I didn't actually do any exercise today... I got up from working on GIS (maps/thesis) every hour as Janis instructed us to move every hour and not to 'just sit there.' I planned on going biking, but I couldn't make myself get up and go - it wasn't for lack of motivation to do activity because it was gorgeous today... it was because today was a big writing/making maps day and it was a long time to work uninterrupted - no distractions - and I've been freaking out so much about chunks of time to work on this stuff - deadlines are fast approaching - I just couldn't make myself do any activity that would take me away from the paper. Tomorrow I'll do the HCC workout at 2:30 - and then I'll start the week fresh with plenty of gym-time :)

So, in lieu of some great adventure, activity or story of how my day went, I'll share some more interesting facts that I've learned with HCC :) - this bit of information is from the meeting on 2/25/10

Health Facts

- A multivitamin = 'your' insurance plan against the burden of eating perfectly every day. Judith (Nutritionist/Dietician) suggest Women's (and Men's) Once a Day vitamins.

- The average adult needs 1200mg Ca & Vit D/day - 1 cup milk = 300mg, 1 cup yogurt = 400mg, 1 calcium supplement = 500mg

- 1 soda (diet or regular)/day puts you at a 83.2% chance of getting Type II diabetes (Thank God I've never craved sodas... and thanks, Mom & Dad, for never giving us sodas when we were little!!)

- It's important to get 2 servings/week of a fatty fish like salmon for your omega 3's (if you take a supplement, make sure it's a good quality fish oil pill or you will smelly fishy - really)

Emotional Eating (questions to answer now to help ourselves later...)

- What emotions are associated with eating for you?

- What function does eating serve in these situations?

- Generate healthier alternatives that serve the same functions

- Write down the alternatives when the emotion/mood strikes

- Eating doesn't help the stress, it worsens it

- It takes 15-20 minutes for your brain to register that you ate... so slow down while eating :)

Legs & Arms = all a quivery :)

Pretty sure I just made up the word 'quivery.' Swimming was harder today - but I'm not too surprised - my quads hate me right now - and since I have been kicking the correct way, my quads got yet another tough work out. Shawn had a GREAT workout planned for us:
Warm up: 2 laps easy
Main Set: (1) 1 lap kick board, 1 lap 'pull' (just arms - floatie between legs), 2 laps moderate
(2) 2 laps kick, 2 laps pull, 2 laps easy
(3) 4 laps with fins on feet, 1 lap easy
(4) 2 X 1 lap sprint (hypoxic)
Cool down: 2 laps easy
Total = 21 laps, 1050 meters, or 0.65 miles
[sprint/hypoxic = swimming as fast as you can and taking as few breaths as you can]
For the sprint laps, you sprint for 1 length and then can do whatever stroke on the way back... and all of these laps - minus the recovery from the sprint = freestyle.

My first sprint length = 27 seconds and 4 breaths and my second sprint length = 30 seconds and 4 breaths... need to work on that time, but the amount of breaths is good :)

And believe it or not, Jenelle and I are talking about increasing this fun workout to twice a week - Monday & Friday mornings! I think this would balance out my week nicely - Wednesdays I spin, Saturdays I do a 'real' ride for a LONG journey to train... and Tues & Thurs, I do light cardio with weights... not too shabby... Sunday is always a wild card - this Sunday it's Nia and Yoga with our trainer (teaching all of HCC!) Thursday's circuit work out had me sore all day - my arms quivered when driving (holding the steering wheel!!) and my legs - well, as you know, they've been sore all week... It was nice to use my arms and legs this morning - but I got a cramp in my right quad - I wouldn't wish that on anyone - OUCH!!

I've decided NOT to do the bridge run... I know it's required and all - but Laura G. and I have been planning our century ride since August-ish and the past couple of times I've done the bridge, I've ended up running (because who really wants to be left behind???) which has made me so sore the following day that it's been hard to walk. Laura, John, and ?? are coming down for that weekend just for us to do the ride, so I'm focusing on training for that and working on that versus trying to do both. I'm in this for the longhaul - there will be PLENTY of races in the future!!

I've decided to join the MUSC Wellness Ctr for after the program - if I sign up before HCC is over, I get 1 free month (yay!!), so I'll get to swim with or without Jenelle (who has a membership), spin with Catherine, and do Taebo with James & Janis all I want!! And the majority of my team is a member already, so I'lll get to see them throughout the week as well :)

Great breakfast I had after swimming... it's going to sound strange - but it was SOO tasty!! 1/2 pear sauteed with cinnamon & nutmet and 1/4 cup quinoa mixed in... with 2 chicken/apple sausage links :) all mixed in together - YUM!!

I LOST 2.6 lbs for a TOTAL of 15.6 lbs!!! I was just telling Liz yesterday that my initial minimum goal was 15 lbs - yay me :) I told my group since I had accomplished my first goal, that I would just eat a bunch of chocolate on Friday - clearly kidding - but Sarah didn't think it was that funny... I suppose that would have been the old me, though... that's why WW's wasn't a good program for me... So, my next goal is 20 lbs - no time limit, just 20 lbs - "no time limit" = more serious commitment and better chance that it'll stay off :) and this goal = only 4.4 lbs away!!

Tomorrow I swim with Shawn and Jenelle @ 7AM - I get to sleep in 30 minutes!!

