The last few days

I've been doing great on zee fitness front since Monday's post! Yes! Or did I even post on Monday? Je ne sais pas. I just checked back and see that I did not post about Monday's workout, which consisted of running to the Eaton Center North Goodlife, doing a Body Flow class (a combo of pilates, yoga, and tai chi), running for 3o minutes on the treadmill, and then walking home. I think the gym is less than 2k away from my place, but it was a great workout in total.

Just because it's nice to post pictures now and then, here's a shot from the other weekend in NYC. Lunch in Little Italy.

On Tuesday I played ultimate with my team. I played really badly. I don't know why I've been having bad games the last two weeks in a row. New field, perhaps? New structure of 5 on 5 instead of 6 on 6 could be it. Anyway, I need to run faster somehow, and also catch.

On Wednesday I didn't think I was going to be able to fit in my run 'cause I had lots of work to do and a plan for dinner and a musical (Rent.. again) later in the evening. Lo and behold, the sun was shining for the first of what seems like MANY days. So I ran outside! It was my first outdoor run in over a month and it felt great! The weather report said it felt like -12 outside, but I was dressed well and I felt fine. I might have to invest in a windbreaker/running jacket one of these days.

Today I went to Body Pump for a little weight lifting action. Then I came home and baked lousy cookies. Dang.

Alas, I've had a workout every day this week and I don't plan to stop there! Tomorrow - run. Saturday - Body Pump again if my muscles feel fine by then and/or run. Sunday - first game of DODGEBALL. Now that's a game I'm pretty sure I won't be good at. But we will soon find out.

Exercise: check; healthy eating: umm...

I'm doing quite well with my fitness goals so far. This Friday I went to the gym and did another 30 minutes on the treadmill as well as some ab work. Then Saturday morning I did an hour long Body Pump class. Today I took a break.

Too bad I've been eating basically anything in sight. Must work on that. Check.

Back on the run after a month long hiatus!

Yay, I'm back at it! I went for a run on the treadmill yesterday after not running for one whole month.

I ran for half an hour and my foot felt fine. Yes! I don't know what the problem was, but my suspicion is that I was walking around in these new high heel boots that were causing some damage to my foot. Does wearing heels affect running? Probably. I'm 6'0'' tall so I'm not the most frequent heel wearer, but ever since I got myself a tall boyfriend about 1 year 8 months ago, I've been dabbling in heels a bit more. I don't think they agree with me. That's fine, I guess. I'll wear my tall, expensive boots on special occassions and save my flats for regular wear.

Anyway, I did an easy 5.5 speed (whatever that means) run on the hill setting. In half an hour I think I only did about 2.75 miles but that's fine for a first run back. I didn't want to push it. Then I biked for twenty more minutes while watching horrible celebrity gossip on the gym television. I was going to add in some ab work but the tiny mat section was full so I gave up and went home instead.

It's amazing how going back to something I felt really good about has an immediate impact on my body image and my feelings generally. I was looking in the mirror, fearing that with each day missed of running, I was slowly heading back in the wrong direction. I ate whatever I wanted over the holidays so I'm sure my weigh-in on the 20th of the month won't be great, but at least I'm working out.

So my plan for the winter is basically to stick to indoor treadmill running, at least until it's a little less cold. 3o minutes max on a treadmill is fine with me. I'll add in a few Body Pumps each week, and hopefully some yoga and swimming too. Let's say I will run four times a week, and exercise six times a week.

I hate to be late!

Back in action today after a mostly exercise-free weekend in NYC visiting my friend on her birthday. We did attend a workout class her local gym. It was pretty nice compared to my small gym here in Toronto. And the class which made use of the bosu half ball thingy, really did work me out. Other than that we just walked around the city a lot. And ate a lot.

Today, though, I had plans to meet some friends for sushi in the early evening. For some reason I thought taking the Spadina streetcar up to Bloor would make sense, but at 5:30pm, there's not a seat nor standing room to be had. Two cars passed me by before I decided to walk, and it was already 5:27.

I hate to be late!

So, I jogged there. Wearing my big ol' winter parka, my ultimate (frisbee) gear for a game later in the evening, and a floppy backpack, I jogged up Spadina from Dundas, all the way to Bloor, stopping once in a while to walk.

I haven't been running since December 13th. Oh, just about one month ago. I think I'm ready to get back to it. My foot felt fine today.

I also played ultimate and got a good workout though I had a horrible game! I hate when girls are faster than me. I suppose I could try working on some sprints or something to improve that. Suppose, suppose.

It is now 10:00pm and I'm thinking I will go to sleep now and wake up early to get to the gym. Time to bust a move, yeah?

