no dog = faster walk

This morning I did a very quick 1.4 miles. By very quick I mean about 20 minutes. I did faster than 15-minute miles. It was awesome. 

A hellish 3

I drank coffee, had my muscle milk and V-8, watched political pundits, and played on the computer. Then poop dog and I set out on our walk/jog. It is now officially a walk/jog because I set my interval timer for a 1:00 to 0:10 walk/jog ratio.Yes, 10 seconds... I have to start slow! It's the best way to change... one baby step at a time. I don't think the intervals were the reason that the trip never became joyful. It might be the 3 days off in a row, it might be the junk food I ate during my PMS. It might have been just one of those crappy days! Anyway it's done. Now I am going to rest before I go grocery shopping and get food ready for lunches and dinners this week.

Stupid timer!

I did 1.6 yesterday, in a hurry because I left late because I was fooling around on the internet. I was reading fairweather's post about the supportive family members and dogs being dragged out of their warm beds. It had never occurred to me to just drag poop dog out of the bed and make her come with me... after all, I don't want to go either, yet here I am in my outfit! So even though poop dog tried to escape my clutches, I put her harness and leash on and off we went. Lo and behold, once fat dog realized that poop dog was going whether or not she liked it, he decided he needed to have a walk too. So when I got back from my 1.6, I had to put his harness on and then take him with me for my cool down. (He has hip dysplaisa, so he can't go far.)
All of this and I was only 10 minutes later than usual for work. Yay!
Today is a rest day, meaning still a 12-hour workday but NO walk/jog.

new technology - time to learn it = slow walk

Yesterday I used my new iPod Nano that my wonderful daughters bought me for Christmas. I hadn't uploaded music to it yet because my work computer, which is the only one I have, got re-imaged and I lost all my music. I've been slowly getting it back. Finally this past weekend I got the music loaded on to the iPod. Off I went for my walk yesterday, sans poop dog again because she kept running away when I tried to put her coat on so I left her home. The iPod stopped playing music every time the screen went black, which was approximately every 30 seconds. I kept trying to figure out what was wrong with it, and while I was doing that, I was walking at little more than a stroll. Then my pants started to chafe because they are too small, and I said f*ck it and turned around. Turns out my ear buds weren't plugged in all the way. Dorkery of the highest order.
I'm off for today's walk/run. Hoping it will go better. I ate 3 damn chocolate truffles right before bed and now I have a sugar hangover, which I am sure the walk/run will cure if I go fast enough. I lost half a pound last week, which I guess is better than gaining, and is fortunate considering I was over my calories on 4 out of the 7 days.

quick 2

This morning I did 2.1 miles in 33 minutes.Good enough for me. The poop dog didn't want to go so I went by myself, and I wonder if taking her is slowing me down. I have to hold her on a very short leash so I can only pump with one arm while I am walking/jogging.
My right knee is beginning to complain. Let's hope it passes quickly. I'm wearing my knee brace to sleep. I don't know if that will make a difference.
I'm registered for the Colorado Colfax on May 20th and I'm very excited!! Classes at Pima will be over, and it is the weekend before the last week of school. I'm on the lookout for cheap plane tickets!

A delicious 2.6

After 3 days off, I increased my distance by a mile and still went 3.5 mph. That's good enough for me! It is absolutely beautiful outside. I didn't have to wear a coat and neither did poop dog. I did 3 short running intervals, which felt great, and walked the rest. It felt so good. I have to get everything ready for next week so that I have ready-made packets of healthy stuff to take in my lunch/dinner box. Life is a LOT easier when I can pack my lunch/dinner in less than a minute.
I've become somewhat of an expert at my Pima job since I have spent more hours there than any of the other instructors, tutors, or proctors. The students' skills range from not knowing how to multiply a 4-digit number by a single digit, to bypassing the first 3 modules and getting to pre-algebra by their second class. The time usually goes by fast and I really like helping these people, so far. I tend to think that as in all college classes, the attendance will slowly shrink as the semester goes on. Maybe it will be different since it is self-paced and there is so much help available. We still have the age-old problem in math class where people are so afraid of being thought stupid that they quit rather than ask for help. A solution to that problem would be so very nice.

The perils of going in the dark

I almost got squished like a bug this morning. Poop dog too since she was on a very short leash. I was approaching the traffic light on the corner where I usually cross. The light turned yellow so I started jogging, and it turned red just as I was about to step into the crosswalk. There was a car in the street waiting to go straight. Instead of crossing, I veered to the left and decided to cross a little farther down the street. As I veered, and this whole thing happened in about 2/10 of a second, a car roared through the right turn lane, went around the car waiting to go straight, and ran that (very) red light! Had I not veered left at the last second, it would have hit me. Hard. It had to be traveling at least 50 mph. It was crazy and scary.
I did the same 1.6 as I did yesterday, only I did it 2.5 minutes faster. I spent some time jogging and it was wonderful.
I'm planning on tomorrow and the next day off, as I think I might overdo it otherwise, taking into account the 2nd job.

