P90x Fit Test

The P90x system has a pre-fitness test which recommends some minimum requirements (noted in [] below) before starting the program. Here is how the test went:

• Resting Heart Rate: 65
• Pull-Ups: n/a [min 1]; I don't have a chin-up bar, I plan to use the resistance bands instead
• Vertical Leap: 11.5" [min 3"]
• Push Ups: 15 on knees [min 3, or 15 on knees]; squeaked by with terrible form
• Toe Touch: -3" to my toes [min -6" from being able to touch your toes]; I have never been able to touch my toes
• Wall Squat: 1:00 [min 1 minute]; tougher than I expected, legs at more like 100 degrees instead of 90
• Bicep Curls: 26 reps @ 10 lbs [min 10 @ 8 lbs]
• In and Outs: 23 [min 25]; total fail
• Heart Rate Maximizer (jumping jacks 2min with sprint at end): Heart rate at end and every minute: 189, 163, 140, 105, 98

So I can't do a single "manly" pushup, and I barely squeakly by most of the areas and failed the in/outs. It just means that I'll look pathetic in the comfort of my living room and that I'll be really really sore for the next three months. It also means that I did too many bicep curls with the 10lb weight and I should consider buying a 15lb set.

Cheers,

New Years Resolution: P90x

Starting this Friday I will start a 90 day exercise program called P90x. It is an at-home exercise dvd series with different routines such as cardio, chest & back, kenpo and the ab ripper X. There is a different routine each day for 6 days a week. It also comes with a nutrition plan. There are varieties in both the fitness and nutrition plans; I will be following the P90x lean routine and the portion approach. The greatest challange for the next month will be the high protein portion (50%) since I'm a vegetarian. I forsee a lot of soy burgers and egg whites in the near future lol.

The best nerdiest part of this program is the most-awesome-excel-spreadsheet-in-the-world that was provided to me online. I usually track my progress but this does it even fancier. I have all my initial measurements done as of today. I will do the initial fit test in the next few days. Also some "before" photos - which will only be shared at 30 days assuming there is some improvement.

Cheers,

Athens Sucked

On Nov 8 '09 I failed to finish the Athens Classic Marathon. The day began very early at 4am. Our team headed to the Olympic Stadium at 5am to get on the buses to transfer us to the start line. Unfortunately it was 15C and pouring buckets. Everyone was soaked by the time we got onto the buses. A chilly 45 minutes later we were standing in garbage bags shivering at the start line. A two hour wait later we were off. I think the wet and cold really contributed to the end result. I knew within the first few kilometers that I was going to have trouble. The aches and pains I usually feel after 20km were beginning really early. I think my legs had cramped up. The woman that I was running left me behind and I was on my own fairly early. The pack kept thinning out until I couldn't see anyone else competing in front or behind me. I also learnt early on that the race closed at a six-hour-pace not at six hours. This meant that there were no course markers, water, powerade, bananas, gels, medics, etc. for most of the race. I had counted on the electrolyte replacements so this lead to me feeling really sick later on. At one point I was hit from behind by a bicyclist. Around that time I was feeling uncomfortable with my situation. I stopped, sat down and waited for the next people to come by. Luckily they spoke english. I power-walked with a father-daughter team until the race officials aggressively suggested we get into their van. After a drive to the finish line I walked back to the hotel. I was really sick and feeling very lonely since I couldn't convince anyone to help me find something to eat. I was worried that I would pass out if I went out by myself. I suppose I wasn't thinking straight because after 2 hours I finally realized the hotel had room-service. I managed to eat a half cup of pasta, took a shower and went to sleep. I ended up with a really bad flu for the rest of the trip.

Cheers,

Possibly the last bike ride...

...of the season. It was beautiful today so we went out on a nice bike ride around the city ending at 25.65 km.

Of Europe, gyms, and spinning...

Today I am sick with some weird stomach bug BUT I was really good this week and actually went to the gym Monday to Thursday. This is actually the first week I have gone more than two times since getting back from Europe.

I travelled at the beginning of September to France, Italy and Greece. I did the whole backpacking thing where I only had what I could carry on my back and stayed in hostels. What I saved in accommodation I spent on food! The food was amazing if lacking quite a few veggies. I was craving veggies like crazy when I got back. I ate bread at every meal, sauce on everything and basically everything that is bad for me I tried. My theory was that I wouldn't be there for a long time, if at all, so why not try everything?

