Wed- Dec. 30th

So, I did a little Ellipical-101 today - as in 30 minutes easy. I wish I could jump on their for hours and just burn up calories but I know my right hip/knee/foot would not appreciate that.

Tomorrow I am going to go for a run. I hope it is not cold as hell out there. I hate colder than -10.

Wed. Dec. 23rd

Well hello long lost blog friends.

So, things have gotten just about as stressful as they could possibly get short of somebody dying. Thankfully nobody has died so that is good.

Anyways... my life has been a mess for about 5 weeks now dealing with my mom's medical state (she has been in hospital then a care centre since the middle of November). On Monday I went to check her her apartment and get the mail to find out that it had been flooded the previous Wednesday. What? They didn't have us down as emergency contacts? What fun! All her stuff sat in water for how many days? Oh good! Important documents and photo albums too. Of course!

Anyways... that was a little too much stress but my sister used her excellent management skills to get it all sorted out and I just rode along for the ride. As of this morning all the contents are out and it is out of our hands. We saved what we could and got the rest ready to move. One of my good friends took my kids for the day and even took them out for an evening outing while my sister and husband and I worked on the mess. She is the uber-est-Mommy I know. (she has 3 kids of her own under 5 years old, one is only 4 months old too). Thanks Amber!

So, my sister sees the same trainer as I do and she dragged me over there today since I missed Monday and I got a workout done today. That felt good.

I am really hoping to take back my life starting next Monday. Why not today? Well lets just make it past Christmas right? OK.

Its all good!

Weekly Blogger

Hmmm... I seem to have become a weekly blogger. Maybe because I don't really have much to report.

Went to personal training again yesterday. Whined and complained as usual.

The evil cold snap seems to have unsnapped. Minus single digits feels so warm! Ha!

I have been a real exercise slacker lately. Need to cut that out.

Better

Today is a better day. Thank God!

Yesterday was terrible and today is looking up. That is a good direction for things to be going in.

Made it to my personal training today. That was very nice (even though it was hard exercise). Those of you that said to get exercise in were right on the money.

Anyways... running outside is not an option right now. Walking outside is cough inducing because of the cold. Forget about the ice on the sidewalks. Looks like I'm going to have to make friends with a treadmill for a while. However, since I down have one in my house and getting to the gym is not going to happen.... looks like I will be using Treadmill's lesser cousin Elliptical. Better than nothing!

Sunday

Well I managed to do 30 minutes on Elliptical. My eating has been terrible. I guess tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it. (so says Anne Shirley)

Gong show with my mother today. Not sure if she is in the right place right now. Thinking I should be missing work to sort out stuff and make sure things get on track.

Maybe it is good this is happening now instead of 20 years from now. If I was 57 I might give myself a heart attack over this stress. Someone stop this ride. I want off!

Friday

OK, I am beginning to feel like a soft boiled egg and someone is hitting me with a fork. ie) I feel like I am about to crack (from the stress of my mom's medical situation).

She had a tough recovery from the triple bypass. Physically she is doing a lot better. She seems very stressed mentally. I am tired mentally from 3 weeks of this. Trying not to snap. Also my 6 year old has been a hellion mornings and evenings (days he is in school). It is REALLY wearing me down.

I skipped my bike class yesterday. Not a good precedent.

I am not giving up though. Lots of people are saying "Take some time for you" . Oh, how exactly do I do that right now besides skipping work or something?

Anyways... sorry for the Debbie Downer post. Maybe this weekend will go a little better. Winter has come to kick our ass. It is dumping snow and drivers in this city will create chaos because of it. Sidewalks will be treacherous. It is overdue though. We have had nice weather longer than I expected us to.

So.... I will attempt some indoor, at home, exercise greatness in the next 3 days. I will report back when I achieve something.

Thanks for reading.

Monday - Personal Training

Personal training today. I can tell it is going to be hard to steer the car in the next couple of days. Lots of arm work.

Did 3K on the treadmill at incline of at least 1.5.

Originally he said 15 minutes and I said I wanted to do 21 minutes (because I did not get a chance to run beforehand) so I did 23 to make it to 3K.

Funny, 3K sounds piddly but hey, at least it is running.

New word of the day

My son is in grade one (or first grade for you Amarikins). Yesterday his new word was "burn" and he has to make up a sentence with the word in it. His sentence?

"My mom likes to burn calories."

Yikes!!! Obviously little ears hear everything.

Monday - Personal Training

Had a great personal training session yesterday. I didn't get to run beforehand (had to remote in to work) but ran 3K on the treadmill then challenging weights.

Tomorrow morning is my mom's surgery.

I am covering for someone at work who is on short term disability. He job has time critical stuff that I have to chase people around to complete. Timing completely sucks. If surgery has complications though my boss will understand and pass her work to someone else. I am trying to keep doing it though to make myself useful. (previously my contract was going to end at the end of December)

Not sure if I will exercise today since I will likely go straight from work to hospital in early afternoon and stay there until 8 or 9.

At least I have kept my eating under control during all this stress. I'm afraid the stress might increase when she comes home. Right now she is being taken care of in the hospital. When she comes out I am the care giver.

Phewsh!

Its been a while! I finally ran today thanks to the prodding from my dear friend Dino. Thanks for pushing me out the door and entertaining the 4 year old. You are the bestest!

I ran 20 minutes at easy speed. It was good to get out there. The weather is unseasonably warm and has been all week. I've been missing out!

Mom has surgery scheduled for Wednesday. Hopefully she will come through it with flying colours.

Done and Done

Miss Lazy Boots got on the Eliptical for an hour while watching a Jane Austen movie that I've never seen (Northanger Abbey). Gotta love a good period piece chick flick. Who will the heroine choose? I don't know, I've only watched half so far.

Time: 1 hour
What: Intervals on the Eliptical. 2 mins hard effort, 2 minutes easy. Repeat.
Cals: 772 according to the machine.

Better than lying in bed watching TV. Now I don't feel like such a lazy slug.

Up next: Run in the am then personal training ass kicking. I love Mondays! (kinda)

Week in Review

Monday - 26 minute run then 1hour personal training (weights etc.)

Tues / Wed - Nada? What the heck?

Thursday: 2 hours cycling at class. Legs were very tired by the end likely not recovered from the previous Saturday's race. Still worked hard though.

Friday: Did weight routine homework from trainer. Its a Miracle! Didn't want to have to go back there and admit to not doing it. Hahaha.

Saturday: Should have run. However went to an all day long Scrapbooking thingie and did not work in the running.

Sunday: It is 6pm and have not done anything yet. I think I might put in some time on the *gasp* Eliptical! I should get on there more often just to burn of calories especially since I am not perfect with my eating.

I did not get my act organized this past week food wise and therefore eating was rather random and I'm pretty sure I won't have a loss tomorrow.. However today I have my plan printed out for this week. Most of my food is bought. Now to stick to it! I realize now that I need to do that on Sunday not Monday. Monday I just have too many places to be. (drop and pick up both kids at different times, trainer, nutrition guy etc.)

Exercising was more sparse than usual too. I am getting used to being back at personal training and doing the cycling. Need to get back to the 3 runs a week. I promise to do that Steph!

Thank you Internet friends who check up on me. Hi to Tony who sent me a message!

Monday - did my run - Yippeee

So, does anyone else have this trouble? I can comment on some blogs but not others from this particular computer (Hi Fatinah!). I can't even comment on a blog that I author. Weird! Unfortunately this means I sometimes read stuff, can't comment, then forget to comment later. Sorry!

Anyways... I managed to run yesterday before going to personal training. This left more time for personal trainer to make me do weights. (usually he has me run for 10-15 minutes). He also gave me a sheet of "homework" to do at home. I must must do that. My pushups and dips are beyond pathetic.

On another note: I need to firm up my running plan. My previous plan was to run 3 times a week, adding 2 minutes to each run weekly until I hit 30 minutes. Time to make a new Mega Plan!

One of my old school running friends is suggesting she might like to do a half marathon in SF next October. That sounds like it is do-able (and a cool idea since I have never been there) I need to come up with a long slow plan to work myself up to that distance without pissing off my nemesis (plural) aka right foot and right hip. If I do it slowly enough I hope I can fly under the radar without pissing them off too badly. Like a really extended plan way longer than the usual 16 week plan or whatever. Hmmm.... Don't want to ask my husband though. His plans are always way too hard :) However, a 40 week plan seems like a recipe for burnout. We shall see.

8K Race done

So, I ran my favourite race again. And again I was not trained properly for it. However, I loved doing it and I tried really hard. It is an 8K race where the first 4K is all uphill (and some of it is pretty darn steep)

My finishing time was not quite my personal worst. I was 1 minute slower the year I had a 6 month old baby at home. Hahahaha.

This was the first year I can remember it snowing during the race. That was a tad annoying. It was 1 degree C at race time. I wore a short sleeved shirt, a long sleeved shirt, medium tights, no hat. That seemed to be the right clothes for me.

I wore my heart rate monitor. I like to wear it mostly just to glance at to see if I am working hard enough during the race and it it fun to have some stats afterwards.

For my age my theoretical maximum heart rate is 183. However I am pretty sure my actually max heart rate is 184. I can't remember seeing it higher than that in a long time. I did see 188 briefly a couple of years ago.

