Exercising away...still.

Over spring break, I'll admit...I WAS LAZY.

However, I did run once and take the dog out for a walk once. If you've ever taken a 68 pound English bulldog out on a walk, you would agree it's a workout worthy of posting.

Using MyPlate has been interesting. I will say I'm not the best at adding my food as I eat, or even in the day I eat. I've found it takes longer to do that I normally have periodically throughout the day. So, I end up writing it all down and doing 2-3 days worth of entries at a time. It's a bad idea...in case you were wondering. But I'm getting great ideas for our project...things like "I wish myplate was FREE for my blackberry!"

Just a shout out to the class...everyone PLEASE get us your answers to our questions as soon as possible. Thanks ladies!

On a Positive Note

This week I read an article entitled “Food: Six Things to Feel Good About” from the New York Times (which you can read here). The author, Mark Bittman, has a weekly column where he discusses different issues relating to food, health and nutrition. Generally, his columns revolve around something that he is upset about or that is particularly disheartening. In this one, however, he takes the time to look at some of the bright spots in the food industry. He looks at things such as the newfound power people are taking in deciding what food they should eat and where it should come from and the Wal-Mart initiative to make their offerings more health-conscious. I enjoyed reading this article because it helped me to see that there are some bright spots to this issue. For instance, I did not know that there are currently 6,000 farmers in the U.S. or that that number is a 250% increase over the number of farmers there were in 1994. I think that is a pretty impressive statistic and shows that people are starting to reclaim responsibility for the food we eat. I also liked hearing about the work that is underway to make school lunches healthier. It is important for good nutrition to be taught to children at a young age and this is a great way to show them how to eat well for the rest of their lives. Overall, I thought that this article touched on a lot of topics that I did not know much about.

Our service project is going well, we have a pretty solid survey created and I think that we have a clear outlook on just where we want to go with it. I am excited to show everyone where we are and see where everyone else is with their projects! I cannot wait to actually send the survey out to people!

Unfortunately, the weather this week has not been very conducive to getting out and biking or walking, so I have not done anything yet. Things are supposed to look better this weekend, so hopefully it will be warm and sunny so I can get in some time outside!

Spring Break!

Last week’s class outing was great! I enjoyed walking with Cassie, and liked getting to see the trails behind Salem. I had never been back there before, but now I think that I would be much more likely to use the trails, either on foot or riding a bike. I have also been taking advantage of the beautiful weather this week (between 70° and 80° in Raleigh) to get out and walk a lot, especially around my neighborhood and at different local parks. Overall, my spring break has given me more freedom to get out during the day and be more active! It has also made me even more impatient for the summer and more warm weather!

I am impressed by how well my group’s service project is coming together! Now that we all have a really clear purpose and objective I think that we can start to survey our target group and get our product developed. I am looking forward to this second half of the semester to find out what Salem’s needs are and how we can serve them!

Ow, Ow, Ow.

Monday this week, I was not feeling great. I think I'm allergic to Mondays. However, after my 5:30pm class, I drug myself to the YMCA for my 7pm private swim lesson. After I finished teaching my lesson, I was wet and cold and rather miserable, but I made myself get back in the pool and continue swimming. I swam for just about 2,200 meters. On Wednesday, I taught a private lesson at 1pm (making me late to class--finding the class missing). Lesson learned--do NOT teach preschool lessons on Wednesday at 1pm. While I didn't physically swim laps, working with 4 four-year-olds for 45 minutes takes a lot out of you. Regardless, after my 5:30pm class, I taught my 7pm private lesson and then swam about 3,000 yards. Thursday morning, I "Dawn-ed with the Dean" again, running 3 miles. Today, after work at 6pm, I ran around the campus at Wake. Unfortunately, I think I pulled my groin muscle. I ended the run, and am currently icing my leg. Pain, Pain gooooo away!

Still excited about using myplate. And very excited to hear the class' answers to our group questions. (Look out for an email from Amy Allison.)

