Today was the 20 minutes of straight running in the C25K schedule and I almost talked myself out of it when I started. But I decided to go for it and boy am I glad. It went fantastic. I ran it mostly faster than I have been running most of the time lately.
I am certain that running in the morning is just way better - I am able to run faster and feel better while doing it and feel less fatigued. All good things in my books. So mornings it will be - as often as possible!
Well I am off for a while - out of town for some training for work. I am planning to do week 6 while I am away - and maybe will even start out on week 7. I am feeling pretty good right now and so it seems like a good idea to keep at it!
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Monday, January 28, 2013
Pushing Myself
Today I did day one of week 5 of C25K - it has 3 5 minute duration runs. Boy I can tell you I had to work for it today. Each one of those intervals of 5 minutes felt really long to me today - I wanted to slow down on all of them - not really because I was that tired in truth but mostly just because they seemed to be taking forever.
But I made it through, and I didn't slow down I kept up the pace I had set for them (which is quite frankly not very fast to begin with - it probably would have been hard to go much slower and still be jogging lol).
Tomorrow is day two of week 5 - and it has an eight minute interval I am going to try very hard to make it through that one without slowing down. Day after is 20 minutes straight and I am still not sure how I will make it through that one LOL.
But one step towards doing well on those is that I am going to bed nice and early tonight so I can have the energy for that run! And a little private dance party in the morning (I am going to start dancing for 2 or 3 songs each morning to get the blood pumping).
On to the next little victory, tomorrow morning!
But I made it through, and I didn't slow down I kept up the pace I had set for them (which is quite frankly not very fast to begin with - it probably would have been hard to go much slower and still be jogging lol).
Tomorrow is day two of week 5 - and it has an eight minute interval I am going to try very hard to make it through that one without slowing down. Day after is 20 minutes straight and I am still not sure how I will make it through that one LOL.
But one step towards doing well on those is that I am going to bed nice and early tonight so I can have the energy for that run! And a little private dance party in the morning (I am going to start dancing for 2 or 3 songs each morning to get the blood pumping).
On to the next little victory, tomorrow morning!
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Victory and Defeat
Here is a little story of a small victory and a small defeat. Start with defeat so I can end on a high note ;-)
So last night as I sat and played that silly computer game for hours until my hand felt like it belonged to an 80 year old arthritic grandma. I followed it up with take out food, and hours of television (well a movie and several episodes of a series on netflix). This despite my stated desire the other day of cutting back on both game play and television screen time. So a defeat, and one I did while consciously telling myself I had said I wasn't going to do this anymore. Well, the justification monster came out and said, get this out of my system (although that was the excuse for it time too) so I can start fresh. But this time I am headed out of town for some training (and a couple of days of holiday time as well).
So, it will be good to be away from all of this and able to concentrate on something more productive. I am hoping to work more on my writing. Sadly there is a second part to this defeat - I was up until a hideously late hour and subsequently didn't get to my Essentrics class today. But I will be running tomorrow and I did a bunch of housework today so that at least had me moving a little bit. My plan is to get tonnes of walking in while I am away.
Now on to victory, in this case victory of my self sufficiency and creativity over badly designed products. As I just mentioned I was doing a bit of housework - mostly dishes and the related tasks. Well I emptied out a few sealer jars and washed them and the lids. The sink we have is rectangular with actual corners not rounded ones, so that is already a pet peeve. But the drain seemed okay, until one of the sealer jar lids settled into it on top of the plug. And it was stuck, with no give to be able to pop one side down a bit so I could grab the other end etc.Why did they design the drain so it sat down in that deep a drain, and why doesn't the plug have the little handle coming up enough so that something wouldn't sit flat across just like that. Well I guess they designed it for looks, not for people to actually really use!
So my little anger ball started to build up, because I just wanted to drain the sink and finish up, but no, this lid was jammed in there with no hope of getting it out. I was definitely considering just leaving it after I used a table knife to try and get it to pry loose with no luck. Seemed like it would make sense to just leave it in there for my husband to deal with (since the sink was his choice - and in fairness it looked like it would be great because it is nice and big etc so I can't blame him for the choice, although I was trying to as I got frustrated with that stupid lid!).
