Hacking My Work Day

This morning as I was enjoying my quiet cup of coffee I got to thinking... "there has to to be a way to be productive and enjoy my day more!" (and yes I had the thought with that exclamation point). Perusing my Twitter feed and reading some on LinkedIn when I came across the 'Pomodoro Technique' and did some digging. 

This technique is a "time management method" that breaks down the day into intervals. This seemed interesting... I like intervals in my workouts so why not in my workday?

My work day flounders when I get caught up in something (like e-mail) and then poof - hours of my day are just GONE!  And the worst part is I have so little to show for all that time and in the end I'm more annoyed than anything else. So I was looking for a work-day-hack and this one seemed it could fit the bill. 

So I set out with my to do list and turned it into a schedule of sorts - 25 minute intervals with breaks worked in. The cool part is that I was in control of my to do list rather than the other way around. 

Another thing I had read about in several different articles was e-mail management (you know, don't let it manage you).  Many people claim that you should not start your day by checking your e-mail because then your to do list is created by someone else (outside of your control), and in that spirit I've been waiting until I'm in the office before I look at my work e-mail, that way I get my morning coffee hour to myself and am not sharing it with my job. Since today was a new work-day-hack I thought I might take this one a step farther and not schedule my e-mail time until late morning. 

All that said, today was awesome!  I feel like I got stuff done which is SO not how I typically feel on a Monday afternoon. One observation from today was that I'm more naturally drawn to a 30 minute interval.. But I think I will keep pushing myself towards 25 minutes just because I like the flexibility it creates... plus it's less intimidating when I need to tackle a task I'm not overly interested in. 

I totally want to do this every day this week, and next, and the next!  In reality I want to keep myself honest here and see if I can make this my new working style. That's how much I liked it!  It will be interesting to see how I can work this around my meeting schedules (and maybe in time change my approach to meetings).

#WorkDayHack #TimeManagement #BringingTheAwesome 

Week 31 Workouts & Stuff

Accountability is key.. Right?  Here I am again keeping myself honest with my fitness goals. I enjoyed tracking everything last week so I'm going to see if this log can help drive better habits and maybe some change (August feels like a great month to lose some LBs!)!

Monday: T2 Tennis with Mike, about 90 minutes including warm up (and we won 6-3, 6-3)

Tuesday:  Typically my gym day but we are in the process of applying for life insurance and have someone coming out here for blood work in the afternoon so that means no food after 9:00am.  Going to take it easy so I don't get too hangry before they get here!

Got some stretching in after work:

 - http://www.fitnessblender.com/v/workout-detail/Upper-Body-Active-Stretch-Workout-Arms-Shoulder-Chest-and-Back-Stretching-Exercises/hp/

 -  http://www.fitnessblender.com/v/workout-detail/Lower-Body-Active-Stretching-Routine-Low-Impact-Workout-to-Tone-and-Stretch/hr/

Wednesday:  Gym Day with Kris

3x: 50 jumping jacks, 40 mountain climbers, 30 high knees, 20 plank jacks, 10 burpees

3x: 20 bicep curls (12.5lb), 20 tricep extensions (12.5lb for 2, 10lb for 1), 10 overhead presses (12.5lb), 10 lateral raises (10lb)

3x: 20 'ab lifts' (10lb ball), 50 crunches on stability ball, 20 walking lunges (10lb), 25 bicycle crunches

Thursday:  I decided to add an extra week day workout this morning!  Here I combined two workouts I found on Pinterist:

As Many Rounds As Possible:  50 mnt climbers, 50 alt lunges, 50 plank taps, 50 suitcase crunches

AMRAP = 3.25 today (I got through the circuit 3 times plus one extra Mountain Climber set)

And who doesn't love some Tabata in the morning?!  

20/10: Burpees, Jumping Jacks, Push-ups, High Knees, Squats, Butt Kicks, Rev. Lunges, Plank, Bicycle Crunches, Mnt Climbers

This was 'only' 20 minutes of work, but I think the intensity level qualifies it as #awesome!

T2 Tennis with Miriam, RAINED OUT

Friday:  Gym Day with Kris... Only we walked the loop instead since neither of us were feeling great when we got up. 

