I'm in a funk!

If you thought my blog posts were lacking lately, you should see my workouts! So far this week I have skipped Pilates on Monday, skipped my run and Yoga on Tuesday, and tonight I have skipped Bootcamp. What is wrong with me? It woudn't be so bad if I wasnt gorging on such yummies as chips with melted cheese, mint Girl Guide cookies, McDonalds, yeah you get the picture. I think I sat on the couch all day today, which is not my usual. My house is a sty and my poor dogs get the shortest walks possible. Though I did take them to the dog park today to run but that was only cuz I didn't feel like walking them and would rather just sip my starbucks and throw a stick. Ok confession time is over, whew! Tomorrow is always a new day...

Back from a two week running hiatus

So I have been on a two week running hiatus. (I just realized I start alot of my posts with "so", meh) I went for a 5k run this morning and I managed to avoid the rain altogether, whoo hoo! It was even unseasonably warm. I wore my new favorite running outfit, see previous post, and I had a pretty good run! As usual I picked up the pace for the last km, which is broken up by cross streets, and as I pass each cross street I pick up the pace just a little bit more. On the last block I was doing a full on sprint. According to my lovely Garmin, I rocked the last km with a pace of 4:11, gazelle, yes I am! I still haven't beat my fastest 5k race time, but I will in due time. I shaved 30 seconds off my last 5k that I ran, so another 41 seconds faster and I would've kicked my pr to the curb. Whats 41 seconds? Probably the time I stood waiting at the time I spent waiting at the traffic light. Meh.

After my run, I grabbed a snack before it was time to take the poor puppies out for their walk.

*editors note, this is a snack reenactment, actual snack was devoured before I thought about taking a pic.

So as the day went on today, I kept feeling this odd tweak in my foot, on the coutside aspect of the bottom of my foot, opposite of the arch. Ugh. I hopre I didn't hurt anything. I'm gonna put my feet up, sit on the couch, and rest it this evening, then hopefully all will be better in the morning. Ta ta for now!

Epic Total Body Training Fitness Challenge

Whew! Has it really been 11 days since my last post? In my defence, there has been some "stuff" going on in my household so blogging hasnt been my top priority, but im back!

So some of you may remember that I was on the fence on whether or not I wanted to do the fitness challenge that was being put on by my bootcamp, well I'm happy to say I did it! And it was actually fun, not torture! Thats me by the way, flipping a 260 lb tractor tire 5 times! As hard as that sounds, it was actually not the hardest exercise, that award goes to the lovely atomic pushups.

So the competition drew alot more people than originally anticipated so unfortunately, the obstacle course got nixed. Oh well, still plenty to do! The competition was scheduled to run from 1-6:30pm, with the warmup starting at 12:45. The morning of the competition brought such lovely weather! Can you sense the sarcasm? It was raining a monsoon and there was thunder. Nice. What kind of an omen is that? Luckily it stopped by the time it was time to leave.

The first few exercises were indoors, which was good, because teh rain kept coming off and on. The first exercise of the day was EZ Curl bicep curls with 25% of your body weight. We were competing against another person, facing eachother and we had one minute to complete as many as possible. These took forever! I ended up being last (lucky me) and one person didnt show up so there was an odd number of people and I had to compete all by myself. I did ok, completing 19. The next event was box jumps/ step ups. You could choose between the two of them, and I chose step ups. I had this deep fear that I would be doing jumps and I would kick the box and fall and Im glad I went with the step ups because one lady did fall and kocked the wind out of herself. Poor woman.

After that, we moved outside and did a kettelbell run, where you had 5 different kettlebells ranging from 52 lbs to 26 lbs and there were 5 different platforms to transfer them to. Luckily the heaveiest went on the shortest platform as the tallest one was taller than me! That was was pretty difficult and I didnt expect it to be. Then came the infamous tire flipping that every single person was dreading! I actually thought it was easier than I imagined it would be. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to lift it once and I did 5 without any help. The only hitch was when I dropped the tire on my finger. That was not fun! Next event up was the sled dog pull. Basically, there was this little metal sled with a post in the middle that you pile weight plates onto and pull it backwards with a TRX. Seems simple enough. The sled was piled with 75% of your body weight so again, us chunky monkeys got the shaft. By this time it was about 4pm, so we have been doing events for 3 hours and we were all exhausted! At least now I know what carb depletion feels like! Just befoer this event, my lovely hubby showed up with his dad but unfortunately he got a call from work and had to leave before he got to see me participate in anything :( I forgot to mention that my mom had been there all day, up until the sled pull, taking pics. Thanks mom! So as I mentioned everyone was really tired and we were running backwards so needless to say there was a few falls.

