It should not be a surprise to me. I like to walk and can tolerate the heat much more than the average person. Yesterday we went to the Vegas Strip to pick up our Badger Bash tickets and hang out on the strip. We drove to TI (Treasure Island) and from there walked down to Harrah's and did a little drinking, a little gambling (I won $90), and little walking around between the various casinos, and watched part of the Mirage volcano explosion and the TI pirate show (which by the way is no longer family friendly). I thought it was fun but would have enjoyed walking a bit more and spending less time in the casinos. And wouldn't you know it, as the group was discussing the day almost all said something about how we walked too much and had to plan better so that we didn't have to walk as much over the rest of the weekend...aughhh. Oh well at least I'm still getting in my running program runs.
And not only is the walking a difference between what I envisions and the group's plans/desires... instead of wanting to go anywhere the group mainly wants to do the pool and then eat big. My friend Barb told me the group was renting a car so that we could get off the strip and do stuff - candidates were going to some of the parks for a hike, hoover dam, or lake mead. Does not sound like any of that will happen. And I've traveled enough with groups that I was expecting that nothing like that would happen unless we picked a day for it before we left....of course we did not pick a day. I'm agreeable to the pool :-) but the 'eating big' is going to be a problem for me. First I am trying to be healthier and second I am such a mindless eater that I will match the volume and poor choices of the group without even realizing I'm doing that - and our group eats large volumes and most of it deep fried. It's fun and I enjoy it while I'm doing it but I end up with eaters regret. What am I doing about it? well I'm trying to control my breakfast and lunch choices to keep them lower calorie and healthier to help balance out the overall calories and fat for the day. Dinner time? I know I'm eating too much - it's part of the vegas influence - but I'm also realizing I'm eating less volume and less deep fried than my group. It's a small step but every step helps.
I want to point out I am having fun and will continue to have fun - this post may give you a different idea but it's message is to point out that change happens, expectations may need to be adjusted, and as long as you have a plan and adjust as needed then things will work out. You don't have to be well adjusted, you just have to adjust well.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Vegas baby
I'm in Vegas for the long Labor Day weekend to see the Badgers play football against UNLV and have a relaxing weekend to end the summer.
I really hope to make it relaxing but to be honest it always hard for me to be away from home for anything more than a couple of days. And this is 6 days in Vegas - and Vegas days are like dog years where they count as more than a regular vacation day.
Today I made it out for a run before 9:30 am. The earlier you go the better as today is supposed to get over 100F. The plan is spend the majority of the day at the hotel pool -- and my frugal side hopes I can also squeeze in a trip to a grocery store or Walgreens to pick up some Gatoraid and water for the room. The hotel room water tastes awful. In fact it's hard to rise the mouth after brushing the teeth - it's that bad tasting. I did bring snacks - baked cheetoes, pretzel sticks, mentos and cola gummies (my travel favorites) . These snacks help and it helps my mental state to have purchased these at home at regular non-inflated costs.
Vegas is never easy to eat healthy - there is much too much of late night food and no veggies. But I'm going to make an effort to keep it reasonable - that means enjoying myself and with the group but keeping the excess to a minimum (and again Vegas has a different definition of excess compared to home). So far doing OK - at the airport everyone was eating and had already eaten a small dinner at home and wasn't really hungry but I got the sandwich anyway. And to be fair it was a healthy sandwich - we were at an organic deli. I justified it knowing that I would not have a chance to have anything (healthy or not) for the next several hours. And overall I think that choice was good because after we got settled into the hotel rooms the group wanted to eat and I chose not to order anything. I had a few fries and a chicken wing that people shared with me, but that was much less calories, fat, and money than if I had ordered something for myself.
I need to find a way to get some decent breakfast food (my next challenge?!!) that I can start my day with while the rest of the group is still sleeping. I'm hoping we get to a grocery store and I get a bag of apples and some granola-type bars.
I really hope to make it relaxing but to be honest it always hard for me to be away from home for anything more than a couple of days. And this is 6 days in Vegas - and Vegas days are like dog years where they count as more than a regular vacation day.
