21-day challenge

In looking at the calendar, it appeared as though I had six glorious weeks off of teaching. Which to some people might translate to six weeks of vacation, however, that is not really the case. Now I am squeezing in a little bit of vacation, but we have so much to accomplish any time I have a break from travel that I need to be putting 100% effort into the business.

It seemed appropriate, given that I'm going to be home for six weeks, that I throw a good portion of energy into working out. In my mind, I pictured energized days, doing Bikram yoga at least five times a week. But we took it up a notch and D and I decided to do a 21-day challenge. Essentially between now and the time we leave for the Wyoming backpacking trip, we are to eat completely healthy, monitor all of our calories/fat/carbs, etc. AND do some type of significant workouts every day.

Our challenge actually kicked off yesterday. So far, so good. I should hope so given that it's day two. Our menus are planned out, the food is actually delicious, and if we have a problem, it's with not getting enough calories.

Yesterday: 60 minutes of weight training, 90 minutes of Bikram (about a C- performance), some swim time in the pool and then we capped the evening with our first kickball game (YAY!!).
Today: slept in (oops), 90 minutes of Bikram (about a B performance), and then weight training tonight.

I know it sounds silly, but I already feel stronger and maybe there is something to the fact that Bikram makes you crave healthy food.

About Bikram: It's the craziest thing anyone can choose to do. But crazy = amazing results. Bikram (the founder) calls it his "torture chamber". 105 degrees, 40 - 60% humidity, 26 postures, for 90 minutes. You learn phrases from the carefully memorized scripts such as: Japanese ham sandwich, pearl necklace, lock your knees, lock your knees, lock your knees, go back, way back, fall back, more back. And you think constantly that you are insane for even doing it.

But it reminds me of childbirth. Somehow, once you walk out of the studio, you forget the pain (the nausea, the dizziness, the all-over body pain sensations) and you just revel in the major accomplishment you achieved over the last 90 minutes. I really want to do the 60-day challenge (60 classes in 60 days) but my time on the road prevents it. But wherever I can, I will take a class on the road.

It's late - 11:18... and the alarm is set for 5:15 a.m. so I can eat prior to the 9am class. And tomorrow night is our 2nd kickball game - can't wait!

Boston Class Day Two

My day so far:
Slept amazing... too amazing. Alarm went off at 5:15 (I had glorious plans of getting up early and working on my paper). I shut it off. I woke up at 6:15. Bummer.

Getting ready to head down to the classroom to kick off day two. Class went well yesterday despite the fact that we have people at different levels of readiness. Today is the toughest day, though. Only two lessons but a lot of critical information - including precedence relationships and critical path method.

Had a great time visiting with Kristen last night... so much needed catch-up on all of the events of our lives! =) Happy that she's in class with me this week.

But tonight it's head-down, lots of work.

D and I need to focus on infrastructure over the next six weeks while we have a break from classes. I'm hoping we get a lot done and make the best use of our time. Our goal is to move from being so reactive, to more proactive and controlled with our time.Can't continue to burn the candle from both ends. Quality of our programs is our primary concern!

Oil

I am seriously and profoundly impacted by the oil spill in the gulf. I look at these animals suffering and I can't even deal with it. My heart hurts... my heart aches... so I decided that since I have the next few weeks off, I want to go help. Who knew they had too many volunteers? So as much as my heart hurts, it rejoices in the fact that there are people out there who care, who give their personal time, their energy into helping something they had absolutely nothing to do with. We are not politicians. We are not oil company benefactors. We are US citizens and we do care.

I guess in the world today we lose sight of these simple things. We are so de-sensitized by the daily injustices in life that we don't fully "get it". And maybe it's wrong that animal suffering catches my eye, my mind and yet all over the globe there is human suffering. But to me life is life. Animal or human. I want to help.

30-Day Challenge

Inspired by some friends, I have decided to undertake a 30-day blogging challenge. A blog entry for 30 straight days... I guess it will be interesting view into my crazy life.

So day 1. It's Sunday, June 6th and I'm currently writing this from the Hampton Inn - Boston Logan Airport. Arrived about 15 minutes before a hell of a storm broke out - tornado warnings in place. Absolutely crazy weather and ultimately responsible for the very bumpy flight across the country yesterday. From my hotel window, I have a view of the water, peppered with old pylons, most likely remains of a dock many years gone. Across the water is a wind mill... not the nice, antique-y type, but the creepy white kind that they have in California. Not sure why they creep me out so bad, but they do!

Tomorrow I'm kicking off one of our boot camps. Should be a great group - because our classes are always awesome!! (Truly!). Bags are ready for each students, course materials, stress ball, some other goodies, and of course... a good supply of Red Bull.

So tonight my focus is on finishing up a new course module.... I'm thinking of ordering Chinese food in. =)

Did Bikram yoga this morning in Nashua - I'm so addicted. Bummed that I won't get back to class until Friday. So my goal is to hit the gym every morning this week. Must get this weight off!

