help other children as well as the community. I never had the privilege of knowing Maddie in person, but her spirit lives on through the memories of her. Another family, the Rathbone's lost their daughter Ila Jean in April after a long fight with Neuroblastoma. I went to elementary school with Ila Jean's mom Jennifer. I followed her story through Jen's facebook and caringbridge posts and was constantly amazed by her strength and faith in God. Online videos of Ila Jean showed her spunk and spirit and although I did not meet her either, I was able to see what an amazing child she was. Finally, just before Christmas, Devon LaPrade lost his 19-month battle with the same type of tumor that took Maddie Musto just 5-days after her diagnosis. This was another warrior that I never got to meet but I followed his story and prayed for him and his family as I did for all the others. I don't think I ever actually knew his mom Michelle personally, but my friend Sandy was friends with her throughout high school and told me some wonderful things about her. Even though I hadn't known Devon, I could see through everything that Michelle was an amazing mom, as were all of these other parents dealing with such tragedies. Michelle was there for her son Devon every step of the way as he fought this horrendous battle. Each one of these parents has taken tragedy and used it to help others. Even though Michelle is grieving, I see that she often takes time out to think of others in her facebook posts and she is so thankful for the support of the community.
In 2013, I hope to focus on the positives and become a better person. All of the families I have described above have been faced with unthinkable tragedies but have chosen to do something positive in the face of those tragedies. Let's hope for good things for all of us in 2013!
Prayers to the families in Newtown, CT as well as they are facing a difficult road ahead. And prayers to the family and friends of the teens that were killed or injured in Clifton Park. I am thankful for all that I have!
If I don't get a chance to write before next year, Happy New Year!! :)
Friday, December 28, 2012
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Marine Corp Marathon - NOT :(
Just realized that I have not posted since I had to miss my Wineglass Half-Marathon. I also had to miss the Hudson-Mohawk Half marathon locally because I have a stress fracture. So, I have been on crutches since October 1st. I haven't stopped doing any of my regular activities but obviously no running. :( And I am much slower as you can imagine.
I am writing today because today I was supposed to be in Washington, D.C. to run the Marine Corp Marathon in memory and in honor of Ila Jean Rathbone and Maddie Musto. This, unfortunately was unable to happen because of my stress fracture. I will, however pick another marathon to run for these beautiful angels just as soon as I find out the game plan from the doctor. My hip feels okay and it's more of a nagging pain from time to time but nothing unbearable. My concern is whether or not it's healing as it should. I don't want all of this time on crutches to be for nothing. I use them regularly during work hours and when I go anywhere that I need to walk any distance. The time that I "cheat" is when I am in my house. It is just difficult to navigate through a house with crutches. I try to be very careful and not put weight on my right side but my days are often so busy and I am constantly moving throughout the day. I just wonder if all of that makes a difference in the healing process. I suppose I will find out.
My doctor's appointment is on November 14th and I am hoping that I will have more answers when I go to that appointment in regards to when I can run again. I know it won't be right away because the doctor informed me that I will start walking and gradually build up to running. I'm also hoping to be able to meet with someone in regard to technique so that this doesn't happen again because crutches really suck! The good news is that if all goes well, I should be off crutches before my birthday! It's the big 4-0! While I was initially dreading the big 4-0, I'm thinking now that my 40's have got to be better than my 30's. Maybe I will finally meet the man of my dreams! Ha ha! Don't worry - I'm not counting on it! Just thought I would add some humor in there. My track record with men has been horrible! Especially the last 5 years! That is a subject for an entirely different blog!
Let's hope that I will be healthy and on track for starting my training soon! Next goal, healthy eating since I have gotten off-track with that as well. Ugh! I need to get busy!
I am writing today because today I was supposed to be in Washington, D.C. to run the Marine Corp Marathon in memory and in honor of Ila Jean Rathbone and Maddie Musto. This, unfortunately was unable to happen because of my stress fracture. I will, however pick another marathon to run for these beautiful angels just as soon as I find out the game plan from the doctor. My hip feels okay and it's more of a nagging pain from time to time but nothing unbearable. My concern is whether or not it's healing as it should. I don't want all of this time on crutches to be for nothing. I use them regularly during work hours and when I go anywhere that I need to walk any distance. The time that I "cheat" is when I am in my house. It is just difficult to navigate through a house with crutches. I try to be very careful and not put weight on my right side but my days are often so busy and I am constantly moving throughout the day. I just wonder if all of that makes a difference in the healing process. I suppose I will find out.
My doctor's appointment is on November 14th and I am hoping that I will have more answers when I go to that appointment in regards to when I can run again. I know it won't be right away because the doctor informed me that I will start walking and gradually build up to running. I'm also hoping to be able to meet with someone in regard to technique so that this doesn't happen again because crutches really suck! The good news is that if all goes well, I should be off crutches before my birthday! It's the big 4-0! While I was initially dreading the big 4-0, I'm thinking now that my 40's have got to be better than my 30's. Maybe I will finally meet the man of my dreams! Ha ha! Don't worry - I'm not counting on it! Just thought I would add some humor in there. My track record with men has been horrible! Especially the last 5 years! That is a subject for an entirely different blog!
Let's hope that I will be healthy and on track for starting my training soon! Next goal, healthy eating since I have gotten off-track with that as well. Ugh! I need to get busy!
Monday, September 24, 2012
Update
I know it's been a while since I updated. This will be somewhat quick, but I figured I should get back into the habit of writing.
I was doing pretty well with my training and despite not running all 5 days, I was doing 3-4 days. Then my leg/hip started bothering me and I took a little break after an 8-mile run that ended with some pain. I took about 2-weeks off and rested it, which seemed to help a bit although I still had a little pain when I went back to running and did a 5:30 am 4-mile run. That was this past Tuesday (9/18). I was going to run at 5:30 on Thursday morning but my running partner had to cancel and I didn't get out there on my own (bad girl). I did a short 3-mile run on Saturday, which was a bit painful and I wasn't sure I would be able to complete my half-marathon the following day (9/23), but I still planned on it. I woke up on Sunday with a little bit of pain, popped some ibuprofen when I woke up and it seemed a little better. I took a few more ibuprofen before the half-marathon and it felt pretty good. I completed the half in around 2 hours 50 minutes, which was not a PR but not my worst either. Unfortunately, when I finished, I was in a lot of pain and continued to be in a lot of pain throughout the night. :(
I woke up this morning and continued to limp on my right side and it hurt to bend my leg and it also hurt to put weight on it so I finally called the orthopedic doctor. Funny thing is that by the time I got there, the pain had somewhat subsided. It could have been the ibuprofen I took this morning. Anyway, they took x-rays and didn't really find anything except something about the ball joint in my hip socket that was a little off (I didn't really understand it completely). He rotated my leg to determine if there was any pain and didn't think that the problem he described was causing my pain. Anyway, the doctor is sending me for an MRI on Wednesday to determine if it is a stress fracture or not. Until then, no running for me. :( Boo! Actually, I have an appointment next Wednesday to discuss the results of the MRI so I really have to wait until then to do anything.
The disappointing part of the whole thing is that the Wineglass Half-Marathon is this coming weekend and I have wanted to do that run for a really long time. Instead, I will visit some wineries and cheer on my fellow runners and I will hope for the chance to run again next year!
Beyond that, if it is a stress fracture, that means no Marine Corp Marathon either, which I have been looking forward to even longer and it is the marathon I have been planning on dedicating to Ila Jean Rathbone and Maddie Musto. I will not let this get me down! If I am derailed at this attempt, I will find another marathon to dedicate to these two beautiful angels!
I guess that wasn't as short as I had planned! LOL! But there it is! I will try to post more soon! :)
In the spirit of Maddie's Mark Foundation, May you have the "best day ever!"
I was doing pretty well with my training and despite not running all 5 days, I was doing 3-4 days. Then my leg/hip started bothering me and I took a little break after an 8-mile run that ended with some pain. I took about 2-weeks off and rested it, which seemed to help a bit although I still had a little pain when I went back to running and did a 5:30 am 4-mile run. That was this past Tuesday (9/18). I was going to run at 5:30 on Thursday morning but my running partner had to cancel and I didn't get out there on my own (bad girl). I did a short 3-mile run on Saturday, which was a bit painful and I wasn't sure I would be able to complete my half-marathon the following day (9/23), but I still planned on it. I woke up on Sunday with a little bit of pain, popped some ibuprofen when I woke up and it seemed a little better. I took a few more ibuprofen before the half-marathon and it felt pretty good. I completed the half in around 2 hours 50 minutes, which was not a PR but not my worst either. Unfortunately, when I finished, I was in a lot of pain and continued to be in a lot of pain throughout the night. :(
I woke up this morning and continued to limp on my right side and it hurt to bend my leg and it also hurt to put weight on it so I finally called the orthopedic doctor. Funny thing is that by the time I got there, the pain had somewhat subsided. It could have been the ibuprofen I took this morning. Anyway, they took x-rays and didn't really find anything except something about the ball joint in my hip socket that was a little off (I didn't really understand it completely). He rotated my leg to determine if there was any pain and didn't think that the problem he described was causing my pain. Anyway, the doctor is sending me for an MRI on Wednesday to determine if it is a stress fracture or not. Until then, no running for me. :( Boo! Actually, I have an appointment next Wednesday to discuss the results of the MRI so I really have to wait until then to do anything.
The disappointing part of the whole thing is that the Wineglass Half-Marathon is this coming weekend and I have wanted to do that run for a really long time. Instead, I will visit some wineries and cheer on my fellow runners and I will hope for the chance to run again next year!
Beyond that, if it is a stress fracture, that means no Marine Corp Marathon either, which I have been looking forward to even longer and it is the marathon I have been planning on dedicating to Ila Jean Rathbone and Maddie Musto. I will not let this get me down! If I am derailed at this attempt, I will find another marathon to dedicate to these two beautiful angels!
I guess that wasn't as short as I had planned! LOL! But there it is! I will try to post more soon! :)
In the spirit of Maddie's Mark Foundation, May you have the "best day ever!"
Monday, July 16, 2012
Update and This Weeks "Schedule"
I really should change this to my fitness blog, since that is all I have been blogging about lately. Anyway, last week was back to work after having two weeks off and I must confess that during the week, i was quite the slacker. I didn't run at all during the week! Fortunately, I did run on the weekend and pretty much followed the weekend schedule for running (Not that it excuses my laziness during the week). Here's the rundown of the schedule and actual running that I completed last week.