We did do a lot of walking which is what saved me, except that my shoes actually ate my feet. I couldn't walk for a long time after the first couple days because of all the blisters on my feet. Warning to all, you need more than a week to break in good hiking shoes! I also walked up all the stairs up until the second level of the Eiffel Tower and many sets of stairs everywhere else. Most of our hostels were 5 or more floor walk up buildings and many of the museums and buildings did not have elevators available to the general public. I don't think my legs have ever been in as good of shape as they are now. Who needs expensive gym equipment? After two weeks of fine dining and nothing but walking I thought that I had gained at least 5 pounds but I was actually one of the lucky ones and stayed exactly the same weight as when I left! Don't hate me! I think the only thing that saved me was I avoided a lot of the cream sauces, cheese, milk products and the like as I would have been very ill had I consumed more than I had.

There is a charity spinning challege at work happening in December where you can spin anywhere from an hour to 10. I have signed up for an hour and my goal is to raise at least $15 to do this. My only problem is I have never used a spinning machine before. I tried it out this week and actually worked my way up to 20 minutes, although I was very sore the next day (read: just like the first day of biking in the spring... ouch). Now the goal is to get it up to 50 or 60 minutes in the next 15-30 days. Claire has decided she is going to try the spinning class on Tuesday at 6am :S I am going to join her.... I will report on the exercise productivity at an insanely early hour later...

Lacking Motivation

I have been feeling so blah lately. My body feels tired. My mind feels tired. I just don't want to run. I only managed to get in one run last week and that's only because I forced myself. Everyday I justified that I would run the next day...I would make it up later. Now I am onto the next week (my weeks start on Tuesdays) and I should run but I just don't want to. I want to watch tv and relax. There are less than 40days left until the marathon. My long runs are ramping up - I'm supposed to complete a 29km run this sunday. I thought I would start getting excited, you know get into this running thing, but no I feel quite the opposite. Maybe it's just that winter is coming and I always get down and feel this way in winter - but really it's just the end of September, am I to feel this blah until April? No wonder I always gain back the weight over these months....

Ottawa Army Run 2009

On Sunday I took part in the Army Run in Ottawa. It started off with a bang - literally - they shot off a cannon to start the race. It was a beautiful course that started downtown and ran along the Ottawa canal all the way to the experimental farm, around Dow's Lake and then onto Queen Elizabeth Drive back downtown. Dave followed me the whole way cheering me on every 5kms or so. It meant a lot to have someone on the course with me since I was running alone. I started out pretty strong setting a new personal best for the 10km with a time of 73'49". The second half of the run slowed down as I was having a lot of pain in my lower back. My new orthotics have been great for my feet, no pain there, but they are a killer on my lower back. I think I need to make an appointment to check them out. I came across the finish line at 2:47:22 coming in 317/334 in my age/gender group (yay not last!).

After the race Jen, Melanie, Jim and I went to Le Nordik to soak in the nordic baths. Jen asked about massage cancellations and luckily there was an opening so I had a 60min swedish massage to aid in recovery. Thanks Jen! I love massages! We stayed at the spa for almost 4 hours - I love that place - especially the hot tubs.

Check out happy Taylor in the hot tub with the sunglass burn:

Big News.

I got married at the end of August at Vineland Estates Winery (Niagara area). We had 49 people join us for our little celebration. We even had a mario brothers themed cake! Originally I had this nieve idea that I could run the 14km chocolate race in st catherines the next day. Eventually I decided it might be nice to visit with friends and family and get a bit more sleep.

Milestones abound.

You know it's kind of great being a 'newish' runner or at least a sucky one. Improvements happen all the time! When I was a kid I always got the "Most Improved Player" award just because I sucked so much to start off with. Since I've recently become more comfortable running a slowish pace for longer periods I've recently started to challange myself other ways: running faster, or longer. Today I beat my record and ran continuously for 40 minutes straight plus I beat my 5k personal best record which was previously 36'05"!

New Milestone

Yesterday I had a good run. I did my 5 minute walk warm-up and then started into an easy jog on the account of my leg injury. And this something surprising happened...I didn't feel like stopping. So I jogged 35 minutes straight! And I could have gone longer but my scheduled run was up. I felt good, I was able to ignore pretty much everything and think about something other than running and the moment (don't worry I still kept an eye out for cars and bears and such...). Hopefully I have more runs like this one in the future. More good news, my thigh doesn't have pain which is great since my long run is scheduled today.

