angelak | Tuesday Morning Post

Coffee.
Sunshine.
One hour, twenty minute drive in.
The weekend was fabulous. I have a lot of things on my mind, but it was still really, wonderful.

I’m not even sure where to start, so we’ll start at my usual current topic. Fitness and Food. I’ve been circuit cross training lately. It’s hard for me to change my tempo like this, after being a cardio addict. And where as being a cardio addict verses strength training is concerned, well. I can cardio everyday, for longer periods of time and it’s not a big deal. Strength training requires rest. We’ve been doing an amped 20-minute all-body circuit strength training routine.

I’m unsure how much to allow myself to rest, I’m struggling with the brief 20 minute thing, seeing as I have been exercising for 30 minutes to 2 hours of cardio regularly for the past… well, we could call it 5-6 years. I know I’m fatigued by the end of my circuit training. I’m doing things with my ENTIRE body, and I know it’s no measly act. But it has taken some adjusting. Yes, I’m not used to the ZOMGS next day feeling of strength training. It’s some good stuff. I’m struggling to know how I want to work this in still, to my usual routine. It’s ridiculous to say that a shorter, more well rounded, higher endurance workout is HARDER to work into my life. It isn’t. It’s more or less my addiction to my cardio. I love running. I love hiking. I’m pretty sore on the day after I circuit train. This is excellent, it means I’m building muscle if I rest. But... the confusion on how.when… it’s just a matter of figuring it out. I think I’m really going to like the results. And honestly, it is going to round out my body. I have killer lower body strength, and although I have swam a TON in my life, I know I have some imbalance when it comes to upper body (even if sometimes I look buff for a chick). When it comes to pushups, I’m GOING to get better here.

It has also been a wonderful experience to share this with Jim. I know it’s doing him a ton of good also, and he’s feeling more motivated by me being there. His Sergeant explains to him and the rest of the soldiers that this type of training although short, is far more useful in combat situations. It keeps people alive because there are few situations where a soldier will be running for 3-5 miles straight. They’re going to be using bursts of varying strength in varying muscle groups. This training improves overall endurance in spite of its deceptive short-term working. Running blood ALL over your body and not stopping does insane things and over time amps up endurance. If this is good enough to keep soldiers alive, somehow I’m thinking it’s good enough to improve my overall fitness.

I just don’t want to lose my lungs, so we’ll see where I decide to go with this.
Aside from the training aspect, the last 2 weeks I have let my home-cooking/close eye on my food go a little. That’s not the end of the world, but I told myself last week I’d be better than I honestly was. So, here’s to another week of being better than last week! I’m not necessarily trying to lose any weight at this point – I’m at a good ideal place. Although after the celebrations, I may just drop the couple I gained during festivities. Well, last Wednesday I had gained a mere 1 lb. We’ll see where I’m at tomorrow.
No real worries here.

I took it easy this weekend for a few reasons. It’s hard for me to get out hiking in the Tacoma area. Which I really dislike. Secondarily, it’s harder to motivate myself with Jim on some of these aspects. He seems to think my motivation is rather overkill on the fitness side of things. Whatever, right? I seem to think his hobby can be overkill too (gaming.) My hobbies just happen to be very active.

The issue of motivation is harder in his apartment. I went for one run and we strength trained once, and I went for a walk to buy ice cream and root beer for our floats ;)
When it comes down to it, that isn’t lazy. But somehow I feel like I could have done better anyway.

So, this week I’m going to put my all into both my food choices and my activity. My NEW excitement about the circuit training is that I can EASILY fit this into my lunch hour. 20 minutes !!! That is pretty awesome. Since I film a concert tonight, I’m very stoked about being able to squeeze in a good workout. Sure, I can run on lunch too… but, this I bounce back from a little quicker in some ways. I’m not sure which I’ll engage in. (running or circuit training, this would be my first time hitting it without Jim.)

So, in a few words:

- Eat better this week
- Exercise More

As for the finance side – I am also trying to waste less money. I tend to piss away a lot of money lately and I think that’s A Bad Thing™. I have corralled my credit card into a cute little wallet (it was initially a business card wallet) for my car (strategically hidden as not to be too obvious) because really I only want to use it for gas. (I pay my CC off in full every month, but when the charges get higher, I pay more, consequently meaning I am pissing too much $$$ away.)

So, the measure to take it out of my wallet and use my debit card from now on is the new switch. Trying to get on top of some better spending habits so that by the time Jim and I move in together, I will have a more even-keel pattern of spending again. I used to, it’s just sometimes instant gratification is too easy and I’m tired of getting annoyed about it.

So, Finances – improving those.
I want to be able to make real progress so that 2008 I can be back where I was around 2004-2005 with my monthly cash flow. Which was pretty damned good. Sure, that was before I made a couple of larger purchase decisions. IE – Laptop and the Subaru. Neither of which I regret.

I will have Classy as long as I can.
I will have this laptop as long as I can, as well. (Even if I have laptop envy at any given time, lol~!)

Co workers keep distracting me. I honestly want to talk to no one this morning. Give me my coffee time and leave me alone.

Onwards. The weekend was pretty good.
Friday I saw Rite of Venus. In spite of wanting to go dancing with Chad and Ori or hanging out with Nick/Roman, I drove out to Tacoma to go to Schooner’s to celebrate Mikey’s 24th Birthday. Happy birfday Blacky!

He is headed back to Georgia to visit home this morning. I am happy for him.
Saturday we got up, cross trained, showered, bought lunch to take the park, spent time at the park, went to see Transformers, and then came home and relaxed.

Sunday Jim went to work, I went for a run, came back, hung out with Mike and Ernest. Avoided the chick I am really not fond of by going to Starbucks and picking up coffee for Jim and I. I dropped it by GameStop surprising him and then browsed in Big Lots. I was proud; I left having spent $2 total on anklets. They were cute, although I need to adjust the side BARELY. They’re just a TAD too tight. So one link will make it fit perfectly. Damn!

Went back home and then headed out to see Grandma and Grandpa. Came back home and did much of nothing.
Monday we slept in, played Far Cry, took care of some errands and had lunch. I read my book and Jim played games. I walked to get the floats. I fell asleep after reading more. We had lasagna for dinner. Hung out and then I went to bed.

Now I’m at work.
Jim requested Saturday and Sunday off. We’ll go camping this coming weekend. I am not sure where to go, I have yet to decide.

There were other things on my mind, but the co workers made me forget wtf I was going to write. DAMN. D the new guy kept asking questions. Blargity.

Oh. Right. Lately I get a little moodier about things than I need to. I keep reacting to things and then later realizing it’s not as big of a deal as I had first envisioned. I’m not sure why I am doing this more lately. It’s a goal to let things be a little more and get into the flow of things easier.

So let’s put it out there.

- Spend less
- Rest more
- Eat better
- Exercise more

And then I got too caught up in work and stopped.

-Angela