Merganser

Week 2 was imperfect, but overall felt like "progress" in terms of the planned Spain revisit (Which is why this time, it's a 4-month plan, instead of, like, a 4-week plan; and linear progress would be boring, anyway ) 1) "Eat" mission was mostly accomplished, with some hiccups, all of which were habit-related and therefore stubborn but soluble and were at least less extreme than past lapses Tracked food in MFP until Friday night and then (once again) got lazy and caught up just in the "Notes" on Monday morning. It's not critical to my "success", but it is a useful mindfulness tool, so I'll be more attentive next weekendThe only meal that wasn't according to plan was Saturday night dinner, but it wasn't outrageous and I had the planned "paleo" shrimp-mango tacos on Sunday night instead. I did a ton of prep prior to last week and for almost the first time ran into one pitfall of advance prep: 5 days of mediocre lunches! My roasted chicken thighs and stir-fried asparagus did not microwave well. D'oh! So this week I played it safer and went with roasting vegetables to serve over greens with fruit for the week (although I should probably add nuts; my protein is low so far this week). A new combination to me: beets and fennel, which I'm having with (non-roasted) apple. This is my way of managing the disappointment of looking at a "lunch" menu online Saturday and seeing some things that I wanted and then being presented with a "meh" "brunch" menu when I got to the restaurant (Oh, the trials and travails of being me!!! ) Yummy and satisfying. Last night's "plan" was to use up some healthy stuff in the fridge, including a whole mess o' beet greens, which I cooked up with some pancetta from my weekly "paleo" food delivery and half an onion that I had forgotten about. With a side of the random bag of oyster mushrooms that came last week, sauteed with garlic in olive oil. It was SO tasty and satisfying that I didn't eat the chocolate I bought in a kind-of grumpy mood on Sunday. (Which means it's been sitting untouched in my cupboard for 2 days!)I'm doing lots of work-math this week, so I'm not going to try to figure out how Whole-30 compliant my diet was, but I'm sure it was NOT as high as 90%. There was lunch out on Saturday (planned) with wine and cocktail, and wine and cocktail at home each of Friday and Saturday, also planned. But although I had a delicious healthy dinner on Friday, I later did way too much noshing on nuts and the only chocolate I could find in the house: baked good ornaments that are probably coated in, like, lead. (I did NOT eat all of them!) That was stupid because it was just lack of self-control. And related to the amount of wine and cocktail consumed: not nearly as much as in the past, but still clearly enough to impair my judgment. (Ergo, mindfulness!) But Saturday dinner was great: when I have a designated bread and cheese night, it is often several cheeses and a sizable baguette, but this week it was one cheese and a half-baguette. And NO night-time snacking! There was a little bit of lapsing on Sunday in the manner of a couple of cookies with my (planned) cappuccino, but then instead of going to an open studios thing, I went to one of my favorite bars to try to "make up for" my "meh" lunch out on Saturday. (Yes, I am a child.) That led to chocolate-purchasing later, but I arrested my grumpy mood and just went home and made my healthy food for the week and my healthy dinner and did NOT make cocktails or buy wine2) "Train" missions were almost all accomplished, and the one that wasn't was the one I thought was least in jeopardy! My intended epic bike ride on Sunday fizzled out. I started late, my brakes were making weird noises, and my GPS program wasn't working. None of which precludes a good ride, but I let it dampen my enthusiasm and went home after, like, 10 miles (which took, like, 90 minutes including all the GPS fiddling, and not including all the time it takes me to get ready to go out). Next week, I'll make sure I have a NON-GPS back-up plan, a printed map and cue sheet, and will also make sure everything is ready to go the night before. And I dropped that bike off for a tune-up Sunday afternoon -- and discovered that I wasn't imagining the brake noise! -- and also found out (and requested) that they can make the brakes engage sooner after being depressed; I've never been delighted with the responsiveness of the brakes on that bike, but I thought it was just something I had to deal with. So, yay!Bike commuted on the other bike all 5 work days and for all of my weekend socializing and errand-running (except immediately after dropping off the go-fast bike). Felt great. It feels silly using Strava to track my commute rides, but it is fun playing bike commute -- the game -- against myself on segments from day to day. Yesterday is technically part of week 3, but PRs all over the place! One of my bike commute days was Marathon Monday, and that was fun because it was raining in the afternoon, and when you're on your way home, and have rain pants and a rain jacket, riding in the rain is actually kind of fun . I'm definitely feeling myself getting stronger on that bike. (Although "PR"-performance is really affected by wind!)Oops. Still haven't tried out my drop handlebars. Maybe next weekend.And...group rides haven't started up yet, but I have one coming up on Mother's Day. I did go to the seasonal monthly "Bike Friday" at City Hall Plaza on Friday morning though, and chatted with and got some information from some organizations, which I have been following up on.I went indoor cycling twice, as planned. And yesterday, although I had to skip my usual AM class because of an early work meeting, I did make it to a late afternoon class. (I often don't follow through on after-work exercise plans, which is why: mornings!) It was good AND my ride home immediately afterwards felt great. Partly because it was so much less windy than last week, but also because sitting at your desk is so unhealthy that it's easier to ride a bike after 50 minutes of strenuous fake cycling than a day sitting upright.Went to kettlebell bootcamp twice, as intended. I feel like I'm feeling stronger there, too.Had a good swim on Saturday...after a 5-mile run. Which was after doing an actual after-work run (well, "run") on Wednesday. (That follow-through surprised me. And although it's been taking me, like, a full mile to warm up, after that I mostly enjoy the running. Probably in large part because it's the only solo exercise I do where I can listen to music!) 3) Learn missions have been...well, I was going to say "so-so", but a little better than than, actually: Per a suggestion from @Kaylya I got the Duolingo app and that's been great! Although I do feel like I've hit saturation point in "lessons" for now, and am going to spend at least the next couple of days just doing "Practice" until I get significantly more perfect score sessions than not. I may also make some notecards because it feels weird to not conjugate verbs directly as part of language learning.Yeah, practiced my guitar a couple of times, but my clarinet not at all. It always feels later at night when I'm ready to, and although I can practice the guitar quietly, the clarinet never feels very "quiet". (I used to use it to passive-aggressively react against some neighbors who played obnoxious -- to me -- loud music). But Guitar III starts next Wednesday, so that will give me some structure.Finally got through week 4 of the Artist's Way, although I wasn't perfect on the "Reading Deprivation", especially toward the end. And I kind of binge-watched TV Friday and Saturday night. But nothing since, and never last week did I go to the websites I usually -- i.e. habitually -- consider indispensable for checking into multiple times per day. And I'm continuing that, at work, this week as well. (I realized on vacation that they are not, in fact, "indispensable", but really just distractions, for me.) Life Quest Still not purging anything significantly. Although I did make some piles less anxiety-provoking. And I started looking at condos on the Interweb and will probably start going to open houses soon (but I don't want to get attached to anything until I'm really ready to pull that trigger) and will definitely make an appointment with a financial advisor after getting a reliable recommendation. So although it may not happen in these 6 weeks a purge-related change is going to come. (And the wardrobe purge will definitely happen; I do that every season.) These weekly reflections are very helpful; I really was in an -- unjustifiable -- funk for a while on Sunday, which sometimes makes me lose perspective re. "progress". Reviewing the whole week is therapeutic with that.

Thanks @Kaylya! Duolingo was a much better idea than digging out old textbooks!