Tia/ Projects/Biking

At this point, I am clear on my vision for the project, but I am not so clear as to how my vision will fit in with what the group wants to do. My group and I have not met to discuss exactly what it is we are doing, and I'm a little uncomfortable about that. I sent them both emails to see if we could set up a time to meet outside of class. As far as biking goes, I was finally able to check out a bike from Shober that was in full operating condition. It was an old fashioned cruiser bike, but thats just my style. My schedule did not permit me to get out on the Saturday bike ride, but Sunday and this morning gave me an opportunity to get out and ride. I LOVE IT!! Part of what I would like to do for my part of the project includes biking for at least 30minutes to an hour per day, so if I am able to get outdoors and ride versus riding a stationary in the fitness center, this part will be a breeze! I'm still going to check into getting a new tire for my bike at home, the only issue then would be transporting the bike to the cool places because my neighborhood is nice, but I don't really want to ride here, too many hills. :-)

Project Ideas

This week, we got to discuss some of our ideas regarding our service projects with Matt Gymer from Novant Health. It was a good opportunity to flesh out some of the ideas we had in our minds. Matt seemed intrigued by Cassie’s idea to create an app of some sort that we could use at Salem and expand to other colleges. I think that this is a great idea and that it would be really helpful to have an app that would keep track of my unique wellness rather than a generic one that does not necessarily have information specific to me. I can’t wait to get started working to figure out just what will be on the app and how we can make it applicable to all students. I also enjoyed the opportunity to see how SurveyMonkey works. I have received many surveys from it but I have never personally used it. After seeing just what it entails, however, I think that it should be fairly easy. I want to find out what our results will be and how we can incorporate them into our project to make something that will really help the Salem community.

Since the weather was so nice on Saturday, I decided to walk my dog at a local park. I think we both really enjoyed it and I was sore the next day from all the hills!

Running! Finally!

So this was the first week I was officially cleared to start training hard again. I've been running everyday as well as playing tennis. I feel so much better this week than I have the past two weeks. I still have to take it easy as far as how much I do everyday but I am excited to be able to run and not just stationary bike. I have also been tracking my exercise and food intake on myplate for 13 days straight. It is getting more difficult because I am getting more busy as the semester goes on. I am planning to track this for at least the whole month of March. This will work well with our projects because it may be able to show how exercising everyday and making healthier food choices can change a person. Also having talked to my group I am confident that we will have a n a mazing project but we will need the classes help.

Beautiful Saturday

I hope everyone enjoyed the extraordinary day today, it was so lovely outside. Too lovely, in fact. I woke up early and did some brainstorming for my group's project (I'm with the CDI folks), and intended to spend the rest of the day knocking out some papers. However, the sunshine was way too alluring and I found myself blowing everything off to take my kids and dog on a terrific hike/bike ride/scooter ride throughout our neighborhood. It was an excellent stress relief, I realized. For when we made it back home a few hours later I was so much more relaxed and able to focus on some of the assignments that had been set aside when Miles (my son) was in the hospital a couple of weeks ago.

I feel really excited, more excited than I had initially thought I would be, about the bike project with my group. Since meeting yesterday to nail down some specifics I feel like I have something concrete to start working on. It's also been fun getting to know members of my group and hearing about their different experiences biking and hiking and what have you.

A Frustrating Spring & Infinity MPG

Rain, rain, go away.  I was able to get in 40 miles on the bike last week, but my weekend plans for finishing my 70 miles for the week, were thwarted by about 2 inches of rainfall.  The weather was pleasant enough until about 3pm on Saturday, when the skies opened up.  I teach on Saturdays so I was unable to get out onto the trail before the rain started.

Not to be dissuaded, I was able to get on the trail after class today. Unfortunately, I was unable to finish the 18 mile loop, because the trail was under water halfway along the greenway (the perils of floodplain greenway trails - pretty, but unpredictable after a rain storm).  So I was forced to turn around.  I was still able to get in about 10 miles because I repeated the section between Salem College and Washington Park.  I know this will not be the last weekend that my bike plans are spoiled by the rain.  I just have to remember, wet springs come with living in North Carolina.

I also took a "detour" to spot the frogs I had been hearing in the new temporary pools all along the greenway.  The sound of frogs calling is one of my favorite signs of spring.  While you are out walking or biking around, take note of some of the non-native species of plants and animals.  I suggest a simple google/wikipedia search of "non-native plants/animals NC" to get an idea of just how many of the plants and animals you see on a daily basis are not naturally occurring in this area.  It looks like we will have perfect weather this weekend, I can't wait to get out on the trail again.  I just wish there was more trail out there to explore. 