Schedule: Actual:
Monday (7/9) - Cross training--------------------------- Nothing
Tuesday (7/10) - 3 Miles----------------------------------Nothing
Wednesday (7/11) - 6 Miles------------------------------Nothing
Thursday (7/12) - 3 Miles---------------------------------Nothing
Friday (7/13) - Rest-------------------------------------Rest (LOL! Needed a rest from doing "nothing")
Saturday (7/14) - 6 Mile pace-----------------------------5 Miles
Sunday (7/15) - 11 Miles----------------------------------11 Miles
Tuesday (7/10) - 3 Miles----------------------------------Nothing
Wednesday (7/11) - 6 Miles------------------------------Nothing
Thursday (7/12) - 3 Miles---------------------------------Nothing
Friday (7/13) - Rest-------------------------------------Rest (LOL! Needed a rest from doing "nothing")
Saturday (7/14) - 6 Mile pace-----------------------------5 Miles
Sunday (7/15) - 11 Miles----------------------------------11 Miles
Although I did nothing during the week, I did a 5-Mile Trail run in Lake George followed by a Tubing trip, which was awesome! :) Then, on Sunday despite being tired after mile 3, I completed 11 Miles through a combination of running/jogging and walking (On the Nisky Bike trail). It was a seriously slow 11 miles but I did it. Tonight I will be attending a workshop on Nutrition for Runners so maybe I will have something to write about for the "Food" portion of my blog. :) Oh, Almost Forgot, Here is my Hal Higdon schedule for the week:
Monday (7/16) Cross Training
Tuesday (7/17) - 3 Miles
Wednesday (7/18) - 6 Miles
Thursday (7/19) - 3 Miles
Friday (7/20) - Rest
Saturday (7/21) - 6 Miles
Sunday (7/22) - 12 Miles
That's it for now! Until next time........
Hopefully I will have some pics to post for my next entry. :)
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
The effort continues...
Well, let me start by wrapping up week 2. I am sorry to say that I didn't really keep up the momentum of training. The Buffalo half-marathon was cancelled and then it was back on again (thrown together in a hurry by the tourism department) and then due to being able to find a reasonable hotel room, I did not end up going. Instead I went to the Norman Rockwell Museum with my free museum passes, which was lots of fun! :) I didn't end up running on Thursday or Friday either. :( Then I began my descent south on Saturday and also drove on Sunday so I missed those days running as well. I did, however visit a few wineries on Sunday in North Carolina! :) If nothing else, it was fun!
Week 3 of training began and ended O.K. but the middle of the week was a bit sketchy. LOL. I began by running 3 miles on a fairly shaded trail in the woods on Monday. On Tuesday, I only ran about 2.5 miles because it was so hot. On Wednesday, I packed up my things and drove North to MD and no running that day. On Thursday I went to the beach so no running. :( On Friday I was a bum! On Saturday I drove home so no running again. Finally on Sunday I ran 15K at the Boilermaker and knocked about 12 minutes off my time from last year! Wahoo! Now we are entering week 3.
I didn't run yesterday, but have plans to run today after work. :)
Here's the schedule for the week.
Monday (7/9) - Cross training
Tuesday (7/10) - 3 Miles
Wednesday (7/11) - 6 Miles
Thursday (7/12) - 3 Miles
Friday (7/13) - Rest
Saturday (7/14) - 6 Mile pace
Sunday (7/15) - 11 Miles
I have been averaging about 3 days per week. Lets hope I can step it up! :)
Week 3 of training began and ended O.K. but the middle of the week was a bit sketchy. LOL. I began by running 3 miles on a fairly shaded trail in the woods on Monday. On Tuesday, I only ran about 2.5 miles because it was so hot. On Wednesday, I packed up my things and drove North to MD and no running that day. On Thursday I went to the beach so no running. :( On Friday I was a bum! On Saturday I drove home so no running again. Finally on Sunday I ran 15K at the Boilermaker and knocked about 12 minutes off my time from last year! Wahoo! Now we are entering week 3.
I didn't run yesterday, but have plans to run today after work. :)
Here's the schedule for the week.
Monday (7/9) - Cross training
Tuesday (7/10) - 3 Miles
Wednesday (7/11) - 6 Miles
Thursday (7/12) - 3 Miles
Friday (7/13) - Rest
Saturday (7/14) - 6 Mile pace
Sunday (7/15) - 11 Miles
I have been averaging about 3 days per week. Lets hope I can step it up! :)
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Week 2 of Training/Week 1 of Vacation :)
Let me start by saying I have had a very busy week! Beginning on Thursday, June 21st, which was my first day of my 2 Week plus 2 Day vacation from work, I have been busy doing so many things AND keeping up with my exercise schedule. So far, I have done something every day. Yay! I will provide a synopsis at the end of the week as well but I will tell you that on Monday I ran/walked 4 miles on the SCCC bike path, on Tuesday I did a hike in the Mohonk preserve which was a little under 5 miles (We will call this the cross-training day), and today (Wed), I ran/walked 6 miles! Tomorrow morning I posted a run on my running website for 4 miles. :) I will rest on Friday and then on Saturday I will run a half-marathon in Buffalo.
That's it for today. Just wanted to type up a brief synopsis of my progress so far so I don't forget! Ha ha!
 |
| Stopping to admire the view at Mohonk Preserve |
Monday, June 25, 2012
Week 1-2 of Marathon Training
Well, I will start by saying that I didn't completely follow the plan to a tee. I was a bit of a slacker at times but there were some good days too. :) On Father's Day (6/17), my friend Jen came into town and I ran a 5K with her and two other friends from Healthy Kids (Kim and Terri). I have to admit that I did not run my best time. I will blame it on the heat. But, I did do it. Monday (6/18) was supposed to be a cross training day and I did nothing. :( On Tuesday, I forced myself to go out running for 3 miles. It was an OK 3 miles but again, not great. On Wednesday I was working late and it was super hot, so again I did not run. I also did not run on Thursday (6/21) but I did walk around at the museum for the day. I ran another 3 miles on Friday morning with my friend Nancy and then did a 5K on Saturday.
So, here is the synopsis for the week:
Originally Scheduled Plan: Actual Running:
Monday (6/18) - Cross-training Monday (6/18) - Nothing
Tuesday (6/19) - 3-miles Tuesday (6/19) - 3 Miles
Wednesday (6/20) - 5 miles Wednesday (6/20) - Nothing
Thursday (6/21) - 3-mile run Thursday (6/21) - Nothing
Friday (6/22)- Rest Friday (6/22) - 3 Miles
Saturday (6/24) - 5-mile pace Saturday (6/24) - 3.1 Miles
Sunday (6/25)- 8-miles Sunday (6/25) - Nothing
So I ran 3/5 scheduled days and did not do any cross training this week. The good news is that I ran 3 times! That's not exactly sticking to my schedule as much as I would like, but it's a start! I have been busy non-stop for the past week.
As for this week, I ran 4 miles this morning even though the schedule calls for cross-training on Mondays. I am going hiking tomorrow, which will count as my cross-training. :) Here is the projected schedule for this week according to the Hal Higdon Plan:
Monday (6/25) - Cross training
Tuesday (6/26) - 3 Miles
Wednesday (6/27) - 5 Miles
Thursday (6/28) - 3 Miles
Friday (6/29) - Rest
Saturday (6/30) - 9 Miles
As noted above, I have a good start so far on this week. The tough days will be Saturday and Sunday, since I will be traveling. I will keep you posted!
Well, I will start by saying that I didn't completely follow the plan to a tee. I was a bit of a slacker at times but there were some good days too. :) On Father's Day (6/17), my friend Jen came into town and I ran a 5K with her and two other friends from Healthy Kids (Kim and Terri). I have to admit that I did not run my best time. I will blame it on the heat. But, I did do it. Monday (6/18) was supposed to be a cross training day and I did nothing. :( On Tuesday, I forced myself to go out running for 3 miles. It was an OK 3 miles but again, not great. On Wednesday I was working late and it was super hot, so again I did not run. I also did not run on Thursday (6/21) but I did walk around at the museum for the day. I ran another 3 miles on Friday morning with my friend Nancy and then did a 5K on Saturday.
So, here is the synopsis for the week:
Originally Scheduled Plan: Actual Running:
Monday (6/18) - Cross-training Monday (6/18) - Nothing
Tuesday (6/19) - 3-miles Tuesday (6/19) - 3 Miles
Wednesday (6/20) - 5 miles Wednesday (6/20) - Nothing
Thursday (6/21) - 3-mile run Thursday (6/21) - Nothing
Friday (6/22)- Rest Friday (6/22) - 3 Miles
Saturday (6/24) - 5-mile pace Saturday (6/24) - 3.1 Miles
Sunday (6/25)- 8-miles Sunday (6/25) - Nothing
So I ran 3/5 scheduled days and did not do any cross training this week. The good news is that I ran 3 times! That's not exactly sticking to my schedule as much as I would like, but it's a start! I have been busy non-stop for the past week.
As for this week, I ran 4 miles this morning even though the schedule calls for cross-training on Mondays. I am going hiking tomorrow, which will count as my cross-training. :) Here is the projected schedule for this week according to the Hal Higdon Plan:
Monday (6/25) - Cross training
Tuesday (6/26) - 3 Miles
Wednesday (6/27) - 5 Miles
Thursday (6/28) - 3 Miles
Friday (6/29) - Rest
Saturday (6/30) - 9 Miles
As noted above, I have a good start so far on this week. The tough days will be Saturday and Sunday, since I will be traveling. I will keep you posted!
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Here I Go Again....
It's been a while since I have "blogged" about anything, but summer is coming and I have a few half-marathons and a full marathon coming up in October! I am very excited about doing the Marine Corps Marathon at the end of October. I just looked at the schedule and if I start next week, that will give me 18 weeks of training, which is exactly how long the Hal Higdon training program is! So, I am going to try this again!
Here is what week 1 looks like and my plan for those days:
Monday (6/18) - Cross-training (Hmmm... Not sure about this one yet)
Tuesday (6/19) - 3-miles (I am meeting my friend Nancy at SCCC bike in the evening)
Wednesday (6/20) - 5 miles (Maybe I will go to Watervliet Bike Path)
Thursday (6/21) - 3-mile run (Either an early morning run or ARE's trail run in the evening)
Friday (6/22)- Rest (I am, however going on a hike - Maybe this can count as my cross-training?) I will keep you posted.
Saturday (6/24) - 5-mile pace (Either post a morning run or sign up for an ARE group run)
Sunday (6/25)- 8-miles (Probably post my own run)
As for the rest of this week and weekend, the only thing on my agenda is the Father's Day 5K on Sunday. Wish me luck on keeping up with my schedule! I am aiming for consistency and a 12-minute pace on marathon day! That will put me at 5:15. I would be happy with 5:30 as well. Can I do it? I am sure gonna try!