Today I made it out for a run before 9:30 am. The earlier you go the better as today is supposed to get over 100F. The plan is spend the majority of the day at the hotel pool -- and my frugal side hopes I can also squeeze in a trip to a grocery store or Walgreens to pick up some Gatoraid and water for the room. The hotel room water tastes awful. In fact it's hard to rise the mouth after brushing the teeth - it's that bad tasting. I did bring snacks - baked cheetoes, pretzel sticks, mentos and cola gummies (my travel favorites) . These snacks help and it helps my mental state to have purchased these at home at regular non-inflated costs.
Vegas is never easy to eat healthy - there is much too much of late night food and no veggies. But I'm going to make an effort to keep it reasonable - that means enjoying myself and with the group but keeping the excess to a minimum (and again Vegas has a different definition of excess compared to home). So far doing OK - at the airport everyone was eating and had already eaten a small dinner at home and wasn't really hungry but I got the sandwich anyway. And to be fair it was a healthy sandwich - we were at an organic deli. I justified it knowing that I would not have a chance to have anything (healthy or not) for the next several hours. And overall I think that choice was good because after we got settled into the hotel rooms the group wanted to eat and I chose not to order anything. I had a few fries and a chicken wing that people shared with me, but that was much less calories, fat, and money than if I had ordered something for myself.
I need to find a way to get some decent breakfast food (my next challenge?!!) that I can start my day with while the rest of the group is still sleeping. I'm hoping we get to a grocery store and I get a bag of apples and some granola-type bars.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Christmas Planning 2010
Yeah its early for this but I find if I don't figure things out now then I tend to miss out on some neat opportunities. Fr Dave would be appalled - he thinks people start celebrating the season too early and miss out on celebrating the actual feast days (his view stretches beyond just the Christmas season).
So here is the consolidated list of possible activities and events for me for December
Sat, Dec 4 - 2010 Jingle Bell Run/Walk - (only $17 compared to $30+ at Milwaukee Zoo and Madison's runs)
Racine Lutheran High School
http://jbrracine.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=426504
Sat, Dec 4 - Madison Hoofers Ski Resale -http://hoofersns.org/resale
9:00am to 5:00pm (can't do Sunday - reserved for cookie bake)
Sat, Dec 4/5 - need to make it to one of St Dom's mass - they have special Sun 10:30 am mass with the Archbishop to dedicate the new renovated spaces- and have "gifts" for all at all the masses - I will miss the special mass due to cookie bake
Sun, Dec 5 locked in for annual Cookie bake
Thrs, Dec 9 @ 7:30 pm - It's a Wonderful Life at the Sunset Playhouse - BJD has 3 tickets
http://sunsetplayhouse.com/onstage/show.php?id=27
Sat, Dec 11, 1:30 pm - Badgers Basketball at Marquette (Bradley Center)
Sat 18/ Sun 19 - Model Trains at Discovery World - http://programs.discoveryworld.org/archives/1591
try to combine with a winter lakefront walk?, holiday lights?, tea?, etc
Dates not yet set:
Chicago Botantical Garden - Winter Wonderland
http://www.chicagobotanic.org/wonderland/
Christmas Express Train at Elegant Farmer - December 4, 5, 11, & 12 from 11 am - 3 pm
www.elegantfarmer.com
Milwaukee Holiday Lights - walk thru or take the jingle bus
http://www.milwaukeedowntown.com/categories/14-holidaylightsfestival
High Tea - a couple of options
Pfister 23rd floor - every Fri - Sun from 3 - 4:30 during Nov and Dec - link
George Watts tea shop - http://www.wattsteashop.com/index.html
M&I Holiday Display - quick walkthru when you're already down town
http://www.micorp.com/mibank/solutions.cfm?ObjectID=00095BA4-9D4A-1F70-901180C8FE5A0000&
Dropped items - keep on list for review/consideration for next year
Bel Canto -- Christmas in the Basilica - Sat, Dec 4, 7:30 pm ;Sun, Dec 5, 3pm
