Week 6

Better late than never? Sorry for the delay. We've been busy. ;)

M 25 min
T 30 min
W 25 min
Th off
F "speed things up: after warming up, walk quickly for 2 minutes,
then slow it down for 2 minutes. Repeat 5 times."
Sat 30 min
Sun 25 min

Total 9 miles

And then...?

Okay so I know Binky went shopping, but where did everyone else go? It's quiet on here this week and I'm curious to know what's keeping you all away - too busy walking or too busy slacking?

I've done so-so this week - meaning good, but not as good as I wanted. Including this morning we've clocked 140 walking minutes. That's likely to be near our total because Phil will be around to help tomorrow morning and then I'm off to Tawas for a lovely no-boys-allowed weekend vacation.

We might exercise, but we might also just lay around watching chick flicks and painting our nails. Or taunt the regulars at the local watering hole with our new aged non-country juke box music selections and loud giggling. We shall see.

Holla back, y'all.

Step-by-step.

So despite some yucky cold and sinus issues I managed to walk my little booty off last week(end). With 110 minutes yesterday alone, my week total was 270 minutes, or about 14 miles. And also, I learned that I like oatmeal.

We shall see what this week brings.

Yay, walking!

New motivation.

Lola was being, for lack of a kinder way to put it, a HUGE shithead-hellion-f@*kface-a$$hole tonight. I tried calming her with a 15 minute break in her crate. It didn't work. I was frustrated and ready to cry. And the fact that I was ready to cry made me want to cry more, cuz that's lame, yo.

So I took her for a walk. We went around our usual part of the neighborhood, but sensing that our few blocks were not enough to expel her demon energy, I kept going into the undeveloped parts of the neighborhood. By the time we made it back home we'd walked 40 minutes. She's been chewing her bone, instead of me, for the entire hour since we've been back.

THANK YOU, EXERCISE!

Ignoring the fact that Bethany is on her way over with a small Dairy Queen blizzard to reward me for being such a good doggy mom, today contained a nice healthy 70 minutes, or roughly 3.5 miles, and I still love my dog.

*gasp* I'm...I'm behind!

The good: Phil is in town and I'm loving not being a single mom to Lola. We have more fun this way. (Especially since we introduced the squirt gun as a training mechanism!)
The bad: I get to sleep longer in the mornings because he'll walk her when he gets up.
The ugly: I've only walked 30 of the 45 minutes projected for Monday through Wednesday. How am I supposed to overachieve if I'm not achieving at all?

I did kayak for an hour on Monday. So if ya'll consider that walking...with your arms...on water...then I'm golden. But uh, I really just need to get my butt moving!

DIET TIPS
The good: Popsicles and Luigi's Italian Ice are awesome to have on hand. Between the two, I can stave off most cravings for Wendy's frosties, rootbeer floats, twists dipped in chocolate and other icy cold goodnesses.
The bad and the ugly: Apparently it is NOT okay to eat mexican food for 6 meals in a row. No matter how good it tastes. Diversity should be enforced.

Week Three Goals

Week three, already?!?

Monday 10 minutes
Tuesday 15 minutes
Wednesday 20 minutes
Thursday OFF
Friday 15 minutes
Saturday 20 minutes
Sunday 20 minutes
total : 5 miles

I have some catching up to do. I've had a sinus infection since a week ago Friday, which now appears to have possibly made its way into bronchitis. This is a lousy excuse for not walking 10 minutes. As is the fact that I spent most of the weekend cleaning at my rental property. Haha I like calling it a "rental property" instead of "the house I lived in until I couldn't find roommates to live there and now won't seem to sell so I need people to live there and help me pay the mortgage." It's more... concise. Less melodramatic. But basically, I'm just saying that I haven't been very good at keeping up with this, which makes me extra proud of those of you who have, because I know first-hand how easy it is to get distracted and make exercise a lower priority, and you're all fabulous and awesome and inspirational.

And I'll catch up eventually... honest.

Oh, the temptations.

I was off to a great start this week. I was eating healthy and gung-ho on the plan. Then I gave in to laziness, donuts, ice cream socials and peanut butter cookies. I currently plan to go home and nap. And then eat pasta and drink wine (thankfully in honor of a birthday, so those calories don't count).

Awesome!

As for my exercising, I'd walked 80 minutes in two and a half days...and since then I've only walked an additional 45. Phil has been around to share dog-walking duties, and after 5 days of single parenting while he was out of town, I relish the Lola-free time. I have great plans to be active all weekend, so of course, they're calling for thunderstorms. Rain will totally ruin all of my really fun plans but will also keep me out of a bathing suit for a little while longer. Nothing's quite so motivational...

