Bizzy

So, hello all, just writing to say that I have finished week 4 of my couch to 5k. I know, I can't believe it either. The 5 minutes just about killed me the first few times, but I quickly surprised myself on day 3 of week 4 when I ran the 5 minutes without feeling like I was going to die! I was breathing very heavy and sweating, but I wasn't bright purple, and my ankles didn't feel like they were being pulled to the bottom of an ocean on an anchor weight LOL. Tomorrow, I'll resume week 5. Here is the agenda for week 5:

5

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes) Walk 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes)

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog two miles (or 20 minutes) with no walking.

Looks simple enough, but believe me, it is going to be a major challenge. I've had the last 3 days off from jogging, so hopefully some of my poor little shredded up calf muscles have had the chance to repair themselves some (and hopefully got stronger?).

It's almost Thanksgiving! I hope you all have wonderful plans with family and friends. I will be eating pie and other things that are not diet-ish, but I think I have justified it again because it's a holiday and because I deserve to have delicious tasting things once in awhile.  :)   I think my favorite will be arriving to my mom and Kals' farm on Wednesday and helping to baste the turkey, bake other dishes, drink apple cider, and I'll finally get to see their new goats they just got out there, their milking nannies :)  I will be thinking of something that I appreciate to share with everyone at the table.

School:

We are down to the last few weeks of the semester so we have much to do. In my Information Literacy and Research class, I need to do a presentation in two weeks about how to conduct a research paper. I will go over all of the steps in the research process, while using my own topic as an example, and I picked student attrition and retention rates as they relate to alcohol and substance abuse on campus.

For English, I need to choose an impoverished culture, group, or country and write a paper on it, citing at least 4 different outside sources for the research.

For Math, we'll be having a final exam covering everything we've learned this semester. I believe it will be the most difficult for me of all the things I have to do to finish up my credits!

OH: I did a presentation today at one of our district meetings. It was on the three poisons of hate, greed, and foolishness.  It went well, I thought. More later on that.

Great news (for me at least!)

I just bought a $20 dollar program guide to help me out with beginning strength training. I found it on ACTIVE.com :). A great website for anyone who wants to know ANYTHING. I mean, part of what I struggle with so much with running is, what in the world is normal to have going through ones' mind while they jog? I always second guess myself about what I should be brainstorming, i.e. should I be thinking about what to do after I get off the treadmill? Should I be thinking about what to make for dinner that night? Who to call this week? What errands I have to do? My school projects and assignments? Or.... and this is the big OR.... should I be thinking about my jogging itself!!? The short answer from Active.com is, think about the jogging! Imagine your toes and muscles getting softer and more flexible as you jog, that you are getting further in to your rhythm and groove, etc. D'OH! Makes sense!! I am totally going to apply that technique next time I go to the gym. I think it will help me improve my time and distance. Here's what I'll be doing over the next 12 workout sessions, using my new strength training guide (just what type of exercises basically):

-Dumbbell Chest Fly
-Reverse Crunch
-Tricep Overhead Extension
-Dumbbell Front Raises
-Dumbbell Seated Position
-Tripcep Pushdown
-Abdominal Curls
-Incline Bench Press
-Lateral Raise
-Squats
-Concentration Curl
-Shrugs
-Hammer Curls
-Standing Calf Raise
-Barbell Curls
-Reverse Grip Pulldown
-Step Up
-Cable Seated Row
-Regular Grip Pulldown
-Hyperextension
Yeeeeeeeeeahw!!!!

Allo!

Hi everybody, just a quick update.. Here's a silly picture of myself, looking sorta cheezy here lol but it's okay right? I have been up to a whole lot of driving lately... I hope this car won't turn me in to a lazy person. I won't let that happen! I promised myself that already... it is just so fun to have a car after waiting soooo long! Aside from cruisin', I've also been spending some pretty pennies on X-mas presents... even though I am not Christian and I don't celebrate Christmas for all the normal reasons (i.e., I don't celebrate it based on Jesus' birthday)... I do however like to buy presents for people I love and believe me when I say I have been doing just that!!  I am very proud of myself for being on top of it this year! A huge improvement from last year (and I think the year before that,too).

 My sister already got to get a sneak peek at most of her gifts from me, I had to make sure they would fit her, and plus I was too excited about her knowing about them to just not show her! But she's having me hang on to them anyways until December. She LOVES what I got for her, and Molly is extremely difficult to shop for because she is all too honest when she doesn't like something or it doesn't match her  liking 100%. So, I'm amazed.


Went to Rock the Era today at the Kaikan in St. Paul. The Kaikan is our community center, sort of like what Christians call their "church" - we do many of the larger events there because that's what it is there for. Tiffany and Sara, two of the area leaders, were out of town for some kind of conference/seminar through the SGI today so Molly (our NE-U district leader), Mariko (our North Fortune district leader) and I (the Soka Central chapter leader) were asked to facilitate the Rock the Era meeting today. I couldn't very well say no, now could I?? Haha.! It was a blast, even though I had been up all night from the night before. We read some excerpts from some literature Tiffany printed out and told us to choose some paragraphs from. We did a few little games within the group while sitting in a circle, and then everyone divided up where they were going next (mostly dance). I slept like a rock afterwards!



