Oh trails?!?! Mommy's home!!

Today was an awesome day. While Steve was out golfing with my brothers, I got 2 documents done for work, only 3 to go! And a bunch of other work stuff. Wooop!

After a quick snack, Steve and I headed out to the Gats for a trail run. We haven't been since last fall, and there was still some snow on the ski hills nearby, with snowboarding dudes in shorts taking advantage :). We ran trail 1, dear God, it's mostly up hill rolling hills. We ran to Champlain Lookout. Beautiful! Then we ran back, it was mostly down hill so much much better. In all, only 6k, but wow was it tough! I had to walk up some of the really nasty hills when my heart rate soared. But I LOVED it. I can't wait to go next week! I hope Steve's got a day off on the weekend!

Holy exclamation points Batman!

A bike :)

I had a pretty good day - got one document written for work. Woop! The baby shower that wasn't... grrr. Steve went golfing, was supposed to be home at 12:30, their tee off was delayed, he didn't call until 1PM to say he'd be leaving shortly. Um... the shower started at 1PM and is 30 minutes away. He rolls in at 1:40. I'm not showing up well over an hour late!!

He was very apologetic, but also thought I'd still go. I finished my work, and we went biking. Got in 30k. We would have gone farther, but one road was really bumpy, so we slowed down quite a bit, and suffered from sore naughty bits. We saw a deer, lots of horses, cows and wee calves! So cute!!

Guilty Steve took me to East Side Mario's (Eh badda boom badda bing). Loaded up on salad and probably a little too much bread, and barely touched my angel hair primavera. That will be lunch tomorrow I guess!

Steve is golfing again tomorrow, then we will go for a trail run in the Gats. Finally!! Hope all the snow is melted!

Thank you pretty lady

Whiny girl (me) took 20 minutes to do some yoga and try to chill while getting a little bit of strength training/core work in, only to be constantly interrupted by my daughter, who as we all know, is the centre of the universe. Even the boys tried to help, walking under me and tickling my downward dogged nose with their tails, purring their little fool heads off. Sweet :)

Then I logged in to see my favorite pretty lady, the Hornsby Island nesting eagle. And she decided to stand up and show me her two little eggs, moved them over and fluffed up her nest, before sitting back down. Thank you. Amazing.

Suddenly the stresses seem a little less important.

I did get a great run in today, 5.25k or something of the sort (haven't plugged in Gamine to check). It was sunny and warm, I had to take off the jacket, with much less wind than the last few runs. My pace was much better than it has been of late too.

Only 2 more days in my old job, 3 more hours of which I have to train others to take over my job, debug one darn form that's giving me grief (I've been on it for about 6 hours in the evenings now), develop and deploy 2 other forms, update permissions on several servers, and produce 6 documents (training and work instructions). I am so screwed. So I will be working this weekend. Again.

Hump Day!

Now I have that Black Eyed Peas song in my head.

Much better day today! Still not getting enough work done, but juggled my schedule to be able to get a run in, at the canal (where I normally can only go on weekends due to transportation issues), in my new shoes! I call them my Air Dawns. New shoes always feel so odd, but they are the right ones, cost me only $110 CDN for 2 pairs, incl. shipping, on Ebay. The first few steps I felt like all muscle was being torn from my shins, but it all settled down and I have no after pain.

What a tough run! Please gods of running, give me an easy one! The rain held off, but the wind. Holy crap. I've never seen white caps on the canal. And there's only about 3 feet of water as it's not been filled yet. Huge gusts. So on the way out I ran with my head down, to keep debris out of my eyes, and my hat on my head. At some points pace wasn't an option. To put it in perspective, on the way back this pace I speak of improved by 45-60s/km.

Ya, I could have gone farther than 5.25k, but honestly I was done. And had to get back to work.

Grrrr... just venting

I don't know what the heck my problem is. But I'm heading for a meltdown.

• Tired from class last night? yes.
• Ate too late so couldn't fall asleep? yes.
• colleagues all idiots? yes.
• Too much work and no motivation? yes.
• Steve shrink my favorite running shorts/bra/blouse in the dryer? yes.
• Is it zero Celsius and snowing/hailing? yes.
• Run inside? sure... let's try that. Something positive!
• DVD player in the basement working? no.
• Fiddle with it for 30 @#$@$ minutes? yes.
• Do any good? no.
• Have any time left to run before next meeting? no.
• Is today mine and Steve's unofficial anniversary? yes. (we don't have an actual date so chose the date he moved from T.O.).
• Did he remember? not yet.
• Did I? too late.
• Any Tostitos left? a handful. Do you want me to hurt you now?