The important thing isn't the pace or distance; it's the negative splits

Week 1 was a slow start, which isn't a surprise since I decided to participate kind of last minute (i.e. when I learned that it was starting last week when I checked in to see when the next challenge would be starting) and in my first week back from a long (for me) vacation, but that's why I like 6-week challenges: plenty long enough to accomodate a ramp-up period 1) Eat: This went great for several days, followed by an extended, imperfect weekend. I've definitely had much more indulgent weekends, so there has been some progress mentally, but overall, the food category just squeaks into "Pass" Weekday meals were almost all planned and prepped ahead of time, and my impromptu Friday night dinner was very wholesome, although I also made several cocktails that night Thursday wasn't great since I ate brought-from-home dinner at work (good) followed by an unnecessary snack (not great) before a play and a cocktail and a glass of wine (not bad) followed by another "glass" of wine at intermission (definitely not necessary, or remotely interesting wine). On Saturday I had a great breakfast and later went to a farmer's market fundraiser with a friend, which was actually a cocktail contest. Lots of fun, plus sample sizes of 7 cocktails and a few appetizers. (There were four varieties of appetizer, I had one of each of 3 of them, and a second of one of them.) This was followed by lunch, which was risotto, a little bit of bread and a couple of glasses of wine. Not bad. But in retrospect I should have compensated with a very wholesome dinner...instead of bread and cheese and chocolate and wine. And although it was OK to have the leftovers on Sunday, I should NOT have supplemented them with additional cheese and fresh bread. (And more chocolate.) (And wine.) Sunday's breakfast was great. But my post-ride cappuccino did not need to be complemented by a couple of cookies at the cafe. And I stopped tracking after Friday afternoon. I updated the "Food Notes" section of each missed day this morning, so I have a record for future reference, but what "works" for me is ongoing, timely tracking. 2) Train: "Pass" with at least fluttering colors! Which is great since this is, really, the most important category for my bike trip training goal; I get more preoccupied by the food/weight loss one because of vanity, but I know that while carrying less weight up mountains will be nice, my body/shape is passable for functional purposes as it is, and perfectly capable of being trained into better biking shape no matter what size clothes I'm wearing. On Sunday, I did a long bike ride, including a massive hill. I was doing a specific route that I had downloaded to GPS, but I got lost a few times, and by the time I got down from the hill, and realized I had taken another wrong turn, I decided to abort the mapped route and just get home as efficiently as possible, which I did. So, it was shorter than I planned (just 30 miles instead of 50), but it included the big hill AND due to the route I took come, lots of busy city Sunday traffic riding, which was good clipping/unclipping and traffic management practice And I bike commuted every day to/from work except Friday, when it was raining a bit in the morning. I didn't add a new hill to that yet, but I found one that's just a brief detour and I'll implement that this week when I remember to leave myself some extra time. I also bike commuted into the city on Saturday for my exercise and entertainment, and did all of my grocery shopping over the weekend on my bike. It's all fairly flat, but even not-particularly-challenging daily riding is great for those riding muscles Still working my way up to -- well, down to -- drop handlebars, so I'll try to build in some time to experiment with that next weekend. But I did install a water bottle cage on my road bike finally, which has been another goal (although I'm still a long ways from drinking and driving!) I didn't participate in any group rides last week, but I did sign up for 3 of them, in May, June and July. My local bike shop has Wednesday night rides starting in May that leave from my neighborhood as well, and I'll plan to join them when my schedule allows. (May and early June I'll actually be taking Guitar III on Wednesday nights). I did make a point of waving and saying good morning to other cyclists on my road bike ride yesterday, and have been greeting cyclists at stoplights during my commutes As planned, I went to two indoor cycling classes, on Monday and Thursday; Thursday was particularly fun, since our coach projected a lot of video of the Paris-Roubaix race, and during the last part of class, we watched the last 14 km or so of the race and biked along with it; lots of fun (well, "fun") and made me even more enthusiastic about the Vuelta trip (and since I take a course with the same instructor at two gyms, I got to do the same thing this morning ) I also went to both kettlebell bootcamps, and got back in the "swing" of things pretty quickly. I also researched cycling-specific strength-training and would like to add a third day of strength work, but I'm not sure when since it would have to be Sunday (since kettlebells are awkwardly on Tuesday and Friday), which is long ride day, so it would have to be after that. And I'm planning to buy a home this summer and Sundays are Open House days, as well as my food prep day. Yikes! Longer-term, I think I'll switch from Tuesday to Monday for kettlebells (Mondays are technically a series of drop-ins, instead of a progressive 8-week course, but basically it's the same difference) so I can add a third strength training day on Wednesdays. For now, I'll probably just carry on as I am and build up to that. And I went for a good swim on Saturday. Just 1500 yards because I forgot my lock and had to go to my other gym to lock my stuff up and then return to the swim gym, and had a social committment-imposed time limit, but it was a good workout and I focused on good form over sloppy speed (i.e. inefficient swimming!). And I apparently spent too much time in Boston's Copley Square on Saturday because I got a mild case of Marathon Fever -- "mild" in that it only motivated me to sign up for a half-marathon. I stopped distance-running a couple of years ago because of a foot injury, and while it's a permanent impairment, the little bit of running that I have done hasn't really aggravated it, so I figure I'll try a half: it's actually the one I was training towards when I hurt my foot. It's the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, which isn't a ton of time to go from no-running, but I'm optimistic about getting into decent running shape for it. (I'm more concerned that I'll be at a local music festival that weekend, and will have spent Friday night and Saturday on my feet, and be looking forward to another bout of that on Sunday afternoon!) Plus, I signed up for my third Boston Triathlon. Much shorter run, and not until August, but I definitely want to improve my time in all 3 segments of that this year. So I guess I need to add some "running" to my "Train" mission ; probably Wednesday mornings and Saturdays before swimming to start with. (And, ideally, a little bit on Sundays after my long ride, too.) Whee! 3) Learn: This mission was pretty much a big "Fail" this week as far as goals go, although I guess if I break it down, not a total failure I didn't unearth my old Spanish class material, but I did take the advice from @Kaylya about Duolingo and signed up for that, and have done several lessons; I plan to do them after lunch on weekdays and after breakfast on weekends And although I haven't practiced my musical instruments much, my guitar is now back in tune, and my clarinet is assembled and on its stand, so I'll play both of them tonight for a bit I'm still stumbling through The Artist's Way; week 4 coincided with my vacation, so I decided to try it again last week, but didn't do enough tasks to really feel "done" with the week, so I'm trying week 4 again this week. But I have done the 3 Morning Pages every day since I started without fail, including on vacation, and even though it sometimes means getting up really early when I have, like, a 6:30 gym class. So that's good. And week 4 is hard because it's supposed to be a total "reading deprivation" week. That's where the text really feels very much of its time and not the present, because, I'm sorry (really!) but I am really and truly required to read my e-mail for work! So I'm modifying it somewhat: I won't be visiting any of the news/entertainment/etc. websites I usually go to, or Facebook, and there won't be any TV for 7 days. And I won't read any books, magazines, etc. either on paper or my digital devices. I'm also going to put off catching up with other peoples' challenges for another week, although I'm looking forward to that next week! And although I'll continue to use my food and exercise tracking sites, I'll try not to spend too much time on them. And I'll be doing any other "reading" that is necessary to support my challenge goals, e.g. sheet music and Spanish lessons! 4) Life Quest isn't going particularly well, either. I did not purge 10 things last week, even over the weekend, so that means I need to do at least 20 items this week. But since I've decided that I'm going to buy a condo or some other kind of home this summer, I am even more motivated to purge, and I feel optimistic that I'll develop some momentum with that soon. From my "Artist's Way" exercises thus far, I've realized in particular that I have a lot of stuff that is probably not necessary for my "authentic" self. (In fact, I already know that; I've often referred to large swathes of my wardrobe as my "aspirational clothing", not in terms of size, but in terms of l lifestyle.) As I develop/articulate my "authentic" self more, I think I'll be more comfortable shedding things and less cling-y. And I'm still definitely planning to end the Challenge with a wardrobe purge coinciding with switching out my seasonal clothing; my long-term goal is to have only so much clothing as I can store in my closet all at the same time, rather than persisting with this seasonal unpacking and repacking of big plastic crates

Yup. Yesterday, one of my colleagues brought in gourmet doughnuts (I guess that's a thing?) for her birthday, and this morning, another colleague made Belgian waffles (randomly; we have "Au Bon Pain Mondays", "Bagel Tuesdays" and "Fresh City Fridays", but thus far, Thursdays have not been "Waffle Thursdays" ); and it's way easier to just have a blanket rule than to make willpower-based decisions on a case-by-case basis (It also helps immeasurably to have delicious, healthful breakfasts and lunches that are the envy of one's co-workers! )

Yup. Yesterday, one of my colleagues brought in gourmet doughnuts (I guess that's a thing?) for her birthday, and this morning, another colleague made Belgian waffles (randomly; we have "Au Bon Pain Mondays", "Bagel Tuesdays" and "Fresh City Fridays", but thus far, Thursdays have not been "Waffle Thursdays" ); and it's way easier to just have a blanket rule than to make willpower-based decisions on a case-by-case basis (It also helps immeasurably to have delicious, healthful breakfasts and lunches that are the envy of one's co-workers! )

Yeah, I think the single-most best "diet" rule I follow at work -- where we get lots of free food all the time -- is "No found food!" and eating only the meals I bring with me to the office

