Saturday, February 4, 2012

12.28

I was going to skip the last 4 days in December because it's been so long but I needed to post the pictures of Dave so anywhere here's the post.
Shirt and Jeans: JCP
Shoes: online probably zappos.

Those were his new jeans he got for Christmas.  The shirt we bought in December when we were buying Christmas presents.
Sweater: F21
Pants and Boots: VS
Belt: Target
Scarf: NY&Co
Poly helped us sleep in.
We made macaroni and cheese.
We ate at some restaurant.
I also ironed but didn't take pictures of that.

Poly was so cute.
I went to the Italian Miners club with the family.  I learned only men can be members there.  Each member could bring in 2 guests and that's how we had to work it.  I kind of tried to sneak the pictures because I didn't want them on to me, but my camera has the laser thing that goes out first to try to focus that blew my cover.  Mike and Agnes were in from Brooklyn. Callie was visited from Colorado. I guess the club was where it was at.

12.27.11

Dave and I got out of bed and started making a roast. Then we went back to bed. We were using our laptops in bed or napping. (Poly was trying to block my view of my screen. I guess she didn't want me to use it.
I made a very nice grilled ham and cheese for lunch.  Then we had the roast for dinner.  I do not like vegetables cooked in my roast. I don't like the taste of them. I never have. I gave it another try and didn't like it. I wanted to make corn and mashed potatoes on my own but we did not have corn.
Poly got all up in my grill when I tried to do yoga.

1.25

Dress & Cardigan: NY&Co.
Necklace: Lia Sophia
Tights: Target
Shoes: Aldo

Work = Busy Busy Busy

From lunch until I left work I had 3.5 hours of NA-YGN/WIN meetings so I have that time to make up. But then I also had to leave an hour early to go to the dentist so I have that to make up. Oh boy.

So I fell asleep in the waiting room again at the dentist. They called me back into the room and then I fell asleep there before the dentist came in.  Doing whatever they do for a crown was much worse for me than the root canal was.  It was kind of cool watching the guy use a CAD program to design the crown.   So now I have a temporary crown.  I have to go back yet again for the real crown.  I can't believe how many dental visits this tooth causes.    Does your dentist do a root canal in one appointent and then a temporary crown in another and then the real crown in yet a third?

The appointment took a bit over an hour.   I headed home and logged into work until we ate dinner.  We had pizza.
We watched Gray's Anatomy. Then House. Then NBC Nightly News.  Then Rachel Maddow.  TV sure makes the night fly by.  I was ready for bed at 8:30 but stayed up later.

12.29

I spent the night at my parents. Callie and I went running.  I ate cabbage on stuffed cabbage for the first time.  Timmy took some lessons from Callie and decided to tape his jacket instead of sewing the lining.

Dave and I bought new plates at ikea. Look how full the cupboard is now.


It appears I never posted about my run. Callie posted about it ages ago.
We went to Braddock Trails. We ran on the roads first and did 3.5 miles at about a 10 minute mile pace.
Then we went and ran the trails. That was really muddy. We stopped and peeped things and stopped to figure out which way to go in many places.  Finally we found the overlook. On our way from the overlook to the car we RAN at a 2.2 mph. Oh boy. A new record low. We did a bunch of actually running too but then we stopped to take pictures and iMapMyRun was still going.
We did a total of 5.02 miles.  I didn't have my garmin since I didn't really expect to run.  .  I ran in a pink hoodie. It was in my trunk.  I also ran in my hat that has the strings that come down and the balls on the end. Boy did I look ridiculous.  After our 3.5 mile run, we took off some layers since we got hot. But then we ran so slow we were cold.

Cleaning

I guess it's a sign I need to clean and organize more when I find something under the sink in the bathroom that expired in August 2006. I was married in August 2007.  I moved in May 2006, then May 2007, and moved in here in August 2008.

I never even used this inhaler at all. I think I used to use it because it was long lasting and I used this in addition to another inhaler. It's been so long though that I forget.
Now you would think finding this would have had me go through the rest of the junk under the sink, but it did not.

2.1

I got a compliment on my belt today. It was my first outfit compliment in a long time.