So, this race is 4K uphill then 4K downhill. My max heart rate during the race was 184. My average heart rate was 175 (and according to my heart rate monitor I burned 1142 cals). That is freaking high people! This tells me 2 things.

1) I tried really hard. I did not slack off at all.

2) Unfortunately the high average heart rate is an indicator of my fitness. My fitness is not the greatest. My average speed was 8 minutes per km. Still I'm pretty happy that I ran that far since I started running again in July and at that point running 1 minute was hard. My longest run before the race was 26 minutes and the race took me over an hour to do.

Last year:
Pace: 7:23 min/km
Max: 179 bpm
Avg: 168 bpm
Cals: 836

Personal Best at this race: 8 years ago
Pace: 6:31 min/ km

It would be nice to be posting a year from now saying that I trained lots of hills in the summer and had my time back down under 7 minute per km pace. Just need to make it happen!

Monday

Back at the personal trainer's today. Going there once a week now. My upper body is mush. Kind of crazy how weak I got. I quit going 9 months ago and pretty much lost everything that I had built. Oh well... all I can do is start again!

So, I bring my daughter (4 years old) along with me and she watches a DVD and does colouring. She is so well behaved I can't believe it! Glad that is working out.

Re-Blogging - Some Great Advice

Go read it here: http://athenadiaries.blogspot.com/2009/10/for-real-people-who-just-want-to-finish.html

Bleh!

Bad cold has been running through our house. I started getting stuffed up on Friday night. I did my third 26 minute run early Saturday morning but it was hard to breathe.

Yesterday was supposed to be my first 28 minute run but it felt like my body needed to rest. I am trying to just rest today so I can kick this thing.


Hopefully I will be back on the running wagon tomorrow (Wed). I can still get my 3 runs in. Just might have to do 2 back to back. The horror ! :)

Oh, and I went back to my trainer for the first time yesterday. Sadly I did not make it through the workout. I warmed up for 10 minutes on the treadmill then 15 minutes after that I was pale and woozy. We have never stopped a session before but we did yesterday. Hello weak kitten! Time to rest! PS. your muscles have gone to mush dummy. That's what happens when you don't do weights for 9 months!

Friday

So, still running along 3 times a week. Today will be my third run of the week at 26 minutes.

We have cold germies going through the house. Started with husband, son, daughter and now me. Daughter was home from daycare all week. She is not too sick now but has a horrible sounding cough that does not seem to bother her.

Nevertheless I will go running today. Unless I have flu I think running is OK even with a cold.

Starting Monday I am back to a weekly one on one personal training session. I feel a little guilty about spending the money but what the hell. I could be spending that money on my hair or something. At least I'm spending it on my health.

The new eating plan is showing big results. I have to hold on to it as long as I can. I am well aware that eventually most plans "wear out" and enthusiasm wanes. Hopefully results will drive me on at least until I reach the hard part (last 15 pounds). Thanks Hazel for continuing nudging me to sign up until I actually did :)

First 26 minute run

So, today was my first 26 minutes run . The first 20 was fairly easy, the next 4 was OK, then I checked my watch every 20 seconds. "Is it time yet? Is it time yet?"

I made it though. I really need to get myself stretching or I will be in trouble soon. My right hip is angry-ish in a passive agressive kind of way. By that I meant that I only know if I dig at my hip flexor muscle it is "ouchie" on my right leg and just fine on my left. This particular area has been giving me minor grief since 2003, yes the year I became a Mom. Pregnancy leaves behind a few annoying features sometimes I guess. Right hip, right foot, never quite back to 100%. Wah wah. I have two nice kids so I really should not complain.

Basically if the hip gets worse it is my own fault for not stretching etc. Will I smarten up? Hmmmm.... 50:50 chance. I'll be a tool if I don't so don't stand for my whining later if it really flares up.

Anyways... still here, still kicking.

Wednesday - Done!

Had another chance to run with Hazel on Wed. night. It was a great run. Her knee is being grouchy though. Hopefully it will behave for her soon. Nothing worse than having the will to do and activity and then have a joint not co-operate.

So, another 24 minute run done. How about you Nickiechickie and Dinograd? Have you been doing any running?

On to 24!

So I got my third run in last week and yesterday did my first 24 minute run. It was cold! Nasty! I am sure in 3 months these temperatures will feel balmy but right now... Oh my! I forgot to wear a hat and I forgot gloves. Still... got the 24 done.

I am so happy that I have made it this far with no injuries.

Wednesday Run - 2 Hazels

You know my friend Hazel? Well that is not her real name. It is actually her dog's name. So last night I got to run with two Hazels, Hazel the human and Hazel the dog (and her other dog too).

It was nice to get out and run with a friend. It is also nice to run with a friend who is a stronger runner than you. The reason is they run faster than you normally would and you get an extra strong workout.

Thanks for the run Hazel 1 & 2!

I am glad I am not running on back to back days. The day after running I get this eensy weensy pain in my right hip. This is like a little warning not to run too much. Right now my plan is to keep on running 3 times a week until I get my time up to 30 minutes for each run. Then I will maintain that until I can get my weight down to my old (pre-kid) running weight. Once I get there I will make a goal of some sort of race. Until then I don't want to break anything (muscle, tendon, ligament, cartilidge, you know... all those connective things that we need and can cause you grief the older you get!).

Made it to 22

So Monday was my first run at 22 minutes. The increase in 2 minutes was completely fine. I tried hard not to look at my watch and I did an out and back run which really helped on the way back.

I have started a new eating plan. I am comitted to it for 6 months. I don't talk about food much on this blog but I do talk about it over here.

Tonight I am supposed to run 22 minutes again. I am toying with the idea of going to the running store though. They supposedly have a 5K group going out for 5 sets of 5 &1s. Part of me wants to stick with running continuous but the other part of me wouldn't mind running with a group. We'll see if I go. Time is tight because boy-unit has hockey. It could happen though.

Friday Oct. 2, 2009

Did my 3rd run of the week. 20 minutes straight in the neighborhood finishing up at the preschool to pick up the small human. I actually got there 5 minutes early and stretched for the first time in weeks and maybe the 3rd time since July. I really need to stop being a stretch slacker. I could really feel it in my right hip. My right hip has been messed up since pregnancy #1 and was especially messed up after pregnancy #2. So far it is not bothering me but the "Hello there!" it gave me while stretching was a tad worrisome.

So Monday I go meet super-perky-nutrition guy. OK, I don't know if he is super perky but apparently he is a fresh university graduate and is very excited about his field. This could be interesting. Part of me wants to spend the weekend eating chips and candy as a last hurrah. I will try not to though. I will commit to 3 months and hopefully see some results. Goodbye white flour items. I will miss you especially those covered in cheese.

Also, I have been pondering going back to doing personal training once a week. Only thing stopping me is the $$$ Angel sitting on my left shoulder saying "Don't do that, you should be more frugal!". The other character on my right shoulder is saying "Go ahead, you are worth it! Buy a bunch of sessions while you still have a j.o.b.". Hmmmm.... What to do, what to do.

Anyways... back to running. Next run will be 22 minutes. Bring it on!

Wed. Run

We are on our last week of running 20 minutes straight. Next week we start going up by 2 minutes a week until we get to 30 minutes.

The nice thing about 20 minutes is that you can squeeze it in really easily. Wednesday I snuck my run in after leaving work, before getting the small unit from daycare. It meant she was there an extra half an hour but it also meant that I got my run in in the daylight. Sometimes I have to come first right?

Went with Hazel to meet her nutrition coach guy. Pondering that for myself. I do like the idea of being told what to eat (ie. given a meal plan). I think if I commited to doing that for 3 months it would set me on the right path. The thing is listening to that guy... he wasn't telling me anything that I have not read or heard over the past 2 years. I know what food I should eat. I know proper portion sizes. I know processed food is bad. However, it is fine knowing all the right things to do, it is another thing to actually do them. I think I should bite the bullet and sign up for 3 months. I know I might hate it (having to go there weekly, having to journal my food, having to face someone and fess up) but if I actually do what they say hopefully I would break the cycle of disorganized grazing that is my downfall as far as my waist goes. I really should give them a call. Stay tuned to see if I actually do make the call. Knowing me it could take months or years. Hahahaha.

Time to Batten Down the Hatches!

So, that time has come again. Kid's activity time.

This fall/winter is going to be further complicated by the fact that husband is coaching both son and daughter. What's the big deal? Well in that past one of us could always take both kids when one kid was doing something leaving the other adult free. Now, not so much.

No problem. We can do this though. Just have to be more organized.

I am really beginning to think the real secret to a busy life might actually be organization and planning. Organization I can excel at. Planning ahead needs a lot of work! (especially with respect to food). Baby steps.

On the exercise front: I've still being doing my running 3 times a week. Still holding at 20 minutes. This week is 20 minutes again then we move up to 22 minutes.

Anyways... time is getting away from me. Must unplant behind from keyboard and get my run done while daughter is still at school. And away I go!

Still Running

Hello blogger friends!

I have not fallen off the running wagon. My dad came to visit for 5 days so my schedule was all mixed up.

I am holding steady at 20 minute runs for the next few weeks. I am finding running 3 days a week entirely manageable.

Biggest Loser (no spoilers)

As I watched the show I could not believe how tough Jillian was. I know she is tough... but she was so over the top tonight. Yikes!!!