I returned to work this morning from a 2-week vacation in Spain, and the first thing I did was submit a vacation request for a trip back in September The first half of this past vacation was a cycling trip, and although I managed to get myself in reasonably good shape for it through diet and training beforehand, I didn't really commit to the "diet" until about 8 or 10 weeks before I departed, and due to a particularly inclement New England winter, all of my "training" was indoors It was a fantastic trip, and I actually exceeded my expectations of myself: not just on the trip with my biking performance (especially considering that the freaking mountains exceeded my expectations), but also when I got home from it, with my actual successful resumption of my pre-trip diet and training regimen (in sad contrast to the last time I came home from a vacation) And since my forthcoming trip is also a cycling trip, the timing of this 6-week challenge presents a serendipitous opportunity to take advantage of my present momentum Main Quest Start getting in shape -- physically, mentally, linguistically -- for another 2-week sojourn in Spain Missions 1) Eat I lost some weight before this past bike trip, and felt/feel pretty comfortable in my skin (and clothes!) but I'm still carrying 15-20 pounds of excess body fat that I want to shed before doing another week of daily rides where the "climbing" can be measured in miles Food-tracking in My Fitness Pal (CON 1)Weekly food planning and prep (WIS 1)90% Whole 30-compliant diet (which I know is therefore not "Whole 30", but the important thing is that I know what I'm talking about, and really it's basically "never two in a row") (CON 1) 2) Train I only learned how to ride a road bike with flat pedals around this time last year, and although I got big-girl pedals installed last May, I didn't do my first proper ride on them until, like, August, and rode that bike only occasionally and always with much terror But spending a week riding every day in challenging terrain -- including busy villages, often with vertiginous, cobble-stoned streets -- with big-girl shoes and big-girl pedals on a big-girl bike was apparently pretty successful therapy, since I got on my road bike at home yesterday morning and spent 4 hours zipping through Boston and the outlying countryside, with minimal anxiety about clipping in and (more importantly) out, so I feel like I'm ready to move beyond the very basics and start mastering some real bike skills Epic bike rides! At least one per weekend and including exploring new territory (and new hills) (STR 1, STA 1)Bike commute (which I just started up again after a months-long hiatus, because I am apparently a wimp in winter now) and add some more hills to the commute (STA 1)Learn how to use my drop handlebars, because while several years of kettlebell bootcamp has given me enough grip strength to get down mountains without them, it's very -- and unnecessarily -- fatiguing (DEX 1)Participate in group rides, so I'm more comfortable riding with other people and, like, talking to them like an at least minimally-socialized human being (CHA 1)Indoor cycling 2 times/week (STR 1)Kettlebell bootcamp 2 times/week (STR 1)Swim (at least) 1 time/week (STA 1)3) Learn Before I turned 40, I used to joke about taking a 6-week sabbatical for that birthday and spending it traveling around Spain This did not happen, and I was (mostly) joking about the "sabbatical" bit, but I always meant to at least get there on vacation, so in anticipation, I took a fairly intensive 8-week introductory Spanish class at a local language school And as I noticed during this past trip (my first), I remember practically none of it On this trip I also realized how much I miss playing the clarinet (a bizarre number of buskers in Granada play clarinet) and how much I'm enjoying taking guitar classes (although I'm taking a break right now from classes because of the timing of my vacation) I also had time to realize how much I'm enjoying doing The Artist's Way, and how much it is priming me for an enriched life, and the ability to extract more benefit/enjoyment from experiences like travel Unearth and review the Spanish lessons I did do, and determine how much learning I feel like I should do in order to not feel limited on my next trip, especially the week I'll be traveling by myself (WIS 1)Practice my guitar 5 times/week and my clarinet at least 1 time/week (DEX 1)Continue The Artist's Way! (WIS 1) Life Quest I keep challenging myself to get rid of stuff, and for a while I was in the habit of regular purging of stuff, so I'm going to: 1) Get rid of at least 10 things per week (in the past I've tried to commit to 1 thing per day, but that's hard some days, and 2) Perform a wardrobe purge before the end of the challenge! (WIS 1)

I had an uneven challenge, and I am definitely not leveling up, but unlike a couple of prior challenges, I did continue to try and evaluate and whatnot, and learned some valuable things (because you can teach even an old-er dog new mind-tricks!) 1) "Eat" was #1 on my list because getting my weight back down into bulk-of-my-wardrobe range really felt like the top priority...although the fact that my behavior didn't consistently track with that challenges that prioritization * When I was tracking in MFP and following my (totally doable) rules about when and where I eat/drink certain things, I was compliant and felt great; when I wasn't, I slid (which is fine) for days on end (which is not) For a little while there, I was managing a bit of an injury and taking some time off from exercise, and since I'm the sort of person whose diet and exercise habits tend to form a nice positive feedback loop, it means I'm also susceptible to (illogically) poor food choices when I'm not exercising, which is why although tracking is exasperating for a lot of people, it really is good for me -- and not too onerous -- and has historically been involved with any healthy weight loss and long(-ish) term maintenance So, I'm definitely back to that * I also let my food planning slide: I would buy healthy food at the beginning of the week and mentally plan when I would prepare/eat it, but I kept succumbing to bread-and-cheese-and-wine So, now I'm back to my weekly spreadsheet! And to mix things up a bit, I just started subscribing to a weekly local food delivery service, which, cost-wise, is comparable to my grocery store (my grocery store being Whole Foods, mostly) and has the benefit of being delivered to my home For week 1, I got the omnivore trial box, but although the ravioli and baguette and yogurt and granola are certainly nice, I only actively crave one of those things (BREAD! AND IT WAS GOOD!), so starting next week I'll get the "paleo" box And although I'll have to do a little supplemental shopping this week, I now have meals -- and relevant prep and defrosting -- prepped through Friday lunch * And, yeah, "minimal drinking and none at home" didn't really happen. But we just had a small house-guest for most of a week, and I wasn't drinking at home while she was there, so I'm just going to go for "none at home" for a while (i.e. until I get home from a biking trip in April) and try to "minimal" out of the house, including ideally not on work-nights 2) Exercise was okay at the start, but I injured my back playing with kettlebells in there and am still getting my momentum back (because of lack of "oomph", rather than injury) * I've actually done pretty well with the bike-commuting, except for a couple of days when may back was particularly bugging me (it probably didn't help that the morning I injured it was a bike-commuting day!) I, have, however, discovered that I don't like the combination of rain AND cold, so I'm probably going to continue skipping it on particularly rainy days. And we DID have a bunch of rainy days, but I was back to biking late last week and this week, so as long as it's not icy, I'll do it -- I really do prefer it to taking the train * It wasn't on my list, but I also should have been taking advantage of nicer weekend days to get out on my road bike and practice riding it, with my pedals, since I'm going on a bike trip in March and I can't count on continued dry roads (in New England) indefinitely * I was indoor cycling MORE than 3 days a week for a while, but went back to, like, 1, for a few weeks after hurting my back, but I had a good class yesterday and will attend at least one more this week, and probably 2 more. Because it's more challenging in an athletic way than my (mostly flat) commute, it's been really helpful; my "regular" flat-road gear on my commuting bike is now a harder gear, since I'm apparently stronger; last week I learned about some numbers the bikes at my gym collects, so I can actually track things like my average RPMs and wattage per class. Yay, metrics! * I took one day off from kettlebell bootcamp because of injury/work-craziness, but otherwise resumed class and just modified my exercises, and this past week I felt 100% (for me) * Running...yeah, that thing I don't do when my back hurts. I got out a couple of Saturdays, which was nice, but haven't been in a few weeks now. I did do two 5Ks, though, and improved my time during the second one (which I did to support a friend, even though my back probably wasn't quite up to it yet) * Swimming...yeah, that thing that I was enjoying doing after I ran. I have a whole extra gym membership that I maintain mainly for pool access, so I really need to figure out in the next couple of months whether I'm going to fish or cut bait, so to speak. And my goal was only 1/week, which really shouldn't be difficult to schedule 3) Reading and Reflecting * Pre-bedtime yoga happened pretty regularly, and is a nice way to wind down, but I'm not yet in a meditating state * I didn't read one chapter of my self-help-ish books every night, but I finished two of them, and have actually encountered a lot of articles, essays, etc. that I've been collecting and that have been instrumental in a general perspective-shift that I'm implementing, which is promising: it's been a while (never?) since I've honestly tried on a new mindset * I didn't always practice 5 days a week, but I did that most weeks, and really enjoyed my guitar class, and am looking forward to the next level starting next week: lots of general life lessons/wisdom to be had there, too * I resumed money-spending tracking...and then stopped because it got overwhelming to try to get caught up -- so what I learned was that I was being way too granular (e.g. categories of groceries), so for the time being, I've scaled it back to a "What Did I Spend?" cell on my daily status log, which I am able to fill in consistently and without tracking down receipts, etc. My Life Quest was about dumping stuff, and I was supposed to get rid of at least one thing per day; I didn't manage to do it daily, but I often did it in larger clumps, so I feel like I made some real progress there (although miles to go!). I have a lot fewer DVDs -- and dwindling rationale for keeping, really, any of them -- and have purged a good amount of clothes, shoes, etc., and some books. And an otherwise annoying closet leak reminded me that I had a big box of good quality, good condition art supplies that I haven't touched in a while. I gave away a LOT of those to a children's-centered charity, including tons of crayons, pastels, colored pencils, notebooks, etc. and ridiculous amounts of craft-type stuff. (I kept stuff I might actually use again...although I didn't actual open any of my watercolor tubes yet...) So, I can't fit into all of my clothes -- and I definitely need to be committed to a reasonable diet for the next 12 weeks to fit into my bike clothes without being uncomfortable (because I'm not buying new ones!!!) -- but I've got a plan for that, and I think it's an even better plan than some of my previous plans, some of which have actually been successful (for a time, anyway; I was in really great shape, like, last February) And my back's pretty much better, and I'm back to being able to do all of my activities, and this challenge and the previous, fizzled ones, have really really illuminated how rapidly time passes and that I should take advantage of it, so: yay

Yep, definitely didn't level UP, but I'll take getting back ON the level (well, a level) and learning a few lessons that I'm applying to my (current) 12-week project of informing The Ghost of Me Past and the Ghost of Me Present that they are stepping aside for a little while and ceding the floor to The Ghost of Me Future, who has asserted: "Why, Yes, I AM a Person Who Rides a Bike for 6 Days in Spain, Mostly Uphill, including the Extra-Credit Options, and Does Not Need to Buy New Clothes to Do It!"