Work was busy. I realized that everyday I pretty much feel like I'm going to have a heart attack for 90% of the day.  There is always way too much work and since there is too much work, I can never do enough of it in advance.

After work, I rushed home and changed so Dave and I could go for a walk. We walked 2 miles.  Then I made pasta for dinner.
We watched Whitney and some new show that I already forget the name. It had the guy from 24 and the "series premier" isn't until March.  So it confuses me. (I forget the name of it, but it involved a kid who didn't talk, numbers, and the guy from 24)

I was about ready to fall asleep after that so I went up to bed and watched 90210 and then One Tree Hill.

Friday, February 3, 2012

1.14

I had eggs, bacon, and toast for breakfast.   The picture of the counter still shows the dirty serving dishes from my party on January 7.
Dave and I finally hung up a curtain in our bathroom.  It was a 4 hour process because we took a break to eat because I was lightheaded and Dave had low blood sugar.  It should have taken 20 minutes.
Poly loves pencils.
Look how cute Poly is. She really loves to sleep on Dave.  She doesn't like me as much.

A Day's Worth of Twitter

11:02:38 AM - I don't know how being 12 days behind on blogging makes me feel caught up.
01:20:17 PM - People say women take forever but Dave sure shops forever. And it sucks because we have 3 more places to go & I have to meet someone to run.
05:56:30 PM - I just ran 12.29 miles!
06:53:15 PM - I decided on my run today I might consider myself a Runner now (@TheNewChrissy this is reminding me of your post long about about a Writer)
07:58:37 PM - @TheNewChrissy Well thanks. I just ran and wasn't any good and slacked at it but now I seem to be doing better.
08:21:03 PM - I just wanted to talk so I went to pause the TV. Then I realized I wanted to pause Dave when he was talking. oops.

You can find me as @smilincolleen on Twitter.

12 miles (2.3.12) - Runner

Oh I have so much to say about my run today. I apologize now for this long post.
I was meeting Jen at 4 to run and I wanted to run 5 or 7 before meeting her but Dave had us out shopping and he kept browsing and he was taking up all my time.  By the time I was changed and out the door, I didn't have enough time for much running at all.  I was able to run 2.25 miles before meeting Jen.  She got there around 2.1 but I went into the bathroom so I had time to run a touch extra.

It was so warm earlier in the day that I just wore pants, tank top, and long sleeve shirt.  I wore my sunglasses too.   When I met Jen, I decided gloves were a necessity.  It was good to have that little run before our loop.

The first part that I ran by myself was very similar to what I ran a week ago before meeting Jen and others, but this time I started with the hill versus ending with the hill.   I didn't set a goal at all for this short run. I just ran. I didn't even think I was going that fast.  It ended pretty good.  I decided I'll have to do this more because I'll need to get more miles in than anyone that I'm running with so I have to either run before or after to supplement any group runs. 2 miles is a good amount to do first so that I'm not too tired out.  I really wanted to do more though. Maybe next time I can do more.  On weeknights, I already get there as early as I can so I can't run at all prior to meeting to run. Weeknights are more difficult too with limited timing before dark.  I ran up the hill at the beginning and compared it to a week earlier when I ran the hill on my preliminary run and how hard it was.  It felt easier today.  I need to run hills more in general. I need to do some ladders like we did in high school.  They are the worst while doing them but they would help me out so much. 

Jen and I talked for a few minutes before starting to run so my run wasn't as continuous as I would have liked. It did give me opportunity to get some water. I should have even had more but I am always a water slacker.

We started going counterclockwise with a 4:1 ratio of run to walk.  After 15 minutes we changed it to 3:1.  It was Jen's 3rd day in a row running and her IT bands were sore. Going slower didn't bother me at all because I wanted to have enough energy to make it to 12 miles.

While running with Jen, I realized how much easier it is for me to run this year that it has been in the past. It's just like I move and run and it's not a struggle at all. The walk breaks help a lot according to Gallaway.  I really think they do. You can go a lot further. Also the overall time is pretty similar to running constantly.  About halfway through the loop, I started thinking about how I emailed Callie about my made up training plan and she didn't get back to me yet so I hope it's not stupid because I was doing 12 today like I made up.

