Quiet Days and Post-Christmas Indulgence

Work today was weird, but in a good way. There weren’t very many people in the office (there weren’t many people in the whole building, to be honest), so it was really quiet. I managed to get a bunch of stuff done with a minimum of stress. Definitely my kind of Friday.

However, it was also a very indulgent Friday. I took an early break to get Starbucks for me and some others in the office who were craving a treat. I had failed to get breakfast before coming to work, so I was starving. My choice of treat from the ‘Bucks was a creme brulee latte and a ham, egg, and cheese sandwich. To avoid any delays or limits in the drive thru, I went in to place the order and was greeted by this guy:

Then for lunch…which arrived way sooner than I expected due to the flying of time today…I ventured out and picked up a Little Caesar’s Hot ‘n Ready and some crazy bread for the few of us who were feeling the pizza action. It was delicious, but it was definitely feeling.

I walked on my breaks, but that didn’t seem to help overmuch with the fullness. My current thing is walking and reading. My Kobo Mini is the perfect size to carry in my hand, and since I’ve gotten better at walking, I can now do it on autopilot, which means I can read and still navigate the halls. I’m actually finding this enjoyable, which is good, because it means I’m apt to take more walks and get more steps. I haven’t tried it on the treadmill yet, though I’m sure it would work fine. I wouldn’t even have to hold it, I could just prop it up on the panel. Maybe I’ll try this soon. Might be good for “recovery” days, because…

…I’ve decided to go ahead and try the Couch to 5k program again…this time training to RUN. I’m kind of excited about this.  Though I wanted to get the Zombies, Run! 5K app, I think I’m going to hold off and keep it simple for now. I have the free app that Jon and I started doing when I was upping my walk endurance, and I’m going to make some playlists specifically for training. I’ll still do the Zombie missions on most recovery days, and the reading and walking (or reading and doing the sit down machine) will help change things up so I don’t get bored.

I realize this isn’t going to be easy, but I’m up for the challenge. I mean, heck, I couldn’t even walk at the beginning of 2013, and anytime someone said the word “run,” I pretty much figured that was never going to be something I’d do. But I’ve managed to surprise myself by being able to run the zombie chases. Maybe by the end of 2014, I’ll be able to run a short distance.

I figure that even if I run slow, it’s still more fun than walking. And like walking, I’ll slowly but surely increase the length of time I can run at once, since that’s kind of how these things work. We don’t start out awesome, but we can eventually get to a point of awesomeness. My first goal will be to run a mile without stopping. Right now, that goal seems pretty impossible, so just wait until I reach it…that moment is going to get its own reward and blog post.

To kick off this decision, I went to the track today and did the first day of the C25k program, just to get an idea of where I’m starting from. As expected, I’m starting on a pretty low rung of the running ladder. I managed to get through half of the thirty minute session before I reverted to just walking. The program is five minutes of walking to warm up, then alternating sessions of a minute of running and a minute and a half of walking. At the halfway mark, I gave up running for a couple reasons. One, there was ice on the track that I had to be careful of, especially because I was out there without Jon tonight. Two, my ankles were cramping (I really need to figure out a good way to relieve that). Three, for a healthy dose of TMI, I really had to go to the bathroom and since the bathrooms at the rec center aren’t open, I had to be careful of how I moved. I mean…I really had to go.

Walking through the parking lot lake also added to the discomfort, since my feet were nice and wet.

As I said, I’m starting off slow, but I’m actually proud of being able to do that first session for fifteen minutes. Now the first short term goal is to be able to do it for a full thirty minutes. Once I can do that, I can progress into the actual program. Go me! Even that little bit of running was effective. My legs are really sore tonight.

I showered right after getting home, and even though I didn’t check off much of my to-do list today, I think I’m ready to lay down and read for a little while. Tomorrow is supposed to be nice, so Jon and I are going to Topeka. We have to do a little bit of clothes shopping anyway, so we’re making a day of it. We’re going to the zoo and then probably to walk around Gage Park. We might do some geocaching, we might see a cheap movie, we might just cruise around and find ways to get into trouble. Either way, I’m really looking forward to getting out into some good weather.

A.

Sleep and the Lack Of

Today I’m suffering from a severe lack of sleep.

I go through bouts of insomnia, but the past few weeks had been okay. I’d gotten into a routine, I was falling asleep early and waking up feeling pretty refreshed. Then boom, last night, I couldn’t go to sleep. I was tired and my eyes were heavy, but once I shut off my book and tried to fall asleep, I couldn’t.

Once I did finally fall asleep, it wasn’t restful, and it was one of those sleeps where you don’t feel like you’re sleeping. You still feel conscious of where you are and what’s going on around you. At some point I did fall into a deeper sleep only to wake up in what felt like a few minutes later to realize I’d somehow turned my alarm off and was going to be late for work if I didn’t light a fire under my butt.

Today has been a weird blur of things. I know myself well enough to know that when I’m like this (because this isn’t the first time and I’m sure it won’t be the last), I need to stay far away from detailed tasks where I have the potential of making major mistakes. I’ve been keeping busy with the “fluff” and the tedious tasks that I can just do over and over again and not really have to think about.

When I’m this tired, I also go quickly between slap happy and monster rage.

My current plan is to go home, shower early, and just sort of doze off under my snuggy (yes, I have one; yes, it’s one of my favorite things ever). I want to take in some quality reading and knitting time, but some nights I find it therapeutic to just do nothing but stare at the TV for awhile, and since the most few nights have been dedicated to organizing and cleaning, I feel like I’m entitled for a night off.

I’m a little bit worried, though, that once I’m in relax mode, my brain will kick back into high gear again and I’ll be wide awake. And then what? Warm milk? A boring textbook? Melatonin? No matter, I’m going to stay positive about this. Even if I don’t fall asleep right away, being this tired means a deeper and better sleep when I do finally drift off. Which means that I’ll be better able to finish all my work tomorrow and then some.

It’ll also mean I won’t send crazy butt icons to friends through IM, nor will I lose my mind when buying yarn online. Again.

And while I realize caffeine late in the day isn’t going to help, I feel like this is a good opportunity to buy a Starbucks after work, just to perk me up enough to get home okay.