From Here to There

My journey in fitness from here (not so good!) to there (woohooo!!)

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Get over it!


Ok, so today was one to bite my tongue. By noon I was ready to pick up the phone, call my boss and tell him to cram it. Why? Because I hate my colleague's job that I've been saddled with. It would be fine if it were only taking up the 10% of my week it was supposed to. But it's taking up over 100% of my days. I'm tired of OT without compensation, and while my boss does thank me profusely, I don't figure this will have bearing on a bonus (should we get one). So instead of calling my boss, I hopped on the trainer for 45 minutes watching skating with celebrities. Now that's entertainment! LOL

Came back to work feeling much better, only to find my inbox flooded with more web postings @#$@#$%#@$$%#!!!!
I can't remember the last time I did my own work. I missed a deliverable today, for the first time ever, and it's killing me. I'm burning over this.

When Steve calls, I ask him to bring home a battery for my drowned watch, and tell him I'm off to shovel the laneway. He says he'll do it. PMS queen tells him NO. I neglected to mention I wanted the outlet for my anger. Wouldn't you know it? The snow was LIGHT and FLUFFY!! ARGH!! The one day I want heavy wet snow!! So I come in and decide a hot bath will help, the whole time thinking 'he'd better come home with steaming hot pizzas under his arm'. He walks in and sweetly presents me with English muffins. I almost threw them at him (joking!!!) :) I thanked him and smiled. He's a sweety because he knows how much I love English muffins. But I wanted pizza. Can't he read my mind yet? I settled for a nice large salad, a baked sweet potato and 5 tofu 'chicken' nuggets. I still want pizza :)

Anyway, great trainer workout, 15 minutes of cranky shoveling, my drowned watch works (the battery actually blew up in the pool), and I saved a ton of calories. I need to chill!!

Monday, January 30, 2006

10.379


I guess I should be pleased that I ran slightly farther than last week's 10k (10.137km) in 12:30 less time. But last week the sidewalks were really bad, and today not so bad. What bites is I'm usually so much faster than this, but I really struggled today.

With my watch waterlogged I wasn't able to keep an eye on pace or heartrate, but interestingly enough my AHR was 150, MHR 160, which truth be told is one of the lowest in recent memory. But I did have to walk for a few seconds every 'song' on the way back, which would be dropping my AHR. I hope I can find a replacement watch because I'm not planning on spending a few hundred bucks on a new Bodylink or Garmin.

Enough about that.

My shoulders are pretty sore from the swim (I'm a little worried my left rotator is going to freeze up), and legs trashed from the run, but I will get MUB in tonight. What remains to be seen is how many sets, and whether I do the pushups or not.

That's it for now :)

Swim Class #5

This swim class was supposed to be evaluation - but the head of the program was away, and she had the forms! Eval on Wednesday.

The swim. Without running yesterday I expected my legs to be fresher, and they were, at least I seemed to cover more ground. Our drills were as follows:

  • 50m flutter kick on back
  • 50m back crawl
  • 50m back crawl with pull buoys
  • 25m back crawl 3 strokes each side before switching (I was going in circles!) with pull buoys
  • 150m endurance - ok, not much to some of you, but in learn to swim when your front crawl bites, it's really hard! So I did about 15m back crawl, 10m front crawl (25m lengths) each lap
  • 50m whip kick on back (this I can't do... how frustrating!)

I wore my Timex Bodylink watch in the pool (I forgot to take it off, even though it's water resistant, it's old) and it's now waterlogged and DOA. I'm hoping it revives in a few days when it dries out, in the interim, scouting ebay.

Sunday, January 29, 2006

Well, maybe tomorrow

This was a disappointing day, until I found this t-shirt! :) Everything was on target for an awesome 10k today. Temps just below freezing, snow still holding off, pumped to run. Too pumped apparently. For no reason that I can understand, my heart went into Wenckebach rhythm, and while it's also known as 'Athletic Heart Syndrome' (hahahahaha), it's still a major pain in butt. I really wanted that run, but needed to settle my heart rate down first. Before I knew it, it was 1:30 and I was starving so I ate, and my heart rhythms returned to normal.