Throughout our loop 2 different cars honked at us. Jen and I were both wearing bright colors so perhaps we were more noticeable.

We skipped our last walk interval to finish the 5 miles.  Then I drank water. I tried to force even more down. I drank probably 8 oz. I'm so bad at this.  Then I ate 2 gummies. You are supposed to eat 5-10 each hour of running. I at least put the rest of my package in my little belt thing to eat along the way.

I started the last loop with my watch set to do 4:1 intervals.  I set my goal time to be 10:30 pace.  After 2 miles, I realized I was doing pretty good and maybe could do 9:30 pace. I thought I'd make my reach goal 47:30 for 5 miles and my goal that I'd try to shoot for 48.  I pretty much did math in my head the entire time between mile 2 and 2.5. I don't even know where the time went.   Right before I hit 2 miles, a guy rolled down his window and winked at me. What is up with people these days?

Around mile 3.5, I could tell the tip of my middle toe on my right foot was getting a blister.  Also around that time I felt like I was running slow and I was going at a 7:22 pace. I had to quadruple look because I didn't believe it.  Even with walking 1 minute every 5, I was going pretty fast. I couldn't believe it. The split that included walking would be 2:35 which was faster than my initial goal should have been for all splits.

Around mile 3.75, I decided I'll consider myself a Runner. I never thought I was before but I decided I am now. I always just considered myself a person who runs and not even a person who runs all the time. I'd do half (or less) than what all the novice training plans recommended for races so how could I consider myself a runner.  Well now I do. I better not slack off now after deciding this.

My walk interval ended right at the 3.75  mile mark and I ran. I didn't even think it was that fast and my split was 2:02. My run interval length was 4 minutes so I wondered if I'd get close to the next .25 before the whistle went off telling me to walk.  Well it did, but only by about 3 seconds so I just ran until the watch beeped.  I walked for 1 minute then ran the rest of the way missing my last walk interval.  My last mile was 8:29 including walking for 1 minute.  I felt like I could keep going even with the blister aching on my toe.   I almost ran longer but it was getting dark and I'd need my headlamp so I'd have to stop at the car anyway, but also I didn't eat or drink enough so I knew it'd be bad news bears if I tried to run more.

I don't know what made the run so great.  I didn't even believe I was really running that fast. I kept passing people as they were running but still didn't feel fast.  I'd pass people going the opposite way for the second time and do the math and realize the lady ran 2 miles while I ran 3. (I'm pretty good at knowing mile markers and areas to be able to figure out how far each of us ran.)
After running, I hurried home but in the trip home, all my sweat just felt colder and colder. Turning up the heat wasn't really helpful. I was shivering when I walked in the door.  I hurried and went and showered.  I took a nice warm shower. Some might consider it hot since it turned me so red. Oh it was wonderful.
After my shower, Dave informed me I was going to cook dinner.  I iced my foot while cooking.  My plantar fasciitis is still bothersome. 

The first 2 miles I ran continuously. The next 2 loops I did intervals. There was also a break between them to get some nutrition and water in me.  I wish I didn't break so long.  The BodyMedia fit sure shows that I took a break.  I need to go continuously next time.
I entered my food for the day in my BodyMedia fit and their Fit Coach yelled at me.  Apparently eating Pizza Hut buffet for lunch doesn't help you eat properly. I've entered my food before but this is the first time a warning showed up.  I only enter my food about once ever 3 weeks.  I'm not good at documenting it.  Now I almost want to document it more to see what other warnings it will come up with.

Well I'm happy with today's run.  My long run should have been Saturday or Sunday but I thought I'd get it out of the way. I feel so accomplished.   This winter is so awesome. I love it. I can't believe how mild the weather is. I want this all the time!

2.2

I had trouble sleeping. I was so hot. I woke up once and actually got out of bed. My clothes were soaked from sweat.  I guess I had a fever and I guess it broke.

