Prepping for Sandy

Hurricane Sandy has been roaring up the East coast. I actually wound up with a surprise day off today (which I was shocked about since generally working in hospitals = never having days off-- though working in research in one location does help out.)

Since developing a slight obsession with Zombie movies/ and post apocalyptic shows such as The Walking Dead, 28 Days Later, Survivors, Zombieland, and most recently starting to get into Revolution, it has made me a bit of a doomsday-prepper - which I personally consider to be a good thing. I am not a crazy doomsday prepper, as in I still have a life outside of prepping, I just consider it a good idea to keep things on hand for an emergency and to have a plan. So overall, I suppose I am just prepared. Prepping for Zombies and the apocalypse is slightly more entertaining than preparing for a hurricane, earthquake or fire. Nonetheless, there is a lot of overlap in the items needed.

Prior to Sandy starting up, I did some googling of what to have prepared.

• We moved all movable objects inside or tied them done
•  Filled our gas tanks with gas.
• Made extra ice/ put freezer packs in the freezer in case we lose electricity.
• Made sure to have water and non-perishable food on hand. 
• Prepped candles/ flashlights/ batteries etc. 

 I also put my "Disaster Preparedness Kit" Out which includes emergency water, food, thermal blankets, poncho, first aid kit, etc. I also added in a handcranked radio/ cellphone charger/ flashlight, some extra storm proof matches, and of course my Doomsday Survival Guide!

 Is it weird that this was actually on my wedding registry?! Thanks to my Aunt for buying me the bag, and my friend Alicia for the Doomsday book and radio/flash light thing!

One of the other recommendations for prepping for a hurricane was to wash all of the dishes/ do laundry and take a shower.. so I did all of those things including washing the bird!

Leo and Ghreylin seem to know the storm is coming and they are all cuddles up and hunkering down for the storm!

It is certainly getting blustery out there!

http://d2om8tvz4lgco4.cloudfront.net/archive/x1831584822/g12c000000000000000f770c53ea800c8db3a7ef51c8da4716c1c102c41.jpg

Starting the week out right!

Sunday started off slow and rainy, and so my walking buddy would not budge from bed.


I swear I take the same picture every morning. When I get up Leo moves from our bed to the couch and shivers until I wrap him up. I think I will need to start using different blankets to differentiate the pictures!

 Jordan had a late night shot, and didn’t get home until 4 am, so he was of no entertainment to me either.
Since I had just recapped my week and I was not too impressed with my accomplishments I was set on being productive!
I did a thorough cleaning of the house and 2 loads of laundry. How do we produce so much filth in so little time??
I decided to do an at home Crossfit workout, and was inspired by Tina’s Pug WOD. I completed it in about 12 minutes. - as she said "short and sweet like a pug!"

  I first broke it up into sets of 20 of each exercise, but the push ups became too much so I did sets of 10 between the other 2 exercises.   I really want to do a Boston Terrier WOD for Leo now! But I was trying to incorporate in things Leo loves which include:

• Tug of war
• Running
• jumping
• dog yoga

so I am thinking some running, maybe tuck jumps, and if I had a rope a rope pull...
 any suggestions on an equivelant to do at home??
Well stay tuned for an upcoming Terrier WOD!

After the WOD the sleepy boys finally decided to get out of bed.

Jordan was agreeable to doing a little yoga with me, so I used one of my handy dandy Yogadownload.com sessions.  We did the 60 minute "Anusara Inspired Flow" - though as usual Jordan only lasted 20 minutes- but some yoga is better than no yoga!

I was happy he joined me, I do so much better when I have some one doing it with me.

How was the start to your week?

Weekly Wrap Up 10/07-10/13

Yesterday I was planning on going to Crossfit for the Community WOD but it seemed kind of silly to drive so far on my day off just to go workout, when technically I can workout anywhere. 

Instead I started my day going for a walk/jog (wog) with Leo. It was freezing! Literally- there was ice on the ground. I thought it was going to be a short jaunt since at first Leo wouldn't even move from the doorway because he was shivering so much (even with his sweatshirt on).  With a bit of encouragement he started to run with me to warm up. 

I let him lead the way and we wound up going on a 4 mile wog. Likely partially due to movement, and the very sunny skies - the walk warmed up quite a bit! 

