9.28

For days I'd been saying I'd reward myself with donuts in the morning if I woke up at a normal time but then I didn't feel like 1 day was worth the reward and I felt lazy.  Well I finally went on the 28th but didn't go until closer to 11AM. They were out of the kinds I wanted. I got a dozen anyway since some that they had are kinds I like. The guy threw in an extra donut for me.  I ate one donut and was already full. Those donuts are so big. Every few hours I'd eat another one.  I kept wanting just a few bites and not the entire donut. I must be getting old.

I watched TV a lot but also did things on my computer.

Poly watched TV with me.  She especially likes to cuddle with me at night.

Week 7 (repeat) (9.3-9.16)

Previous Summaries

The Smart Coach plan has me doing 3 mi, 6 mi (tempo), 2 mi, and 11 mi

Hal Higdon's have me doing 4.5 mi, 4 mi (repeats), 3 mi, 4 mi, and 9 mi (plus lifting)
The other Hal Higdon one has me doing 4.5 mi, 3 mi, 4.5 mi, and 7 mi.

This week I have done 2 mi, 3 mi, and 2 mi.   See details below.

Friday:  I finally ran mile repeats. 

It was hard but I managed.  i just only ran once.  It was difficult to run because there was too much traffic. 


Total suggested by training plans: 22, 24.5, or 19.

Final Thoughts:
I only ran once. Then the following week I only ran once too.  It was probably the worst I felt during a run ever.  Someone even asked me if I was alright when I was hunched over about a mile into it.

So 2 runs in 2 weeks. Awful.  What a way to train!

9.7

Shoes: Target (they are awful because the sole is wood and there is no bend to them at all)
Skirt: F21
Shirt: Express
Jacket: NY&Co (worn for warmth when we went out to dinner at 8pm)
Necklace: Lia Sophia

I decided to take a break from TV and start being productive. I did a good bit of cleaning.  But I threw productivity out the window when I talked to my mom on the phone for two and a half hours.

Dave and I went to PF Changs for dinner.

I thought I'd catch up on Desperate Housewives but after 1 episode I just couldn't watch any more.  So I started watching Dawson's Creek.

The one main character had on a shirt that I owned. I dug up the old picture of me in it.

Update

My days are all the same anymore.

I go days without showering. I go days without realizing I go days.

I went to sleep at 11:30 AM today and woke up at 12:30 am.  It is 4:15 PM now and my lunch is in the microwave. I did have some cookies that I don't even like for a snack.

In the past week I did get dressed in my running clothes (including my shoes and putting my hair up) and still didn't go run.

I've gone a couple days without even brushing my hair.  I can't even remember if I brushed my teeth this morning.

I do like a lot of TV. That takes my mind off of not having a job but then I get nothing done and get more depressed about getting nothing done.

9.4

I woke up and started watching Pretty Little Liars.   I finished the season 1 season finale just in time to leave to walk to meet Dave.  The google bus broke down so we met for dinner.

I like Pretty Little Liars. I get 3 of the guys confused and I'm pretty sure I could tell who the bad guys are if I could figure out who is who among those guys.  I'm pretty sure they don't even look alike. I get Ian, Noel, and Garret (Ryan Merriman, Brant Daugherty, and Yani Gellman) mixed up.  I think they also have extras randomly around that I think might be any of those 3 people.

8.29 and 8.30

I watched a lot of TV. I did some stuff on my to-do list.

I cooked dinner.

I started watching Season 2 of Suits. I stayed up until 8:30 AM watching the entire season.  There are too many trains so I had to pause the TV.  It took far too long to get through the episodes but I made it.

I woke up at 10:30 and forced myself back to sleep. I slept on and off until 1PM.   Poly napped with me a lot. I watched more TV.   I didn't even get off the couch until 3 PM when I got some cereal.

Near 4 PM I fell asleep again while watching the RNC.

I cooked rice for dinner to go with the leftovers. I watched some TV with Dave. I almost fell asleep at 9:20 but heard the dryer buzz so I had to go fold. I got a second wind and was very annoyed by that. I played Solitaire in bed trying to get tired again and finally fell asleep around midnight.

September workout goals

I'm keeping all the goals the same as I did in August even though I didn't meet a bunch in August and I didn't even workout 5 of the 6 days at the start of September.

1. Complete 16 cardio workouts (running, exercise bike, elliptical, or workout video)  
2. Complete 13 core workouts 
3. Frequency: Run 12 times. 
4. Distance: Run 60 total miles 
5. Workout with Dave 5 times. 
6. Lift weights 10 times. 
7. Exercise 5 times that aren't considered cardio above (mainly thinking about walks here that don't fit in anywhere) 
8. Have 3 double workout days (morning + evening, lunch + evening, etc) 
9. Stretch for 10 consecutive minutes 2 times  
10. Do foam roller exercises 3 times 
11. Do yoga 1 time.