So, I ended up canceling last Tuesday morning's kettlebell class as soon as I started to get into my work early Monday morning, and that was the theme of the week: absolutely no exercise! On the one hand, taking a week off isn't a bad thing per se, especially since I was still monitoring that back issue, but on the other hand, 12-13 hours a day of sitting at my desk is definitely a bad thing And of course I compounded it by eating. All. The. Food. (And wine!) But on Friday evening, I walked home from work (via the chiropractor) -- about 6 miles -- and on Saturday I got my bike out for the first time in a week and a half and did about an hour or hour and a half of miscellaneous errands (a beautiful day for it!) On Sunday, I had a lot of work-work to do, and am a little ashamed to recall that I was kind of hoping that my friend with whom I was scheduled to do a 5K would decide to back out, because I knew getting to the race, doing the race, etc. would eat up my whole morning. But she didn't, and although I probably shouldn't have been running, I felt OK (merely OK) after the first mile or so and didn't have any trouble completing the race. (And was actually even a little faster than the 5K I did last month.) (Also, what I was doing probably only barely qualified as "running".) More importantly, my friend, who has sometimes been demoralized by her progress/seeming lack thereof, exceeded her own expectations and felt great after the race -- and since I know she counts on me to show up and help motivate her, that felt really, really great for me. And it was a perfect day for December running, weather-wise. (And the keepsake hats are surprisingly high-quality!) I worked all afternoon, but went for a 1.5 mile or so walk in the early evening, for some groceries and to stretch out my hip/IT band. I also realized that my bike trip to Spain is only 15 weeks away (!) so I need to put together a slightly more structured program for that...next weekend, since this is going to be another crazy work week. This week, I'm just focusing on regaining control. Exercise-wise, I took today off from bike commuting (again!) because I'm still sore from yesterday and also want to be able to stop at the grocery store on the way home, rather than going home and going back out again tonight. But I'll go to kettlebells tomorrow and will get back on schedule the rest of the week as well. Food-wise, I didn't have an opportunity to do regular food prep yesterday, but I sauteed some starting-to-get-wrinkly (because I shunned them last week for bread and cheese and whatnot) Brussels sprouts with pancetta, and will have that for lunch today instead of Au Bon Pain catering. And for breakfast, instead of my usual roasted sweet potato/sausage thing, I made the deconstructed version, i.e. "baked" a sweet potato in the microwave at the office and heated up the turkey sausage link separately. And had that with the usual microwaved kale and a couple of hard boiled eggs. (And I'm back to non-dairy coffee; even though those little creamer tubs aren't BIG, I know from experience that they make my sinuses swell up -- although the biology of it baffles me -- and I already have enough fluid in my head this week!) And I'll do some proper grocery shopping on the way home tonight. Elsewhere in my challenge, I haven't been consistent with my yoga/stretching thing, or my (planned) reading, but I've been keeping up with guitar practice and am really enjoying my class. (Which I did NOT miss last week, work be damned.) This is the last week of Guitar 1, but I signed up for Guitar 2, which starts up again in January. And although I haven't purged stuff EVERY day, I've made some progress with piles (for example, the top of the toilet tank now has nothing but a box of tissues on it, since I cleaned out the medicine cabinet above it and therefore had room to put all my stuff away) and gotten rid of some stuff. We had major rain leakage in a storage closet on Wednesday, and that actually gave me an opportunity to evaluate, eliminate and reorganize things while putting them back on Saturday morning. So, I'm not going to level up this challenge, but a strong week 6 will set me up for that 14 weeks to Spain plan

Hmm...apparently I jinxed myself with the phrase "plenty of time to accommodate injuries (and other backsliding)" But the past is the past and today is another opportunity to set myself up for an anxiety-free good night's sleep and an energized, motivated Tuesday morning!!!

Thanks for checking in! I love 6-week challenges: plenty of time to accommodate injuries (and other backsliding) and recovery! In retrospect, I fared fairly OK, actually: after taking several days off from food-logging, etc., I filled in the blanks in my challenge-tracking spreadsheet and realized that although I certainly ate/drank more than I would have intended to, it all amounted to less than what I might have formerly considered "normal". (Fortunately, I was not involved in any traditional Thanksgiving-ish feasts, so it was just several conscious if questionable choices over the course of a long-ish weekend, with plenty of walking/biking/elliptical-ling to sort of offset it ) But before I went out for a late lunch/early dinner of asparagus and bacon pizza with a cocktail and a glass of wine on Sunday afternoon, I did my food planning and food prep for the week and was therefore able to get back on track on Monday with my diet, and also resumed my other challenge goals (I practiced my guitar a little bit, and purged my long underwear drawer, over the weekend, but not on a daily basis) My back is still a little injured, but I've been super careful about reintroducing activity (since I can't outrun my fork anyway): I resumed bike errands over the weekend and took my first spin class in more than a week, and resumed bike commuting on Monday (although I took a shorter route home on account of my headlight losing its charge; I definitely need a backup headlight). This morning, after some deliberation and a LOT of stretching, I added back kettlebell bootcamp on top of that, and was glad I did: I modified one or two things or used a slightly less heavy kettlebell -- and definitely squatted to pick things up and put them down, rather than bending from the waist! -- but nothing hurt in a bad way. (Although my legs felt VERY heavy cycling to work afterwards, and I will definitely be taking an Epsom salts bath before putting myself -- and my back -- to bed with a heating pad tonight.)