In other news, very much in the vein of my theory that calories consumed in honor of birthdays do not exist, I'm trying to think of a loophole that negates the affect of any foods consumed at holiday BBQs. Any suggestions?

Have a great long weekend everyone! Stay strong!

(Oh yeah, and even though I feel like a slacker, I still totally exceeded this week's goal. So there's that.)

Oh yeah, the plan.

WEEK TWO GOALS

M 10min
T 10min
W 15min
Th OFF
Fri 15min
Sat 20min
Sun 20min

approx 4.5 miles

week summary, weekend predictions

Okay it seemed excessive to post every time I walk since I'm the only one who has a puppy to drag me around. But here's what Lola and I managed to do this week:

Monday
Morning - 20 min
Lunch - 10 min
Evening - 10 min

Tuesday
Morning - 10 min
Lunch - 10 min
Evening - 10 min

Wednesday
Morning - 10 min
Lunch - Called on account of rain
Evening - 15 min

Thursday
Morning - 10 min
Lunch - 10 min
Evening - 15 min

Friday
Morning - 15 min
Lunch - Phil is home. I actually get to go out with coworkers for lunch! Woo!
Evening - Assuming we can actually fit 2 12 foot kayaks and 1 10 foot kayak in the back of a single Escape, I'll be kayaking after work. And Lola gets to romp around with her cousin (a Puggle) all night.

Tomorrow will include at least a morning and evening walk with Lola. And Sunday, again, assuming my logistics all pull together, kayaking on Sunday. Longer trip though, more like 2 - 3 hours.

Yipee!

Total actual time walked so far this week, not counting predictions = 2.5 hours.

Not sure how that translates distance wise, but sounds great to me!

Calendar

Being the dork that I am I made a Google calendar to help remind myself to walk everyday. It's a public calendar that anyone can view or add to their Google calendar, iCal, or other XML and HTML calendars. Let me know if you would like to be added to the calendar to make changes.



XML

HTML

iCal

Contingency Plans

So last night I thought I would walk when I got home from dance class... but I didn't. It was 9:00 and I was starving and instead I just made food and rushed downstairs to watch Heroes. In my defense, I did spend an hour at dance class... and then actually remembered to pull out my tiny hand weights and use them while watching tv. But still... I haven't officially started the assignment yet. Apparently I will start today. But for later reference, when we miss a day (as we inevitably will, now and again)... one day a week is accounted for in the planning already. But if you've already skipped a day, and miss another... consolidate? Add 5 minute increments on to other days until you've made up the time? That's just my suggestion. Obviously, do whatever works best for you. But I thought a general ground rule might help. I'm an over-planner. You'll get used to it (if you haven't already!).

Oh and I did penance by taking the stairs this morning. It's only the fourth floor... but it still had me wheezing. Ugh. Soooo out of shape.

GO!

Week One, courtesy of Family Circle magazine:

Monday : 5 Minutes
Tuesday: 10 Minutes
Wednesday : 10 Minutes
Thursday: OFF (or pick a different free day, as needed!)
Friday: 15 Minutes
Saturday: 20 Minutes
Sunday: 20 Minutes

Total Distance
for the week: 4 Miles!

p.s. You can totally double it if you're feeling motivated,
just... don't rub it in. Okay? ;)

WTF is a doughty girl?

Well, if you slur it just right, or say it fast enough, it makes us dirty girls. If you're feeling mopey or melancholy, you can be a doubty girl with not enough motivation to pronounce the "b." And if you're feeling grammatically accurate, you can look it up on dictionary.com and find that it was yesterday's "word of the day," because today's kinda sucked and I needed a blog name.

doughty \DOW-tee\, adjective:Marked by fearless resolution; valiant; brave.

Feeling fearless?

I'm feeling lazy. And I want to fix that. So please feel free to jump on in and join me -- it's 73 degrees outside, there's no excuse for this laziness... not too hot, not too cold... just too busy, usually.

But I'm also feeling inspired. A popular woman's magazine (by "woman's magazine," I mean the type whose target audience is NOT me, but rather a stay at home mom whose goals include emulating both Martha Stewart and Lance Armstrong) ... anyway, that popular woman's magazine currently has a "challenge" issued asking people to walk 75 miles over the next four months -- in intervals as small as 4 miles a week, which breaks down to as little as 5-10 minutes a day. Ha. I can totally do that. And I'm inviting you to do it with me. Not literally, for those with whom I barely manage to maintain long distance e-communication... but figuratively speaking. Need motivation to exercise? Me, too. Help!!

C'mon. It'll be fun. And then we can post whiny posts and comments here to keep each other going. I'll post the first week's goal sheet as a separate post. On your mark, get set...