It's a Christmas Miracle

Usually the holiday season is the time of year when I just say go hang and eat what I want. By now I have already put on pounds.  Even though I know that whatever I put on now I will be sweating and cursing to get off in January and February and March....... Last year I even took the month of December off from exercise because, dang it, I was just burned out.
 Not that that worked, I apparently get cranky without my yoga.  Some people drink, some do cocaine, I have my endorphins.
                                                       
And my coffee. Don't take my coffee away from me. I don't even need caffeinated, just drinking decaf has a placebo effect on me. But I digress. I found myself doing yoga a week or two into December. But I still gained seven pounds from last year's holiday fun.
I got on the scale the at the beginning of December and I was at the lowest point that I have been in 6 to 8 years.

                                                      
                                                      How did this miracle happen?

 I blame running. Not only am I burning calories, but I find that I just don't want to eat as much. This makes sense if you think about why I eat.
My husband is a smoker. I don't think it is fair to nag him to quit if I can't kick my own addiction: food. I know, I know, we all need to eat to survive. My food addiction isn't about survival but enjoyment. I am easily swayed; reading an excellent description of a meal in a book can make me immediately crave whatever the characters are having.  Savory meats and puddings in historical fiction sound much better than they most likely were. My cravings usually revolve around spicy and salty, but I venture into sweets sometimes too.
I eat when I'm bored. Sad. Happy. Even when I am nauseous I feel if I put the right thing in my stomach I will feel better. Food is a cure-all to me. In the past when I lost weight, it seemed to be an immediate invitation to eat more.
This year that hasn't happened. All the work I did with the 7 Day workout and my running seems to be stripping me down to who I should be. Maybe it's just the endorphins talking, but I want to keep the momentum going more than I want the holiday food. At least, not in excess. I pretty much eat what I want, but in smaller quantities.  I made snickerdoodles from scratch for my party, and only had one beforehand. In previous years my guests would have been lucky to get half of them.
Now the holidays are over and I got on the scale: minus  .02 lbs. Not a lot, but certainly not  plus seven extra pounds. My food cravings are increasing a bit, which is odd now that the holiday season is over. However, the will power I developed during the holidays seemed to have carried over. I look at the food and then decide whether I am bored or if I really need something. Not that I don't still eat it occasionally, but at least I know what I am doing!
Running seems to have increased my motivation. Before I was exercising to lose weight. Now I am losing weight and eating right so that I can run better. The endorphins are still the same, however. While running may not be the answer for everyone, I do hope that everyone can find that one sport that turns the motivation around.

                                

 The enjoyment of the sport make it much easier to deny the occasional bowl of ice cream or pizza when you can get out there and fly down the road.  

New Year's Eve

Today's Plan: run
I didn't want to run today. I didn't want to do anything today. But as I took Monday off, I was stuck with exercising in some fashion today. One should never take the first day of the week. Turns into a pattern as by the end of the week, I will be ready for a day off again when Monday rolls around.

Mother Nature finally realized that tomorrow is January and perhaps she should be seasonal.  It was 9 degrees when I went out to feed the horse. I came back inside and had breakfast.

After running to town (gotcha there, didn't I?) with the husband, I decided that it probably wasn't going to get any warmer and I better get out there.

18 degrees when I left the house. Leggings, an insulated layer and windpants plus two layers of fleece and a vest with gloves and I was ready to go. Today was a carrot and stick day: I promised myself a carrot and when I reached the carrot, I smacked myself with the stick!

 I had spent yesterday doing some heavy aerobics, so my thighs felt like mush. Ever have those days where you don't really feel in control of your legs? They found a rhythm and no matter what I thought, they weren't speeding up or slowing down.  The first half mile sucked. I think that is the technical term for it.  After that I kept promising myself that if I only did a mile, I would go back and do some yoga or weight lifting. To avoid that, to go home and be able to sit, I had to do two miles.

I was trying to avoid the wind, so my route was rather varied today.  After reading a trail running magazine, I am thinking about trying that. So when I saw a track leading off into a field today, I took it.