Before work I finally sewed my skirt.  It took 2 minutes. I picked out my clothes using the pictures I took when my mom showed me what matched my skirt back on October 1.

Work was so much less stressful than it has been.  If all days were like this, it would be a lot better.  I only had a meeting in the morning.  I was able to be productive at my desk.  I also left "early" to go run with Jen.
I ate a Chick-fil-a salad for dinner. We watched Big Bang Theory and American Idol.  Then we watched MSNBC.

I made a new blog banner. It is different than my old one but I want to make something else. I want to get rid of the clothes background.  I'll do that next.  I want it more streamlined with words and just 1 picture on the side. It took me 6 months to change my banner this time around so who knows when I'll actually get to the rest.

I realized my running excel file is missing so much data. I'm only 1 month into 2012 too.

I want to have more time to do things with my life but I don't want to cut out anything that I do now. It doesn't work that way though.  I just need to get more efficient with everything.  I thought I'd only crop one picture above and label the picture, but since I was rusty at it, it took longer than my normal routine.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

1.10

This is what I wear when I"ll have on a coat.
Sweater: Old Navy (I hate the color)
Jeans: Express


I telecommuted. Poly hung out with  me. Well she hung out in a bag by me.
These are examples of my training plans and then what I did in stead.  How do you document your running?
Poly watched TV. She watched Romney's speech.  During Ron Paul's speech she decided she'd stare at the kleenex on the floor instead.

A Day's Worth of Twitter

08:13:07 AM - The skirts I bought in September are too big. extra fabric at the hips :(
08:04:12 PM - @reedaboutme did you change your email address?
08:10:04 PM - @lisafilipek @mikecherepko @eutheria @ktpt23 would be fun to track. I'm at 2 for today.
08:12:41 PM - @mikecherepko @lisafilipek I hear people don't like cover letters.
08:20:33 PM - @mikecherepko I had a political blog in college for my politics class.
08:23:51 PM - @angelineevans in high school I liked full justified and now I hate it.
08:28:10 PM - @lisafilipek yea. It's only 8:30. I think I pee 3x. A day. The other day I peed 5 times and thought it was a lot.
11:30:13 PM - @lisafilipek I dunno. I'm in bed now and do still at 2 for the day. When I woke up and at 4 pm.

You can find me as @smilincolleen on Twitter.

February Spotlight - Liz

I haven't had a spotlight in awhile because I'm a slacker but boy do I have a good one for you.  I decided to spotlight Liz this month.  She previously wrote a guest post on why she runs. Liz is great and you should follow and read her blog daily. She's athletic (like me) and has takes pictures of herself daily (like me), but she is a much better photographer than I am. (You should follow her on Twitter too @RestonStyle)


Where did the name of your blog come from?  (Well where did the names of all your blogs come from?)
The name Reston Style comes from the place where I live. Reston is a suburb of DC in northern Virginia. It is one of the 5 largest planned communities in the United States and the first one to complete its original master plan. I actually work for the non-profit corporation that acts like the government, the Reston Association. I figured with a name like “Reston Style” it could be just a daily outfit blog, like it is now, but it could also be expanded to include all other aspects of style into it.

When did you start your style/fashion blog? How about the rest of them? Have you ever had any other blogs before?
My style blog started in December, though I started posting daily outfits on my tumblr in November of 2010. My tumblr was my first blog and I started it at the beginning of 2010. I currently keep my tumblr, Reston Style, and photography blogs up to date.

What are the main goals of your blogs? Why did you choose separate blogs instead of having 1 blog with a mesh of everything?
Since my tumblr was my first blog, it really was a mesh of everything. It had a little bit of everything, but a whole lot of nothings when you looked right at it. Then I started looking at style blogs... I liked how some of them just showed some pretty pictures and a snapshot into the lives of these real girls. It was like a little piece of scripted reality, and I liked that, so I stole like an artist and decided to start my own style blog.  It’s definitely, genuinely me, just an edited for time and content version. It’ll also be something that I can show my kids someday, where as I’m not sure I’d ever want to show them my twitter feed or tumblr!