Basilica of St. Josaphat
http://www.belcanto.org/dnav/6/page.htm
Mannheim Steamroller at the Bradley Center - only Tue, Dec 22 & Wed, Dec 23
http://shop.mannheimsteamroller.com/content/Tour.htm Dropped - missed ticket sale and resale price is out of controll
So here is the consolidated list of possible activities and events for me for December
Sat, Dec 4 - 2010 Jingle Bell Run/Walk - (only $17 compared to $30+ at Milwaukee Zoo and Madison's runs)
Racine Lutheran High School
http://jbrracine.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=426504
Sat, Dec 4 - Madison Hoofers Ski Resale -http://hoofersns.org/resale
9:00am to 5:00pm (can't do Sunday - reserved for cookie bake)
Sat, Dec 4/5 - need to make it to one of St Dom's mass - they have special Sun 10:30 am mass with the Archbishop to dedicate the new renovated spaces- and have "gifts" for all at all the masses - I will miss the special mass due to cookie bake
Sun, Dec 5 locked in for annual Cookie bake
Thrs, Dec 9 @ 7:30 pm - It's a Wonderful Life at the Sunset Playhouse - BJD has 3 tickets
http://sunsetplayhouse.com/onstage/show.php?id=27
Sat, Dec 11, 1:30 pm - Badgers Basketball at Marquette (Bradley Center)
Sat 18/ Sun 19 - Model Trains at Discovery World - http://programs.discoveryworld.org/archives/1591
try to combine with a winter lakefront walk?, holiday lights?, tea?, etc
Dates not yet set:
Chicago Botantical Garden - Winter Wonderland
http://www.chicagobotanic.org/wonderland/
Christmas Express Train at Elegant Farmer - December 4, 5, 11, & 12 from 11 am - 3 pm
www.elegantfarmer.com
Milwaukee Holiday Lights - walk thru or take the jingle bus
http://www.milwaukeedowntown.com/categories/14-holidaylightsfestival
High Tea - a couple of options
Pfister 23rd floor - every Fri - Sun from 3 - 4:30 during Nov and Dec - link
George Watts tea shop - http://www.wattsteashop.com/index.html
M&I Holiday Display - quick walkthru when you're already down town
http://www.micorp.com/mibank/solutions.cfm?ObjectID=00095BA4-9D4A-1F70-901180C8FE5A0000&
Dropped items - keep on list for review/consideration for next year
Bel Canto -- Christmas in the Basilica - Sat, Dec 4, 7:30 pm ;
Basilica of St. Josaphat
http://www.belcanto.org/dnav/6/page.htm
New Challenge - pre and travel challenges
This week's salad challenge was highly successful - I had a salad every day for lunch and more importantly if I had not given myself this salad challenge I would not have had salad every day this week. So the challenge does really work well to change my behavior. I'm a very self-competitive person...which means I like to do things just to find out if I could do it.
Next Wednesday evening I travel to Las Vegas for 6 days. The impetus of the trip is to see the Wisconsin Badger football game against UNLV, but we are going down early and leaving later - never leave the travel plans for a Vegas weekend to a bunch of gamblers because the weekend up becomes a week long trip!!
So back to the challenges - yes challenges with an "s". I'm going to do a pretrip challenge and a trip challenge
Pretrip challenge
1) clear out fruit, veggies, and dairy that need to be consumed before I leave for Vegas. This may mean doing some cooking and freezing; and bringing veggies and fruit to the canoe trip and book club cookout Update - this went very well, I'm eating the last of the cottage cheese and grapes as I type this. The milk is in the freezer (first time trying to freeze milk - we'll see how it goes); I only have 2 apples and some carrots felt. Current plan it take them all in m my carry-on bag.
2nd update -- mainly success - apples were eaten with a small dinner but I forgot the carrots!! hope they are still good when I get home. Also would have been nice to finish off the orange juice.
2) Need to get the quicken/bills paid - this has been dragging on for too long and I don't want to get late fees,etc cause I didn't get to it before I left Update- well we got have way there. The bills are entered into Quicken and paid except for the Health Care bills - still hoping to get this taken care of before I leave tonight.
