Brain dump

1. That stupid "cardio challenge" I did on Sunday kicked my butt. I thought it was nothing at the time - I was breathing hard, but took some unapproved water breaks - but all that jumping around has made my calves curl up and die for the past couple days.

2. Guys - I upped my personal bests in planking. Today I held a front forearm plank for two whole minutes, and each side plank for a WHOLE MINUTE each. Remember back in my first post I was like "I hope that at some point in the distant future I might begin to fathom holding side planks for longer than 30 seconds" or something to that effect? Celebration, y'all.

PLAAAAAANKS!!!!!!

3. I made some really good loaded baked potatoes yesterday using this recipe. Cheese, meat, veg, potato. What's not to love. They were yummy enough for a whole post of their own, but I'm not feeling it, so you get the short review: They are great. I recommend them.

Each one is roughly the size and weight of a brick. A delicious, delicious brick.

4. Jay got some girl scout cookies from his family. It's that time of year. Have you ever noticed the spelling on the Caramel Delights?

Definitely should have gone into the advertising business.

"deLites?" EXPLAIN YOURSELF, BOX. A play on words? Why is the "L" capitalized so as to draw attention to the "Lite" part? What are you implying, cookie? Stop tempting me with your sugary goodness and false advertising! (Technically, one cookie is only 70 calories which is actually pretty good, considering level of deliciousness. But once I have one, I will definitely have at least 3 more, and that's on a good day. So I'm staying away.... for now.)

5. I'm posting my workout calendar on the top of the blog here. Feel free to check it out but be warned it's sort of for my own reference. Sometimes I don't put down every single thing I do at the gym, sometimes I write in code, sometimes I add in motivational words here and there. Take it with a grain of salt. Basically my goal is to have 80% of the calendar filled in, with some exclamation points here and there, indicating that good things have sporadically happened on the workout front. Knowing my affinity for data, I probably should have a more detailed, trackable chart or something, but I haven't taken the time yet to figure that out.

6. We leave for our cruise in 6 days! It's starting to feel real. I'm 95% super excited, and 5% terrified that I will be in a plane crash, get eaten by sharks, be stranded at sea, or gain 20 pounds. I've been thinking a bit about how much or how little I want to stick to my diet and exercise routine during those five cruise days.

COLORS

I'm bringing my workout clothes, since there is an outdoor track and a huge fitness room. I know I don't want to be a slave to the treadmill, but I also know I'll feel better about eating lots of good food and drinking fun cocktails (both of which I plan on doing) if I get some sweating in here and there. My goal is at least two small workouts, and to not eat like a crazy person. I'm not going to track a thing, but just because the food is free, doesn't mean it's free of calories. I'd like to enjoy the view, the weather, the dolphins (we are swimming with dolphins!), the company, the food and drinks, and the overall experience. You can see food is in there - just not number one.

Any tips or strategies on how to be healthy (or tips on how to not worry about it??) on a vacation? The last thing I want to do is stress out about food!

On a final note, another foot of snow on Thursday? Oy vey. Stay warm, stay strong, New Englanders.