Quick Boring GeekGirl ReBoot Update

26 Jan
2012

So, yeah…my 30 days of working out is NOT going well. I’m still trying for it though and do NOT consider this initiative a failure. Why? For the first time in a LOOOONNNNNGGGG time it looks like I am going to get 4 runs in a week, I’ve cut my booze down significantly, I’m eating far better food, and I’m actually getting some rest. In my opinion, that means my Reboot is working.

I’d still like to get 30 days of workouts in a row, though. I like the idea of a challenge so, I’m going to keep shooting for it.

I’m also considering a fall marathon. Am I crazy? Yes, but I miss running long. (I say this in the dead of winter. In the summer, I will NOT be missing running long.)

I have a free flight to Chicago, so…

GeekGirl Reboot – Day 1 Again

19 Jan
2012

So, things were going ok with my reboot. (I feel like I’m a little robot. I like it!) I managed to run a total of  7 miles in 2 days last week as well as get in some decent core work and strength training. Woot! Then I didn’t get around to working out on Tuesday. Or Wednesday. How the hell did that happen? I only needed to do 15 minutes for it to count. Surely I do not suck that much. (I’ll just keep telling myself that.)

Instead of beating myself up about it, I just woke up this morning and moved on. I was super exhausted this morning due to a nasty case of insomnia that kept me up until 3 am. I decided that due to the time I fell asleep I should go for the extra 30 minutes of sleep. I’m going to head out either at lunch or after work for an easy 20 minutes of running followed by some core work. (Yesterday during lunch it was 82 degrees. Isn’t that crazy?)

I’m going to try to blog my 30 days of workouts to hold me accountable. If not everyday, every couple of days. It might be boring for you guys, but who cares? Not I.

 

GeekGirl Reboot

12 Jan
2012

When you’re out of shape, it’s not fun to run. Seriously. It’s a fight to get out the door because you know within 2 minutes you are going to be feeling the pain. Your thighs will rub together, your lungs will burn, your head starts to pound and holy shit are you thirsty. Why put yourself through that when you can just stay in bed or drink some coffee and read the news before work like a normal person?

Why? Because if you don’t, you’ll be fat and out of shape. So not cute. Also, none of your cute clothes will fit and you’ll have to wear that one pair of Levi’s you bought a size bigger. The pair that you’ve been wearing every single day since you bought them in early December. Good thing your boss is still out of town so there is no one to witness you wearing the same pair of pants day in, and day out.

At first, you could use your surgery as an excuse. There was a lot of swelling and it wasn’t good to run/bike/swim until things are all healed up. Then Christmas came and you ate, drank, and got merry like everybody else. You try to pass it off surgery swelling, but you did NOT have surgery on your ass. Period.

In addition to not working out, you’re eating, drinking, and spending money like there’s no tomorrow.

Well, there is tomorrow and if you don’t get your shit together you’re going to be a broke blob.  No one wants to hang out with a broke blob.

This situation calls for drastic measures. A GeekGirl Reboot.

What does a Reboot involve?

Well, for the next 30 days I will work out at least 15 minutes a day. I am shooting for 30 minutes+ every day but understand that I can’t run or go hard everyday right now. A  15 minute run or 15 minutes of weights/yoga/cycling/swimming is a great recovery if I’m feeling worn out.  I’m trying to get myself into the routine. Not hurt myself.

Also included in the reboot is NO processed food. I’ve been lazy and eating crap. It started because after my surgery it was hard to cook. Then it just became easier to pick up some junk and call it dinner. No more than 2 glasses of wine a week, preferably on the weekend. No spending on anything but necessities.

A tall order, but really not that hard when you look at it. The main thing that I’ll be documenting are the workouts. I have a feeling the other things will fall into place as my activity level increases.

 At stake? A lovely new purse of my choice. I should save enough money to buy one.

What happens if I fail? The challenge resets. I’ll keep trying until I get it right. It would suck to be at day 25, miss a workout and start all over again. That’s some incentive wouldn’t you say?

I think at the end of the 30 days, I should be close to my normal weight. Right now, I’m 10 lbs over my normal weight and about 15-20 over “race weight”. Normal weight is what I weigh when I’m running casually and not eating everything in sight. Race weight is what I weigh when I’m doing 35+miles a week. I’d rather be at race weight, but I know that’s not easy and just kind of happens. I’ll settle with my normal weight.

Stay tuned to see how I do.