I will try to get the 10k in tomorrow, though the expected 25cm (at least that's what Environment Canada were calling for) of snow, could make it challenging. If the canal is still open, I'll run on the ice (it should be snow covered but no ruts!).

Tonight is swim class, so I'll get some cardio in at least. Going to read for a bit.

Saturday, January 28, 2006

It got better!


Started the day feeling pretty good, and looking forward to 10k in above freezing temps! Wow, no layers!! So what happened?!? My legs were dead today. I noticed when I woke up that my calves were super tight... couldn't figure out why, other than I hadn't run since Wednesday, and my legs like moving at least every two days.

After 2.5k I bagged it. Both my legs were so tight they started to hurt. Enough. 10 minute ruled it (even though it was 16mins and I scored my fastest pace this year). Felt really crummy about bagging it though. Decided I'd eat something and hop on the trainer.

The minute we get home KT announces she needs 3 DVDs for film class. We hop in the car (she's not licensed yet) and are not back until 12:30. I'm still in my running clothes, wet and smelly. When we get home my friend CB calls to say she's popping by to drop off some DVDs she borrowed, so I get all cranky because we went out so early the house is a mess. I recruit KT (and I must apologize to her, I was a wee bit cranky!), and we get it done. I'm still in my running clothes and stinky. I have lunch, and we wait. CB shows up at 2:30. I figure I'm done for the day and dive into some dill pickle chips while reading some blogs. I find this post by Linae - No Limits Hmm... I posted a comment and it's gone... oh well...
That did it! Hopped on the trainer to find CBC Sports was showing Speed Skating! Woooop! (the guide said curling). Before I knew it, 45 minutes were done.

Then I did 1 set of MUB, my arms were really sore. From the bike? Odd.

That's it! I got in over an hour of cardio today. Woohoo!!

Friday, January 27, 2006

Didn't do it

So this week won't be one where I can say I got all my workouts in! I got one more set of MUB in today, at 10PM. After the protest, which drained me, I ended up working until 9:30 or so. I'm pretty sleepy and going to take a bath. The streak lives, got my 10 minutes in. I think I need to raise the 10 minutes to 20.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a whopping 5C! I think I'm going to switch things around a little and do Sunday's 10k tomorrow, since Sunday we're expecting more freezing rain. This would leave Sunday open for today's bike, and Sunday swim class. Then the only activity missed would be yesterday's 4 miler. Not great, but better than missing everything.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Just the basics


I only got in 10 minutes, 1 set of MUB today. I'm feeling really 'off', not sure if I'm coming down with Steve's tummy bug, hypochondria, or just really upset. My brother heard on a radio call in from a woman in a wheelchair who complained to the city that the sidewalks and streets are so poorly maintained after the ice/snow that she can't leave her house safely. The city claim to not have received any more complaints than last year, so have no intention of doing anything about it. This lady is protesting tomorrow. My family will be there wearing black armbands. I'm am so furious. So an old lady died after slipping 20 feet from her condo, suffering major brain injuries, on her way to choir practice. She died 3 days later of these injuries. She was my Mom and I miss her terribly. The 1st anniversary of her fall is in 2 weeks. HOW DARE THEY.

Enough for tonight.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

A virtual run, and a swim


Today I ran with my friend Ellen. Ok, truth be told, she is in NYC and I'm not, and she ran hours before I did. But I promised her the other day, when she was finding her treadmill run debilitating boring, so I offered to run next to her. So I did. 5k on the treadmill in the bag, thinking of Ellen. It was good :)

The image in no way reflects my run with Ellen, but rather running and water, because tonight was swim class!

I hate swim class. Do I mention that every time? You betcha. Anyway, we focused on deep water activities: egg beater, treading water, moving egg beater, and vertical flutter kick. From there it was 400m of back glides and back crawl. In all we only covered 500m, but spent a whole lot of time spinning our wheels in the pool. Happy to report that the swim is done for another day. Going to try to get a practice session in on Friday before Sunday's class comes around.

Finally, got my running across Canada links (sidebar). I really haven't gone too far yet, 55k running west, and 58k biking east. I wonder which coast I'll hit first?!?

That's it for tonight!

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Another day, another 5k


I love this image! I wonder if I should be giving credit to where I loaded it from...

