My goal for this week isn't about exercise or about my food intake. Those are important... always important... in my face important... but while my house looks like a tornado hit, and all four members are cranky and short-tempered, I think the biggest bang for my buck at this point will come from an earlier bedtime - for all of us.
Disaster Baby went to bed an hour earlier than usual tonight after screeching at me non-stop for 45 minutes like a mandrake pulled from his pot. Say hello to la-la land my friend. One down, three to go. The Daughter is vacillating between winning the sweetest-girl-ever award and competing for an Oscar in her starring role as an unfortunate, miserable, neglected teenager with deadly body language. Bring on 8:00. I can't do anything about the Working Man's bedtime just as I can't control actually being able to bring him home from work. The challenge for me then is not to stay up too late with him once he gets here.
Hoping for the best and a return to sanity soon. Sleeping by 10:00.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Quiet
I find myself thinking constantly of Japan. Everyday as I sit to write, my thoughts edit one another, and I seem to be left with a sense of unimportance in comparison with those events. The result is of course that I don't write anything and let the day the pass. Before too much time elapses, I have set a self-imposed deadline that there is some type of entry before bed tonight, so here goes.
My last two visits to physical therapy have been great. My intake therapist was not available for evening appointments and so I scheduled with another therapist from the practice. She. Is. Awesome. Imagine a woman my height (not quite 6'), give her longer brown hair and an extra... I dunno... maybe sixty pounds? She's down to earth, professional, and definitely seems to know her stuff. The waiting area had bake sale items out with a coin jar for donations to raise money for the DC Divas. This is apparently her womens' tackle football team - she's on the offensive line. How can I be such a weakling in front of her?! The competitive spirit that typically lies dormant in my core has been challenged. At my second visit, as I was huffing and puffing and moving through her list of exercises for me, I thought perhaps I had been mistakenly set up with a personal trainer rather than a physical therapist. I can't stand some of the slow and painfully boring exercises that I have been given my physical therapists in the past, but I LOVE working out and having some type of coach person telling me what to do. Now I just need to fix the hip while simultaneously extending my PT. That would definitely be win-win.
Better than PT though has been Girls on the Run. It's hard to believe that we've finished our first two weeks of practice. The girls are so cute, and so sincere, and so fun. Without a doubt those four hours have been the best four hours that I've had at work in a long, long time.
And so, my journey to a healthier lifestyle continues, even if I am a little quiet for a while.
My last two visits to physical therapy have been great. My intake therapist was not available for evening appointments and so I scheduled with another therapist from the practice. She. Is. Awesome. Imagine a woman my height (not quite 6'), give her longer brown hair and an extra... I dunno... maybe sixty pounds? She's down to earth, professional, and definitely seems to know her stuff. The waiting area had bake sale items out with a coin jar for donations to raise money for the DC Divas. This is apparently her womens' tackle football team - she's on the offensive line. How can I be such a weakling in front of her?! The competitive spirit that typically lies dormant in my core has been challenged. At my second visit, as I was huffing and puffing and moving through her list of exercises for me, I thought perhaps I had been mistakenly set up with a personal trainer rather than a physical therapist. I can't stand some of the slow and painfully boring exercises that I have been given my physical therapists in the past, but I LOVE working out and having some type of coach person telling me what to do. Now I just need to fix the hip while simultaneously extending my PT. That would definitely be win-win.
Better than PT though has been Girls on the Run. It's hard to believe that we've finished our first two weeks of practice. The girls are so cute, and so sincere, and so fun. Without a doubt those four hours have been the best four hours that I've had at work in a long, long time.
And so, my journey to a healthier lifestyle continues, even if I am a little quiet for a while.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
15 Years & Treadmill Take 2
So for the past week and a half, my scale has consistently reported numbers that I haven't seen in 15 years. I'd still like to be able to restructure much of my post-children body, but I'm happy to say that I am finally pleased with my weight and feel really good about it.
I also managed to get over to my sister's to use her treadmill again tonight while my daughter was at swim. The 5K in April is starting to loom over me. I started off walking for the first 2 and a half minutes, ran (slowly - I think I averaged a 12 minute pace after starting around 12:45 and then gradually increasing to 11:15) for 21, and then walked again for the last 2 and a half. My goal for the 5K is to run it without walking, so even if I'm really, REALLY slow, I'll be happy. Since I don't belong to a gym, it is really nice to be able to use a treadmill periodically to get an inkling of how I'm doing. If I hadn't needed to get back in the car and back to the pool, I'm sure I could have kept running, and that in and of itself is huge.
