Tuesday 29 May 2012

Day 79: Another Absence and More Poor Eating

Hello one and all! Sorry I dropped off again. I can't really remember how Thursday went in terms of eating, although I know I skipped my run because my legs and butt were still sore. Then we went to Vancouver for the weekend for the memorial service of a family friend. So before I carry on...

Goodbye, Marilyn, and rest in peace. I'll never forget your kindness during our summer trips to Sheridan Lake. You were such an inspiration, a great example of how to live life to the very fullest. You were so optimistic and brave, even when you knew things wre not going well for you. I hope that you're at peace now.

Alright. So while in Vancouver, I didn't exercise, and I didn't eat right. Story of my life for the past couple weeks. I think I'm going to allow myself to not only get it right out of my system, but also let myself start feeling bad again. Worse, because even just what I'm doing now, being bad at dinner, is making me feel lethargic and gross again. And I'm not sleeping as well. So I'm using the rest of this week to figure out how I'm going to proceed with my eating. Get a real plan of attack. Then rededicate myself to working out and running. I'm going to be 100% in this. Just be patient with me, guys.

Have a great night, folks.

Wednesday 23 May 2012

Day 73: Hey, I Remembered!

Hello one and all! I just finished my run, so I'm having breakfast all sweaty now. Delicious imagery, no? I discovered I was wrong about soreness today from that new thigh work yesterday. My thighs and glutes definitely feel it today! Which is good, I like knowing I worked hard. Although my run was a little rough, admittedly. Worth it! I hope I get good results from this thigh work so I can share it with you guys! I know I owe you a results post, but there's really nothing new. I don't thik I've lost any weight, nor any inches. Bummer! I hit a plateau faster than I had originally anticipated, so I've got to train harder and eat better. More on that later, haha, I've been so moody lately and my cravings are out of control.

Happy Wednesday, folks!

Tuesday 22 May 2012

Day 72: I'm Starting To See a Pattern Emerging Here...

Hello one and all! Yes, I'm a terrible person. I forgot again. I need to stick up reminders or something. I'm sorry!

I tried a new workout to help slim my thunder thighs down. At first, I was very unimpressed. "My legs don't even feel tired!" Now, a couple hours later, they sure do! Good stuff. It probably won't translate into soreness for my run tomorrow, which is good. Trying to remember to do my abs too. I just did 3 30 second planks. I might do side plank ups before bed. I absolutely loathe working my abs. They're so weak, I feel like I'll never have any kind of enviable abs. That's where abs work comes in, right? Blah.

I'll try harder, I promise! Have a good one, folks.

Friday 18 May 2012

Day 68: Losing Gains and Staying Sane

Hello one and all! So sorry I forgot again. I guess I have a lot on my mind. I'm discovering that in this stage of my running "career," any gains are really easily lost. I couldn't make it two miles straight, but I did make it one and three quarter miles. Kind of sucks. Even missing one run makes a big impact on the rest of my runs for the week.

My dad just made a great point about blogging. Through this journey, what's been keeping me sane is blogging. Even though I still don't know how many people are reading and how often they're reading, knowing that someone, somewhere might be watching my progress keeps me about accountable. Not that I don't slip up! No one is perfect, and I'm not even close. But I'm doing the best I can (most of the time) and that's all I can do.

So thank you, Internet and blog readers, for keeping me sane. Even though I've never had contact with any of you, you're what's keeping me going!

Have a great night!

Wednesday 16 May 2012

Day 66: Laziness, No Motivation, and Finding Inspiration

Hello one and all! I'm having an insanely lazy day. I have zero energy to do anything. It's noon, and I still haven't even had breakfast. I'm supposed to run today. And I probably will later, but I think I'm going to drag myself out of bed now and do my arm work. On days when I really don't want to run, I find that making myself do something makes me feel a bit less bummed about running.

I have been feeling so unmotivated lately. So I've been thinking about it, and I decided that in addition to my goals of being healthy and strong and capable, I should add some shallow goals in there too. Pure vanity goals. So here are some, off the top of my head:
1. Look good in a bikini. I want to wear one without worrying about how much my butt is jiggling and how visible my stretch marks are.
2. Have legs that look toned and sexy in heels. Plus I'll look taller!
3. Have arms that scream "I'm strong, deal with it!"

Some more motivation stuff, regarding nutrition and my messed up eating lately: when I eat better, I feel so much better. I need to stop thinking about food as a treat. You know, "I worked out today so I can have that ice cream." The working out should be reward enough, knowing you're doing something amazing for yourself. And I want to retrain how I think about my workout time. It's the time of the day where I focus on me. It's my own time, I should look forward to it, not dread it!

So there's a little blurb on that fun stuff. I'm off to do weights!

Tuesday 15 May 2012

Day 65: I Forgot Again and I'm Sick Again!

Hello one and all! I fail at blogging. The fast yesterday went well. I wasn't starving, yay! Although my blood sugar did crash once. So I had a piece of sugar free gum. I didn't make it through my run though. Courtesy of my blood sugar, grr! But that's okay. I'm glad I stopped. I was home alone. And what if something had happened? That would not have been good.