Once I got home I made sure to get in some lower body exercises:

4x:  http://www.fitnessblender.com/v/workout-detail/Booty-Blaster-Killer-5-Minute-Butt-and-Thigh-Workout-Challenge/ci/

An awesome week! So glad I added in that Thursday workout... I think 3 a week will be a good adjustment for this month!

#ibroughttheawesome #bringontheweekend #soawesomeithurts 

Week 30 Workouts & Stuff

So to help keep myself honest I want to start sharing my workouts here. I figure this way I'll have a record of what I've done and hopefully be motivated to keep pushing myself. 

Week starting July 21...

Monday:  T2 Mixed Doubles with Mike, 2-hours including warm-up (and we won 6-3, 7-6)

Tuesday:  Supposed to be my gym morning but I woke up SO sore and groggy that I went back to sleep (not normal for me!). This means I had to work in my workout throughout the day, so I found some shorter routines that I could do in my office

  - 3x http://www.fitnessblender.com/v/workout-detail/5-Minute-Butt-and-Thigh-Workout-for-a-Bigger-Butt-Exercises-to-Lift-and-Tone-Your-Butt-and-Thighs/ie/

  - 2x http://www.fitnessblender.com/v/workout-detail/Booty-Blaster-Killer-5-Minute-Butt-and-Thigh-Workout-Challenge/ci/

Mike and I got out for a 30 minute / 1.7 mile walk at lunch!

T2 Mixed Doubles with Mike, 2-hours including warm-up (and we won 3-6, 6-3, 6-4)

Wednesday:  

Ultimate Singles, 2.5-hours including warm-up (and I won 4-6, 7-5, 6-4)

Thursday:  glorious day off!!

Friday:  Gym day #2.. Did not happen - I miss my gym buddy!

 - I know my core needs work so I did a quick workout: http://www.fitnessblender.com/v/workout-detail/Fitness-Blender-8-Minute-Abs-Workout-No-Equipment-No-Excuses-Abs-and-Obliques/fj/

 - I did walk to lunch with Nicole (two 18-ish minute walks to the club house)

 - While I was searching for Tuesday's workout I also found these stretching workout that I wanted to work in since I always lack in this area... http://www.fitnessblender.com/v/workout-detail/Lower-Body-Active-Stretching-Routine-Low-Impact-Workout-to-Tone-and-Stretch/hr/ and http://www.fitnessblender.com/v/workout-detail/Upper-Body-Active-Stretch-Workout-Arms-Shoulder-Chest-and-Back-Stretching-Exercises/hp/

Ultimate Singles, 1.5-hours including warm-up (and I won 2-6, 6-2, 6-3)

In summary - a TON of tennis this week!

#ibroughttheawesome #bringontheweekend #soawesomeithurts 

July is when I actually start blogging...

What a fun weekend!  There was supposed to be a good bit of tennis.. Friday night Miriam and I played in the rain (not fun.. not really smart either), but then my singles match was cancelled on both Saturday and Sunday due to the rain. It was nice to relax but I still have to make up that match so now we're scheduled for Friday afternoon. On top of that this week I have matches scheduled tonight, tomorrow and Wednesday nights and our forecast is rain rain rain so we'll see how this goes!

Saturday I got up to the gym with Mike and then I rocked a second 2014 goal when we stopped at Taco Mac for a late lunch and I had a Sam Adams 'Everyday IPA' with our wings. It was an easy-to-drink IPA that was perfect on a rainy Saturday afternoon.  That night Mike and I went out to dinner with our friends Kris and Jon to one of our favorite local spots, Goin' Coastal. Great drinks, Great food, Awesome night!  After dinner we walked to their sister restaurant and had some drinks and enjoyed live music with our friends Becky and Brian.  We had a great bit of fun that made up for the gloomy weather!

Yesterday we grilled some yummy kabobs and I made a tasty dressing for some broccoli slaw tossed with cherry tomatoes, nothing elaborate but still a new recipe that I may need to bookmark and make again!  I'm very much enjoying salads with cherry tomatoes this summer.. I'll have to find something else to make with them this week since they're so good!