I want to point out that even Gio has gained weight. 1.5 lbs which is pretty intense for him. We’ve both been laying around like little blobs. 

 

So It Begins

5 Jan
2012

I wrote a very witty post this morning, but WordPress decided to eat it. Since I’m super lazy, you’re now going to get the abridged version.

First and foremost Happy New Year to all my internet homies!!!

The first thing I did in my post was humble brag about my new ride. I am the proud owner of a fully loaded 2012 VW Jetta SE. What! What! I hope I make it on GOMI and people call me a rich bitch. That’s my goal in life. My lease was up so I basically traded in my 2009 Jetta for the latest and greatest model. But…this one is sick. Sirius radio, navigation, sunroof, sports handling, the works. I want to live in it. It’s far nicer than my apartment.

Ok. I got that part out of the way. The rest of my post detailed a few goals for the new year. I got all long winded and stuff, but I don’t feel like doing that again. Here’s my plan for 2012:

  •  Run more/eat less.
  • Sleep more/drink less.
  • Read the shit out of this book that totally intimidates me:
  •  I consider myself a “professional” reader. I am rarely intimidated by a book. Length doesn’t really bother me, but for some reason Infinite Jest has always terrified me. I’ve almost picked it up dozens of times and then put it back down.  It’s recommended to use 3 bookmarks, keep a dictionary handy, invest in a good guide, and to take it slowly. However, the payoff is supposed to be worth it. Of course, I’ll be the judge of that. I love difficult books. Sometimes they’re worth it. Sometimes they’re not. (When I finished reading the Naked Lunch, I wanted to dig up Burroughs and smack the shit out of him. I HATED that book more than any other book I’ve ever read including Atlas Shrugged. Just thinking about the prose and “organization” of Naked Lunch is making me all ragey now. HATE HATE HATE!)
  • Not throw up…that’s my goal every year because puking sucks.

So, there you have it. My biggest plan for 2012 is reading a big, pretentious book. Wow do I suck.

Have you ever been intimidated by a book? If so, what book and did you manage to conquer it? Was it worth it? 

 

The Man in Black Sums Up My Feelings on 2011

31 Dec
2011

 

 

A Christmas Miracle

26 Dec
2011

What I wanted for Christmas and what I got for Christmas are 2 different things. First of all, my family does not do a big Christmas. My mom has not worked since her fall and is still recovering and I think my dad was out of town. I’m not sure since I didn’t ask. He kicks it with his other family. The one that has kids and stuff. Whatever.

So, while I wanted a ridiculously priced Michael Kors purse in green, a God Save McQueen scarf that I would never wear and could not afford in a million years, and more memory for my iMac so I can play more video games; I received none of that. Actually, no one even asked me what I wanted for Christmas.  Instead, I got the sweetest Christmas present ever on Friday.

What could be better than a ridiculously expensive purse I don’t need? Or a cheeky scarf made by a dead designer?

I found out that my last round of pap and pelvic exams all came back negative. For the first time in over 2 years I had a regular exam!

All the stitches, long ass recovery, and scar were worth it. Now I just need to test every few months for the next year and this whole ordeal can be put behind me. Yay!!!

After finding that out, I then went up to Palm Beach County to hang out with some awesome fur covered friends for Christmas Eve.

This is the lion at McCarthy’s Wildlife Sanctuary. He was awesome and I really was that close to him. I got to hang out with some turtles and a bunch of panthers. I even got to hold a monkey. Once I get the pic from my little sister I’ll post that. This place was great.

I then went over to my mom’s for Christmas. There was no tree or anything because she is still too sick to do that much physically. We exchanged gifts. Nothing big really. I got a sweet R.E.M. photography book, though. My mom found it at the dollar store and my sister confirmed to her that I LOVE R.E.M. (Pre-Monster album, thank you very much.) I also got a cute panda aluminum water bottle and a panda lunch box. My family knows me so well. My dad got me a bunch of massages. They’re for after I crush some PR’s in 2012. Sweet! Gio smeared poop on my clean sheets. He really knows how to show the love.

Today has been pretty mellow. I ran 3.22 of the slowest miles ever and then passed out on the couch because it truly wore me out that much.  The cool thing is that, well, I ran 3.22 miles.

Overall, a nice Christmas was had by all. Now I’m off to do some gaming. Woot! Woot!

How was your Christmas? Are you jelly that I got to hang out with some tigers and stuff? I would be. :-)

Happy Holidays, y’all!

