Thursday, February 17, 2011

Stupid viruses!

Over the past few years I have been exposed to numerous germs. In 2008 I switched jobs, thus becoming exposed to new germs. I kept that job until the summer of 2010. In 2009/2010 I had an internship at a hospital...new germs again. By being at the job and the hospital the new germs were not cooperating with the old germs from the job, thus 2 years of getting sick.

I graduated this past summer from graduate school, so it was off to a new career. In the summer I started one job (it just wasn't for me) so this fall I got my dream job as at a College. The problem, thousands of students...lots of new germs.

So I've gotten sick about 2 or 3 times already.

I don't get sick...I don't like getting sick...and now for the 3rd year in a row, I'm getting sick! I need to stay at places longer and not introduce new viruses if at all possible because this stinks!

Friday, February 11, 2011

Double yoga

No, not a double rainbow...double yoga.

I have been consistently going to yoga at TruHarmony yoga for over 3 months now. I love that yoga is a part of my routine and I love that I am beginning to feel and observe the changes it is having on my body. I sit up straighter at work and have better posture overall. My running has improved with better posture and endurance as well as breathing. My attitude is very positive and fewer things bother me. I also have calmed down ever so slightly (which is huge in my world).

Over the past few months I have noticed that some people stay at the studio for a double. I had initially thought months ago that staying for a double was insanity. I was so exhausted after one class, why in the world would I stay for a double? I am still not the strongest yogi in class, nor do I expect to be anytime in the near future. Yoga is about the individual practice, and I am the strongest yogi that I have ever been.

On Wednesday I asked my instructor Megan if she felt I was ready to handle a double. She smiled and encouraged me that I could (her words were something like, "girl, you can run a marathon, you can do anything!") I made the decision that I was going to try it for sure on Saturday...but maybe I'd try it on Thursday too.

Yesterday I talked myself up all day and said it was time to try a double. A 75 minute vinyasa flow class followed by a 60 minute yoga sculpt and bootcamp class. I'm becoming friendly with a number of the people at the studio and I was warned that I was going to be starving at the end of this adventure and to make sure to take a break when I needed it since I would hit a wall in the second class. They were right...but the wall was not a big wall, and the hunger was typical hunger...for over 2 hours of intense exercise...pretty much as hungry as I am after a half marathon when it's warm out.

I went home, and my arms did not want to work. I laughed at it as I don't know the last time something like that happened. I inhaled my dinner last night (Tandoor Chef's Palak Paneer) which was delicious and I need to go buy a lot more of those. I then followed that with fresh cherries and some pistachios.

This morning when I woke up to shower, that was fun...arms were sore as anything and I loved it. I had a bagel sammich for breakfast because I could feel that I was still hungry...and then I just felt great. I feel very energized and centered today. Today actually feels like the best day in 2011 (which may have to do with a number of other factors, including awesomeness at work, payday Friday, finding cadbury creme eggs and reece's peanut butter eggs at the store, getting tickets to the Crosstown Classic...and oh Egypt becoming free). The soreness is becoming less as the day goes on, which excites me for my originally planned double tomorrow!

I do not recommend going for a double too soon, but when you're looking for a new challenge, every once and a while I'd suggest going for a double. Of course on Sunday, I'll be attending a new workout entirely (kickass cardio at Flirty Girl Fitness) so that should create some new muscle soreness.

Happy Friday!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Dibs!

Back to blogging about some observations for a bit.

Last week (February 1) Chicago was hit with a blizzard and 20 inches of snow were dropped down upon the city in less than 24 hours. It was quite incredible. On Wednesday (February 2) the digging out process began. The bf and I dug out my car pretty early in the day, before lunch, deciding it would be best to play in the snow as soon as possible to get the car out. The road had not yet been plowed, so there was only the snow that fell surrounding my car. It took the two of us a little over an hour to dig out the car.

In Chicago, once you dig out your spot you are permitted to claim "dibs" on your spot by putting out whatever you can find to "hold dibs" on your spot. Most neighborhoods respect the dibs, and after this storm there were very interesting items to claim dibs.

A sampling of what I observed around my hood & commute:
- Ironing boards
- Buckets
- The newly distributed phone books still in the yellow plastic
- Cardboard boxes

We didn't have anything to hold dibs on my spot, so when I returned to work on Friday, I lost my spot...which was fine since there were additional spots in my neighborhood that others did not claim dibs on.

Here comes the interesting thing. I had found a spot nearby, and I kept getting that spot over the weekend when I would go to yoga and come back. There was nothing holding the spot (unless the coke can that was rolling around really was meant as dibs). I started parking in that specific spot on Friday evening...last night when I came home from work, there was a bucket hold that spot for dibs. That was the first time there was anything there holding that spot.

In my opinion, you can't claim dibs on a spot a week after the storm hit. I just don't think it's fair. Would I love my prime spot that I dug out last week? Absolutely! But I did not think of a creative way to hold dibs on my spot, and I'm not there during the day, so someone else can use the spot. I am having a hard time believing that someone would claim dibs a week later. There is no way of knowing if the person claiming dibs is the person who actually dug the spot out at this point, though I'm sure if it's not that person, the individual will move the dibs holding item (I might consider it if it were my spot).

I just found it amusing and decided an observation blog should be written regarding this. I know that out on the east coast in Boston dibs are very common, and much more dangerous than it is in Chicago...however, I still don't know if a week after a storm if someone would claim dibs then.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Vegan experiment conclusion

I made it all 30 days of my vegan experiment/challenge. How do I feel? What did I learn?

I feel great. I find I have been sleeping more soundly and a bit longer, but that could also be due to working out 5-7 days a week.

I ended up losing about 6 pounds during this month with only calorie counting during the last week of the experiment to see what I was at.

I learned that going vegan is not as hard as I thought it was going to be. I also found that roasting vegetables is easy and delicious. Making seitan is easy and tastes good and is much less expensive them buying it at the store! I found that some recipes are awesome and some not so much. I learned how not all sugar is vegan, not all wine is vegan, most beer is vegan, most bagels are vegan, clif builder bars are amazing energy food for a run, kale is tasty, vegan peanut butter cookies rock. That's just some of the great things that I learned.

I have made the decision to stay vegetarian and continue experimenting with vegan recipes for a while. I may go back to eating other things, but I feel really good right now and I'd like to stick with being vegetarian for a bit longer. I'm excited about experimenting with different foods more and continuing to enjoy many of the benefits of a vegan lifestyle, but by being a vegetarian, I'm thinking I'll have an easier time getting protein than I have been...plus the bf said he has no problem cooking vegetarian for me, but he has worries about vegan cooking...so I wouldn't mind him cooking for me again :)

I'm very glad I did this experiment, and I'll post any new finds in the future, but thank you for reading!