I have a few other goals that are related to exercise but aren't me working out.

1. Have a photo shoot to get some athletic pictures for at the top of this post.
2. No more than 12 rest days all month (stretching or doing foam roller exercises means it is not a rest day)  
3. No more than 2 consecutive rest days. 

If you are curious how they compare month to month, you can look at old months or I might post my excel file.  I used to put in parenthesis what the old months goals were and if I met them but that cluttered it all up too much.

Photoshop Actions

I found an old email that I sent to myself with some photoshop actions. I downloaded a few and tried them out.  In the past I've used Actions from Pioneer Woman. These are from some random site that shows you 40 vintage + retro actions. About half of them no longer work.  One of them linked to another site with a ton.  Actions are cool because you just click once and you get some effect.  Sometimes it's not the effect you want so you just undo that and click another button. It is still easier than trying to figure something out on your own.  So far I have liked Pioneer Woman's the best because she has all the actions grouped and she names them better than "Action 1" and "Action 2."

I think the HDR one looks cool in a this picture looks fake kind of way.

The top left photo is the original and it was taken on September 2.

Week 7 - Training

Previous Summaries

The Smart Coach plan has me doing 3 mi, 6 mi (tempo), 2 mi, and 11 mi

Hal Higdon's have me doing 4.5 mi, 4 mi (repeats), 3 mi, 4 mi, and 9 mi (plus lifting)
The other Hal Higdon one has me doing 4.5 mi, 3 mi, 4.5 mi, and 7 mi.

This week I have done 2 mi, 3 mi, and 2 mi.   See details below.

Monday: I slacked off all day so it ended up being dark so I decided to just do 2 miles on the treadmill. It was a rough 2 miles because I had just finished eating KFC minutes before starting to run.  My stomach wasn't too happy with all the running.  I  started off doing 3% incline for .25 then 0% incline for .25 and repeat at 6.6 mph. But then I swapped it to 7.6 mph and 6.6 mph intervals.  I did 2 miles in 17:28 (9:00, 8:28)

Tuesday: Rest - I had my running clothes on all day and just never did it.

Wednesday:   I woke up planning to do mile repeats (6 miles counting warmup and cooldown). As I got ready to run, I realized that wasn't going to work so I decided I'd just do 3 miles.  After about a hundred yards, I thought I should cut my run down to 2 miles.  After .13 mi, I was at the intersection where I had to wait for the walk signal at the light. I just wanted to pass out right there. I didn't even want to stand up to wait. I just wanted to hunch over. I thought if that's how I was after .13 maybe I shouldn't even be running.  Before I had time to contemplate that, I got the walk signal so I set out to run.  It wasn't so bad as I got going.  I still thought I should stop at 2 miles but then I thought how I'm so behind on my running so I should do 3.  After I was done, I barely made it up the steps to get to my apartment. I just wanted to pass out.  I could barely stand long enough to get water.  I didn't eat anything before my run.  It was 75 degrees and sunny. I drank only a few sips of water that was leftover in my cup from the other day.  I basically did everything wrong. 

Even with feeling awful and doing everything wrong, I still beat my goal.

Thursday: Rest

Friday:  Rest (because I was a huge slacker and just not feeling it. Even though I knew if I got out there and started running not only would I like the run but I'd also feel better in general.) 

Saturday:  Rest

Sunday: I should have done a long run but felt under the weather.  I set out to run 2 miles only. When I had to wait to cross the street, I felt like I was going to pass out (again). Then I figured I'd set out with a goal of 9:30 pace. I've done this before but for some reason I thought that meant my splits had to be 2:15. I didn't realize this was wrong until after I got home and looked at my data. I was having trouble getting 2:15 so I decided to make my goal 9:40 pace so I could add 3 seconds to each split. This is the first time EVER that I have screwed up what the splits should be.  I also had trouble adding the bonus or penalty seconds from one split to the next. This was the first time I had trouble doing that.  In the past I might only have trouble after 5 or so miles of adding it all or if I got up to over a minute.   

Total Miles: 7.23 (So pathetic) 
Total everything else: weights once (Monday), and a walk to/from dinner
Total suggested by training plans: 22, 24.5, or 19.

Final Thoughts:
This week was so awful that I feel like I should do a repeat of week 7 in my goals and just call it week 8 and only follow 11 weeks.  I'm even debating trying to find another half that is later on because of how bad my runs have been.  I felt lightheaded so much this week and just couldn't get a good run in. I don't know why. On Saturday, I napped on the couch with 4 blankets, a hat, gloves, and a hoodie on. I would have rather been running.  I'm so mad about this week. 