I have not been to the gym in about 3 days, since I finished week three of the C25k it's time to move in to week 4 now (and right on time, since it's almost Monday again). Here is the agenda for week four:

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes) Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes) Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes) Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes

Monday mondayyyyyyyyyyy

Hello ladies and gents! Just checking in today to let ya'll know I am still alive and kickin'. Went to the gym last night all by my lonesome, as Molly wasn't available to come with and we found out that for certain health reasons, her doctor says she cannot join me any longer on the couch to 5k program at this time. Hopefully after a few more tests and whatnot have been done, Molly can participate with me once again, but for now, I'm on my own (scary!). Don't worry, Molly is just fine.... she just can't be jogging and running. She can walk, and lift weights, and do other moderate exercise, for now.

Here's a quick photo update of me, not looking particularly different at all, but again, I need to do this for the sake of looking back at these pictures later with hopefully some major differences in the distant future.

YEP nothing too crazy, just plain ole' me. I was happy to be sitting in the drivers' seat of my car. Teehee. Anyhoo... SO I'm done with week two of the couch to 5k entirely now! Finished up day three last night as I was getting at earlier.. I noticed: Jogging isn't feeling as difficult as it did before. THAT is the amazing part. I thought jogging would always be a painful experience, but it turns out, only two weeks in and I was somewhat actually enjoying it.... I can't imagine how much of a jogging fanatic I'll be by the time I'm a year in to it.. sheesh... I love it! The dieting hasn't been anywhere near perfect.. I usually eat like a health nut at work and then the boy and I go off and splurge on burgers and chicken tenders during the day once in awhile... Gotta quit that! Today when I woke up in the middle of the day, I went to go get a sharpie at the House of Hansen's in dinky town specifically for the purpose of signing the back all of my growing stack o' credit cards. It's really great that I am rebuilding my credit, though. If all goes as planned, maybe I'll qualify for a mortgage loan or to finance a newer vehicle without a co-signer within the next 5 years or so :) Wouldn't that be amazing?

Oh, yeah, about going to dinkytown earlier. So I got the sharpie and signed all of my credit cards :) (still have about 4 or 5 more on the way in the mail... eeeeeek, oops lol). Then I stopped at this store over there called BookHouse, it's where a lot of used books are bought and sold...they always have a few carts/shelves of used books on display outside that cost only one dollar each.. so I picked out a handful of books and bought them at this low price (how could I resist?). I brought two of them with me to work tonight:
The Secret Of Letting Go by Guy Finley (revised and expanded)

and Windows to Our Children by Violet Oaklander, Ph.D.

Both are great! I feel like I got a GREAT deal. Sure, the one by Violet looks very weathered... but it's legible and so far is a very entertaining and informative read. I am buying books about children lately because I want to be good and ready for mine. :)   So that's about all for now, will definitely write more later!!

Nam myoho renge kyo!

well, folks...

I have now completed WEEK 2 DAY 3 of the Couch-to-5k program!! I did an extra day both this week and last week, so total I have trained for 8 days (and not 6, which is where I am supposed to be at right now had I followed the rules, lol). So remember: for week one, it was a 5 minute warm-up, followed by intervals of 60 seconds of running and then 90 seconds of walking, off and on for a full twenty minutes. For week two, it was the same 5 minute warm-up each session as usual, and the total length after that was still 20 minutes, however this time it was 90 seconds of running, with two minutes of recovery (walking) time, off and on. It should also be noted that during week one, not only did I do an extra day, but I also did extra time on one of the sessions! I did a full hour instead of 20 minutes for one day, then for week two - same thing, I did extra time again. I was on a roll! It has been wonderful doing this training. My co-worker and friend, Leah, is the one who helped push me to start on this program and she is also asking me to sign up for a marathon that is being held in Anoka on December 31st, 2011 (New Years Eve, outdoors, this winter!). I haven't signed up yet and was highly considering it, but I think I might need more time to train first. Perhaps next year I will be ready!! Molly is joining me on the Couch to 5k program so we've been doing it together and that makes a world of difference to keep us both accountable.    I ate a lot of cupcakes and candy for the Halloween holiday, but I'm back to at least 80% raw as of today (had a strawberry, banana, and apple smoothie for breakfast - followed by a green spinach, carrot, celery, avacado salad for lunch - with fresh lemon squeezed for dressing :)

If weight loss is my goal, then I'm not getting far at all - haven't lost anything, really. In fact I have stayed exactly the same according to the scale. BUT! I am getting stronger by the day, my endurance is skyrocketing higher and higher, and I am sweating like I've never sweat before LOL. My heart is extremely happy for the cardiovascular health I've been helping it obtain :)   

Also! I got a 2nd disbursement of student loans for the semester about a week ago, and purchased my first cash car ever (the last car I had was financed, and it was all the way back in '05!). For $1,600 bucks, I drove happily and enthusiastically away with a 2000 Chrysler Concorde less than a week ago! Silver exterior, black and gray cloth interior (CLEAN interior, I might add), 156k miles, working sound system/cassette player/speakers (that was rather important on my list of qualifying vehicles to purchase, heh), among many other wonderful things. It's gigantic - there is so much room to move around inside, and the trunk is HUGE! Great for moving/hauling things around. I have already taken it through 2 car-washes, and already went to a self-wash place that has heavy duty car vacuum cleaners the public can use by inserting quarters. I got all the fluids flushed and replaced at Valvoline, brand new windshield wipers, and then I had the oil pressure sensor replaced for $70 since that was the only visible thing wrong with it. Within the next 6 months, I am advised to have the rear brake rotors changed, but other than that, this car is SOLID, and I am extremely happy!

  HAPPY TO BE DRIVING AGAIN!!



This is exactly how I feel toward my car:

Nam myoho renge kyo!