Good Morning,
For the next three days, I am going to make a concerted effort and not for the activity you might think. I am going to make a concerted effort to keep a smile on my face and to gently remove that high anxiety, annoyed feeling that I seem to be feeling quite often.
You see, I am a young and vibrant person and I don't think that walking around with a scowl on my face is really that becoming, nor is it particularly healthy. I'm not saying that I'm snarly all the time but these last few months have really exposed some of my less flattering traits and that needs to stop. I am an adult and that means that if it pisses me off into a dishes-slamming rage to have to unload the dishwasher, I have the ability to just walk away and come back when I won't do something that will cause either bleeding, embarassment or the need to buy new dinnerware. Grocery shopping is not a contact sport and washing the darks shouldn't make you want to punch someone.
So this weekend, starting today, I'm going to make a concerted effort to be jolly. I am going to keep 'happy' and 'relaxed' in the forefront of my brain and make the best of the whole weekend, even the parts that I don't really appreciate.
Saturday morning I'm heading to spinning at 8:30am (my big bicycle ride is fast approaching!) and after that I'm going to do an hour of upper body weight lifting...not because I have to but because I really enjoy it and I missed a day this week which makes me feel ripped off...not guilty! On the way home from the gym I'm going to drop in on my hairdresser and beg her to, at the very least, trim my bangs so I don't look like a sheep dog any longer. And then I believe I will be meeting my man at home and probably going for a nice lunch.
I hope you also have a relaxed weekend, maybe you'll join me over the next three days in my effort to make a mental mind shift back to the positive. Let me know how you do!
Well Good Morning! And thanks to stumbling upon a new blog, it is now a very good morning for me, very good indeed!
Yesterday's gym workout was terrible. TEEERR-EEEBBBLLLE. The likes of which has not been seen by me since...well, ever. I could barely jog half a mile before I had to stop and walk (note that in weeks previous I have made it in excess of 4+ miles before having to take a wee break). I ended up jogging for 30 minutes and I don't even think that I made 2 miles. It was pathetic and heartbreaking. I decided that perhaps I am not a morning jogger and that I should instead focus my attention on the stationary bike for 30 minutes. Right. I made it about 12 minutes and then quit. Yep, quit. Off I went to Stretching Corner and proceeded to stare off into space and beat the living shit out of myself for not doing better. For not going harder, for not taking advantage of the small amount of time that I have for exercise. Pretty much shit kicked myself at 5am. Lovely.
Got in the shower, degraded my flab while getting dressed, headed to work and then refused to let myself eat second breakfast because I didn't deserve it, I hadn't worked for it.
This morning I had 4am gym and aaaaalmost didn't go. I did a warmup and then pushed weights for an hour. It was a good effort (not like yesterday) but I have still been stuck in my head, wondering and yelling and berating and worrying over my apparant lack of progress in dropping these 10 pounds and increasing my endurance and muscle.
At work this morning our computers are down so I took the opportunity to look for new blogs to read. And boy did I find one!
This post
is my answer. This post completely explained, exactly at the right time, what my issue is. I started April Fitness Challenge at the beginning of April and I was having great success. I was loving my workouts and challenging myself and as a special bonus I had dropped 4 pounds in the first 2 weeks. And that's where it all went off the rails. Four pounds! Well that wasn't that difficult at all, if I work a little harder and a little longer I can lose more. If I eat a little less and work a little harder and a little longer, maybe I can look like a fitness model. YAY!
Dumb, dumb girl. What I did was stressed my body and turned my mind into a psycho success killer that never stopped. To quote Rachel:
All of the sudden, it was like nothing I did was good enough. My workouts weren’t long enough. My eating wasn’t clean enough. My journey became less about taking myself to the fitness limits and more about the carb/protein ratio. Nothing I did was good enough — especially in the food department.
Thanks to a random blog that I happened upon, I've made a mind shift back to where I should be. Back to doing good because it feels good and because I want to and I need the time alone and the self love. A mind shift away from how much weight I can lose and how much food that exercise means I can eat and how many calories I burn.
Back to where I should be and I'm flipping thrilled! I doubt that I will ever leap out of bed and burst into song at 4am, it will still be difficult to get up and get going but at least now I don't feel like where I'm going is to fight a losing battle. I'm not losing the fight, I was just at the wrong location!
What I need is a little assistance today in the form of a sort-of-survey. Answer anonymously if you like, that's totally fine.
Where do you find your inspiration to maintain a healthy lifestyle or get out for a jog or wake up early and go to the gym? How do you turn off Bad Brain and let Good Brain take over?
Does keeping a regular strict schedule help you or hurt you?
Do you find that doing things like recycling and composting and living green help you to treat yourself better also?
Does looking at fitness or fashion magazines propel you to work harder or sink your self esteem?
What do you use for overall, longterm inspiration?
Do you have any tips/tricks for shorterm, in the moment, kick it harder inspiration?
G'day! Happy Post Easter Sugar Crash!