 

A Bit Stifled

20 Dec
2011

I keep coming in here to post, but find that I have absolutely nothing to say. I go through phases like this. Usually as life picks up, I have more to say. For now, I’m going to update you guys in bullets. Why? Because I can.

So, here’s what I’ve been up to:

  • Watching Netflix. A lot – As many of you know, I don’t really watch too much regular tv. I can’t remember when shows are on or I’m always doing something else that I don’t want to be interrupted just to watch X show at Y time. Due to this, there is a LOT of tv that I have not seen. With all of this new found time, I’ve caught up on the following: Psych, Eureka, The Guild, RuPaul’s Drag Race (OMG so amazing!), the Walking Dead, Breaking Bad. Up next Dexter!
  • Reading lots  – My Nook is loaded up with books that I thought I would be reading during recovery from my surgery. It turned out that I only had the capacity to watch the Golden Girls and sleep through that period so I’m getting through those books next. I’m reading Remains of the Day, Mrs. Pettigrew’s Home for Peculiar Children, and finishing up that book on Henrietta Lacks. I also read 2 Psych books in the past 4 days. (They’re a SUPER easy read but are fun.) I hope to read Wench and Cleopatra next.
  • Budgeting –  As you know, budgeting is one of my favorite pastimes. Usually, it’s just because I like playing with numbers and challenging myself. Sadly, now I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to pay the ridiculous medical bills that continue to roll in. People that think just having insurance is enough have never been serious sick.
  • Battling a cold – Last week I caught a cold from my boss. It wasn’t anything too horrible, but I did sneeze a lot and rub my nose. I  now have a LOVELY case of impetigo. I would link to it, but the pictures will make you want to barf. Basically it’s that gross sore that people get by their noses after a cold. Well, mines infected. It seems to be clearing up. If not in the next day or so, I’m going to have to go get some anti-biotics.
  • Running - Not really. I just returned today due to that cold. I did 2 miles of run/walking and it was super hard.
  • Recovering – For the most part, I’m recovered. However, I’m still swollen and sometimes I still hurt. Not hurt really so much as “ache”. I’ve been achy the past couple of days since Gio decided it would be super awesome to run across my stomach while  I was laying on the couch. Yeah. Asshole! Anyway, I had another test done and am waiting on the results from that. If everything comes back negative, then we can call my surgery a success!
  • Gio – He’s doing quite well and thanks you for asking!

So, that’s basically everything that is going on in Geekgirlandia. Nothing too exciting. Still laying low for the most part. That’s what you have to do when you’re broke and recovering from gnarly abdominal surgery.

What are you guys up to? Anything interesting? Read any good books? Watch anything that I should check out? 

 

 

The Right Kind of Sore

6 Dec
2011

It took me a week after my last “workout” to attempt another one. The 20 minutes on the elliptical left my incision sore, my back hurting, and my tummy extremely swollen. It took around 4-5 days before I felt “normal” again. Upon further thought, the elliptical probably requires quite a few ab muscles and right now I don’t really have that many.

Yesterday I woke up feeling great and decided that I’d try some sort of light run/walk. I managed to squeeze out 10 x 1 minute run/w 1 minute recoveries. At the half way mark I walked for about 4 minutes or so because I couldn’t breathe. I got in a total of 36 minutes. (My watch is in the other room and I am really that lazy.)

The first 2 intervals were EXTREMELY awkward, but happily not painful or anything. If I noticed any pain I promised myself that I would bail. I don’t believe in working through the pain when it comes to this type of stuff. The last few intervals were a bit difficult because I’m EXTREMELY out of shape, but were doable.

I expected to have some sort of aching around my incision later in the day, but everything felt fine. Even better? I woke up this morning vaguely sore in the arms and legs. NO SORENESS in my tummy area.

WOOHOO!!!

It felt great to be on my normal running route. I got the thumbs up from my favorite gay walking couple, and said hi to 2 of my favorite morning dog-walkers. I also gave someone directions in Spanish because I am that awesome. It was a great morning.

The plan for the next few weeks is to slowly build up to normal runs. I’ll mostly play it by ear. Hopefully, for 2012 I’ll be back to normal and 2011 can just be forgotten.

 

Gotta Start Somewhere

27 Nov
2011

Though I’ve been cleared to get my run/bike/swim/whatever the hell I want on, today marks the first day I actually went to the gym. I did try an ill-fated walk/run a week or so ago. I was out for about 15 minutes and it really did not feel so great. I decided that I would give myself a bit more time to heal and try to just go with what feels ok.