1.6

I'm going 3.5 miles per hour, so that's good. Pretty quick progress if you ask me. I started my 2nd job today and was on my feet from 8 a.m. until 7 p.m. I'm tired and my legs hurt. I'll still get up and try to go tomorrow morning though. The good thing is I was way too busy to eat and now I'm too tired to be hungry!

A small setback, a good week.

I'm having a pretty bad stomach attack. It was enough to make me miserable for hours last evening, then a miserable night trying to sleep, and now the tenderness and lower GI fun. I don't know what caused it. It was sort of like the ulcer attacks I used to have, but the pain was different. So, only 3 days of exercise last week. It was the first week back at work after the winter break, so I was tired, and I was doing pretty good with my food choices toward the end of the week. All in all, I have to say it was a successful week.
I am going to try for a stroll with the dog later, if my stomach will allow it.

A somewhat quicker 1.6

I took poop dog out this morning and we did 1.6. I felt like it was faster but I'm not sure because I somehow messed up my timer. I got back at the usual time, so I put 22 minutes in my exercise journal.
I think I will have to cancel my plans to do the 10-k at the end of February. It's too soon and I really can't afford the trip. If I am wrong and it's really not too soon, then I will make my long that day and make it 10k.

It was dark.

I did 1.3 miles today in the cold dark morning, in the same time it took me to go 1.25 the last 2 walks. Yay for progress! My muscles are fatigued and my pants are tighter than they were before, but I'm trying not to be pissed off about that. I'm convincing myself that my fatigued muscles are holding on to water instead.
I ended up taking yesterday off. I had left my phone at work, so I was without an alarm clock. I got an extra alarm clock my mom had laying around, and thought I had set it... but I didn't actually turn the alarm ON. I woke up at 5:30 on my own, so I thought that if I didn't need that extra hour of sleep, I would have woken up at 4:30 on my own instead. On the way to work I thought that I would try to make myself go after work, even if it was just a stroll with poop dog and fat dog. When I got home, I was ravenously hungry, as usual. I ate my dinner and sat down to watch Judge Judy and psych myself up for said stroll. It was then that the sista drama referred to by Beautiful Disaster began. After that I was so depressed I just went to bed.
After some reflection, I think that the combination of getting back on the horse and trying to do Janathon at the same time is a bad idea, so I'm not going to do it. 5 days a week is perfectly suitable for me at this point in my journey. I will look forward to Juneathon instead.

Janathon day 3*

This morning was definitely easier to do the same 1.25 miles, although my time was the same. It was 5 a.m. and completely dark, and cold enough to see your breath. Poop dog didn't really wake up until we were a quarter mile in or so. It was funny. Fat dog barked at me when I opened the door to take poop dog and put her leash on. He was afraid I was going to make him go too.
I feel some soreness in my legs and butt. My feet, knees, and ankles still aren't complaining. It's really so wonderful. I thought I was destined to be in pain if I was ever going to run again. Knowing that I can get back to where I was and be pain free is very motivating for me.
I can really feel the muscles in my lower back working hard when I walk, but my back doesn't hurt otherwise. It's strange. I guess it is getting stronger, which is exciting because maybe it won't hurt anymore either!
I didn't do well with my food yesterday. It's so hard to be sane when certain people bring loads and loads of junk food into the house!!!!!! No, nobody is forcing me to eat it. It's just that I have so little self control. Also, certain people who love me very much gave me an obscene amount of my very favorite chocolate:



I swore to eat just 2 each day, at the end of the day, but that went to hell last night when I couldn't sleep and ate 5 of them.
So, I'm still at my all time heaviest weight. It sucks. I joined myfitnesspal.com because my mom and one of my sisters goes there and it might help. It certainly can't hurt. My username is missyfus if you want to add me. The more the merrier!
*(I started Janathon late but I'm hoping to finish it out!)*

It doesn't matter how fast or how far. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