What is with the show casting such big people? I guess that is what the viewers want to see maybe? Maybe it is more dramatic then people who are only 80 or 100 pounds over weight. I can't imagine what those people must be going through going from zero exercise to crazy intense exercise in super morbid obese bodies. Wow. Their medical staff will certainly be busy keeping them in working order. How many episodes before someone blows out their knee?

I said no spoilers... but can you believe that someone was *bleep*'ed for a whole *bleep*? -- if you know what those bleeps are you are a very intuitive person.

Leave a comment if you know what the bleeps are (2 different words obviously). And if you have not watched the show yet... don't read the comments.... (assuming someone is going to play along)

All right. Laters!

And then there were 20

Today was my first 20 minutes in a row, no breaks.

Yes!

It felt great.

Tiny steps got me here. Some people might not understand my excitement. Two months ago running for 1 minute was hard (ish). Each step along the way was a challenge and I made it all the way to 20 minutes. (as did my friend Steph. Yay us!)

My neck and shoulders are all screwed up today. It is as if every muscle in my neck and shoulders are clenched tight. I can move my head, but only carefully. Still... I ran anyways. Yippeee.

I am comitting to running 3 times a week for good. 3 times a week is do-able. I can face the cold, the snow, the ice 3 times a week. Running 5-7 times a week can get to be a chore. For now 3 will be good. I'm OK with that. I'll certainly think about it again down the road but for now I am just happy that I can do this.

Now that my beginner plan has ended... the new plan is to keep my runs continuous holding at 20 minutes for 3 weeks then adding on about 2 minutes a week to each run until the runs are all 30 minutes.

Wednesday

Did my second set of 10 & 1s today. (didn't do Monday because I had run Saturday and Sunday).

It was quite nice. Not as easy as I would like it to be but that will come.

Second week of work since taking the summer off and I am getting the hang of it. This year I am managing to get the kids to daycare before school. Much better for getting to work at a reasonable time for sure.

Work might only be until the end of December though (company has slowed down and full time employees have time on their hands and could be doing stuff I do... boo...) . Not sure what my plan of attack will be after that. Change... how I loathe thee. Maybe it won't happen. 97% chance that it will be ending though. I know I have said this before but this time that came directly out of my bosses mouth, not just me interpreting her actions.

Not sure that I want to beat the bushes for work. Just when I get daycare sorted out too. Isn't that the way it always is... Anyways. I don't mean to complain. Plenty of people have it harder than me. My contract is just the cat's meow and I will miss its flexibility and decent remuneration. On the other hand I was doing really well with my diet and fitness when I was a full time SAHM 2 years ago....

Controversial Article about Exercise

From Time Magazine article dated Aug 9th:

"The basic problem is that while it's true that exercise burns calories and that you must burn calories to lose weight, exercise has another effect: it can stimulate hunger. That causes us to eat more, which in turn can negate the weight-loss benefits we just accrued. Exercise, in other words, isn't necessarily helping us lose weight. It may even be making it harder."

The paragraph above strikes home with me.

Now don't get me wrong. Obviously I am not anti-exercise but something I have been thinking about for a while now is that often I eat too many calories on days that I exercise partly because of the exercise. Exercise does make me hungry and gives me this false sense that it is OK to eat more. I need to fight that. Exercise does not equal license to eat more calories, period. Not when you want to lose fat. If you want to maintain then OK, eat more. If you want to lose, forget it!

And then there is this paragraph:

"In short, it's what you eat, not how hard you try to work it off, that matters more in losing weight. You should exercise to improve your health, but be warned: fiery spurts of vigorous exercise could lead to weight gain."

dammitdammitdammit
From personal experience I know this is true...
Controlling food is far more important than exercise when it comes to losing fat.

Grrr...

Or as a wise man once said "You cannot out train a bad diet!" ... Terry Trboh

How I wish wish wish that was not true! :)

Weekend Running

I did my third time of 2x8&1s on Saturday. It was a nice little run on the pathway by myself but a beautiful day. It was quite comfortable.

Later in the day on Saturday Hazel called me up and said I should come with her to run club on Sunday morning. Even though I was not scheduled to run I went anyways and did two sets of 10 and 1s. It was a little bit hard because the run club we went involved a giant hill at the beginning. Yikes! The next step up in my running plan was two sets of 10 and 1s. There was only one small group at this run club and they were training for a 10K so we did the two sets of 10 & 1s with them and then started walking while they kept going.

A big thank you to Hazel for coaxing me out early on the weekend. It was great to run with a friend!!! :)

I am enjoying taking it slow. My goal is to keep going and each little run is keeping me going. We have 2 more weeks of our Beginner Training program. At the end we will be running 20 minutes continuous.

Title Schmiltle

Sorry blog. I have been neglecting you. I know I know, nothing new there.

Anywhozle... I have have been getting all my runs done. Wednesday night I went out at the kid's bedtime. I didn't feel like running around the same streets near my house so I hopped in the car, drove 5 minutes and ran 2 neighborhoods over. Surprisingly that was much less boring and the time passed quickly.

I would have liked to have gone on the pathways but it was after 8pm and well, I would rather not go that late solo because you never know. Sad but true. Oh how I miss the days of running with friends pretty much every run. Need to make more dates with friends.

Today I have two sets of 8 & 1s to do. Anybody want to run with me after work /evening? Of course I could go during the day with 4 year old on bike. On my last two attempts I have a 50% success rate. Maybe I could get to 66% success rate... Maybe I'll force the husband and kids out of their bikes while I run this evening. Regardless I will get it done. I am happy that I am not in the habit of skipping.

Funny Things Mom Says...

Exercising was not a part of my life before I met my husband in my early 20s. My parents did not exercise. They did not play sports. They did not go swimming. I presume they did some of that when they were young but apparently not after becoming adults.

For my kids however, both their parents are modelling "staying healthy by doing exercise" (I don't let them in on the secret that I am also exercising to try to get rid of the lard off my a$$. Can't wait until they put 2 + 2 together about that little gem). In this age of childhood obesity I feel good that I am promoting exercise for the family.

Now my mom is in her early 60s and has aa BMI of somewhere around 39 (too high!). She has type II Diabetes and has had a minor heart attack already. She would like to be more active by going and doing deep water workouts but somehow it does not happen for her. Anyways. I just wanted to share this conversation that happened at my house recently between me and my mother.


Me: Hey look, you can actually register for Ironman online right now. That's great. (*sarcasm intended*)

(husband had gone on a trip to register for said race because it is rare that any online spots become available. The kids and I could not go with him because school started a week early this year and I was disappointed because I would have really liked to have gone with him)

My Mom: Why are you looking at that? You're not going to sign up for the Ironman are you?

Me: Good God no!

My Mom: Good, it is too much exercise.

Me: *confused look on my face*

Alrighty then....

So, I don't really have a point here except to poke fun at my mom who thinks that doing an Ironman is too much exercise.

See, I admire people that can put in the work to be able to complete an Ironman. My mom on the other hand sees it as dangerous or maybe just silly. I just thought that was weird!

Another Step

Still following along with the beginner running plan.

This week is the start of 2 sets of 8 &1s. It felt good to be able to run 'that long' (yes, I know some people would skoff at 8 minutes being thought of as long)

I am happy that I stuck with it this long (this is week 8). If I stick with it for a year I will be so far ahead of where I am now. Just have to conquer winter. A year from now I will be a strong runner again.

Gently, gently I go. Giving my body a chance to adjust without injury. Not worrying that I should be trying to train for a 10K or a half or doing hill repeats. Nope nope. Just working along slowly but surely, not skipping runs. Getting it done.

Going Gently

Another set of 3x6&1s done.

I am going at this running business gently. I am playing with fire running at my current weight. My joints are not pleased but have not launched a full scale revolt.

If it takes me a whole year to get up to the level of being able to *start* training for something like a half marathon then so be it. If I can make it a year without a running injury I will be victorious! I am not in a rush here. I just want to be fit again and injury free.

6 year old is at daycamp today. 4 year old is home. I wanted to run during the day before supper etc so I risked taking the 4 year old on her bike while I ran. This time she could actually keep up with me and did not throw a hissy fit 2K from the car like she did a few months ago. Yesssssssssss Freedom!

Running Upgrade

Hey people!

Got another run in yesterday (Monday). This week I got upgraded to 3 sets of 6 &1s.

Running 6 minutes is a challenge. I got to run with the husband yesterday. Thankfully he jogged along with me (when I knew full well he could likely walk as fast as I was running)

At one point I was whining about how hard it was. He pointed out that if I kept it up in a few months I would be able to look back and think. "Remember when running 6 minutes was hard".

I look forward to that. Just have to keep putting in the miles in a regular fashion like I am doing now.

Friday etc.

So, it seems I am neglecting my blog as of late.

Never fear those that are following along with me. I am on the exercising wagon.

For about a month I have been running every other day. Basically doing the RR's Learn to Run Plan.

This week I am up to 5&1's.

Now that I have a month of solid exercise habit forming I must look to the other more important area that has always been my nemesis. That's right folks. Caloric intake.

I know all about how to track it, log it, plan it. Somehow I need to just do it.

The winds of change are blowing in. School is starting. I am heading back to work after 2 months off. My sister is dragging my heiney back to the personal trainer to do double sessions with her (And I am soooooooo dreading that, since I have lost all the type of strength fitness and put on a muffin top to boot).