In the end, the jog was not anywhere as intense as crossfit would have been, and I kept telling myself I was going to do at least a little workout at home.. but it never happened, so maybe it would have been worth it to drive to Salem! / I need to find a way to motivate myself to workout from home. 

Review of my goals:

• No alcoholic beverages during the weekdays = success. No drinking since Sunday the 7^th (Monday was a holiday). I had one beer (Shipyard Pumpkin Ale) with Jordan on Friday night.
• Eat more mindfully: This week was a bit of a struggle.
• I have been reading “The Paleo Solution” which I thought would give me god motivation to eat healthier, but it has thus far had the opposite effect of making me angry and eating worse than usual.
• With Halloween approaching, candy and treats are running rampant! I cannot enter a office without a candy dish. I have shown more restraint than usual, but I do have a huge sweet tooth. On Friday we had a work party and I gave in and had a cookie AND a piece of cake.
• Scheduling has not led to the most mindful eating. There have been some days where the only time I really have to eat I have not been hungry- so I just eat because I have a chance.

• Working out at least 4 days a
• I only got in 3 ‘formal’ workouts but I did go hiking and went on a 4 mile jog so I will still consider it mostly successful.

• Walking at least 4 miles.
• I haven’t been using the mapmyrun app on my phone as much because it kills my phones battery. I am on a quest for some kind of pedometer/ distance calculator that actually works but isn’t too expensive.

Any suggestions??  

While looking for a free clipart for crossfit I came across this image, which completely embodies how I feel while attempting any jump rope workout! 

How was your week??

Hot Core Yoga Take 2!

As promised- I did it again! I reattempted HotCore Yoga after a terrible experience the first time.

It was significantly better! I managed to stay in the room for about the first 80 minutes of the 90 minute class and I actually did all of the poses for that time. The last 10 minutes were kind of a wash but much better than last time. Once we did the camel position I started getting really nauseas.

I think just knowing what to expect was a huge mental saver. Knowing that this WAS in fact close to Bikram yoga and not just a crazy guy in a basement making us do weird breathing really put my mind at ease.

Also just knowing the general progression that

* Each pose would be repeated twice
* A half time would be announced
* The beginning of class was standing and the end was mostly on the mat

All of those things made me push myself a lot harder since I had more of a general sense of hat was to come. I admit, in most exercise type classes I tend to take it easy the first class because you never know what is to come and it sucks giving an all out effort in the first 5 minutes and then not being able to keep up for the rest of the class! At the same time that has bitten me in the butt when the class does not actually become much harder and then ending the class without feeling like I got all that much of a work out.
Do you ever have that problem or do you always push yourself from the get go?

One of my biggest issues with the class was the aftermath- I had to g et up to pee 6 times last night because of all of the water I drank during class!  At least you can't say I didn't hydrate!

I still definetly do not like it as much as most other yoga I have tried because

• I feel like I am just sweating but not actually getting as much of a workout and a stretch. thus far the teacher mostly just does the poses with us and does not go around and correct form and sometimes I cannot even tell what I am supposed to be doing.
• If they dod the same thing every time, I can see this getting boring. (though at the same time I see the advantage of always being  able to see how far you come, and get a bit deeper into each pose).
• I miss inversions!

Again-- all that being said- this was only the second class and after the first class I absolutely hated it, not after the 2nd class I thought it was Ok. We shall see how I feel by class 10! Maybe I will be a convert after all.  
How do you feel about most types of exericse/ yoga, do you know right away if you like it, or does it take a while to develop a love/ addiction to it?

I tried to make Leo do some yoga with me at home, but he wasn't feeling it. 

Columbus day adventures

I spent most of the "long" weekend at Newton Wellesely Hospital working, but I did get to go over to a friends house on Sunday night, enjoyed my weekend Wine, watched scary movies and had a sleep over.

The intention had been to go to Crossfit Monday morning, but I made Sunday my one day for drinking alcohol and sleeping on a friends couch after being up until 2 am watching "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" I shockingly did not make it.

It was a gorgeous fall day out so, my mother-in-law, the puppies and I went on a hike to Raven’s Woods. Her dog, Louie, the shih tzu, however, was not feeling it, and decided to hang back in the car. So Alina, Leo and I took on a nice loop!

