Still moving forward

Second week in the field this week.  Lots of reading, webinars, meetings, and cleaning.  It was a busy week and next week I'll be back at the training facility for the last week.  Then I "graduate" and am set free to do my job.  It's been an interesting three weeks so far. 

The next couple of weeks are going to be busy!  Next week, the last week of training will involve staying late.  How late?  I don't know.  Neither do they.  It's kinda frustrating because I'm a planner.  I want to know.  I need to know.  Even if I'm not happy about it, at least I can plan around it.  But, I'm in the dark...

Then Sunday, I have a training for participants of one of my events.  It's a three hour training on Sunday.  Then a meeting Monday night, Tuesday night, and Thursday night.  Saturday, there is another training for work that goes from 9:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m.  The next two weeks are going to be crazy. 

It's been slow going in the half marathon training.  Working all day is taking more out of me than I thought it would.  I don't remember work being this taxing before.  It's kinda freaking me out as I need to be training more and I'm not.  I did my long run last Sat. and did a 30 minute treadmill run on Monday.  Then cue the crickets... I really need to get moving on running more during the week...or maybe just doing something during the week...

While Operation 20 is basically off the table (which is sad since I made a logo and everything!), I'm still working on loosing.  This week sadly showed a lovely 0 on the scale - no loss, no gain.  The no gain I'm happy with.  The no loss?  Not so much.  I could have used a loss this week, but not gaining is good.  This is a new week.  Hopefully, next Friday will show a downward movement on the scale.

Another week...

The first full week in my office is over.  It went well.  Lots of meetings, appointments, and events.  I have lots of homework for when I'm in the office, plus trying to get to know my co-workers and volunteers.  It's a crazy two weeks before heading back to the training center to go over my homework.  It's the first time I've been employed where I've had homework assignments.  It's kinda strange...

I have noticed I'm tired at the end of the day.  Like really tired.  Like falling asleep at 10:00 p.m. tired.  Which is totally unlike me.  I'm a night person and can't usually fall asleep until close to midnight, if not later.  Guess this whole being out all day and meeting new people takes a lot out of you! 

The bigger issue to the sleep thing is the lack of running thing.  I'm having a hard time getting motivated to come home and run.  I get home and want to crash.  Last Monday was fine because I had off for President's Day, so I got my 4 mile run in during the day.  The issue I had the rest of the week was being tired and oh..the snow.  I get nervous running at night after it snows around here.  People have a tendency not to clean their sidewalks and I'm not keen on the idea of running on sidewalks with 1"-2" of snow and ice.  Ugh.  I really need to push myself to run on the treadmill for a little while at least.  It's better than nothing.  This week's goal is to run twice...whether it be outside or on the treadmill.

And for some reason, this week was foodapoluzza.  I don't know why, but I kept eating crap all week.  I ate more than I should have and exercised less than I should have.  I was this close to not bothering.  Why would I want to see a gain at the end of a trying week?  Well, I weighed-in anyway and low and behold, a .6 pound loss.  WHAT?!?  Crazy!  I was very, very happy.

Which brings us to Saturday morning and my long run.  The training plan stated 7 miles and off I went!  And still, 2 full days after the 2" of snow we received, people still hadn't shoveled their walks.  Ugh.  Makes running much more difficult.  But, I got my run in...not as fast as I would have liked, but eh.  I think I started off a tad bit too slow.  Must try to start a bit faster next time.  My next long run is 10 miles.  Eep!

First Day

As you know, last week was my first week of training for the new job.  It went well and I learned all sorts of things about the new company.  Honestly, I have never heard of a company training their employees for four weeks before they really get started.  It's so nice to know I have the ability to learn my job rather than try to do  it and learn it at the same time. 

If you are reading this around when I post, you might know that the weather on the East Coast isn't that great.  Our weather, where I'm from, was snow overnight (about 2") and it is sleeting and freezing rain.  It is not a great morning to start.  But, I will say, I am grateful that I received a phone call this morning for a two hour delay.  While I believe I could get to work this morning, I'm happy I have some time to get the office without the chance of an accident.

So, wish me luck!  This is my first day in my new office and meeting my co-workers.

Weekly Update

Well...this is embarrassing.  I hadn't meant to let it go a week between posts.  I had several ideas for posts, but then never quite got here...

So, let's start at the beginning.  Monday had two firsts...my first day at the new job and my first night run.  As you know, I've been without work for the past 18 months.  For a little while, not having to get up every day and go somewhere to work isn't necessarily awful (minusing out the lack of income of course).  Then...after a few days...it gets old. Well, that's all changed now.  I am now gainfully employed and a productive member of society.  This week was week 1 of training.  I have four weeks of training before I am set loose to do the job I was hired for.  So, week 1 is in the books.  For the next two weeks, I'll be in the office, learning all about my job, the people I'll be working with, where what I'm responsible for stands, what needs to happen, and all that fun stuff.  Then week 4 brings me back to the training facility to go over all the information I gathered during weeks 2 and 3 to determine an action plan going forward. 

Monday, also involved my first foray into night running.  With the new job, my days have just gotten a tad bit busier.  No running during the day for me now.  So, if I want to rock that half marathon I gotta start running at night.  I am now equipped with all sorts of running gear that lets me go out in the dark without getting run over (hopefully!).  I have a nice reflector vest, some new brightly colored running jackets, and a head lamp (kinda like a miner's lamp, just without the helmet).  It wasn't bad going out at night.  It was kinda odd running in the dark.  The plus side was I didn't notice the hills as they came up.  I didn't run up them any faster than usual, but I also didn't notice them.  LOL!  I will say running at night is kinda boring though.  I got my 4 miles in, which I'm pretty happy about for week 1.

And of course, there's a check in with Revised Operation 20.  Had a good running week, even if I didn't get 100% of miles in.  It was a rough week food wise as I was in training all week and lunch was provided by my company.  Trying to stay on plan while adjusting to a new schedule and having no control over my food during the day was difficult.  So, the grand total for the week was down 1.  Yup, after all the upheaval of the week, I was still down a pound.  I was happy.  Had hoped for more, but with all that was going on this week, being down at all is an accomplishment.  With this week's pound, I'm down a total of 4.6 pounds in two weeks.  Not bad.

So, there ya have it.  A quick recap of last week.  At least the major highlights.  ;-)