2nd update - did not get to the Health Care bills - will need to make that a priority; also need to work on the Mortgage refinance process - received package from wells fargo the day I left
Trip Challenge - 6 days Thursday morning to Tuesday evening
1) Continue the running program - 3x 5min run/ 1 min walk for at least 20 minutes
Update - Thursday morning ran the last of the 4 imn/1 min program. Nike ipod did not record (again), ran 23 minutes and overall felt good but slow
Friday morning ran the first of the 5 min/1 min for 5 sessions (30 mins) again felt good but also felt slow pace combined run/walk total pace was 15 min miles. I'm gonna blame a lot of the slow pace on the vegas experience and excess, plus not knowing where to go makes me slower as a I search the street or parking lot to figure out a route, and lastly the heat and running with a water bottle - just doesn't feel as natural -- but while this sounds negative I don't mean it to be, I'm actually very happy and proud that I've been able to get these workouts in and I'm positive that the runs will improve when I'm back sleeping in my own bed, going to be at a regular time, and eating veggies again. ;-)
2) Squats - 3 reps of 10 squats on each of the non-running days
3) Water exercise - hard to predefine but I'll know if I did it, should be hot enough to spend a lot of time in the water - let's make part of it a work out
4) Walk/hike at least 5 miles on at least 2 of the days - take pedometer to measure Update - we walked the strip on Thursday and I forgot the pedometer, but I'm going to guess overall mileage was between than 2 and 3 miles.
Next Wednesday evening I travel to Las Vegas for 6 days. The impetus of the trip is to see the Wisconsin Badger football game against UNLV, but we are going down early and leaving later - never leave the travel plans for a Vegas weekend to a bunch of gamblers because the weekend up becomes a week long trip!!
So back to the challenges - yes challenges with an "s". I'm going to do a pretrip challenge and a trip challenge
Pretrip challenge
1) clear out fruit, veggies, and dairy that need to be consumed before I leave for Vegas. This may mean doing some cooking and freezing; and bringing veggies and fruit to the canoe trip and book club cookout Update - this went very well, I'm eating the last of the cottage cheese and grapes as I type this. The milk is in the freezer (first time trying to freeze milk - we'll see how it goes); I only have 2 apples and some carrots felt. Current plan it take them all in m my carry-on bag.
2nd update -- mainly success - apples were eaten with a small dinner but I forgot the carrots!! hope they are still good when I get home. Also would have been nice to finish off the orange juice.
2) Need to get the quicken/bills paid - this has been dragging on for too long and I don't want to get late fees,etc cause I didn't get to it before I left Update- well we got have way there. The bills are entered into Quicken and paid except for the Health Care bills - still hoping to get this taken care of before I leave tonight.
2nd update - did not get to the Health Care bills - will need to make that a priority; also need to work on the Mortgage refinance process - received package from wells fargo the day I left
Trip Challenge - 6 days Thursday morning to Tuesday evening
1) Continue the running program - 3x 5min run/ 1 min walk for at least 20 minutes
Update - Thursday morning ran the last of the 4 imn/1 min program. Nike ipod did not record (again), ran 23 minutes and overall felt good but slow
Friday morning ran the first of the 5 min/1 min for 5 sessions (30 mins) again felt good but also felt slow pace combined run/walk total pace was 15 min miles. I'm gonna blame a lot of the slow pace on the vegas experience and excess, plus not knowing where to go makes me slower as a I search the street or parking lot to figure out a route, and lastly the heat and running with a water bottle - just doesn't feel as natural -- but while this sounds negative I don't mean it to be, I'm actually very happy and proud that I've been able to get these workouts in and I'm positive that the runs will improve when I'm back sleeping in my own bed, going to be at a regular time, and eating veggies again. ;-)
2) Squats - 3 reps of 10 squats on each of the non-running days
3) Water exercise - hard to predefine but I'll know if I did it, should be hot enough to spend a lot of time in the water - let's make part of it a work out
4) Walk/hike at least 5 miles on at least 2 of the days - take pedometer to measure Update - we walked the strip on Thursday and I forgot the pedometer, but I'm going to guess overall mileage was between than 2 and 3 miles.
Bad back
Woke up this morning with a sore back. Not sure what happened or when it happened. My back was a little bit tight last night during the group run. I did do more stretching than we normally do after the run, including some upper body stretching, so I would have thought it would help rather than causing any back problems.