I am fortunate enough to have been able to take a vacation day so that I had a four day Easter weekend. Four days with which to recover and recharge and rejuvenate (and eat an insane amount of bunny). And? I'm not so sure it really worked. I mean, I guess it did, we got to ride bikes and have yummy dinners and spend time together and giggle and be silly together.
But as far as being recharged for more? More lunch making, more gym bag packing, more cooking, cleaning, organizing etc? Not so much. I'm about done with being the person who has to do everything and while normally I'm unwilling to ask for help, that ends today.
There are things that Ray can do in order to help me out. He can fold laundry if I bring it upstairs, he can unload the dishwasher throughout the day while I'm at work, he can put dinner in the oven, make grocery lists, take some recycling downstairs each time he goes, sort the newspapers for garbage day. There are lots of things that he can do to take the heat off of me and I just need to remember to let him/ask him. So that's that. It doesn't serve anyone's best interest for me to be a martyr. Nope.
This weekend I skipped spinning on Saturday morning and I skipped Long Jog on Monday in favour of four straight days of gym rest. I was fully ready to go back this morning and lift some weights, but I did NOT prepare myself mentally for getting out of bed at 4am and sadly, I was a skipper today. I have the last yoga class tonight and I am definitely ready for the gym tomorrow. I'm going to do a morning jog and see how that goes. I crave to get moving, I just need to get back to getting out of bed! Plus, I really liked the direction Ye Olde Body was headed in before my break(down) and that takes some effort. I'm ready for cleaner eating (and less of it, harder workouts starting in May and then middle of May I get to do the big bike ride.
I've realized that I'm in need of rest when I can get it and that no one expects me to have everything done all the time. Sitting on the sofa is just fine if that's what needs to happen....it just doesn't need to happen all of the time.
They finally put up the route for my bike ride so I can see where I'm going on May 15th. Seeing it made me all the more excited and ready to get out there. It bloody better not rain, warm sunshine is the way to be!
Ray is going out to his buddy's to watch the hockey game tonight, when I get home from Yoga I'm going to watch the hockey game in my snuggly bed where I will hopefully fall fast asleep following a winning game. 4am comes early and this time, I'm ready! Excuses don't get me anywhere...only dedicated consistant action changes the outcome.
That's what Tara said, Keep on Keeping on. That's the only option, isn't it?
Well, there's Giving Up which isn't an option and there's Giving IN which is different than Giving Up but also not an option.
So the only option, in spite of the immense frustration that I am feeling, is to Keep on Keeping On.
I have somehow managed to GAIN 4.8 pounds this week. That's what the scale says, obviously that's not truly possible....I think the gain is there but it's not fat from overeating or lack of exercise, it's a symptom of something else. I did some serious thinking during my workout this morning and have come up with the following.
A) I cannot eat bread. Certainly not as much bread as we had this week (I made split pea soup and we ate loads and loads of fresh bread with it). Bread/gluten/grains, whatever. They bloat my stomach and screw with my hydration and make me all sorts of uncomfortable. A bun or a wrap occassionally is no problem. Bread every day, slathered with butter, slathered with peanut butter, dipped in soup, nibbled on at every opportunity is BAD. I firmly believe that I burn more than enough to tolerate the calories...it's the method of calorie delivery that is not working out. Last night, no bread and already this morning I feel a bit better.
B) I am under a great deal of stress, emotional and physical. Home is hard right now. Watching your man suffer and not get better is beyond hard and it's emotionally draining. Doing e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g when it comes to house and food and laundry and shopping and errands and banking and packing gym bags etc is HARD. Going into every store alone while he waits in the car or at home is hard and sad. My body is already stressed and under actual physiological stress (not the superficial stress that people complain about all the time), all the things that your body normally does, it doesn't do anymore, not properly anyway. Digestion suffers, hydration suffers, skin and hair suffer, weight loss and endurance all suffer.
C) I am physically exhausted. Long Jog on Monday after work, 4am gym on Tuesday morning, yoga on Tuesday night, 4am gym on Wednesday and Thursday morning and spinning on Saturday morning is too much. TOO MUCH.
So, given that I have figured out why I'm feeling injured and fragile and exhausted more than I should be, what do I do about it?
Keep on keeping on...with some revisions! Fortunately the prepaid 5 week yoga course is over as of next week and I am not signing on for the next level right now, I just can't pull it off. Also, at the end of next week is the end of April Fitness Challenge. Then I'm starting a new month long plan in May and some of the workouts are changing. It'll all still be on the same days but a couple of days are going to be shorter (but more intense) which will buy me a little more time to do other things...like....sit down. And as far as the bread problem goes, that's just me wanting to eat things I know that I can't/shouldn't. I'll fix that, no problem.
My sister made a good comment on yesterday's post too about rest. I did build in rest days to my schedule, two a week, but I've really only been considering them gym-rest days and although I don't attend the gym on those two days, I use that 'spare time' to get a zillion other things done. What I should be doing at least for a little while on those rest days is reading a book, sitting in the sun, napping or otherwise recharging my battery in whatever way feels right that day.
It's funny how a person can go through life and be an intelligent person, driven and capable and inspired....and still run headlong into a brick wall without really noticing it coming.