While reading Desiree's blog post about the "3 feet please" campaign, I got distracted and found another cool t-shirt design with a bike logo.  Kind of along the same lines as the LA Metro campaign.  I can't wait to see what the "Buzz about Bikes" or "MST" groups come up with if they choose to include print design into their projects.

Lots to Share!

I have so much to share this week!
First, I wanted to talk more about my article. Actually, I had two--which fit nicely together. The Naked Bike Ride article was my favorite. I thought the ride was a creative way to express cyclist vulnerability when braving the roads with automobiles. I have included a video from the World Naked Bike Ride 2008, which was held in Vancouver. (Beware, there is some "indecent exposure"; but I assume we're all over 18...aka can watch "R" rated movies.)

World Naked Bike Ride Vancouver - 2008 from Ian MacKenzie on Vimeo.

The second article is about the "1 METER PLEASE" campaign for cycling on the roads. This campaign focuses on educating drivers the distance needed to pass a cyclist on the roads safely, being 1 meter. "The key thing for motorists to remember if they come upon a cyclist from the rear and cannot give at least one meter of space when passing is to wait until they can," states avid cyclist and campaign founder Joe Mizereck. (View Article.) The campaign has recently introduced a campaign jersey. Cool, huh? (:

Next, last night, while babysitting until 2am, I downloaded lots of cool Apps to my phone. Boredom officially set in after UNC's unfortunate win. Two that I am particularly excited about is a running program. It creates my workouts and talks to me while I run. The second is a calorie counter. I thought this would be an easy way to continue to count my calories without having to log online. I do plan to create a myplate.com account this week, but in the meantime I like having the calorie counter with me at all times on my Blackberry.

Also, I'm really excited to get started working with Matt Gymer at Novant Health. I think this project is going to be pretty cool. I also think the myplate.com website is going to be pretty amazing and help me control my "in" calories, which is something every American could use. I hope my group can help Novant Health promote this website! Plus, I love the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Here's the link to the website in case any of you are more curious: MyPlate. Also, for you Facebook users, you can follow LiveStrong on there as well.

Lastly, this week, I rode on Tuesday. I had plans to head out to the barn today, but the rain has stopped that! I did hit the pool yesterday for a few hours and got a good couple (4) thousand yards in. (So i got wet anyway.) My arms are dead today...

Rain, Rain, go away, come again some other day.

A walk and service project

I went out this afternoon to map out a way to get to Salem by bike with the least amount of involvement with traffic. Initially, I went down Marshall (I live on 1st) and then crossed over on Academy. I took the strollway back and this seems to be the best option to avoid traffic. I'll have to walk my bike (when I get one) up 1st as it's one way between my place and the strollway, and then bike once I reach it. I wanted to ask if anyone has opinions/ideas about buying a bike. I've been doing research online, but with all the info out there, it's kind of overwhelming. I don't want to spend a bazillion dollars on one, so that leaves the custom bikes out, but what should I be looking for in an everyday fixed gear bike? This was much simpler when I was a kid and all I had to decide about a bike was whether or not to get the white wicker basket with the daisies on it. :)

As for my service project, the one with Novant Health on Bike City USA seemed the most appealing to me since one of my majors is Creative Writing. I wasn't in class the day the person from the Center for Design Innovation came, but the project on Generating Buzz About The Bike also seems interesting since it involves creativity, too.

Biking, not quite what I imagined. And Project Idea.

So I went biking this week instead of my usual run. I did stationary biking though. I biked for around 2 hours. I would have much rather went running, but do to an injury I am not allowed to run for at least another week. So until then I am allowed to bike and that is it. I was extremely upset to find this news and am still to scared to get back on a regular bike. The fear of destroying the bike is too much for me at this point. Overall the biking went well. I did a lot of reading but in general I was bored. Sitting for that long was irritating, especially when I'm used to being outside and running on the greenways.

I have also been trying to figure out what I want to do for my project. I am trying to pick something that is interesting to me and something that I could be good at. I would like to do either the Novant Health, health product development or Center for design innovation's creating buzz about the bike. I like the first topic because I am good at surveying and studying people. I like the second one because I love the greenways in Winston and feel that they have really changed my everyday life. I am on them almost everyday and think more people should be aware that they exist.