Slacker!

I know, I know... totally slacking again!

Well, it's Saturday and the day will be spent working on our new Leadership module. I took my final yesterday for my BU course. Two down, nine to go. Not too bad! I start another one in a few weeks.

Business is picking up like crazy. We have added more training companies to our client list and we are getting great feedback on our materials.

Life for the next six weeks is going to be crazy:

• Leave on Tuesday, teaching for the PMI chapter in RI on Wed - Fri
• Virtual class the following week
• Drive down to Baltimore for a week-long project management fundamentals and leadership class
• Drive back up to Boston for an on-site class.
• Fly home for 1 day, do laundry, and fly up to Denver for a class.
• Home for a week!
  
• Back up to Boston for a class
• Drive to Baltimore for another class
• ... and then home!

I love it!!!!!!

Brooke is getting settled in at Bremerton. A major shock when she learned that her "room" was actually just a bunk on the ship. Definitely is going to take some getting use to.

Rainy Day

Woke up this morning to rain - I absolutely love it when it rains, although it dashed my hopes of getting in a good bike ride. D and I were lazy all morning, working on our silly farms. But I wanted to stay true to my goals, so I just did my EASports workout. I forgot how much that kicks my butt - especially the jump squats and jump lunges. Ouch!!

Healthy lunch - ham, cheese and the flatbread, heated in the toaster oven. Next up? I'm thinking a good post-rain hike up White Peak. Maybe I can even convince D to go with me and Sierra!

Oh - good news! I met my first week weight loss goal.

And more good news! Brittany got a much-deserved, long-over-due promotion! Woohoo!

Enjoying the desert (really!)

Ah, this is the time of year that I absolutely love living in AZ. Of course, you will need to remind me of this frequently round about May or so. The temperature is absolutely perfect out - warm during the day and chilly at night. Now that we know for sure we're keeping the house, D and I have a renewed energy towards enhancements and improvements. With no budget, however, we are certainly limited. But we managed to take a lot of joy in just working in the yard yesterday. D focused on trimming the grass (we actually have some) and fixing the drip system and filling in the holes that were dug by our beloved boys. They may be gone, but their damage remains. Still made us miss them terribly. I was assigned bush trimming. Thing is, I tend to get a little carried away and before I know it I have a pile of clippings and some naked little bushes. But they look nice and clean and ready for their spring growth.

Other than the yard, yesterday was fulfilling in that I went shopping and literally bought us a month's worth of healthy meals and snacks. We were on a mission to drain our pantry and freezer and we did pretty good, so it was time to re-stock. We also got our first-run print of our flash-cards - they look AWESOME! Minor mix-up from the printer, but they've got it fixed now.

I'm actually home for the next 6 weeks, possibly. My goal is to spend a good deal of time losing weight and getting in shape. Seems the holiday season, travel, and the grieving process assisted me in putting on 14 pounds since September. That's a hell of a lot of weight. Especially on my 5'2" frame. Yuck. Grossing myself right out. I don't want to go anywhere because I can't fit into my clothes - even my fat clothes!! Who knew that eating like a pig, drinking wine, and not exercising would lead to weight gain???

Simple goal: 7 weeks - 2 pounds per week. This is the perfect time of year to do it. I decided not to do the psycho protein deal. It works but then as soon as my body smells a carb, it goes right back on. So I'm doing the sensible 1200 calories balanced food. Oh, and the pisser? No alcohol. No wine.... And let me tell you, with some of these beautiful sunsets out on our patio, nothing would make it better than a nice glass of wine. Oh well. I'd rather wear my skinny jeans!

The sprint triathlon is in 5 weeks / 2 days. Can I possibly get myself ready in that time?? I feel pretty good about the biking portion, ok about the swim, but horrible about the run. I'm hoping my blog will keep me honest. If I blog every day for the next 5 weeks about how I trained, it should keep me on the straight and narrow, right?

So today's training: Hiked White Peak with Sierra and worked out for an hour on the Wii. Hmmmm.... strangely not looking very "tri" related. Tomorrow I'll start the day with a bike ride and then maybe a run mid-day. The thing is, the girls are competing against me, and even if I don't win, I need to have a strong showing.

Some tips for people watching their calories:

Flatout flatbread is great - 100 cals, multi-grain with flax. You can make wraps or even pizza with it.
I love the veggie straws from Costco. Definitely hits the salty cravings. But watch portion size. I brought the bag home and divied it up into single serve bags that were the right portion.
Jello sugar free - 10 cals and hits the sweet craving
Green tea - we make at least a pitcher a day, if not two. We use 6 green tea bags and two herbal tea like Rasberry Zinger or Orange Spice. Yummy!

On another note, class last week in Phoenix was great - amazing people, as always. We have another three companies interested in our courseware and I have a feeling the self-study program is going to really take off, as well. We have a couple companies interested in on-site programs and a lot of exciting plans for the website.

School is going well - only a couple more weeks and I will have successfully completed my first class!