I was going to talk about focus this morning and how being focussed and being aware of exactly what you are doing can often times propel you forward just as much as when you can completely zone out and the miles fly by (yes, I am jogger).
But. It will have to wait. I have more pressing issues. I need to bitch and hard at that.
Now, this may be just me whining and cry-babying, but hear me out. I do not understand why I get injured all the time. Every time I turn around I'm dealing with something else. Shin splints. Plantar Faciitis. Atrial Tachycardia. Knee injury. Lower back pain. Shoulder injury. And these are all things that have happened or are currently going on in the last 6 months. That seems a bit excessive.
What I don't understand is WHAT MORE CAN I DO?????? I already lift weights to increase my muscle (which protects your joints and ligaments), I'm learning yoga, I vary my cardio so I'm not overtraining, I stretch after every workout and every night before I go to bed. I go to the chiropractor regularly and I go to massage regularly.
It's not like I create little minor injuries so that I can sit on the fat couch and eat bon bons. I push through. Or modify. Or switch up. Injury/illness does not mean sit on the sofa in my world so I figure it can't be the mind/body connection trying to buy excuses to laze about.
I guess I'm just frustrated. Beyond frustrated. How are you ever supposed to get anywhere when you have to stop every 5 minutes to put air in the tires? You'd be exhausted before you ever left the neighborhood.
I work hard. I eat what you're supposed to, I take all the vitamins, I get up at 4am to go to the gym, I fuel properly before and after workouts to maximize the results, I bust my ass at spinning class, I put in the miles and the time and the effort, in reality, more effort than is normal. And I just spin my wheels.
*exhausted sigh*
Morning!
This morning I'm going to give you two excellent, super easy and very healthy breakfasts, one of which you've probably never thought of. I also want to talk about hydration. Ready?
First, since the word 'Eat' is in my blog title, the food. On early morning gym days I always have two breakfasts. The first one is at 4am and I've struggled to find something that is quick, warmish, easy and not terrible to choke down in the middle of the night! 
That, my friends, is a mashed sweet potato, covered with a blop of yogurt, about a quarter cup of previously frozen berries (so as to be nice and juicy) and then topped with a drizzle of honey (you don't need the honey if you don't want it, the potato and the yogurt are quite sweet already). To easily make this breakfast:
The night before, wash and stab a sweet potato several times. Wrap in two layers of papertowel and then soak with water. Squeeze out some of the excess, so it's not dripping, and then microwave on high for approximately 6 minutes...shorter for smaller potatoes, longer for larger. You want your potato to be somewhat smooshy when you get it out of the microwave. Cut it in half and scoop the insides out into two seperate bowls. Leave on counter overnight. In the morning, mash the potato, heat in the microwave for about 45 seconds, top with yogurt, berries and honey and breakfast number one is ready to eat!
Breakfast number two is what I have after I've been to the gym, once I get to work. The cooking procedure is hijacked from my sister but the add ins are mine. 
Again, the night before, put 1/4 cup oats in a thermos, add a little more than 3/4 cup boiling water, some raisins, pecans/walnuts if you want them and then screw the lid on and leave overnight. In the morning, dump into bowl, microwave for 45 seconds, top with sliced banana and then my personal favourite is to pour ED Smith No Sugar Added pancake syrup on top. It's only 60 cal for 3 tbsp and it makes your oats taste a little like a banana pancake. Delicious!
Now that the food is out of the way, I need to discuss hydration...or more specifically my apparant lack of it. I drink water and rooibos tea all day long. My estimation is that I have anywhere between 2-3 litres of fluid a day. Last Monday when I did Long Jog (which was 7km), I came home and was sick to the point I thought I was getting the flu. Only after some suggestions did I discover it was more than likely a little dehydration. So this Monday, in preparation for Long Jog (to be 8km), I drank lots on Sunday and lots on Monday to ensure that all fluid levels were topped up. During my jog I also make sure to take a few good gulps of water every few minutes. But, alas, it made no difference. Around Mile 3.5, I started to feel a little funny, I had again, mostly stopped sweating. It was the strangest sensation, I could almost watch the sweat evaporate from my wrists up my arms. My skin got very dry and hot and tight and by Mile 4.5 I was pretty much completely dry and my face was tight and itchy. I persevered (dumb in hindsight) to the 5th mile and then called it done. I can't say I felt sick like last week but there's definitely something not quite right.
I sweated lots at the beginning of my run, not profusely, just about average for me and then all of a sudden, nothing and I felt it dry up from my extremeties all the way up to my back and my face. When I came home after showering at the gym, Ray felt my skin and said it felt weird. Strangely dry...dry like no skin oils, parched sort of.
I'm wondering if Gatorade would help while I'm exercising? Or perhaps it's possible that anything over about 6km is just too much for me right now? Maybe I should hold steady at 6 for awhile? I'm really not sure. I know dehydration is dangerous and I also know that I have a heart condition so I can't be screwing around with it. I've never experienced this before though so I'm not really sure what to do to fix it.
Anyway, I only felt a little nauseated before bed last night and the gym this morning was totally fine. I did an elliptical warm up and then a good upper body free weight session for an hour and then abs, butt and weighted power squats. Smiley face for yesterday and today!