Did the intent or content of your blog change since you started?
Reston Style has stayed true to itself since the beginning. There are probably only 4 or 5 posts that don’t follow the same format. Since it’s inception, I have added a “fit style” segment that recurs as well as a new “trend to try” segment. But for the most part it is pictures of what I am wearing, and a little glimpse into some of the happier moments of my day. It’s actually really nice to write because  it does provide a little escape from some of the harder moments of life.

How many hours per week would you say you spend blogging?
I would say that I spend between 10 and 15 hours a week working on blogs or blog related things (I am also doing some consulting about blogging). I have a really great work flow, so to keep Reston Style going I could probably only work about 2 hours a week on it, but I like doing it so much that I spend a lot more time on it!

Do you spend more time reading blogs than you do writing your own blog?
That depends on the week. I realize that being part of the community is the best way to gain and retain readership, but it takes a lot of time to read all the blogs of all the people you find interesting. I feel like a bad bloggy friend when I spend my time working on my blog and not reading my friends blogs, so I do try to check in at least once a week! But on average I would say I read blogs for about an hour a day.

How many blogs do you read on a daily basis?
Some days I will read 100 blog posts by 90 different bloggers, some days I will read none. I do actually always ready my friend, Michelle’s blog That’s so Michelle, because I have liked watching her photography progress AND giving her some phototips. That is actually something that I have learned about myself, blogging and reading blogs has made me more interested in photography. So if I just have a few minutes to read blogs, I generally go for ones with great photos. When I have a lot of time, I go for ones with great content.

Do people email you often because they read your blog?
I get a couple of comments per post, but not very many emails. I would say that most of the time the questions I get from readers are more about my running than my style. I guess it’s the running that makes me interesting, not the fact that I get dressed everyday :) 


Do you communicate with a lot of your readers via email/IM?
I am always open to emailing or IMing, but I would say most of my reader communication is through Disqus and Twitter.

What is your inspiration?
This is actually a tough question for me. I think I was inspired to start outfit shots by Jessica Quirk of What I Wore and then by Kendi Skeen of Kendi Everyday. I really liked the photos on their blogs and I thought “I can do that!” (I also thought, “maybe if I do that, I can make some money or get on the Today Show or something.” It’s my dream to be a contributor for the Today Show.) So the idea that I could  do it is what got me started. However, the focus has really changed as I have continued with it. I am really inspired by photography now. Writing Reston Style has really helped me discover that passion. So now my inspiration is all photography related and the rest is just getting dressed.

What post are you most proud of?  Did it get the most hits?
I am most proud of my guest post about self portrait photography - and yes, it brought a lot of traffic to my blog. But I think it’s because of how much passion I put into it. I am actually trying to come up with some more photography posts to submit as guest posts on different photography technique blogs.

What is your daily routine regarding your blog? (Ex: When do you take pictures? When do you upload them? When do you write the post?)
I try to take my pictures in the morning or in the evening, just because the light is at its best, but a lot of my shots end up getting taken at lunch. I generally shoot through out the week, then edit the photos as I have time and load them as batches onto flickr. The day I am wearing the outfit, I try to come up with a title. other than that I generally write all my posts over the weekend. Then as they get ready to get published I have the bulk of my content ready to go. Sometime I wait to do the second paragraph, so that I can add something about what is actually going on “real time” in my life.
I try to publish before noon everyday. Then I share the link on facebook, twitter, and make the pictures public on flickr with the link to the blog post in the title. In the past I have used flickr groups to try to boost my views - and they work - I just haven’t had the time to keep up with everything. It’s part of my expanded workflow - but my order of importance is: 1)get dressed, 2)take pictures 3)post 4)make photos public on flickr 5) share on facebook 6)share on twitter. If I get all of those things done - I call myself a bloggy success!

How do you juggle all your competing priorities and still have time to blog?
I read this great post (http://www.austinkleon.com/2011/03/30/how-to-steal-like-an-artist-and-9-other-things-nobody-told-me/) and pretty much decided that since I already used a calendar, I might as well add my blog goals to it.