There is a blog that I read written by a woman with a full-time job, a husband, and two kids, and who is training for a triathlon in May. She is self-deprecating and amusing, and reading about her adventures - the ups and downs - is really inspiring to me. She is honest about her goals and times, and while I don't actually know her, I really think she deserves more credit than she gives herself. I love that she isn't a show off. Her blog isn't intimidating, and I find myself rooting for her as she approaches new challenges. It's cool really.
I haven't mentioned this before, but I've signed on to be an assistant coach for a girls' running program this spring. Our first practice is tomorrow. A friend of mine asked me about this yesterday when I ran into her while out between errands. "I didn't know you were a runner!" she said. "I'm NOT!" I squeaked. But, I know that it is good for the girls, and I know that by committing to coaching, it will be good for me too.
I also managed to get over to my sister's to use her treadmill again tonight while my daughter was at swim. The 5K in April is starting to loom over me. I started off walking for the first 2 and a half minutes, ran (slowly - I think I averaged a 12 minute pace after starting around 12:45 and then gradually increasing to 11:15) for 21, and then walked again for the last 2 and a half. My goal for the 5K is to run it without walking, so even if I'm really, REALLY slow, I'll be happy. Since I don't belong to a gym, it is really nice to be able to use a treadmill periodically to get an inkling of how I'm doing. If I hadn't needed to get back in the car and back to the pool, I'm sure I could have kept running, and that in and of itself is huge.
There is a blog that I read written by a woman with a full-time job, a husband, and two kids, and who is training for a triathlon in May. She is self-deprecating and amusing, and reading about her adventures - the ups and downs - is really inspiring to me. She is honest about her goals and times, and while I don't actually know her, I really think she deserves more credit than she gives herself. I love that she isn't a show off. Her blog isn't intimidating, and I find myself rooting for her as she approaches new challenges. It's cool really.
I haven't mentioned this before, but I've signed on to be an assistant coach for a girls' running program this spring. Our first practice is tomorrow. A friend of mine asked me about this yesterday when I ran into her while out between errands. "I didn't know you were a runner!" she said. "I'm NOT!" I squeaked. But, I know that it is good for the girls, and I know that by committing to coaching, it will be good for me too.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Therapy
Today was my first day of physical therapy to help with the hip/back/knee/foot pain that is me. It wasn't terribly impressive, but I'm not sure what I was expecting. Years ago I had to go to PT for a few months for the same reason, and I developed a and somewhat embarrassing crush on the physical therapist. I can't imagine that I was his only patient in that predicament. He was a 6'2" Adonis with blue eyes and blonde hair and an incredible vocabulary. Two or three years later I saw a female physical therapist. She was a world traveler with wild and beautiful long curly dark hair and a big beautiful smile. She always wore some combination of athletic and exotic clothing, and at any point you could see patients watching her just waiting to hear what she would say next. She was one of those people who made everyone feel as though they were the most special part of her day. My therapist today... well, he's a friendly enough guy I suppose. He didn't exactly exude confidence or competence, but he was friendly. Very chatty. Sort of too chatty. There was a moment that I found myself thinking that the appointment was more therapeutic for him than for me. I now know the type of car he drives, the style and location of the new house he is buying, the age of his child and the exact number of total children they hope to have, a description of both the granite counter tops and cabinet styles and retailer he is choosing, and his top three behavioral/parenting concerns. I'm pretty sure he knows that my hip hurts.
After checking out my range of motion and some strength tests, he decided that I really just need to stretch more often and gave me a pass to come once a week instead of twice. I guess we'll just wait and see how it goes. The stretches and exercises didn't feel like much at the time, but I can tell something was used a bit differently than usual in my legs, so I'll cross my fingers and hope my body follows his simple plan.
After checking out my range of motion and some strength tests, he decided that I really just need to stretch more often and gave me a pass to come once a week instead of twice. I guess we'll just wait and see how it goes. The stretches and exercises didn't feel like much at the time, but I can tell something was used a bit differently than usual in my legs, so I'll cross my fingers and hope my body follows his simple plan.
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