C25K

Hello from Quebec City!

I just took it, at 8:00, from a Hilton hotel room! I didn't take it when I woke up at 7:00 since everything was foggy and it was just white.

I feel great! I just got back to my hotel room after doing my first session from the C25K (Couch to 5 Km). I'd been considering taking up running for a while, and finally took the leap. First my plan was to do it in the morning since no other plan was really feasible. So I set a goal to get up at 6:00 every morning. Though that didn't quite work out, I still got up earlier than I normally would have. So I figured it would be time that I start soon. Since I have a hard time sleeping in a hotel room, I figures might as well get up early and get this thing started, and I did!

I never realised how short a minute was and then how long. The session comprised of a 5 minute warmeup walk with 6 reps of 60 seconds of running and 90 seconds of running. I didn't run very fast (7.5 kph). At first, I thought:

'This isn't so bad, maybe I should run faster, then again, it's my first time running so I'll take it easy as I have a full day of work ahead'.

By the 3rd rep:

'Ouch, my legs are getting tired'

By the 5th:

'Breathing is a little difficult, man I'm out of shape!'

And for the 6th and last, I decided to run faster just to see if I could at 8.5 kph and thought:

'thank god I didn't do this for all of my reps, my legs feel like jelly!'

But you know what,  by the time I ended my cooldown and was walking to the elevators, I felt great and I still do. It wasn't easy, and I'm glad I didn't go faster or else I don't think I would have made it past the first 3 reps. I think for my next session I'll start at 8.5mph and then slow down if I need to though now that I know a little more what to expect. My next session is also on the threadmill since I figure, once I set a speed, I have to go that speed, I can't just slow down and it makes it easier to follow a certain pace. I imagine it'll be a lot harder at home when I'll be outside and will have to do it on will alone.

I am officially considering a non scale victory, yay for exercise!

Room service just for here with my hearty breakfast... awesome, I'm starved!!!!

I'll keep you posted on the running!

Heavenly quiet...

My sleep training isn't going so well, meawhile, J's is going great! That first night, he cried for 50 minutes, getting out of bed multiple times. Tuesday, no crying, no getting out of bed, and yesterday he cried for about 3-5 minutes, but didn't get out bed. It's wonderful, I have time to myself in the evening now! I just had to share that as it's such a relief that he's doing so well. We reward him with pieces of a foam alphabet puzzle everyday, which works wonderfully (1 if he gets out of bed, 2 if he doesn't). I was scared that it wouldn't since stickers and such didn't work for other things.

Eating hasn't been great, we really need groceries (which hubby is doing this morning!). So that will help, though I'm a little worried about my eating for the following week while I'm on a conference. I really look forward to visiting Quebec city and am hoping to get a lot of exercise in.

So I am waaaayyyy behind on my blog reading, hopefully I'll catch up with that tonight. I like reading what everyone else if up to and their inspirational little thoughts or calls to action, here's mine for today:

When you're overwhelmed with everything, play Henry Hatsworth (a DS game), you'll be so consumed you'll forget about everything else! :)

Have a good day!

Oh no a gain!

Ouch, weight in was today and I'm up 2.5 lbs. I'm not surprised as my eating hasn't been the greatest, that and since Saturday I feel bloated and dehydrated no matter how much I drink, so hopefully, it's mostly water weight. I'll have to be careful to watch what I eat and get some exercise in since I'll be leaving Saturday for 5 days. 2 days of travel, 3 days of conference.

On the sleep front, I haven't been getting up at 6 o'clock sharp since Saturday. I slept longer on Sunday as I had gone to bed at 3am thanks to Sadie's birthday party! Then yesterday and this morning, I was just too lazy and tired. I've been feeling exhausted lately. Hopefully, my son will fall asleep easily tonight so that I can go to bed early. It's been a bit crazy, at the same time, I'm trying to get up earlier in the morning, we're trying to get him to get to sleep by himself. He use to do it just fine until he started having nightmares this summer and since we've been staying with him until he falls asleep. A hellish habit to break for sure. It's so guilt enducing and heartbreaking sleep training a child, but if it means he gets to sleep faster and earlier it will be better for his health and save my sanity as I feel like I have no time to myself. I do have some time, just none to really spend with my husband and I think that that's hard on both of us. It took J(our son) a mere 50 minutes to stop crying last night. Lets see how he does tonight.

This is how I feel today: Like I can't wrap my head around everything I have to get done. I have to go write a game plan now.... Have a good day while I dig myself out!

P.S. My first photo inside a post!

8:33

The title is the time at which I woke up this morning. I forgot to set my clock last night and didn't wake up until this time. Although I'm not upset. I'd been tired a lot lately, and if I didn't wake up before that, I guess that my body needed the sleep. The good thing that I did though is that I got out of bed right away instead of lingering and dozing on and off, which is what I think really messes up my sleep schedule.