What is your best tip to photographing yourself?
I would love to say “have fun” but really the best tip I have is change your focal length.  Go with 55mm or up. If you have a point and shoot - that means ZOOM! I think this advice is probably the best that I have - 85mm is your friend. It blurs the background and makes you look prettier! :)


What is one interesting fact you’d like to share about yourself?
When I was a kid I hated writing. Mostly because I am a horrible speller and it made me insecure. So its kinda interesting that I spend so much of time time writing now!


What is your next running goal?
I have a couple in mind:

  • set a new marathon PR sub 4:15 (okay, so I really want sub 4, but I am trying to be realistic!)
  • sub 1:45 ½ marathon
  • sub 6 minute mile
  • Olympic distance triathlon
How many days a week do you run/train?  And how many do you just exercise in other ways that aren’t training for runs?
I live life like a kid. I aim to run about 3 times a week. If I do that I’m happy. The rest of the time I just try to live an active lifestyle. I like stretching on a foam roller, so I try to go to the gym to do that twice a week. Other than that and the exercise that I get from coaching swimming - I generally just say yes if someone invites me to do something active! I was indoor climbing about once a week for a while, and hope to get back to that soon.


If you could only share 1 fitness tip, what would it be?
Set lifestyle goals and set them one at a time. Instead of thinking about what you want to lose, think about the things you want to gain. For example, don’t think about losing weight, think about gaining fitness. Setting goals with a positive connotation will help keep the whole process aimed towards success. Small lifestyle changes over big changes in the short term.



What motivates you to keep up with exercise?
My goals. I do so much better when I have a race to prep for or a time goal in mind. Exercise is important for my wellbeing, but that alone isn’t always enough to motivate me. So setting out to accomplish something that is measurable keeps me accountable. It also helps that I train with friends. They rely on me to help get them to their goals, and their reliance on me helps keep me accountable to my goals.


Does your family ever get to see you race or do they participate in any races with you?
They have come to a couple of the 5ks I have done, and even though my mom is also a runner (and has started training with me), we have yet to run anything longer than a 5k together.


What is your proudest running accomplishment?
I have a couple. I am really proud of running a 14.78 mile training run alone. It’s the longest I have ever run alone before. And my half career is really kinda a cool story. I ran sub 2 hrs in my first ½ ever, then a year later I ran it only 8 minutes slower (just over 2 hours) only 18 days after having my tonsils out, then my PRs in both the outer banks ½ and the flying pirate ½. And of course, I completed a marathon this year. It is impossible to describe how that feels. I wanted to thank Liz for putting up with all my questions and putting up with me being a slacker posting this. I am still having trouble trying to insert all the pictures I wanted to so you are just getting less.

5 miles (2.2.12)

Jen and I ran after work again today.  We didn't want to run more than 5 miles so we decided to switch it up.  We parked at the boathouse but left the parking lot in the opposite direction and then ran the big hill.  We ran out 2.6 miles then we turned around and headed back.  We ran the entire way. We had a goal of 10:30-11:00 pace (or maybe it was 10:30-10:45 pace). The goal was to be in that range and take it slow.  Sometimes it is hard to slow down.  Also there are times each mile gets progressively worse and we did not want that to happen.

I told Jen we should push it the last half mile. (I actually told her this while we were still at work.)  I probably mentioned it again around mile 4 and she said she didn't think so. ha. She did. Look at that last mile time.

The weather forecast called for 43.  It was much colder than that.  Then the windchill was colder. It got even worse as we ran because of the lack of sun.  We did finish in the daylight but still it was getting colder.

This is the first time we ran the entire way for 5 miles.  Last weekend when 6 of us ran, our last mile split was also 9:51. Talk about consistency.  We ran:walked that and our pace was 10:07.  We ran walked on 1/24 and our pace was 10:17 and on 1/10 it was 10:17.  That is some evidence that the run:walk method actually allows you to go faster. I think it feels easier too.  But it also feels like cheating.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