Anyways... I'm still at it people!

Mon / Tues / Wed

Hmmm.... I am getting to be a blog slacker.

Monday: Not sure? Did I even do anything? hmmmm.... Totally drawing a blank.

Tuesday: Run day. Upgraded to 4 sets of 4 &1s. 6 year old came along on his bike and it worked out fine.

Wednesday: Biked 20 kms pulling the 4 year old on the trail-a-bike. According to my Garmin I burned 740 cals in 20.5 kms, 1 hour 28 minutes. Highlight of ride: stopping to chase tiny gophers around (the 4 year old, not me). Poor little rodents! Oh well, being prey I guess they are used to it.

Had my yearly checkup. Complained bout my sore foot (the foot that has been sore since delivering my daughter 4 years ago when I then proceeded to walk around my house a lot barebook on ceramic tiles and hardwood for the summer). Doctor said he thought it was a Morton's neuroma, and referred me to a podatrist. When I told the husband, he related astory about one of his former running buddies who developed such a thing and had to give up running forever. Nooooooooooooooooo....... Maybe there are some orthotics in my future.

Maybe I should aspire to be a cyclist not a runner. Aside from the fact that there are not fun 5K type cyclcing things to do... Ah well. I'll carry on with my beginner running plan for now.

Sunday- Got 'er done.

Run: did 5 sets of 3 and 1s.

Next week on to 4 sets of 4 & 1s.

Extra Stuff: Rode bike for 70 minutes with the 6 year old on the trail-a-bike. Even though he is heavier than his sister it was actually easier than pulling her because unlike her, he actually pedals. At one point I stopped pedaling and with him pedaling alone, we were going 20 km/hr. Wowzas!

Eating on the weekend has been not as good as weekdays. Nothing new there :) Moving on.

What I am thinking right now: I am working on making exercise a solid habit again. I am trying not to dwell on how far I have slipped. I would like to lose half a pound a week and get back down slowly. This may sound like a case of "lowered expectations" but at least it would be progress and at least it would not be gaining.

I now know that I will not magically stay at 200 pounds. My body is fully capable of being at 220 and beyond unless I fight it. Not that I want to be at 200. But somehow I thought I could do what I wanted and would go no higher than 200. Not true. At. All!

Thurs / Fri / Sat

Thursday: I don't think I did any excercise... can't really remember? Oh, I think I rode my bike around for a bit with the chilluns.

Friday: Another run of 5 x 3&1s. I still find myself looking at my watch. I never catch myself going "Ooops! I ran more than 3 minutes!"

Saturday: 45 minutes easy on the Eliptical. Just burning up calories brainlessly while watching season 3 of Deadwood. I seem to be dragging that series out forever!

Went to a triathlon today and watched. It made me want to work harder to rid myself of my spare tire. Don't want to be a fat-mom anymore. (nothing wrong with being a fat-mom if that is your thing, I just want to be a slim-fit-mom). A year ago I was a mostly-slim-fit-mom. Time to recapture that and make it stick!

Wednesday

Did my run today (5 sets of 3 &1s)
Did a bit of a walk after that (20 minutes)
Did a bike ride outside on my own tonight too.
Heaven!
Mojo is all present and accounted for.
Need to find mojo superglue.

Monday

It is a holiday here so husband was at home. That left me free to go out at 9am to get my run done. I decided to drive a few minutes from my house and go for a run away from the neighborhood.

This week's run schedule is 5 sets of 3 & 1s. Thats what I did followed by 40 minutes of walking to get me to 60 minutes of exercise.

I am so glad it is summer, no matter what the weather is. It beats -30 any day!

Sunday Cross Training

Sunday morning the whole family went to the city pool. We had a nice time though it was not a real workout for me since I was basically just floating around. I did put on a floatation belt and did about 10 minutes of deep water running while junior was floating around the deep end.

Later we all went out for a bike ride with husband and I each pulling a kid on a trail-a-bike. (bike that hooks onto adult's bike). That took a bit of getting used to and felt a tad wobbly. Pulling them in a trailer feels way more stable but the kids enjoy the trail-a-bike more. The 6 year old prefers to ride his own bike but by sticking them both on a trail-a-bike we could go farther. We were riding for just over an hour and it was a workout for me. My calories burned was not all that high but it was fun and it was good that we were doing something together.

Saturday Run

Did my last set of seven 3 &1s on Saturday.

Next combination: 5 sets of 3 & 1s. (to be done Monday)

Right now I'm running every other day rather than set days of the week. I'm toying with the idea of doing my run, then walking how ever many minutes are left (plenty) to get my workout to 60 minutes. Running back to back days is just asking for trouble at this point (ie. injury) and by doing every other day I would average 3.5 days a week instead of 3. Of course when fall comes and my schedule changes I will probably pick set days but for now it works.

The thought is: a) burn more calories, b) cool down the leggies. sometimes the calves get angry at me for running.

Thursday / Friday

Thursday after being run over by the 4 year old's bike (that sounds worse than it was) I got a call from Hazel asking if I wanted to go for a run.



It was very nice running with her and she signed up for my favourite race this coming November. Yippeee!

Friday I went on the elliptical for 45 minutes. I was going 'easy' but at least I was doing something other than sitting.

Today I'm scheduled for 7 sets of 2 & 1's. Also have to clean the house a bit and get groceries.

Whats for dinner at your house?

Hornet Hiatus

Sunday I went next door to water the neighbors flowers. As I was walking back to my yard I got a nasty hornet bite on the back of my calf about an inch above my ankle. Ow! I have not had one of those in years and I forgot how much they hurt.

Monday I had a run planned for the morning (both kids were supposed to be at camp) and after my 4 year old balked from her summer day camp I drove to my mom's house where daughter sat on a chair on the patio refusing to go inside while I did my run. (mean Mommy!)

When I got home my ankle area started to throb and the area around the bite was all white. From there it decided to swell up including the top of my foot and it stayed like that for 2 days. It was so swollen that my croc shoe was even tight. (now that is swollen). Thankfully yesterday evening it started to diminish and I can now see the tendons on the top of my feet again. It was creeping me out how puffy it was.

I decided to give today's run a go this morning with the 4 year old in tow on her bike (you know how well that worked last time, not!). Silly me, I ran in front of the girl on a slight hill and she proceeded to run into me slicing a chunk out of that same ankle that I have been nursing. Fun times! I then did a 180 and took her screaming back to the house. Ah the injustice of it all.

I cracked out my free weights today too. I have not used them in a looooooong time and my muscles were like "What the hell are you doing woman!".

My sister bought me 5 sessions with my old personal trainer. I have been putting off going and luckily he went away to Australia for 6 weeks. I will now proceed to dodge their (sister and trainer) phone calls until I feel comfortable with going back. I have really let myself slide (both scale wise and fitness wise). Bad girl!!! At least I'm exercising again right?

Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll get a run in tonight if I can elude my captor 4 year old captor. My ankle is feeling pretty good now.

As usual I am struggling with my eating. It is now noon. I am not working. I could go to the store and buy whatever I want but I have no clue what to make for dinner!

Sat / Sun

Saturday: Pleasant little solo run before it got too hot. Still doing 1 & 1s times 10.

Sunday: 37 km rolling hill ride with Michelle. Felt as weak as a kitten at some points. Good to get it done. Legs tired and slightly sore.

Good to be moving though.

Erasing my Fitness Past

You know, I used to be a lot fitter than I am now. So what? I think I need to let go of that and stop whining in my head about how I am not as fit as I used to be and how I am way heavier than I used to be. That just does not help.

So, for now I am an overweight late thirties woman old starting from scratch. This is my life. I'm OK with that.

I made it a week running every other day. Granted I am taking walking breaks. At this point the running : walking ratio is 50:50. But so what. I am going to embrace it, move on, keep working on my begginer's running plan.

I have never read that famous book that tells people you get what you wish for. Frankly that book sounds hokey to me but one thing that they probably have right is that being positive is important. Being negative never gets you anywhere.

Being positive is totally against my personality but I will work on it.

On I go!

Sunday

So, got my run in again. It is really helping to have my virtual run partner Steph.

Husband was going to come with me but 4 year old threw a separation anxiety fit.

I have decided to run every other day instead of picking 3 days a week to run. I think that will be a good rhythm.

Another Run

Did my second run tonight. Only because I have my virtual running partner commitment.

Convinced husband to come with me and that was nice. Maybe when we get back home we can start running together (he will have to push our massive children). That would be awesome. I hope that works out.

Run Run Run

Well people, I have been on vacation for a while. Utterly on vacation. Lazy lazy bones. I go back home after this weekend.

I am almost done my vacation but yesterday I got to visit with my good friend Steph who has been toying with the idea of starting running. She got a nice new pair of Asics (gotta love proper shoes!) and we took off together for her inaugeral run.

We have committed to being virtual run partners following the super beginners plan at least 3 times a week.

We live in different provinces but we will be partners all the same.

Looks like I'm going to be running 3 times a week for the next 10 weeks or so! :) Good thing too since I signed up for a hard race in November. (5 miles, first half completely uphill)

Hello

Hello bloggers. I have probably lost most of you with my radio silence but hello to those still out there.