Next we moved back inside, and I might have failed to mention that inside was on the third floor. That was real fun at this time of day. Next event up was the plank off. I was one of the first to bail out at one minute,a nd there was quite a few of us that bailed out at that point. Everyone started dropping off after than but the two finalists battled it out at...get this... seven minutes! The second place finisher dropped out at the seven minute mark then the winner collapsed. What Rockstars! I can't even fathom doing a seven minute plank. Crazyness!

Now it was time for the dreaded Atomic Pushups! So those of you not familiar with atomic pushups, what you do is put your feet in the trx loops, which are hanging 12" off the ground flip over to pushup position then the move is: pushup, crunch knees into chest, return, repeat. We had a minute to do as many as possible. This is the hardest exercise I have ever done in my life! In the workshop, I managed to do three but at the competition, I did twelve! Yeah I'm a rockstar! Last exercise of the day was a 1k run. Not so fun when it was 5pm by this point. The winner ran it in just over three minutes. I know, crazyness. I ran it in 5:18. I was aiming for 6:30 so I blew it outta the water! Phew done!

We all hobbled back upstairs after the run for some awards, food and cocktails. I must say, whomever made that chicken can cook for me anyday, it was amazing! The first, second and third place finishers got mini gold, silver and bronze kettlebells with a dog tag with their name on it. So cute! Well that concludes the challenge for 2010, now I have a whole year to get in shape to win one of those kettlebells :)

Needless to say I am a little sore today, but life moves on and tonight is the first night back at Pilates. This shall be interesting...

*editors note, if this post is riddled with spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes, I will fix it later, gotta run!

The clothes really do make the man (or woman)

I was having a really lazy day today, as I was up pretty late talking with the lovely hubby (we do that once in a while, and we werent even yelling :)) so when 7am rolled around this morning, I was not a happy camper. But today is what us Lulu obsessed like to call "Upload Thursday", or basically the day they upload the new stuff onto the website. There was rumor that the coveted Run: Inspire Pullover was going to be uploaded today so I dragged my ass outta bed just enough to grab my laptop and crawl back into bed, waiting. We have this down to a science, and have figured out things usually start to appear around 7:30-8am ish. We are really quite sad, as we all sit there messaging eachother as to what is appearing, yes we need lives but the clothes are heaven! So anyways, as I had gone to Lululemon and stocked up on fall gear yesterday, I was only looking for the pullover (which should arrive tomorrow, yay!) so I bought it and then it was time to get ready for my run.

The smart thing to do would have been to eat and hydrate while sitting on the computer but I was uber lazy this morning so I made my oatmeal after, grabbed my ice water, and again crawled back into bed to feast. It was 9am by this point and I realized that I had a 5k run to do today, which would be an hour after I include warmup and the walk back home and my poor puppy dogs were still confined to their kennels. Time to get my ass in gear! So here was todays outfit.

So this includes Run: Cross Train Crops, Run: Swiftly SS, 50 Rep Bra, Asics GT 2150, Garmin 110 and my iPod. I felt like a goddess in my all purple outfit! Who doesnt like to be all matchy matchy once in a while right? So I went out for my run with the aim to pick up the pace in the last 1.5k and I sure did! I reported before about the gazelle woman passing me as I ran on Sunday and today I pictured her again in my mind. Well it definately worked! I finished my run over SIX MINUTES! faster than my sunday run and only one minute slower than my fastest 5k time. And this was supposed to be an easy run. I guess thats my competitive side coming out! I definately felt like a rockstar at the end, even though it dawned on my as I felt the urge to keel over and die that I probably should be running with ID. Meh. Someone will find me eventually ;)

After I got home and walked the dogs it was time for some post run food and a shower. I made my favorite post run meal of a homemade Egg McMuffin. Take one english muffin (I prefer Sourdough), toast in toaster, take one egg, crack into english muffin sized circular rubbermaid container (greased or the egg with become one with the container) and microwave for 40 seconds. Slather english muffin with margarine (good fat, as opposed to double cheeseburger which is bad fat) and throw on a slice of cheese for good measure and devour like you've never eaten before! If it was an especially tough run, repeat above steps until either all english muffins and eggs are gone or until you realize youve just eaten all the calories youve burnt off with your run. Enjoy :) Next post, Goal Setting 101

Routine, Schmootine!

