Sleep - The cure for a better exercise program and life

Last year I begin to notice that I was often falling asleep at work and required a walk to get the blood flowing again.  In the beginning I thought it was due to a job that wasn't very stimulating.  Then I noticed at home I was getting a bit on edge and was often a bit grumpy.  I got 7 hours of sleep every night, that is more than the average person, so that shouldn't have been the problem or was it. 

So I looked back a little on my exercise routine.  I would do pretty good for 3 or 4 months and then just wouldn't have the energy to continue and would take a break only to start the cycle over and over.  I had worked hard on adjusting my exercise program with increasing intensity and recovery weeks , and nothing seemed to work.  I remember the days when I would be excited to get out of bed, but they seemed to be in the hazy past and I just attributed my lack of energy to old age.

Then I decided to see if I could change the tide and get my energy level back.  I made it a priority to get at least 8 hours of sleep every night.  While I still wanted to exercise the #1 priority over all else was to get 8 hours of sleep.  At first it was hard to sleep past my normal time, so I started going to bed earlier.  No problem falling asleep, just staying that way was still an issue.  I thought of taking some supplements, but the idea of taking any type of drug was not appealing. 

Fast forward about 8 months and my body is getting use to the idea that it can sleep longer than 7 hours.  At first I would sleep over 8 hours on the good nights and back to 7 on the okay.  We'll not talk about how many hours I got on the bad nights.  I had to learn to relax when I woke up at night and not worry I was losing sleep.  I still have some nights I don't sleep well, but when that happens it doesn't ruin the next day. 

I believe your sleep patent is often a learned behavior.  Our body learns what we tell it to do.  So if we tell it we need 7 hours of sleep it will try and learn to sleep only 7 hours.  I've always woken up before my alarm, but now I'm walking up before my alarm with energy to exercise, tough I don't jump right out of bed, I'm a lot more energetic. 

An important fact to waking up earlier than my alarm was trying not to wake up  to exercise and just try to sleep.  Remember the #1 goal was to sleep close to 8 hours.  I could do exercises at night if I got a good night sleep, since I wouldn't be too tired.  Of course exercising too late made it hard to get to bed early enough to get the 8 hours sleep.  If you think you need to wake up early to exercise, you will, which defeats the purpose of sleeping in. 

Now I'm get about 8 hours a night and this morning work up about 6:15 am.  Plenty of time to do my strength routine.  I want to move my bed time to 10 pm and see if I can wake up a little earlier so I can have a great productive morning and do not only some strength training but a little cardio as well.

Sweet Dreams
Dana

Price Rite - Opening Sunday

Last fall the big chain Stop and Shop pulled out of New Hampshire leaving us without a grocery store across the street for for the first time since we moved to Manchester.  This coming Sunday a new chain grocery store called Price Rite is opening at 8:00 am.

They are a little different then what we are use to, here is some pictures of their new signs.

The shopping carts will lock up if taken out of the parking lot.

As usual no pets are allowed, but also no checks.  They will also give us 10 cents for each sturdy and reusable bag we provide.  Interesting they have to include the word sturdy.

Here are the store hours.

Google Wallet

So I have my new Nexus 6 Smartphone and there is an app for Google Wallet.  I looked into it and learned since I had already purchased stuff from Google Play my account was just about all set up.  I just needed to activate it on my phone and add a password.  Once everything was set up I had to find a place to try it out, seems many places do not take Google wallet just yet.

Yesterday, walking downtown Manchester, without my wallet, but I did have my cell phone.  I realized I was a little hungry.  I slowed down as I walked past Subway I noticed they took Google Wallet.  I went inside ordered my sandwich and paid using my cell phone.  Pretty neat little trick to have on those days you forget your wallet at home.

Look What I Finally Got

I finally have joined the world of smartphones and my wireless carrier is Google's Project Fi. For me the cost was the deciding factor.  I don't plan on using a lot of data, so price was the deciding factor.  With 1 GB of data Project Fi is cheaper then my current plan.  The only downside was I had to actually purchase the Nexus 6, a bit pricey, but does have a lot of great benefits.

Here is a special welcoming package I got along with my phone.  The headphone has an extra jack so two people can listen to the same thing.  An extra battery that I can plug into my phone to recharge my phone while out and about.  Lastly, a cover for the phone.  Though I got a much better cover from my old carrier free, before I left, using the points I had accumulated.