Personal Best

My Fastest Runs

Before Today's Run: After Today's Run:

Check it out! I left today with the mission to run fast instead of my usual mantra, "just survive." As you can see I destroyed my 1 mile and 5km personal best times. I have a goal of completing a sub-30min 5km run at some point and have decided that after the marathon training is over that is what I will concentrate on. This is just a step to completing that goal.

This hill is rated what?

So on Saturday Jim and I decided to go mountain biking in the Gatineaus, which, according to their website is rated at beginner to intermediate for all trails. So we set off with our bikes to Pink lake with the intention of doing the trail to Mackenzie King Estate and back. We ended up pushing the bikes up the hill for about half of the way there and then on the way back I got this pretty cut.... Turns out (according to the trail markers) that this is a black diamond trail. Ask me how happy I was 600m from finishing the trail when I was thrown from my bike? My right knee is scraped and bruised and I have some awesome purple bruises down my right side in addition to scrapes on both arms (the one pictured being the worst... even after a cleaning and a couple days to start healing). I have a picture of the big mess just after it happened. Those pictures will be uploaded shortly. You can't say I do anything halfway... go big or go home!

Ewww.

So after being pathetically weak and nauseous after my 19.4km run Sunday I decided that I could not longer delay the inevitable. I would need a supplement other than just water. I need gels. Ewww. I think of gels kind of like hair gel that happens to have a hint of strawberry or chocolate. Okay so the taste is usually not great but it's the texture that gets me. Yuck. So I went to my friendly Running Room and got some answers on what the salesman though was the least offensive. On a positive note I picked up some "Sport beans" which are jelly beans instead of gel!!! Lots of people don't like them because they think it's not good to walk during a run because that would make them less of a runner. I can imagine trying to pop in a bag of jelly beans while running could prove to be difficult. But for me (I walk through every water station) walking and eating jelly beans sounds like a nice break and a hell of a lot better than gel. Alas the beans are a bit bulky so I bought a selection of gel to try out. I'll give you my first review this weekend. Here's to low expectations....

Injured

After some internet self-diagnosis and subsequently paranoid I went to the sports injury clinic to find out if the nagging pain in my thigh was going to be a big problem. If you drew a line down the centre of my thigh and then moved the line 2 inches from center towards the left, I had a 5" x 0.5" area of pain. The sports injury clinic determined that I had full range of motion so it was mostly likely just a muscle strain. This diagnosis made me happy but simultaneously embarassed. So I am taking the week off of running to let this injury heal. I'll start with an easy run on Tuesday.

Fat Talk?

That is a great video and speaks a lot of truth... but on that same note I do not believe our blog promotes "fat talk". I think there is a big difference between "fat talk" and unrealistic goals and the term healthy. Healthy means that you are happy in your own skin, your body is functioning as it should, and will not shut down on you in times of need. I think we have goals, healthy ones.

You are striving to run a marathon, which to run you have to train, eat properly, and be healthy. To get healthy sometimes it requires a loss of weight but that doesn't mean that getting healthy is "fat talk".

My goals are mainly fitness goals. I strive to get up more difficult climbing walls and get faster/go further with my bike in single spurts. Yes I do talk about weight loss only because of my ankle and the weight that it can bear having been previously broken. When the doctor told me I will have a permanent disability due to the weight that that ankle was being made to support I vowed to prove him wrong.

That is my two cents...

"You are Beautiful"

I came across this interesting video today via Operation Beautiful. What do you think? So...is our blog fat talk?

I'm an overpronator

Last week I went to the foot doctor to see about orthotics. The running stores always tell me that one foot pronates more than the other (sometimes they ask me if I've broken my ankle before!). I believe that this imbalance explains why my sore ankle changes sides with different shoes (different levels of support).

So it turns out the running store people are not full of it and all they said was true. Apparently I have excessive overpronation. This means that my foot rolls inward too much, the foot and ankle have problems stabilizing the body, and shock isn't absorbed as efficiently.

So I have ordered some orthotics and they should be in in a couple of weeks. I'm excited to try them out but a little worried that its going to hurt and take a while to adjust.

Found a worse hill...

So I had to go pick some things up at the mall today and ended up taking a slightly different route home. So I think  that there can't be a hill worse than the Pleasant Park hill.... oh but there is! The Kilborn hill is a lower incline and longer hill.  I make it up the hill (surprisingly) and think that it would be a good time for a drink of water, so I reach down and realize that my water bottle is still in my backpack (so convenient!)  I think "whatever I am only 2 minutes from home", so I continue and make it back in one piece... for now. I am now dubbing that hill, evil hill of doom because I don't think I will ever be able to do it without thinking that I may die before I get to the top.  