So, its the day after Labor Day, which means back to school for all the little kiddies and back to routine for the mommies (and daddies). In regards to the gym, its almost as bad as January. I had 3 clients today, from 9-12 and my 9am clients (two friends who shared a 2 hour appointment) got to witness all the glory that is a packed gym! For their warmup, I actually got the very last two treadmills, the lovely ones all pushed up against the wall with no room for me to stand next to them and coach them on programs, heart rate training zone, etc. UGH!

So moving right along, most fitness establishments accomodate for the back to school busyness and plan the breaks in between sessions to fall during back to school time. All fine and dandy for most poeple, but I CRAVE routine! Pilates ended sometime in July and doesnt start again until September 20th, Bootcamp is on a two week hiatus, the Leisure Center is Closed until next week... you get my drift. Sure there is lots of classes ay my gym I can go to or other studios but its not my routine! I ALWAYS run Tues, Thurs and Sunday mornings, never afternoons, Bootcamp is on Mon, Wed, and Fri evenings, Yoga is Friday at noon with the possibility of  a Tues evening class and Sunday class and Pilates is on Monday nights.

This all works fine and dandy for me, I get my alloted rest time, go to the classes I enjoy and can fit it all in. But NOOOOOO! They have to go and screw up my schedule! Can ya tell I'm a lil anal? END RANT.

So on another note, I went for my first 5K in a long time on Sunday. It started out to be not the best of the runs but then I started to get into my breathing, stride, good songs on my ipod and I was doing good! Its is also one of my favorite routes because the first half is gradual uphill and the second half is gradual downhill. The makings of a rockstar run! So I was running my last 1.5k, trying to pick up my speed, aiming for negative splits and all and this woman just flies by me, running like a gazelle! I did the smile, nod, good morning jazz but inside I was like WTF? So I picked up my speed, not wanting to be left in the dust and all but I could not catch her! She was flying! Hmph! I couldnt catch her by the end of my run, so I stopped my watch and walked home, huffing and puffing. I didnt upload my run to my computer right away, forgot about it and when I uploaded it on Monday, lo and behold, my last k was a FULL two minutes faster than my other splits! Whoo hoo! Now if only I could run like this at a race!

The curse of the new shoes

So I finally bit the bullet and picked up some new shoes on Wednesday night. I have been avoiding it forever because I just absolutely love the feel of my old shoes, but alas, it was time. You could see the foam wearing through on one of the soles, and I've had them since January. I log about 15-20k per week, so not huge numbers but definately enough.

So I was out shopping with my bestie on Wednesday night and I thought, eff it, I'm gonna stop putting this off and go buy some new shoes. I also needed to pick up a new pair for work, as its getting back into the rainy season and my runners tend to get very wet and muddy and I dont think the janitors at work would appreciate me tracking that all through the gym, not to mention, very unprofessional. We descended on Sport Chek, for their buy one get one 50% off sale, as I had already had a gait analysis done at The Running Room when I bought my first pair and the shoes did my very well, so do fix what aint broke right? So we walk over to the shoe section, and as any runner knows, you get shoes based on your fit and there is a fighting chance they will be the ugliest pair on the wall, not the stylish ones you were hoping for, but this years shoes were PURPLE! I was so excited! I LOVE Purple! Especially this lovely dark purple. OOOO I was excited! So to make a long story short, I bought my shoes and went on my merry way.

Thursday morning rolls around and its time for my run and I couldnt decide if I wanted to wear my new shoes or my old ones, well fashion rules, so I went with the new ones. UGH! Now I remember why I put off buying new shoes for a while. I was ok for the first 15 minutes of my run but I had to stop and walk for a minute about every 5 mins after that thanks to my feet being all tingly and numb. I dont think my shoes were laced too tight, I think its just a matter of having more cushioning around the foot that wasnt broken in yet. Though when I got to the end of my 3k run, my time was a full minute faster than my fastest 3k and 1.5 mins faster than last weeks, even if I did have those walk breaks. Meh, I guess such is life. No exercise classes planned for today but if this beautiful almost fall weather keeps up, I might head out for a long walk. Happy Friday!