But I decided that was just a bit of a ridiculous response and not one that will help me be a better person LOL. So I bailed the water out of the sink and could clearly see what I already knew (that the pry attempt with the knife meant the lid was ruined). I grabbed the hammer and a handy little punch and I got that baby out of there all on my own. I know, you might be thinking "big whoop" but it just feels good to be doing those handy things on my own - I didn't leave it for someone else. I guess we grow up a little more all the time if we want.
So last night as I sat and played that silly computer game for hours until my hand felt like it belonged to an 80 year old arthritic grandma. I followed it up with take out food, and hours of television (well a movie and several episodes of a series on netflix). This despite my stated desire the other day of cutting back on both game play and television screen time. So a defeat, and one I did while consciously telling myself I had said I wasn't going to do this anymore. Well, the justification monster came out and said, get this out of my system (although that was the excuse for it time too) so I can start fresh. But this time I am headed out of town for some training (and a couple of days of holiday time as well).
So, it will be good to be away from all of this and able to concentrate on something more productive. I am hoping to work more on my writing. Sadly there is a second part to this defeat - I was up until a hideously late hour and subsequently didn't get to my Essentrics class today. But I will be running tomorrow and I did a bunch of housework today so that at least had me moving a little bit. My plan is to get tonnes of walking in while I am away.
Now on to victory, in this case victory of my self sufficiency and creativity over badly designed products. As I just mentioned I was doing a bit of housework - mostly dishes and the related tasks. Well I emptied out a few sealer jars and washed them and the lids. The sink we have is rectangular with actual corners not rounded ones, so that is already a pet peeve. But the drain seemed okay, until one of the sealer jar lids settled into it on top of the plug. And it was stuck, with no give to be able to pop one side down a bit so I could grab the other end etc.Why did they design the drain so it sat down in that deep a drain, and why doesn't the plug have the little handle coming up enough so that something wouldn't sit flat across just like that. Well I guess they designed it for looks, not for people to actually really use!
So my little anger ball started to build up, because I just wanted to drain the sink and finish up, but no, this lid was jammed in there with no hope of getting it out. I was definitely considering just leaving it after I used a table knife to try and get it to pry loose with no luck. Seemed like it would make sense to just leave it in there for my husband to deal with (since the sink was his choice - and in fairness it looked like it would be great because it is nice and big etc so I can't blame him for the choice, although I was trying to as I got frustrated with that stupid lid!).
But I decided that was just a bit of a ridiculous response and not one that will help me be a better person LOL. So I bailed the water out of the sink and could clearly see what I already knew (that the pry attempt with the knife meant the lid was ruined). I grabbed the hammer and a handy little punch and I got that baby out of there all on my own. I know, you might be thinking "big whoop" but it just feels good to be doing those handy things on my own - I didn't leave it for someone else. I guess we grow up a little more all the time if we want.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Another Run
Today my week 4 C25K run was even better than yesterday. It went well, I went a little faster and I felt good through it. I did my run at lunch time today again and that was good. I am liking the lunch time run for the time being although I am looking forward to trying to get to the stage of going in the morning before work. To that end I am going to start working on getting to bed a little earlier and waking up a little earlier.
And I would say it was a good day of keeping my promises to myself in getting myself going to do my run when a little part of me was trying to skip out on it because it was so nastily cold outside. Tomorrow will be my day off for the running but I am going to do the physio exercises I have been supposed to be doing for a while now. I am going to decide on a schedule for that as well - right now I am thinking that if I could do it 3 times a week that would be a good start. And that the "setting" my core I should do at least twice a day every day. So maybe that is where I will start tomorrow morning. With setting my core a couple times first thing in the morning.
On the topic from yesterday I do feel like my pocket full of sunshine was there for me today - I kept it kind of in mind most of the day and it was a good day overall.
And I would say it was a good day of keeping my promises to myself in getting myself going to do my run when a little part of me was trying to skip out on it because it was so nastily cold outside. Tomorrow will be my day off for the running but I am going to do the physio exercises I have been supposed to be doing for a while now. I am going to decide on a schedule for that as well - right now I am thinking that if I could do it 3 times a week that would be a good start. And that the "setting" my core I should do at least twice a day every day. So maybe that is where I will start tomorrow morning. With setting my core a couple times first thing in the morning.
On the topic from yesterday I do feel like my pocket full of sunshine was there for me today - I kept it kind of in mind most of the day and it was a good day overall.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Pocket full of sunshine
I watched the movie Easy A last night, I love that movie so much. It has a part with that Pocket Full of Sunshine song and it has been stuck in my head since then. But what a great idea a pocket full of sunshine - no one can take away your pocket full of sunshine. This just takes me right to the Covey idea of us being greater than our moods - one of my favourite concepts of all time - even if it is one I have a lot of work to live up to.