This is a great time of year to run in the fields, all is broken down and it easy to the holes before you run into them. Unfortunately the wind cut my excursion into the field short today. I will try again soon.

Turning around, I headed back towards home. Going down the hill to my house, I thought, I can go further. So I aimed at the half mile point beyond my house. Going up the hill to that point, I thought, why do I do this to myself? My legs felt like stone, my breath didn't reach deep into lungs, and the top of the hill seemed so far away.

I knew I could turn around where I was and still be over the two mile mark, but I had a specific point in mind and darned if I wasn't going to get there. Stupid OCD. But I made it, came home and stretched. Then I sat down!

Post Crazy....

I have to say here that I love Christmas and all it entails. I have spent the last two weeks soaking up Christmas movie classics and planning two (yes, not one but two) celebrations here at my house. I love the spirit of Christmas and while I agree with Charlie Brown that it is too commercialized, I also, like CB, wasn't going to let that ruin my Christmas. I make many of my gifts so I do avoid a lot of the retail mayhem. And, as a family, we don't go crazy. There are no TVs or cars bought and put under our tree.
I am what you would call a "crafty" person: there is no craft out there that scares me. I have made jewelry, soap, candles, and when the kids were younger, knit scarves and sewn fleece hats. Mistakes have been made, like the year I made the fleece hats and sewed the stretchy side of the fleece the wrong way and the hat wouldn't stretch to go around the kid's head. Or the poncho coat that I made that swallowed my sister in law. And my knitting doesn't go much beyond the scarves, I have carpel tunnel and tendinitis, so after two or three rows I need a break. And I am beyond horrible at keeping a gauge. But I digress.
This years gifts (jewelry, tea & potpourri) turned out excellently. The gatherings of the various families seemed to make everyone happy and the dinners (aside from squash gone bad) went on the table smoothly. And on Christmas night, I slept. And slept. I think the technical term is "crashed". And didn't have much get up and go on Friday either.
So, you ask, did I exercise? Were there any runs in those two weeks? Or was it just a sentimental snooze in between tasks?
The answer is yes, I did get some time and energy expended. However, Mother Nature, being whimsical as always, thought that rain would be lovely for Christmas weather. So not too many runs, but a couple in between the rain drops.  Fate, not feeling that losing my job and setting up for the holidays while searching for work was enough stress, also cursed me with that lingering malady, nasopharyngitis. Otherwise known as a cold. I have to say, it is very hard to do yoga poses, such as downward dog, when one's head is full and one's nose is dripping. I did my most "uprightest" yoga last week. And am very glad to be able to breathe through my nose this week.

12/15/14

Plan for the week: run, yoga, sprinkle in 7 day exercises
I know I complained (and complained) about having to do the 7 day exercises every, well, day, but  I am going to keep them in my rotation. They definitely toned me. I have to say that lunges can certainly make a runner. My thighs are so strong right now. Particularly on hills. If you have hills, as I do, I would suggest lunges, lunges, and then a few more lunges.
In one set of 7 day exercises 3 out of the 5 exercises has squats and lunges involved. I guess that really helped me. Three sets three times a week: I think I could even stay on Charby if she got excited at this point. Of course, I will have to keep doing them as I don't think I am getting on Charby until next spring. At which point she is sure to put me to the test. Back to the weather: I don't foresee any decent ground for a four-legged beastie to be exercised on anytime soon.
Mother Nature has been extremely capricious up here. Snow, rain, ice, mud, we have had it all. When I went out for a run one day this week it was unexpectedly lovely, everything had a sugar sprinkled and glazed look.

                                                The apples looked so cool with their glaze,
                                                            just ready for the plucking,

where the evergreens all looked as if Mother Nature 

had sprinkled confectionery sugar all over them.