Leo in his nice new sweat shirt

My Mother-in-law, Alina

Thank god for those blue dots marking the way! We almost got lost a few times.

I did not get in an official WOD, but we did get in a nice hike of about 4 miles.

 

Later that evening, Leo was apparently spoiled and refused to go on a walk around the neighborhood and he kept insisting on waiting y my car so we took a trip to Good Harbor Beach which turns into a giant dog park in the non-summer months.

Leo made friends with a few other dogs on the way.

It was great to be able to go out and enjoy the weather while its still nice and 'crisp' out but not quite cold!

How was your Colombus day? Did you get a long weekend or get to do anything fun?

Hot Core Yoga

Check out the gorgeous sunrise I caught yesterday! I see two dogs chasing each other in the clouds...

Yesterday I tried out Hot yoga for the first time. It was not officially “Bikram” but from my friend that does Bikram, the poses and series seemed similar – and it was definitely HOT! I have done yoga at several places, and have done styles including: vinyasa, power, ananda, anusara, forrest, hatha, ashtanga, and pilates fusions. I am no yoga expert, but I would consider myself at least semi-knowledgeable about the general practices.

I have been wanting to try Bikram/ Hot yoga for a while, but I know I generally do not deal very well with extreme heat/ I have been known to pass out, so I kept putting off trying it.


There was recently a Livingsocial/ Amazon Deal for “Hotcore” in Beverly, which is where I take the train from, so I figured I would give it a try.

My initial thoughts: It was awful!  (I told the teacher so at the end and everything when he asked me how I liked it...)


• My own fault/ the train running late’s fault – I made it just in time- so I did not get to talk to the teacher before hand/ sign in/ sign any kind of a waiver or emergency contact info, so I was really afraid I would pass out without anyone knowing who I was or what to do with me!

• The place was in the basement of some house, and the teacher seemed a bit bizarre. He was in a speedo and the beginning of class involved a lot of swaying.

• The beginning of class also involved some very weird breathing exercise, but upon discussion with my friend who does Bikram- this is normal. There are even videos on youtube!

• There were no clocks in the room – which I pretty typical for a yoga studio in my experience, but since it was my first class and I had no idea what to expect the class felt like it was forever and I thought I was going to die.

• I never knew I could sweat so much (which is what everyone I know who tries it says). I did not try nearly as hard as I usually do in a yoga class- and a lot of the poses I normally can do, I could not do because I was just trying to not pass out or throw up.


All that being said—I am definitely planning on going again. Now that I have heard that a lot of what I thought was “weird” is typical, makes me feel a lot better. Also, everyone else in the class seemed pretty normal and did not appear to be dying, so that makes me think that I too will be able to adapt. I look forward to giving you the update on how I progress!

Closing thoughts: Can’t wait to try it again and go in with a bit more of an idea of what to expect and drink WAY more water before hand.

What I am not looking forward to is tonight’s Crossfit WOD:


Strength: Bench Press 5x3 @ 80%

WOD: "Nicole"
20 Minute AMRAP (As many reps as possible)
400m Run
Max Pull Ups

I HATE running and I HATE pull ups… (Ok.. I actually go through phases with running, sometimes I love it and sometimes I hate it… but with pull ups?! Geez Louise!)


As an update: I have not drank alcohol for the past 2 days (I sound a bit like an alcoholic, but I am proud) and I turned down delicious looking cookies and cake the past 2 days a work. I have also been pretty good about only eating when hungry and trying to not over indulge.

As for my activity goals: I think I have been getting about 4 miles a day in. I use Mapmyrun.com for tracking walking outside, but it doesn’t work inside, so I have been trying to get more walks in outside.

I have not felt comfortable taking pictures/ I am not sure I am allowed to take pictures at Crossfit or Yoga- so in lieu of that, here are some updates on the babies:

Ghreylin has a new love affair with a green towel in the bathroom. He can often be found sneaking into the bathroom and dancing underneath said towel.

 While he is not woo-ing the towel, he is generally keeping out of trouble. He was up bright and early with me this morning just hanging out.

 

Leo, on the other hand, remains to not be a morning dog. He got out of bed with me and then quickly snuggled in between the pillows and blankets on the couch.

And with that- I bid you adieu!