Self Care Schedule

I've been working on an overall self-care plan. Trying to integrate physical health, emotional health, mental health, spiritual health, beauty, & fitness into an overall regimen that doesn't take hours each day has been difficult. 

Some things, like getting at least 8 hours of sleep and eating real food at least twice a day, shouldn't take up additional time each day; I just need to be mindful of them. 

Other things I'm trying to remember to do every day include flossing, stretching, and moisturizing (feet, hair, and hands.) I'm also working on journaling and meditating/praying each day. 

I'm using google calendar to help me out with the non-daily parts. I'm attempting to clean my face (OCM) 3 times a week and exfoliate twice a week. Saturdays I plan to do my hair & soak my feet; Sundays will be manicure day. 

Hopefully, these things will all become second nature. 

Move Your Body

In addition to running, pole, and strength training, I've been throwing in other activities here and there.

In particular, I've done a lot of Zumba. So much so, that I'm actually considering becoming a Zumba instructor next year. I really love the high intensity and the music. I still remember going to my first Zumba class; about 10 minutes in I thought maybe I had made a terrible mistake & I was going to die before the hour was over.  For several months, I still got that feeling, but it came later & later into the class. Eventually, I got to the point of being fully functional even after an entire class.

I also tried Bellydance! It was great, and I plan to go back to it. But I have too many different types of workouts going on right now. It was definitely a great core workout though.  After my first class, I was pretty sore.  I think I could feel each individual rib.

I'm planning to delve into cycling a little bit, but I need to acquire a bike first. When I took a spin class a few months ago, my butt hurt for 2 or 3 days, so finding the right fit is fairly important.  Still, I really love the idea of  a bike for quick local errands.

Hair Care Follow Up

I did it! I relaxed my hair myself.

It was easier than I was afraid of, but definitely held some challenges.  I started with the front of my hair, which made it more difficult to see what I was doing.

In addition to doing it myself, I did 2 things differently than we had been doing with my relaxers.  The first was to oil the shaft of my hair to protect already relaxed hair from being processed again. The second was to add a mid-relaxer protein treatment. On the advice of a youtube video (because where else do you learn things?) I used the conditioner included with the relaxer kit before the neutralizing shampoo, and then used another deep conditioner at the end.

In the initial aftermath, I noticed less breakage during blow drying.  After blow drying, my hair was a bit dry, but (possibly in my imagination) not as dry as usual. I will continue to experiment with conditioning treatments.

A Very Hair-y Subject

Not a very original title, I know.

I'm 39 years old, and I've been relaxing my hair since I was about 6. Obviously, that initial decision wasn't mine, but I made the decision to continue doing it. I've contemplated going natural before, and I decided against it. But this isn't a post about that.

This post is about the fact that tonight, after 30+ years, I'm going to actually relax my hair myself for the first time.

For the past couple of years, my roommate has been doing it, and she's still going to be there tonight to help me out.  After all this time, I obviously know what the process is, but having never done it, I don't know things like how long it will physically take me to get through my hair or how to manage through sections of my hair that I can't see (though I suspect that will be similar to flat-ironing the hair on the back of my head.)

I watched a few YouTube videos (which I will link to later) and picked up some additional tips, as well as created a shopping list of additional supplies for next time.

I'm slightly nervous, but feeling very empowered.  WIsh me luck!

Running updates

So far in 2014, I've completed 5 5Ks.

January 1, I did the first at a pace of 17 minutes/mile. I walked the entire thing, so I felt good about that. I know that many races have cut-off times of 16 min/mile (or less) so that gave me a good starting point.

March 1, I did a race that I ended up hating.  The terrain was rough, it was really hilly, and it was pretty disorganized. I'm glad I completed it, but my pace was over 18 min/mile.

April 5, I had a great run and was most proud of how well I fueled myself for it. I broke 16 min/mile and felt fantastic. I mean, I totally crashed & went back to bed that afternoon, but it felt fantastic up until then.

May 3, my pace was just over 16 min/mile.  I didn't fuel quite enough, so I ran out of steam with a little over a half mile to go.

May 10, I did something resembling actual running! I broke 15 minutes/mile! The course was almost perfectly flat, so that helped.   But overall, I could feel the progress from the last couple races.

I'm planning a 4-miler for the end of this month, but I'm giving up on the 10K for June.  I just haven't been training any distance. 

I'm still planning on the 8K in August, so that's my next challenge.

Facing Facts

I  just had a facial. Ow.

After relaxing alone in the room, I was joined by the aesthetician. She pulled one of those horrifyingly large magnifying glasses over to my face and said "I do a lot of extractions on you, ok?"

Having been using the OCM (though not exclusively) for a couple of months now, I've become a little obsessed with my skin, and in particular, my pores.  I was getting decent results and then had a series of breakouts, quite possibly due to stress.  So, in hopes of further unclogging my pores, I went for a facial. And I was enthusiastic about the extractions... until they started.  If you haven't been through this process, just be aware - this is not the relaxing, cucumber on the eyelids facial they show you on tv. It is a relatively painful process that left me looking like I'd been attacked by bees.  Granted, my pores were pretty clogged - but I'd wager yours are too. The discomfort goes away pretty quickly, and the swelling followed suit after about 40 minutes.

Since then, I've been trying to exfoliate regularly and continue to unclog my pores as much as I can from home.  I'm probably going to buy my own extraction tool as well.  I think it will take a couple more sessions to get the results I really want.

Non-Scale Victories

Since starting my journey to better health & better fitness, I've lost about 20 pounds.  But that's not the point.  Here are a list of things that have happened along the way:

• I can walk up 4 flights of stairs without needing to stop to rest (or thinking I'm going to die.)
• I can button my jeans without looking or feeling like a sausage.
• That would be my old jeans that I couldn't fit into for the 2 years before that.
• I have completed 3 5Ks.
• I can climb on pole (a little bit).
• I can see definition in my biceps.
• I have successfully worked out more days than not for the past 3 months.
• I have lost 2 inches on my waist (which I mostly only care about as it relates to my clothes).