Anyway, busy work day, didn't cry because I hate my colleagues job (came close yesterday, but only 6 more weeks to go approx.), and got some of my own work done. I'm making a point of logging out as close to 5pm as possible, and not logging back in until 8AM. This is a breakthrough for someone who used to log in at 7AM and out at6PM.

Anyway, brought Desperate Housewives to the basement with me and ran an easy 5k on the treadmill. Got good and sweaty, but sadly, weigh 2 lbs more than yesterday. Retaining ton-o-water the past few days. Not sure if it's caused by the long run (for me!) on Sunday and a tough MUB yesterday or not. Upped the aqua intake today. Hopefully it will help!

While perusing Ellie's blog just now, found she's tracking her bike and run mileage on separate gmaps. What a great idea! Years ago I tried the same thing on a Canadian wall map but gave up because I wasn't going anywhere. I think I can do this gmap thing and will play with that over the next few days. I could use all the motivation I can get!

peace out

Monday, January 23, 2006

A habit is formed... maybe forming is a better word


In some fitness mag I read it takes 21 days to make an activity a habit. Today marks day 23 of some sort of activity every day. Most days it involved sticking with my training program, a few days due to illness it was the minimum 10 minutes (1 mile run effort). I don't think it's a habit yet, but it's getting there.

Onto today. I stepped up the MUB plan, now on to 3 circuits. It wasn't too tough, though my left shoulder is very unhappy still (for a couple of weeks now). I'm getting worried I'm pushing towards bursitis again, though last time it was the other shoulder and caused by poor posture attempting too many downward dogs. I fear it's now pushups with poor posture (shoulders rolled in). Anyway, since I can't even do 1 real girlie pushup (military will have to wait!), it's a good feeling to be able to do 3 sets of 15 half-girlies (sounds kinky!!).

Next week I'm holding the 3 circuits, and I think the week after I'll increase the weights.

Speaking of weight(s), I forgot to weigh in this morning! Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Swim has become swum... or is it swam?!?

Why is swim class so hard?!? Didn't I swim around in my Mom for 9 months? Why do I fight it so?

Today's class was better - 200m of kick drills and glides, practicing our breathing. Then 800m of stroke drills using flippers. We finished off with 100-200m of endurance (I only could do 100m, then cooldown of another 100). Once the flippers came off, I sank. I was doing so much better at the beginning of class!

So mileage wise, 1200m, my farthest ever. But the 800m with flippers don't count really. I think I'm being generous if I'd consider the 800m flipper as being a 200m non-flipper effort. But that's how it is.

Tomorrow is strength training, and if I can swing it, back to the pool for practice.

I did it :)



First comment... when you search Google Images for slippery, you find some really interesting images...

Sooo, today's been awesome so far. Slept until we woke, the sun is shining, and suddenly the temps are not above freezing (after yesterday's near foot of wet snow, I'm ok with this). Though it would have been a wee bit nicer had the temps been a little warmer than -15C.

Anyhoodle, Steve and I drove KT to work and off to the canal it was. The canal has been closed due to the warmer weather, but the trucks were out plowing today, so I think it's going to re-open soon. Not that I want to run on the canal, but it would probably have been smoother than what we ran on. Note to LaFleur/NCC... are the sidewalks the interim skating surface?? Not impressed.

I took it very slow, the whole time with head down, watching my footing. My eyes kept watering (what is that bright orb in the sky?!?), and I found the white of the fresh snow a little painful at times. However, there was no time to look around, I had 10k to get in. And I did. It took a whopping 1:19, AHR 154. I focussed on staying upright and keeping the HR as close to 150 as possible. I succeeded.

Ice bath, hot bath and shower are done, food has been eaten, still really thirsty.

Going to read my book now, and psych myself up for swim class.

Tata :)

You Are an Iced Coffee

You Are an Iced Coffee
At your best, you are: hyper, modern, and athletic
At your worst, you are: cheap and angsty
You drink coffee when: you're out with friends
Your caffeine addiction level: medium
What Kind of Coffee Are You?

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Darn virus!



I guess my first clue should have been on Tuesday when I needed a nap after work. I hadn't planned on running, but did get MUB in, though it was exhausting.