This is me blogging...

See... I am here... still alive... blogging (just not as usual.)

Basically the last two months have been pretty devoid of rock climbing, which makes me really sad, but I have been biking. I have been updating my kilometer log with the daily kms that I accumulate and then at the end of the month I add them all up. In June I did 189.97km and so far in July I have done 131.15 which means I am only 58.82 km off from beating last month's total! Come on... it is the little things you have to get excited about!

Yesterday I went in to get my bike tuned up. I decided I couldn't wait anymore when I really didn't have any back brakes left... The bike was brand new when I bought it so after 3 months of riding it the brakes have stretched. The guy at the store said that was about 80% or more of the stretch that was going to happen so I am happy about that. They also put quite a bit of air in the tires (more than I am used to) so the ride to work this morning was quite a bit more bumpy and rough than in previous mornings.

I will try to blog more... I am just so boring! I do the same thing all the time.... hopefully I will have some fun rock climbing, or high ropes stories soon ;)

14.5km Long Run

Today I finished another 'longest training run to date' with a scenic tour of the south end of Sudbury. Check out the loop-de-loops. The run felt pretty good. My lungs were doing good for the most part. My legs started to feel heavy towards the end. And I got nauseous once again but this time it only happened once the run was over. I really have to get this nauseous thing under control. The first time I thought it was because I was just really really hungry. The second time I thought it was because I had a huge dinner the hour before and it wasn't agreeing with me. This time though I was hungry (I finished at 5pm) so maybe I should look into some gels or schedule my long runs so that they don't end at dinnertime. Suggestions?

Graph It!

Total Kilometers Ran Over Time: Weight Over Time:

Since I love spreadsheets so much I thought I would share my progress to date. As my long runs get longer and my runs become more efficient I expect my kilometers to increse dramatically assuming I don't get injured. But check out that weight graph!! At least it's in the downwardly direction lol.

100km total

Check it out! I have reached a total training distance of 100km! It's kind of insane when you think that some people run further this distance in a single race (ultra-marathons).

I'm happy to report that today's run was back to normal. Which is great considering that my legs are a little tight from yesterday's horribleness. I did a 15min run section at my regular pace, a walk break followed by another 12min run section and a walk break.

Worst-Run-Ever

Last night I set out on my longest training run this year - 13km. It occurred to me that my long runs were about to be true long runs from here on out. I will be running minimum 10km weekend runs from now until the marathon. This made me a little sad because basically long runs really screw up your weekend, which is one of the reasons I was doing my long run on Tuesday since I was out of town Fri-Sun. Mentally I wasn't in the best of places. I was running this run because I had to. I've been slacking lately and I found a new resolve lately to keep at the running/dieting so this meant I really did need to run no matter how much I just wasn't in the mood. All of this thinking may have contributed to the worst-run-of-my-life. I have no idea why but I just couldn't run for more than 5mins at a time even from the beginning. I have been running 10-15min run stretches lately with walking breaks in between. In fact last Friday I increased my pace while maintaining my normal run/walk ratio. So it was odd when I had to scale back the speed 0.2mph and struggled to make 5min stretches. I have never watched the clock on the treadmill so much in my life! I would say that I walked half, perhaps more than half of this training run. Towards the end I began to feel nauseous. I stopped and ate an apple because I thought it would boost my sugar or something. Basically I thought eating would help. I didn't. I finished up my 13km and lay on the floor for a bit. I had to take a break showering because I felt too nauseous. I also had to take a break after toweling and changing. I felt worse than I did after the Rio Half Marathon! But I finished it - it is done. I am in 'recovery week' so it will be 2 weeks before my 14.5km run. Hopefully that one will go better.

Diet? What Diet? Oh...that diet....hummm

So I went away for a week and a half for a conference/vacation in the east coast. The first half had me eating solely at restaurants for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The diet can't really come into play for this sort of situation. To make matters worse on the first day there Steve and I went for a long walk; which is great except I was in new flipflops and ended up with 6 limp-worthy mega-blisters-of-death. I would post a picture but I will spare you the horror. So I spent near a week gorging at restaurants and limping (aka not running). The second half of my week I stayed with my aunt/uncle in Halifax. My aunt Kathy is a feeder in the truest sense of the word. For example at one lunch for four people the following was laid out on the table: onion rings, fries, potatoe salad, cucumber salad, spring rolls, asian noodles, and stirfry with rice. How no one in that family is overweight I will never know. On the plus side I stopped limping and was able to do two runs. To make up for the gluttony I did a 10km and an 8km run. Which by the way also doubled as hill training because the street they live on is all over the place.