This is part of the quote I found online (although it is a little different than the one I was thinking of but this one is perhaps even more important for me right now).
Pair that with the idea of carrying a pocket full of sunshine around and that can lighten up any mood that might have me considering letting my mood rule my behaviour!
Glad I came on here tonight to write about this as it really just helped me to clarify something.
On the topic of fitness of the physical sort (not the mental sort that was the topic of the first part of this). I did the week 4 run pattern today - glad I have worked myself back to that stage. I know that next week I will be able to do the week 5 again - so back to where I was before the Christmas break and the cold/flu. So that just adds an extra ray of sunshine to carry around in my pocket for the next time I need one!
This is part of the quote I found online (although it is a little different than the one I was thinking of but this one is perhaps even more important for me right now).
By making and keeping promises to ourselves and others, little by little, our honor becomes greater than our moods. --Covey
Pair that with the idea of carrying a pocket full of sunshine around and that can lighten up any mood that might have me considering letting my mood rule my behaviour!
Glad I came on here tonight to write about this as it really just helped me to clarify something.
On the topic of fitness of the physical sort (not the mental sort that was the topic of the first part of this). I did the week 4 run pattern today - glad I have worked myself back to that stage. I know that next week I will be able to do the week 5 again - so back to where I was before the Christmas break and the cold/flu. So that just adds an extra ray of sunshine to carry around in my pocket for the next time I need one!
Friday, January 18, 2013
Big Fat Liar
Just lies, to myself. I tell myself that I am going to work on some challenge or another and then I don't even really make an effort. So, what is my lie right now, mostly the tv and computer game one. I haven't really cut down very much at all. I took a couple days away from the game but then was right back to it. The sad part isn't really so much that I am doing the watching/playing, it is that I am NOT doing what I had hoped to use that time for.
So again here is the re commitment that I will work on this. And the challenge is that tonight is the night I had planned for my game playing night, but I used up that game playing time yesterday and the day before so none for me tonight.
And of course there is the catch that the lies to myself in this area and in eating commitments means I am much more likely to end up honestly being back to the first two words in the post title.
So again here is the re commitment that I will work on this. And the challenge is that tonight is the night I had planned for my game playing night, but I used up that game playing time yesterday and the day before so none for me tonight.
And of course there is the catch that the lies to myself in this area and in eating commitments means I am much more likely to end up honestly being back to the first two words in the post title.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Cutting Back
I know I often don't like thinking about things as cutting back, or restricting etc. I rather think of ways to expand on their alternatives etc. But I think in the face of some of my choices lately I want to think of restriction and cutting back a little bit.
First, is cutting back on the amount of screen time I am spending on non-productive endeavours. TV watching and computer game playing I am looking at you! Both those things have taken up a huge amount of my time lately and I really want to move away from that. I have done really well on the computer game front already - having decided that a bit of time on weekends is all it gets from now on. As for TV, with a cold/flu battering me around a bit I had been taking refuge in hours and hours of the boob tube (at least it is through Netflix so there are none of the toxic commercials I so despise).
But, excuse of cold or whatever I need to cut back. So I have decided that one tv episode a day is the new limit. I can also watch a couple of movies a week - haven't decided on a number yet but I am going to shoot for no more than 3. That does not count any movies I might actually leave the house to see in a theatre, those are outings and as such will not count against me.
I will try to keep note of where I am at with this commitment to restriction over the next couple of months.
First, is cutting back on the amount of screen time I am spending on non-productive endeavours. TV watching and computer game playing I am looking at you! Both those things have taken up a huge amount of my time lately and I really want to move away from that. I have done really well on the computer game front already - having decided that a bit of time on weekends is all it gets from now on. As for TV, with a cold/flu battering me around a bit I had been taking refuge in hours and hours of the boob tube (at least it is through Netflix so there are none of the toxic commercials I so despise).
But, excuse of cold or whatever I need to cut back. So I have decided that one tv episode a day is the new limit. I can also watch a couple of movies a week - haven't decided on a number yet but I am going to shoot for no more than 3. That does not count any movies I might actually leave the house to see in a theatre, those are outings and as such will not count against me.
I will try to keep note of where I am at with this commitment to restriction over the next couple of months.
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