You put your left foot in, you take your left foot out....

Week one of getting back into the game. I ended up landing a wicked head cold (which is STILL here) that I didn't actually get out running until Tuesday, the 3rd, but hey I did it! I ended up going out right after work into the...darkness *shudder*.....around the community. Just me and Lady Gaga. For some reason I have always liked running to her music, I suppose it's because it's got a good beat.

I logged in about 4km's in 35 min managing a steady 8min run/1 min walk combo, not too shabby considering I haven't run in a while, or ever at night. My legs were feeling it though when I did get back. I paced the main floor for a bit before I ate my dinner my loving DH made while I was gone. One thing I have learned though, have a shower, a HOT shower once you've cooled down then eat. I was FREEZING once my dinner was had and could not warm up.  My body the next 2 days felt the "pain" from the run. I know it can take two days after the first time to recover but WOWZA did my left hip not like me!

Monday I scoured the Running Room races for a 10K in the spring. Look at me go, holding up my end of the bargain. I have officially signed up for the 10K Diakonos run on St Patrick's Day. It's a decent cause and a pretty good time, just over 11 weeks away. Bib fee was only 20$ too! Score! Turns out that my triple sport friend did this as her first 10K race those many moons ago. She also wondered if I am on my way to doing the Iron Man like her.....ummm, no. Me no likey the swimming. Not for sport at least. Who knows, maybe this is the beginning of me entering the Boston Marathon....but let's not get ahead of myself now. 10K first....I'll talk to those other 31.92 or whatever later.

I got to talking with my friend CD and he wanted to join me on my run on Friday at lunch. Sure, no problem! I mean we might be taking an online run class together anyways so what the hell. He was concerned that I would out pace him or break him like a certain other friend of ours did on a run ....that triple sport friend..... Nah, no worries I'm starting off slow, we'll be fine, let's aim for 8/1 like I did the other day.

I almost died Friday. Not only is he in better shape than I am, but CRAP even without my head cold he could easily put me in the dust! Damn him and his youth! :) Anyways, we did it, managing around a 6/1 ratio in 40 min, just over 4K. I now also know how to get down to the river to run along the Elbow if I choose to. He did say he'll benefit from me using a running program and tagging along. His training consisted of "I run till I get tired, slow down for a bit and go again then I walk, then I jog". Sigh.....he's great at sprinting, just needs longer Cardio and knows it.

I decided after looking at the 10K training guide that I wanted to start off with a good week of basic build up. you know, get back into the swing of things and remember what running was all about, hence the 2 days through the week. I noticed that Sundays are the beginning of the training weeks and are the LSD's or Long, slow distance. These are the ones they use for you to gain confidence in your ability to actually run longer than 5K. Week #1 would have me starting out on Tuesday with a Steady run of 3K so I decided to throw in an LSD of 5K on Sunday. It was so bleeping WINDY again...stupid wind, that I went over to the gym. It was pretty busy in the co-ed side. Not one treadmill was available. Grumble. Then I remembered that this gym also has a ladies only side. It's smaller, but I poked my head in and it had 5 empty treadmills for the taking. SUCECSS!  I did a 5 min warm up and was on my merry way. My Ipod died 5 mins in....boo....but they do have TV's so I read/watched the crappy TV viewing and before I knew it, it was over.


Things I have learned about the Treadmill.


1. They can show you a lot of information, calories, heart rate, speed, distance, etc....


2. They are for Americans.....all those information items are imperial....except for weight...that was in KG.


3. Even after I slow my run to a walk, to a stop, I get a weird dizzy feeling. Like legs go jello, no sense of the ground beneath me.



Well base week is over, bring on the 10K training!

Hello inner thoughts..... it's been a while.

2011 it's been a blast, let's make way for 2012!


 Its been a while since I last typed....I know; but I came to realize that I'm not much of a blogger. I LOVE to read blogs, they can be a wealth of entertainment or knowledge! Some people's blogs I look so forward to reading, that I get all excited when I see a new post is available. Seriously, if they only knew how much they make me smile at times, or make me look like a complete crazy person, as I sit there giggling on the train over the latest instalment of being a mom/wife. KM you rock my world.