8.27

Shirt: Gap
Pants: Indi
Necklace: Lia Sophia
Shoes: Famous Footwear

The shirt is a little bit weird but it worked out great because it was so loose around the gut that you couldn't see a belt buckle lump.

In bed, Poly was sleeping at my feet. I debated staying in bed so she wouldn't annoy me but I actually got up.  Then when I got up, all Poly did was annoy me. She kept pawing at me and meowing at me.  I even fed her early. She just would not let up.  I played with her too.

When I went to eat lunch, I ate on the couch and Poly went up on the other couch cushion and she was a perfect angel.  Is she trying to get me to watch more TV?

I got up to try to be productive and Poly got up to be annoying again.  I was about to get up from my computer to do other things on my to-do list and Poly got on my lap.  I didn't want her to annoy me so I just let her nap on me for a few hours.

I added some layers to my hair but since the longest length is still the same it is hard to tell. I need to get a real hair cut.

I watched more TV in the evening and ended up staying up late (3am)

My camera remote won't work at all. My cheap camera remote that doesn't also focus is missing but at least when I find that one, it will work. 

Email Progress

I've previously posted about my work emails and my personal emails.

I'm down to under 65 conversations in my inbox.  If I can just get it under 50 so it all fits on 1 screen I'll be happy.  I'm doing a good job of keeping up with new emails coming in.  The 50 shown on the first inbox page go back 23 months worth. Oh I just checked and it's 5 days short of 2 years.  I just need to go through a few more. (I'd be even further along if I didn't watch 5 hours of TV today.)

My unread emails is going down. I'm down to 21 unread emails.

With my new method of sorting, my follow-up and hold folders are increasing but I've also made it a point to go through those quickly to get rid of some.

I used to star emails and then never look at them again if they weren't on my main page.  I have been going through them.  A good portion seemed to have pictures attached that I needed to save to my computer.  I am saving them and then unstarring them.  It's going well.  I open the starred folder daily and go through about 10. I don't spend too much time because it gets to be a little boring.

I did a combined graph but it's hard to tell the lower numbers.

I looked at the past year.

I should get some sort of software that just keeps track of all this stuff for me.  I read about this one that guy even kept track of his keystrokes. He had his emails sent and received.  I'll have to google it sometime to find the link again to the stories and blog posts about the guy. You could see basically when he slept each night based on all the emails he sent throughout the rest of the day.

August Workout Goals - How I did

Here's how I did

1. Complete 16 cardio workouts = 16
2. Complete 13 core workouts  = 8
3. Frequency: Run 12 times = 15
4. Distance: Run 60 total miles = 55.26  
5. Workout with Dave 5 times. =11
6. Lift weights 10 times. = 6 
7. Exercise 5 times that aren't considered cardio above (mainly thinking about walks here that don't fit in anywhere) = 6
8. Have 3 double workout days (morning + evening, lunch + evening, etc) = 5
9. Stretch for 10 consecutive minutes 2 times  = 0
10. Do foam roller exercises 3 times = 3
11. Do yoga 1 time = 0

I have a few other goals that are related to exercise but aren't me working out.

1. Have a photo shoot to get some athletic pictures for at the top of this post. = 1
2. No more than 12 rest days all month (stretching or doing foam roller exercises means it is not a rest day)  = 13
3. No more than 2 consecutive rest days. = Never did more than 2

If you are curious how they compare month to month, you can look at old months or I might post my excel file.  I used to put in parenthesis what the old months goals were and if I met them but that cluttered it all up too much.

I would have hit my mileage total and not hit my rest day limit if I didn't put on my running clothes and 15 hours later still not run on the last day of the month.

I am actually surprised I did as many of these goals as I did and that I got close on the mileage goal.

8.26

I woke up to Dave cooking again. He kept trying to wake me up. By the time I was eating, it still wasn't long enough after I woke up so it was so hard to eat. How do people eat in the morning. I just can't do it. Dave made hash browns, bacon, toast, and eggs.  I ate maybe 1/10 of my food.

I watched some TV.  I napped for 5 hours.  We went to dinner.  I used my computer.  We watched some TV.

I didn't want to nap but I was just running out of things to do. Dave was watching some Starcraft tournament and that meant he wouldn't leave or watch TV with me.

I ended up staying up past 3am and finally going into bed and just playing Solitaire to get myself to fall asleep.

8.25 - TV All Day

I woke up to Dave cooking. I forgot to set my alarms so it was close to 9am. I slept well over 9 hours.  Poly was sleeping with me.

I sat at my computer for a little but just didn't feel like it. I was still exhausted.  I feel like that 8 mile run really kicked my butt. I was as exhausted as after running a marathon. Probably because I didn't sleep well Thursday night.