See you tomorrow!
PS. Let me know if you try the sweet potato for breakfast!
Where did I leave off? Friday after work we went out for dinner with Ray's mom. I had a sirloin steak salad with strawberries, pecans and feta. Delicious. But. I have reached my absolute limit as far as eating anymore leafy greens for awhile. I've been having spinach salad for lunch every day for months now and before that it was mixed green salad. I cannot eat anymore rabbit food. Give me the rabbit! Just kidding.
What my immediate withdrawal from salad did was force me to create a new lunch menu item which would still be healthful and include veggies and protein. Enter Curried Chicken Quinoa. It is so delicious and although I'm not a huge fan of posting recipes, I am going to do so on this one because you can make the whole recipe on Sunday afternoon in about 15 minutes and not have to figure out anything for lunch for the rest of the week!
4 chicken breasts, diced (I used the packaged precooked chicken which worked beautifully!)
1 tbsp tamari (sub soy sauce if desired)
2 tsp yellow curry powder
If using precooked chicken, dice chicken, toss in large bowl with tamari and curry. If using breasts, cook in tamari and curry, then put in large bowl.
1 cup quinoa
1.5 cups water
2 tsp yellow curry powder
Rinse quinoa, put in pot with water and curry, bring to boil. Reduce to simmer uncovered 12-15 minutes or until all liquid absorbed.
small handful craisins
1 or 2 carrots, grated
bunch green onions, chopped
can black beans, rinsed and drained
half large red pepper, julienned
10 or so cherry tomatos, halved (or regular tomato chopped)
Mix all together in large bowl. Top each serving with halved pecans or diced avacado...or nothing.
Now, it you're counting calories, this recipe in full works out to be about 2,000 calories. There is MORE than enough to divide into 5 days worth. If you're not counting calories but just eating for health, this beats the band. It's about 40g protein/serving, good fat, good carbs and good fibre. Colourful and varied, just what we should be eating. (PS, that's my new hat there in the background, made by my talented sister!) 
OK, recipe aside, I am beyond thrilled to report that I insured my motorcycle on the weekend and we went for our first tandem ride (two bikes) in almost 8 months!!! It was, oh my goodness, SO nice to be on my bike with Ray ahead of me on his and everything seemed so perfectly normal for a short time. The posture of him riding his bike is actually very easy on his injury and we mostly have to stick to backroads and minimal traffic areas so that there is less chance of him having to put his foot down. But for a short hour or so yesterday I was able to pretend that everything was normal again. Besides riding my motorcycle behind my sweet love, motorcycle riding is an amazing soothe for my soul and it was sooo needed. I was a little shaky in the corners and at traffic lights I had a few hard landings but it was all good. So good.
Spinning on Saturday morning sucked, the instructor was horrible....the workout was intense though....you just had to convince yourself to get after it rather than listening to the instructor because she pretty much didn't say anything. My legs burned though for the rest of the day and into Sunday so I supose that's good! Saturday night we went for dinner with Sister and her boyfriend and Sunday was riding and groceries and cooking and housework. All in all, not a bad weekend!
I made a decision on the weekend that if I'm eligible for the heart surgery to get rid of my A-Tach then I'm going to get it done. It's scary and a little nervewracking but they do it all the time and once it's done it's gone forever!
Today after work is Long Jog Day and I have 5 miles (8km) lined up. I realized this morning that even if I have to take one or two walking breaks (which I hope not to), that does not constitute failure of the task. I was busy hydrating myself last night and will do so all day today in order to avoid last Monday's debaucle.
See you tomorrow!
Today marks the halfway point in my April Fitness Challenge. I was still a little let down by my oversleeping yesterday but in the big picture, it really doesn't make any difference so I'm officially over it.
When I planned AFC, I figured that I could do anything for a month, I planned in rest days, I made sure to keep the schedule interesting and varied. And so far, so good! What I didn't count on was overwhelming exhaustion at the end of this week. I'm pretty sure it's a combination of a little bit of low iron (which I do regularly take care of unless I forget!) and mental/emotional exhaustion given what is going on at home with Ray's injury and my need to have my heart medication adjusted. I really don't believe it has anything to do with the gym and for that reason I refuse to get discouraged or reduce my schedule. The gym and my workouts and my improved fitness are what is going to save me in the long run. So tomorrow I spin!
Since last night I was getting discouraged and the "What's the point, you'll never get there!" speech kept going round and round in my head, I did something to make myself feel better. I took a nice bath, poured a glass of wine, combed my hair and put on a black camisole and pretty black underwear and wandered around the house for the rest of the night like that. I didn't do it to initiate sex or tease Ray, that wasn't the point at all, it was meant to make myself feel good about me and it worked beautifully. So my little panty parade last night has geared me up to finish out the last half of AFC strong. I'm rejuvenated and ready to rock. I highly recommend a panty parade to anyone who is feeling slightly discouraged or unpretty. Put on the pretties and soak up your feminine strength and beauty and keep rocking!