Woke up yesterday feeling really run down. All I wanted to do was sleep, but work had other plans. One of the downsides of being homebased, unless you're in a coma, you still need to work. I tried to run yesterday, got away with 10 tiring minutes and called it a day. Too dizzy and blocked up, plus sore throat and nasty cold weather had me decide at the 11th hour that swimming was not happening either, my joints complained the loudest. Just too sore. Went to bed instead.

Today feeling as cruddy as yesterday, though the nausea is gone. Just trying to focus on getting through the work day, then going to bed. I may nap during lunch. Today calls for a run and MUB - I think I'll walk 10 minutes outside to take advantage of this rare sunny day. Who knows, the fresh air might turn things around.

Peace out.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

The run that wasn't

I tried! I bundled up with so many layers I looked like the little brother in a Christmas Story (or felt like him anyway). It was still -30C/-22F with the wind, but it was our first sunny day since some time in December and I had to try. I drove to the canal, parked the car and headed out. After the heavy rains on Saturday and the flash freeze later that day I knew the sidewalks would be icy on Sunday. I just thought that they would have been salted on Monday as the canal is a widely used path area. No go. In my estimation more than 2/3 of the way was glare ice (rutted no less). After 5 minutes one direction I decided it was idiotic to continue subjecting myself to this, and I was miserable thinking nothing had changed since last year when the city's crappy policies claimed my Mom. So I bagged it. 10 minutes in, streak lives. The sidewalks appear a little better around really busy streets so in future if I'm in doubt, I'll run the concrete sidewalks around here instead.


Today my former work team is taking me out to lunch for my birthday, so Friday's bike is going to be on today instead and I'll push my 3 runs in a row to start tomorrow. I do have 4 hours of 24 to watch so the bike/treadmill should be quite bearable!

The run that wasn't

I tried! I bundled up with so many layers I looked like the little brother in a Christmas Story (or felt like him anyway). It was still -30C/-22F with the wind, but it was our first sunny day since some time in December and I had to try. I drove to the canal, parked the car and headed out. After the heavy rains on Saturday and the flash freeze later that day I knew the sidewalks would be icy on Sunday. I just thought that they would have been salted on Monday as the canal is a widely used path area. No go. In my estimation more than 2/3 of the way was glare ice (rutted no less). After 5 minutes one direction I decided it was idiotic to continue subjecting myself to this, and I was miserable thinking nothing had changed since last year when the city's crappy policies claimed my Mom. So I bagged it. 10 minutes in, streak lives. The sidewalks appear a little better around really busy streets so in future if I'm in doubt, I'll run the concrete sidewalks around here instead.


Today my former work team is taking me out to lunch for my birthday, so Friday's bike is going to be on today instead and I'll push my 3 runs in a row to start tomorrow. I do have 4 hours of 24 to watch so the bike/treadmill should be quite bearable!

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Aqua


Just too cold for me today (-30C with the wind, -20C without) I decided when it took me 5 minutes to pry one door open and another 10 minutes to push out the driver's side door from the back seat! Nuff said, will run tomorrow. I *think* it's supposed to be warmer.

But the streak is fine as I went to swim class. Steve and KT gave me lessons. Why am I always the slowest? I have the same instructor and I think I'm seeing improvement with my breathing and front crawl. It's just so hard for me.

Tough class though, in all 350m. Let the games begin.

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Almost forgot MUB!

I can't believe this! I was so busy watching skiing of all sorts this afternoon, had a late dinner, then lying in bed reading I realize I forgot to do my strength training! Hopped out of bed and did 2 circuits of MUB. Painful, stomach still pretty full. But it's done.

I seriously hope the roads are clear tomorrow, it's very windy out and icy. I don't want to postpone my run, nor do I want to do 9k on the mill.

Until tomorrow...

Is this me?

Your Birthdate: January 13
You're dominant and powerful. You always need to be in charge.While others respect your competence, you can be a bit of a dictator.Hard working and serious, you never let yourself down.You are exact and accurate - and you expect others to be the same way.
Your strength: You always get the job done
Your weakness: You're a perfectionist to a fault
Your power color: Gray
Your power symbol: Checkmark
Your power month: April
What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Scary...