I went 1.25 miles, same as yesterday, but today I timed myself. It took 22 minutes. Twenty.Two.
I just can't compare myself to when I was in shape. It's counterproductive. I will say it felt a tad easier today than yesterday.
I'm going to keep that 1.25 mile route until my back muscles are not yelling at the halfway point. Then I will extend it slowly. My goal is 5 days a week. I will be working my second job on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights. I think I will be the most tired on Thursday and Friday mornings, so I will take those days off.
Yesterday I hadn't eaten before I walked and then when I came home, I pigged out. I ate my leftover Red Lobster from the night before, then a quesadilla and I think a donut. Today I drank a muscle milk a while before I left and I feel hungry now but not out of control hungry.
I'm spending time making a plan for the days I work both jobs. I'm scared to death that I will be hitting drive-throughs and wolfing down big macs and fries every night. So far, my plan is to pack a small cooler of food for each day. I want to have enough food so that I can eat on my way to the second job and on my way home. I'm ravenous at the end of the teaching day. I will need a hearty sandwich and probably a piece of fruit or something like that. Then maybe some nuts and dried fruit on the way home. I'll just have to see. The days will be long and I'm worried about getting my workout done in the wee hours of the morning. There's just no room for a plan B on those days.

I feel it

Just did 1.25 miles with the poop dog. (She poops in the house every chance she gets.) Those shoes are like nothing I have ever felt. All of the strain is in my muscles. I can feel it in my entire lower body. My back muscles started to ache so I made sure to hold in my abdominals and that helped. My right knee is popping a little bit, but it doesn't hurt. Nothing hurts! Just the muscle burn/ache that you feel after a workout and it's a good feeling. So. It's the 7th of January, but I'm going to try to finish the Janathon.

The math, how it burns!!

I am going through an online tutoring program in order to be ready for my job at the local community college, teaching remedial college math. (This means teaching high school math to college students.) It's a second job, and I will be working Tuesday through Thursday from 4pm until 7pm, and Saturdays from 9am to 1pm. Since I have done nothing but 7th grade math for the last 6 years, I need to bone up on my college algebra. So this tutoring program is kicking my ass right about now. The pure algebra is done, and now I am doing applications problems like this:
:
One monorail train travels around the amusement park at a speed of 10 miles per hour for part of the trip. It travels at a speed of 12 miles per hour for the remainder of the trip. If the entire trip is 18 miles, and it takes 1.6 hours, how long does it travel on the second part of the trip?

and this: A jar holds the same number of dimes and quarters. If the value of the quarters is $0.60 more than the value of the dimes, how many kind of each coin is in the jar?

This is the stuff of nightmares for most people. College professors tend to say things like, "This is the exact same problem! It's just that.... (blah blah whatever their reasoning is)." To the untrained eye, they look completely different. They actually are the same kind of problem, but it's not as easy as all that. For the first time in my math life, I am learning why this is true. I am thinking that college professors and other math teachers that make students feel dumb by saying the problems are the same but being unable to explain WHY means that they don't really understand the why of it. And if you don't understand exactly how and why something works, you can't teach it.
I'm slogging through it, bit by bit. I have moments where I think I'll never understand it. I don't have a tutor or teacher to help me. There is nobody in my life that would be able to explain this to me. I just have to get through it. I just have to figure it out on my own. And it's hard.
And this is how I'm spending my winter break.

I got my shoes.

I got these shoes at Famous Footwear for $30.00. I got a pair of shape-ups flip-flops for half price ($12.50) along with them. So it's on, bitchezzzzzzz!!! I'm headed for Roswell, New Mexico at the end of February for the Pecos Valley Stampede. There is a half-marathon, a 10k, and a 2-mile run or walk. I'm hoping for the 10-k but we will see how I do. If I can get my longs up to 5 miles before then, I should be fine. It costs $20.00 to register - cheapest race I've seen in a long while. Plus it's in Roswell!! It's on a Saturday, on the weekend of the Rodeo. I can head out on Friday morning, be rested for the race Saturday, then head home Sunday. Sounds like fun, no? Come with!!

Step One: Get your house in order.

By house, I mean intestines. Picture eating tamales for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for about a week. On second thought, don't picture it. Just trust me. It takes a lot of metamucil to undo that shit. For the last 3 days I've been making a conscious effort to eat fruits and vegetables. Even if some of the eating them is actually drinking them. It's a start.


Now that I have hope of being able to go walk/run without causing a lot of pain to my feet, ankles, and knees, I am thinking I will be able to get back on the proverbial horse. I just need to get a pair of walking shape-ups like these. I bought some shape-ups because they were on clearance and they were cute, even though I had sworn to myself I would not buy into that disgusting trend. However, I changed my tune rather quickly when I wore the shoes and found that my joints, feet, and back no longer hurt, even after a few hours on my feet. It's a friggin christmas miracle, I tell ya.

So I'll be back in the saddle soon, folks.