Running outside does so much to uplift my spirits. I read an article recently where the runner said               " there's magic to be harvested, but you have

       to lace your shoes with at least the

slightest seed of a smile"

I have to say I don't agree with that. I can be having the worst day ever and go for a run and I feel so much better after just the first quarter mile. I have to focus on something other than my misery--or I may end up on my butt after I misstep. Once I am in the groove, my muscles moving smoothly along, my brain starts to work on the problem and if I don't find a solution, the endorphins at least kick in and it doesn't seem as bad. Even on a bad run day, where I have to use the carrot method to get me out to my destination, and I have side cramps and each footfall seems to take forever, I feel better when I get back: I did it through the awfulness and that can always make one feel better about oneself.

I think it just proves that we all run for different reasons. And have different ways of getting ourselves out there. But in the end, we all run. We all know the joy, the freedom of running away from our problems....and running back to face them, stronger for the journey.

12/8 My Week in Review

Last week was a....difficult week. It was the third week of my 7 Day plan and thank goodness. I was feeling the frustration of being locked into certain exercises and not having time to expand into other exercises. Time is not really an issue any longer as I  lost my job on Monday.
Even though I had more time, I was so overwhelmed that whenever I pulled up my blog to write, I couldn't sort out anything to say. Plus, I had been doing the same thing for three weeks. How much could I say about it?
I spent the week on the computer: looking at job sites, looking up career change information, doing tests to see what careers would fit my personality, thinking about college until my eyes crossed. Another reason my blog didn't get written. Today I went for my first long (my personal 5k route) run in weeks and it felt sooooo good.

I let it all swirl around in my head and this is what I think I learned this week:
   take the time to put in contacts in this weather. The metal of the glasses bites into my nose and eventually the glass fogs up and doesn't clear
  I would like to pick a career  path where I get to help people, not sell them "stuff"
  I'm a bit of an introvert (according to Jung--I think he could be right)
  Run on the white snow edges, it's safer than the ice and makes fun "crunchy" noises!
  I'm going back to school (how scary is that). I can go get a degree and still have 25 or more years to work
  There is always a silver lining. Sometimes a dark pewter lining, and you have to shine it up a bit, but it's there

I have always been a floater. When I ran out of money for college I simply shrugged my shoulders and went to work. I don't mind work, I've done a lot of rather arduous jobs. But now I think I'm going to make a plan, and pick work that satisfies me. We will see how that goes.


 

12/1

Today's Plan: Run with A set of 7day
From crisp winter we have settled on muddy spring today. I can only think of my spring runs for track in high school. I remember running back to the school with wet, dragging sweat pants. I am very glad I don't wear those anymore. The wind pants I wore today were much more practical. And lighter. The run went well, but again time became an issue. I was only able to get 2 sets of my 7 day exercises in. I am happy to say that I am definitely getting better at this set. I have to divulge a secret: I haven't gotten past one set of the other set. We will have to see tomorrow!

11/30

Today's Plan: run with 7day
I was getting a bit lost in my A and B sets for the 7day plan this week. I don't know why.  It just seems like a blur. As I made my plans for the day, I realized that I had not taken a day off this week. I wanted to start fresh on Monday, so I decided to take today off. Not that I got much rest. One cleaned, organized and redone library later, I had an attack of allergies.  Not only did I come up with a box of books to donate, I washed a couple loads of clothes to donate as well. After lunch I went to work on the cabinets under the kitchen and bathroom sinks.  After all the work I got the reward of watching the 4:25 football game.  All in all, a good day.