So I decided to split up my legs and arms weight routines. I'll do glute, thighs, calves and abs on non running days, and shoulders, biceps, triceps and back on running days. I think it'll be a better way to go for me. I'll run in the morning if I can and do weights at night.

So today I did my lower body and ab stuff, and my legs and butt are feeling a bit like jelly! My abs are okay is. I got a good stretch in. I hope this new routine is good! I want my butt to be smaller, but better shaped and less... Saggy, really. So there we go, it's all about goals, people!

All for me! Have a great night!

Sunday 13 May 2012

Day 63: Back Home, Vacation Badness, and No Results

Hello one and all! Dan and I got back from Calgary today. We had a great time! We mostly just explored (and also dragged Amber to the zoo). It was fun, but the first night was rough. I get really car sick, so we got to the hotel and I was just not at all doing well. I had a terrible headache originating in my neck, I was insanely congested, and I was nauseous. So Dan was my hero and found a London Drugs to get me some Advil while I stayed in our room with all the lights off and the curtains shut. So that was rough. I had a nap after I took my Advil, and felt much better. So we went exploring! We ended up getting dinner at a little drive-thru called Peter's Drive-In. Best milkshake ever. So thick! I was tempted to do the Dairy Queen blizzard test on it...

Related note, confession: we didn't eat nearly as well as I had hoped. I was thinking we'd have breakfast, lunch and snacks all clean, and dinners would be "off." Definitely not the case! We were so excited to explore (okay, I was) that I kept forgetting to bring food for us for lunch and snacks! I'd grab a bottle of water and grapes. Not real food. And then we'd end up having a burger or something, and you know what?

I had a great time.


I think what made me okay with it was knowing that nobody is perfect all the time. And let's face it, I didn't want to be! Calgary was a city I'd never been to before, I was dying to try some of Dan's favourite places. I think I also felt okay because I've decided to try the 24 hour fast thing I mentioned (I might have). Eat Stop Eat? Familiar? Well, if not, look it up! My mom told me about it, and after I did my research, I decided to give it a shot. So my first fast is actually in progress right now! Finished dessert at 7:15, so I eat again the same time tomorrow. I don't work, so it'll be good to just give it a shot and see how it goes. If it goes well, I'll start another one Tuesday night, because I don't work Wednesday either!

So, the reason for no results is evident above. I haven't been extra stringent about my eating lately. I've been striving for 80/20. I'll post results on Monday next week, as my menstrual cycle has just incredible timing again... I'll try and remember to keep notes of my progress! Through the fast. Sorry, I'm all over the place right now. I'll also do a picture post. We really didn't take many pictures. Took a couple on the way through Banff, tried to take a cute one of us our first full day in Calgary, and the rest are zoo pictures. Because I'm a five year old, and I seriously love going to the zoo.

Anyways, I guess that makes us all caught up now! I did do one day of weights, Friday. And I'm off to do leg weights now. I'm supposed to try to do a weight training session tomorrow near the end of the fast. So I'm going to do legs tonight, do a short interval run tomorrow, and do my arms in the evening. Hopefully it all works out!

Have a great night, and HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to my momba, and to all the moms out here reading this!

Wednesday 9 May 2012

Day 59: Food Prep and Light Weights

Hello one and all! Dan and I head out to Calgary tomorrow morning. Super excited! I've never been, and since we're moving there this summer, it'll be great to look around! So food wise, I've done most of what I wanted to. I didn't get any quinoa done, but oh well! I washed strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, grapes, and apples. I've cut up carrots, celery, and packed snow peas. I got hummus in little individual serving containers. I pulled apart a rotisserie chicken and packed the meat-no skin, of course. I measured and bagged granola for breakfast. I got my Greek yogurt, bananas, spoons, and containers. I have a pineapple to cut up too. Maybe if I can't sleep I'll do the quinoa.

I baked today too! An apple pie and a lemon meringue pie, with homemade filling! Eh look great. I've also got cookie dough in the fridge for a friend of Dan's. Good day!

I did light weights. Chest presses, quad extensions, triceps extensions, outer and inner thigh leg lifts, shoulder presses, and squats. If I can't sleep, I'll do some bicep and glute work. And abs! I like doing my abs better at night.

It's my dad's birthday today, so in addition to pie, we're having a barbeque. Complete with bacon to top the burgers. Have a great night, everybody!