I'm also quite excited to almost be done with one of my annual creations - our 2013 photo album!  I'm just waiting on a few more pictures from friends then should be good to order. Next up I need to figure out what to do with our vacation pictures. Our Mediterranean cruse was awesome and we have almost 700 pictures from the 11 days we were in Europe, I think that may warrant it's own album!

This week I'm on my own at the gym, I'm in no rush to bust out the jump rope, but I'm sure I'll find something to kick my own butt... this week I want to do upper body on Tuesday and lower body on Friday. I've also started incorporating stretching into my evenings before bed... Feels good and I think it's a method I can keep up with!  Now I just need to figure out what to do about my jump rope goal.  If I replace it I'll do something else fitness related for sure, maybe learn how to do a handstand - maybe not - we'll see what I come up with!  

March... April... May... June... How is it July already?!

A few months ago I posted about how I hadn't been doing so well with my 14 in 14 goals... and then not only that but I disappeared from the blog-o-sphere for over four months!!  Good thing the year isn't over yet and there is still time to redeem myself!

14 New Recipes - We have been cooking in this house for sure!  Just this past weekend we made a Tomato and Corn Salad from a cook book that Erin and Mark gave us as a wedding gift, and some delicious grilled apples with a butter and maple syrup glaze to accompany the pork tenderloin Mike smoked on the Traeger.  All of the dishes were so DELICIOUS!  I'll have to see if I can organize a list of the new recipes we've enjoyed this year... I'm confident there will be at least 14 this year!

14 Jump Rope Workouts a Month - Now this one has been hard to start let alone maintain... I just cannot get myself into the jump rope this year!  I'm thinking it might be time to find a new fitness goal, I'll work on that and get back to you.

14 Industry Webinars - Another one that is just not jiving with my year... this is something I was into last year but times have changed.  

14 Articles - This one I've very much been doing the reading part, but not so much the follow up here on the blog.  Again - no big deal I can remedy this before the year's end!

14 Stretching Workouts a Month - I'm going to start holding myself accountable here... there are more than 14 days left in July so it's time to get moving (or stretching if you will)!

14 Date Nights with Mike - I will say we have been having quite a fun year... I haven't been keeping track of our dates like thought I would for this goal, but I think we've been out - just the two of us - at least once a month PLUS we just got back from an AMAZING 7-day Mediterranean Cruise so that's gotta count towards this, right??  

14 Workouts with Mike - We have been to the gym a few times so far this year... let's estimate 4??  I'll work on at least 10 more workouts between now and New Years.

14 Loop Walks with Mike - This has been a GREAT year for walking the loop!  Mike and I have been out at least 5 times and we're trying to get into it a few mornings during the week too.  I hope we keep up with that because it's such an awesome way to start the day!

14 New-To-Me Movies - Hmm... I have seen my fair share of movies this year.  Off the top of my head I know I've watched The Lego Movie, Frozen, The Great Gatsby, Saving Mr. Banks, Captain Phillips, Anchor Man 2, Wreck it Ralph, Premium Rush, In Time, A Good Day to Die Hard - that's (at least) 10 so far!  I am totally ROCKING with the movie goal!!

14 New Beers - Here is one I know I'm on track for but I will need to pull together a list later.  

14 Random Acts of Kindness - I struggle here because I'm not sure how to define a random act of kindness... I'll have to work on that so I can keep track of my good deeds!

14 Creations - Well for Alyssa's bachelorette party earlier this year we painted wine glasses AND did one of those wine & painting parties where we painted cherry blossoms... and I think pulling together the shower gift for Alyssa was pretty creative... but I might need to step up my game here too.

14 lbs Lighter in December - How much did I weigh on Jan 1?!  I think I was up over 190.. maybe 195??  Well I'm holding strong here and going to keep at it to try to be 180 or less by the end of the year!

14 Fitness "Challenges" - This one has been quite fun... The Biggest Loser was awesome, and now I forget how I ended with the 30 Day Burpee challenge, I'll have to see if I kept track in my calendar.  Throughout the month of June I did a '100 challenge' where I rotated 100 squats, 100 push-ups, and 100 crunches every day (Sunday's were off).  Hmm... that's only 3 and the year is more than half over - next week I'm going to have to jump on this!

Ok, that was a long update but now that I'm back I'm excited to rock this blog and rock these goals!