Week 3, Day 2 (cont'd) In addition to skipping Bagel Tuesday, also skipped chocolate during my cappuccino break. Yay. Which came a little later than anticipated because a really good phone interview ran long. Double yay. (Also double cappuccino, but that's unrelated.) I took the T home and stopped at Trader Joe's en route since I needed pomegranate seeds for one of my Thanksgiving recipes and TJ's had them in stock on Sunday, while Whole Foods did not; so of course TJ's was out of pomegranate seeds on Tuesday I've never worked with an actual pomegranate before, but they did have those in stock, so I got several of those instead, as well as a few other items from my list (including mini chocolate peanut butter cups; in the binge-resistant 9-pack rather than big container package ) Slate had an article about Thanksgiving cocktails, which featured dry vermouth, and while I was on the T I popped into a couple of cocktail blogs I like and noticed a few other interesting-looking dry vermouth recipes, and since I didn't actually have any on hand at home (!) I stopped at the liquor store on the way home when I got off the train; but I limited myself to a bottle of vermouth and did not also get, say, a bottle of wine, or decide that maybe I was running out of rye or gin (unlikely) and stock up When I got home, I dropped my stuff off and took off to do the rest of my Thanksgiving grocery shopping by bike. My roommate was unexpectedly home because her MBA class was canceled, and she volunteered to drive me, but I specifically wanted to test out my hip/back on the bike on a short-ish trip. Verdict: Not too bad, but I'm glad I didn't bike commute: any pain and discomfort are now localized to the typically sensitive parts of my right lower back/hip, and are just a little more intense than after "normal" working out. I could definitely feel it on bouncy parts of asphalt, and when going uphill, and geared down a little more accordingly; on the bright side, it made me more aware when I was pedaling with my back (i.e. the wrong way) so I could correct it Of course, by the time I got to the grocery store I was pretty hungry and entertained fantasies of bringing home a baguette and cheese for dinner, but resisted, reminding myself that my planned asparagus and shallots was only going to take as long to cook as it was going to take me to put away groceries (which turned out to be pretty much exactly true), and that if I ate too much bread and cheese, I'd regret it and probably not sleep well either, and that if I bought that I'd want wine, too, and I didn't want wine on a work night So I stuck to my list (including pomegranate seeds, actually, because this time Whole Foods had them; I did not, however, buy pomegranate syrup, since my recipe called for pomegranate juice also and if I've learned nothing else from crafty home cocktail-ing, I've learned how to make a syrup!) When I got home I made my dinner as quickly as I had anticipated and ate it with a glass of sparkling water Afterwards, I actually announced my intention to make a (modest, not overly alcoholic) dry vermouth cocktail, but on the way to the kitchen I decided to just have decaf tea with my (3) (mini) dark chocolate peanut butter cups -- it's alcohol, it's not going to go bad, and I'll enjoy it more on a night that is not the night before a work day I had also brought home a pumpkin pie from work -- another good reason for not bike commuting! (although the pies were originally scheduled for Wednesday delivery) -- and bought whipped cream at my roommate's request, but while she ate a piece of it, I decided to wait for Thanksgiving (And, anyway, her verdict on the pie was: "Eh. It's not Spinelli's." For many years, my employer bought 2 pies for every employee from that particular bakery, which was in the neighborhood of our old office AND WAS AWESOME. This continued when we moved, but this year they changed it to buying a pie for every employee from a very worthy charity, which is great, but...yeah, it's not Spinelli's And they didn't even announce that until, like, a week ago, which surprised me; sure, it's a perk, not an entitlement, but, boy, a lot of my colleagues were discombobulated, and a lot of their wives dispatched them to get the Spinelli's pies anyway, because: a) tradition! and Thanksgiving feasts get planned around them! ) Anyway, elsewhere in my Challenge... I caught up on my money-spending and when I read a review of a book that sounded interesting I added it to my Amazon Wish List instead of purchasing it I didn't purge anything, but I did pack up a not-in-use dish rack to bring to the office on Wednesday, since I've been spreading my not-Tupperware out on paper towels on the kitchen counter at work to dry lately, and that's not efficient I didn't practice my guitar because I got very tired, and didn't feel like trimming my nails or tuning, both of which would have been necessary pre-requisites, but I'll try to make up for it with some extra practice time on other days I did read a few more chapters of What Should I Do, including an interesting one about a woman who THOUGHT she had it all figured out but really didn't. The author used it as opportunity to make a point about vocation/calling being about what you need to do (i.e. what moves you) vs. what you want to do. Apparently, this woman kept Freudian-ly slipping on the name of the book he was writing, describing it as "What Do I Want to Be When I Grow Up", which loses the moral imperative of "should". His point is that you're not going to commit to something even if it provides endless intellectual stimulation if your heart's not in it: "When your heart's engaged, the inevitable headaches and daily annoyances become tolerable and don't derail your commitment. Let your brain be your heart's soldier." He also pointed out that while the traditional career search starts with asking "what am I good at?" he doesn't think that's a good approach, because "You can get good at what you need to serve what you believe in". I think a 2015 goal for me needs to be figuring out where my heart is and what I believe in. But in the meantime, I'm going to heal myself; I also did my yoga stretches last night and was a little more flexible than the day before or even that morning Week 3, Day 3 On Tuesday night I packed and prepared in anticipating of going to an indoor cycling class in the morning, but when I woke up this morning and walked around for a bit, I realized I was more stiff and achy than yesterday, and that I should probably take another day off from that, and so canceled myself out of the class I have a follow-up appointment with my chiropractor this evening, so I want to be as not-in-pain-and-inflammation as possible, so I can get cleared for more activity (oh, yeah, and so I can feel better!) I'm still feeling a little more stiff at work, too -- boo -- but that could be being sedentary as well; I'll take some icing breaks and walking breaks this afternoon (especially during another phone interview) But I did sign myself up for a Thursday morning spin class anyway, and will just commit to taking it relatively easy and not trying to "win" (particularly since that is only ever in my head, anyway!); but I figure if trainers are going to be at the gym Thanksgiving morning, anyway, I ought to take advantage of that My other plan was to run a 5K (not an official one), but I'll decide about that tomorrow We got free Friday lunch at work today instead of Friday because the office will be pretty depopulated then -- I'm pretty sure I'm definitely the only person on my floor who will be here, which means I'll have a very productive day -- but of course I had my scheduled chicken and Brussels sprouts I took some shrimp out of the freezer for dinner, to saute with some onions and peppers and eat over greens, but I will also have at least one cocktail. And chocolate. I'm still undecided about whether to pick up a bottle of wine for Thanksgiving dinner, although my inclination is: "No, I'd rather stick to interesting cocktails." Decisions, decisions.

Week 3, Day 1 A rainy morning gave way to a mild but windy and residually wet evening (kind of my favorite weather, actually), and although I regretted not being fit to bike home or go for a run when I got there, I did walk about 4 miles of the way home (i.e. until I started to feel the beginning of a blister inside my left boot!) Otherwise, the day was pretty much as planned: I skipped the free Monday lunch (and accompanying treats) at work, but did have two servings of chocolate, which was excessive for a not-very-active day...especially since I was still quite satiated from dinner (sauteed asparagus and shallot and hard-boiled eggs) that I wasn't hungry when I ate the dark chocolate peanut butter cups...although they were tasty Practiced my guitar instead of watching a second TV show, and then resumed reading What Should I Do with My Life? which is (so far) basically an anthology of anecdotes about people who found their vocation/calling/whatever. I'm hoping it will get my brain thinking imaginatively for when I go back to Eating, Drinking, Overthinking to re-read it from the perspective of putting together a picture of Positive Me, and figuring out what she does for fun and profit (and some concrete "approach goals" and a path for getting to be her! Last night's chapter was particularly resonant, because it was about a woman who started changing her life when she was my age or just a bit older...and took a couple of tries to accomplish it Totally forgot about purging anything until bedtime, so didn't -- although I put my discarded hair products out in the trash/recycling area prior to getting them out of the house Tuesday morning, and my roommate found 3 items that she will use, which was nice -- and just did my prescribed stretches and some cat/cow yoga stuff before putting myself to bed Got to sleep relatively easily, but woke up repeatedly, mainly due to a restless digestive system (I couldn't identify any specific anxiety points that would keep me up); probably the chocolate, but I'll blame the asparagus and the, like, pound of Brussels sprouts I ate for lunch Week 3, Day 2 Oh, what a beautiful morning! But since I still have to use my hands to lift up my right foot to put it over my left knee to put on socks and shoes, I took another day off from bike commuting; with a plan to try bike grocery-shopping after work this evening Tuesday is usually kettlebell class, but I had already canceled myself out of that and instead did stretching and a 5K on the elliptical -- including some HIIT work -- followed by a therapeutic water "circuit" in the locker room I also registered myself for the Wednesday morning spin class I've been taking lately; the spin bike should be at least as no-impact as the elliptical, which felt fine, and I know the instructor is planning to do a simulated race tomorrow morning, and I love simulated races in spin class! Skipping Bagel Tuesday, as has been been intention/habit lately, although, oh, how I love a toasted sesame bagel with butter!

I got an e-mail from USA Triathlon last week that featured a good article about how to rest, which echoes a lot of the advice you've been getting here, particularly the concept of taking a rest week occasionally; personally, when I read it, I was, like, "Oh, no, that would spoil my momentum!!!" (But of course, something is always going to "spoil" by momentum; especially if that's the primary thing that's motivating me ) Anyway, you might want to check it out. It seems to be geared toward athletes who are maintaining their performance more than actively improving it -- and I know that increasing your speed and speedy endurance is one of your goals -- but anything about rest and recovery is generally transferrable: http://www.usatriathlon.org/about-multisport/multisport-zone/multisport-lab/articles/rules-of-rest-111814.aspx

Week 2 Recap Since I'm a hypochondriac, I spent several minutes scrutinizing the asymmetrical appearance of my hips/obliques/whatever-they're-called in a full-length mirror last night, wondering what a herniated disk looks like; but since I've managed to get through the morning (so far) without having to catch my breath because I moved a millimeter in the wrong direction, I think my back is finally on the mend (although socks and shoes were definitely still a little bit of an ordeal this morning) And since it's raining, it isn't like I'm missing out on a particularly beautiful day for a bike commute Unwanted forced rest aside, how am I doing with my missions? * Just finished 3 weeks of mostly-diligent food tracking in My Fitness Pal; and since the only day I would do-over part of if I could was also the one day I didn't fill in until the day after, that's more evidence that timely tracking works well for me * Still planning most of my meals and prepping as much as possible (and practicable) in advance: yesterday I prepped all of my breakfasts for the week and all of my lunches for the 4 days I'll be at work, and I shopped for Monday-Wednesday dinners as well, and I have a plan for Thanksgiving Day meals and only didn't shop for it yet because I wanted to limit the weight of groceries I had to carry home with my damaged back yesterday * A little bit of drinking this week, but fairly minimal, although: next time I have an hour to eat before a matinee, I'll have a cocktail OR a glass of wine (not both), and although I backed off from the "definitely none at home" plan, one potent cocktail in the evening (especially if I'm taking pain medication!) is plenty; unfinished alcohol is really sad * Bike commuted 4 days of of 5 last week, only skipping a day that was predicted to be (and was) torrential downpours all day; took a break from biking over the weekend due to my back injury, but that meant I got to enjoy the scenery more walking, right? * Indoor cycled 2 out of 3-4 intended times, since I skipped once class because I was out late the night before, and the other because I was/am hobbling around * Went to kettlebell bootcamp both times, as scheduled...and in the future I will put the kettlebells down properly * Only ran 1 time this week instead of 2, since I had to cancel my Saturday plan; so I'm doubly glad I got out Thursday night (on top of being pleased with myself for going back out on a weeknight after the bike ride home) * No swimming, since it was scheduled for Saturday, and my chiropractor told me not to, and because my walk into town took longer than I expected (see: "hobbling", above) so I didn't have time for even my limited swim * Did my yoga stretches most nights, except when I was out late or feeling injured; stretching is good! * Finished the Eating/Drinking/Overthinking book, and am ready to review it and start planning to implement some suggestions (although I may take a few days off to read one of my OTHER self-help-y books) * Practiced my guitar most scheduled nights, although skipping a night because we were watching TV late was not something I should repeat * I'm all caught up in my money-spending spreadsheet; and I really need to stop buying media before I'm absolutely ready to consume it: this is why there are wish-lists! * And most days I did purge some stuff from my home or office; mostly little stuff, but that's OK, and I even got some of it out of the house, since the charity van stopped by to pick it up last week So, after 2 weeks, I'm feeling reasonably en route to feeling accomplished, and like I'll be ready to meet 2015 feeling somewhat in control of my destiny