Anyways... Not much to report on the fitness front. In a couple of days I will be away from home for a week and a half.

When I am back I really want to focus on cleaning the clutter from my body. It has become cluttered ways that I am not happy with. And by clutter I mean extra puffy inches that were not on my body one year ago and are totally unhelpful and arechipping away at my self esteem.

I am not going to use traveling as a total excuse to eat salty and sugary junk 24/7. However I am pretty sure some of that will be happening.

When I get back I really need to figure out a routine for exercising. What / When / Where and I am toying with the idea of going on Jenny. Why? Well I just like the idea of not having to make my own meals and limiting myself to a specific menu that is already prepared for me. We shall see.

Off Topic: Husband and I went to see the latest Transformers flick. I was as shocked to see kids young enough to be wearing light up shoes in the theater watching the movie. Honestly parents! I have let my son watch the first movie but he won't be watching this one. There was too much battling and not enough story for me. However we sat beside a couple our age who was totally enthralled with the movie and pointed at the screen with excitement several times. That was cute.

May + June

Busy is...

2 months
2 kids
1 job
14 swimming lessons
27 soccer games
14 t-ball games
7 kids birthday parties
4 playdates

Thankfully it is at an end. Time to find myself again. Excercise has been almost non-existant. It is funny how fast you can revert to sloth-dom if you are not careful.

Run #3 of 3 done

OK, just in case you were thinking of taking your 4 year old along on her bike on your next run... Don't do that!

I thought she could handle it. Flat ground. Me running one minute, walking one minute for a total of 20 minutes.

I went 'out' 14 minutes (ie. 4 minutes past what would be half way to allow for some extra walking at the end). At 18 minutes we were about a kilometer away from the car when Little Miss 4 year old decided she was done with biking and she was not getting back on. Argh! ( I did enjoy the first 14 minutes though)

Anyways... I bet it would work better with the 6 year old. He can roller blade like the dickens and also would last longer on his bike. I will try that out sometime. Right now he is a limp noodle on the couch with a fever. Considering he was very sick with similar symptoms 4 weeks ago I am trying not to worry.

So in summary: I got my third run done. *phewsh*!

Hazel: are we going to move on to 2 & 1's or do another week of 1 &1s.

Thanks for checking in bloggers!

Run # 2 Done

OK. So I made a deal with Hazel that I would run 3 times by the end of Sunday. As I was running out of days I headed out tonight even though the weather was ridiculous.



It went quite well. Does anyone else (who is currently not a running machine) want to join us in our correspondence course of running?



Here is the plan. Hazel and I are doing 1 & 1s (which technically is week 2). Our commitment is to run 3 times a week working our way up to 5K and beyond.



Paging Nicole, Nicole, paging Nicole! I am willing to repeat this week to get you on board! How about you Annie?

OK. Get back to me!

Seabreeze: You left a comment a few posts back about a virtual run date but it was addressed to Fatinah so I was a little confused. Anywhoo.... didn't want you to think I was ignoring you.

A Hazel Intervention Moment

So, Hazel called me up at work. We ended up meeting for a quick visit outside of her office building.

We decided rather than joining a Running Room clinic that we would do it by 'correspondence'. For you youngsters: before they had this thing called the Internet you could take courses by mail and it was called taking it by correspondence.

Anyways. We agreed to start in week 1 of run 1 minute, walk 1 minute for a total of 20 minutes.

We promised to do it 3 times by the end of Sunday.

At 8:30pm I decided it would be a better idea to catch up on some sleep. However, my plans were twarted by my 'conscience' AKA husband we taunted me out of bed and into my running shoes.

So, I did my first set of 1&1s followed by a chaser of a 15 minute walk.

Nicole: You should follow along with us. What's stopping you?

Hello Again!

Hello Fatinah! Thanks for checking up on me.

I am half way through my 2 months of kid extracurricular madness.

I have not been doing so hot on either front (exercise, food).

It seems that I only exercise when I have a date with someone and I don't have many of those.

That is not a cry for help, just a statement of fact :)

Anyways, much running around to do today. Birthday stuff to arrange for my littlest one who is now 4! Man times flies!

Second run, check check.

I made time to run today. Unfortunately that means I will be working less hours today and will be paid less. But, with children having activities pretty much nightly this is the new world order. Gotta sneak the excercise in when I can.

I did 7 sets of 2 & 1s. It was still a challenge. Yikes!!

Off to work I go!

What I learned from the Biggest Loser Finale

Frankly I was quite amazed that a couple who are 'old' could take what they learned in 2 weeks and transform themselves in such a radical way. In fact transform themselves even more than some people who spent months in the care of Bob and Jillian.

I think part of their secret is that they *are* old. It has to help that they probably don't work anymore and that they are retired from active parenting. If you could focus solely on making yourself thinner (lets call it what it is people, forget about sugar coating it by calling it getting healthier) you might see more success. Sad but true.

Regardless, it is just proof that all you need is determination and probably a little obsessive compulsive disorder. :)

My jaw was on the floor for sure.

Check and Check!

OK. So I ran while the kiddies were off being schooled.

My plan was to run 1 minute, walk 1 minute times 10 sets.

When I got to 1 minute of running I was feeling fine so I thought I would do 2 &1's instead.

The was all good until my second set up (gently) was uphill. By then end of the third set I thought about reverting back to 1&1s because I was seriously gasping for air.

However, I persevered and got 7 sets done. Who knew that running for 14 minutes would be so hard and yet something to be proud of :)

I guess tonight we find out who will be crowned the Biggest Loser. Apparently we are also get to vote on who gets to be in the next season. Could it be the sobbing brother Max they keep showing us?

Learn to Run (again)

Hazel suggested that we do a Learn to Run clinic at ye olde RR.

Today I have one hour of kid free time in between dropping junior girl off at her preschool and volunteering at the kindergarten.

Sooooooooo...... I plan on starting the super beginner RR program. Ten sets of 1 & 1s. (as in week 2 of the super beginner's schedule)

My old trainer would have a coronary. He would want me running a lot more than that but hey. If I start slow... I will might just get somewhere and not freak myself out with fear.

Hazel is off in the far east and no doubt cannot read this because the country she is in blocks blogger. Anyways. Hazel, I am starting!

Super Beginner Learn to Run Plan

Week 1: run 1 min. walk 2 min. times 6 sets

Week 2: run 1 min. walk 1 min. times 10 sets (total run time 10 minutes)

Week 3: run 2 min. walk 1 min. times 7 sets (total run time 14 minutes)

Week 4: run 3, walk 1. times 5 sets (total run time 15 minutes)

Week 5: run 4, walk 1. times 4 sets (total run time 16 minutes)

Week 6: run 5, walk 1. times 3 sets, run 2 mins at end (total run time 18 minutes)

Week 7: run 6, walk 1. times 3 sets (total run time 18 minutes)

Week 8: run 8, walk 1. times 2 sets, run 2 mins. at end (total run time 18 minutes)

Week 9: run 10 mins, walk 1. times 2 sets (total run time 20 minutes)

Week 10: run 20 minutes nonstop.

Do you ever get Paralyzed ? (figuratively speaking)

Do you ever get paralyzed because you have so much to do you don't know where to start? Then you fritter away your time on non-productive stuff like say... reading and typing on the information super highway (can't get enough of that term, I think it is hilarious!)

If so, how do you snap yourself out of it?

I'm thinking at least one person will say to make a list.

Angie: My little man is all better now. Thanks for checking!

Fatinah: That recipe looks awesome! Thanks for posting!

Hello World!

Thank you world for stopping that crazy spinning you seemed to be doing for the last few weeks!

I fell like I have been flying in a whirlwind but I've managed to step out of it.

My little one was quite sick last week but today he is back to his old self. The sun is shining, all is good!

I have before me a paper journal. I am going to write in the damn thing and just consult with fitday to find out what calories things are. I am hoping this will help me stick with journalling. When journaling online it is too easy to stop doing it because computer is not handy etc. I need to strap this journal to my body!

So, for those that were keeping track I will not be doing my half ironman distance triathon one month from now. Instead I will be doing the bike portion only of a half ironman triathon in early July. I feel no stress about that whatsoever and plan on using the next 2 months to my advantage. My good friend and hero will be doing the swim and her husband the run. Bring it on!

Hospital Food

So, you know how they say that hospital food is terrible?

I have been visiting at a hospital for the past couple of days. The hosptial's policy is to only offer healthy food. (well mostly, you can still buy a hotdog at the cafeteria, you just can't buy coke other than diet coke). I must say that I wish there were more places that had this policy.

For breakfast I got a little box for $5.25. It includes a (properly portioned, non gigantic) carrot muffin and all tonne of perfectly ripe yummy fruit, and a serving of cheddar cheese. What a nice combination!

A Great Post by Jinx

A role model for sure.

Here is a bit of what she said (Go read the rest) here: http://rundebrun.blogspot.com/2009/04/you-may-remember.html


Am i really struggling or am i just LIVING? I mean you (me) cannot go thru life with your diet and exercise , calories in vs. calories out at the forefront of your mind every single day for the rest of your life. Can we? Basically its been that way for a year and a half. At some point you have to just live your life and hope the new lifestyle you've built has become a permanent part of who you are and will continue without you concentrating solely on it.

...stuff deleted, go read the original post....