Here is what week 1 looks like and my plan for those days:
Monday (6/18) - Cross-training (Hmmm... Not sure about this one yet)
Tuesday (6/19) - 3-miles (I am meeting my friend Nancy at SCCC bike in the evening)
Wednesday (6/20) - 5 miles (Maybe I will go to Watervliet Bike Path)
Thursday (6/21) - 3-mile run (Either an early morning run or ARE's trail run in the evening)
Friday (6/22)- Rest (I am, however going on a hike - Maybe this can count as my cross-training?) I will keep you posted.
Saturday (6/24) - 5-mile pace (Either post a morning run or sign up for an ARE group run)
Sunday (6/25)- 8-miles (Probably post my own run)
As for the rest of this week and weekend, the only thing on my agenda is the Father's Day 5K on Sunday. Wish me luck on keeping up with my schedule! I am aiming for consistency and a 12-minute pace on marathon day! That will put me at 5:15. I would be happy with 5:30 as well. Can I do it? I am sure gonna try!
Friday, April 13, 2012
Hiking!
I'm thinking that I may need to change the title of my blog since I have not written anything about food or finances in a while! I have, however been participating in various fitness activities. I would like to get better about my running during the week, but John and I continue to run at least once every weekend and we just added hiking to the mix!
Yesterday we hiked to the top of Hunter Mountain. It started out as a mild day with the sun shining and about 50 degrees or so. It was sunny as we began climbing up the mountain and John kept commenting on what an easy trail and easy hike it was! It was a nice wide path, grassy in the center and fairly easy to walk. John had mentioned casually that we would most likely be seeing a little bit of snow up at the top of the mountain and about a mile and a half into our hike he turned to me and said, "Did you see the snowflakes?" No, I did not. As we continued to climb, I certainly did see the snowflakes followed by snow on the ground! We were in a winter wonderland! Except it wasn't winter! We thoroughly enjoyed it and kept snapping pictures as we laughed happily up the snow laden trail. It was a bit slow going for me at times because as we continued, there were portions of the trail that were a bit more difficult due to the large incline but we managed nonetheless and made it to the top without incident other than the huge blister on my heel for which I placed a bandaid over and called it good. I definitely did not have the proper shoes on for hiking!
We made it to the top where the temperature was 36 degrees! As we reached the top, there was this large metal structure (also known as a viewing tower). This structure absolutely terrified me because of my fear of heights. I did however climb up with John behind me the entire way. As we almost reached the top, I began to feel the wind and it frightened me a little more at which point, John allowed me to begin the descent back down the tower. I will try this again at some point when it is a clear and sunny day but I do appreciate his support on the tower never leaving my side. I did take a peek at the view and it was beautiful! Due to my fear and my desire to reach the ground, I unfortunately did not get a picture. One more reason to do it again!
We relaxed for a bit and had a few snacks. John found the privy for us off in a distance, which was helpful before beginning our 3 1/2 mile hike back to the car. Going back down hill was tricky at times due to the snow and slippery rocks and leaves. We tried to be careful and I was about to say, "It will be a miracle if neither one of us falls" but I kept that statement to myself until...... One of us fell. :( Thankfully there were no serious injuries and it was overall a really great day! It is the beginning of a new series of adventures for us. It was so nice to be out in the fresh air exploring nature.
Things that we need to do before our next hike:
1) Purchase some hiking shoes (I have a huge painful blister on my heal due to the ratty old sneakers I wore.
2) Get a new backpack (Carried my decorative girly backpack that is not meant for hiking. LOL)
3) Bring a change of clothes (Weather can be unpredictable in the mountains)
Things to think about bringing for longer hikes:
1) Headlamp in case it gets dark before getting back to the car
That's it for now! I will post more after our next adventure!
Yesterday we hiked to the top of Hunter Mountain. It started out as a mild day with the sun shining and about 50 degrees or so. It was sunny as we began climbing up the mountain and John kept commenting on what an easy trail and easy hike it was! It was a nice wide path, grassy in the center and fairly easy to walk. John had mentioned casually that we would most likely be seeing a little bit of snow up at the top of the mountain and about a mile and a half into our hike he turned to me and said, "Did you see the snowflakes?" No, I did not. As we continued to climb, I certainly did see the snowflakes followed by snow on the ground! We were in a winter wonderland! Except it wasn't winter! We thoroughly enjoyed it and kept snapping pictures as we laughed happily up the snow laden trail. It was a bit slow going for me at times because as we continued, there were portions of the trail that were a bit more difficult due to the large incline but we managed nonetheless and made it to the top without incident other than the huge blister on my heel for which I placed a bandaid over and called it good. I definitely did not have the proper shoes on for hiking!
We made it to the top where the temperature was 36 degrees! As we reached the top, there was this large metal structure (also known as a viewing tower). This structure absolutely terrified me because of my fear of heights. I did however climb up with John behind me the entire way. As we almost reached the top, I began to feel the wind and it frightened me a little more at which point, John allowed me to begin the descent back down the tower. I will try this again at some point when it is a clear and sunny day but I do appreciate his support on the tower never leaving my side. I did take a peek at the view and it was beautiful! Due to my fear and my desire to reach the ground, I unfortunately did not get a picture. One more reason to do it again!
We relaxed for a bit and had a few snacks. John found the privy for us off in a distance, which was helpful before beginning our 3 1/2 mile hike back to the car. Going back down hill was tricky at times due to the snow and slippery rocks and leaves. We tried to be careful and I was about to say, "It will be a miracle if neither one of us falls" but I kept that statement to myself until...... One of us fell. :( Thankfully there were no serious injuries and it was overall a really great day! It is the beginning of a new series of adventures for us. It was so nice to be out in the fresh air exploring nature.
Things that we need to do before our next hike:
1) Purchase some hiking shoes (I have a huge painful blister on my heal due to the ratty old sneakers I wore.
2) Get a new backpack (Carried my decorative girly backpack that is not meant for hiking. LOL)
3) Bring a change of clothes (Weather can be unpredictable in the mountains)
Things to think about bringing for longer hikes:
1) Headlamp in case it gets dark before getting back to the car
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Still Running and a PR! :)
Today I ran the Olesak Lumber Half Marathon with John in Westfield, MA. I wasn't feeling well before I started but as I got going I kind of got into a mind set and just kept going. There was a tough hill at mile 3, which I walked. I love having my GPS watch because it keeps me somewhat on track. I would say I did fairly well and was feeling good up until mile 7. Luckily the course from that point was mostly downhill with a few upward slopes and a slightly bigger hill at mile 10. I was getting tired so I did a little bit of the run/walk method in order to get me through. It helped me to decrease my overall time per mile, which helped me reach my PR! :) I have been continuing to exercise once a week, but didn't actually run this week. John and I are working on a plan to get our mileage in during the week. We have been meeting once a week on the Watervliet bike path, which we will continue to do. :) We are also going to make a plan for better, healthier eating habits. Today was a bit difficult after the race as I experienced severe stomach pains and fatigue. Thankfully, I am feeling better now, but I need to make some dietary changes and change my plan of action for pre and post race eating.
I am happy to say that with each subsequent half-marathon I have run this year, I have continued to improve my overall time. I started with the Colchester Half Marathon in February with a time of 2:57:49, then did the D.C. Rock and Roll Half with a time of 2:49:01 and today I completed the Olesak Lumber Half with an approximate time of 2:41:00. Official results have not been posted. I am going by my GPS. Either way it is a PR. My last PR was at the Hangover Half Marathon in 2010 with a time of 2:45:06. This makes my first PR of any distance in 2012. I would also like to say Thank you to John for all of his love, support, and encouragement today! :) He is always waiting at the finish for me and he made me feel very proud of my accomplishment today! Thanks honey!
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Happy St. Patrick's Day and More!
Food:
I lasted about a month on the Paleo diet and have kind of "fallen off the wagon." I would like to get back into better eating habits again. I unfortunately have not been doing the planning that I was doing prior regarding my diet. I am looking forward to planting a garden soon with John so that we can have our own fresh veggies. Yum!! I also had a yummy and nice healthy meal when I was in Virginia with Belynda. We had some tasty salmon and delicious veggies and pasta. Thanks Belynda! Also, lots of fruit and peanut butter for my drive home.
Finances:
Again, I have not really been as vigilant in this area as I was at the beginning of the year. I took a trip to the D.C. area and spent some money on running gear and travel. I have also been stopping for coffee and lunch some days and I have not been keeping track of what I am spending overall. On the positive side, I haven't been making trips to places like Target and Wal-Mart and buying unnecessary odds and ends. I did bring my Pampered Chef products and attempt to do a cooking show at Leah's house to make some extra money to help fund my trip. LOL. I will work harder on this area in the upcoming months.
Fitness:
This is the one area where I can say that I have been doing fairly well. On St. Patrick's Day, I ran a half-marathon in Washington D.C. I have also been running at least once during the week and once on the weekend. John and I have been meeting once a week at the Watervliet Bike Trail after work these past few weeks and I have been running about 4 miles each time. I just purchased a GPS watch with a heart rate monitor so I've been tracking my runs. I have also become one of those people that you see at the end of a race looking down at my watch in the finish-line race photos that I always used to make fun of. Hee hee. I also ran a 2-mile and a 5-mile run with John today in Bristol, CT. It was the Shamrock 2-Mile and 5-Mile run. I was able to run the 2 Mile run with an average 10:17 min mile, which is an improvement for me. :) The 5-Mile run was a struggle for me because I had less energy at times but the best part of the 5-Mile was that John ran the whole thing with me. :) And my official recorded time was 1-second faster than him! There are pictures online to prove it! LOL Check out Bristolct.net. Once I figure out what number our pictures are, I'll comment on my post. :) I will once again try to be better about posting! For now, I'm going to call it a night! I'll try to be more entertaining in my next post. I'm just a little tired today.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Hello Again! :)
Once again, it's been a while since I have posted an entry in my blog. Thanks to John for encouraging and reminding me to blog. :) So glad to have a network of supporters! Thanks to all of you for keeping up with me and providing encouragement and reminders. :) I'll try to give just a brief synopsis in each of the categories. I will admit that I have somewhat "fallen off the wagon" with my habits but plan to get back on. LOL. Here goes...
Food:
This past week was February break and I started by going out to dinner and having some wine. Then it was all downhill from there! LOL. The good news is that so far, I have maintained my 10 pound weight loss. I continue to use coconut milk or almond milk instead of dairy. I have enjoyed my week of eating "regular" food, but I'm planning on going back to my better eating habits, but perhaps a bit less strict. I will limit my sweets and my bread intake and try to make better overall choices. I will keep you posted on how I do.
Finances:
This is another area that I have not been keeping track of very well. I haven't gone crazy, but have just not been as careful as I had tried to be at the beginning of the year. My biggest downfall is books I think. LOL. I went to Boston with my friend Sue to visit our friend Jen and we went to this great used book store and I just couldn't resist getting a pile of books. LOL. Then I went to TJ Maxx today and found these particular "Look and Find" toddler books that I have been looking for so I bought three of them and I also bought a pair of running pants. I have been trying to work on refinancing some of my larger bills in order to make my overall financial situation better.