Week 2, Day 6 (cont'd) It took a bit longer to walk into the city than I anticipated, and my back was definitely in some discomfort -- possibly due to the extra clothes, shoes, etc. I was carrying -- so I just went straight to the girl gym and did the water "circuit" and changed into my theater-going clothes I got to the theater neighborhood about an hour before showtime, and the pizza place I wanted to eat at was packed, so I went to the good old Beehive. I had a Negroni and a glass of wine and since I didn't want anything "brunch-y" for lunch, just a fried calamari appetizer (which also, nicely, was served on arugula with peppers, so: vegetables! ) If I had to do it over, I'd probably have a cocktail OR wine, since I felt a little rushed at the end The play (Stoppard's The Real Thing) was great: I am always amazed and humbled by talented people working their hearts out for an audience of about 50 people. I got a "glass" of wine during the intermission and took most of the second act to drink it Afterwards, I walked back to the gym to pick up my extra stuff and since I was feeling a little buzzed -- although also NOT in much pain or discomfort, actually -- had a cappuccino at the Starbucks on the way to the train. (And because I was a little buzzed, I also had dark chocolate-covered Graham crackers ) I took the T home and while my leftover acorn squash and millet was heating up, made myself a Negroni-ish aperitif called a 1794: 2 parts rye, 1 part Campari, 1 part Carpano Antica. Definitely a keeper. Even J. commented that it smelled delicious. After dinner I had two dark-chocolate peanut butter cups (as planned), but also made another cocktail, which I probably should have skipped, since I was already tired AND had taken 3 Pamprin I didn't actually finish drinking it, but I did grab a handful of totally unnecessary pistachios because I was being unmindful And I didn't log anything until Sunday morning, which I need to avoid doing in the future: log before or during consuming! Being kind of wiped out and in some pain, I didn't do ANY of the other stuff I was supposed to do on Saturday either: no guitar, no purging, no spending-tracking, no reading my book, no yoga Oh, well Week 2, Day 7 My back actually felt worse this morning, which is not promising! I left the house around 7, after making my grocery list, on foot, rather than my bike, and stopped at Starbucks for breakfast (coffee, yogurt, fruit) while waiting for Whole Foods to open, and while I was there I finished filling in My Fitness Pal on my Saturday eating and activities Fortunately, I didn't need a ton (or even a normal weight amount) of groceries, but it was still quite uncomfortable walking home with them, and my walk definitely confirmed that going to my usual Sunday morning spin class -- and doing my scheduled strength workout -- was NOT going to happen. Blah. On the plus side, it was a lovely morning for a walk and not going to the gym meant I was done with food prep for the week (breakfasts and lunches) by 12:30, including dishes. Yay. I took Aleve for my back before I started food prep, and sat against some ice for a while, with no apparent improvement. My next strategy (since I'm NOT going to use the wine-and-cocktails method today!) is 3 Pamprin and Biofreeze. I'm feeling a little less tight, and even if its psychosomatic improvement, I'm okay with that If I was more diligent, I would do work-work this afternoon, but I am really not remotely inspired to do that; instead I'll plan to get into work as early as possible tomorrow morning, either on the 5 AM train or -- if I'm feeling better -- by bike, and be productive that way; even if I DO bike to work, I won't plan to go to the 6:30 spin class, so that'll give me productive work time in the morning (I will bring my swim stuff, though, especially if I don't bike commute, in hopes of some therapeutic backstroke after work Monday) So for the rest of the day, I'll do some stretching, go for another walk, take care of my usual Sunday laundry, and catch up with guitar practice, stuff-purging, book-reading (and I already caught up with spending-tracking), and enjoy one of my favorite dinners: scallops and clementines and onions over spinach. (With sparkling water!)

Week 2, Day 4 (cont'd) On Thursday evening, I actually did go for my planned run! It probably helped that I made a new playlist on my phone during my mid-afternoon cappuccino-and-chocolate break; and had a light-up jacket to look forward to trying out Also, as I observed during my bike ride home, it was much more mild, temperature-wise, so I didn't even bring (or regret not bringing) gloves out on my jog. Which was not fast -- miles 1 and 2 were only a hair under 10:30, and mile 3 was around 9:40 -- but felt pretty good; my hip was in particular feeling less wonky than on Saturday Dinner was sauteed asparagus and shallots with a couple of hard-boiled eggs, followed by guitar practice, book-reading -- I finished the second-to-last chapter; lots of recommendations that are totally in line with the core principles of Nerd Fitness, actually! -- and yoga-ed (Oh, and also got my spending spreadsheet up-to-date; and during the day, I bought a new book and CD from Amazon; I really need to just keep a LIST of things that I want and get them ONLY at the point when I'm going to actually really going to CONSUME them...particularly since my frog book had just arrived in the mail) (Also purged: nothing exciting, but I have three shelves of hair products in my bathroom medicine cabinet, but have been using -- only -- the same two products for probably at least 2 years now. It's hard to throw away things that cost not-insignificant money, but I did discard two products for enhancing curly hair, because: really? "Curly" hair? No.) Week 2, Day 5 Friday was a bit back-setting, since I put a kettlebell down the wrong way during a set of single-arm swings and wrenched something in my lower back. Ugh. I finished the workout -- gingerly, and taking pains (pun definitely intended) to be particularly careful when getting up and getting down, but the actual exercises felt okay -- and had some trouble stretching to put on pants and shoes in the locker room, but got to work okay on my bike (although I DID feel every bump and other imperfection in the road there) I felt OK during the day -- nothing too distracting while sitting -- but the bike ride HOME was not the most fun ever Mostly because of my back (but partly because of the "brisk" wind coming off the river), I took a shorter, less hilly route home, since the things that were most aggravating my back were starting, stopping and going up-hill. (I would have considered leaving the bike at work if I had different bags, but my saddlebags are really NOT optimized -- nor should they be -- for shouldering on the train, and I thought that might be worse than biking.) At home, I stowed my bike in the basement and WALKED to my -- previously scheduled, ostensibly for maintenance -- chiropractor appointment (Fortunately, walking feels good) Ugh. Kind of painful adjustment, but I also realized that MOST of the pain is in my RIGHT lower back, which is oddly reassuring, since my right side is always more sensitive/susceptible, and this means it's probably just an aggravation of my existing condition, rather than a NEW injury Walked home with a detour to the grocery store for sparkling water, dental floss (I've been trying to use an off-brand, but it's very painful, doesn't get between all my teeth, AND digs into my generally slightly-chafed-from-the-wind fingers, which is not a great combination for compliance) and a couple of dark-chocolate peanut butter cups. Since I didn't get my cappuccino-and-chocolate break on a very busy workday At home, I made another iteration of stuffed acorn squash, using millet instead of couscous; I scrupulously followed the millet prep instructions (including toasting it) and it was much better than the last time (i.e. more tender), and worked really well. Also had some pistachios while waiting for everything to cook, because I was famished Dinner was delicious, if a little late-feeling, as was my chocolate and decaf Earl Grey; I had considered an aperitif before dinner (I was specifically envisioning a Negroni) but decided that I didn't really need/want it, and stuck with my sparkling water We watched a couple of TV shows from the DVR, by which time it was definitely bedtime, so: no guitar or reading (although since my back was still painful, I didn't really feel like sitting in my guitar chair anyway), but I did do some yoga to stretch my back a bit, plus a couple of specific stretches my chiropractor mentioned Oh, and I sort-of purged something: I tossed my hole-y gym pants at the gym; a hole has been developing along the right inside seam for a while (like, a year; Gap exercise pants are sturdy!) and during single-arm swings my ring finger was actually catching on it; and during scorpions I could see it in the mirror. So, purged! (My exercise clothes chest here at home IS on my list of weekend-type purges, though; I'm sure I own way too many pairs of capris) Slept OK except for getting up for about an hour at 2 AM to cope with girl-pains -- and since it snuck up on me with no warning (yay?) I had no drugs -- but eventually got back to sleep and slept in until after 7 AM, even! Week 2, Day 6 Ugh. Actually feeling even worse, back-wise, this morning, which is not promising; I'm hoping that some of my pain is my cyclical hyper-sensitivity to any pain during my period. Dressed carefully -- pants and socks and shoes were HARD to do! -- then walked down to CVS for DRUGS!!! Then to Starbucks for an in-house cappuccino, and brought home coffee for the household where I did some dishes (although I didn't put away anything from the lower drying rack, because I didn't want to bend over) and made my planned breakfast: eggs, kale, last serving of the week of sweet potatoes and sausage And contemplated my day, since my bike/run/swim plans obviously need to change, and since that being the case, I had more time for contemplation Since walking feels OK, I'm going to WALK into the city, and bring my swim gear: if I'm feeling up for it, I'll go to the pool and do a little bit of back stroke interspersed with pulling crawl stroke: that shouldn't strain my back, and I need to work on not hesitating with my left arm, and isolation is good for that (also, on the plus side: my shoulder isn't bugging me today!). And in ANY case, I'll go to my girl gym and do the whirlpool/steam/shower/sauna circuit, after some stretching Whoa, it's actually 10 AM already, so I need to get going! (Swim is feeling less likely) I'm going to a play at 2 today, and was planning to go out for a leisurely lunch beforehand (possibly including wine!), and although part of me wants to change that plan since I'm going to be exercising less, Rational Me is reminding myself that the important thing this cycle is tracking my intake; since I always eat more responsibly when I'm doing that, regardless of what kinds of "rules" I'm trying -- or not bothering trying -- to follow Onward, and upward, remembering the last words I read in my Eating/Drinking/Overthinking book (well, the last ones I jotted down, anyway): "Finally, and most important, realize that change is a process, not an end point. You are always changing, every day of your life, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. If you cultivate the kind of compassion and respect for yourself that we've been talking about in these chapters, then you'll be able to weather setbacks."