After all this what am i trying to say is maybe i think i'm struggling because it doesn't feel like I'm putting as much effort into it. Could it be because its becoming effortless? That its just my new life and i'm getting comfortable in my own skin?

Brain Implosion Imminent

Must learn how to let go of stress.

In this case it is the kids activities.

6 year old son is signed up for both soccer and baseball for the next 8 weeks. Didn't seem like a great idea to me but whatever, I didn't do the signing up but I did go along with it. When I griped about it husband said "What, you only have to deal with 1 night a week (Wednesdays)" Ya, right.

Next the baseball people get husband to coach that team. Husband tells them he can't do Wednesday nights because he runs a Cycling thing on Wednesdays but the baseball schedule is on random nights and has not come out yet. I don't trust people to actually listen so I'm guessing there will be some Wednesdays on that schedule. Husband expects me to coach baseball on those nights. Um no freaking way!!! Chasing a soccer ball is one thing. Organizing kids to catch balls and hit balls with bats, another story.

Next the soccer co-ordinater calls and asks us to coach. I guess I didn't say no strongly enough because I got email this week directed to all the coaches. Excuse me? Since when am I a coach? There must be a typo. Soccer is on Mondays and Wednesday. Ya, Wednesday, the day when the husband is busy (and therefore can't take care of the younger offspring) and when the boy might already have baseball.

Did I mention the younger offspring has soccer on Fridays and that both kids have swimming on Saturdays?

My good friend's son is on the soccer team with my son. I thought she was going to be the coach. Apparently they have me listed as head coach and her assistant coach. All I know is that I never wanted to coach, and that there will be times that my kid won't be there. This is nuts. Trying not to reach for self medicating cookies.

I can see my friend Nicole reading this and thinking "Sucker!" See, her kids are not signed up for anything. Hmmmm... she might have a point there.

Calm blue ocean, calm blue ocean, calm blue ocean.

Speaking of oceans a sane person would cancel the swimming lessons. Hmmmm....

UPDATE: Now that I have spewed all the negativity out, I am going to look on the bright side. Coaching could be fun and it is only 8 weeks right?

Dear Blogosphere

Truth be told I have been hiding out from you. Basically, I have not been doing so well. I don't want to spread negativity therefore no blogging.

Today could be the day though. Today could be the day that I stop thinking of myself as a loser, stop being overwhelmed by my life and get on with being the best, healthiest, fittest me I can be.

Spring is a good time for new starts. Even if you thought you'd never need another 'new start'.

Got in some Cycling

Got in some cycling today. That was good. Still not the hardcore Sparky that I was a year ago. Need to get that back. Easter candy did not help with that. I think we are clear of candy related holidays until Halloween right?

More walking

So, I fired up my Garmin-watch-pace-distance-thingie for the first time in a year. Though these days I am more interested in knowing my distance than my speed. Speed is just plain, well, not on the radar.

I found this girl in the park who wanted to walk fast so I chased her around for an hour. Man is she fast! Along the way I got to tell her all about my wacky mother and her latest scheme. We went 6.1K in an hour. Not too bad. OK, it wasn't a stranger it was my friend. Did you think I was that weird?

After the walk I dusted off the kids bikes and the kids rode to the school and played on the playground. While they were doing that I remembered something I'd seen on TV and tried to use the time to do some exercise moves. I climbed a couple of things and attempted the monkey bars. I am not meant to do monkey bars. :)

I even got down and did some crunches, some (half) pushups, walking lunges and jump squats on the stairs to the school. If I had been more motivated I could have really made myself work. As it was I was just experimenting.

Anyways... I am moving more and that is a good thing.

Take care bloggers!

Here is a photo of my youngest. Her bike has a basket so she was the keeper of the stuffies that came along.

PS. Apparently I got 3K of walking in while the kids were riding and playing. Not too shabby!

I love you Spring

Even though this might still be fake spring (ie. Winter might still come back for some taunting with some snow etc.) I am so loving the weather. It makes me happier just to look outside.

Winter, well winter sucks. Good riddance.

I volunteered for the Kindergarten class today. However I managed to get 50 minutes of excercise in before going in (while the preschooler was at her school). It was nice to get some outdoor excercise in. I ran for a bit and finished off walking and met a nice cat that acted like a dog.

My right foot is up to its usual tricks. I am beginning to think it is a nerve thing not a bone thing.

I really identify with this post

I can really identify with this girl's post. You should really go read it.
http://thepinkcookie.tumblr.com/post/93552002

Her blog is worth reading. Check it out!

I don't feel like blogging. Mostly because I am unhappy with myself. I hate starting over because starting over can become habitual. However, it is what it is.

Walking

A lot of people poo poo walking and might even declare that it is not 'real' exercise.

The other day my car was making a weird noise so I sent it to the shop for an emergency checkup. That left me with no car so I did a bunch of walking that day. I was a little surprised at the effort it took me to walk up hills etc. which got me thinking about walking and how if you put your mind to it it can be a good low impact workout.

Once I figure out when Michelle is back today (or if she is going to bail on our ride) I am hopefully going to go for a powerwalk with Hazel (and possibly Nickiechickie) this afternoon. However, the 'fake-spring' weather might have other ideas. We'll see.

Go away 'fake-spring'. Bring on 'real-Spring'!

Movin it with the TV on.

You know, watching TV is so nice from the couch.

Tonight is Biggest Loser night.

Instead of watching it from the couch I am going to watch while moving my heiney.

Without commercials it should be about 88 minutes.

Sounds do-able to me.

I'll come back here and update this when I'm done with some amazingly exciting stats. (ya right!)

Update: Mission Accomplished. 922 calories of low intensity slow moving. Ya, high intensity intervals are all the rage but isn't it better than sitting on the couch? Yes, I think it is.

Thank Peeps

So, thank you very much for your nice comments. You guys make a lot of sense. I will consider them all carefully. That is going to be the last blog entry flopping about like a wet noodle regarding the you-know-what. You will have to hold your breath until the second week of June at which time I will post a photo of myself that will let you know if I did it or didn't do it. How mysterious!

Hazel advised me to try to stop being stressed. Easier said that done of course but good advice.

So Friday was the first day of spring. Nice! It was actually spring on that day. However, winter will be back for sure at least 2 or 3 times before Spring sticks for good.

I do love Spring though. Easier to get out. I really do hibernate inside the house from December to March. Crazy footing. -40C cold. Yuck! Hooray for Spring!!! :)

I am doing my biking 3 times a week. That is good. My food has been terrrible with a capital T. I must give myself an intervention! Anyways... I've already done my workout today. That is a great feeling for a Saturday morning.

Things that make you go Hmmmm....

Disclaimer: Skip this entry if you don't want to read yet another blog entry about my waffling about my race. Carry On!

On tonight's show the people on the biggest loser were challenged to run the half marathon distance.

Geeze if people that overweight can do it surely I shouldn't be wussing out of this...

Then again I have to swim 2K and bike 90km first before running (or walking) said distance.

Today husband was suggesting that perhaps we shouldn't go to the race because:

A) It is going to cost us $800+ to go (including buying a wetsuit, hotel nights, babysitting if the kids don't come) Like most people we are trying to ride the frugal train (which by the way is completely foreign to me but I'm trying)

B) He has seen my lack of running and knows the world of pain I would be in for.

Basically the only thing stopping me from quitting now is the pattern of quitting that I have established. I don't like being a quitter but I quit the half marathon training last fall. I forget what I quit before that but it must have been something (does that qualify as a pattern?). One of my friends raised a good point though. By doing a strenuous event that I am not prepared for I am risking serious injury (specifically on the run). Given my past tendency towards injury that is a valid point.

Thanks for your comments on my last post. You guys rock!

It has been a while.

Last post was March 1st? *phewsh* that is a while!

As far as I can tell there are 3 common reasons for people to stop posting on their weight loss / fitness blogs.

1) Boredom. Just bored with blogging.

2) Busy. Busy with other stuff in life. Making that other stuff a priority.

3) Hiding out. Not on track. No losing, maybe gaining.


So... I am not all that busy though I was on a Scrapbooking roll for a while.

Bored? Maybe a little.

Leaving #3. So. #3. Yes, #3. When I look back at myself as I was last August I now think, gee. That was not so bad. What was I so down on myself about (bloody evil scale). As I sit here March 16th I wonder: What the hell has come over me these past months. Yes I got busy. But not horribly busy. I dropped my personal training session from twice a week to once to zero. I stopped logging my food. I stopped focussing on excercise. All these things lead to #3.



This is all very tiresome really.



Anyways... I have been doing my biking. The rest of it has slid. Oh what I would give for a magic wand that would convert my half ironman into a 5K fun race. Frak.

Finally a Run

Ok. Here is the dark truth. I can't remember the last time I ran before today. For someone who is signed up to do a half ironman in about 3 months (the run portion is 13 miles) that is not the brightest idea. It started off when I got bronchitis (self diagnosed) and the weather was brutally cold even by Canadian standards. Then well, who knows why.

Anyways, I went for a run today and just ran. I started my watch but did not look at it while I was running except for the occaisional glace at my heart rate just out of interest. I did not go overly far and I did not really worry about how fast I went. In the end I ran half an hour.

