Title (optional)

Since I don’t have a pithy subject line popping into my head (or a non-pithy one, for that matter), we will go with the default.

It seems like every morning for the past week or so, I’ve gotten on the scale and the number has been lower than the day before. Not that I’m complaining, mind you, but since I haven’t consciously been doing anything different, I’m starting to wonder if my scale is screwing with me. Maybe I was just eating so much junk and salt that I was retaining more water than I ever thought possible.

I have noticed that cravings are getting easier to suppress (except for the two boxes of Girl Scout Cookies that arrived last week). Maybe the audio I’ve still been listening to regularly has been leaving little footsteps in my brain. Now to nurture it from the subconscious into the conscious… I’m working on my Mindful Eating approach to the Samoas, but have only had limited success so far. I still have a box left to try it on, though!

Last Saturday I went back to belly dance class, and promptly got my butt kicked by the new choreography that we are learning. I haven’t been to class in nearly a month, so everyone else in the class had already had the basics broken down for them. The teacher did a quick breakdown and refresher, and I managed to keep up with a decent chunk of it by the end of the class. My personal goal is to nail the choreography by the beginning of April – I need to find a video of it somewhere so I can drill it at home. I also got reminded yet again that I’m not quite up to my former endurance level, since I was out of breath halfway through it!

Chalk up yet another reason to get my butt back on the treadmill.

At least it wasn’t the elliptical

Tonight at the gym we had the cardio evaluation for the TEAM class. Basically it was “how far can you go on a treadmill in 30 minutes?” Not my most favoritest thing ever, but at least it wasn’t the elliptical. I did 1.9 miles, which is an average of 3.8 mph or so. I wasn’t pushing as hard as I probably could have, so I need to work on that inner motivation and drive that will make me push myself as hard as I know I can go. I can rationalize and make the excuse that I had a crazy day at work, but that’s just what it is – an excuse.

The two weeks leading up to a major event for work are always a pain and tiring. Add in the fact that I have three other events that I am working on at the same time, not to mention a bunch of other projects, and it gets even more entertaining.

I can still laugh about it – that means I haven’t hit my stress break point yet. But as we get closer and the questions from presenters get stupider, my tolerance gets lower.

Tomorrow I get to go to one of the events I’ve been working on, because we have 70 of our account management team from across our region in town for training. These are people I have talked to or emailed for various things over the past five years, so it will be neat to finally see what some of them look like. I also get to meet the new person I have recently been assigned to as admin support; spend time with the manager in Chicago that I have been supporting since October; get to see one of my past managers who keeps trying to get me to move to support him in his new role; and interact with the Region Head whom I have been assisting since July. Oh – and my actual manager that I report to on the org chart will be there, too. Work is not boring, that’s for sure.

I also got my lab numbers back from my blood test on Monday. Cholesterol is still high, but lower than it was in September, so that’s good. LDL is also too high, and working on that will be a priority. Everything else is good, yay!

Post apoc-elliptical survival

Last night I went to dance class – our monthly Performing Company meeting, in which we tried some really cool ways of looking at our choreographies differently. And 45 minutes of stretching and dancing knocked the kinks out of my shoulder muscles that were still stiff from the strength circuit the night before.

Tonight at the gym was TEAM Cardio. If I ever find the sadistic bastard that developed the Elliptical Trainer, I will kick him or her in the privates. Provided, of course, that I have any leg strength left after dealing with the Elliptical for 15 minutes. Give me the treadmill over the elliptical any day!

It got to the point that I was just chanting to myself “I can do this I can do this I can do this” in time with the steps to keep from giving up. But I made it through, and I survived it. I’m not looking forward to the next time, though.

But on the way home, I had a realization. After I got done and got changed and got in my car, I felt pretty good. I’m doing something for myself, for my health, for my long-term goals. And yeah, it kinda sucks while I’m doing it, but it’s an hour (or less) out of my day. An hour (or less) when I would otherwise be doing… what? Sitting on my butt watching TV? Stuffing my face? Given those options, an hour of “I can do this I can do this I can do this” is by far the best choice.

I can do this.

But I still don’t like the elliptical.

Getting in the zone

(Do I lose Janathon points for posting twice in the same day?)

Tonight was my first day of Cardio with the TEAM group. I have a treadmill and have been using it off and on for about a year and a half now, and I know I have better endurance on it now than I did when I first got it… even if it does still spend too much time doubling as a clothes hanger.

I have a heartrate monitor but rarely use it, because the chest strap is just so darned uncomfortable. But considering the experience I had tonight with Zone training, I’m going to have to get used to wearing it, because I can see how it can be a very useful tool. When I got off the treadmill tonight, I had gone 42 minutes and 2.2 miles, and was less tired or worn out than when I go shorter times and lower mileages on my treadmill at home. The reason? I think it’s because I am pushing myself harder at home than we were in this class, and I am spending more time in a higher heart rate zone than I should be.

I’m sure that because this was an “intro” class they took it easy on us, but my goal is more to lose the fat that I have gained. Yeah, it would be nice to build my endurance to the point that I can do long distance running – the day I can run a 5K without stopping is going to be HUGE – but getting rid of the extra fat is more important in the short term, I think.

I’m looking at heartrate monitors that go on the wrist, hopefully at some point I can find one that’s not so stupidly uncomfortable.