Remember yesterday how I said I slept through my alarm clock for 3 minutes? Weeeellll.....today was worse. I didn't so much sleep through it as turned it off when it blared and then fell right back asleep as though it was Saturday morning. I woke at 4:45 and realized that I could no longer save AFC Day Fourteen. I have chalked Day Fourteen up as my No Way Day although I really believe that if I'm so tired as to be incoherent enough to not remember that I have to GET UP when the black box starts to make noise, then I probably need the rest day. Right? RIGHT?!
So Day Fourteen is toast, no smiley face and I would like to talk about something else. Costco. I love Costco and I really believe that Costco can be a saving grace for healthy eating. It can also be your worst nightmare as far as unhealthy crap that is passed off as tasty and nutritious. Back in my...umm...unhealthy days, I used to LOVE Costco for the gyozas and the pizzas and the cheeses and the chips and 'veggie' chips and the soups and soup mixes etc. Oh, the trailmix and the power bars and the tamari almonds, oh my!
Even though those days are well and truly behind me, it doesn't mean that Costco is off limits, nope! Yesterday my little foray into Costco included 4 pounds of raisins, 10 pounds of steel cut oats (for only $7 and they are from the town I live in, yay carbon footprint!), two containers of Tribe hummus, a box of multigrain crackers, a big bag of raw almonds, mini wheats (for Ray) and a large bag of jasmine rice.
Yes, quite a bit different from what I used to buy there....less fat, mostly whole or minimally processed foods that are all delicious and have all sorts of nutritional value!
It's funny when I think about the old cart contents, they appear in my mind as absurdly bright, shiny and neon, a bit alien. The new cart contents show up in my mind as more neutral, subdued and natural...real. Go figure.
Anyway, Day Fourteen is done, if not quite as successfully as I would have preferred. We're having homemade Garlic Lime Chicken Fajitas for dinner tonight (made by me) and a 50 calorie real fruit Del Monte popsicle for dessert. And, if I get everything done that needs doing and it's not pouring rain (or snowing like this morning), I may take Pedals out for a ride.
Oh morning, how I hated thee! First of all, I slept through my alarm clock by 3 minutes, which is not a huge deal at all but it is definitely a good indicator of my level of tiredness. Sleeping through music blaring eight inches from my head is always remarkable to me. Anyway, I managed to have a rather involved conversation with myself in the space of two actual minutes about what excuse I could make to not go to the gym and why it would be perfectly acceptable to forget it and go back to sleep. My 'bad brain' didn't win though and off I went.
Before I go too far, let me say that I wrapped up a stellar Day Twelve yesterday with an evening yoga class. We learned Sun Salutations yesterday and while that might sound peaceful and relaxing, it was actually contortionist aerobics. The one day I didn't take a hair elastic and wore long pants to the class was the day that we worked up an incredible sweat. (see link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbMr6GTWkG4&feature=related)
Back to now. Today is Day Thirteen and was a bike race day. I did 45 minutes (12 miles) of interval training on the stationary bike and then followed it up with some good stretching. I'm coming to see just how important stretching is and while the progress is incredibly slow (and sometimes painful), there is progress and flexibility reduces injury and improves performance.
Speaking of injury, I'm sitting here with my knee under ice right now because I think it's experiencing some overuse. I'm a person who is very, VERY sensitive to change of any sort and it's not unusual for me to become injured from one day to the next and then not injured the next day. So ice it is, until my knee relaxes and then it'll all be good to go again.
Now, onto more serious matters. I have a heart condition, I've had it probably for my whole life but only in the last 6 months has it reared its head. It's called Atrial Tachycardia and it means that the top of my heart cannot regulate itself and often times it goes batshit crazy and beats about a zillion times per minute. It's startling every time it happens and when it happens over and over in the same day it's exhausting both mentally and physically. In the last 3 months since I've really beefed up the exercise, those fibrillations have been coming fewer and further between. What I used to have about 5-10 times/day I now am getting only about once/week. Score! Right. The medication that I take for my heart doesn't actually change the rythym, it just slows it down overall. Exercise, especially when you get into the higher endurance (5+km jogging, hour+ cycling etc) sort, also slows your heart down because your heart becomes more powerful and each beat it produces sends a stronger push of blood into the body, making it not necessary to beat as often. Which is great! Unless you also have an artificially reduced heart rate....which is not great because it means that my resting heart rate is approximately 40-42 bpm. According to all the charts, I am an elite athlete. Only I'm not. What I am is blacking out on a quasi-regular basis and I'm frickin' exhausted even after a nap or a workout, both of which should energize you.
So I went to my family doctor yesterday to discuss what we could do about this. Not exercising and just sitting around and letting my heart get weaker (thereby beat faster) in order to counteract the medication didn't seem optimal to me. My doctor agreed and she's going to discuss the problem with my cardiologist (better her than me) and either I get to try a medication switch (beta blockers to calcium channel blockers) or I have to have an invasive procedure done whereby they send a catheter into my heart and burn out the section that isn't playing nice. If I get the medication switched and it doesn't work...then I get the surgery.