When I got back home the gluttony continued one more week until yesterday when I summoned the willpower to stop eating everything in sight. But on the downside since its been 30C all week I have only ran once and delayed my weekend run until today...13km run here I come!

Another week begins...

The week was off to a great start on Monday. I went to the gym and did weights and subsequently paid for it today (good burn though... good burn...) Today, however, was a different story. I got so busy that I didn't make it to the gym for my cardio day, so I decided to go biking when I got home. I went to pick up some food and decided I should eat first before going out biking. This was mistake number one. So I make dinner, get settled to watch about 20 mins of TV while eating. I then put my plate down to finish the last 10 minutes of a show before going out. This was mistake number two. I woke up 2 hours later, somehow I had pulled a blanket over myself and turned the TV down without waking up. I am blaming the weekend and it only hitting me today. I guess I needed the sleep but I feel pretty bad about not doing any workout today. Tomorrow I will pick up a cardio day and Thursday I have plans to go climbing so hopefully my body won't hate me too much after this week.

I am still alive... I think.

 Alright, so I have been active.  I went to the gym I think 3 times last week, AND did a ton of biking.  This week so far I have done a 21km bike ride on Monday and I did about 1.5 hours of rock climbing today.  

I am still on my weight plateau but I think I need something to kick start that... unfortunately I am starting to think it might be my diet.  I really hate having to change how I eat AGAIN.  I already eat healthy with my occasional slip ups, (which realistically aren't slip ups... they are there so you don't gorge) but I think my problem is I really have to watch portion size.  Also I don't eat cheese or milk anymore (or any derivatives) due to my stomach now rejecting lactose... sooooo I have to eat more dark greens to get my calcium.  This isn't a huge deal but I do need to start watching it.

Other than that things are looking on track.  One more thing... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAYLOR!!!

I ran 20 minutes straight - and look I have proof!!

Look at the big plateau after my 5min warm-up walk. Yes, that my friend is me running at 4.7mph for 20mins solid. I rock. Now if you would only ignore the last half of the run, where the 20mins of running obviously made me tired and I couldnt keep a consistant pace to save myself, it would be all good. Please give me that luxury and focus on that beautiful plateau!

So Nike+, after its terrible beginnings (see bad exercise karma) I have really grown attached to the sensor in my shoe and my trainer letting me know periodically how much time I have left. To top it all off after I finished my run Friday, the nice man who counts down the time/distance left to my goal sums up the run stat's as usual and then who should I hear - Tiger Woods.

"Hi, this is Tiger Woods. Congratulations, you have just run your fastest mile"

I have heard about the infamous celebrity quotes but until Friday I haven't recieved any of my own. Okay so it's a little cheesy - but let's face it I'll take whatever support and motivation I can get!

Official training program begins!

I plan to follow "Marathon and Half Marathon: The complete 26-week training program (The beginner's guide)" to train for the Athen's Classic Marathon. I used this program for the half marathon in Rio and found it quite effective. The program consists of three weekly runs; two timed weekday runs and one long distance run on the weekend. Each week is classified as moderate, building or recovery. I enjoy the fact that after the building week you can look forward to an easier week following. I think that for me this is the best course of action compared to steady moderate weeks. The long runs begin with 5km the first week and "gradually" increases with a 10km run on week 6, a 21km run on week 15 and then the peak mileage of 32km on week 23. I interpret the peak mileage being dramatically under the overall distance is that you should have the last 10km in shear determination left over.
Until now I have been in "pre-training" trying to get re-accustomed to exercise. In theory I was hoping to do three runs a week during pre-training but as the record shows that didn't always happen. I am writing today to ask that you hold me accountable to my training program, no excuses.

Driving Range

Today Dave, Natelie, Mark and I hit the driving range for the first golf outing of the season. It turns out I still suck at golf and therefore haven't technically "lost my swing" over the winter. Too bad there isn't a most improved player for golf courses. (I always won that title at sports growing up - it's easy to improve if you are terrible.)
Now I just need to work on taking criticism. Playing at a sport with your spouse that you suck at can be trying when you are bad at taking advice. Example: Dave says "Don't do this, do this" to which I respond "Dave that looks exactly the same, seriously." Dave, "You can't see the difference between this and this?" Taylor, "No." And then I tell him the story about Tyra banks on America's next top model because tyra always does stuff like that (ie, don't do this, do this) Dave, "Tyra banks is stupid, are you calling me stupid?" Ummmm....