While I was running a magical thought came to me. I have been very scared of doing this race. Am I scared of the swim ? Not really, I don't care if I come out of the lake last. I am not afraid that I will drown. I am not afraid of open water swimming. Am I scared of the bike? Not at all. Biking is easy for me. I can push myself on the bike no problem. And more importantly I *have* been doing my bike training. Am I scared of the run? Absolutely. I have done a half marathon before and the training was HARD. The race was hard. My finishing time was slow. Mentally I know how tough a half marathon race would be for me especially since I am not in great running shape.

So, what was my magical thought? Well to trick myself of course. I am not longer going to worry about training for the half marathon distance. In my head I will train for a 10K. I can train for a 10K no problem! What about the other 11K you ask? Who cares! I will cross that bridge when I come to it. If I walk 10 or even 20 kilometers? Who cares! I will have finished it and not wussed out. That is my magical thought of the day :)

"Real" triathletes would think I was bonkers, a poser, a weinie. But I don't care. I have 3 months left. I don't want to stress that entire time about the run, how slow I am running, how far I have to run etc. Not worth it and it would exponentially increase my chances of wussing out.

3 months to go. Yiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiikkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssss! What was I thinking signing up for this? :) :) :)

If Hazel can do it so can I. If Hazel can do it so can I. If Hazel can do it so can I. If Hazel can do it so can I. If Hazel can do it so can I. If Hazel can do it so can I. If Hazel can do it so can I. If Hazel can do it so can I. If Hazel can do it so can I. If Hazel can do it so can I. If Hazel can do it so can I. If Hazel can do it so can I. Hi Hazel!!!

PS. Yesterday I biked really hard at my hosue with Michelle for 90 minutes while we watched Pirates of The Caribbean. Good times!

Bike Class

So, you know how my bike class is on computrainers and that the computer has our weights inputted and slows people down accordingly to their weight (makes the resistance harder especially on the hills)? My weight was the highest in the class and the computer was slowing me down *a lot*. The is another woman in the class who is tiny but not a very strong cyclist so the instuctor had been lowering her weight in the computer to help her keep up. One week he put her in there at 60 pounds.

Well, we have been doing VERY hard hill workouts and because my weight was in there at 50 pounds heavier than the others (ie, 25% heavier) I had been really struggling to finish the courses by the end of the class and sometimes could not. Well that was plain silly. What is the point of making it *so* much harder for me just because I happen to be heavier in real life? It got to the point where it was not enjoyable just because I was so far behind and the next class was starting etc.

So, this week I got equalized. I had them change my weight to be just slightly lower than the guys (and still higher than some of the women). You know what? I had a better workout because now that I had a fighting chance I worked my ass off to stay with them and even managed to get ahead of one of the men. It was pretty funny at the end of class. He said more than once about how he was dead last and was not really trying because he was sick. I call bull$hit on that. Next week, rematch! They are a funny bunch. They are quite friendly but deep down they all want to beat someone and thanks to my "high" weight in the computer they could always count on beating me. With a lower virtual weight I am harder to beat. Anyways bye for now!.

Blog Slowdown

People, I am heading into a blog slowdown. I can feel it. I used to race to my computer after working out to report what I had done. Now sometimes I forget to do it all together.

Today I had my last workout with my personal trainer. In these uncertain times I could not rationalize the extra expense and being on a contract at work I don't know how long I will be working. Anyways. It is sad to be giving it up but I will deal with it.

Tonight my friend Michelle came over to my house to ride her bike on a trainer while I rode mine. That was cool. I am glad she called me up to suggest it. We might make it a regular thing on Tuesdays. I found myself working harder than I did when I am alone. Yippee!

Today I was grumbly about my half ironman. Grumbling about why I ever signed up for it. However, I will be there on that day. I am just going to grumble about it all the way there :)

Past Few Days

Saturday:

Went Scrapbooking with friends and did not excercise beforeheand. Left that at 9pm and was told by one friend that she expected to see results posted here

Result: Biked for half an hour at 10 pm instead of 90 minutes.


Sunday:

Was supposed to run 50 minutes. In the morning I did the 60 minutes on the bike that I was supposed to do the day before and weaseled out of running. Slippery Slope people!

Monday:

Could not get away to run because had kids all day and husband was out until 10pm. Deedled around until 10:30pm at which time husband chastized my butt onto the Elliptical for 45 Minutes.


Tuesday

Workout with personal trainer. I should do something else today too.


In Conclusion: I have been doing good with my biking, lax with my running. My training schedule is starting to ramp up. This is not going to be pretty.

Be Careful When You Leave your Google Reader Open

So I subscribe to this nice Canadian girl who writes about her fitness adventures and other things and I have her RSS feed in my Google Reader.

Yesterday she posted some stuff about her recent trip to the Caribbean. So I had one of her posts (this one) up on my computer when I went to bed for the night.

When I got up in the morning my Computer Screen looked like this. (edit: my husband saw the photo and thought it would be funny to change my background)



I wonder if my husband emailed a copy to himself so that he could do the same thing to people at his work.

Is Nice!!!

5 Frilly Hills

And by "Frilly" I mean another word that starts with "F".

Tonight's Cycling class was 90 minutes of ass kicking. It was great!

The hardest event of the evening was a 15 kilometre set of 5 hills. They were each 650m and we were supposed to stay at 80 rpm. I managed to stay at 80 rpm for the first 3 and then my rpms starrted going down with each hill.

Lucky for me the computer 'slows' you down ie) calculates that you have traveled more slowly up the hill the heavier you are. (and by lucky I actually am being sarcastic). If you are in the system at 120 pounds for example you will go up the hill in less time than a person in the computer at 190 pounds even if the two of you are putting in the exact same effort.

So ya, I'm the person in the computer at 190 pounds and everyone else is 150 or less. So basically I got a much harder workout than them because I was on the hills way longer thanks to the computer making calculations based on weight. I'm OK with that. The teacher actually set this one woman's weight to 60 pounds (not a typo) to make it easier for her . She was giving the super-fast-young guy a run for her money because of her tiny (fake) weight.

I didn't care that I was last. I do wish I was less than 190 pounds though so I can go faster on the computer. (Although I am usually ahead of the lightest woman even with the handicap unless they put her in at 60 pounds :). It could be worse. It could be my real weight in there which was 11 pounds heavier than 190 this morning. Oh well. I am working hard. The rest will come.

It is weird. My coughing and chest congestion seems to have disappeared in the course of today. Very strange.

Hi

Hello people! Is it Thursday already?

Some germs have taken a hold of me. I have been coughing up yuck for a couple of days and now this morning I have a sore throat. Damn!

Not sure if I am going to go to my cycling class tonight or not. We'll see.

Saturday

Friday was a rest day from my triathlon training. For Terry: A rest day is a day where you don't excercise :)

Today was scheduled for 70 minutes easy on the bike (trainer). I watched an episode of Deadwood and when that finished I started watching Stephen King's "The Stand". I love that movie for some reason.

In 70 minutes at an easy effort I did 33 kms according to the computer. Sweet! 90 kms in June here I come!

In other news I was walking outside today and totally went ass over tea kettle. I landed on my right hip but am none the worse for wear. Dodged that bullet. I was grateful that I did not take out the pregnant friend that I was walking with. I feel really lucky that I did not hurt myself. Damn ice and Grr to people who do not keep their sidewalk bare. In this case it was a school. Man!

Question from Jinxxxygirl

____________________________
I had a good question from Jinxxxygirl

"Question? My husband like to exercise in the pool. Anthing else hurts his joints etc.. and i would like to be more enthusiastic about helping him work out. He weighs almost 270 pounds but the thought of putting on a bathing suit just makes me cringe. How do you get past that or do you struggle with body image like that?? Jinx!"

____________________________

Well, as I walked out of the pool yesterday I was thinking about your question. I guess my answer is yes I definitely do struggle with body image. However I guess there is a level of anonymity at the pool. If I thought I was going to run into someone who knows me (aside from one of my close girlfriends) I might think twice about it.

But really, I put my suit on and off I go. If I thought I might run into my personal trainer at the pool I would not be too happy and might hide out in the changeroom. Does that make sense? I am fine with showing my lumps and bumps to strangers but not to people who know me althought I would do it I would be self conscious about it.

Take it from me. There are plenty of imperfections at the pool and in the change room. You see all sorts of things and I hope you give it a try soon!

Tuesday & Wednesday

Tuesday I had a personal training session but I also had a run to do because I went swimming on Monday instead of running.

Well, I went early to the personal training and shocked my trainer by saying "I have to go running first" and out the door I went after just arriving . That was a first. It was a beautiful day. Anyways I got my run in and got my weights in with the trainer. The other trainer at the gym thought it was all pretty bizarre and was wondering where the heck I had gone. My trainer jokingly told her that he had sent me for an hour long run and that he was timing it with his watch (implying that I was paying him for an hour of just holding a watch and not even running with me).

Today is Wednesday. I am very very tired but, I cannot slack off people. I have this huge mountain that I am going to climb in June (my race) and I have to do all my workouts to get me there. So, I will haul myself out the door to swim even though I really would rather go to sleep. I stayed up too late last night (11:30) watching my recording of the Biggest Loser.

