Hodgepodge of Things and Question Day.

Loving this Wednesday!

Woke up this morning early, 5:45am, and headed up to the exercise room. I decided to walk on the treadmill, a brisk walk, which I did for 30 min. After I did some extensive stretching and my daily plank for the weekly challenge over at Spunky Suzi's blog.  I don't usually participate in these, but when I saw it was to do plank everyday, I knew it was for me. This is one of the best core strengthening exercises and I was in a habit of doing them regularly last summer. I was up to 2min before. Now, I can only do 1 min and even though I exercise a lot this is a skill that you have to do often. I generally do mine on my elbows, but I'm thinking I'm going to try adding the side planks as well. This week has been a reminder to keep it up.  I even did an extra minute last night while the girls were brushing their teeth!

I want to get back to running and I'm planning it, but I still feel like my right hamstring is tight. I did not enjoy the last leg injury and I plan to avoid another. I'm enjoying the ramp up of my exercise back to pre-gallbladder surgery levels. My friend Stacia over at Swimming it Off   left a nice comment suggesting to me and reminding me what great low impact exercise swimming can be. Not that I'd forgotten, but it is something I do love that I haven't done in a while. So it is on the agenda, hopefully Friday, to get to the gym and get in the pool. I can reward myself with a few minutes in the hot tub after which will surely help my soreness.

After 2 workouts on Monday and 2 on Tuesday, I have to admit I am sore, but not severely. My triceps ache from all the weight ifting on Monday with the trainer. My thighs ache from the squats and lunges Monday and the kicking at TKD. But, I love it. I love knowing my muscles are working hard.   I didn't workout at lunch today because I had a meeting this evening and I was already dressed for it. An excuse I know, but I did workout once today already and considering this is my first full week back at the workouts this often, I'll be a little careful.

I'm trying to get my body used to early hours again. I love my morning workouts so much. It's just me and ESPN and the sweating. It's also a good time to catch up with my Google Reader and I've been enjoying that as well.  If I can just get myself up 15-20min earlier, I'll be able to get in my 30min cardio, core training AND stretching.  I am gonna do tomorrow morning and although I'm kinda tired, my body is already remembering. I function really well on low sleep from all my med school days. Doesn't mean I don't like to sleep though and my internal clock will slowly reset.

Speaking of sleep and exercise, I was interested to read this post yesterday from Katie J.  She's been using a bodybugg for quite a while and recently started using a Fitbit. I was really interested in how this little gadget works to record calories burned, steps and YES even sleep quality. Pretty nifty. I also like that there are no monthly fees. I couldn't resist and I ordered one. I can't wait to try it out and see if it matches the Polar HR monitor I've been using for calories burned. I'll let you know how I like it once it's here and I start using it. I've been considering one of the gadgets for a while and yesterday I just decided to jump in and give it a try!

The scale has not been good to me so far this week. Not sure why. My eating is good and you can see my exercise is great. I've been drinking water, but maybe I need a smidgen more with all the extra workouts.  Anyway, I'm not discouraged and I'm focused on staying the course. Picking ways to improve and continue to learn new things about this healthy life stuff is all part of the process. It is not a program, it's a way of life for me.

And now from Spunky Suzi: Question Day.

1.Do you plan your exercise for the week? If so how many days do you normally exercise?? Yes. I plan in general my exercise every week. I have to or juggling my schedule is impossible. I exercise a minimum of 4 days a week and usually it's closer to 6.

2. What is your favourite seasoning?? Hmmm...garlic and onions probably, but I also LOVE rosemary and basil from my herb garden.
3. What is your favourite flavour of coffee or tea? I'm a minimalist here. I don't really like flavored teas and coffee, but I do prefer sweetener.

4. What was the last movie you watched? Tangled with the kids. Again!
5. Have you tried any new foods lately? Did you like them? Care to share? I found a yummy roasted red pepper hummus that I'm loving right now. I've also tried a cinnamon raisin bagel thin which is yummy.


Finally, I'll end today on a note of thanks. As I discussed yesterday, I'm trying to focus on gratitude. When you've had a lot of stress and hard things to deal with, sometimes it's easy to forget how many things are going right. Being grateful keeps me focused on those things and is helping me change my attitude. Today, I'm grateful for patients that really appreciate what I do. Sometimes it seems like you only hear the complaints, but this week I've had several patients take time to thank me and my staff. 

One brought some lovely Easter eggs she'd made for us with lovely naturalistic patterns. Another brought in a cake she'd made for us (which I thanked her for but didn't eat).  Another knows how much I love old medical books and equipment and brought in a couple of old books she found at an estate sale. I certainly don't expect gifts, but just an expression of thanks means so much. So I'm grateful for those in my life who are grateful for me. Grin.

Aren't they pretty and artistic? No idea how she did this, but I like it.

Well, that's it for today. Did you learn anything new or try anything new today? How did it work out?  Do you use any gadgets that help you in your efforts to get healthy? Which ones have worked out and which didn't?