February Workout Goals


I met January goals. Since February is a shorter month and the end of January was so hard, I am going to decrease some goals.
  1. Complete 18 cardio workouts (running, exercise bike, or elliptical)  (January = 19, met; December = 18, met, November = 18, met)
  2. Complete 13 core workouts (January = 13, met; December = 12, met; November = 12, not met) 
  3. Frequency: Run 12 times. (January = 14, met; December = 10, met, November = 12, met with 15) 
  4. Distance: Run 60 total miles [Reach goal = 70 miles (15, 15, 15, 20, 5)] (January = 13, met; December = 40, November = 65, met) - Goal created without comparing it to my training plan but with my 2012 mileage goal to be 700 which averages to a little less than 60 a month. 
  5. Workout with Dave 9 times. (January = 10, met; December = 12, but with all other activities it is hard to also workout with Dave, November = 8, met) 
  6. Lift weights 5 times on my own. (January = 5 met; December = 5, not met; November = 4, met with 5) 
  7. Perform yoga/BodyFlow 2 times. (January = 2, met; December = 2, met; November = 3, not met) - I hate this goal. I know yoga is good though.
  8. Attend Body Pump 4 times. (January = 3, met; December = 3, not met; November = 4, not met)
  9. Have 2 double workout days (morning + evening, lunch + evening, etc) [New] (January = 2, met)
  10. Stretch for 10 consecutive minutes 2 times [New] (January = 2, met)
I have a few other goals that are related to exercise but aren't me working out.
  1. Have another photo shoot to get some athletic pictures for at the top of this post.
  2. Have at least 4 nonconsecutive rest days. I have been bad at resting and fear overuse injuries coming.
  3. Put my monthly workout goals in excel or some program so I have them all together and can pull some data based on that.
  4. Make more collages with exercise photos and add them to my exercise gallery

A Day's Worth of Twitter

12:11:04 PM - Everyday the first 90% of my workday are me being stressed out and ready to have an anxiety attack because I have too much work to do.
10:12:21 PM - If I would have stayed downstairs I would have fallen asleep 2 hours ago. Now I'm in bed not sleeping.

You can find me as @smilincolleen on Twitter.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

A Day's Worth of Twitter

03:03:28 AM - well i was in the middle of the 8th episode and now the program won't work so I can't watch the rest!
03:35:19 AM - @ADayinLifeToo welcome back
03:50:02 AM - I picked a bad day to stay up so late. 8 am presentation. need to talk to my old director before that.
03:52:35 AM - Poly always does this. The last episode is over and now she's on my lap purring hugging my arm. I hate to get up. She's too cute.
03:53:38 AM - @lisafilipek The new one. I'm caught up until tomorrow's episode.
09:46:34 AM - @lisafilipek I watched the old 90210, but haven't watched it since it was on originally. The new one is good when you watch lots in a row.
07:15:20 PM - I function surprisingly well after less than 2 hours of sleep last night. I even worked out.
07:29:43 PM - @BodyMediaFIT I didn't sleep much yesterday. http://t.co/1AiwU4Of
09:08:56 PM - Is 650 Calories a lot for a salad? How about if the salad took me 45 minutes to eat (yesterday same salad took me 50+ minutes to eat)
10:05:44 PM - I have no idea how I'm still awake. I only slept 2 hours last night. I even worked out today. (run, weights, and yoga)

You can find me as @smilincolleen on Twitter.

January Workout Goals - Overall

I did them all!  I actually made it. 4/5 of the way through the month, I thought there was no way I would ever do it.  I killed myself the last few days and the workouts feel so good.
  1. Complete 19 cardio workouts - Completed 22
  2. Complete 13 core workouts - Completed 14
  3. Frequency: Run 14 times - Completed 16
  4. Distance: Run 60 total miles - Completed 60.35
  5. Workout with Dave 10 times. - Completed 10
  6. Lift weights 5 times on my own. - Completed 5
  7. Perform yoga/BodyFlow 2 times - Completed 2
  8. Attend Body Pump 3 times - Completed 3
  9. Have 2 double workout days  - Completed 4
  10. Stretch for 10 consecutive min. 2 times - Completed 2
I had 1 bad week and still was able to make it.  I had to double/triple do a lot of workouts.  The miles I ran were a little end of the month heavy... I got 28.3 miles in the 4th week and 28.28 miles the first 3 combined.  I also kind of cheated with the yoga not doing the full video.