Today I decided that I should make a new rule and go to bed at 10 o'clock. There was a doctor on the radio (CBC) talking about how if you don't get enough sleep that it will interfere with weight loss even if you have all the other pieces right (exercise and calorie reduction). That is a pretty scary thought. That if you eat 'right' and exercise, run a calorie deficit you body might still hold onto the fat because you did not sleep enough. (Please ignore my punctuation and comma splicey run on sentences)

I know I have vaguely heard this before about sleep and how it can help weight loss. I didn't know it is was *that* important though.

(more rambling) I am lucky that I don't have insomnia. I guess a lot of people do. What I have is the urge to stay up late and veg because I have the two minions at my heels during the hours of 7am to 8:30pm most days. When 8:30pm rolls around and I gain my freedom the last thing I want to do is go to sleep. I want to stay up like I have an adult life or something :)

What do you think? Is it possible that lack of sleep has impacted your weight loss efforts? Hey Anthony, didn't you say you were having trouble with your sleep and that the scale was not budging even though you were doing well with your food and exercise?

Unplanned Swimming

My friend aka Arm-Twister began a campaign today to get me to a local pool that offers a drop in swim class. I think I received 6 - 10 emails about it at work today before I agreed to go try it out.

I must say that Arm-Twister (Hazel) was right. It was kind of cool. And dammit didn't I find myself laughing underwater again. This time I was just laughing at myself when I was doing a Breast stroke with a pull buoy (which you stick between your legs and then just let your legs float behind you and don't kick them). It just struck me as hilarious because I was swimming so ridiculously slow doing this.

Anyways. I was in a slow lane and there were some nice ladies in it that explained what the heck the teacher was writing on the white board in swimming lingo.

This means that today's run got switched to tomorrow in addition to the personal training workout that I have tomorrow. I am a regular exerciser again. Look at me go!!!

On the Right Track - Saturday night

Apparently having a plan is helpful. When you don't have a plan you can just *not* exercise and not give it a second thought. I did that for months and it was really bad.

Well, I hauled my a$$ onto my bike at 10pm (on a Saturday night no less!) even though I was mentally and physically tired and my eyes felt like they were going to close and go to sleep on their own.

Yes, I did my workout. Now I get the pleasure of getting up early tomorrow to take the 5 year old to hockey. Its my turn :)

Sorry I have not been commenting on your blogs/vlogs. I have been spending my spare time trying to get my books done so I can pass them on to my accountant. Since my year end was Halloween I need to get this done pronto. I think I'll be done tomorrow and that will be a little bit of stress lifted from me. Maybe the accountant will do her magic and I will have more money than I think. That would be sweet!

Anyways.... Have a great day bloggers!

Wednesday and Thursday

Ever try to swim underwater while laughing?

That is what happened to me on Wednesday night. I went to a city pool and the place was packed. There was hot tub there and it was packed with people. That struck me as odd on a Wednesday night.

Anyways I got into the second slowest lane and there were two guys in it (most often it seems to be girls doing laps). They were both wearing board shorts and not wearing goggles. Weird! Not that I expected them to wear Speedos but no goggles doing laps is kind of weird just for the fact of all the water that would be splashing on their eyeballs.

Anyways I'm swimming along and catching up to one of the two guys so he pulls over to the left of the lane and stands up. I'm swimming along with my face under water and see him get out of my way. However, when he stood up his shorts started to fall down and I get an eyeful of plumber's butt. Somehow this stikes me as hilarious and I try to swim on without drowning as I am laughing away under the water.

That was Wednesday.

One think I realized was that swimming 2 kilometers in a race is going to actually be an effort. An effort to get it done in a reasonable amount of time I mean . I swam about 1 kilometer on Wednesday and it took about half an hour. Granted I was just swimming easily along, not racing along. At that pace it would take me an hour to do the swim for my half ironman race. Yikes! I guess I can't just breeze through it. I might actually have to make an effort to train for it. Who knew? ;)

Last night's cycling class had only me, the young-fast-guy and one of the late-forties-early-fifty guys. I missed having the other 'girls' there. It was a good workout all the same though 60 second 1 leg drills sucked big time!

Anyways, today is a 'rest' day. I might get some Eliptical in if I can. On Wednesday I got an unscheduled 30 minute Eliptical in. Bonus!

Wednesday

OK.

I have my 20 week plan in hand.

Today is a 30 minute swim. I hope I can find my goggles and cap. It has been a while! :)

Tomorrow: Cycling class. I think someone asked me if it is a spin class. I would say not really in that spin classes are generally on stationary bikes. This class is on your own road bike and it uses computer controlled trainers that attach to your back wheel. We almost always do a 5K warmup, then drills where you only use one leg at a time, then intervals where you have to push to your maximum for a certain length of time or hills etc. I have never been to a spin class but it is probably similar just not on a real bike?

Wisdom from Hazel

I got a good email from my friend Hazel and I am posting it here, more for myself than anything else. This can be done. I just have zero room for screw ups from now on. Seriously. There is a line in the sand (concrete if you are Terry) that once I pass it, doing the race will be folly. I am not there yet but I am close. I must stay away from that line and it is going to be stressful.

Here is Hazel's email in blue:

If you can stand the stress - continue with the half-ironman plan - concentrate on swim and bike.

On the swim - I just watched your first triathlon video again and you had issues with the open water swim. You might want to practice swimming in the wet suit (in the pool) at some point - like most of May. I find wet suit swims really odd/uncomfortable - anxiety causing.

You are a strong cyclist. Keep getting strong/er.

The run is the absolute least of your worries. You do the two events with ease, and you can worry about the run when you get to it. Train for a 10 km.

P.S. - ½ Ironman - at our level are never pretty. You do the swim - that's over - you do the bike - which you are good at - that's over - put one foot in front of the other - walk, walk, walk - Oh, I think I will jog to that water station - walk, walk, walk, oh - I think I will jog to that telephone pole, walk, walk, walk.- you get to drink coke with impunity. Coke at the water stations was like a really good recreational drug.

In my first half-ironman - I think I walked the first 3 k.

Another thing to keep in mind - The race has a very soft cut off - if you are over 8 hours, you can still finish with a time, and with support, and a medal - the organizers support you.

Consider doing a mini-bike camp with J. Consider doing a mini bike camp with me (!) The lake may be warm enough for a practice swim.

Hide and Seek

If you sense that I might be hiding out you might be right :)

My working out has been very sparse.

Self sabotage? What would the point of the be? I have no idea but I have no other explanation of my behaviour. (yes there is a u in that google spell checker! ha!)

Tonight I have to wrangle the kids to their slumbering state solo. The Nest of Doom has returned (3 year old sucking me into her clutches at night) because we had to evict her from the 5 year old's room because she was keeping him up until all hours.

I must escape tonight and get myself onto some sort of equipment either bike or elliptical. It is 6:23 and dinner is still cooking. I gave them milk (chocolate yikes!) to hold them over. Can I get them fed and to bed within an hour. Could be interesting. Pray for Mojo!

Thursday Workout

So Thursday I had my first cycling class in quite a while. I missed the first 2 weeks in December due to Christmas recitals for the kids and then there was a 2 week break.

The workout was really hard. They have amped up the effort required for sure. I need to catch up by doing homework at home.

It was really good to go because everyone there is really fit. Positive peer pressure! :)

I missed having my friend Hazel there. She had her knee surgery in December. Hopefully she will be good as new soon :)

Today is a work day. I will have to inspire myself to do some sort of workout when I get home. Maybe a run is in order.

Coach: I need a schedule!

Wednesday Workout

Yesterday (Wednesday) I did 30 minutes on the Elliptical for about 360 calories. I felt like I should have done more because it was really easy but hey, it was something.

Tonight I have my first bike class of the new year and I am looking forward to that.

For accountability I have decided to post my weight once a week over at my other blog and I will do that on Thursdays.

Tuesday Jan. 6th

9:15 am

I went to work yesterday for the first time in 3 weeks so that was a bit weird . Right now both kids are out of the house at their respective schools. I would like to go for a run but the cupboards are bare so off to the grocery store I go. Taking the kids to the grocery store is a very painful experience. But maybe it would be worth it to get my run in. Hmmmmm....

11am

I chose to go for a run instead of going grocery shopping. I was slow, it was cold but I ran with a smile on my face.

Miss Positivity 2009 here I come!

OK. This is it kids. 5 months to go until the race that I am signed up for. Thats right people. The freaking half Ironman triathlon. 2km (1.25 mi) swim, 93 km bike (58 mi) then 21km run (13 mi).

Already I can feel myself making excuses. Negative self talk. Talking myself out of it.

I went for a run today with NickieChickie. It was not a huge success. After that I was sure that doing a half ironman in June was a very bad idea.

On the drive home I called up my husband and said:

me: If I wasn't already signed up for this race would you still say that I should do it?

him: yes

me: I have lost so much fitness. I feel like I am at square zero

him: you probably are.

me: but I can still do it?

him: yes

me: *sigh* OK.

So that's it. 5 months of crazy training ahead but in the end it will be something to be proud of. In the meantime I am not going to obsess over the scale or my eating. One thing at a time. If I show up on that day the same weight as I am today, so be it. Though I am confident I will be shedding at least 10 pounds of this extra insulation and maybe 20 if I'm lucky. However, that is not going to be my focus. I am not going to do things that are blatently bad (hello junk food!) but if the scale does not move so be it.

I know if Dinograd or Hazel were in my shoes they would get this job done so I'd better hop to it!