Goal Review

This is always fun for me.  Here were my goals for 2015, and how I did.

1. Leave my old job as well as I can.  DONE.

2. Enjoy my month off.  Totally done.

3. Get lots done during month off also!  Yup!

4. Rock out the new job.  I'm gonna go with yes on this one too.

5. Complete the BP MS150 in April.  In its shortened state, but yup!

6. Do a triathlon!  Yes, two, actually, and a relay!

7. Train for and complete the 8 mile Turkey Trot. (Eg. Running, not walking.)  Sorta on this one.  I thought I would be in Dallas for Thanksgiving last year in January, but we ended up in Austin, downgrading the 8 mile to a 5 mile.  I did complete it, but I definitely didn't train like I should, nor did I run the entire thing.  So meh.

8. Start a garden.  Yes!  Built two boxes.  Apparently we are very talented at peppers and terrible at tomatoes.  We did eat some broccoli that we harvested just the other day and it was FABULOUS.  Goal for next year is two more boxes and more variety of plants.  Oh and not to suck at tomatoes because I lurve me some tomatoes.  Would also really like some carrots and onions...

9. Start a family game night on Thursdays.  Did I successfully start a thing?  No.  We did play a few times and we did enjoy it.  The problem might actually be Thursday... maybe I could try for a different day....

10. Focus on conscientious spending.  Well, this one travels on a sine wave and we ended the year on a spending spree as always.  You'll see this one pop up again in next year's goals.

11. Lose 20 pounds.  Total fail.  I really struggled with the job transition more than I thought I would.  This one will also make an appearance next year.

12. Cook more, better at home.  We did actually improve at this.  I've gotten better at planning meals and estimating the correct amount of stuff to buy to not have tons of waste.  I would like to continue this moving into next year.

13. Go climbing.  Yup, twice!  Even had Z's birthday party at the climbing place!

14. Take Zoë camping for the first time!  YES!  And success!  Would definitely like to plan more trips, perhaps locally at the various state parks in the area.

15. Make stained glass things.  Nope, fail.  But I brought this up with Preston again the other day and we both got excited, so this might make a reappearance next year as well.

That's 10 success stories, 3 partials, and only 2 fails.  I'm gonna a call a WIN for 2015!

Holy canoli!

I fell off the wagon a little bit last weekend, but going strong during the week.

Monday: Pilates X.  This one... I have really mixed feelings about this one.  On the one hand, I can't do everything that they want me to do, so it should be a good workout, right?  But on the other hand, I just don't feel like I get that great of a workout from it.  I was barely sweating at the end and the only thing that hurt the next day was (you guessed it!) my ass.  HOWEVER, as I was doing the next day's workout, I did feel like I was more aware of my breath as it should be connected to my lifting, so maybe there is something to it after all???

Tuesday: The Challenge.  O. M. G.  OUCH!  This was not what I was expecting.  I was expecting an aerobic workout, not a lifting one.  Not sure why, just was.  The principle of this workout is simple.  Pick a number to aim for for push-ups and a number to aim for for pull-ups, and try to hit that number over and over as you shift through various torturous grips.  I can't even do one pull up, and I don't have a pull-up set-up for my bands yet, so I just try to mimic the motion as best as I can with hand weights, even though I am aware that that is officially pushing and not pulling.  So for me it was an all push morning.  OUCH.  I picked the number 12 for both.  12 of everything!  And dudes, I did do 12 of all of the things.  Except the burnout.  By the burnout I could no longer lift my arms, so I did 75 crunches and then planked til the time was up.  Last night I had a dream that my neck was breaking and this morning I woke up and the muscle between my shoulder blades hates me.

Wednesday: Yoga X.  I think I will like this one once I learn it and don't really have to look at the screen as much.  It is challenging enough for there to be stuff for me to work on and for me to break a sweat, but I left feeling nice and stretched.

Oh, also: weight this morning was 150.6, down a pound from my starting weight at the beginning of the month.  Now that doesn't sound impressive, but I have been so far off the wagon that the wagon is a dot to me in terms of my eating leading into the holidays.  So it is actually pretty freaking awesome.  If I can end December in a wash leading into January, when I plan to hit the diet hard, then that would be a win for me.

Off the Plan

I'm off the plan, but I'm still trying hard.

I ran in a 5K on Saturday morning!  I didn't know it was happening until Friday evening when I got a text that the park was going to be closed, but it was so close to home that I couldn't resist.  Between the walking back and forth to the park and the running, I reckon I got in about 5.5 miles.  It was HOT, about 75 degrees that morning.  This weather has been CRAZY!

Sunday I skipped.  There was baking and family time and it was lovely.

Yesterday I did P90X3: Eccentric Lower.  It was... different.  I didn't hate it, like I was afraid I would.  I may even like it... jury is still out. :-P

This morning I wanted a good aerobic workout, so I did P90X3: MMX.  One of my favorites.  Some day (but not today!) I'll be able to do ALL the sprawls.

I still have 4 videos left that I haven't done!!  I think tomorrow I'll do Eccentric Upper.  Then either Yoga or Pilates.  Then the Challenge.  Then the other of Yoga or Pilates.  So by Saturday (or Sunday if I get distracted) I should be through them all for the FIRST TIME.  Wow!

'Tis the Season

I missed P90X3 yesterday. I was so tired when my alarm went off at 4 that I literally couldn't keep my eyes open. I "reasoned" with myself that I could do it after work, knowing that that rarely works, but hoping that my commitment to this month would somehow override my desire to do nothing after work.

I think it may have worked, but I forgot to factor in Christmas. While at work I received a reminder that the cookie exchange I had agreed to take part in will be this Saturday, and suddenly my plans changed and instead of exercise, I spent hours baking. Hours!  Then there was dinner, cleaning the Kid, and bed. I suppose I could have stayed up late to get that workout in, but then this morning if have been hit with the same can't-open-eyes problem. Better to fix the problem at its root.