Is it PMS? a little early, but every six months or so I get a whopping dose.

Is it because no matter how hard/much I work out, and how few calories I eat, I still gained 5 lbs in 2 weeks? When other people, go for a freaken little walk around the neighborhood, cut down on 'candy' and lose 3 lbs a week?

Am I overworked? well, that's nothing new.

Had lunch, low fat cheese sandwich on sourdough bread with 3 olives. Found Hershey Kisses and ate about 9. Don't think the foil was even off the last one. Yelled at KT for coughing (allergies/asthma), gave her the rest of the kisses and told her to eat them. She looks a little frightened and had the gall to say... PMS? What came out of her mouth next was the best... is it OUR time yet? Oh great, we can snipe at each other tomorrow.

UGH.

Better paste a smile and chair a meeting now. Good thing I am homebased. I'd be a danger in the office.

So now for today...

I had such grand intentions (yet again). Then realized I forgot to ask Steve to drop off the DVDs at the Library, they were due before 10AM, and I had 10 of them out @ $1 each. Um. No way. So Steve had the car, I had a meeting I had to cancel, and off I went in the spilling rain. It felt GREAT! I got in 5k walking in 50 minutes.

Due to the lost time, I wasn't able to get out at lunch for my run. :(

Tonight was JAVA class #1, I bummed a ride from my daughter's Dad downtown where I could walk an extra km :) from the school, then after class walked another extra k to meet Steve, so in total got in 7k today. I'll take it!

It's ten to nine

And I've been working since 11AM.

Had a lousy sleep last night, some really weird dream involving earth day, running with Dave Matthews and Keith Richards (!!!) through middle earth (huh?), suddenly having lunch with Lance Bass from NSYNC (???) still wearing my sweaty running gear, searching and finding a phone but couldn't use it because it was for 'ice use only', getting lost once more, then suddenly getting, ahem, intimate with J.R. from Dallas). Woke up screaming. This is what a handful of Lays potato chips gets you at midnight.

Slept until 8AM, had some breakfast, cleaned the house, started work, and here I am.

Run: 0
Bike: 0 (pouring rain)
Splitting Headache: 1
Bad Attitude: 1

Meetings tomorrow morning from 8-12. I hope I can get a run in over lunch. I NEED to get a run in over lunch.

It's ten to nine

And I have not gotten my run in yet. I'm not impressed with myself, or my wok situation. I logged into work after finishing cleaning house and reading a few blogs (11AM) and only now finishing work (though I did take a couple of breaks here and there). Insert appropriate swear word here.

Run: 0
Nasty Headache: 1
Buggy Eyes: 1
Bad attitude: 1

:(

Yay! A good day!!!

Since I missed my run yesterday, Steve and I raced out the door first thing this morning to run the 'hood. It was brutal! I was out of shape Rocky. It's been years since I ran first thing out of bed. I felt weak, nauseated, faint and hungry at all once. I felt stronger though, on the way back, and in total we covered only 5.5k. Had an awesome (huge!) breakfast of eggs over easy, toast, some homemade hashbrowns (skinny variety), sliced tomato, and straw/ras/blueberries.

Then my brother and I went to the pool (it was 2:30 and I was still full from breakfast!). Pat started swim classes on Tuesday, he wanted to practice what he learned on Tuesday. We are going to try to go to the pool every weekend. Wooop!

So that's it from here I guess. Tomorrow is another run, knee permitting, and a bike ride, weather permitting. Please wish for no rain! Since my concussion (with helmet, which I destroyed that day) I'm terrified of riding my road bike in the rain. I'm going to have to get over the fear of it, but not quite ready yet. Wuss.

Ticking away, the moments that make up a dull day...

I really have to learn to manage my time better. I think I do a good job, but I could do much better. I was a married Mom in university, ex-hub and I juggling our full time school and work schedules to ensure one of us was always home with KT. I don't know how we did it. I started my BA when KT was 1, finished when she was 5, holding down a 20 hour week job. But I was also a young thing then.

So now she's all grown up and zero maintenance (except for her oinky house habits), and all I have is work and a new hubby, who also works. I work from home, so no loss of time commuting. I'm training, though missing a workout here or there (stupid aggravated knee... darn jumping squats), who knew that adding 2 nights of school would wipe me right out? Not cool. I'm in bed after midnight, struggling to get up at 7:00 and dying for a nap at 3:00. Something's not right.

I think I spend too much time goofing off during the day. Maybe I need to cut out those daily calls from my sister when she's on the road, and not check blogs/personal emails during the day.