That being said I've been reading a lot lately and everyone is focusing on the upcoming year and/or recapping 2011.  What do I want out of this upcoming year? Well like the cliche goes; health, wealth and happiness! Looking back to my Lulu posts (holy crap has it been that long already!?!?!) I have decided to re-utilize the goal setting tools they gave us.


Goals have to have a date otherwise they aren't a goal, just a dream right? Well then let's define them.


Mini Goal: Something easily achievable
Reasonable Goal: Something you have to work at, but attainable.
BHAG: a BHAG is a Big Hairy Audacious Goal. This is something that makes you scared shitless. Think Eminem's opening lyrics to Lose Yourself :


Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?
His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy
There's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti......




Anyways you get the idea. It's something you wouldn't go around telling the whole world about either. So that being said, let's set some goals shall we?


Health


Mini goal of 2012: Start running again starting January 1st and don't stop. Easily done.


Reasonable goal of 2012: Run that blasted 10K I keep promising myself I will do. I will register myself by the end of this week for the St. Patty's Day run.


BHAG of 2012: Well I can't tell you, but I will give you a date I am going to achieve it in April. That's all ya get for now.


Honestly I don't know why I really stopped running. I love the freedom it can give me to be alone with my thoughts and really, my inner workings of my mind aren't THAT scary. I mean I casually ran over the last year, even tried to get my DH to join me for a bit. I have come to terms with the fact I cannot change his habits, only encourage him to get healthier. He is trying and has lost 10lbs since the fall. But this is about me, not him. Time to start taking care of myself again.




Wealth


Mini goal of 2012: Put 40-50$ a month aside for a shopping spree at the end of the year. Seriously I want to just go crazy next year on boxing day...week...whatever we want to classify it nowadays.


Reasonable goal of 2012: Pay off my 1 Visa before we leave for Aussie in November. I want to have an emergency card and that would be the one to do it with.


BHAG of 2012: This one I can't give an exact date yet and I know it's stretching over a tad, but it will be completed by end of summer of 2013. CC5000!

I'm not much of a materialistic person, never have been. I do like certain brands...*cough* Coach*cough*, but in all honesty I don't make it a point to get brand name stuff all year. I'm perfectly happy with the world of Wal-Mart and Value Village. I'm sure if I bunker down the hatches, these will all be attainable goals.


Happiness


Mini Goal of 2012: Tell one person each day something nice. I plan on handing out warm fuzzy's all year people so look out!

Reasonable goal of 2012: Start violin lessons with my DH February 14th. If this means we rent until we can afford to buy, so be it!

BHAG of 2012: The date is set for Sept 30th.

I'm still learning to be a happy person. There are days where its tough just to accept a compliment, but I'm getting there. I have learned that I need to take time for myself. Seriously I don't know when I lost it, but holy did it ever feel good to just tell the world to go away for a day. It's needed every now and again and it's a wonderful feeling to turn off facebook/emails/txts/BBM for a weekend here or there.


There are other bucket list and achievement ideas I have floating around for 2012 so why not write them out while we're at it.


In no particular order:
Spartan Race
Horseback riding on the beach
Learn to drive
Clean out my basement
Paint our bedroom
Finish decorating our living room
Turn our guest room into an actual guest room
Hang more photo's of our family up
Get rid of the eczema on my foot once and for all
Get another Tattoo
Get my chicken DH in for his first Tattoo
Run 10K at 'Loops in 45 minutes or less
Have my picture taken with someone famous....with the initials SL
Eat out only once a month
Learn a new language
Learn to knit
Practice hot yoga every other week.
Write a novel
Write out how/what I'm feeling


2011 brought new challenges and the end to some. I learned to let go of what I cannot control and say no, enough is enough. I watched one of my best friends get married. I watched another complete her first half ironman. I became a God Auntie to my seester of another meester's first child. I learned I will be an actual Auntie to adopted Hatian niece(s) or nephew(s) in the new year courtesy of my SIL. I learned the true colours of some people and that you just can't please them. I turned 30, no biggie! I got my first tattoo to remind myself of love, loyalty and friendship. I gained two awesome friends thanks to my BIL, just wished we lived closer so we could geekout more often.