I can't say I'm really stressed out about it....ideally they give me the surgery, it takes me a week or so to recover and then I no longer have this annoying heart condition, I'll be right as rain, no pills required. Ideal as the surgery is though, it's voluntary at this time and I have a hard time volunteering for someone to stick a hot wire up a major blood vessel and start cooking my heart. I'm just sayin'. :)
Morning!
AFC Day 12 (TWELVE!) is complete. Day 11 was Long Jog Day and I definitely ran a long one (well, long for me, anyway). 4.4 miles (7 km) in 48 minutes. That's almost an eleven minute mile which is a bit slower than I've been doing (reasons below). I can be very glad that I actually made it through the entire run however I did have to stop for one walking break and the resulting sickness after the run was something I would like to never have again. I thought it odd, around 3.5 miles, that I wasn't really sweating anymore but I didn't think anything of it, I actually thought maybe I wasn't working that hard. Right. I also found it odd that the base of my stomach was hurting. Anatomy not being my strong suite, but you know how it feels like your abdomen has a 'floor' that all the organs sit on? Well that's what was hurting, just sort of aching around half way through.
Anyway, I completed my distance and off I went to the shower where I thought for sure I was going to be sick. Home, dinner, sitting on sofa and I really thought I had the flu. I tried some yoga poses to relax because my entire body was aching and spasming but I just felt like I was going to vomit into my hair so I put the yoga mat away! We went so far as to drive to the grocery store so that I could pick up some gravol, just in case. Ray thought I might need a soft serve Dairy Queen ice cream cone on the way home and I was delighted to find that I was starting to feel better after that. I think that I had a triple whammy yesterday....I think I was slightly dehydrated, combined with my heart rate being already quite low (dr appt today) and plus I didn't fuel properly prior to the jog, not like I normally do anyway. I went to bed early and thank heavens this morning I feel fine, if a little tired.
This morning's gym date was a warm up on the eliptical and then an hour of upper body weight lifting along with some power squats (works the INSIDE of the thighs) and some arse and ab exercises on the floor.
Feeling pretty darn good that I'm already at Day Twelve and haven't used my No Way Day yet although last night I thought for sure today would be the day. I have yoga tonight and then another early bedtime, methinks.
Have a great one!
Good Morning,
Let's recap the weekend, shall we?
Friday Night
As we discussed, Friday was a rest day and definitely did include the chocolate-peanut butter raspberry smoothy. Delicious, I highly recommend! I also went for a massage on Friday evening...necessary for my ridiculously tight muscles which are being made tighter by all the exercise...but also very relaxing and lovely. Upon returning home Ray and I went to Futureshop where my sweet man treated me to a new iPod Shuffle....my regular iPod has to be worn on an arm band which does not work well when pushing weights. Anyway, the new (and very tiny) baby is gold and I'm in love with it.
Saturday
First thing (8:30am) on Saturday morning saw me killing myself at a spinning class....which was slated to go for 45 minutes but the instructor was a sub and did a full hour. Lord-ee! By the end of the interval races I had no more turn left in the tension knob, completely maxed out. In the space of about two hours I drank a litre of water, 3/4 litre of gatorade, a litre of protein powder (mixed with water) and didn't go pee once. I also purchased one of the new Tim Horton's Real Fruit Smoothys for my drive to my next destination, post-gym, but it was disgusting! Tasted like fruit punch but with extra sweetness. Really, so sweet I couldn't even drink it, that one got tossed into the trash at my first chance!
Saturday afternoon we went out for a nice lunch and then came home and took a nap, watched hockey in the evening and went to bed at a reasonable time.
Sunday
Sunday was another rest day...well...a non gym day, anyway. I had an at home wax appointment first thing in the morning followed by coffee with my mom, grocery shopping, four loads of laundry, sheet change, a quick trip to London Drugs to replace my gym shower scrubby which got dropped in the toilet on Saturday night, a nap and a decent dinner, gave the man a haircut, watched a little television and the weekend was over.
Food was pretty good all weekend....at home smoothy, nice fresh chicken and goat cheese sandwich, dark chocolate, green salad. The not so good parts would include Pizza Hut, a half a bag of kettle chips, a huge chocolate cookie and some walnut chocolate brownie that I made on Saturday.
Let Monday begin! Today is Long Jog Day and the goal is to jog 4.4 miles (8.1km) without stopping at a pace of 5.6-5.8mph. Wish me luck!
Oh Rest Day, how I adore thee. You gave me an extra 2 hours of sleep this morning (plus I went to bed at 8pm!) and you let me shower at home and make my own coffee.
Rest Day, as much as I love you, unfortunately sometimes you make me feel lazy. When I am going all week like my hair is on fire and then you show up at the end of the week and let me do nothing, I feel like I'm cheating.
We need to rethink how I think about you. You're just as important (if not moreso) than Gym Day. You aren't lazy-time, you're recovery time and self-love time and relax-y time so that when Gym Day shows up again, I'll be ready and able to go.