Water For Good

Next weekend we are taking part in a fundraiser designed to let people know how good we have it and to encourage those who are blessed to help out the less fortunate.  In many places in the world people do not have access to water clean or dirty at their home.  Instead they must walk 1, 2, 3 maybe 5 or more miles to get water for their everyday needs.

Imagine what it is like having only 5 gallons of water to use everyday, and you have to fetch that water from a source that is  at least 1 mile from your home, but wait there is more.  The water you bring home is not even clean water, but can be not only muddy, but could contain disease.

That is the situation many people face.  One organization is working to solve that problem by digging wells in central africa and then setting up a program where the town is responsible for maintaining the well.  They don't just walk away, they also help with the maintenance, but want the town to be part of the solution and bare responsibility as well.

As part of raising awareness me and Starry will be carrying 5 gallon of water for 1 mile (it i probably less then a mile, but we get the picture by the end of our short trek).  We are asking people to help, by donating at least $5.  Every $5 provides a year of clean water for a person in the Central African Republic, ending their walk for dirty water!

Donate here at Our Donation Page  - This is our second year.

Learn more about Water for Good here Water for Good

Biking with Activity Tacker

It has been a while since I have been able to put any thoughts down.  Last Easter I had three boys (ages 1, 2 and 5) enter my home through the NH DCYF.  They went home before Thanksgiving.  On December 18 I received two boys ages 3 and 8.  When June came around I realized I was at zero energy and not able to meet all the commitments the boys brought to the home so they were transferred out of my home the middle of June.

I've spent the last month or so recovering and then this past Saturday I was looking forward to taking a bike ride to our Men's Breakfast at our church.  Saturday morning I woke up an hour early and got ready and was heading out the door when I realized what time it really was.  Went back to bed and got some more sleep.  Then headed out the 10 or so miles to our church. I've only done a few errands on the bike the past week and just started running again last week as well.  During the past year I gained back the 10 pounds I had lost in my fitness program.

Biking to the event was good.  I had some energy left and even managed not to pig out at the breakfast buffet.  But after an hour I was not ready to bike home, but had no other options, so back I went.  It was tougher, and took a little longer, but I made it back and was pretty useless for the rest of the morning.  Ended up taking a nap at noon.

As part of my routine to encourage me to stay active I've been wearing my Polar activity tracker and it does well, but on the bike ride - very disappointing.  I realize that it doesn't track when my arm is still so i stuck it in my pants so it would get the motion from pedalling.  Well after the trip there and back it barely registered 2,500 steps.  You got to be kidding, 20 miles later and I had nothing to show.  I do realized I coast at times, but that was just plan disappointing.

I have now switched to the new Garmin Vivoactive, which has a biking and running feature so I get credit for what I really am doing and it has a GPS unit to track my mileage, speed, pace, cadence (for biking I think you need to purchase a separate sensor).

Staying fit is not cheap.

5K Turkey Trot 2013 - PR

Time for another 5K race - same one as last year so I was hoping to see how much I improved.  To develop a plan I ran the course a few weeks prior.  My plan was to do the first mile under 11 minutes while I warmed up.  Then the next mile I wanted to maintain 10 and the last mile I had done under 9 minutes so I should be able to make it to the finish line at 30 minutes.

Weather was 22 degrees F with a very light wind.  Last year the temperatures were in the 40's and for my practice run in the 50's, so big difference and not a good sign for setting a personal best.

Started out at a faster pace then I did last year, with a time of 9:54 and HR average of 150, but the pace felt right, so I stuck with it.  The hill went about as planned, at 10:22 and an average HR of 162. So far my average heart rate was up a lot higher for longer then I had trained with in the past.  Now I wasn't sure how the last mile would go and was wondering if I made a mistake and pushed it too hard and fast on the first part of the race, but I still felt okay.  Tried to pick up the pace, but it didn't seem like I was going that much faster, HR average ended up at 166 with a max of 173, but despite the feeling my pace was faster at 8:52, some slight downhills helped.  The last tenth was slower, but still under 10. Finished with an official time of 31:00 last time I finished at 32:36.

Due to the cold I feel pretty good about my time. They also say the cold will increase the heart rate a bit too. The fastest runners were about 10 seconds slower then last year, so it wasn't just me.  If they had a timed us from the starting line, instead of gun time, I might have actually gotten a time under 30 minutes (or at least that's what I'm going to tell myself.)

576   617 Dana         M   MANCHESTER        NH  54/86   341/585  M50-59  31:00 10:00