I guess that's my two cents on 2011/12. No promises here, I mean I did just go and set 9 goals for the year, but I will try to blog a bit more. At least to keep my goals updated!

To each of you, make 2012 the best year you can!
signin off!

Cheers to the New Year!

HARDCORE PARKOUR! She shoots, she SCORES!

Good morning people! Coming at ya from the corporate rat race, it's your favourite loser!

So its been a while since the last blog, and that's because I've been busy!

I left you Thursday with temptation, and I'll have you know, I'm still holding strong. My wonderful sister-in-law Megan brought over a cake for our birthday over the weekend, a HUGE chocolate cake, and I resisted. People were amazed that as I cut the cake I didn't even lick the icing off that I got on me. Monday aka cheat day is only four more days away, and I know I can do it. I decided to freeze my four fav craves in a Tupperware and put them in the freezer at work. I may share them with the Hubby, but that depends ;P

So Saturday we had our first running clinic, with Amy. Its a small world for sure, as I went to school with her and she hasn't changed the qualities I loved about her so much. She's still so very kind, patient and her smile is still infectious. I don't think Lululemon could have picked a better person to help us learn to run. She helped us understand the balance between running/walking to build our endurance, and what kind of stretches to do afterwards. Including myself there are two other people that I know of, have gotten over that obstacle as to where to begin and have used their lunch hour or TV time to get out and just try. I myself decided to give it a go on my lunch hour, and in 23 min I ran/walk 1 min intervals. Google says I did 3.2kms, 1.2 against that 60-90km wind which is great, since one of my goals by the time this is all over, is to be able to run 5k, even if its at a snails pace.

Speaking of goals, that was the topic of discussion on Sunday at our weekly weigh in. Goal setting is integral to the Lululemon team, and they showed us how to go about it. Setting 3,5, and 10 year goals would be ideal, but we can do 1,3 and 5 if we want too. They also encouraged us to have what they like to call a BHAG. A big hairy goal, the kind of goal that when you think about it, your mouth goes dry and you forget how to speak...or breathe.

I think I've got mine, and when I do it, I'll let you know. That's one of the most important things about goals. You tell a few people, ones who will hold you accountable for them, but not to those who will fluff you off and say its stupid. Those are the people that are just too scared to set goals for themselves and are afraid of failure. That was the other part of goal setting, was understanding its OK to fail. If we don't fail some of the time, it means we aren't pushing ourselves to our full potential. Failure allows us to re-evaluate our goals, and try harder or modify our end result. The main thing is you shoot for your goal, try to be the best you can be, and if you make it, revel in your success, hands in the air like you've just won the Stanley Cup.

GO HABS GO!!!  KNOCK OUT THAT NEANDRETHAL OVECHKIN!!!

Ahem, sorry it's playoffs and I'm a huge Montreal fan. :)

Monday, my wonderful fellow loser Melissa had encouraged a bunch of us to join her for a Body Step class at Good Life. How hard could step aerobics be right? Well aside from singing the "Time Warp" on my way out, it was AWESOME!

A straight hour of cardio with intervals of high intensity, and surprisingly enough I caught on quick (thank you dance feet). Next week I hope to get more of the hand actions to go with it for that 30% extra burn. We hope to make it a weekly outing now, and next week we are going to try Zumba!