So I now announce my schedule:

Before work - read mail and blogs. Must log on work computer by 7:00. I've been slacking here, just not getting up in time. Noon-1:30, run, bike or walk, shower, eat lunch at desk. 6:00, log off work computer. Do not get caught up in late night emails from Asia. TV not really an issue, down to 3 hours a week (Project Catwalk, America's Next Top Model, and 24), so what the heck am I doing at night? No clue. This is where I can win back some time. :) Going to get that after dinner walk in, going to stop skipping my 1 hour of study/self improvement, and try to get under the sheets by 10.

Wish me luck.

On a roll

Blah. Must get a better streak going!

I had such high hopes for my run today, but was dead tired. I didn't get to sleep until after 1AM (one of those nights with people chatting outside... not loud though, but enough that it kept me up), and when Steve went potty at 6AM (of course, he was asleep at 10PM), he, as always, didn't shut the bedroom door and within minutes I have the cats on me, hungy. He's already back asleep and I'm stuck with two cats poking me. NOT IMPRESSED. And I told him so at 6:30 when I gave up and fed the cats and did a bit of work on my vacation day. Whatever. *steam*.

Anyhoodle, I was feeling tired and grumpy, though I had a great breakfast, my noon run which I had such high hopes for was a disaster. I had every ache in the book when I set out, and miled it. After one mile, I turned back. So 2 miles run. I did get 30 minutes of strength training in and wussed a piddly pathetic 20 minute walk to get me over 60 minutes of exercise. Feeling like an utter failure. Or just tired. :)

Going to get a diet gingerale and study. Night school starts tomorrow!

Eatster

I'm not sure what the heck happened this week, or what derailed me. I've been pretty good on the workouts, though I did miss a couple because of crazy work days and evening work functions. Then I took a couple of days off at the end of the week and all fell apart! Well, not really, I did get cardio Friday, Sat and Today, but it's lacking. Maybe my expectations were too high.

So today the family had Easter brunch at my brother's. It was delicious! One egg, a few (too many, no doubt) pieces of baguette, about 1 tbsp of Brie, and lots of berries. Wonderful. Had pomegranate and OJ on the side. After brunch Steve and I were to go for a long bike ride (yay!) but brother #1 asked him to go golfing. Brother #2 stepped up and said he'd love to join me for a bike ride... How about 30k? Ya!! From my house to his is 5k each way, so I was excited to have plans for a 40k bike ride. Even though it was cold and windy.

I get to my brothers and he's having bike problems. We spent 45 minutes getting them resolved, so he only had time for a 15 minute ride :( . We rode, I came home. Only 12k in the books. Bummed me right out. Came home because I didn't want to be out too long leaving a turkey in the oven in an empty house, and my hands were freezng. Went directly to my stash of Cadbury Mini Eggs, and ate about 20 of them. Dumb Ar$e. Why the sabotage??

Easter dinner consisted of vegetarian chicken nuggets made of tofu (3), steamed carrots, skinny mashed potatoes, fake stuffing (stovetop), fat free vegetarian turkey gravy, a ton of peas and a biscuit. Not too bad, not too great either.

Tomorrow is the last day of my vacation, and I am recommitting myself to getting on track. Fitday is coming back out, 1700 calories per day is the target, and I've decided to make up for a missed run last week, and my shortened run yesterday, by tackling the 8k. I can't wait.

8k... no no... 6k

Hmmm... I was dying last night. Falling asleep the minute I sat down. No idea what that was about. Watched most of Bridget Jones I with my daughter. I swear we almost know it by heart. So funny. I had to go to bed though at 11... I couldn't do anymore. And I was drifting off anyway.

With Steve out of town I expected an awesome sleep, but no... Lu had other ideas. The minute I walked in the room he started to purr (and Lu love is very rare) so I had to leave him in. I fell asleep hugging huggy pillow. Lu came over at some point an poked me (yes, cats poke you when they want you to shove over... at least Lu does), so I tossed huggy pillow behind me, and Lu took up its spot. Purrrr. I vaguely remember it. Except the fur up my nose. And the stuffed head this morning.

I was up at 7:30 and had a bagel by 8, the whole while concerned that I was cutting it too close to run time (an hour earlier than my Sunday run), as I was driving KT to work for 10. I opted out of the glass of skim milk, hoping that would make the difference. Not so... the goal was 8k, cut it somewhere around 6k, side stitches, cramps and overall misery (with a headwind both ways!), that I bailed early. Now I know... HALF a bagel if only a 2 hour window.