For some reason, this morning felt like the right day to head to the gym. I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do or how I was going to feel.

I thought that the elliptical trainer would be the least stressful exercise that I could stand.  The first few minutes were a bit rough and I was winded within 3 minutes. There was a slight ache around my surgery area (internally) and a bit of discomfort around my incision, but that slowly started to fade as I got further into my “workout”.

Overall, I wound up with 20 minutes on the elliptical at the lowest setting and then a 10 minute walk. Total of 30 minutes “cardio”.

This little workout has left me pretty tired. I’m relaxing for the rest of the day.

I’d be lying if I said I’m not disappointed or frustrated with how long it’s taking me to get back to running or just working out in general. On the other hand, I respect the fact that my body has been through a pretty serious surgery and I need to give it the time it needs to heal. I suppose I just need a little patience.

I don’t think I’ve been this out of shape in years. Not even after my embolism in ’08. I’m also at the heaviest I’ve ever been and it’s getting frustrating and making me feel a bit down. Especially not being able to wear pants. I’m sick of sweatpants and dresses. (I suppose I could go buy some cute dresses. Oh yeah. I owe the hospital shitloads of cash for my surgery.)

Well, I don’t want to get myself and everyone else down. I suppose I’ll just keep moving forward. What else can I do?

Cleared for Take Off!!!

18 Nov
2011

Sorry for the absence. There really wasn’t much going on the past week and half. My days really went like this:

Get up late. Go to work. Come home. Take fun pain meds. Lay on couch watching Psych/random movie on Netflix. Go to bed around 11. Repeat ad nauseum. Not exactly what I would call interesting blog material. Hell, it’s my life and I’m bored with it. Why inflict that pain on others? You deserve better than that.

I wanted to start working out last week, but somehow I took a turn for the worse. I started having stomach issues and early this week, I was so sore that I could barely walk. My stomach felt like I had done a million crunches for some reason. It might be because I worked at the running store over the weekend. (It was REALLY slow. I didn’t even fit anyone for shoes, but I did have to stand for a bit and maybe that was just too much.) It could also be because I tweaked an internal stitch or suture.  Yeah…that freaks me out to think about, too. Or – most likely – I turned the wrong way doing something super mundane and pulled an abdominal muscle.

Just to be sure everything was ok I went to see my surgeon. It was almost time for my routine visit anyway. He checked everything out and said that I’m healing perfectly. All tests point to everything that was yanked out of me as being NON CANCEROUS. And…here’s the awesome thing:  I CAN START RUNNING, BIKING, AND SWIMMING AGAIN.  

The only restrictions that I have for now are no crunches/sit-ups/intense abdominal exercises and he said no heavy weights. Light weights are fine. (He indicated under 10 lbs. I asked if 5 lbs were ok and he said that’s preferred.)

I also can eat greens again since I am no longer on blood thinners. Woot! Woot! I’m thrilled with this development because I’ve had to take laxatives since the surgery. (Surgery in general leaves you plugged for a while. Not sure why.) A green smoothie a day keeps the laxatives away. At least until I get back to normal. I see some nice big salads in my future as well.

As stated in my earlier post, I’m still going to take things easy. If it hurts or is uncomfortable, I’m not going to do it. For now, I can see doing the elliptical, biking, lite weights, and swimming. Maybe some lite running. Things just feel so…odd. It might be that I do a light jog and feel fine. Who knows? I’ll play this one by ear.

Tomorrow morning, I’m hitting the pool. I hope  to get in 400 yards, but will take less if that’s all I can do. I’m just happy to hit the water and get back in shape. I feel like the blob right now.

Oh, yeah. I asked the doctor how long my stomach is going to look like I’m 5 months pregnant and he said around 90 days. WTF?!?!?! I’m so sick of wearing stretchy pants. NO ONE LOOKS CUTE IN STRETCHY PANTS THAT THEY FOUND IN THE BACK OF THEIR CLOSET. Seriously. I’ve even started wearing makeup to compensate. Hoping that will distract people from my stretchy pants. I contemplated buying maternity pants, but they still fell across my incision which wasn’t comfortable. The softer the pant the better. My mom thinks I should go get some cute yoga pants. I’m considering it.

Anyway, that’s what’s going on around here. What’s up with you guys? 

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