I struggled with guilt over missing the day, but only a bit. I'd really prefer to see it as a smart mental move to do what I needed to do, keeping my overall commitments, stress levels, and physical health in mind. Because honestly I am proud of how much I got done yesterday afternoon!

This morning, as I hoped, I woke with less trouble and knocked out Triometrics. My right - I don't know what it is - maybe IT band? - is quite pissy. It seemed displeased by all the one legged squats. Will try to steer the next few days away from angering it again!

P90X3: Incinerated

All the things seem to have stopped hurting, but I'm back to being very very tired.

Did Incinerator this morning.  It wasn't what I was expecting.  From the title I was expecting aerobic, but it was a very arm heavy weight workout.  It was a good one, though P90X: Shoulders & Arms will always have my heart.  (And I can do that one in only 40 minutes, so it is almost like an X3, amIright??)

P90X3: Days 7 and 8

Day 7: The Warrior.

Woke up with a renewed sense of sore in my ass.  And this one was an ass-kicker.  By the end of the day was also quite tight in my shoulders.

Day 8: Dynamix.

Ah yes, I remember liking this one, probably because I don't look like I've taken a swim afterwards.  Sore this morning we have ass, shoulders, and abs.  Nice.

It seems like I'm settling into a pattern of 2 hard days followed by 1 easy day.  I'm not going to lock that in or anything, I just find it interesting.  I also haven't repeated anything yet, although by the end of this week I think I'll have to.  I must say that Eccentric Upper and Eccentric Lower both make me nervous, though for different reasons.  I always dread the Upper because it is my weak spot, but also because I don't have an easily accessible chin-up bar or a firm anchor for bands.  For Lower I always just need to be careful that I don't break my knee.

P90X3: The First Weekend

Well, I blew it on Saturday. My excuse is that Friday night was Preston's birthday and I engaged in a rare round of drinking to excess at the fancy restaurant where we had 8 courses with wine pairings. Am I proud of that? No. But I would do it again because I also loved the food and the drinks and the experience. Either way I paid for it on Saturday big time. I think even with that I might have convinced myself to do P90 but it is also a big grading weekend for my side job and I was cross-eyed in front of the computer for most of the day. No excuses are good excuses - I wish I had sucked it up and at least done yoga or something.

(Me with my grading "assistant".)

The challenge now is to not let one day missed derail me from the point of this thing, so I just completed today's, which was CVX. Phew, that one is a heart pounder! Onward!

Mission P90X3 Month: Day the Fourth

I am SO TIRED.  Soooooo very tired.  Like long-blinking useless tired.

But I got my butt, which is becoming marginally less sore, up this morning and did Isometrix.  Which did make me sweat but not as much as the others.  I did lol at the idea that the yoga mat was optional.  It was sooooo not optional.  And I struggled with some of the poses but I suppose that is the point.  Was easier today to put my laptop (on which I watch the P90 vids) on the floor because this one is up then down the whole time.

All in all, a WIN just for waking up today.

Today is the P's birthday and I have reservations at a fancy restaurant which will keep me up later than I like.  (Read: past 8.)  But perhaps I can nap ahead of time and I can definitely sleep late, if Grimmy lets me.  So I just need to get through today.

Thundercloud Subs Turkey Trot: Race Report

I did run the Turkey Trot this year, despite being woefully under-prepared for it.

Actually I ran the Kid K AND the Turkey Trot, so extra pie for me!

We headed up around 7:30, were able to easily pick up the packets, and then tool around for a while.

Kids K had better corralling than last year. Zoe did really well!!  She ran the whole thing with only one short walk break.  It was... muggy.  Which meant I was hot.

The good news was that shortly after that finish it started gently raining and cooled me down nicely.  The bad news was that the whole adult race was in and out of the rain and my glasses drove me NUTS.  Really really need to remember to wear contacts on rainy days.

It was as it always is - Austin is hilly.  Really hilly.  I never ever remember how evil those hills are.  I very very quickly decided to walk up and run the rest, and it worked well for me.  By mile 3 though, I was hurting.  And for some reason in there I had decided that it was a 10k so I suffered some mental anguish for a while before I realized it was only 5 miles and then I was all excited because I was "almost" done.

Final time: 1:05:18.9 at a pace of 13:04 per mile.

I got cold quickly after finishing, so stopped by Starbucks on the way back to the hotel for a nice warm chai.  As always the best way to start off Thanksgiving!  (Oh, also need to remember to take Ibuprofen after Turkey Trot.  I always forget and my legs always HATE me later because I follow the race with hours sitting in a car.)

P.S. P90X3 Day 3: Agility X.  My ass still hurts, and now my shoulder blades hurt.  Seriously.  The getting up this morning was very very difficult.

P90X3: Day 2

Total Synergistics.

I was very sleepy very early last night, I can feel a bunch of "muscles" I didn't know I had, and my ass hurts.

P90X3 Month

I have decided to embark on a month of daily P90X3 torture workouts.

I am doing this because, frankly, I have been sucking at getting out of bed since the weather changed.  And because if I don't work out through December, I'll gain 10 pounds and feel terrible.  And because P90X3 does not require me to walk out into the cold cold air.  And because it is ONLY 30 minutes per day.  So I SHOULD be able to guilt myself into it.  EVEN ON CHRISTMAS.

I am placing no additional requirements on this.  No set schedule.  I can do any one that I want on any day that I want.  I just must do one per day, daily.

Today was day 1.  I sat up immediately at my alarm and forced myself up.  I did Accelerate.  It hurt.

I weighed 151.6.  Sigh.