So, Rest Day, today you are going to include a chocolate-peanut butter-raspberry smoothy for dinner (which I LOVE) and an hour long massage (which I really deserve). You may also include a glass of wine, a popsicle and an early bedtime. You will not include any feelings of guilt, cheating or laziness. You will not try to tell me that my precious few hours of 'no plans' means that it's the perfect time to go and ride my pedal bike on my uphill training route. You will be warm and restful and kind. And when our day together is over and Gym Day shows up on Saturday morning, I will remember that you're coming back over on Sunday and that we will have a lovely time together again.
You play an important part in April Fitness Challenge and I must let you do your thing so that I can rock my thing!
Morning! After yesterday's ridiculous start to the day, the whole thing just got a lot worse. Honestly, that was probably the worst day on record for the last while.
I really do thank myself that I have been exercising regularly for awhile because as horreeeeble as yesterday was, I can imagine that it would have been a whole lot worse had I not been slightly endorphin-medicated that morning.
Anyway, yesterday is over, my moment of weakness has passed, I'm back to soldiering on. This morning was weights again (Tuesdays and Thursdays). Ray and I sat down last night and reviewed our weight lifting book and made a better and more organized/thorough plan for me to follow.
I would like to take a moment and explain this book because if you can't afford a personal trainer and you don't know what weights to lift or what exercises to do in order to target certain muscles, this book is for you! It costs about $30 (we bought it in the US) and is extremely comprehensive.
It's seperated into sections, Arms, Shoulders, Chest, Back, Legs, Bum, and Stretching. Each exercise shows the proper position and names some of the key muscles. In the main picture it shows in a reddish highlight what main muscle you're working. In the top right corner though, it shows all the muscles that are engaged when doing the exercise. Some moves are shown with alternates or variations in order to change the target area.
I realize I'm going on about it but if you're scared or unsure or confused by free weights and weight machines, get this book, go to your gym and see what you can do. (I take the book with me to the gym and consult it as needed while exercising) The book provides enough variation that it would be difficult to become bored. For triceps for instance, there are at least 10 different exercises (with variations) so that you can change it up.
So, I rocked Day Seven in the weight room for about an hour this morning and that is the end of my early morning workouts for this week.
A friend posted a status update yesterday that got me to thinking; "We always want what we can't have." and I decided to change that lament to; "We can have what we go and get.". Decide what you want, marry it with how much effort you're willing to put in and then get after it.
Oh, and PS! No more key! 
Morning!
At 4:15am this morning when my alarm went off, I wandered around the house, made my yam breakfast, changed my clothes and thought about how I was going to tell you today that getting up at 4am the day before, killing a workout on the worst day of that time of the month, working all day, coming home and making and cleaning up dinner, going to yoga for an hour and then staying up until 10pm to watch Biggest Loser does not really make for a very happy morning the next day. But....I got up at 4:15am with no complaining and went to the gym.
Today was Day Six and was slotted as a Cardio Day. Since I have a bike race coming up soon I thought the best use of my time would be the upright stationary bike. Man, that beast can make me work! I did an aerobic training workout on the bike and managed 12 miles in 45 minutes doing interval work the whole time. That's pretty much half of the distance I will be required to ride Pedals in May. Not too shabby! 6 minutes of hard rowing concluded Day Six's workout and off I went, merrily on my sweaty way to go and have a shower.
Aaaaaaaannnnnddddd....then it all went for a shit.
(I will take a moment here to explain how my gym is laid out. When you come in the front door you are at the reception desk in the middle of the gym proper. You walk about 150 feet past the Group Exercise studio and through the co ed stretching stations. Through a set of double doors into the Ladies Only Fitness area. 60 more feet and you're into the relative safety of the Ladies Change Area.)
Now, back to my story. Into the change room I go, strip down, nice hot shower, dry off, walk back to....oh....um....shit....NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! I had locked my locker key IN MY LOCKER with everything that I own. In order to break into my locker (first thought, definitely not the last thought) I had at my disposal a small blue shower scrubby, a squeeze bottle of face wash, my toothbrush and the chest band of my heart rate monitor. Oh, and the wet bath towel that I was wrapped in. That's it. That's IT!
My next thought, after realizing I wouldn't be pulling any MacGyver style locker breakins with what I had, was to go to the next bank of lockers and ask the girl there, when she was dressed, to please go out to the front desk and get them to bring the bolt cutters in. At this point I still didn't really know the gravity of my situation...cut the lock, problem solved, annoying but not the end of the world. Ya. Sure.
Chrissy (helpful stranger-girl) comes back and tells me that the front desk can't find the bolt cutters...and that sorry, they said it wasn't their problem. All of a sudden my problem became much, much worse. There was nothing that I could do to talk to them myself, walking 210 feet (see layout above) through a co-ed gym in a damp towel didn't seem like much option to me at the time. I tried to call Ray with Chrissy's cell phone but at 6:30 in the morning, there is no way he's going to hear the phone (ear plugs). I'm naked, damp and cold, I have NOTHING with which to help myself and the gym wouldn't do a thing. Chrissy went back out to the desk and her plan was to convince them to do SOMETHING. At that moment my dear friend and coworker showed up and also went to 'discuss' this issue with them. The whole time they were out there, I sat in the changeroom, completely helpless to help myself.
