goals

Yesterday a teammate and I were chatting and the conversation came around to being a baby rugby player, brand new to the game and simply terrible. The conversation also came around to how bad of a rugby player I was at first. I really was terrible. That first season involved lots of enthusiasm, but not much else. And I stayed terrible for a good long while with the original enthusiasm fluctuating in a reverse correlation with my frustration. It wasn't until the rest of my life was on solid ground that I started to really improve. Unsuprisingly (in retrospect) a huge part of what allowed for the improvement was fitness.

The difference between me now and me five years ago, or even two years ago still sneaks up and shocks me regularly. If I talk about my workouts or my performance in a match enough to annoy people it's not because I'm completely self-centered. (Really.) It's because in my head I still think of myself as completely nonathletic and am still absolutely amazed to discover these capabilities within myself.

For example, Monday night was our first 7s sprint workout. Bags ran up through a short warm up and got the fifteen of us started on sprints pretty quickly. She announced the first set and without even thinking about it I placed myself in the first group on the line. Next to three of my fittest teammates. Something completely out of character for the baby rugby player I was. Two years ago I might not have shown up for fitness training, choosing to wait for "real practices" to begin. Five years ago I'd have asked if you were crazy for suggesting that I even run sprints at all.

I can't pinpoint what changed. What exactly caused me to go from "I only run if something is chasing me" to "I can't have a pint even though one my favorite beers is tonight's fire sale because I'm doing the Spartan Challenge at CrossFit." Maybe it's simply that I fell in love with a sport. Maybe it's been there all along and was just waiting to come out. In any case, I know that if I of all people can do it anyone can. You get your feet wet, then before you know it you like the water so much you're up to your knees. Turn around again and you're swimming with the goal of keeping up with the big kids.

And swearing off some of your favorite guilty pleasures. I've told a few people, including a couple CrossFit coaches at last night's 'nutrition workshop.' Still, I want to put it in writing. On the internet where everyone knows and can make fun of me if I fail. Over the past four and a half months I've had pretty good results with a mostly-Zone, lots of cheating eating pattern. I want to see what I can do eating like an athlete in training.

Primarily:
1. NO sweets (including no sugar in my coffee) and
2. NO alcohol

Work in progress:
3. Eat at least as many servings of vegetables as fruit a day.
4. Decrease cheese to two servings a day.

Between unlimited kettlebells and 7s sprints the workouts will take care of themselves. However, six weeks without a cookie or a margarita will be a challenge. During the first part of 7s season. This will test my self-control and how far I've really come in the past few years...

note to self

Note to self: Refrain from wearing that mascara if working out mid-day. No one will tell you you look like a racoon, merely laugh at you behind your back.

nesting

Current wish list:

Staple gun
Electronic stud finder
Cordless Drill


New apartment, and apparently I'm nesting. Feeling crafty on top of that, which are dangerous things. The moving in has gone well, and I have most everything in just the right place. Exactly nothing hung on the walls, however. And a shiny new bookshelf that needs to be assembled. The drill would be nice to have for this little project.

Work is painfully slow and I'm amusing myself by looking through design blogs, aided by the Bloggie postings. This is dangerous. Exceptionally so. If I wasn't stuck in lab I would have already traipsed off to the craft store in search of perfect wrapping paper and textiles.

wish I'd known

or seen this a month and a half ago. As it is, I'll just go with the defensive driving I opted for.

now it's really finished

Picked up my signatures. Did a last minute fidgeting both on the document itself and in the chair of the nice degree evalulator as he clicked through the pdf of my thesis. Until finally he looked up, told me "everything looks good" and I handed over the required paperwork. All signed. By my readers. Who approved. my. thesis! Walking out of the office I had to refrain from turning around and asking "so there isn't anything else?" about a dozen times. I'd already asked about six times already.

It didn't feel real until I got outside the building, but then I floated from Main back to ESB. Floated, because the weight of the world has been lifted of my shoulders.

I'm thinking I may buy myself one of these as a "Yay, Me" present.

everything I know to do

Spent the weekend mostly trying to avoid completely freaking out about everything I need to do between now and May. It's like it all decided to drop out of the sky on me at once. Thursday night I left neuro class with the distinct feeling that I was in way over my head after a discussion about the physics of electrical current and resistance. Way over my head. So I started making solutions; I need to use my time and my resources more effectively. And make small goals for myself. If I look at the entire mountain I'll freeze in fear; focusing on the next rock makes it seem much more managable.

Friday as I was headed into the Gregory Gym to grab a smoothie between discussion sections I passed a sign advertising "swim like a fish." On an impulse I signed up for swimming lessons. I've been around the water most of my life and can get by just fine, but have never learned anything anywhere near resembling form. I figure I can learn to swim for fitness; having to focus on my breathing will be a big help for rugby and my aerobic abilities. Plus being in the water is just calming for me. So I had my first class today. There are about five other adults ranging in age from mid-college to mid-50s. Our instructor is probably twenty years old, started taking swimming lessons at the age of six, and has spent her entire life in the water on a regular basis. I feel like I'm missing out on something not having had that opportunity as a kid. The first class involved learning the basics of breathing and kicking. As I was focusing on not inhaling water it became pretty plain what the truly important things in life. I think I could really get into this.

thesis count: 29 pages, 54 citations

strategery

This morning was group lab meeting, a rare one in which we had an outside speaker instead of listening to someone from of the other WCAAR labs presenting their most recent data. (I'm scheduled to give mine a week and a half before the thesis is due.) I tried to pay attention, and can say I did actually get a little bit out of it. Serotonin receptors are cool. Pictures of fluorescent imaging are always nice and easy to understand.

Importantly, however, was where my mind wandered. To the thesis. I have 44 days to finish the first complete draft of the thing by my self-imposed strategic "six week early, allow for rewriting after perusal by official readers" deadline of March 23rd. This works out to about two pages per day, including weekends, or just over three if weekends are not included. I will be working weekends.

Okay. 44 days. I can do this. Really.