I decided to watch TV on the couch. I watched Rachel Maddow from Friday, the 10th episode of Necessary Roughness, and many episodes of Royal Pains. I had to start Royal Pains on the 5th episode of the season but if I waited longer I'd just miss even more.

I ate leftovers for lunch and dinner. I just watched TV all day.  I started watching Glee and had so many episodes that I kept watching them all until I fell asleep.  I woke up and started the episode again to find my spot then fell asleep again.  I figured it was time to go into bed instead of having a third failed attempt at watching.

8.24

Shirt: Loft (February 2009), Necklace: Lia Sophia, Pants: VS (January 2009), Shoes: Famous Footwear

Shirt: F21 (2012), Necklace: Lia Sophia, Jeans: Express (2006)

I hit snooze a bit.  I interviewed.  I read some Big Brother updates.   I ran (a long run).

Dave and I went to PF Chang's for dinner.  He always wants to share my spicy chicken but I never want what he wants so then I just get less dinner.  I was starving too.

I got back and was basically ready for bed but used the computer a little bit.
Man did that run make me so tired.

8.23

I stayed in bed a couple hours in the morning with Poly. She was just too cute. My laptop was just out of reach but at least I had my iPad. (You should be impressed I cut down the ~60 pictures to just 3.)

After I finally got out of bed, Poly still hung out with me.  I wasn't too productive. I spent a little bit of time going back through run and walk data to update my excel files. I still have some more missing data.  I'll work on it some more here and there.

I watched some TV with Dave after he got home. Poly hung out with me a lot.  I forget if I cooked or not.  I don't remember what I ate. Maybe I guess I need even more pictures of my day or else if I try to write about my day 2 days later, I already can't remember.

Like Father ...

May 7, 2003, I took this picture of my dad. May 9, Dave ended up taking a picture of me.    About a month later, Dave made this photo in Photoshop.   Pretty nice.   People always say how similar we are.

For those that didn't know me in college: I went to RPI which is Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and we called nerds at school Polytechnicians.  Poly got her name because it is short for Polytechnician.

(Note those shorts are shorts I made in sewing class in 8th grade.)

8.22

I woke up bright and early at 6:45 AM to run/walk with Dave.  We did 1.5 miles.   I stayed awake. I used my computer all morning.  Poly was cute and napping on my lap so I didn't get up to eat lunch until 2pm even though I was starving. (During that time I updated 2 years worth of walk data with Dave)

I was up so long before lunch, I got so many pictures of Poly.

I made grilled turkey and cheese and now I'm out of turkey. I sure like it when I get to finish eating something before it gets old.

I went for a run at Bay Trail with Hilary at 5:30. I was surprised how long it takes to get there at 5:30 PM.

I got home, loaded my numbers, showered, and we walked to dinner.  It was 3/4 a mile a way.  I was exhausted by the time we got home. My legs had had it too.  With all that exercise, I was still only 20 ahead of my daily goal (by 10pm). Sad times.

We didn't watch TV at all.

I put on my compression socks hoping that would help my calf soreness. I haven't really done that before but 2 different people recommended it.

I was in bed by 10:30 and playing solitaire under the covers until about 11.

I got pictures of the awards NA-YGN won this year.  I wrote the nomination form before I left Westinghouse but the actually award took place after I left so I had to get someone to show them to me.  They look impressive.

8.21

I basically tore apart the house trying to find my old camera. You know what... it was in the first place I looked. I need to quit doing this.  The camera was right there in the drawer that I thought it was in. I don't know how I missed it when I looked the first time.  I went through every bin or box in the apartment and left them in all the wrong places.

On an interesting note, my old camera will work with the battery my new camera says is dead.  The Eye-Fi card will work in my old camera and it doesn't even overheat.  Therefore I guess it is the camera that is broken and not the memory card and it was just a coincidence that the camera broke when I used the new memory card.  But the new memory card does overheat my new camera more than other memory cards do.  My "new" camera is 11 months old but since I have multiple cameras, that's what I called it.

I tried to take out the trash and take some stuff down to the dumpster but they were busy painting. The only reason the plastic was already torn to come in our apartment was because the maintenance guys came in to fix the air conditioner.  They were double checking ground wires on a bunch of units.  Then they had to test out the a/c before they left.  They commented how cool our apartment is compared to every other one they were in that day. Ours was a few degrees cooler.  I knew it was cold in our place. It was even warmer than most days because I was too cold so I closed the windows early to stop the cross flow.

I ate leftovers for lunch and dinner but also made grilled turkey and cheese for dinner. I finished my SQL book. I organized the closet a little bit. Nothing that exciting.