When Tamara returned with no bolt cutters and no good news (but very pissed off....which I appreciated!), the next plan was that I would wear her hoodie with my towel as a sarong-style skirt and drive her car back to my house to get the spare key and then come back. Right at that moment the bolt cutters miraculously appeared, lock was snapped off and my impending half naked drive home was averted.
NOT a good morning so far.
When I went to leave, I stopped at the desk and tried, in a very gentle voice, to explain to 'Jasmine' why her attitude and lack of desire to be helpful for a full 25 minutes was unacceptable. And I tried to explain to her that they SELL CLOTHES at the front desk and it would have been a reasonable thing to offer me some (which I would obviously purchase once my wallet was free) so that I could try to help myself. She just sat there....staring at me....like I was an alien. Yes, it was my fault, my mistake. But is there not some level of responsibility from the gym and the staff that when things like this happen that they are obligated to fix the problem that I have created?
So, while I would have like to just tell you about how hard it was to get up this morning because of yesterday's activities, unfortunately fate decided that was too boring/lame of a story to tell and created this instead.
ANYWAY, it's over, we're having taco salad for dinner tonight and I have to go and purchase a new lock for tomorrow morning. Day Six, you rocked my workout but the rest of you sucks bobo!
AFC Days One through Four were pretty easy as far as motivation and getting going. Day One was a rest day (as though I planned it like that!), spinning on Saturday, rest day on Sunday, Long Jog on Monday after work. All fairly easy to do as far as actually getting there and getting going.
Before I continue, I'll break in here and say that Long Jog yesterday went VERY well. Going into it I was a little upset from a previous telephone conversation but as I started to jog I just left it all behind me, drowning it in my sweat! I love to watch Law & Order: SVU and it happens to play on at the same time as I jog when I go after work. I got 4 miles (6.4km) done in just under 45 minutes with no rest stops. That is a distance and time-without-stopping record for me and I'm very proud! Next week I'll keep the speed the same and increase the distance by 10%. Then the next week my plan is to drop the distance back to what I ran this week but increase my speed by 10%. I have to get a little faster or my Long Jog workouts are going to get much too lengthy, timewise.
(10% is the sticky number, btw, for increasing either speed or distance in a week to avoid injury. Don't do both at the same time and don't do more than 10%.)
Anyway, this morning was going to be the litmus test of whether or not I'm off to a decent start with AFC. My alarm was set to go off at 4am and to add insult to early morning injury, I had killer cramps all night and they hadn't let up by the ding-dong of the clock. I decided that there is no such thing as perfect and that meant that I would keep my AFC gym date this morning. I made a deal with myself that if I still felt horrible after my workout that I would go back home to bed and call in sick. Turns out? Exercise helps (as does Aleve!) and here I am, drinking coffee at my desk, an excellent workout under my belt and another smiley face for my AFC schedule!
Tonight is yoga which I'm pretty happy about, it's a totally different kind of attention that I give to my body...difficult in some respects but in a much different manner than regular exercise. I'm determined to like yoga....because I like the result of not having little aches and pains and twinges every time I move or twist or bend. It's also a nice quiet time out of the house and I get to do something nice for myself that is a little out of my comfort zone.
AFC Day Five is under my belt!
In my last post I mentioned that I was going to make sure that I made my best effort for the next month and whatever the results end up being, that is going to be the best I could do. The next immediate thought in my head was "Oh dear Lord, what if my best isn't good enough?! I should totally have a 'free' day (or several) sometime this month so that if my best turns out not to be very good, I can just chalk it up to Free Day(s) and it really wouldn't have anything to do with ME, but with a bad choice or two that I made."
Riiight. Crazy!
It's not really that crazy though, is it? That self defeating attitude isn't crazy at all, it's self preservationist. If you can blame something else for your lack of results (real or perceived) then you don't have to blame your own shortcomings (again, real or perceived).
Right now I still refuse to set any goals beyond showing up for my schedule every day and doing my absolute best (which includes fueling for my challenge). I'm going to have to figure out a way to be accepting of whatever result I get.
Any suggestions?
I hear people use this word often when it comes to healthy lifestyle. "Be mindful." But what does it mean? I guess it means something different to everyone and perhaps even something different at different times. I've used it as an excuse to eat crap, because I "knew" what I was doing, I wasn't doing it blindly. I think that's not really what people mean. For me, right now in my AFC schedule, it means that I need to think about what I'm doing each day and what that activity actually requires. It's so easy to tell myself "Well I went to the gym this morning!" and then order a 1200 calorie breakfast skillet at the local restaurant for dinner. Sure, I went to the gym this morning but I guaranTEE you that I did not burn off anywhere near enough calories to account for that menu choice. Nor am I an Olympian who 'needs' that much fuel to feed her muscle. In reality, I burn about 300-500 calories per gym visit (sometimes more if I'm really rocking it) and that equates to not a hell of a lot...not if I want to lose a couple of pounds, too. I've also gotten stuck in the trap of eating 'whatever' and justifying it the same way as above, I workout so I can eat whatever I want. It does work...to a point...and then it stops working. So, all that said, my goal for this month is to:
