and miles to go before i rest.
i'm just plain tired.
i did get some sleep this weekend. but it was not enough.
today i've got a serious case of the mondays. and it is hard to focus on something detail intensive like my own scientific research when all i can think of is how comfortable my bed would be right now.
*drowsy eyes*
only 8 hours until i rest. they can't pass quickly enough.
zzzz...
29 June 2009
25 June 2009
officially official
i'm sore now.
two more classes today sealed the deal.
cycling on some really cool fitness cycles for an hour straight - 26 miles in 66 minutes
new hip hop dance moves for an hour
now i can barely walk.
calgon, take me away! at least i have some naturopathic sports gel to help ease some of my agony. it's not really agony. more general, whole body stiffness. walking is all of a sudden a really good stretching ritual.
tomorrow and friday: field work! i think i can, i think i can...
what i really hope is that we don't have to do super steep hiking over hill and dale tomorrow...
good night.
two more classes today sealed the deal.
cycling on some really cool fitness cycles for an hour straight - 26 miles in 66 minutes
new hip hop dance moves for an hour
now i can barely walk.
calgon, take me away! at least i have some naturopathic sports gel to help ease some of my agony. it's not really agony. more general, whole body stiffness. walking is all of a sudden a really good stretching ritual.
tomorrow and friday: field work! i think i can, i think i can...
what i really hope is that we don't have to do super steep hiking over hill and dale tomorrow...
good night.
24 June 2009
it's about...time!
i am ready to start a new beginning, and i finally have time for it. it has already begun.
i started writing in my blog again. this in and of itself is a step forward for me. i'm happy to be back and to be thinking and cataloging and wondering about things.
michael and i have parted ways. this was agony and a blessing. i'm living in a new place. the room is extremely small but overall i love having a place to call my own.
i have begun unpacking / reorganizing my things. in the past few years i've lost track of some things that i thought were important, like keeping things simple, not accumulating too much, and staying organized. so i'm about to write the books on how to keep my stuff together in an orderly fashion. this is a quest of self discovery and finding out what i think i can really live with or without.
each category of stuff has some kind of optimal limit of "amount". how many flannel shirts do i really need? this goes on for socks, t-shirts, and other assorted "dress" clothes that i just don't think i'll wear again. i started the process of sorting clothes before i left michael's house - a sort of spring cleaning. i didn't finish, however, because i moved out. so now i'm unpacking all the sorted piles and dealing with them. again, trying to set an optimal limit on how many of each thing i need. how many long sleeve shirts do i need? how many work shirts? how many pairs of pants? shorts?
so far the limit has been loosely based on what fits right now and what doesn't. i find myself in one of those in between sizes that is not really one size (the size i've been for 13 years) and not quite the next size up (though, those clothes are looser and more comfy sometimes). my issue with that is purely pride. i don't WANT to wear the next size up, and i don't WANT to have to go out and buy new clothes.
the solution may be to lose some weight. i would not say i consider myself overweight. but i have just enough little bit extra to make some pants tight in the legs / waist. i am certain this is a quandry all women face. however, most other women are fine with going shopping and getting new clothes. in this way i'm stubborn. no new clothes! i already have enough old ones that are still in good shape! people have suggested goodwill. this way i don't have to spend much money on new clothes. it's the principle, however, of going and buying bigger clothes, that is the real issue for me.
in order to accomplish this "lose a few pounds to get my pants to fit" idea, i decided to buckle down and join the gym. seeing as i hate running outside by myself, and i don't really care for trail running (i always seem to twist my ankle...and i dislike hills though i like the view from the top), i thought i would try going to the gym and seeing what happens.
in general i dislike the gym because the sweat feels fake. it feels slimy. maybe the air circulation in all previous gyms was just bad and didn't allow for proper drying of sweat like being outside in the sun does. (maybe i will start bringing a towel.) in any event, i joined for the whole summer. till october 2nd, actually, which is EXACTLY the weekend of homecoming at hartwick, which i plan to attend. if i can find someone to play tennis with me on a regular basis over the summer, i can really see this going somewhere.
back to the gym. i have been testing out "fit" classes this week, since it is free week and you can go to as many as you want for free (pass for the rest of the summer is $29. why this isn't included in the gym cost, i have no idea.)
here's what i've done so far:
monday - cardio kick
tuesday - step sculpting, strength without boundaries, dance scene
the cardio kick was intense, and i envisioned severe butt pain on tuesday. but i didn't have hardly any pain. did i not do it hard enough? maybe i need to punch harder and push myself harder. i'm sure the teacher will do that for us. she seems good like that. she's very enthusiastic!
the step sculpting was maybe my favorite, but it was only 45 minutes. still good. it takes some coordination of practicing which foot to step with at any given time, but i liked it. this teacher has the least personality of all the teachers so far.
the strength class was all about how many implements you can use to work out without having a home gym. we used a yoga ball, a step, a mat, a leg band, a longer leg band with handles, dumbells, and a bench-press type pole with weights on either side. i get her methodology, and for sure she's working on weight and resistance training, which is something new for me. she is also very perky and always saying, "here we go! you can do it! nice work!"