Thank you pup!

Steve bought me a present! Since I've been whining about my Bodylink dying in the pool, Steve found me a Garmin 301! It's used (thank heavens, I would kill him to buy new when my Bodylink works in a modified fashion), but almost new.

I took it today for a slow 22k bike ride with my brother and his family. It was lovely out, and felt really good to get moving. I can't wait until Sunday, if the weather cooperates, Steve and I are going for a long one!

Not tired yet!

Today was a crazy long work day. Started at 7, just finished about 30 minutes ago. Upstream feed issues causing system problems, I can't wait until May 3rd... new job! I won't be sad to leave these core HR systems behind!

I met with the nutritionist at 6:30. I had actually forgotten and was still working when the phone rang. I answered it out of force of habit, thank goodness! She did explain the 1700 calories, and regardless of how much I work out, I am to aim for 1700. If I'm starving I can have another 100 calories, mostly protein. If still starving an hour later, I can have another. If I workout tons, it's money in the bank, she says. I've upped my strength training from 20 mins 3 x a week to 30. Next week I'm going to aim for 40 minutes a session.

Swimming classes are done. Going to have to really make an effort to try to get to the pool twice a week. With night school starting next week (Mon & Tues), not so sure it's going to happen.

Anyway, at 7:30 it was still bright enough, and such a lovely day, and I didn't get out once, that I popped on the MP3 player and marched for 45 minutes. Went back to work for another hour, then did my 30 minutes of strength.

It's been a good day :)

Four strong winds that blow lonely...

Hummed that a few times on the run! I was aiming for 8k, but my watch doesn't capture distance anymore (the chrono no longer works since I accidentally took it in the pool), so I all I knew was my speed (which was nothing to write home about) and heart rate. I did wear my data recorder, so knew when I got home I'd have the distance captured. Turns out it took me 51:03 to go 7.345km (4.563 miles), giving me a pace of 6:57/km. I try to run between 6:00 - 6:30. The route is a slight downhill the way out, and naturally, uphill the way back. To make matters interesting, the downhill portion comes with a built in tail wind. The uphill comes with cursing. It's a gusty day here in Ottawa. I think I was running in place a few times. I felt tired at the end, but really really good :D

To cool down, I popped a DVD I took out from the library called Qigong for Stress Relief. 30 minutes later, I was mellooooooow. Time to hit the showers. The cats love me. They love anything that stinks.

No regrets...

I bought a subscription yesterday to Cycling.TV and I've been sitting on my butt, watching the Paris-Roubaix cycling race, while reading email, having breakfast... I can't believe that George Hincapie's stem popped off and he suddenly somersaulted over what should have been his handlebars! Race over for him. I hope he's not too badly injured.

I love watching cycling, and sadly, the only coverage we get is the Canadian championships and the Tour. I'm now set up for weekly (and sometimes daily) broadcasts of bike races. I'm so inspired! No regrets forking out the cash for this subscription!

I would do anything to get out on the bike today, but it's below freezing, and there's a windchill bringing it that much colder. I hate being frozen on the bike. Supposed to be very nice by end of week, so I'll get it in then. I could pop on the trainer, but it's too much work to set everything up!

Today is also IMAZ. I've been unsuccessful in getting on the Ironmanlive.com website. I guess I'll have to wait to read Iron Benny's first hand report. He's going to have a super day! So exciting!

Yay me!!!

I'm getting a job offer later in the week! My future manager called to tell me he's going to be sending me an offer, and that I was horribly underpaid, and he was going to do his best to rectify that. Yippee!!

Oh ya, before this excitement... I got 5.5k in on the treadmill while listening to Phedippidations.

Tomorrow is the fitness assessment. Eeeeep!

Ramblings

Well, I have a cold. Thanks KT and Steve. I missed all my weekend workouts to cuddle under the quilt. Tried to downgrade yesterday's run to a walk, and crawled back home after 10 minutes and back under the covers.

Today was much better though, ran 45 minutes with Kiefer again... :) The did 30 minutes of weight training. Very tired now though.

Thursday I have my fitness assessment/body composition tests at the university sports centre. Yes, I'm paying to have some person tell me I'm too fat, don't weight train enough, and probably have lousy cardio base. Oh well, baseline readings are good.

Lastly, got an email about the job yesterday. The manager says that because 2 people applied while he was on vacation, and they passed the online screening, he is 'obligated' (his words, not mine) by HR to interview them. My shoe in job is now a 33% chance. I should know by end of week early next week. Not feeling too confident :(