11/28 & 11/29

11/28: B set of 7day
11/29: run with A set of 7day
Friday's plan went well. I didn't have time to run, but managed to do the 7day exercises with a modicum of grace. It was, of course, Black Friday. I have spent years in retail, so I have never  really gotten into the consumer side of Black Friday. Right now the  job I have isn't effected by the chaos, and really, we were bored almost to tears Friday.
Saturday went exceedingly well. I think it is the first weekend where we worked inside and didn't have the stress of trying to get some big project done. The chimney is finished and fire is roaring routinely downstairs. The roof is on hold probably until spring, again thanks to Mother Nature. The forecasters are predicting several rounds of light storms, just enough to make it difficult to get the two or three days in a row needed. So we puttered and got some small tasks done and perhaps a nap on the couch with the dogs was had.
I did decide to attempt a run on the roads. I wanted to test how difficult it would be to run after a snowstorm. I know that at some point I will probably have to give up my runs due to the weather, but I had not planned on having to do it so early. It's not even officially winter yet!
The road passed the test. It involved a lot of focus on the ground and a lot of crossing the road to find the best footing. But I felt great that I got out there. I'm not shut down yet.

11/27

Today's Plan: B set of 7day
Mother Nature decided to rearrange my plans today. After dumping 10" of wet snow on us as a Thanksgiving present. a bit of clean up was in order. After the husband cleaned off the roof, it was my turn to deal with the roof rake.

In order to prevent the roof from falling in on Charby's hay, the cover-it needed to cleaned off. Now, before you ask, how hard could that have been? and think I just took the day off, you should know I am 5 foot tall on a good day. If I am tired and slumping I miss that mark.  The roof rake is 20 feet long. and the building is 30 feet long. And I had to manuever the tail end of the rake around trees, snowbanks and a rock wall. On the easy side. The other side had more mundane issues like stacked pallets and wheelbarrows. I think I will correct that next spring.

Once the hay was safe, I decided to do some stretching yoga to release my neck and arms. I have always said how much I enjoy yoga. But today I realized more exactly what is that makes me feel so good afterwards. 

One yoga teacher I had said " we don't do yoga in front of a mirror because you need to go within and realize, do I have the strength".* That is exactly it. There is a feeling of weightlessness in doing the positions correctly. My body feels beautiful and whether it looks that way or not is not important in that moment. No wonder I always wonderful after I perform yoga.

*Al Bingham, Yoga Zone, Ab Yoga for Beginners

Thoughts on Thanksgiving

It is Thanksgiving, and I am thankful: I am thankful that I live in a country where I don't have to worry about my home being bombed while I am at work, I am thankful that I live in a country that is not being invaded by an army led a dictator, I am thankful that I live in a country that is not being ravaged by disease. I am thankful that I have a home, a job, and a family and husband who love me.
Sometimes I think that amid the diverse and acrimonious politics and social unrest we sometimes need to remember what we have. It's not that our country is perfect. But we do have some aspects that are better than other countries who have active war and disease issues that make every day you make it through a blessing. Our blessing is that we don't have those worries. We have many issues of our own and a multitude of diverse ideas on how to fix them. Perhaps if we thought about the rest of the world's problems, ours wouldn't seem so bad and maybe easier to fix.

11/26

Today's Plan: run and 2 circuits of B set of 7 Day
I really needed to run this morning as it has been two long days since my last outing. Halfway into my first mile I wanted to throw the plan away and just keep running, it felt so wonderful.  The air was fresh, the sky was gray and I went up my first hill thinking about continuing my run and ditching the 7day. Then I realized how extraordinarily easy it was to get to the top and that I had not even thought about the hill as I climbed it.
It's not a terribly large hill, but it is early in the run. It can be a stumbling block when one is not warmed up. The hill is just over 300 yards long and about a 40% incline for the first 150, then a 25% incline for the last 150. The joke is that when one thinks they have topped it, the road continues to rise at 10% for yet another 100 or so yards. Just enough that your legs feel it but your eyes don't quite notice.
I knew I tend to get out of breath on the hill, so I drew in a large breath into my lungs at the bottom. That is the last conscious thought I had about running the hill until I noticed that I was at the top.
So I went back and did the B set of the 7 day. Because, obviously, it's making the difference.