Fitness:
As always, I save the best category for last. Even though I haven't been doing great about attending my boot camp or exercising during the week, I have been running on the weekends with John. Last weekend I ran 5.5 miles as part of a marathon relay team with John and Jessica. We called ourselves "Team Butt Freeze!" LOL. This weekend I did a half-marathon in Colchester, CT and it was very windy with lots of uphills! I completed it in less than 3 hours, which wasn't my best half-marathon time, but it was better than several of my half-marathons. I also attended a yoga class when I was visiting Jen. Starting on March 8th, I will be taking a Zumba class with my sister-in-law. I am looking for a Pilates or Yoga class to take in order to work on my stretching because I keep pulling my calf muscle. Ugh! If anyone knows of any classes that are cheap, please let me know! :)
Food:
This past week was February break and I started by going out to dinner and having some wine. Then it was all downhill from there! LOL. The good news is that so far, I have maintained my 10 pound weight loss. I continue to use coconut milk or almond milk instead of dairy. I have enjoyed my week of eating "regular" food, but I'm planning on going back to my better eating habits, but perhaps a bit less strict. I will limit my sweets and my bread intake and try to make better overall choices. I will keep you posted on how I do.
Finances:
This is another area that I have not been keeping track of very well. I haven't gone crazy, but have just not been as careful as I had tried to be at the beginning of the year. My biggest downfall is books I think. LOL. I went to Boston with my friend Sue to visit our friend Jen and we went to this great used book store and I just couldn't resist getting a pile of books. LOL. Then I went to TJ Maxx today and found these particular "Look and Find" toddler books that I have been looking for so I bought three of them and I also bought a pair of running pants. I have been trying to work on refinancing some of my larger bills in order to make my overall financial situation better.
Fitness:
As always, I save the best category for last. Even though I haven't been doing great about attending my boot camp or exercising during the week, I have been running on the weekends with John. Last weekend I ran 5.5 miles as part of a marathon relay team with John and Jessica. We called ourselves "Team Butt Freeze!" LOL. This weekend I did a half-marathon in Colchester, CT and it was very windy with lots of uphills! I completed it in less than 3 hours, which wasn't my best half-marathon time, but it was better than several of my half-marathons. I also attended a yoga class when I was visiting Jen. Starting on March 8th, I will be taking a Zumba class with my sister-in-law. I am looking for a Pilates or Yoga class to take in order to work on my stretching because I keep pulling my calf muscle. Ugh! If anyone knows of any classes that are cheap, please let me know! :)
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
I'm Still Here. :)
Hi there! If anyone has checked in on my blog lately, you've probably noticed that I haven't written in a while. Oops! I will try to do better. This will be a short one (I think! LOL) but I wanted to at least add an update.
Finances:
I haven't been spending willy nilly, but I haven't really been keeping track very well either. I could definitely do better with my money if I would plan my lunches better. Even though the weather has been warmer than usual, I think I lose some of my motivation in the winter to do the things I need to do. Yikes! For example, if I were to take the time to make my lunch the night before, I would not need to stop for lunch to buy a salad because I would already have it made. I take the time to go to the grocery store, so I should take the time to make my lunch. Sounds simple, right? Now I just need to DO IT! I will keep you posted on that! :)
Fitness:
Here is another area where I have been lacking. :( Can I just say that I HATE to get up in the morning. Ugh! Sometimes I feel like I could sleep all day! It is hard enough to get up and get ready for work, but to get up and exercise - YUCK! That being said, I know I just need to DO IT! I went to boot camp once last week and am planning on going tomorrow morning. Wish me luck! I did do a 4.34 mile run on Sunday for the HMRRC Winter Series and John and I are doing a Sweetheart run on Saturday. Thankfully we do at least one run a week so I do get in some exercise along the way. I just need to become more consistent. If any of you are reading this, feel free to harass me to exercise! LOL
Food:
I did save the best part for last, because for the most part this has been an area of success. I began the Paleo Diet on January 17th and have been doing well. I have lost about 10 pounds so far and its been about 3 weeks. I will admit that I have cheated on some things, such as cream and sugar in my coffee and I have had two pieces of cheese over the three-week period. I have even had hot cocoa a few times. I will say that I try not to make these "cheats" a habit. I am happy to say that I haven't had any bread or bread type foods at all. I almost always have salad for lunch with some kind of meat on top and usually meat or fish for dinner with veggies and sometimes sweet potato fries. I coat them in melted coconut butter and sprinkle some salt and pepper on the top, put them in the oven for about 20 minutes and yummy! Ask my niece Jamie (she LOVED them when I made them last night! :)). I also have not had dessert other than the dark chocolate that is allowed on this diet. Here are my two little dessert cheats. I had literally 1 bite of John's cheesecake and I ate the leftover strawberries with sugar and whipped cream that my niece left last night. I resisted until the end when it was left on the table. I even gave Taylor the whipped cream spoon to lick so I wouldn't be tempted to do it myself. LOL. That's all for now! I will try to do better about posting. It's not always very exciting, but I'm trying to make progress! :)
Finances:
I haven't been spending willy nilly, but I haven't really been keeping track very well either. I could definitely do better with my money if I would plan my lunches better. Even though the weather has been warmer than usual, I think I lose some of my motivation in the winter to do the things I need to do. Yikes! For example, if I were to take the time to make my lunch the night before, I would not need to stop for lunch to buy a salad because I would already have it made. I take the time to go to the grocery store, so I should take the time to make my lunch. Sounds simple, right? Now I just need to DO IT! I will keep you posted on that! :)
Fitness:
Here is another area where I have been lacking. :( Can I just say that I HATE to get up in the morning. Ugh! Sometimes I feel like I could sleep all day! It is hard enough to get up and get ready for work, but to get up and exercise - YUCK! That being said, I know I just need to DO IT! I went to boot camp once last week and am planning on going tomorrow morning. Wish me luck! I did do a 4.34 mile run on Sunday for the HMRRC Winter Series and John and I are doing a Sweetheart run on Saturday. Thankfully we do at least one run a week so I do get in some exercise along the way. I just need to become more consistent. If any of you are reading this, feel free to harass me to exercise! LOL
Food:
I did save the best part for last, because for the most part this has been an area of success. I began the Paleo Diet on January 17th and have been doing well. I have lost about 10 pounds so far and its been about 3 weeks. I will admit that I have cheated on some things, such as cream and sugar in my coffee and I have had two pieces of cheese over the three-week period. I have even had hot cocoa a few times. I will say that I try not to make these "cheats" a habit. I am happy to say that I haven't had any bread or bread type foods at all. I almost always have salad for lunch with some kind of meat on top and usually meat or fish for dinner with veggies and sometimes sweet potato fries. I coat them in melted coconut butter and sprinkle some salt and pepper on the top, put them in the oven for about 20 minutes and yummy! Ask my niece Jamie (she LOVED them when I made them last night! :)). I also have not had dessert other than the dark chocolate that is allowed on this diet. Here are my two little dessert cheats. I had literally 1 bite of John's cheesecake and I ate the leftover strawberries with sugar and whipped cream that my niece left last night. I resisted until the end when it was left on the table. I even gave Taylor the whipped cream spoon to lick so I wouldn't be tempted to do it myself. LOL. That's all for now! I will try to do better about posting. It's not always very exciting, but I'm trying to make progress! :)
Sunday, January 22, 2012
A Recap of the Week
I would like to begin by thanking my friends for reading and keeping on top of me! Thanks Christine for noticing that I haven't written in a few days and for sending me an e-mail to check in. That's why I have invited you all to read my blog. :) I am very lucky to have such supportive friends. I will say that being motivated in the winter to exercise has been extremely difficult, but once again I have a brand new week to begin once again! Yay! I am going to start today talking about my successes in the category of Food. Here goes!
Food:
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I began the Paleo 45-day challenge on Tuesday. My goal is to follow it strictly in order to measure my progress accurately at the end. March 1st is the last day of this challenge. I didn't weigh myself until Friday morning and I had John take my measurements on Saturday, but its close enough to determine results. I am embarrassed by the number on the scale, but I am going to post it here now so we can all see my progress in the end. Here is is: I weigh 205 lbs. Yikes! The good news is that although I am supposed to wait until the end to weigh myself again, I couldn't resist checking the scale one more time and it had gone down to 202 in just a few days. Part of this was because I was bloated when I first weighed myself, but I'll take it any way I can. Ha ha!
Before I tell you about my progress this week on my diet, I would like to talk a little about my goals with this Paleo Challenge. This diet is pretty restrictive and does not allow sugar, dairy, grains, or legumes including soy. That leaves out a lot of the things I like to eat but it also allows for lots of meat and veggies, which I love. So, my goal with this diet is to try to curb my cravings for sweets and bread type carbs and to develop healthier eating habits. I came across this diet through the boot camp that I belong to and they say that it can be a lifestyle change, but I'm not sure that I would be able to maintain it completely because I do love my sweets. But, I am hoping to modify this and have limited sweets rather than eating tons of junk like I sometimes do! (Which is probably why I gained around 20 lbs.) Yikes!
So, now for the synopsis of my diet for the week. I am happy to say that other than my unintentional cheat of peanut butter on a banana in the beginning of the week, I have not cheated on my diet! Woot woot! I have been drinking coffee with coconut milk, which is non-dairy and no sugar. This has been a challenge for me, but I am getting used to it. I have also begun to really enjoy the taste of coconut milk on its own, which was surprising to me because I never really liked coconut. Today I even had half a cup of coffee black because I was so cold after running outside and then standing out in the cold weather for two hours as a volunteer. It wasn't my favorite, but it warmed me up! I made a salad every day from Tuesday to Friday and made my own salad dressing with olive oil, vinegar, and spices. I generally use walnuts, craisins and when available leftover cooked meat such as chicken or steak on my salad. I have been eating lots of veggies and since I am not allowed to eat regular potatoes, I have been making sweet-potato fries (coated in coconut oil with salt, pepper, and seasonings), which I surprisingly love as well! :) This is surprising to me because I have never before liked sweet potatoes. Oh, and I am able to use almond butter on my bananas and it is yummy! All these things that I never would have tried! I think I need to stop talking about food because I am getting hungry! LOL
Fitness:
Other than today, this area has been a difficult one for me. The winter weather has made me so unmotivated. I need to get over this and get my butt out the door to run and to go to boot camp! I missed every day this past week and it starts again tomorrow. I will be there! Today I ran 3 miles on the SUNY Albany campus for Winter Series #4. Then I went out and volunteered flagging runners in for the 15K and 30K races and was out in the cold for 2 hours! The good news is that my time improved from Winter Series #1 3 Mile Run. That means something is working! :) I will keep you posted tomorrow regarding my fitness regime and hope to have good news!