Weather report: -1, with a high of 9... yay for 9!

Today, we'll be running around a lot, so eating right will be difficult. We do have leftovers though, so I'll try to tackle those so that I know what I'm eating.

Off to get dressed and go shopping... maybe I'll pick up a new measuring tape.

Have a good weekend!

Another early morning

4 days in a row.. yay! Although I must admit and say that I've been cheating and getting up on the first snooze. I know it's a slippery slope, so none of that next week! The real test will be tomorrow, as that is my sleep in day.

I reread my post from the other day, and the only horrible thing about getting up really only is the number of typos I made. Then again, I'm amazed I was coherent. Also, it's sad that even though I get up this early, I'm here instead of getting ready, so I'm still late. So now the delimna: Get up even earlier, or don't blog so early in the morning? Opinions?

Weather report: 0, with a high of 3, no rain/snow mix like yesterday though, which makes me happy!
Ok, back to weight topics (sorry I'm all over the place this morning!). I went to measure myself on WI day (Tuesday) and I can't find my measuring tape anywhere. (p.s. I lost 1 lb) I wonder who stole it. It's a big mystery as there are many possible culprits:
A. Hubby
B. Son
C. One of our 4 cats
D. I could have just misplaced it.
All this to say, I can't give an update on my measurements and my mini goal v.1. Hopefully I find it soon though, as I know it's a tiny bit stretched out and I know if doesn't give the most accurate measurements, but I figured that as long as I was consistent I'd be ok. I don't want to have to re-establish baseline measurements!

Off to start the day 1. Shower, 2. get dressed and dolled up, and then the list would never end so I'll stop there.

Have a good day!

(P.S. This post was revised at 8:45 to correct another slew of early morning typos!)

Early good morning!

Ok, contrary to what I said I would do yesterday, I didn't get up right at 6 when my alarm rang... but I did get up at my first snooze, which is almost a miracle in itself (so I'll be nice to myself and count it anyway). Getting up early is a really hard thing to do, which is actually pretty silly since it's the simple action of getting out of bed. I'll do better tomorrow.

Weather report: -2 as of 6:00am, high of 4 for today with no precipitation, which will be a nice change!

I am soooo thirsty, and hungry. Usually, I'm not hungry at all first thing in the morning. Oh well, off I go to shower and see if I have time to eat breakfast here before I leave.

Today is Sadie's 25th birthday... Happy 25th birthday!!!


Have a good day!

Sleep training

So I haven't writtten in a while...again. I keep meaning to, but keep putting it off because there is always something to do.

WI - After staying the same last week, I was really glad to lose 1 lb this week despite too much Halloween candy! I'm down 12.5 lbs and it feels nice to know I am doing something for myself. Before starting to lose weight, I was feeling myself getting depressive again and am glad I am on the path to wellness again.

Yesterday, I had decided to start going to bed early and to sticking to a set schedule, though knowing that that wouldn't work on it's own, I went and did some research and found lots of sites, and a friend of mine saying her doctor even told her this, that the key is not setting a get to bed time but a wake up time. Sit tight while I elaborate a little. Apparently, the important thing is getting up at the same time everyday, even on weekends, and listening to your sleepiness signals. It comes with the warning that you might have ups and downs in your tiredness levels for the first week, but after a while, they'll even out. Getting up at the same time everyday, right when your alarm rings, help to put your body in a pattern. Concentrating on the wake-up time is beneficial because as you do different activities during the day, your body won't need the same amount of rest, and then you just may end up sitting in bed, not being able to sleep. By concentrating on your sleepiness levels, you'll get the sleep you need more consistently, and even if you're tired after going to bed later than usual one night, you'll catch up the following day and feel refreshed.

Given all that information, I set my alarm for 6:30 this morning, but my DS woke us up at 6:15 whinning that he wasn't feeling well. All this to say, I started getting ready at 6:30 this morning and still wasn't ready to leave on time. Note that I am NEVER ready to leave the house when I should and I ALWAYS get to work late but just compensate with shorter lunches and no breaks, which is definitely not healthy. So tomorrow morning, and for a  few weeks (until I decide if I should get up ealier) I will be getting up at 6. Although I didn't prep my lunch this morning which is part of why I was late, I have been practicing getting that done at night also.

Lately, I am all aboutestablishing new routines. I've been feeling really scattered and feel that I need to get control over my life, and get away from the computer when I am not doing anything on there. For example, I will keep up with my forums and such, but not stay on browsing for nothing important after I am done.

Ok, so that's a lot of changes. I've also got more I want to do, but I don't want to tackle too much at once. Let's see how this works out. My goal is to get up, and say hello to my blog every morning in order to stay accountable (as I get on the computer to check the weather anyway). So if you notice there isn't a message around 6am, come kick me in the butt!

Ok. Enough of a break. Back to work!