I need more strength training

I can't believe it's already Thursday! This week is flying, which I consider a good thing. Last night was a pretty good night at work. I was with a new preceptor, and she pretty much just let me do my own thing. While slightly terrifying (what if I mess up??), it's really the only way to learn how to be on your own. She jumped in if I was falling behind (everyone wants pain meds or needs a new bag of IV fluids...ALL AT THE SAME TIME), but in general I felt pretty good about how the night went. I spotted an infiltrated IV and restarted it on the other arm...on my first try! I was a bit worried because it didn't look like the patient had any other veins to try for, so I was hoping I'd get it on the first stick otherwise I'm not sure what we would have done. Afterward, my preceptor confirmed my thoughts! Good thing it went it...I was super nervous.

I have a different preceptor tonight, who I've been cautioned about by multiple nurses. They say she's a good nurse, but very intense, knowledgeable, and in your face. Should be an interesting night! Tomorrow I'm supposed to go to "Arrest Day" where we learn all about codes and such. It's during normal day hours...hopefully we don't get out too late tonight!

I'm heading to Princeton this weekend for my BIRTHDAY! I'll be the big 2-5 on Saturday...even though I still look 17. Oh well. I don't really have many friends out this way, so James is planning something that will hopefully involve some of his friends. :)

I had a good morning! I feel accomplished when I get things done, so I made myself get out of bed before nine. I'm hoping to make 8-8:30 more of my routine, but I'm still adjusting. It's a little drizzly out, which actually made for a really nice run! I was only going to do four, but then I decided on five, and once I got running...six was the magic number!

Thursday, June 18
6.09 miles in 48:57, avg pace of 8:02

I'm hovering right around an eight minute mile, but I still freak out slightly when my garmin says 8:10 or something like that. I've definitely lost a little fitness since marathon training since I haven't been running as much, and I got used to dropping 7:30 miles without noticing. I probably sound like a broken record, but I need to remind myself that I'm base building (of sorts...marathon still yet to be determined!) and the time on the clock doesn't matter that much. I should write that on my hand or something...that would be fun to explain to patients!

As for the title of this post, nursing is a very physical job, in which I lift very large people on a regular basis. I am not a large person, which makes moving people difficult! Good posture and technique only goes so far when the patient is twice your size. Therefore, I really need to work on being consistent with my strength training to help reduce the risk of injurying myself. I kind of feel off the bandwagon when I got my massive allergy attacks, so I hopped back on today, and it felt great! I need to find some exercises to strengthen my back...that would definitely be beneficial as a nurse and as runner for a strong core. Any suggestions??

Still catching up on blogs...hope everyone is having a great week!