the dance class was somewhat of a let down. i had taken funky street style dancing at ucdavis, and the teacher there was very into a warm up and isolations and really getting us ready before we started any kind of routine - that is where i perfected my running man, my terminator, my michael jackson thriller move, and my c-walk. the girl yesterday was very nice and seemed to be a good dancer, but we did like, a few warm up stretches and immediately started into the routine she wants to work on. and for one day, we were at my maximum amount of new moves learned that i was sure i wouldn't remember them all (but i did). one new thing we learned was happy feet, which i guess i've done before but it didn't come back as easily as i'd hoped. still, not sure i'll go back to that one.
tonight i will try cycle fit class, and pop hop fusion dance class.
i have yet to try the yoga class or the core conditioning class, but there just wasn't time and a lot of them overlap. i think i will buy the unlimited all summer pass, and just go as often as i can.
what surprises me the most is how NOT sore i am. i figured, with all the movement and the weights and dips and kicking, i would be in severe pain. tuesday i was feeling a little tightness in my back and shoulders, but nothing unmanageable. after the 3 classes yesterday, i have a little soreness in my shoulders and a little stiffness in my legs. but really? i worked out for 3 solid hours yesterday and this is all i have to show for it? my arms aren't even sore and i was sure they would be after doing all these arm exercises with weights. maybe i need to use heavier weights! lord! i'm going to be so buff!
wait, i don't get buff. this i learned in college. well at least i'll have muscles, even if no one can see them but me.
ok i just did an arms over the head and lean back in the computer chair stretch. i can feel some soreness in my abs. which i expected.
another thing i want to start working on is having a routine. of course this is all shot to heck this week (and probably for the next 3 weeks...and then past that cause i'll be on vacation), because work is eating, eating, eating up my days. running an experiment where i need to have solutions running for 30 hours over 2 days. i don't have to be with them all the time, but i don't like to leave them for too long either in case something happens and there's a fire or explosion or whatever. so the last few days i've been getting up at 530am and going to bed around 130am.
for anyone who knows me, this is definitely not enough sleep for me. i need more like 7-8 or more hours on a daily basis. right now i feel a little bit like a zombie, and i'm certainly not being productive. but being here counts as work so i'm getting a bunch of hours. and in the middle of all that, i take breaks to go to work out. however i haven't been eating regularly.
back to routines. perhaps once these next 2-3 crazy weeks are over, i can start normalizing myself again. get up at given time. do some regular morning type activities, like eat, shower, get dressed, pack lunch, take vitamins (i did take a vitamin today!) then bike to work - which is amazing because it is downhill and SO FAST! work for some normal amount of hours. like 8-10/day. go to the gym sometime during the day or play tennis if that works out. go home at a regular hour by bike, which is a workout in and of itself. make dinner. have my evenings to do home type things which i have been neglecting this past week, like sorting things, organizing things, work on photo albums or scrap books.
one thing i've been able to keep up with even through splitting up and moving is dancing. and then i wonder partially if the reason i've been not very sore from the working out is because my core is strong from dancing. could this be the reason for all my strength? who would have thought? anyway i'm doing that and having fun with it. and now i get to dance with lots of partners in a given night, which is even more fun!
well, i think i'll go get back to work. i've got more to write, but probably should get something productive done before the day is completely over.
peace and turtles!
i started writing in my blog again. this in and of itself is a step forward for me. i'm happy to be back and to be thinking and cataloging and wondering about things.
michael and i have parted ways. this was agony and a blessing. i'm living in a new place. the room is extremely small but overall i love having a place to call my own.
i have begun unpacking / reorganizing my things. in the past few years i've lost track of some things that i thought were important, like keeping things simple, not accumulating too much, and staying organized. so i'm about to write the books on how to keep my stuff together in an orderly fashion. this is a quest of self discovery and finding out what i think i can really live with or without.
each category of stuff has some kind of optimal limit of "amount". how many flannel shirts do i really need? this goes on for socks, t-shirts, and other assorted "dress" clothes that i just don't think i'll wear again. i started the process of sorting clothes before i left michael's house - a sort of spring cleaning. i didn't finish, however, because i moved out. so now i'm unpacking all the sorted piles and dealing with them. again, trying to set an optimal limit on how many of each thing i need. how many long sleeve shirts do i need? how many work shirts? how many pairs of pants? shorts?
so far the limit has been loosely based on what fits right now and what doesn't. i find myself in one of those in between sizes that is not really one size (the size i've been for 13 years) and not quite the next size up (though, those clothes are looser and more comfy sometimes). my issue with that is purely pride. i don't WANT to wear the next size up, and i don't WANT to have to go out and buy new clothes.
the solution may be to lose some weight. i would not say i consider myself overweight. but i have just enough little bit extra to make some pants tight in the legs / waist. i am certain this is a quandry all women face. however, most other women are fine with going shopping and getting new clothes. in this way i'm stubborn. no new clothes! i already have enough old ones that are still in good shape! people have suggested goodwill. this way i don't have to spend much money on new clothes. it's the principle, however, of going and buying bigger clothes, that is the real issue for me.
