weather

Fun and games

In addition to my usual game of “dodge the trash cans,” Thursday’s cardio workout included a new game this week: Dodge the snowbanks.

Yeah. Walking in the street to avoid piles of snow still covering the sidewalk in spots is big fun.

At least it’s warm enough outside that what’s left of the snow won’t last long. We hit a high of 60 degrees Thursday, and more of the same is expected today.

Our Best Body Bootcamp plan called for core work in addition to cardio. I ended up only doing one set because it’s impossible to lie on the floor to do crunches and such with a curious dog in the house. She licked my glasses, stuck her snout in my face and generally got in the way.

I’m not cheating on the bootcamp plan, though — I did another set when I got home from work … in my bedroom, where my cats were a lot less annoying than the bratty dog.

After my workout, I turned on the oven to preheat, hopped in the shower and then made a flatbread pizza for lunch. It was identical to the one I made after work on Sunday night, with smoked sausage, zucchini, bell peppers and mozzarella cheese. This time, I added a spinach salad — and managed to snap a picture before I devoured it.

It was a busy day. After lunch, I spent some time at Starbucks, writing away. Then it was time to go to work. Today I put together the movie page, focused on week’s big release, “The Hunger Games.”

I’ve read a lot of blogs praising the book and expressing excitement about the movie … and I have to say, the more I read about the movie, the more I want to see what the hype is all about. I think I’d rather read the books first, but I might check out the movie before adding something else to my to-be-read pile. The ol’ TBR pile is already precariously high.

I also signed up for a blogging challenge. WEGO Health has declared April “Health Activist Writer’s Month,” and is asking for 30 posts in 30 days. They’ve come up with a list of writing prompts — one for each day of the month. I have the prompts already and I can’t wait to get started. It’s going to be fun.

The Health Activist Writer’s Month Challenge is open to everyone. Click here for more info or to sign up. You can also find it at #hawmc on Twitter.

Did I mention how excited I am to have lost almost 2 more pounds? Seeing results on the scale motivates me to do even more.

Case in point: I’m considering meeting up with a local walking group this morning for a 3-mile trek. They’re meeting at the movie theater, which is only a few blocks from my house … so I really don’t have an excuse. I can easily move Workout C to Saturday and do my “cardio of choice” workout now.

Or, if I have enough time, I can do the walk and Workout C.

Sounds like a plan to me. Hope it’s not too ambitious.

Wait a minute. Who am I again? And when did I decide I like working out? I don’t know, but I’m sure glad for the change. Thanks, Tina Reale. Bootcamp is changing my life.

P.S. The Boyfriend was proud of himself for eating tuna salad with light mayo and chicken with light mayo for dinner. I hated to burst his bubble by telling him he should really eat a smaller amount of the real thing …

Bootcamp Week 2 Wrapup

Week Two of Tina’s Best Body Bootcamp is done, and I’m raring to start Week Three.

Okay, “raring” might be a slight exaggeration. In some ways, Week Two took more out of me than Week One. (In other ways, it was a lot easier and I was less sore. I hope that means I’m getting stronger.) And some of the exercises for Week Three look downright scary.

But I’m going to trust the process. Tina knows what she’s doing, and she’s left enough flexibility for me to work around any exercises that threaten to kill me (cough, crossover lunge).

I am looking forward to a new set of challenges, though — mainly because it means I’ve seen the back end of Weeks 1 and 2′s Workout C. After putting it off for two days, I finally made it through one set of each of those exercises Sunday.

I haven’t decided whether to keep the same two goals for the next phase or switch them up. The food tracking is becoming a habit … but I’m afraid that if I don’t keep it as a goal, I’ll get lax again. The brushing/flossing is also becoming a habit (I missed Saturday for the first time since bootcamp began, because I fell asleep before I remembered to get out of bed and floss.)

I think my Weeks 3 and 4 goals will be:

— Track food (a necessary evil)

— Take a daily multivitamin. (It’s something I know I should be doing.)

Weather-wise, Sunday was as awful as the Weather Channel promised. I ended up leaving my car parked at the newspaper office and catching a ride home with my coworker.

I volunteered to work so the guy who lives out of town didn’t have to come in. I’m not even sure he’d have been able to come in, considering the highways were closed off and on all day. The airport reported 17.3 inches of snowfall — a new record.

Funny thing is, the high’s supposed to be 60 by Thursday. Okay, that’s not really funny. It’s sad. Why’d we have to get walloped with snow?

When I got home from work, I whipped up a flatbread pizza. The flatbread had 6 carbs, and I topped it with a little tomato paste, zucchini, bell pepper strips, leftover smoked sausage and mozzarella cheese. It turned out pretty well. Yum!

Sorry. I devoured it before I could take a picture. I didn’t plan on working when I left the house, so I didn’t have any food with me during my shift. I nabbed some peanuts from the vending machine and drank an Atkins shake from the stash in my desk, but I was still pretty hungry when I got home.

I skimped on water today, only drinking one and a half of the four bottles I had in the work fridge. I think the problem was it was too cold outside for me to drink cold water.

I’ll drink up tomorrow, after I kill the first Week Three bootcamp workout. (At least I hope it’s not going to kill me!)

Wacky thoughts on a Wednesday

Maybe my thoughts aren’t as wacky as I think — but they’re certainly random. Brace yourself for a look at some of the things that go through my mind.

— Tuesday was a beautiful day in my neighborhood. For today’s Best Body Bootcamp workout, I enjoyed a lengthy walk through the streets around my house.

Unfortunately, the good weather isn’t here to stay. Meteorologists are predicting a HUGE snowstorm this weekend. Like 1 to 2 feet of snow huge.

Y’all already know how I feel about the white stuff. The fact that it’s coming in March, when spring is supposed to be in the air, just adds insult to injury.

When I moved to northern Arizona, I knew there were four seasons up here. I just didn’t count on three of them including snow. Had I visited Flagstaff before I moved, might have thought twice about making the move. It was a weekend in June (I moved on June 25, and considered flying out to apartment hunt a few weeks before that) … and there happened to be a freak snowstorm that weekend.

— Do we really need to relive the 1980s? Apparently the stylemakers at Target think so. I spotted this display of neon-colored purses Tuesday.

I was on my way to the display of workout clothes, where I was a little bummed to see the same colors featured on all the sports bras.

Don’t get me wrong. I was a teenager in the 80s (a proud graduate of the Class of 1990). I have a lot of great memories of those days and love the majority of the era’s music and movies — but the fashions really ought to stay in the pages of history. No one looks good in neon-colored spandex. Am I right?

Ironic comment coming from the girl who only divested her closet of her vintage 1980s mint-green Reebok high-tops a couple of years ago, eh? But to be fair, I hadn’t worn them for years. That’s why I finally decided to toss them.

In high school, I wore them with peach socks, a puffy denim mini-skirt, mint green T-shirt and peach oxford. (I was known to layer three tops at once — polo, oxford and sweater … with color-coordinated socks.)

I’m sure glad I don’t have any photos!

— Is it wrong to be excited to go to sleep so I can wake up and put on my new sports bra? If so, I don’t want to be right.

I opted for the C9 Compression Bra. The tag says it has “racerback straps for stability and range of motion,” “compressive fit for support” and “wide performance band for enhanced stability.”

Better yet, it was on sale this week for $12.99. (Yes, that was its biggest selling point. Someday, after I sell my first novel, I’ll treat myself to one of the Enell sports bras Roni recommended on Twitter.)

I can’t wait to try out my new purchase. Bootcamp’s Workout B is on the agenda for morning. Guess that means I should get some sleep. Morning will come a lot faster that way.