And so the golf season begins. I believe success shouldn't be measured by the score I get over nine holes, it should be whether I resisted throwing my clubs in the lake. Wish me luck!!

Inspiration from the biggest loser

Okay, make fun of me all you want. I like watching 'reality' tv shows. I show that I really like is 'The Biggest Loser.' I find it really motivating. They show the contestants grueling through their workouts. These people are stubborn and determined. It makes me feel like these people get how much running can suck. Or at least how much STARTING a running program can suck. And they make me want to be even for stubborn and determined than I already am. Some may question if that is a good thing.

So I thought I would share last night's episode because honestly I was crying at the end. So the show is down to 4 contestants and in their final challenge they are asked to do a marathon. First thing - I get really emotional when anyone finishes a marathon. I have a few marathon documentaries and they always get me teary. One of the contestants is Ron. He started the show over 400pounds and is now under 300. He has bad knees and therefore cannot run and a variety of health problems. Ron walked the full marathon with a cane. He took over 13 hours but he did it. I cried.

At the Athen's marathon there is a 6 hour time limit for running (there is an 8 hour time limit for powerwalking and maybe I can sneak into this section). I have been concerned that I won't make the 6 hour time limit. I finished the Rio half marathon in just under 3 hours. A full marathon would be more than double the time when you factor in exhaustion. Plus there are also just really bad running days. They are random but sometimes 1km can feel like 100. If I had a bad running day the day of the marathon my time would be significantly worse. So I have been wondering what would I do if I was still on the course at the 6 hour mark. (They open up traffic and start taking down everything at this point) and you know what I think that I would just finish anyways. I would have the assistance of Team Diabetes. Someone would know where I was at all times and probably a trainer would come and run with me at the end. So I would be okay. I wouldn't get a metal. But I would finish the &^$*ing thing. Huzzah!

Sudbury Rocks Race, Run or Walk for Diabetes

On Sunday I ran the 5k race at the Sudbury Rocks Marathon! I posted a chip time of 42:04 and came in 45/64 of women in my age range (20-29). 332/520 overall. Yay for being not last! And not completely terrible considering I had only 4 training runs before the race. Procrastination in my name!
What was extra special is that I started the race with my friend Ching. She, however, is not into the endurance running and took off like the wind finishing under 30minutes! (Which by the way is my 5km time goal). I was doing okay for much of the run. The last kilometer I had a side stitch on my left side and ran with my fingers pressed into my side. "I can't walk now, the finish is just around the corner...sort of." Ching and Dave were waiting for me at the finish! I have another metal to add to my collection! Go figure that I would start having a collection of running metals and bibs.

not cool...

Monday and Tuesday were devoted to cardio workouts.  I did at least 30 minutes on the eliptical hybrid machine thing and some core workout.  

Wednesday my gym buddy and I did weights with a coworker.  He had us doing arm, back, and chest workouts in a circuit type training method.  We did an hour long workout with about 5 mins of cardio to start it off.  I felt pretty good after that workout... until the next day.  My arms were SO sore I couldn't really even open doors.  Everyone was warning me that the second day is worse but I still think the first was the worst! 

Thursday was a day of rest. 

Friday, today, was spent doing a workout on the ball with a few coworkers (the one leading has been doing this for 5 years).  You think it is all childs play until you get into it! I have never sweat so much, and I am pretty sure I am not going to be able to sit up in bed tomorrow.... hopefully I will still be able to move next week because I have been promised at least one day of climbing! Oh wall... how I miss thee...

Nice Weather...

... is the best thing ever!  Today it was something stupid like 30 degrees with only a few degrees of humidity.  I decided to go out biking after work (I still did my cardio at the gym, half an hour on the running/stepper machine).  I started out wrong right off the bat by forgetting my sunglasses so I had to go all the way back up in the elevator to get my sunglasses... nobody likes driving blind right?  So I get them and go back down, sunglasses - check, helmet - check, water bottle filled - check, working bell - check... so then I am off to the races, or so I thought. 

