word wrecker

Goal Post #17 follow up When I chose titles for these two goal posts I had a completely different intention in mind for the month of March (to eat more veggies) and it wasn't clear how the alliterative idiom would relate. When I changed the intention to a workout I hoped the injury part wouldn't happen. Oh well. Ten days into the new HIIT workout routine my right hip started giving me trouble. Aching, popping, generally feeling old, etc., but I kept at it. After all, a slight ache shouldn't block the goal. However, I did start paying better attention to form and slowing down with things like squats to avoid really hurting myself. Seventeen days in it was time to change things up a bit. First, I removed the bent over delt-raises and replaced it with a bear crawl shoulder tap  and moved triceps extension to just after squats. At the literal half-way mark in this five week experiment some results were already apparent. First, my yoga poses felt more stable and I could ...

Side post #1 Earlier I've discussed my attempts to start practicing meditation and how taking even five minutes can help when you're stressed. What I haven't talked about yet is how meditating, even sporadically 5-15 mins at a time, influenced my workout habits. Starting out with exercise almost two years ago, I needed lots of distraction during walks, yoga, and on bike rides. Music and audiobooks provided this in spades. Music especially helped during planks and burpees. With planks, the time goes faster and a good quick tempo helps set a pace for burpees. Late last summer I realized that not only had it become easier to walk, practice yoga, and bike ride in silence, there were times it was preferable. This ties into meditation because becoming comfortable with silence is a big part of finding stillness and peace of mind. No space is ever completely silent, but turning down my own noise lets us hear all the smaller sounds that surround us. Right now, I just comple...

Goal Post #17 Intention: regular HIIT workout Daily planks and yoga have done wonders for eliminating my back pain and overall muscle tone, but my cardiovascular, bone and joint health could improve if I occasionally did more intense exercise. After all, just saying I'm considering doing more burpees didn't actually translate into more burpees. Additionally, the workout I'm starting includes weight lifting so we're way into uncharted territory now. Also breaking with routine, I started doing this workout the last Friday in February, a full week before March started. The goal is at least three HIIT workouts per week without scrapping daily five minute yoga and 90 second planks on the off days. After getting comfortable with the current rotation of moves I'll see if mixing it up works for me or throws off the whole routine. After all, I am a delicate system who does not handle change easily. HIIT workout with 30 second intervals with 15 second rests burpees  ...

Goal Post #16 follow up This month's goal started a million times better than January's. No candy, cookie, sugary latte, hot chocolate, or otherwise happy thing crossed my lips for a week. Granted, at day seven it was too early to celebrate, but two things: 1- seven days into January's goal I was four days behind, and 2- it already felt like an eternity. After passing the free girl scout cookie test, apparently there was more to come. Seven days in there were teeny tiny Heath bars mocking me from the break room. Teeny. Tiny. Heath bars. My second-favorite candy bar, rarely seen in tiny form, for free, right there, forbidden. Twix are my absolute favorite. For those of you inclined to baking I created recipe that combines the best of both. First you make shortbread, cut into bars, and let cool. Then cover the shortbread with toffee and top with dark chocolate. Yes, this is tricky, expensive, messy and delectable. The toffee has to be just short of cracking candy consis...

Goal Post #16 intention: slaying the sugar monster For the month of February I am cutting out dessert of any kind. No cookies, cakes, candy, ice cream, etc. and for good measure I'm throwing in juice because it's practically straight sugar anyway. My sweet tooth has been out of control since  October and what better month than the shortest to kick the habit? Oh how little we mortals know about our future. Foreseeing this goal, I made sure to finish any remaining treats in our house before February 1st and made it a point not to order girl scout cookies this year. This morning there were six, count 'em, SIX boxes of girl scout cookies open in the breakroom for everyone to share. Turning away from those thin mints took literally all of my self-control today. But I did it, so I guess this is really happening. farewell sweet friends!

Goal Post #15 follow up This month has been instructive and humbling. After a bumbled start, I managed to complete every-other practice the rest of the first week. This wasn't bad- more yoga than in the entire month of December and I felt the difference right away. It still wasn't great. My attitude toward yoga was surprisingly hostile considering exercise outside wasn't an option and how much I miss it when I fall out of practice. I caught myself thinking "I don't wanna" on the regular that first week. How much can I miss yoga? Starting in grad school I've had entire dreams about just doing yoga if it's been awhile. My mind will literally try to make up for something my body isn't doing often enough. This also happens with bike rides - I'll have intricate dreams about riding sections of the  monon  and wake up wishing for spring. The second week was much better. I completed almost every practice on time and Nic even joined us one day. M...

Goal Post #15 intention: yoga, part 3 For the first goal post of 2019 I'd like to set expectations. Unlike the previous fourteen goal posts, from now on each month will have one goal with two corresponding posts - an intention and a follow-up. Each monthly goal will either be about adding a positive habit or subtracting something less positive. For example, January will be about practicing yoga more often while February might be about consuming less processed sugar. For my latest yoga goal, I'm participating in another series with the virtual group from July . Predictably, th is first week has been insane. New Year's day I woke up running low on sleep but thinking I could squeeze in a practice before driving ninety minutes to my aunt's. Yeah, that didn't happen. Then I spent the night at my parents. My sister and her family are in town this week, we didn't have any other time together, and I work the closing shift on Wednesdays so I had extra time to get ...