Why is it my colours are the colours of cuts and bruises?!? better not be an omen I tell you!

Your Birth Month is January
You are a natural leader who is able to stand up when no one else can.Strong and powerful, you tend to overshadow those around you.
Your soul reflects: deep love, fascination with life, and a distinctive persona
Your gemstone: Garnet
Your flower: Snowdrop
Your colors: Black, dark red, and dark blue
What Does Your Birth Month Mean?

My birthday


It was good!

Wonderful card from Steve, lovely gifts from he and KT, dinner with the family, pierogies from the ex-in-laws, associates at Walmart bursting into happy birthday?!?

Got my crown on (dentist office staff bursting into happy birthday!?!?), my tooth is still killing me today, going to take a few more days I guess. Got a hair cut, I really like it!

Streak continues - run on Thursday and MUBx2, bike yesterday. Today calls for MUB, which I will do later.

It's become a blistery, ugly day, with rain turning to snow (yay!) and then a flash freeze (boo). Tomorrow's 9k is going to be challenging if it's icy. I may just suck it up and do it on the mill, though I don't want to! It's not planned until 11 tomorrow, after driving KT to work. Shouldn't be too bad by then, but this is land of shitty sidewalks. Don't get me started.

Going to read more of The Historian now.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

5 more, and some pizza and cookies??


I was doing so well! Down a few more ounces today, feeling lighter and feeling good. Got my 5k run in, though on the treadmill because of the freezing rain last night and icy sidewalks. It was fine, boring, but some good crappy tv helped. Then back to work.

Then went out shopping for veggies and soy stuff, and KT decides she's buying pizza for all. OK!! At least it's veggie pizza, which really isn't that bad for you. According to Tri-Rudy's Rudy, it's the perfect food. Anyhoodle, followed that up with 3 amazing chocolate chip cookies.

PMS bites. A demain.

5k more

Yo!!

Survived another workday yesterday, and procrastinating getting online today. BREATHE.

Ran 5k by the canal yesterday. Hip felt awesome (actually, doesn't hurt one bit this morning). Only problem was my feet were frozen starting out (not sure why) and that made the first few minutes painful. With 75% of the paths bare I expected a really good run. I couldn't get my HR down to save my life (AHR 157), which totally sucked, and made the run that much tougher. I don't have the exact stats, but finished the 5k in 34:xx, for a total of 5.2x.

The streak lives. Down a few ounces this morning. Feels good!

Another run scheduled for lunch time, will post later.

Monday, January 09, 2006

One day at a time

I have to take it one day at a time or I will have a nervous breakdown. C team at work are complete morons who can't seem to do anything right the first time, so I end up having to re-do tons of work for them, which they of course need yesterday. BREATHE.

On the upside, MUB x 2 is in the books, the streak lives.

Lost no weight this week, exactly the same as last.

Sunday, January 08, 2006

Hell Week


Ugh. Work sucks. That was hell week. Anyway, on to better things! My week's totals. The streak is on!

Monday I completed 2 sets of MUB.

Tuesday we ran 5k in the too dark night dodging ice. We took Echo back to try to avoid the ice, but it's a lot more hilly and I pushed it.

Not sure what happened Wednesday, whether my hip was so sore from the hill run the night before, or MUB on Monday, but man oh man was it painful. Hurt to stand or put weight on it. I opted to run 2k on the treadmill. It hurt some, but was worth it to keep the streak alive.

Thursday called for another run, but my hip was even more sore than the day prior. I opted to do 30 minutes on the bike trainer, 12.75k. I tried to focus on keeping my cadence up, but only averaged 75-85. My goal is over 90.

Friday the hip was still sore, so I didn't run, but did Saturday's MUB instead. My hip didn't hurt so much when doing it until I was table-top on the ball for chest press. Hmm... maybe that's what did it in the first place! I skipped the squats and lunges.

Saturday running was out of the question, especially because I wanted to do 9k today. So another 30 minutes on the bike trainer, 12.55k this time. It was that much tougher for some reason. Cadence only 72-84.

Today the hip was a little less sore. It snowed last night again, so there were about 5cm of snow on the path, which was pretty beaten up anyway. For every step, there was a slip back. I knew it was going to be a challenge, long and slow. But that was ok, as long as the hip held out. Stupid battery in my MP3 player was dead, so I was running solo.