Weekend Holiday!!

I'm going on a trip! To New York City! To see my friend Randi and to have some fun.

This has been a not so hot week for exercise, but hopefully Randi and I will get some girly workout time in together at her NYC gym. Oooh la la. See ya on the flip side!

Indian food revenge

Last night's Indian food woke me up this morning and kept me on my toes, or should I say, on the can, on and off all day. I was planning to do a good long cardio session this evening but instead I'm going to take this opportunity to relax and try to replenish lost fluids.

In other news, I was called away from work early to pick up my baby niece from daycare. She herself was having stomach issues and in daycare, three strikes means you're out. Apparently she doesn't do well with chicken. I picked her up and she was fine, so we enjoyed some play time at my place until her mom could come and get her.

Body Pump Monday!

I started things off this first January Monday with a Body Pump class. For those out of the Goodlife Fitness loop, Body Pump is a one hour weight lifting class that targets all the major muscle groups. We do squats, chest, back, triceps, biceps, lunges, shoulders, and abs. It's set to music and pretty rad.

Today I felt shaky and much more tired than usual despite eating a decent amount of food during the day. I don't get it.

Then I went out for Indian food friends, and made up for any burned calories and then some. Mmm mmm Indian food.

Spending money and making commitments

I went back to the office today after two weeks away. Bleh. Transcribing interviews leads to a number of things: excessive transcribing, random emailing, and of course, race registration.

Here's my official line-up for the 2010 season thus far:

April 3rd: Harry's Spring Run-off - 8K

May 2nd: Sporting Life - 10K

May 30th: Women's Half Marathon and 5K - 5K

July 18th: Gravenhurst Give-it-a-Tri - 400m swim, 20K bike, 2.5K run

September 26th: Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon - Half Marathon

I plan to register for a running clinic in June to prepare safely for the half, and hopefully to also meet some other runner's in the neighbourhood. Oooooh! Exciting stuff this is. Looks like I also need a race for August.

I mentioned yesterday some foot pain I was experiencing a few weeks ago. I have no idea what it was and I just left it alone and haven't been running since. It's feeling fine now, but I'm still afraid that I might have a stress fracture. I'm going to stick to the plan of laying off the running for the rest of the month, which will leave me two months to prepare for the 8K. No problem.

I think I've spent about $250 on the events listed above which is kind of steep considering the fact that my mortgage leaves me basically house poor.

Also, I got an email at the office today, offering a special employee discount at my current gym. Even as an existing member I can qualify for this special, which would mean paying the entire annual amount up front, but also saving $150 overall. I have to decide whether this is worth it.

Alright, back to work! Transcribing is such a dream...

A new beginning

I haven't blogged in soooo long. But I've got some fresh motivation so let's see how it goes.

A basic recap: the knee is back in action! I began playing ultimate again this past Spring, and played it all through the summer. I also took up running, slowly training to do a 5k with the Couch to 5k program that I found on itunes, and then increasing up to a 10k race in October. I was running various distances 4 times a week up until two weeks ago when I had a pain in my foot that I couldn't explain. So I've been on a bit of a running hiatus over the holidays which is fine by me.

Since I started running and playing ultimate in June I lost 10 pounds, going down from a pretty high starting point of 180 to a very nice 170. At 6'0'', I find my average weight over the last decade or so has been about 173 so I'm doing alright. I was a bit lower than 160 two years ago

and felt really great, but I can't complain right now.

The best part for me about running has been the feeling of accomplishment and success as I slowly increase the distances and time that I run. There is so much that can be improved upon, and nothing is better than feeling improvements. Working towards that 5k goal, and then the 10k goal has been hugely inspiring.

So, the plan is to lay out some goals for this upcoming year.

January: I plan to let my foot heal by laying off the running for most of the month. I will be playing ultimate, lifting weights, doing my yoga-esque class at the gym, and hopefully get started with some spinning. Maybe I'll throw some swimming into the mix too. I aim for a total of 5 days of some kind of fitness a week.

February: Continue with the above, but add dodgeball to the schedule. Will that be a workout? Not sure. Dodgeball Sundays, Ultimate Tuesdays, and some other good stuff in and around that. Back to running. Hopefully my foot will be fine and I'll bring the running back.

March: Achilles St. Patrick 5k - March 14th.

April: Spring running, casual biking, swimming, and weights.

May: Begin Triathlon training. May Women's 5k.

June: Ride for Heart, tri training.

July: Tri-a-tri in Gravenhurst

August - October: half marathon training. Half marathon September 26.

That is what I envision as a very crude outline of my upcoming year.

I'll see how it goes!