Sounds like a great plan: as a habitually antisocial misanthrope -- a self-assessment I'm starting to question -- I've really surprised myself by how much I enjoy/am motivated by (and not in a negative competitive sense ) the gym environment and group dynamic* And since I usually bike to and from the gym, I totally support running there and back: I think it's a great transition activity *Although I continue to not comprehend any of those classes that take place in the big, mirrored studio and involve starting class with a, like, scavenger hunt for, like, 10 pieces of equipment and props and whatnot; that's way too scary for me

Week 2, Day 3 (cont'd) Yeah, I had chocolate peanut butter cups AND cappuccino before guitar class (And they were good!) And guitar class was great, too: I'm really enjoying the group environment (as opposed to private lessons, which I did in the past), and our instructor is really great. Last night, after we plowed through "Hey Jude", she pointed out that we're making lots of progress and that we should remind ourselves of that when we get frustrated, and not beat ourselves up, using that old nugget of wisdom that those of us who tend toward negative self-talk can never hear enough, in any context in life: "If we talked to our friends the way we talk to ourselves, we wouldn't have any friends." Too true. And I think that's one of the reasons I've committed to logging stuff as opposed to necessarily imposing strict rules: I'm being accountable for my choices, and mindful of them, but I'm trying to avoid judging them or overthinking (!) them And she's all about the steady baby steps, too: she only wants us to commit to (i.e. make a calendar appointment for) 10 minutes of focused, uninterrupted practice, 5 days a week. And she's right: that's going to be a lot more effective than "committing" to 45 minutes 7 days a week and then actually DOING 20 minutes the night before class/lessons Really glad I signed up for guitar classes, and I'm getting a little more comfortable biking around with a guitar on my back It was chilly last night, but not nearly as cold as Tuesday, so that was fine; I got to Harvard Square by the most direct route so I had time for my hot beverage and snack, and then rode home the sort of back way along the river and up the hill. Definitely a little more breezy by the water, and there were some frozen puddles of Monday's rain, but I only got off and walked the bike past one of them...because it took up almost the whole path and it was underneath the Eliot Bridge, where I've wiped out on ice before (and did NOT want to repeat with a somewhat expensive instrument on my back...speaking of which, until I get around to purging it, maybe I should start bringing my other guitar to classes...) On the way home, I imagined enjoying a nice, warming cognac or Calvados-based cocktail when I got home (and also imagined the rhetoric I would use to talk myself into justifying it), but in the event I just heated up my planned can of soup and enjoyed it with sparkling water. I also successfully avoided snacking on pistachios or something while it was heating up, or continuing to eat afterwards (I was thinking specifically of a hard boiled egg) just because it would taste good, even though I was full of soup Yay (And since I didn't even get home until nearly 9, I definitely didn't feel like going back out into the cold for another concert, so that was a good call) By the time I finished dinner and caught up with some (one) DVR backlog, I was ready for bed. And it was chilly in the apartment! So I skipped reading and yoga again -- which needs to stop -- but did find a few more DVDs I don't need to own and packed them up along with other stuff from my purge pile and put them out for the charity pick-up this morning And then I went to bed and slept well. (And undoubtedly probably better than if I had made cocktail(s) ) Week 2, Day 4 It was even warmer this morning (well, less cold, anyway), so I biked to the gym with just my regular layers and then stretched out before Turbo Ride! class with our motivating guy instructor Apparently, this was the last week of a 12-week training cycle (so to speak), so today we did a little bit of a simulated race (with visuals!) with extended endurance sections, which was great. He repeated another oldie-but-goodie, too: "You need to get out of your comfort zone; that's where the change happens." We'll do a variety of "theme" classes until the end of the year, and then he'll start another 12-week cycle in the new year, which I'm looking forward to: that will take us right up close to my next bike trip adventure! (And I am still sore from those pull-up sit-ups on Tuesday! I'll definitely add them to my new Sunday morning strength circuit! Go, triceps and traps!) According to my calendar, I'm planning to go for a run tonight when I get home from work; I'm going to try to follow through with that so that I can be more likely to meet my 2-times-per-week goal (assuming that I follow through with my Saturday run/swim plan). I really want to see how limited my right hip/glute/whatever is, since that's what bugs me (even right now, actually; damned sedentary job!) and I want to see what kinds of distances I can plan for. Two times around the reservoir is a flat 5K, so I should be able to motivate myself for that; it will also give me an opportunity to wear my illuminated jacket for the first time, too. And then I'll make sauteed asparagus for dinner, and save the more time-consuming stuffed acorn squash for Friday/Saturday dinner. Sounds like a plan.

Yes, particularly since I've been living in a large apartment for many years: too much room to accumulate stuff and no moving day motivation to ever reduce its volume! #FirstWorldProblems I'm hoping that committing to doing it daily will help me develop a habit of steady, continuous stuff-reduction, even if it's just little things. One thing my sister-in-law was trying to talk my brother into was a purging thing where you get rid of 1 thing on the first day of the month, 2 things on the second day, 3 things on the third, etc. That would probably be a really great way to address somewhat overwhelming projects like my book and CD libraries (I think I should also implement a standard "get rid of one garment when I buy new clothes", "get rid of one book when I buy a new book", etc. rule, too.)