Parkour.....oh parkour. Most people have seen the skit from The Office, them running around yelling "HARDCORE PARKOUR" in all their stupid glory. None of us had tried this, even our wonderful Lulu team. I have to say I had a blast although it was another class past my bedtime *I miss my 9pm bedtime!* Jim from the Gym at No Limits A.F.C. showed us the ropes...er....mats and started us off by doing rolls, two of which will apparently will keep you safe from oncoming vehicles or the ever problematic and menacing "Calgary Bears". I will hope to everything out there watching over me I will never be in a situation that will have me roll backwards, and well if it happens, may the damn bear eat me then! Forward all the way!! :P Once we got a handle of rolling, we were shown the vaults, three sizes, each 1-2 inches taller than the next. Most went immediately for the shortest, as I would have, but I sucked it up and started with the medium one. I know its a simple mind over matter, and that 2 inches isn't really that much more, but knowing that to get yourself on or over the box, required upper body strength, I decided to hold off on the mountain, and conquer the mole hill. I may not have gotten over it, but at least I got on top of it! I think I may have a new love in Parkour, and I will definitely go back once I have developed that much needed strength. I was watching some of the other women, who have been doing this for a bit, go running up the cement wall, grabbing onto wooden boards and scale up 20 feet or so, so cool! I think that this may have to be added to my Zombie Apocalypse Survival Guide regardless how sore I am from it.

So the Stats.....

My measurements are :
Chest 39 inches
Waist 34 inches
Hips 40.5 inches
Left arm 13 inches - my fat arm

Right thigh 26 inches
Right Calf 16 inches

SO I'm down 1.5 inches, not too shabby for the first week. And how did cutting out lots of crap, and drinking lots of water effect my weight?

Weight 169

3 pounds in one week! So that's pretty on target for my body, and the water weight I'm sure I was carrying around.

So I'm off to another fun filled day at work, hopefully get in another run today at lunch and let's bring on Saturday's next challenge!!

Temptation

So I seriously didn't think I was gonna blog again until Saturday sometime, but alas, someone out there figured I needed to as life brought me Edens Apple today. Cupcakes. Not just any cupcakes, but CRAVE cupcakes. If you have never had one please do yourself a favor and go have one before you die. They have so many different flavors from strawberry to key lime pie.

 

Our former receptionist at work brought in 7 dozen assorted flavors of mini crave cupcakes, including my absolute fav crave Mint Chocolate. Its like Christmas in a cupcake, topped with red sprinkles on a blanket of snowy hills of icing.

Why oh why did this have to happen, and right when I started lunch. Hmmm what would I rather have for lunch right now.....salad, with mushrooms, egg and goat cheese, which I do love.

Or a cupcake? MMMMMM cupcake....

Struggling with temptation is an on going uphill battle, and by all means we shouldn't deny ourselves the stuff we love or we'll just end up gorging later when we hit that breaking point. Don't think you won't because you will. Its like trying to kick any habit, smoking for example, you can try cold turkey but chances are you'll cave. And feel extremely guilty afterwards.

 

I'm reminded now of the conversation Mitch and I had that first day, on how his brother counts down the days until he reaches a target date, and allows himself to the special something. That is what I am doing, and I've given myself two weeks. Even though my birthday is next Tuesday and I really REALLY want to have a piece of black forest cake like I do every year, I will wait.

 

I could have eaten one, and no one would been the wiser, as

I am sat there alone, but I am being honest about everything. I am not even going to partake in our Friday morning snack here at work, I will bring my own treat, probably in the form of berries and milk.

I have kept up my food journal, and I am sticking to it. What I plan on eating when I do hit April 19th I don't know, but damn it I am going to savor every mouthful of it.

So to you Crave Cupcakes and your Dr. Suess thank you card I say "I will not eat them Sam I am, I will be patient I know I can."

Sweaty Little Angels

Crossfit. People, I'm sure there's an anagram somewhere in that little word that means death. And I'm not talking about the quick and merciful kind of death, oh no, the slow Chinese water torturous kind of death where every movement you make the next day slowly eats you away from the inside out. I don't think I have ever hurt so much in my life.

It hurts to sneeze, it hurts to answer the phone, it hurts to stand, walk, sit, bend over, bend down, cough, laugh, heck even type! Do you get the picture? I'm sure you do . Now do I want to go again? Yes! And I have a willing victim to do it with me all lined up. :)

Tyler at Crossfit Athlete Inside was great, as were the ever supportive Mitch and Mo urging us along to keep going, and do one more. Mo, I think I may just hear your voice screaming "Yeah baby, you can do this" in my head forever. Who knew such a little woman could project her voice like that.

I'll admit that the "warm up" was closer to a workout in itself and I'm sure a few people would agree.