Tuesday 8 May 2012

Day 58: Sweating like Crazy and my Last Run Until Next Week

Hello one and all! Today was running again. I read an interesting tip in a running magazine last night (I don't remember which) that said beginner runners should tell themselves they'll just run for a few minutes instead of dreading their run. So I tried that, albeit in an altered fashion: I told myself I'd run for five minutes. Then six. Then ten. Then twelve (a mile). Then I told myself I'd run for 14. Then 15. Then 18 (a mile and a half). Iende up running twenty nonstop before I quit. Only four more and I would have done two miles! Oh well. The trick stopped working at that point anyways :)

So, I'll most likely not be blogging while Dan and I are in Calgary. We leave extra early Thursday morning, and we'll be back late Sunday afternoon/evening. I won't be running, but we will be going for walks, and I'm still going to try to do my strength training! I'm also packing food for us, since I got us a room with a fridge. I mostly concerned about eating clean for breakfast, snacks and lunch, because I know that there are places Dan wants to take me for dinner, as well as a dinner night with Mick, Dan's dad. So I'm going to eat as well as I can at those dinners, but there will definitely be a cheat night or two in there. Maybe three, who knows? We're going to check out this place called Tubby's Dogs. It was on "You Gotta Eat Here," which, as you may know, is on the Food Network, so that means I love it. Very excited! I'll take pictures of what I'm eating so you can drool over it. I'll also post a list of what I'm packing (do recall that it is forDan and I, not just me).

All for now, kids! Have a great night!

Monday 7 May 2012

Day 56 & 57: Holy Sh!t I Forgot to Post Yesterday!

Hello one and all! So sorry I forgot to post yesterday. I guess after my run and everything, it totally slipped my mind. Sorry!

So I ran yesterday. I decided to ease back in a bit, and ran a mile, walked three minutes, and ran another mile. Physically not bad. Should have focused on my breathing more. Mentally, so hard! I was ready to quit a hundred times over. But I did it. And my legs were total jelly after. Definitely learned my lesson about overdoing it with the running!

So today, I have to do weights. I'll get around to them, but I think I need a nap. I slept so little last night, I might as well have stayed up all night. I'm about ready to keel over! Something else to dislike about early shifts: they completely bugger up my eating. Because I have breakfast at five, I eat a second snack at 8:30 when I get a break. Which means at 11:30 when I get home I have lunch. Then I have another snack around one thirty. Then dinner at five. Then I'm hungry again at eight. Although I'm hungry pretty much all day, so I'd eat more if I was. Like today, I'm starving. Hollow day or what?

So I'll get around to my weights, mountain climbers and all. Just thought I'd post before I forgot again, oops! Have a great night, folks!

Saturday 5 May 2012

Day 55-Weights

Hello one and all! I was thinking today about how my mom was making fun of me about my typos, and here's the truth: when I post on my iPad, I make a gazillion mistakes. Seriously. So, when you see an error in my post, that's me saying, "DONE. Not fixing any more of these damn things!" I do notice most of them immediately upon posting, but I'm just lazy :)

So it was back to weights today. I decided to be adventurous and up my weights for my chest press, AND I tried twisting mountain climbers for the first time. Those were FUN. And they sure felt effective! Maybe my arms were tired from all the work I did on them before, but my arms were shaking when I was in the push up position. Good times. I can tell my abs got a good workout too. I did targeted ab work today, but I also decided to really concentrate on my core in every movement I did, from push ups to squats to hammer curls. Also, my butt is sore. And my legs are tired. You know what that means?

I had an excellent weights day today.


Booyeah! Happy Saturday, folks, be safe!

Friday 4 May 2012

Day 54-Rest Day

Hello one and all! Almost forgot to blog, sorry! Nothing much today. I didn't run today. I still feel a little nauseous, and I'm trying to let my joints fully recover before pounding away on the treadmill again. As I said before, I definitely learned my lesson! I'm not ready to run more than I am now. Humbling or what?

Boring Friday night in, as usual. Painted my toenails a gorgeous burgundy, top coated my fingernails. Cleaned up my brows, and I'm going to sleep in my cotton gloves. I'm so boring, right? Well, happy Fridaynto you exciting people, anyways!

Thursday 3 May 2012

Day 53-Just Weights

Hello one and all! Today I only did weights. No running. My knees were sore yesterday! I'm thinking I was a little too ambitious... Learned my lesson! Oh well. I guess I'm not yet as fit as I think I am.

So just weights, no big deal. Some standard stuff! I feel a little nauseous today though. Definitely a bummer!

Wednesday 2 May 2012

Day 52: HIIT and Forgetting to Eat

Hello one and all! I got all concerned about injury last night, thinking about possibly doubling my weekly mileage, some decided that I'll do long runs 2+ miles, long enough for me) twice a week, intervals of running and walking twice a week, and HIIT twice a week. Which is what I did today! 30 seconds at 8 MPH, 2 minutes walking. Legs are tired! I did it six times, with a warm up and cool down total 25 minutes. It was fun! Changed it up.

I did forget to eat after, shoot. So I'm eating now! Toast with peanut butter and some yogurt. I did snack before my run though! Had some cashew clusters and a bunch of water. So I hope it's not too bad that I forgot to eat. Stuff happens!

Happy hump day, folks!

Tuesday 1 May 2012

Day 51: Reconsiderations and Fun Stuff

Hellomone and all! I've decided to start running five days a week to increase my endurance. Long runs M/W/F, then walk run intervals T/Th. I think it'll really help my cardio! Besides, I have a new goal! I want to run a 10k. I don't know when, but it'll be as soon as I can. Exciting!

Also, today I just did standing ab exercises and body weight arm exercises for weights. Nothing special! Nothing leg wise though, running is a good enough one for me now!