Week 2, Day 2 (cont'd) Regular breakfast and this week's lunch, and successfully eschewed both Bagel Tuesday and leftover Halloween (presumably) candy (including plenty of CHOCOLATE!) that someone left out in the kitchen In the late afternoon we all had to leave the office and hike over towards the Zakim Bridge in the wind and freezing cold (no precipitation, though!) to get a company photo taken for our holiday cards; this is the first year we've tried this, so there were inevitably some logistical issues and it took a long time to get posed, photographed, reposed, rephotographed, etc. And then the tripod blew over Afterwards, the bosses invited everyone over to a tavern across the street for beer(s), but I went back to the office (and I wasn't the only party-pooper; several people had time-sensitive work to finish) and had coffee with Mini Moos instead I was going to a concert that night, so at the end of the day I had a can of soup at my desk while finishing up at work, and then headed over to the coffee house nearby for cappuccino and chocolate coconut chunks. (And this time, I did get a peanut butter cookie, too!) After whiling away some time there with my Kindle, I returned to the office and packed up my stuff to ride over towards the theater, stopping nearby at another coffee shop, where I just had a big cup of black decaf This was all quite different than my customary pre-gaming routine of cozying up at one of my favorite quiet-ish bar/restaurants and having a couple of cocktails and wine and dinner of usually bread, cheese, etc., since I don't need to be doing that (well, ever, actually), and definitely not on a work night during a weight-losing phase When I got to the show, I had one glass (well, "glass"; it was a plastic cup) of wine while listening to the opening act and then another during the actual show, and actually took 45 minutes to an hour to drink each of them, which is pretty impressive for me, and of course I mindfully recorded them in MFP, as well (and was done more than an hour before the show ended) (Not impressive: either the Pinot Noir OR the Cabernet Sauvignon at the Wang Theater; yeah...shocker! ) Great show by Ryan Adams, though -- including some truly inventive artist-on-audience-member heckling (I have mixed feelings about whether I ever want to have an occasion to use the phrase "Go f--k yourself into a f--king black hole") -- and totally worth the 40-minute bike ride home after 11 PM in sub-freezing weather and into a headwind, to boot: I would have liked to have been wearing a beanie under my bike helmet, and I was definitely missing glove liners for the first 15 minutes or so, but I was pedaling quite energetically (particularly when approaching green lights) (although not as fast as this guy, who is, after all, cheating!) and nothing felt cold or uncomfortable for the rest of the way home, which is a great development and possibly evidence that my cardiovascular system is improving: historically, once my digits get frigid nothing warms them up except prolonged exposure to a radiator, so being able to recover discomfort while I'm still outside is very promising Since it was nearly midnight when I got home and I was feeling tired rather than wired, I skipped my scheduled evening purge/guitar practice/read/yoga routine and just brushed and flossed and put myself to bed Oh, after logging into my gym account on the phone and canceling myself out of the Wednesday morning spin class I was planning to attend; getting to work and the gym for a 6:30 class requires getting up by 5, and if my body was at all inclined to sleep in a bit, I wanted to indulge it, since I haven't really taken any recovery time recently Week 2, Day 3 Sadly, although I turned my alarm off, my body did wake up around 5 AM anyway, but since it didn't want to get out of bed particularly, I did doze a bit on and off before giving up around 6 (Some weird dreams: in one there was a murderer loose somewhere, so that's probably just a general anxiety dream, but it was succeeded by a dream with a more mundane and realistic source of anxiety: I had forgotten to bring my breakfast to work and was in some store buying hard-boiled eggs!!!) Was a bit tired, but not too bad -- hard to believe midnight used to be my "normal" bedtime -- and appropriately sore from yesterday's bootcamp: those pull-up sit-ups hurt exactly where I expected, but also my triceps and traps, which is great! I packed up my guitar and my meals and my bike bags and then started the process of dressing for what my phone claimed was 24 degrees Fahrenheit: a thermal layer under my jeans and turtleneck sweater, thick boot socks from REI, my cozy external bike layer, and my regular biking shell on top. And a beanie under my helmet! I wore my medium-thick gloves and was fine with those on the ride in (I did not take the river route) But I also packed my lobster-claw gloves/mittens for later when it's darker and potentially colder again, as well as my scary face mask and a balaclava, since they were there and why not? Tonight I have a guitar lesson in Harvard Square, so I probably will take the river route at least part of the way home, but that will be another good test of my cold weather gear (And it's a good thing I have lost weight recently, otherwise, I would not be comfortable trying to wear thermal underthings under my jeans!) I also have a ticket to another concert tonight, but I will probably end up skipping it, since I really can't imagine having a strong desire to go back out after I get home from guitar class and should probably get to bed earlier tonight instead of having two late nights in a row, since I'm just not used to that nonsense any more Plus, it will give me an opportunity to make up for skipping my new evening routine last night; the Boys and Girls Club "goodwill" truck is stopping by our apartment tomorrow on its monthly rounds, so I can get rid of my recently purged pile, and maybe add a few extra items from tonight's stuff purge (And I definitely don't want to skip tomorrow morning's Turbo Ride! class; I love that class) Main goal today is to not succumb to the very slight inclination to pick up a bottle of wine on the way home; the habitual parts of my brain have been whispering that I "should" make up for drinking "eh" wine out of plastic last night by drinking good wine out of glass tonight, but while, yes, I would like a wine experience with more ambiance and whatnot, I can also wait until, like Saturday for that I may also try to avoid a snack that isn't the clementines I packed, but since I'll probably want cappuccino before I go to guitar class, I'll probably also want a snack But as long as I continue to log everything, I'm being mindful by the terms of my Challenge

Week 2, Day 1 Monday was a buckets-of-rain sort of day, so I took the T to work instead of biking (and since I was on the 5:09 train, and therefore was minimally delayed by picking people up and dropping people off, I may have actually beat my fair-weather biking time getting to the office) I walked over to the gym for spin class, which was fine, although a little short: it's scheduled for 45 minutes, and I generally expect at least 40 minutes of work and a little bit of stretching, but my HRM only clocked, like, 35 minutes of bike time. Decent enough class, but I'll have to start going a bit early if that's going to continue; I don't like clipping in for less than 45 minutes (Oh, and since I was wearing a HRM, the instructor asked me a couple of times where I was at: when I said "179" -- which, yes, is high -- he responded: "Drink one less beer on the weekends." ) (When I said "151", he responded: "Add more resistance." ) Breakfast was the usual, and this week I'm weaning myself off of my recently reacquired habit of adding Mini Moos to my coffee, and I successfully managed that all day (I'll take dairy in my coffee when it's meant to include dairy; i.e. cappuccino!) This week's lunch is oven-roasted chicken breasts with roasted Brussels sprouts and pancetta and roasted carrots and fennel with cardamom; and -- not for the first time -- I marvel at how much vegetable mass my little-looking Ziploc containers hold! It was profoundly pouring by the time I headed home, so I definitely felt good about not biking -- I was probably ready for some rest time, anyway -- but was vindicated in my usual/preferred commute by significant delays caused by a broke-down train in Haymarket The first thing I did when I got home was take care of my getting-rid-of-stuff goal; in this case, going through a pile of purses and handbags and whatnot and earmarking several of them for Dress for Success. Until I went through the hall closet on Sunday afternoon looking for outerwear to get rid of, I had totally forgotten that I had put, like, 15 (!) bags on a special closet rod hanger for purses, like, at least a year ago. Which means I obviously haven't missed any of them in that time (Which means I probably could have gotten rid of ALL of them, but...baby steps!) Dinner was couscous-stuffed acorn squash with pistachios and pomegranate seeds (preceded by some pistachios, which I probably should have skipped, but did log in My Fitness Pal), which was scrumptious (I continue to subscribe to Women's Health magazine mainly for the recipes; there are sometimes a couple of months in a row where there's nothing interesting, but then there will be some serious keepers like this one); I'll be making another batch later this week, and trying millet as a substitute for couscous, as part of my millet experiment: I watched a little bit of TV with dinner, but then had a cup of herbal tea and switched to practicing my guitar; not a particularly long session, but the goal is to do it 5 days a week and even 10 minutes is building a good habit (also, it will take some time to re-develop my calluses!) By the time I was done, I was feeling appropriately tired, so I read my book for a little bit -- a lot of the ideas are familiar, but some of the particular terminology is really resonating with me -- "urge surfing"!, "approach goals"! -- and I'm looking forward to reviewing and implementing some strategies when I've finished reading through it once -- "A lapse is not a relapse!" Then I did some yoga stretches -- my back was so tight; I may schedule a massage this weekend, and am glad I have a chiropractor appointment on Friday -- and put myself to bed at a reasonable hour, having fulfilled all of my daily "missions" (and having applied a temporary fix to a corroded bit in the toilet tank, which I was address more robustly over the weekend) Week 2, Day 2 Clear-ish skies and clement-ish temperature this morning, so I biked to the gym for a quick warm-up on the elliptical (it wasn't that warm out) and my Tuesday morning kettlebell bootcamp I was glad I had a scheduled class, because I definitely felt tired and achy; this is probably partly due to dehydration: not because of drinking too much wine the night before (since I didn't drink any), but because of the old-fashioned heat in my apartment. I should probably add "drink a big glass of water before bedtime" to my daily to-do list; I always get up to go to the bathroom anyway Once I got warmed up, bootcamp was great, although I was definitely still aware of some tightness in my back. One of the sets we did which I liked was 10 sets of 10 swings on 45 seconds; I used a 45 lb kettlebell, but could definitely go heavier next time. For another portion of the workout, we did a circuit, which I like, because circuits feel like they go very quickly: one station was burpees with cleans, which I like because it feels a little less intense than burpee-after-burpee-after-burpee and because the kettlebell is a helpful visual reference when I'm jumping up, to make sure I jump back to wear I started (I tend to migrate backwards while doing regular burpees); another station was something new to us: pull-up sit-ups (or something like that): doing a sit-up starting with a kettlebell held over your head on the floor like you're going to do something triceps-y and pulling it over during the sit-up and ending up with your elbows tucked into your side and the kettlebell in front of your chest. I could feel exactly where I will be feeling those tomorrow morning Then it was shower, sauna, get dressed -- and this time I had packed all of the appropriate clothing -- and bike to the office (Someday, I won't register Beacon Hill as any kind of athletic ordeal; today was not that day, particularly after suitcase deadlifts...) While I was at the gym, I weighed myself again and observed that I had dipped below 150 again, which is gratifying; as is the fact that I'm wearing a snug turtleneck sweater and size-smaller jeans than I would have picked out a few weeks ago And I really am looking forward to a sustained flat line in 2015...(...including more consistently collected data points...)

Ha: I'm [trying to be] a "most-weather" bike commuter, but yesterday's forecast promised relentless rain all day, so I took the train to work. I knew at least one of my colleagues would comment on it (because they always do; I'm not sure if it's because bike commuting is so exotic (?) or because some people need to always be making conversation (yeah, probably that)) and while I was walking back to the office from the gym I told myself: "Do not snap at anyone who asks if you biked in; do not snap at anyone who asks if you biked in..." So of course as soon as one of my colleagues asked, "So, did you ride in today?", I responded: "You know, when I do ride in, my bike is parked right over there, next to the coat rack." (Clearly, I did not work aggressively enough in that spin class... ) (Also: Monday!)