It was long and slow (1:12:02), and I had to walk once to get my HR down under 160bpm, and another time to chat with Steve. In total, 9.017k.

I had my first cold water soak an hour after the run and after having something to eat. Man oh man that's cold! I shivered for 5 mins, then hopped out, replacing the cold with hot (not as hot as usual because that would have seemed too hot!).

And here I am! The hip is no more sore than it was upon waking.

Going to do some laundry!

Monday, January 02, 2006

Day 2 done!



Today was interesting... I was supposed to drive Steve to work at 7AM but vaguely remember him saying he'd come home at lunch and a kiss on the forehead. Next thing I knew Lu was sitting on my shoulder purring in my ear and it was 8:10. Rise and shine!

Great high protein breakfast with OJ and skim milk and I was good to go. I worked for a few minutes, cleaned my desk (that took over an hour!) and caught up on some email. I can't find my WW materials! GRRRR. I gave copies to my brother so he is searching his house too. I hope I can find it, though if not I'll pony up the 21 bucks for a month and get it again.


At 11AM I began MUB. Man oh man are pushups hard! KT spotted my form and mentioned I was doing it all wrong and gave me some pointers (I want mirrors in my new house!). I only did 2 sets of MUB and was shaking! I can't believe how weak I am when 5 lbs weights tucker me out. There's no way to go but up!



The plan for tomorrow is an 8k run. Tomorrow's high is 0C which will
be perfect to try out the new clothes! Wooop! I was hoping to run with Steve but he has a sore leg (time for new work shoes) and plans to indoor golf (i.e. drink beer) in the afternoon. So I will hit the roads around here. I hope the sidewalks are ok, it's still really icy out. I honestly can't wait to get back on the roads. I hope work won't be too nasty tomorrow, but if it is, too freaken bad, I will be taking a lunch hour to get my workouts in!


Cheers to new beginnings...

Boy I was looking forward to the end of the horrible 2005. Now I'm feeling nervous over what 2006 brings. Sigh...

My head isn't ready to go over 2005, and I don't think I'll even bother. I do have one thing I'd like to jot down:

In 2005, I ran 108 times (3.38 x per week) for a total of 598.631 kms. I am really disappointed by this metric, but at the same time hugely surprised. I didn't think I was that consistent. There must have been a few really good weeks in there!

Interestingly enough my Timex Bodylink watch battery died yesterday just as I was getting ready for a bike. New battery, new year. Good omen!

So the inevitable goals for 2006:

1. Streak - Some sort of activity for a minimum of 10 minutes everyday. So far so good, yesterday, Jan 1, got 47 minutes of bike time in (20.76km).

2. Eat sensibly - This means WW Core plan for 95% of the time. I will still allow myself cheat moments.

3. Cut down on my sodium intake.

4. Take my supplements every day.

5. Floss every day.

6. Continue to read more.

I can certainly do this!

Now for the training/event goals. I didn't participate in any races last year, and it was nice. But it's time to step it up. My main goal for this year is to go for running distance and building time on the bike. It's tough because I really want to get in more bike time, but physically I'm not strong enough yet to pull a WrayJean - that will be 2007's goal - the distance in both disciplines! This goal will be dependant on whether or not my heart will allow me to train for these, I don't want to end up back in hospital. If it becomes too tough to manage the electrolytes or whatever it is that sends me into Wenckebach, I intend to take this as a sign, and lower the distance and intensity, and not train for anything longer than a half or 2.5 hours.
I hope to participate in the following races:

ATB 30k (March 26)
NCM 42.2k (May 28)
Ottawa Riverkeeper Du 2k-20k-5k (June 17)
HBC Canada Day 10k (July 1)
Boilermaker 15k (July 9)
Some Du in August (SDu: 2km-24km-5km or IntlDu: 5km-36km-10km)
DWD 50k (Sept 9)
Chelsea Challenge 10k (Oct 9)
Rattle me Bones 10k (Oct 22)

One vacation goal is to bring the bikes to the cabin and bike the townships, at least one bike over 50k - wicked hills!

So that's it!

:)