11/25

Today's Plan: 2 circuits of A set of 7 day
That gets more confusing every time I write it. I have to say, 2 circuits made me sweat. It is time to clean my yoga mat. But I did complete the second set more quickly than the first. I am definitely getting better at the moves. I am getting sharper and have more concentration on doing them properly instead of just getting through them. I noticed that the first move of each set is the hardest. It's nice to get them out of the way and move on through the easier exercises. Of course, then you come around again and have to do them over. I didn't go for my run this morning, a lack of time and I wanted to ensure that I had time to do the 2 full circuits.
I went off to work empowered, happy and with a slightly aching abdomen......

11/24

Today's Plan: yoga
I decided to take a break from the 7 day plan and do yoga.  The 7 day plan is has been working me over and the yoga felt GREAT! Obviously my muscles needed the stretch.  I did it after work too, which meant all the stress from my day melted away. But back on the plan tomorrow!

11/22 &11/23

11/22: off
11/23: run with B set of 7day
My original intent on Saturday was not to take it off. But as I put it off, and off, and off throughout the day, somehow I just didn't get out there as I was supposed to. Some days rest is simply a better option. And it guarantees that one works extra hard the next day.
As I did. It was my first run since my fall and I was paying strict attention to where my feet were falling. But as Mother Nature is rather capricious, the road was no longer frozen. We are back in the 40s and even some 50s. My run went fine, but nothing extraordinary. I didn't go as far as I wanted since I had a deadline: meeting a friend for brunch and shopping. I certainly didn't want to be late for that. I was late heading down the drive for the run simply because we were putting the final touches on the chimney. Even had some woodsmoke trailing from the house last night.

11/21

Today's Plan: B set of 7day
It was the abs again today. Many of these exercises hit the lower abs, the ones that seem so hard to get working. No longer. I felt it all day at work. Which is a good thing, because I would hate to waste all that effort and not get results. I haven't been tracking whether I have lost weight or inches this week since I am not doing all the circuits yet.
This week I am only doing one circuit of the exercises. Next week I need to do two. The week after I will be up to full speed with three. I am going for a short run to warm up, which adds a bit more than they expect. They want me to do a two minute plank as a warm up. Oddly, that is not as much fun as you might expect. So if you don't hear from me after next Friday, you'll know I am too stiff to even type!

11/20

Today's Plan: run with A set of 7day
As I have mentioned before, we are putting in a wood stove this year. The best place for the chimney to go was up through the bathroom closet. On the upside, the bathroom floor will never be cold again with the stove right underneath it. Blissful.
I had to clean out the closet so we could take the shelving down before cutting holes in the floor and ceiling. While I was doing so I found that most of my first aid supplies had expired. And my band aids were all yucky. Either too sticky or not sticky enough. Why is this important?
I'm a klutz. I came by it naturally: my Dad had an ankle that threw him down repeatedly and he could make a glass of water set in the middle of a table fall over when he walked by. My Mom is worse. She and I have multitudes of little cuts and scrapes that appear from seemingly nowhere.
It was inevitable that I would fall while running I guess.  I was having a fabulous run, really feeling the groove. I am, however, not used to running on a frozen road. And I was watching where I was going, not  looking down at my feet. So when the rock I tipped my toe on didn't give, I went down.
I hit on my hands and knees, then managed to roll and hop up. I like to think I looked like one of those action stars rolling across the floor to avoid being shot. Unfortunately, I rather doubt it. The moral of this story? Always have a box of band aid on  hand. I had to wait until I got to work.
I did run the rest of the way home, it really didn't hurt very much. And the second day of my 7 day plan went much better. I was able to focus on doing the moves properly since I a frame of reference on how to do them. Still made me sweat!

11/19

Today's Plan:  B set of 7day
I have tried dance videos over the years in my search the perfect exercise. I am not terribly graceful and I have a problem following the more complicated steps: no matter how many times I rewind to watch it again. I felt the same way today.
This set of five exercises was aimed at the abdominals. Now, I do a lot of ab exercises. We all know I feel a strong core is necessary to be a effective runner. Three of the five were surprisingly easy for me. The other two, not so much. They used some parts of my abs that apparently I have not been using. And Atomic burpees. That's enough to make you pant.
These exercises have several steps, and getting into the positions is definitely part of what makes you sweat.  I would imagine that someone who knew what they were doing could do a circuit in a fluid 10 minutes, making three circuits a great half hour workout. I hope to get to that point. Right now I feel like I am watching Paula Abdul over and over as she explained the steps before making it look beautifully easy.