in order to accomplish this "lose a few pounds to get my pants to fit" idea, i decided to buckle down and join the gym. seeing as i hate running outside by myself, and i don't really care for trail running (i always seem to twist my ankle...and i dislike hills though i like the view from the top), i thought i would try going to the gym and seeing what happens.
in general i dislike the gym because the sweat feels fake. it feels slimy. maybe the air circulation in all previous gyms was just bad and didn't allow for proper drying of sweat like being outside in the sun does. (maybe i will start bringing a towel.) in any event, i joined for the whole summer. till october 2nd, actually, which is EXACTLY the weekend of homecoming at hartwick, which i plan to attend. if i can find someone to play tennis with me on a regular basis over the summer, i can really see this going somewhere.
back to the gym. i have been testing out "fit" classes this week, since it is free week and you can go to as many as you want for free (pass for the rest of the summer is $29. why this isn't included in the gym cost, i have no idea.)
here's what i've done so far:
monday - cardio kick
tuesday - step sculpting, strength without boundaries, dance scene
the cardio kick was intense, and i envisioned severe butt pain on tuesday. but i didn't have hardly any pain. did i not do it hard enough? maybe i need to punch harder and push myself harder. i'm sure the teacher will do that for us. she seems good like that. she's very enthusiastic!
the step sculpting was maybe my favorite, but it was only 45 minutes. still good. it takes some coordination of practicing which foot to step with at any given time, but i liked it. this teacher has the least personality of all the teachers so far.
the strength class was all about how many implements you can use to work out without having a home gym. we used a yoga ball, a step, a mat, a leg band, a longer leg band with handles, dumbells, and a bench-press type pole with weights on either side. i get her methodology, and for sure she's working on weight and resistance training, which is something new for me. she is also very perky and always saying, "here we go! you can do it! nice work!"
the dance class was somewhat of a let down. i had taken funky street style dancing at ucdavis, and the teacher there was very into a warm up and isolations and really getting us ready before we started any kind of routine - that is where i perfected my running man, my terminator, my michael jackson thriller move, and my c-walk. the girl yesterday was very nice and seemed to be a good dancer, but we did like, a few warm up stretches and immediately started into the routine she wants to work on. and for one day, we were at my maximum amount of new moves learned that i was sure i wouldn't remember them all (but i did). one new thing we learned was happy feet, which i guess i've done before but it didn't come back as easily as i'd hoped. still, not sure i'll go back to that one.
tonight i will try cycle fit class, and pop hop fusion dance class.
i have yet to try the yoga class or the core conditioning class, but there just wasn't time and a lot of them overlap. i think i will buy the unlimited all summer pass, and just go as often as i can.
what surprises me the most is how NOT sore i am. i figured, with all the movement and the weights and dips and kicking, i would be in severe pain. tuesday i was feeling a little tightness in my back and shoulders, but nothing unmanageable. after the 3 classes yesterday, i have a little soreness in my shoulders and a little stiffness in my legs. but really? i worked out for 3 solid hours yesterday and this is all i have to show for it? my arms aren't even sore and i was sure they would be after doing all these arm exercises with weights. maybe i need to use heavier weights! lord! i'm going to be so buff!
wait, i don't get buff. this i learned in college. well at least i'll have muscles, even if no one can see them but me.
ok i just did an arms over the head and lean back in the computer chair stretch. i can feel some soreness in my abs. which i expected.
another thing i want to start working on is having a routine. of course this is all shot to heck this week (and probably for the next 3 weeks...and then past that cause i'll be on vacation), because work is eating, eating, eating up my days. running an experiment where i need to have solutions running for 30 hours over 2 days. i don't have to be with them all the time, but i don't like to leave them for too long either in case something happens and there's a fire or explosion or whatever. so the last few days i've been getting up at 530am and going to bed around 130am.
for anyone who knows me, this is definitely not enough sleep for me. i need more like 7-8 or more hours on a daily basis. right now i feel a little bit like a zombie, and i'm certainly not being productive. but being here counts as work so i'm getting a bunch of hours. and in the middle of all that, i take breaks to go to work out. however i haven't been eating regularly.
back to routines. perhaps once these next 2-3 crazy weeks are over, i can start normalizing myself again. get up at given time. do some regular morning type activities, like eat, shower, get dressed, pack lunch, take vitamins (i did take a vitamin today!) then bike to work - which is amazing because it is downhill and SO FAST! work for some normal amount of hours. like 8-10/day. go to the gym sometime during the day or play tennis if that works out. go home at a regular hour by bike, which is a workout in and of itself. make dinner. have my evenings to do home type things which i have been neglecting this past week, like sorting things, organizing things, work on photo albums or scrap books.
one thing i've been able to keep up with even through splitting up and moving is dancing. and then i wonder partially if the reason i've been not very sore from the working out is because my core is strong from dancing. could this be the reason for all my strength? who would have thought? anyway i'm doing that and having fun with it. and now i get to dance with lots of partners in a given night, which is even more fun!
well, i think i'll go get back to work. i've got more to write, but probably should get something productive done before the day is completely over.
peace and turtles!
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