Finance:
My finances have been OK, but since it's winter the heating bills are higher of course. I am working on getting my mom to pitch in, since she lives here too but as you know I can ask her one moment and she will forget the next. This is why I mentioned it to my brother as well, hoping he can help me with this point. Overall, I still have not spent any outside money, but the bills still come in every month as you all know too well! I have some things I need to do to decrease some of my larger bills and need to work on that soon. I will keep you posted if I figure anything out! LOL
Food:
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I began the Paleo 45-day challenge on Tuesday. My goal is to follow it strictly in order to measure my progress accurately at the end. March 1st is the last day of this challenge. I didn't weigh myself until Friday morning and I had John take my measurements on Saturday, but its close enough to determine results. I am embarrassed by the number on the scale, but I am going to post it here now so we can all see my progress in the end. Here is is: I weigh 205 lbs. Yikes! The good news is that although I am supposed to wait until the end to weigh myself again, I couldn't resist checking the scale one more time and it had gone down to 202 in just a few days. Part of this was because I was bloated when I first weighed myself, but I'll take it any way I can. Ha ha!
Before I tell you about my progress this week on my diet, I would like to talk a little about my goals with this Paleo Challenge. This diet is pretty restrictive and does not allow sugar, dairy, grains, or legumes including soy. That leaves out a lot of the things I like to eat but it also allows for lots of meat and veggies, which I love. So, my goal with this diet is to try to curb my cravings for sweets and bread type carbs and to develop healthier eating habits. I came across this diet through the boot camp that I belong to and they say that it can be a lifestyle change, but I'm not sure that I would be able to maintain it completely because I do love my sweets. But, I am hoping to modify this and have limited sweets rather than eating tons of junk like I sometimes do! (Which is probably why I gained around 20 lbs.) Yikes!
So, now for the synopsis of my diet for the week. I am happy to say that other than my unintentional cheat of peanut butter on a banana in the beginning of the week, I have not cheated on my diet! Woot woot! I have been drinking coffee with coconut milk, which is non-dairy and no sugar. This has been a challenge for me, but I am getting used to it. I have also begun to really enjoy the taste of coconut milk on its own, which was surprising to me because I never really liked coconut. Today I even had half a cup of coffee black because I was so cold after running outside and then standing out in the cold weather for two hours as a volunteer. It wasn't my favorite, but it warmed me up! I made a salad every day from Tuesday to Friday and made my own salad dressing with olive oil, vinegar, and spices. I generally use walnuts, craisins and when available leftover cooked meat such as chicken or steak on my salad. I have been eating lots of veggies and since I am not allowed to eat regular potatoes, I have been making sweet-potato fries (coated in coconut oil with salt, pepper, and seasonings), which I surprisingly love as well! :) This is surprising to me because I have never before liked sweet potatoes. Oh, and I am able to use almond butter on my bananas and it is yummy! All these things that I never would have tried! I think I need to stop talking about food because I am getting hungry! LOL
Fitness:
Other than today, this area has been a difficult one for me. The winter weather has made me so unmotivated. I need to get over this and get my butt out the door to run and to go to boot camp! I missed every day this past week and it starts again tomorrow. I will be there! Today I ran 3 miles on the SUNY Albany campus for Winter Series #4. Then I went out and volunteered flagging runners in for the 15K and 30K races and was out in the cold for 2 hours! The good news is that my time improved from Winter Series #1 3 Mile Run. That means something is working! :) I will keep you posted tomorrow regarding my fitness regime and hope to have good news!
Finance:
My finances have been OK, but since it's winter the heating bills are higher of course. I am working on getting my mom to pitch in, since she lives here too but as you know I can ask her one moment and she will forget the next. This is why I mentioned it to my brother as well, hoping he can help me with this point. Overall, I still have not spent any outside money, but the bills still come in every month as you all know too well! I have some things I need to do to decrease some of my larger bills and need to work on that soon. I will keep you posted if I figure anything out! LOL
Blah!
**NOTE** I wrote this post earlier in the week and never published it because I fell asleep writing it! LOL! This was written on Thursday. :) Sorry, I didn't elaborate at the end. Oops!
I find that during these cold windy winter days, my motivation is completely lacking! I talk to my friend Leah every morning before work and this week she started her fitness and healthy eating program. She has the motivation that I need right now. I know I will get there, but right now I am just Blah about exercise. The thought of going outside in the cold when I don't have to is just not appealing to me. Anyway, way to go Leah. Keep up the good work. Now to just give myself a kick in the butt. Hopefully boot camp tomorrow will give me some momentum.
Fitness:
If you read above, you can see that this is an area where I am lacking these days. I usually manage to get a few days of exercise in, which I guess is better than nothing, but I want to do better than that! I will say that my one positive thing is that I will continue to try and I will continue to move forward despite my backsliding. I just want to be better about my running schedule so that I can perform better for my half-marathon in March. Thankfully, on the weekends John kicks my butt and makes me run (except this past weekend). Missing workouts can be a slippery slope. My excuse for missing boot camp this morning was that I was trying to finish up some work for my job. While work is technically a "good excuse" I really must hold myself accountable and say that I should have gotten my work done sooner so that I wasn't scrambling at the last minute. Winter is such a hard time to stay motivated!
Finances:
Not really too much to report in this area today. I did not spend money on anything today. I did pack my lunch and my gas tank was filled yesterday.
Food:
I did pack my lunch, but of course I didn't do it until this morning so I was scrambling as usual to pack it up. But, I packed it! That's the important thing right? I made a salad with mushrooms, walnuts, tomatoes, and of course lettuce. Later on, at lunch time, I found a bag of dried cranberries to use for some sweetness. I didn't plan very well again and simply had a banana with a little bit of peanut butter. At lunch time I had some almond butter. I felt very hungry at times today but managed not to cheat! :)
I find that during these cold windy winter days, my motivation is completely lacking! I talk to my friend Leah every morning before work and this week she started her fitness and healthy eating program. She has the motivation that I need right now. I know I will get there, but right now I am just Blah about exercise. The thought of going outside in the cold when I don't have to is just not appealing to me. Anyway, way to go Leah. Keep up the good work. Now to just give myself a kick in the butt. Hopefully boot camp tomorrow will give me some momentum.
Fitness:
If you read above, you can see that this is an area where I am lacking these days. I usually manage to get a few days of exercise in, which I guess is better than nothing, but I want to do better than that! I will say that my one positive thing is that I will continue to try and I will continue to move forward despite my backsliding. I just want to be better about my running schedule so that I can perform better for my half-marathon in March. Thankfully, on the weekends John kicks my butt and makes me run (except this past weekend). Missing workouts can be a slippery slope. My excuse for missing boot camp this morning was that I was trying to finish up some work for my job. While work is technically a "good excuse" I really must hold myself accountable and say that I should have gotten my work done sooner so that I wasn't scrambling at the last minute. Winter is such a hard time to stay motivated!
Finances:
Not really too much to report in this area today. I did not spend money on anything today. I did pack my lunch and my gas tank was filled yesterday.
Food:
I did pack my lunch, but of course I didn't do it until this morning so I was scrambling as usual to pack it up. But, I packed it! That's the important thing right? I made a salad with mushrooms, walnuts, tomatoes, and of course lettuce. Later on, at lunch time, I found a bag of dried cranberries to use for some sweetness. I didn't plan very well again and simply had a banana with a little bit of peanut butter. At lunch time I had some almond butter. I felt very hungry at times today but managed not to cheat! :)
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
A Brand New Week!
I would like to begin by thanking all of my friends that are reading my blog and for your words of encouragement. I appreciate all of you! :) Yes, I know it's Tuesday, but it's the beginning of my week because yesterday was a holiday. I gave myself an extra day to eat lots of crap before I begin my Paleo 45-day challenge! I will talk more about this in the Food section of the blog. As you know from reading that this past week was kind of a bust in all categories, but I am back and ready to go!
Fitness:
I'll start here today, since it will probably be the quickest section. LOL. No exercise today because I have boot-camp at 5:30 a.m., which I MUST attend tomorrow. I am paying for it so I NEED to go! This does of course put me a little behind on my running schedule, which I will post below (I haven't actually looked at it yet. hee hee).
The week starts on Monday, so as you see I have missed two days already, but I can substitute my "rest" day on Friday, so I will really only be missing 1 day. Wouldn't it be great if I could actually have a week where I did ALL of my runs? I'm aiming for that! I have to be ready for March 17th when Belynda and I run the Rock-n-Roll half in D.C. I wanna be READY!
Finally, in this fitness section, I would like to give a shout out to Leah who began her healthy eating habits and exercise! She has made it to the gym twice this week, which is far better than me. :) GO LEAH!!
Finances:
I went to the supermarket on Sunday with John and he bought the first round of my groceries, which consisted of veggies, walnuts, and an onion. I think that's it. Anyway, I didn't spend any money there. Yay! I finished up and did the majority of my shopping at Shop-Rite yesterday. Since this is the first week of this specific Paleo diet, I allowed myself to go over my $50 allotment and spent about $75. Luckily, some of the things that I bought will not have to be purchased every week, including the coconut oil, which was $9 for a small jar. I also purchased some mustard powder and some other things that I cannot recall at the moment. The point is that some of these items were a bit pricey and contributed to the higher grocery bill. I also bought gas for my car, which is a necessity. I should hopefully be getting my mileage reimbursement from work on Thursday, which I will keep in a separate area and allocate those as the only funds to use for gas. Since it is from November AND December, it should start me off nicely and I shouldn't have to dip into my weekly budget for gas anymore. Yay! It will at least make me feel like I am getting ahead. :)
Food:
This was day 1 of the Paleo 45-day challenge. Can I do it? Yes I can! (Although I am a little hungry right now. Yikes!) Today I had a banana for breakfast with peanut butter. (After I had the peanut butter, I realized that may not have been accepted because of the soy protein. Oops! I will get back to you on that). I was going to have almond butter, which I purchased last night, but it was very oily and I was having trouble stirring it and I was running very late! (I know that's a shocker for me, huh?) Anyway, with my banana, I actually had coffee with Coconut Milk creamer and I am happy to say that it wasn't bad. I didn't have any sugar or dairy, because this particular diet does not allow most dairy and no sugar or sugar substitutes. I thought of Stacia today who always drinks her coffee black. I didn't think I could do it and still not sure if I could do it black, but this is a start. OK, enough rambling. LOL. For lunch I had a salad with a lettuce mix, tomatoes, mushrooms, and walnuts and my own homemade oil and vinegar dressing with lemon and some spices. I had another banana for a snack because I was admittedly very hungry. Dinner was tilapia with pampered chef garlic and peppercorn rub cooked in coconut oil and a side of mixed veggies. It was very tasty.