11/17 & 11/18

11/17 Plans: Off
11/18 Plans:Run with 7day Plan
So my plan for 11/17 went off without a hitch. Days off usually do. Tuesday was a rather nice day, and I didn't freeze as I went for my run. I did just over a mile as I had more in mind. In my magazine I am reviewing for October (yes, I will get it up there!) there is a 7 day exercise plan. As a part of my review, I thought I ought to try the plan. It has two sets exercises, 0ne set of 5 exercises for Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and another set of 5 exercises for Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. I think Sunday is for dying.
I did the first set of  exercises, which have 10 repetitions of the 5 exercises for 1 circuit. A full set would be 3 circuits. Beginners are encouraged to do 1 circuit and work up to 3. Thank goodness, because 1 circuit left me drenched in sweat. I have a feeling it will take more than 7 days to master this particular routine. Perfect timing with the weather as I will need a new challenge.

11/16

Today's Plan: run
I haven't been single in over 19 years. But once in awhile my husband has to go on trips for work. So right now I am single for 4 days. The first day is always fun, then I get bored and start to miss him. Right now he is in Fl, so at the moment I am just jealous of the weather.  Every time I talk to him he complains about being hot. While today is warmer than yesterday, that is still not anything I want to hear.  After getting up at 3:30 this morning to take him to meet his ride, I went back to bed on the couch for a bit. When I managed to wake up again. I took his car down to the mechanic's to be worked on while he was gone.
My original plan was to run home from the mechanic's as he is only 1.5m away. But I quite literally slept wrong on the couch and my sacrotuberous ligament hurt like a, well, it was uncomfortable.
(If you are wondering, yes, I had to look that up.) I tried to stretch it out, but all the stretches just hurt worse. Walking wasn't so bad, so I decided to stick with the plan. The worst that could happen would be that I would have to walk on the way home.
I ran up his driveway after parking the car and felt okay. So I went right instead of left and ran out a bit the other way before turning for home.  I did the carrot trick: I was only going to the first curve, but when I got there and was dithering if I was going to turn around I realized I was already on my way to the next curve. Funny how my feet make my decisions for me.
The hip was actually not an issue while I was running.  As happens quite often, my hip only hurts after I have been sitting for a bit. And I have been sitting most of the day, as I am enjoying my freedom by watching movie after movie.
Sad, you think? After all the work we have been doing--wood, roofing, yard cleanup--I am quite happy to do nothing! And this is day one. My day for whatever I want. Tomorrow I go back to work and the world starts again. It was nice to have one day with no pressures or needs.

11/14 & 11/15

11/14 Plans: yoga
11/15 Plans: run
Friday's plan worked out just fine. I got home from work and did a basic 20 minutes that were aimed at my abs. Saturday's plans, on the other hand, changed a bit.
I got home from work and was needed on roof patrol.  I have to say, it was cold. NOAA said it was 33 degrees, with a slight north wind. It felt far colder than that. The wind cut through all my layers (and I was layered and hatted and gloved) and felt like it was coming down from the Arctic tundra.
I wussed out and decided I wasn't going to attempt a run. I think being outside is worse because you know how cold it is. If you are inside and decide to go out for a run, you get all ready and just go. It's freezing but you are already down the driveway so you suck it up. Once you are out and already cold, it is hard to go in and change, knowing you are going to be running away from the warmth of your house.  I suppose some people would just run faster to get back to the warmth. Not me.
I did yoga instead. But, to be fair, I picked an older one that I haven't done in some time. It was longer than my probable run. The first time I attempted this particular routine, I almost didn't make it through the whole thing. So I think that it evened out in the long run. It was most likely harder than my run would have been anyway.