August-September: Objectives

There are just two objectives for this six week period:

1. READ! I'm three books behind the pace I need to achieve 60 books in a year, it seems.  So it's time to catch up.  I'm hoping the slightly less hectic nature of work in the next few weeks will help.  I am also really, really trying to read things other than flimsy detective novels, too.  We'll see how well that goes.
2. EXERCISE!  My plan is 30 pieces of exercise in six weeks - so 5 a week.  It doesn't have to be an hour a time, but something physically active beyond walking around.  Admittedly, this goal is oriented toward a family wedding where there will be many, many photos taken, but I'm also feeling sluggish and tired after a month of not doing much physical but have expended a great deal of mental energy.  This skewed expenditure has left me feeling somewhat out of sorts and a little unbalanced.  The reading challenge, plus some work organization, will see me continue with mental work, but I really want to up my physical quotient.  To that end, Monday saw a run, Tuesday yoga (maybe for the last time), and today is press ups.  As an added form of measurement, I'm going to instagram all workouts with the hashtag #pwsp (post workout sustenance photo) and, hopefully, will be able to document the challenge there, too.

Reckoning/Updates

Obviously, it's been a while since the last post. 

Nonetheless:

1. I ran!  I ran a whole 5K!  I beat my personal best by some distance, too.  It was amazing.  My knee held up pretty well, too.  The last month, due to absurdly emotionally and administratively intense work, has seen me neglect my running somewhat.  I ran on Monday (more on that later), but my knee came close to locking for the first time in a very long time.  Potential explanations:  a) we went too fast; and b) the yoga.  Oh, the yoga.  We'd started doing some yoga again, and I was hoping that my knee would be able to deal with both yoga and running.  Nonetheless, it seems likely not.  Yoga involves just too much kneeling which, for my left knee, is often accompanied by an ominous crunch and shifting of... stuff in my knee.  So maybe it's time to give up on the yoga.  At least the kneeling postures.  
2. Press ups.  Well... I'm starting again this week!

April 2014: Mid-term Update

Given that it's halfway through April, it's time for mid-terms - how am I doing?

1. Running.  To date, I've done week 2 of the couch to 5k training.  It's going okay, although my knee is a little sore.  I'm trying to roll my knee, stretch, and ice it to keep it in shape.  But it's nice to get out and about, particularly given that the blossom is finally coming out, it's warmer but there are still April showers to keep one cool (I am one of the rare people who love running in the rain). 
2. Press Ups.  Oof.  I've managed week one, so I'm behind schedule, but going to be on time from now on - for real.  Honest.  

We are also restarting the Kardashian challenge - albeit we're not doing the multiplier, but we have added a third person so we have an additional layer of peril. 

April 2014: Objectives and Reawakening

Spring has finally sprung in New York City and, with the input of vitamin D, blossoms, and early morning birdsong, my impetus for doing a little better each month has reawakened.

Usually I try to do a mixture of mental, cultural, and physical objectives to balance out making these only be about working on my body.  But I have been rubbish about doing exercise this year so far and making excuses for myself.  Thus I have only two objectives, and both of them are physical, but next month will be different.

1. Couch to 5k: I plan to do the whole six week program, but April is the month to kick start the plan.  I have completed week one already and my next run is tomorrow morning.  To complement this, however, I will need to make sure I am stretching and doing the old foam rolling trick.  This I will be doing in front of Parks & Rec, which is my new obsession.  I have to have something to justify how much I am watching that.
2. 100 Press Ups Challenge.  A friend issued the challenge to follow this program - she's going to have a party on Memorial Day where we all try to do 100 press ups.  Given that I give up around week 3 each time I do this, hopefully Memorial Day will be the spur to do this beyond halfway.

Happy spring!

New Year, Same Old

Last year, as with every resolution, ever, I managed to tail off somewhat regarding following my resolutions.  Nonetheless, I feel I got a lot out of my mini resolutions, and I'm rather keen to do some more this year.  This year I'm going two a month, and that's it.  

1. Eating - I'm going to try no refined carbs - potatoes, white pasta, white bread, white rice - for the next month, at least Monday-Friday.  Reasons?  I cannot pretend that it's not because I'd like to shift a bit of the timber I've gained over the festive period.  Nevertheless, I'm cutting these things out because they don't have the same nutritional (and happiness) oomph that one gets from cheese (protein, calcium), meat, sour cream, chocolate, coffee, wine, or any of the other things that I refuse to give up.  Something has to give, so why not those?  
2. Environmental - I'm doing the January Cure for the second time.  This time, I'm even managing to do it in January.  BOOM!  I'm not 100% sure I'm going to do all the cleaning stuff because - bourgeoisie alert - we have a cleaner, but I would like to do the rugs and sweep the floor, particularly as we have a Christmas tree that smells glorious and sheds constantly.  I will probably monitor the Cure on my other site, but we'll see... 

October Objectives

It's October already.  ALREADY.  We're over a week in.  So, clearly, I have thought carefully and hard about these objectives and I am NOT just hastily scribbling these now.

1. Accounting.  This will happen, honestly. I will track my spending from yesterday onward.
2. Cultural.  We have a shelf downstairs that is full of library books.  The problem is, I get distracted by my new, shiny, sexy books that I've just got, and I end up renewing and renewing the worthy but older books.  So I've decided that I have to read the most renewed books first.  This led to me reading Police in the Hallways (renewed 15 times), which made me so miserable, so sad, so despairing, that I cried on the subway while reading it.  More than once.  But it's about time to get through this stuff!
3. Physical.  I'm taking swimming lessons on Tuesday nights, and our instructor wants us to practice once a week, so my final mini-resolution is to go to all the classes and practice at least once.  The problem with practicing is that municipal pools in the city leave a lot to be desired.  For example, there's a nice enough pool in Williamsburg that has extended lap swimming and is on my way to work.  Only problem is that you can't just rock up and pay for one swim.  Instead, you appear to need to be a member, which is $150 for a year.  Ahem.  Riverbank Pool, owned by the state, not city, is glorious, and $2.  That's where I found myself last night, sharing the pool with just one other person while I practiced my drills before waiting for my touch football league.  I caught up on my Five Year Diary and watched fireworks over southern Manhattan.  Not a bad Monday night.

September Reckoning

1. Physical:  Body brushing.  I did actually do it most days, albeit not a few of them where I was so sweaty from a morning workout that it was weird and grim. And I think it did add a certain firmness of texture to touch, if not view, and that made me feel good - which is the point, I think, as I have kept it up since. 
2. Accounting: Didn't really do spending.  So see next month's objectives...
3. Cultural:  I have indeed been watching things from the Netflix queue, albeit things that are tv series.  Well, basically, I finished watching Scandal and have started watching The IT Crowd.  But that's more than I was doing before, and I'm enjoying it.  So I think I'd like to keep this up, and it seems vaguely likely, too.