My challenge now is to prepare all of my food for tomorrow and give myself enough time to make breakfast in the morning. I can have eggs for breakfast, but need to leave myself time. I also need to prepare my lunch tonight so that I am not rushing around in the morning. This means that I need to get my butt off the computer soon to do all of the preparations. This is not easy for me. :) I will tell you tomorrow how it went. Have a nice day! :)
Fitness:
I'll start here today, since it will probably be the quickest section. LOL. No exercise today because I have boot-camp at 5:30 a.m., which I MUST attend tomorrow. I am paying for it so I NEED to go! This does of course put me a little behind on my running schedule, which I will post below (I haven't actually looked at it yet. hee hee).
| Stretch & strengthen | 3.5 m run | 35 min tempo | 3 m run + strength | Rest | 3 m run | 7 m run |
Finally, in this fitness section, I would like to give a shout out to Leah who began her healthy eating habits and exercise! She has made it to the gym twice this week, which is far better than me. :) GO LEAH!!
Finances:
I went to the supermarket on Sunday with John and he bought the first round of my groceries, which consisted of veggies, walnuts, and an onion. I think that's it. Anyway, I didn't spend any money there. Yay! I finished up and did the majority of my shopping at Shop-Rite yesterday. Since this is the first week of this specific Paleo diet, I allowed myself to go over my $50 allotment and spent about $75. Luckily, some of the things that I bought will not have to be purchased every week, including the coconut oil, which was $9 for a small jar. I also purchased some mustard powder and some other things that I cannot recall at the moment. The point is that some of these items were a bit pricey and contributed to the higher grocery bill. I also bought gas for my car, which is a necessity. I should hopefully be getting my mileage reimbursement from work on Thursday, which I will keep in a separate area and allocate those as the only funds to use for gas. Since it is from November AND December, it should start me off nicely and I shouldn't have to dip into my weekly budget for gas anymore. Yay! It will at least make me feel like I am getting ahead. :)
Food:
This was day 1 of the Paleo 45-day challenge. Can I do it? Yes I can! (Although I am a little hungry right now. Yikes!) Today I had a banana for breakfast with peanut butter. (After I had the peanut butter, I realized that may not have been accepted because of the soy protein. Oops! I will get back to you on that). I was going to have almond butter, which I purchased last night, but it was very oily and I was having trouble stirring it and I was running very late! (I know that's a shocker for me, huh?) Anyway, with my banana, I actually had coffee with Coconut Milk creamer and I am happy to say that it wasn't bad. I didn't have any sugar or dairy, because this particular diet does not allow most dairy and no sugar or sugar substitutes. I thought of Stacia today who always drinks her coffee black. I didn't think I could do it and still not sure if I could do it black, but this is a start. OK, enough rambling. LOL. For lunch I had a salad with a lettuce mix, tomatoes, mushrooms, and walnuts and my own homemade oil and vinegar dressing with lemon and some spices. I had another banana for a snack because I was admittedly very hungry. Dinner was tilapia with pampered chef garlic and peppercorn rub cooked in coconut oil and a side of mixed veggies. It was very tasty.
My challenge now is to prepare all of my food for tomorrow and give myself enough time to make breakfast in the morning. I can have eggs for breakfast, but need to leave myself time. I also need to prepare my lunch tonight so that I am not rushing around in the morning. This means that I need to get my butt off the computer soon to do all of the preparations. This is not easy for me. :) I will tell you tomorrow how it went. Have a nice day! :)
Saturday, January 14, 2012
My Downhill Descent! (1/12/12-1/14/12)
I made it back to work on Thursday after two days at home with no car. Let's just say that I stopped being so disciplined and I can see how it can be a battle to stay on task. It's definitely a struggle at times. It takes work to get out of the habit of being lazy! LOL! But the good news for me is that I look at every Monday as a new beginning! I'm looking at each new week as a chance to start over again and get it right. So here's to Monday! Bring it on!
Food:
Rather than talk about my very POOR food choices of this past week, I will talk a little about my plans for next week and for getting kind of a head start. I am starting the PALEO 45-day challenge. This is a diet plan through the boot-camp that I attend (sporadically at this point). Anyway, this will be difficult for me because it doesn't allow you to have dairy or sugar (or sugar substitutes). There are other specifics as well that I can't remember at this point, but I will post about it and let you know how it's going. I really want to try to do this religiously because it is supposed to be good for you and help you feel better and perform exercise routines more effectively, etc. I think that's why I have been indulging more this week. I'm trying to "cram" in all the stuff that's bad for me. All that food definitely tastes good, but I also notice a difference in the way I feel when I'm eating better to when I'm eating "junk."
Fitness:
My goal for next week is to follow my running schedule AND my boot camp schedule. I know that 5:30 a.m. is early, but it will be worth it in the end. I want to be BUFF! LOL
Finance:
I have not been as careful this week with finances as I was last week, but I am much more careful than I have been in the past. I did buy a 6-inch sub and a pick-two at Panera on Thursday, but I started the week with $40 cash and ended with about $7 at the end of the week from "non-essentials" My spending habits overall are improving. Now I just need to find a better deal for internet service. I am paying $65 after taxes right now through Time-Warner. If anyone else knows of other deals, let me know. I see that Verizon is $49.99, but that's before any taxes, so I'm not sure how much of a savings that will be. I thought about getting T.V. with internet for my mom and having her contribute for that, since I don't really watch T.V. It would give her something to do in the winter. Just thinking. I haven't made any changes yet. Just looking for ways to cut costs and keep up with my goals. :)
Food:
Rather than talk about my very POOR food choices of this past week, I will talk a little about my plans for next week and for getting kind of a head start. I am starting the PALEO 45-day challenge. This is a diet plan through the boot-camp that I attend (sporadically at this point). Anyway, this will be difficult for me because it doesn't allow you to have dairy or sugar (or sugar substitutes). There are other specifics as well that I can't remember at this point, but I will post about it and let you know how it's going. I really want to try to do this religiously because it is supposed to be good for you and help you feel better and perform exercise routines more effectively, etc. I think that's why I have been indulging more this week. I'm trying to "cram" in all the stuff that's bad for me. All that food definitely tastes good, but I also notice a difference in the way I feel when I'm eating better to when I'm eating "junk."
Fitness:
My goal for next week is to follow my running schedule AND my boot camp schedule. I know that 5:30 a.m. is early, but it will be worth it in the end. I want to be BUFF! LOL
Finance:
I have not been as careful this week with finances as I was last week, but I am much more careful than I have been in the past. I did buy a 6-inch sub and a pick-two at Panera on Thursday, but I started the week with $40 cash and ended with about $7 at the end of the week from "non-essentials" My spending habits overall are improving. Now I just need to find a better deal for internet service. I am paying $65 after taxes right now through Time-Warner. If anyone else knows of other deals, let me know. I see that Verizon is $49.99, but that's before any taxes, so I'm not sure how much of a savings that will be. I thought about getting T.V. with internet for my mom and having her contribute for that, since I don't really watch T.V. It would give her something to do in the winter. Just thinking. I haven't made any changes yet. Just looking for ways to cut costs and keep up with my goals. :)
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Ohhhh Boy! (1/10/12-1/11/12)
OK - So today I am putting Tuesday and Wednesday into one post since they have pretty much become one big continuous day of stress! Ugh! There were admittedly some good points along the way, thanks to great friends! :) I guess I have to start with Monday night when my car died. :( That kept me out of work on Tuesday and I thought about renting a car for Wednesday in case my car was unable to get fixed on Tuesday. Unfortunately, I didn't think of that option until late Tuesday night when I made the reservation at Enterprise, which began a series of unfortunate events! I know this story isn't specifically related to the topics in this blog, but I'll just finish my story and then start on the categories (cuz it sorta relates; bear with me). Anyway, I called my friend Don to ask him for a ride to Enterprise at 7:30 when he finished work. He came to get me and while he waited (He got to see firsthand how sneaky HK can be about taking her meds), I received a message from Enterprise (that I didn't see until we were on our way) stating that they did not have cars until the afternoon. I was going to call a few places right after I stopped at my car (still in the bank lot) and the bank parking lot Nazi stopped me and to tell me that my car can't stay there until the evening and that he "NEEDS" that spot or he's gonna tow my car!
NOTE** This post was started on Wednesday and I am finishing it now (On Saturday), so it's a bit disjointed. Sorry.
As you see from my "note" above, I started writing this and it's pretty much a venting session about my crappy experiences on Wednesday. To finish the above story, I called my brother Kevin and he thankfully gave me use of his AAA services (That's Triple A, not AA - although at this point alcohol should have been consumed! Ha ha). Anyway, in the end it all worked out and I had my car towed to Jamie and Rob's house, he fixed my car and even dropped it off for me. What a guy! :)
OK - So here we go with the categories. Some of this will be more like true confessions! Here's the first and the worst of them......
Food:
I started off with good intentions when Stacia and I went to dinner on Tuesday night. I thought I might be a "little" bad and I tried to make the smart choice for dinner so I ordered the salmon. I hemmed and hawed over what to order and ended up with the salmon because I figured it was healthier than pasta. It was good, but at dinner time, I was really wishing I ordered the pasta! LOL. I did also have a roll with butter, which was scrumptious! AND I had a glass of wine!
As if all of that wasn't bad enough, I pigged out on breakfast Wednesday morning! After I discovered that I had to have my car towed, I was stressed and I just ate everything in site! LOL That included pancakes, eggs, home fries, and bacon! If I'm gonna admit everything, I might as well put it all here. Someday, I will look back at this and be appalled (Ha ha!). And then at night I ate a giant candy bar! Then I just stopped keeping track! Yikes! See how that downward spiral happens?
Finance:
There is good and bad in this category. Let's begin with dinner.. Between the groupon that I had and my wonderful friend (You know who you are! :)), I didn't spend any money for dinner on Tuesday night. I was GOING to rent a car to go to work on Wednesday, but since that fell through, I saved about $50-$60 on a rental, not to mention the cost of gas and since I had personal days to use anyway, it wasn't really that big of a deal, although I felt bad and I had to catch up on things and make up visits, etc. The other positive is that I didn't have to pay to get the car towed because of Triple A. Finally, while I did have to pay $180 to get my car fixed, it was much less than I would have had to pay if I had to go to a "regular" garage. Thanks to my nephew Rob for taking care of me! :) And for the door-to-door service. I also spent money on said breakfast above and had to buy a phone card to continue my cell service. :)You know I can't live without a phone!
Fitness:
Ummm... I really have nothing to say in this category, except that I have been verrrrry, verrrry, verrrry, ......BAD! I will not make any excuses, but no boot camp and no running since Monday.
That's all for the Tuesday, Wednesday post!