I started down my street having to avoid cars more than usual because the wind is ridiculously strong and is trying to kill me.  Why is it a

lways attempted death by cars?  I really should figure that one out.   Anyways...  So I get down near the river and I am biking on the path, and the wind is against me the WHOLE way. So not fair.  I got about probably about 5-6 km before I decided to turn around (Mooney's Bay).  The wind wasn't as bad coming back... but still pretty brutal.  

I had just passed Carleton University when I see this g

uy with his bike on the ground and he has his ear to the ground.  So now I am

 thinking either this guy is crazy or he has fallen.  I am wrong on both counts. Turns out there w

as a turtle that had just crossed the path.  Of course I had to stop and take a few pictures... 

The rest of the trip was pretty normal... no wind trying to kill me as I learned how to handle it (trips into the river at this time of year are not my idea of fun).  Hoping to get some more nice weather soon!

Bad Exercise Karma

My mom got me nikeplus for christmas. I bought an ipod nano specifically to use the nikeplus with around boxing day. I have been most lazy and haven't used it until today...at the end of April. Apparently this laziness resulted in bad exercise karma which played out this evening.

It's 4:30pm. I turn on the computer so that I can update itunes. The computer crashes. hum...I restart. It crashes again. I have always hated that computer. I figure Dave will fix it later. I probably don't need to update itunes anyways I figure. I plug in the nikeplus receiver, take some time to go over the manual and change some settings etc. I try to calibrate the device. It says something like "walk around so that the sensor will become activated" so I do for a couple minutes, randomly walking around my apartment. It fails to find the sensor. Odd. I try again. Random and more impatient walking results in another failed screen. Back to the manual. You have to "wake it up" it says. I take it out and press the button to wake it up. Walk around some more. Nothing. Much more impatient. So I will call Apple I figure. After having to sign up for an account, tracking down the serial number and filling out a bunch of questions I am told before I am allowed to speak to someone I will be charged $30! Excuse me? This stupid thing is brand new (well never been used) and it only costs like $30 to begin with. WTF? Dave comes home. Venting ensues. He reads manual and tries basically everything I did. Except when he tried to "wake it up" it actually worked. Miracle! My problems are over!....I thought....So I do the calibration walk. No problems. But all this maddness has killed the battery and I have to recharge. I plug it into the computer (the good one) and leave it for a while, eat dinner and such. I return to the computer and 'safely remove hardware." The ipod screen is now frozen to the "please eject before disconnecting screen." You can't be fucking serious? My ipod better not be broken. (Do I have to spend $30 to talk to someone to confirm that I have to spend another $$$ to buy a new one?) I troubleshoot this for a while and find a forum that tells me how to save the day. I start my run. It's now 8:30pm. What a night.

Taking a few days

I am taking a few days off of running. I went to the walk-in clinic last night and it turns out that I have a viral infection. The result is that my jaw/ear/head on the right side has been throbbing for days. Some of the nerves near my jaw/ear are inflammed and thus causing the aching. The doctor told me to take more tylenol and told me to pick up this ear-canal freezing ear drops stuff. A frozen ear canal feels funny I have to say. So needless to say that I am taking it easy until the pain subsides. Poor me :(

Bridal Shower = Gluttony

I made a trip to Windsor on the weekend to attend my cousin's bridal shower. I tried to be very good before and after the shower but saturday was fairgame. Oh the sugary goodness! Most of the appetizers and main course was meat and/or fish so this gave me the excuse to make it up at dessert. Yum! I had like ten of the chocolate strawberries. There was also a baked brie with filo dough, carmelized onions, apples and nuts (HEAVEN!). Oh and then there was the cheesecake...and the lemon cake....and the chocolate mousse cake. Yes I tried all three. (Hey I restrained myself there were 5 cakes total) Ummmm I miss the strawberries...

Week in Review...

This week has been a little more than sad for the workout portion.  My workout week in review goes as follows:

Monday was a holiday and so I probably ate a little too much and didn't exercise enough.  

Tuesday we did cardio at the gym but only at 1:30pm which is really late for us (we usually go at 9:30am). Then at 3:45ish we went to the climbing gym and it was absolutely abysmal! We each did about 3 walls and then called it quits as we were both too tired.  So sad about the poor climbing performance.

Wednesday I did cardio at the gym and some stretches (only 15 mins of cardio... very bad). When I got home it was beautiful out so I went for an hour long bike ride along the river.  It made me happy.

Thursday I didn't do anything.  Uh huh, yeah I know!