January just flew by!  Now it is time to make my February goals. I have to take into account there are 2 fewer days.  

Work Emails

I love data.  I wrote about my work emails before.

Here are 2 of my updated graphs.  I try really hard everyday to sort/delete emails as they come in. I also try to read them all. I currently have 104 unread emails. The more unread emails the more stress. The last time I had 0 unread emails was December 14.

I have to change the scale almost daily for new maximums in my emails in my inbox graph.
Since I hate unread emails, sometimes I read an email and flag it. But then I get too many of those and then I can't keep up either. Flagged emails = stress. Daily I quickly look at my flagged email folder to see if I have done some of them or if they are no longer needed so I can unflag them. Too many of them are still required.  I think I need a vacation from getting emails so I can try to catch up.
A few times coworkers have seen my excel file where I document this and have a bunch of graphs. I have gotten a few weird comments. One was "sometimes I worry about you" when they saw my excel for fun file. I'm off work this Friday and am going to try to spend 2 hours handling emails.  Usually on a weekend, I can spend 3 or so hours and get through a good chunk.   I will start with the unread emails then I will go to the flagged emails.  I wonder how far I will get.

I love data.  What would you graph {if you were to graph something}to show how good/bad you are doing in your work?

1.27

Poly wanted in my daily picture and this is the process of that happening.
I worked. I went to the gym with Dave. I ran and did weights.   After work Dave and Poly fell asleep.
Instagram is a great program. I rarely use it though.  Do you use it?  What is your favorite app?  Do you use at picture apps?

Monday, January 30, 2012

A Day's Worth of Twitter

08:44:21 PM - Salads take too long to eat. I've been eating this one from chick-fil-a for 45 minutes so far.
11:03:52 PM - I'm on my 3rd episode of 90210. This might end badly. I have 5 more to go before I run out but I better stop after this one.

You can find me as @smilincolleen on Twitter.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

1.4

I telecommuted.  I didn't get dressed in real clothes.  I wore a sports bra and a tank top with jeans. I guess since I put on jeans I went somewhere but can't remember where.
I used the exercise bike + did abs.

I decided to try to set a goal of 700 miles in 2012.  Do you think I can do it? I had about 530 miles in 2010 with an injury so I was off for 2 months.

A Day's Worth of Twitter

02:36:42 PM - I ran 10 miles today. The last mile was in 8:38. Not bad
10:59:10 PM - @TheNewChrissy 10 miles in under 10 minute pace. My goal was 10:20 too. I feel good.
11:03:09 PM - @reedaboutme that is the truth.
11:05:11 PM - In bed trying to sleep and Poky caught some ponytail holders so she meows until we acknowledge her.
11:12:50 PM - Yay. How was it? RT @angelineevans: How I spent my Sunday morning. http://t.co/bLtJSW4i

You can find me as @smilincolleen on Twitter.

Long Run (1/29/12) - 10 miles

I did my long run today, the day after my 5k.   I planned to do 10.   I was meeting a bunch of people at 10 AM but they were only going to do 5 or a little more. I decided to do 2 first before meeting the group so I at least got 7 in.

I ran out 1 mile and turned around. I didn't come back the same way and decided to run the big hill. That hill was slower than everything else I ran but it wasn't as bad as I ever thought it was.  I guess I'm getting better.

Since not only was my long run the day after running a 5k but was also my first over 6.5 miles since I ran the marathon, I figured it would be slow. I was also running with new people and didn't know their pace.  I was hoping to finish it all at a 10:20 pace.  I was successful.

The temperature started around 28 degrees and warmed up to 35.  The wind chill said it was 18 when I started and it was 20 when I looked later.  I forgot to check at the very end of the run.  It felt much warmer than that.  I started the run with my hat on and my ear warmers. I took off the hat and my sleeves off after 2 miles.  I took my gloves off and my light coat with about a mile left of the loop.  I dropped those off and my neck warmer thing off at the car after the loop and ran in just a tank + dry weave shirt and headband.  My hands got cold on that run though.