So you want to know what we did, OK let's see:

Push ups. That one everyone knows, so I don't think I need to go into detail there. And yes we could do the "wimpy kind" if needed.

Squats. Apparently women have an easier time learning this one; gee I wonder why? :P, maybe if I hadn't been such an eager beaver and climbed up 323 stairs earlier that day I would have had an easier time. Too late for that!

Jumping pull ups. OK, so this was new. You stand under a bar, raise your hands in the air, wave 'em around like you just don't care, wait......sorry......getting carried away. So you do raise them, straight above you and make sure the bar touches just above your elbow. Now hold onto the bar and jump, jump so your chin is above the said bar above you and just drop back down.

Sounds relatively easy right? OK so here's where it gets crazy. Starting with the jumping pull ups, do five of those, then get on the floor and do 7 push ups, now stand and do 10 squats.

Still with me? Still saying no problem? Alrighty then, set the clock for 12 minutes and cycle through those three things over and over until you think your going to die...or when you reach 12 min. Whichever may come first for you my friends.

NOW you get it and YES I deserve a pat on the back for accomplishing this daunting task. All us women do. I know they're hurting just as bad as me.

Anyways, by the end of the 12 mins, I was exhausted. One, my bed time is normally 9pm, so being up past 9pm two nights in a row and two, having to do physical exercise on top of that was rough. I collapsed on the floor and while Tyler, Mitch and Mo told us a few things and expressed words of encouragement I made my little "sweat angel" on the floor.

So what's next on the list? Well as much as I'd love to have the energy to do the WOD (workout of the day) tonight, minus the pull ups as I have no bar at home, there's a rest on the menu, and tomorrow's another day. So people maybe you can get out there for me and create your own "Sweaty Little Angel"

It's all about your perspective...

Good morning people, coming to you live from the sardine can of the morning rat race, it's my next update. Better known as Calgary Transit in the morning rush hour commute to downtown.

So you,re all wondering, how did last night go? Well remember when I said I was scared shitless? It really wasn't too bad. I think I was more scared that the people I would be doing this with would be meaner, and that the staff were going to be just uber bubbly dingbats. Why I thought this in the first place is really beyond me, maybe that's just the stereotypes I have, but there it is, perspective.

In reality, the nine other women are turning out to be awesome people, and those I really didn't talk to last night, I hope to get to know more about them in the upcoming weeks. The Lululemon staff who have put this together, are more than just awesome, they're...well....when I find a word that suits them, I'll make sure to tell them. They made last night as enjoyable as it can be to come to terms with your weight, your body and fears. They gave us a pretty little binder and went over some of what we will be doing. They didn't lie, and came right out with it and told us it's going to hurt, to the point we may feel like quitting, but when we push past the pain, we can just look back and know we can go harder.

Knowing what's ahead can be a good thing, and a bad thing. I mean, I had no idea what Crossfit was until good ol You Tube showed me. Now seeing it, I can either say "ummm I don't think I can do that" OR "wow, that's intense, but I WILL do the best I can". It may be hard, and I am still learning, but my perspective is going to be to take everything in stride, achieve where I can, and fail where I do. My failures are just going to make me try, try again. "The brain can only hold one thought at a time, so choose a positive one" right? So this morning, as I sit here knowing that tonight, I am going to probably want to die after my first crossfit class, I can only do the best of my capabilities, and for now that's drink lots and lots of water all day. As the wonderful Mitch put it, drink so much water all day you feel like you gotta pee every hour, and that's what I'll do.

So let's get down to it. How do I ..ahem...measure up? Well surprisingly better than I thought! I had almost 2 years ago sat at a whopping 182.6 pounds. Yes the .6 does in fact count. Most people didn't believe me, and said where do I hide it. Damned if I knew, but it was what it was. I worked hard for a year, being diligent with my eating and excersing every day for at least a half hour, and the pounds did come off. I had managed to get to 161.1lbs, YAY ME!, but as crappy "life things" started to happen I fell outta line, and like we all know, you stop taking care of yourself, shit hits the fan.