Friday consisted of nothing again, do you see a trend?

Saturday was spent in Montreal.  I actually got somewhat of a workout even if it wasn't intentional.  Walking around Montreal for 8 hours was what came out of Saturdays activities. 

Sunday I went out for a bike ride with my roommate (she rollerbladed while I biked) along the river.  I made it all the way to hog's back!!

Needless to say I was a bad girl this week and didn't stick to my workout goals.  Hopefully this week will be better...

Hi Body, meet exercise. You've met right?

Oh exercise and I have met. We have an on again and off again relationship. And as of today it is on the 'on again' cycle. There's nothing like a looming marathon to get your ass moving. LoL it's going to be terrible.

I bought a treadmill two weeks ago. I put it together about a week and a half ago. I went to use it and Dave noticed that the floor vibrated with my foot strikes. He was in a completely different room and I was only doing fast walking speed on the treadmill. I have tried to get a hold of our downstairs neighbour repeatedly to see if this is going to be an issue. It's a good thing and a bad thing I suppose. Good thing, our neighbour is never home - bad thing, I have stalled beginning my exercise program. So today I slipped a note under the door of our neighbour and used the treadmill.

The plan for the next few weeks is to reintroduce my body to exercise. 5minutes walking, 5 minutes running. I starting the run section at 5.0mph and I felt great! I was thinking "this is great maybe I haven't completely lost my endurance!" Unfortunately on my second running section I started at 5mph and then got tired and then changed it to 4.8...4.7...4.6...4.5mph and suffered for the last minute. lol nope endurance completely gone. I did the third and final running section at 4.5mph. So today I did a total of 2miles. Hopefully my body and exercise don't have a falling out too soon. Only time will tell...

OUCH!

I am still on the gym workout schedule with Carmen where we do weights mon/wed/fri and cardio and core tues/thurs.... but you know what?  It hurts! We did arms, back, and legs today along with 10 mins of cardio and stretching at the gym to make a 1 hour workout.  Then tonight I went climbing... well it went less than stellar.  I did manage to climb 6 walls though!  One of them I missed the top by about 5-7 feet but it is because it is a 60 degree overhang which is killer when you are tired.  Next time I will conquer it.........

Routine

I am sore again.  My arms and legs hurt... but it is good.  I have climbed four times in the past two weeks and I am starting to get back into it.  I can now do some pretty good inclines (if not for very long) and my endurance is getting better.  

I have also been going to the gym 1-3 times a week for about an hour where I do a step/elliptical/running machine (it is weird) which lets me run without the impact.  I do that for about 15 minutes and then I do some reverse crunches and sit ups on one of the machines and then ball exercises with and without weights.  

I am now down to 143!! My body test says I need to lose 21.8 Ibs of fat... but that isn't just weight it is just fat I need to turn into muscle. I have been working on toning for this reason and will go back for the body test in a few months.  I am in a size 4 pant though so really I can't complain :)

Skating!

I went skating today... and it was epic!  I started at 5th Ave and basically did 3 passes of the canal complete from Dows to downtown and a few extra km... which by rough calculations adds up to about 20km of skating!  I am going to be so sore tomorrow but I am really happy that I did it.  My ankle stood up to the test but I have one heck of a bruise (it is about a 1 cm round visible bruise and about 3cm non visible) right where one of my pins in my ankle is hitting the padding of my skate.  Oh well.  In other news, I reached my goal weight of 140Ibs and as a reward I was allowed to buy some lululemon pants!  They are awesome.  I now have a smaller goal of getting down to 135 and basically just toning up.  At least wii fit can't yell at me anymore!! 

Curling

Okay so I haven't even began running yet. But now I have an excuse - I'm injured! On Saturday night I went with Dave and Robyn to her work curling tournament. I curled once in grade 12 with my gym class but that's about it. On my very first practice throw I was just about to let the rock go and I hear 'rrriiiippp.' Yes I ripped my jeans. Oh dear! On the very second throw I fall to the right and smash my knee into the ice. Ouch! I had a half inch egg on my knee for the rest of the evening. The picture just doesn't give it justice at all as I took it on monday night when most of the swelling went down. The remainer of the night went without much incident - I continuously ripped the hole in my jeans wider and wider lol and I was probably one of the least graceful curlers as I would just flop over after a throw to avoid ice-knee contact. All and all it was a lot of fun! And sadly enough it is Tuesday and my muscles are still sore - apparently they previously knew nothing about sweeping.