NOTE** This post was started on Wednesday and I am finishing it now (On Saturday), so it's a bit disjointed. Sorry.
As you see from my "note" above, I started writing this and it's pretty much a venting session about my crappy experiences on Wednesday. To finish the above story, I called my brother Kevin and he thankfully gave me use of his AAA services (That's Triple A, not AA - although at this point alcohol should have been consumed! Ha ha). Anyway, in the end it all worked out and I had my car towed to Jamie and Rob's house, he fixed my car and even dropped it off for me. What a guy! :)
OK - So here we go with the categories. Some of this will be more like true confessions! Here's the first and the worst of them......
Food:
I started off with good intentions when Stacia and I went to dinner on Tuesday night. I thought I might be a "little" bad and I tried to make the smart choice for dinner so I ordered the salmon. I hemmed and hawed over what to order and ended up with the salmon because I figured it was healthier than pasta. It was good, but at dinner time, I was really wishing I ordered the pasta! LOL. I did also have a roll with butter, which was scrumptious! AND I had a glass of wine!
As if all of that wasn't bad enough, I pigged out on breakfast Wednesday morning! After I discovered that I had to have my car towed, I was stressed and I just ate everything in site! LOL That included pancakes, eggs, home fries, and bacon! If I'm gonna admit everything, I might as well put it all here. Someday, I will look back at this and be appalled (Ha ha!). And then at night I ate a giant candy bar! Then I just stopped keeping track! Yikes! See how that downward spiral happens?
Finance:
There is good and bad in this category. Let's begin with dinner.. Between the groupon that I had and my wonderful friend (You know who you are! :)), I didn't spend any money for dinner on Tuesday night. I was GOING to rent a car to go to work on Wednesday, but since that fell through, I saved about $50-$60 on a rental, not to mention the cost of gas and since I had personal days to use anyway, it wasn't really that big of a deal, although I felt bad and I had to catch up on things and make up visits, etc. The other positive is that I didn't have to pay to get the car towed because of Triple A. Finally, while I did have to pay $180 to get my car fixed, it was much less than I would have had to pay if I had to go to a "regular" garage. Thanks to my nephew Rob for taking care of me! :) And for the door-to-door service. I also spent money on said breakfast above and had to buy a phone card to continue my cell service. :)You know I can't live without a phone!
Fitness:
Ummm... I really have nothing to say in this category, except that I have been verrrrry, verrrry, verrrry, ......BAD! I will not make any excuses, but no boot camp and no running since Monday.
That's all for the Tuesday, Wednesday post!
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Monday (1/9/12)
Here's is yesterday's entry all on it's own. This is also so I can post the training program for the week. I will start out with fitness today. Here it is:
Fitness:
Got the strengthen part in due to my boot camp at 5:30 am. Yes I went! Whoo-hoo for me! :) As for stretching, not so good today. I am poor at stretching. I thought about going to yoga, but then remembered that I had a meeting for CASHA (Capital Area Speech and Hearing Association) so off I went. :)
Food:
Today was not a great day regarding food choices, but not a total bust either. :) The worst (but oh so good!) food choice was that I had 7 pieces of Ghiradelli dark chocolate with caramel. I feel like this is true confessions! OMG! Thank god I did boot camp, huh? I had the bag sitting in my car and I was between visits at work snagging an internet signal from Panera and I just figured I should finish the bag rather than have it hanging around. That's smart, right? And since I am also curbing any unnecessary spending, there won't be any more unless its a gift! :) I'm pretty good at justifying, huh? Anyway, I DID pack my lunch and I had a salad with leftover steak from Sunday's lunch.
Finances:
I had to fill up my car today and I think the total was about $53.00. I brought my lunch to work once again and did not buy any extras. That's about all to report today! See ya tomorrow! :)
Fitness:
3 | Stretch & Strengthen | 3.5 m run | 6 x 400 5-K pace | 3 m run + strength | Rest | Rest | 5-K Race |
Got the strengthen part in due to my boot camp at 5:30 am. Yes I went! Whoo-hoo for me! :) As for stretching, not so good today. I am poor at stretching. I thought about going to yoga, but then remembered that I had a meeting for CASHA (Capital Area Speech and Hearing Association) so off I went. :)
Food:
Today was not a great day regarding food choices, but not a total bust either. :) The worst (but oh so good!) food choice was that I had 7 pieces of Ghiradelli dark chocolate with caramel. I feel like this is true confessions! OMG! Thank god I did boot camp, huh? I had the bag sitting in my car and I was between visits at work snagging an internet signal from Panera and I just figured I should finish the bag rather than have it hanging around. That's smart, right? And since I am also curbing any unnecessary spending, there won't be any more unless its a gift! :) I'm pretty good at justifying, huh? Anyway, I DID pack my lunch and I had a salad with leftover steak from Sunday's lunch.
Finances:
I had to fill up my car today and I think the total was about $53.00. I brought my lunch to work once again and did not buy any extras. That's about all to report today! See ya tomorrow! :)
I'm Baaack! (1/4/2012-1/8/2012)
OK - So just as in exercise, once you fall off the wagon, it's tough to get back on again! I have had ups and downs in all three of my categories of Food, Fitness, and Finances, but not anything horrible. As my friend Leah says, "2012 will not break me!!" I am with you sister! I am home today due to car trouble. I pulled into the parking lot of the bank in town last night to talk on my phone, and when I went to turn the car back on....NOTHING! Not even a sound. So here I am! In my head I am also wondering how much this is going to cost. Luckily, my nephew Rob is going to take a look at it for me and I know I won't get ripped off. So, I will take this day to update my blog and catch up on my paperwork for my job.
Food (Wednesday-Friday):
Since it's been a week since I've written, I'm not going to list all of the foods I've eaten for a week. If you REEEEALLY want to know, you can probably log onto myfitnesspal.com and look me up, but it's really not that interesting. I will give you a basic overview of my ups and downs, but it really has been pretty good overall with a few slip-ups. So, I packed my lunch every day during the work week and I also recorded my foods at the website above. I also made breakfast most mornings or simply had a banana with peanut butter. The flavored creamer that I have with my coffee every morning is probably my biggest downfall. I also made it a point to make dinner each evening as well, which I did successfully most of the time. Friday night my brother and sister-in-law invited me out for dinner at Dragon Garden, so I went and tried to decide wisely in order to keep up with my good eating habits. I chose the steamed chicken with sugar snap peas (Or something like that). It also came with steamed white rice. It was very good and there was plenty of it so I came home with leftovers! Yay! One of the slip-ups of the night was that I couldn't resist the crunchy fried things (You know what I'm talking about? Don't remember the name. LOL) dipped in mustard or that sweet and sour sauce. Yummy! And the fact that they were sitting right in front of me made me keep eating more. Ooops! ;)
Earlier in the day on Friday as I was out and about for my job, I was feeling extremely hungry for some reason. Having eaten all of my lunch, there was nothing left and I was on a hunt for something to eat that wasn't TOO bad for me. I started out at the Cracker Barrel store because I have a gift card for there and I was also trying to conserve cash. As I suspected, there was nothing "good" there or even a little "bad." Everything was loaded with fat and calories and there was nothing really worth that much of a cheat after all my hard work. So, off I went to the next place. I ended up at a small gas station mini-mart. After examining several of the food items there, I settled on a bag of pretzel rods at 110 calories for 3 rods. This seemed to satisfy my cravings and I didn't feel too bad about my choice.
Food (Saturday and Sunday):
My true confession for Saturday morning....I had eggs benedict with ...home fries. I was trying to decide between that and pancakes and I thought that would be a less guilty option, but I'm not so sure. Oh well. I don't think I had any lunch because I was full from breakfast and I had some beef stew (made by John's mom), which was delicious and a very small bite of macaroni and cheese. I sooooo wanted more, but I was good. :) I was a bit irritated on Saturday evening so I had a glass of White Merlot, which was my only alcoholic beverage in 2012. John also made us some popcorn with butter, salt and pepper. It was so yummy that we ate it all!
Sunday morning I started the day with oatmeal that John made for us and coffee. For lunch we had steak and veggies, which was deeeelicious! I went to Jamie and Rob's for dinner where we had Chicken and Dumplings, which were also delicious :) and for dessert I brought over some cheesecake from Gabriel's. This was also delicious and I'm sure it had a million calories.
Fitness:
Again, I fell of the wagon for a few days. I missed 3 days of my running schedule out of 6 so I did 50%. There's no where to go but up, right? I missed boot camp on Wednesday and Thursday and didn't run, Friday was a day of rest (according to the training schedule) and I didn't run on Saturday. But... On Sunday I did do my 6.2 mile (10K) run at UAlbany, despite my initial desire to skip out on the 10K and only do 3 miles. I felt pretty good afterwards and I only walked a little. I keep trying to push myself to walk less and jog more. It will get easier each time (That's what I keep telling myself. LOL!). That's about it for fitness today. Kinda lame, I know.
Finances:
I spent a total of $3.20 this week on a snack (said bag of pretzel rods in the above food section), but did not spend any other money on food, other than the grocery store last Sunday. My brother treated me to dinner on Friday night and my friend treated me to breakfast on Saturday morning (Score for me both times! :)) I did spend some money on Sunday on some gift cards, toiletries, and special dessert for a total of $53. Oh yeah, and John bought me a coffee on Sunday on our way home from our run! Woot woot for me! :)
I will be writing about Monday later today too and that should catch me up! A special shout out to Stacia for reading my blog and checking in on me to make sure I am doing what I need to! Thanks Stacia! :)
Food (Wednesday-Friday):
Since it's been a week since I've written, I'm not going to list all of the foods I've eaten for a week. If you REEEEALLY want to know, you can probably log onto myfitnesspal.com and look me up, but it's really not that interesting. I will give you a basic overview of my ups and downs, but it really has been pretty good overall with a few slip-ups. So, I packed my lunch every day during the work week and I also recorded my foods at the website above. I also made breakfast most mornings or simply had a banana with peanut butter. The flavored creamer that I have with my coffee every morning is probably my biggest downfall. I also made it a point to make dinner each evening as well, which I did successfully most of the time. Friday night my brother and sister-in-law invited me out for dinner at Dragon Garden, so I went and tried to decide wisely in order to keep up with my good eating habits. I chose the steamed chicken with sugar snap peas (Or something like that). It also came with steamed white rice. It was very good and there was plenty of it so I came home with leftovers! Yay! One of the slip-ups of the night was that I couldn't resist the crunchy fried things (You know what I'm talking about? Don't remember the name. LOL) dipped in mustard or that sweet and sour sauce. Yummy! And the fact that they were sitting right in front of me made me keep eating more. Ooops! ;)
Earlier in the day on Friday as I was out and about for my job, I was feeling extremely hungry for some reason. Having eaten all of my lunch, there was nothing left and I was on a hunt for something to eat that wasn't TOO bad for me. I started out at the Cracker Barrel store because I have a gift card for there and I was also trying to conserve cash. As I suspected, there was nothing "good" there or even a little "bad." Everything was loaded with fat and calories and there was nothing really worth that much of a cheat after all my hard work. So, off I went to the next place. I ended up at a small gas station mini-mart. After examining several of the food items there, I settled on a bag of pretzel rods at 110 calories for 3 rods. This seemed to satisfy my cravings and I didn't feel too bad about my choice.