Yoga Challenge Kaput!

Im going to have to postphone my yoga challenge until October. This month the Leisure Center is closed for a few weeks and there is no classes on labor day so that messes things up a bit. Add on the fact that alot of studios dont start with their fall schedules until at least the second week of September, that makes for alot of classes missed. Oh well, next month it is!

Yoga Challenge!

So here goes! I have been thinking of doing a monthly yoga challenge for some time now, and as I log onto the Lululemon Facebook page today, lo and behold, it is yoga month! So the challenge is as follows: I am pledging to do yoga 20 of the 30 days in September! And I plan on not neglecting my other duties in bootcamp and running as well, it is a challenge after all! I first thought of doing something like this after reading the My Happy Hips blog about this girl that works at Lululemon who pledged to do the Happy Hips DVD (with Eoin Finn) every day in June. At the end, she was amazed at how her body transformed with the daily yoga.

Reality says that I have no motivation ( another blog post, another day) to do an at home DVD so if I want to give myself a fighting chance, I'm going to have to get my butt out to a class, hence why I am planning for 20 days, not the full 30 (no yoga anywhere in my town on Saturdays for the month of September, and I work that day anyway).

So I'm throwing it out there to anyone who wants to join me in any yoga classes this month or if you want to post your own feedback in the comments. Keep me accountable people!

To Challenge or not to Challenge?

So the bootcamp I go to is having a Challenge, kinda like something called the Femme Sport Challenge. Ive never heard of it before but apparently its like one of those strongman competitions where you pull tractors and make loud grunting noises and wear xrated spandex clothes. Something along those lines. Well this challenge is challenging the students from my bootcamp to the students of one of the local yoga studios. Im not sure I want to participate, but I dont want to regret not doing it. Its going to be bloody hard and im not exactly an unfit individual but the people in my bootcamp are just bloody crazy! Im usually the last in everything we do, which is fine, but every once in a while id like to succeed!

So heres a list of the days events:

Sunday september 19th 2010


the events:

EZ CURL BICEP CURLS
Competitors will do as many bicep curls as possible in one minute using an EZ Curl bar and 25% of their body weight.

BOX JUMPS
Competitors will complete 40 box jumps for time on a box 18” high.

KETTLEBELL LIFT
Competitors will transfer five kettlebells (12kg, 12kg, 16kg, 24kg, 32kg) from the ground to 5 different pedestals 30 feet away. Pedestals will be 5’, 4.5’, 4’, 3.5’, 3’ in hight.

TIRE FLIP
Competitors will flip a tractor tire weighing approximately 260lbs 5 times in a straight line for time.

SLED PULL
Competitors will pull a weighted sled backwards 75 feet carrying 75% of their body weight.

PLANK OFF
Competitors will hold the plank position (modified planks not permitted) for time.

TRX ATOMIC PUSH UP
Competitors will complete as many Atomic Push Ups as possible in 1 minute.

1 KM RUN
Competitors will run 1km for time.

OBSTACLE COURSE
You didn’t think we’d tell you everything did you? Some things are just better left a surprise!

So the competition is for 3 hours and you have to do all of the challenges, you cant just pick and choose. I know if I enter, there isnt a chance I'd win anything but thats not the point, the point is to have fun and kick those yoga peoples butts! But seriously, flip a 260lb tire 5 times? Im not even sure I can flip it once without giving myself a hernia and bursting all the blood vessels in my face! Not a good look at all... The only upside is that there is tshirts involved, no doubt with some sassy saying, and I am definately a sucker for a free tshirt!

First Post!

Welcome to my blog! I have wanted to start a blog for sometime now but I kept humming and haaing (not real words, I know) for sometime now so here goes! Bear with me, Ive never done this before so it will probably be quite ugly and painful for the first little bit.

You will learn more about me as we go but here are the basics:
I am a 27 year old "student", studying to be a fitness freak. I work as a Weight Trainer right now part time and I'm still working on my mentorships for Personal Training, Group Fitness and Pilates. Pilates was definately my first love, thanks to an awesome teacher who made it look like she was having way too much fun to actually be getting paid for teaching, and paid very well I might add. So here goes the blogging attempt!