I had an ice bag tucked into my tanktop this morning in an effort to heal the back; also took 2 Aleve which probably helped even more.
I'm hoping the back/right shoulder are fine for Saturday's canoe outing. I'm really looking forward to the day on the water.
I had an ice bag tucked into my tanktop this morning in an effort to heal the back; also took 2 Aleve which probably helped even more.
I'm hoping the back/right shoulder are fine for Saturday's canoe outing. I'm really looking forward to the day on the water.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Salad challenge
I'm going to try to add some weekly healthy challenges to keep me motivated and on the right track ... who knows some of these may become healthy habits.
This week's challenge is to have Salad for lunch every day this week (expect Saturday which will be excused because it's my canoe outing and it's really much easier to eat a sandwich in a canoe mid-river than a salad)
Results
Sunday - yes
Monday - yes
Tuesday -yes
Wednesday -yes
Thursday - yes
Friday - yes!!!
Saturday - excused due to canoe outingFri 8/27 updating that the challenge was a success!! Salads every day and most of the huge bag of romain lettuce is consumed -- its important to use this up before next week's vacation.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
I'm back ...from Healthy Living Summit
It sure has been a while since I've been back on this site. I spend the last weekend in Chicago at the Healthy Living Summit which was both good and bad for me. The good is its helping me get restarted on keeping this blog updated and helping me want to set some personal goals and challenges. The bad is I was not the target audience at all - I'm close to 20 years older than the average and close to 75 more than most, which would be ok except many of the attendees were not very welcoming of anyone that wasn't the norm.
I was excited to be in Chicago for a weekend, especially since it was the air and water show weekend. I rode the amtrak train down to Chicago in the morning and worked form the IBM offices on Wacker. That was really nice. But the best part was being able to lunch with my former co-worker Jason. It's been over a year since I had seen him and was great to get caught up. Working from the Chicago IBM office was easier than I thought it would be - the train was quick and I had access to the IBM sametime most of the train ride so it virtually like I was in my own home office. If I do this more often, I need to evaluate switching to the iphone or a different smart phone than the blackberry I have now - other phone have much easier internet and application access.
I loved walking around the city. Chicago is very nice in the summer. Its very picturesque and always has so much going on to see. Next time I need to take more control of my schedule and make sure I do the things I want to do - in some ways I felt trapped to stay near the Congress Hotel (location of the summit) and grant park. In hindsight I really wish I would have done 2 things - first go north to Lincoln Park and see my old fave spots - the zoo, the flower conservatory, and my regular running route through it and the marina, and second I wish I had taken the architectural boat tour. I would have really enjoyed the boat tour. I know I would have enjoyed both of these much more than I enjoyed the summit itself. For me the best part of the weekend was the extended walks around the city. I do love walking and I really get to do it so little.
I was excited to be in Chicago for a weekend, especially since it was the air and water show weekend. I rode the amtrak train down to Chicago in the morning and worked form the IBM offices on Wacker. That was really nice. But the best part was being able to lunch with my former co-worker Jason. It's been over a year since I had seen him and was great to get caught up. Working from the Chicago IBM office was easier than I thought it would be - the train was quick and I had access to the IBM sametime most of the train ride so it virtually like I was in my own home office. If I do this more often, I need to evaluate switching to the iphone or a different smart phone than the blackberry I have now - other phone have much easier internet and application access.
I loved walking around the city. Chicago is very nice in the summer. Its very picturesque and always has so much going on to see. Next time I need to take more control of my schedule and make sure I do the things I want to do - in some ways I felt trapped to stay near the Congress Hotel (location of the summit) and grant park. In hindsight I really wish I would have done 2 things - first go north to Lincoln Park and see my old fave spots - the zoo, the flower conservatory, and my regular running route through it and the marina, and second I wish I had taken the architectural boat tour. I would have really enjoyed the boat tour. I know I would have enjoyed both of these much more than I enjoyed the summit itself. For me the best part of the weekend was the extended walks around the city. I do love walking and I really get to do it so little.
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