Food (Saturday and Sunday):
My true confession for Saturday morning....I had eggs benedict with ...home fries. I was trying to decide between that and pancakes and I thought that would be a less guilty option, but I'm not so sure. Oh well. I don't think I had any lunch because I was full from breakfast and I had some beef stew (made by John's mom), which was delicious and a very small bite of macaroni and cheese. I sooooo wanted more, but I was good. :) I was a bit irritated on Saturday evening so I had a glass of White Merlot, which was my only alcoholic beverage in 2012. John also made us some popcorn with butter, salt and pepper. It was so yummy that we ate it all!
Sunday morning I started the day with oatmeal that John made for us and coffee. For lunch we had steak and veggies, which was deeeelicious! I went to Jamie and Rob's for dinner where we had Chicken and Dumplings, which were also delicious :) and for dessert I brought over some cheesecake from Gabriel's. This was also delicious and I'm sure it had a million calories.
Fitness:
Again, I fell of the wagon for a few days. I missed 3 days of my running schedule out of 6 so I did 50%. There's no where to go but up, right? I missed boot camp on Wednesday and Thursday and didn't run, Friday was a day of rest (according to the training schedule) and I didn't run on Saturday. But... On Sunday I did do my 6.2 mile (10K) run at UAlbany, despite my initial desire to skip out on the 10K and only do 3 miles. I felt pretty good afterwards and I only walked a little. I keep trying to push myself to walk less and jog more. It will get easier each time (That's what I keep telling myself. LOL!). That's about it for fitness today. Kinda lame, I know.
Finances:
I spent a total of $3.20 this week on a snack (said bag of pretzel rods in the above food section), but did not spend any other money on food, other than the grocery store last Sunday. My brother treated me to dinner on Friday night and my friend treated me to breakfast on Saturday morning (Score for me both times! :)) I did spend some money on Sunday on some gift cards, toiletries, and special dessert for a total of $53. Oh yeah, and John bought me a coffee on Sunday on our way home from our run! Woot woot for me! :)
I will be writing about Monday later today too and that should catch me up! A special shout out to Stacia for reading my blog and checking in on me to make sure I am doing what I need to! Thanks Stacia! :)
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Day 3 and Still Doin It! :)
OK - So it's only day 3, but I am doing what I need to do so far. I have even been tracking my food and exercise using the website http://www.myfitnesspal.com/. Check it out! It logs your food and calculates the calories. I make sure to put EVERYTHING that I eat so that I am not cheating. I started it on the 2nd and so far I have been under my calories each day. Yay! I want to stay right within the range and don't want to go too low of course, because that's not helpful either. OK, so here are the three F's for today:
Food:
Food:
- Breakfast: Banana w/2 TB of peanut butter, coffee with creamer
- Lunch: Salad w/mushrooms, tomatoes, and cracker barrel cheese, Italian dressing
- Dinner: Chicken w/lemon-pepper seasoning, Ronzoni smart choice pasta, brocolli, glass of milk
- Snacks: Applesauce, 2 Clementines
Fitness:
My marathon training schedule called for a 3-mile run and I did it! Even though it was bitter cold outside, I made myself go out and did 3.2 miles. I didn't run the entire way and did do some walking, but I completed it nonetheless. Tomorrow is boot camp at 5:30 a.m. I am tired already. LOL. The difficult thing for tomorrow and Thursday is going to be fitting in a run with it being so cold out. Tonight was brutal! I may have to do my running indoors at the gym on the treadmill. Tomorrow calls for 30-minute tempo run. Here's the description taken from the Hal Higdon website:
Tempo Runs: This is a continuous run with a buildup in the middle to near 10-K race pace. A Tempo Run of 30 to 45 minutes would begin with 10-15 minutes easy running, build to 15-20 minutes near the middle, then 5-10 minutes easy toward the end. The pace buildup should be gradual, not sudden, with peak speed coming about two-thirds into the workout. Hold that peak only for a minute or two. I consider Tempo Runs to be the "Thinking Runner's Workout." A Tempo Run can be as hard or easy as you want to make it, and it has nothing to do with how long (in time) you run or how far. In fact, the times prescribed for Tempo Runs serve mainly as rough guidelines. Feel free to improvise. Improvisation is the heart of doing a Tempo Run correctly. Here's a link to that site if anyone is interested: http://www.halhigdon.com/
Finances:
Not too much to report here. I packed my lunch today, so I didn't spend any money on food today. I did have to put gas in my car, but I actually found some money in two different pockets and was able to use it for gas. I had about $22 and spent $20 for gas. The good news is that there was no unnecessary spending. :)
Monday, January 2, 2012
So Far, So Good. :)
Food:
Today was a pretty good day food wise and I really tried hard to stay on track. Here's what I had:
I also had one very small piece of chocolate to satisfy my craving after lunch and before I went shopping at the supermarket. Thankfully, John was there to "talk me down" LOL because I really wanted something more originally, but I sipped my water instead. I was also disappointed when I went to have my Yoplait greek peach yogurt, which I bought to try and it was missing from my fridge. I then realized that my mother had eaten that instead of her own yogurts. :( Guess I will have to start putting my name on my things from now on, especially since I am trying to budget. Oh, well... On to the next category for the day.
Finance:
So, as you can see above, I did go to the supermarket today so that I could get food for the week. Some things are necessary, even with a goal of not spending money. Ha ha ha. So, I was hoping to spend $50 or less and my total was around $53.00. I bought some chicken so that I could make a crock-pot stew from a recipe book for the Paleo diet, which I just received. (I'll talk about that more in a later post). Anyway, I needed a few ingredients for that including diced tomatoes, butternut squash, and of course the chicken, which I will use for other things as well. I also had to buy garbage bags, which I buy in a larger package because it is more cost-effective. Overall, I consider this a win for me, considering I don't usually budget my groceries and just buy whatever I feel like and usually on a whim. This trip, I actually went in with a list and pretty much stuck to my list. No other money spent today other than my 30-cent toll on my way home. Tomorrow I will have to spend money on gas, but I will try to go to Stewart's on Freeman's bridge road, where it is supposed to be cheaper. :)
Fitness:
I did not make it to boot camp this morning at 5:30 am, because I was not near home and because it was my last vacation day to "sleep in." That being said, I am committed to staying on track with my fitness goals so I made it a point to go to Best Fitness where I currently have a membership. I did some leg machines and then took a yoga class, which qualifies as my strengthen and stretch on today's half-marathon training schedule. Tomorrow calls for a 3-mile run. I was going to do a group run in Scotia but they changed the location and I am afraid that I will get lost somewhere else. I will however make it a point to run on my own if necessary.
Today was a pretty good day food wise and I really tried hard to stay on track. Here's what I had:
- Breakfast: Oatmeal w/brown sugar, 1 1/2 cups of coffee with my coffee-mate creamer (Decreasing this vice will have to come later. :))
- Lunch: One piece of Tilapia w/lemon-pepper seasoning and mixed veggies with a little bit of olive oil
- Dinner: Ronzoni Smart choice(or something like that) pasta (2.5 times fiber of regular pasta), broccoli, with a bit of olive oil and sprinkled parmesean cheese
- Snacks: piece of cracker barrel cheddar cheese, Chobani yogurt, 2 Clementines, Hot cocoa
I also had one very small piece of chocolate to satisfy my craving after lunch and before I went shopping at the supermarket. Thankfully, John was there to "talk me down" LOL because I really wanted something more originally, but I sipped my water instead. I was also disappointed when I went to have my Yoplait greek peach yogurt, which I bought to try and it was missing from my fridge. I then realized that my mother had eaten that instead of her own yogurts. :( Guess I will have to start putting my name on my things from now on, especially since I am trying to budget. Oh, well... On to the next category for the day.
Finance:
So, as you can see above, I did go to the supermarket today so that I could get food for the week. Some things are necessary, even with a goal of not spending money. Ha ha ha. So, I was hoping to spend $50 or less and my total was around $53.00. I bought some chicken so that I could make a crock-pot stew from a recipe book for the Paleo diet, which I just received. (I'll talk about that more in a later post). Anyway, I needed a few ingredients for that including diced tomatoes, butternut squash, and of course the chicken, which I will use for other things as well. I also had to buy garbage bags, which I buy in a larger package because it is more cost-effective. Overall, I consider this a win for me, considering I don't usually budget my groceries and just buy whatever I feel like and usually on a whim. This trip, I actually went in with a list and pretty much stuck to my list. No other money spent today other than my 30-cent toll on my way home. Tomorrow I will have to spend money on gas, but I will try to go to Stewart's on Freeman's bridge road, where it is supposed to be cheaper. :)
Fitness:
I did not make it to boot camp this morning at 5:30 am, because I was not near home and because it was my last vacation day to "sleep in." That being said, I am committed to staying on track with my fitness goals so I made it a point to go to Best Fitness where I currently have a membership. I did some leg machines and then took a yoga class, which qualifies as my strengthen and stretch on today's half-marathon training schedule. Tomorrow calls for a 3-mile run. I was going to do a group run in Scotia but they changed the location and I am afraid that I will get lost somewhere else. I will however make it a point to run on my own if necessary.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Happy New Year! :)
The new year is off to a good start so far. I gorged myself with chips and dip, soda, chocolate and pizza last night as a final "bad" eating night. LOL. Anyway, this morning I had a banana with peanut butter and a cup of coffee with my flavored caramel vanilla Coffee-Mate creamer. Then John and I went to SUNY Albany and participated in the Winter Series #2 run and did 3.5 miles. It took me 44:13 to complete. Pretty slow, but I am hoping to improve my times each time I run. :) I haven't spent any money yet today! Yay! John bought us coffee and a bagel to split after the run on our way home. I also resisted the cookies that were offered at the end of the race.
So far for today, here are the synopsis of the three F's:
Food
So far for today, here are the synopsis of the three F's:
Food
- Banana w/2 TB of Peanut Butter
- Coffee w/Vanilla Caramel creamer
- 2 Orange slices at race
- Small slice of bread with a bit of jelly
- 2 banana halves
- Half of a poppy seed bagel with cream cheese
Finances
- No spending so far at 3:00 PM (John bought us coffee and bagel :))
Fitness
- Ran 3.5 miles in 44:13
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