LEGS on FIRE

Yesterday my Mom came to spinning with me (Johnny W. & Jane H. were there as well - not Jane Horton...) and she really rocked it out. She is going to give it another chance next week - yay!! In fact, she was already talking about how she's going to rearrange her schedule to incorporate this class :) It makes me happy - more people loving spinning... Of course this week, it seemed like more of a love/hate relationship... maybe hate is too strong, but after working out for 1.5 hours on Tuesday night, Wednesday's spinning class was harder than normal... my quads were hurting!!

Overall, Wednesday was an off day - it started out great, but then I had a meeting with my internship advisor who believes it's going to take me longer than I think to finish the maps - followed by a meeting with my committee/primary advisor who wants my rough draft into her by next Friday - a week from tomorrow... then we un-installed the GIS program to install a better one and the computer stopped working which ALL led to a moment of hyperventalating followed by being physically ill... apparently my body doesn't process stress like it used to... I used to function very well during stress, but yesterday I imploded... or exploded... I suppose either of those terms are accurate...

Today I feel a little better... it's a weigh-in day - I had a great work out this morning - I got to the gym at 5:40 and worked out for 30 minutes before my trainer got there and then we did circuit 'training' - legs (that are now permanently on fire), arms, and core - over and over again and then stretched and was done... we did the circuit for 45 minutes - so LOTS of arms, legs and core :) My muscles were quivering when I turned the steering wheel :) My legs have gotten QUITE the workout, though, over the past several days... Taebo, 1.5 hours elliptical, spinning, squats and lunges today, swimming tomorrow... ouchie!!!

Stay tuned for tonight's update on my weigh-in!! :)

Insomnia (but not really) - Part III

I am absolutely exhausted and my body is READY for some REAL rest!!! So I guess the brief insomnia bout is over :) I went to the gym this afternoon with the intent of doing cardio and weights and decided against the weights - Janis (head of the program) told me yesterday that right now we really needed cardio workouts more than weights - coupled with circuit type activities (like what the team did with Matt on one of those first workouts. So I started on the treadmill (only because none of the elliptical machines were open - it was 5pm - I should have known...) - I did 10 minutes warm up on the treadmill, then noticed an elliptical was free and did 15 minutes on that elliptical, but it wasn't my favorite type of elliptical machine (this gym has at least 4 different ellip. machines) so I jumped on my fave type and did 60 minutes - I really pushed myself hard. I worked out for 1.5 hours total and couldn't walk when I got off the machine, or at least I was really wobbly.

I watched Lost with some great friends and after working my brain on the many puzzlers of Lost, I'm ready to fully relax and get some real ZZZ's - I've got to rest up - another big long day tomorrow!!

Insomnia - Part II

Just as a little update on last night... I'm fairly certain I didn't fall asleep until 2:30 - I read organic chemistry for a while (that usually really does the trick), I listened to Iron&Wine (low key music), Brahms, and an acoustic mix - NADA. I couldn't believe it!! When I did fall asleep, it clearly wasn't the best sleep ever because I dreamed that the fan was going to fall from the ceiling (surely there was more to it than that, or my subconscious mind is slow on the reality of things...) so I got out of bed and moved everything out from under the fan... which could be good - I was actually cleaning in my sleep, so at least I was productive - but these were not the Z's I was looking for... I think I need to eat dinner earlier, and start getting ready for bed earlier to relax the mind, because it has been working overtime with my thesis and this cannot happen every night this week - I love sleep too much!!! As a result, I only got about 3 hours of sleep before I had to get up and head to the gym - so I texted my trainer and begged for some more sleeping time. Later today (probably around 4), I'm going to go to the gym and do cardio and nautilus weights. I was going to do cage fitness - but that's from 7-7:30 and I think after last night I should aim to get home and eat before 8... If there is an interesting class that I want to do after my work out, I may add that in as well, since I won't be biking today in the rain.

Tomorrow, my Mom is going to join me for spinning at 9AM (YAY!!) and then weather and thesis permitting, I'm going to go biking in the late afternoon! :)

Insomnia

Before the program, I was really good at not sleeping - or atleast not sleeping soundly... I talk in my sleep - have been known to have night terrors (not my fave) and oh yes, sleep walking. After the program started I stopped the frequency of all of those, which has been nice - I actually get a 'normal' night's rest with strange dreams. Tonight I get the grand prize of not sleeping at all... which doesn't really make a whole lot of sense - I ate very well today, I worked all day on my thesis and was wiped earlier today... I then went to Taebo and Janis did an amazing job of kicking our rear ends... and here it is 11:30 PM and I have to get up at 5AM (at the latest!) and I'm wired. Dinner was lentil soup and some salad - that I ate later than I normally do because of a late class of Taebo, but still, done with food at 8.... so here I am musing about my no sleep. Maybe I can't get my brain to quiet down

Anyway, today was a hard day in that I worked on GIS all day in my parents FRIGID house - but I am thankful for the company and the use of house that is great for studying in. I ate my lunch outside on the front porch and soaked in some Vitamin D and warmed up a little before heading back into the freezer. I'll give M/D's house this - I stayed wide awake while working and wasn't distracted, I think part of it was the mentality that once completed with this portion of the project, I can move to a warmer locale. Now I am snug in my bed underneath down comforter, surrounded by lots of pillows in a really comfy bed AND I CAN"T SLEEP. I suppose I can go grab my ipod and listen to some Brahms; that usually does it. Good night all and I will check back in tomorrow.