So here's where I stand.

After doing a brief fitness test with in a time limit (which I think was a minute?)

I did:

21 push ups

22 full sit ups - flat on your back to sitting right up

85 step ups

My measurements are :

Chest 39 inches

Waist 34 inches

Hips 41.5 inches

Left arm 13.5 inches - my fat arm BTW

Right thigh 26 inches

Right Calf 16 inches

My Weight:

172.0 lb's

All in all not too bad I think, but not good enough. So let's get on with the day, and bring on the death defying Crossfit!

What the Hell did I sign up for!?

Ok, so this is me, *waves* so hi. I've never been good at keeping touch with people in the real world, you know, letters (pens, pencils, paper, seriously, too much) and phones? Phones....oh right that's the thing I bought to make calls in emergencies or want to call my families, but in reality I use it for crackbook because I'm addicted, as my dah-ling husband tells me or well, blogging apparently. :P But since this is the start of a new me, I am making changes along the road of life and trying new things.

EXHIBIT A, blogging.

I was told after writing a year long letter, titled a "year of my life", that what I did could be considered blogging. Hmmm...do I want to post my daily activities out there for everyone to read?? Isn't that what I already do on crackbook anyways? Yup, ok then, blogging, lets give it a go. :)

So onto the real meaning behind "What the Hell did I sign up for?"

EXHIBIT B, posting my results.

I read a while back that Lululemon was hosting a"Biggest Loser" style competition and they were going to take on 10 contestants. Coaches, nutritionists, trainers, everything all supplied by the ever worshipable Lulu with weekly prizes to be won with some mysterious Grand Prize for being the "Biggest Loser". What did you have to do to become a contestant? Send them a video or an email with a picture of yourself explaining why you deserve to partake in this venture.



I thought about it for a couple days. I was thinking on doing a boot camp this summer anyways, and not to be too offensive to anyone who may read this, but Lululemons clientele doesn't noramally cater to the largely obese, so maybe I had a chance? I didn't want it to become a skinny minnie, but to become more fit. And hey, if I shed a few pounds and got back down to 140-150 great! So I thought to myself what the heck, let's give it a try and write an e-mail. Why I deserved to do this was pretty easy. The hard part was laying my heart out there for someone to judge whether it was a worthy enough reason to be a contestant. What did I write? The cold hard truth of the last ten years of my life. I wrote about my family, my jobs, my self esteem(which most of you who know me probably would say is pretty high, when in reality it isn't). I wrote about the Mental Meltdown of 2009, and I wrote about the changes I wanted to make. I used their manifesto and included that too, and what I've done. I sent it off not thinking i would hear back from them, and waited the few weeks to come to a close when they would pick the lucky winners.



When the day came to announce their winners, I anxiously awaited an email, saying yay, or more likely nay. I stayed up to 9:30pm refreshing my email constantly. But nothing. I logged in the next morning and still nothing. I felt jipped, not knowing anything. I shot off an email, and the reply was astonishing....I was in. I started to cry, and smile. I waited for Heather to come around the corner from Friday snack and I shared the good news with her. I just kept shaking my head, and was shocked that i was being given an awesome opportunity to kick start myself into a long overdue transformation. The kicker was the news was giving to me on April 1st, before noon. I kept thinking someone was going to take it back, followed by a "Simpsons Nelson Laugh". Ha ha. I re-read the email like a dozen times, checking dates and times making sure, ABSOLUTELY SURE that I was available for all the dates given, or it was a no go.



I'm eager to get going with the first weigh in tonight. I'm also scared shitless now. After looking over everything I firmly believe I am being trained to become an assassin! So what am I going to have to do? A lot. Some stuff I've never heard of before, some I have. Some crazy ass Jackie Chan like stunts, and some scaling walls. I am going to learn how to run, I am going to lift weights, I am going to do Yoga till the cows come home, I am GOING to hurt, but most of all, I am going to get through this. 2-3 times a week for 2 hours at a time is going to be tough, and yes, I will be bitchy, but I want this more than the inner wimp/couch potato can yell. And come June 6th, I will be a better me.