I'm Back!

I don't know about you, but back-to-school + homework and the restart of extra-curricular activities has made for a very busy two weeks around here. Blogging had to take a back seat while we readjusted and reaquainted ourselves with the fall routines.

So - what have we been up to?

Well, there was the CNE:

View from the top of the Ferris Wheel, taken by my husband. My feet were firmly planted on the ground.

Gym twice a week for circuit + boot camp.  

 

Lots of dog walks, and lots of after-dinner trips to the park. Something about being out in the evening air and seeing the sun start to go down brings me a lot of joy.

 

Running 3x a week. This was hard after taking a few weeks off during vacation and a heat wave. My first run back was an exceptionally miserable 2.7K fiasco, but Stella and I have done runs in the 4.5 to 6K range since then. I'm sticking to 5s/1s and 5s/2s at the moment and focusing on getting the distance up.... 

 

...because the Island Girl run is coming up in a week! It's the last of my Big, Scary Goals for 2012. I'll be running a 10.5K as one leg of a half-marathon relay, and I'm feeling good about it. Don't get me wrong - this is going to be a tough one for me, but I'm no longer feeling sheer terror when I think about it. Something about running 5K+ in training has made 10K less intimidating.

 

Bulb planting in the recently-expanded front garden. 140 crocuses, tulips, daffodils and such are in, and I'm hoping for a colourful spring! NSV: I was expecting to be sore the next day, but my hands and back were A-OK. Core training for the win! 

 

Aaand after my daughter had a rough day yesterday due to a bossy brother, a nasty spider bite, and lots of bumps and bruises (she's particularly clumsy right now...must be a growth spurt), we went on an Emergency Girls' Afternoon Out. I gave her the choice between a bike ride, a craft project or a trip to the salon for her first pedicure. Which one do you think she picked? Here's a hint:

 

Got her fingers done, too - in hot pink. The salon ladies made a fuss over her. Excellent cure for jangled nerves.
And my feet got a badly-need tune-up following a year's worth of running.

Oh! I'm trying to get my kids more involved in meal-planning. Handed them each a cookbook recently and asked them to pick a few things that they'd like to try. My son picked a Curried Pumpkin Soup that was incredibly delicious, nutritious and EASY. Gotta share the recipe!

 

Curried Pumpkin Soup

1 small onion, chopped

Splash of olive oil

2-3 tbsp curry powder

1 can pumpkin puree (~796mL)

1L vegetable stock

2 tbsp maple syrup

salt & pepper to taste

2 cans lite unsweetened coconut milk (~ 400mL/14oz each?)

1 small can chickpeas, rinsed

 

In a large pot over medium heat, saute onion in olive oil and curry powder for several mins, until soft.

Reduce heat slightly; add pumpkin, then whisk in veg stock, salt and pepper, maple syrup. Simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add coconut milk and chick peas; simmer 5 minutes or until heated through. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.

Puree with hand blender or in blender/food processor.

 

Top with toasted pecans or pumpkin seeds.

 

The verdict: My son kinda liked it, my daughter refused to try it, and I scarfed down two bowls after my run tonight. Will definitely be making this one again, for my sake at least.

 

How have you been?

Heat Wave!

Soooooo...I was hoping to get back into regular running this week, but then the nasty weather showed up. Too hot to walk the dog most days, let alone go for a run. We did have a fairly active week though -

Saturday - Summer cleaning frenzy - I tackled my bedroom. Fun times.  

Later, 2K+ dog park walk at High Park. There were a few tense moments on this one - the trails wind around the amphitheatre where A Midsummer Night's Dream is staged every evening, and the cast had left a few gates open to come and go during the performance . Stella noticed...went through the gate...trotted over towards stage left...looked around...watched the audience for a bit...thought things over...and eventually tiptoed back to us without actually interrupting the performance. Phew!

Good girl. Don't do that again, K?

Sunday - HAPPY CANADA DAY! We spent the day going for a long hike and some swimming at Rockwood Conservation Area. Check it out:


Remains of an old mill, founded in 1867. Very fitting to be checking it out on Canada Day.
If you're wondering - yes, my son did jump off from where he's standing.

Monday - Holiday day off. Super hot. Took the kids swimming, then we all walked over to the school to play and shoot some hoops. Sweaty!

Tuesday - 2.5K brisk dog walk after dark. Too hot to run. Ugh.

Wednesday - Went to the gym for a boot camp. Ana made us run laps around the gym to make up for the lack of outdoor running.

Thursday - Day off, but an NSV: I went shopping for a new hot-weather outfit to wear to work and found that I've gone down a size. WOOHOO!

Friday - Went to the gym for another sweaty boot camp. More laps. And sprints. Waited until after dark to walk the dog - was still very humid but we managed 1s and 1s for 2.1K. Felt oh, so good to run and I'm oh, so glad that we kept it short. I was drenched by the time we got back!  

How did this week's weather impact your training plans?

Post-Spartan Recovery

I didn't get bloody, but I did find a few small barbed-wire related holes in my pants

What do I have to recover from? Hmmm -

We're about 5-1/2K through the course at this point

Ice. Barbed Wire. Good times.
Close to the end, but still more to come.

Hay bales. So determined not to break an ankle today.

Hey Elissa, I'm right behind you. Thanks for distracting those gladiators.

Got me some gladiators to dodge...and my eye on the finish line!

I've been having fun watching miscellaneous bruises pop up - mainly on my forearms (from the belly crawls), chest and knees (from going over the climbing wall).

Hadn't realized exactly how much I had been dreading Spartan until now, when I'm so glad that it's over. At the same time, the realization of what an accomplishment this was is really sinking in. I keep looking at my medal and grinning.

It's at home on my medal rack now, but the medal spent the first two days at work with me.
Everytime I felt stiff and sore, I'd look at it and remember "Oh, riiiiight...."

 And now that this is behind me, I can start looking forward to my first Try-a-Tri at the end of July!

Rest of the week went like this -

Son and dog catching a nap on the ride home from Spartan.

Sunday - Spartan Race, drive back home, 3K dog walk.

Monday - Rest day. 2K walk to the dog park and back.

Tuesday - Big Rest day - I caught a cold my husband was spreading around and it hit me like a ton of bricks.

Wednesday - Starting to feel better already. Went to the gym for a boot camp, focused on strength-training and stretching out. 3K dog walk before bed.

Beautiful evening for a walk!

Thursday - Last day of school for the kids! Report cards and celebratory pizza, then frantically cleaned the house and got them packed to go to my in-laws for the night. Trail walk with the dog after (2+K).

Friday - Back to the gym for a boot camp, followed by an impromptu Zumba class. OMG - I had forgotten just how much I love Zumba!! Left the gym very, very sweaty and very, very happy.

How was your week?

Weightloss and Milestones

My sharp-eyed mother noticed that I recently (quietly) updated the weightloss progress block on the right side of my blog, with a 5-pound loss, and scolded me for not talking about it.

So here we go :-)

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was tired of losing and regaining the same few pounds over and over again all winter. Spent a month tracking on www.myfitnesspal.com and worked out several milestones that I wanted to reward. Had good weeks, had hard weeks.

But overall I ate to my plan, lost those extra couple of pounds, which took me back down to my lowest weight, and lost another 5 pounds as well.

Woohoo!! The struggle was worth it. And I hit two milestones.

My rewards?

For getting below that low weight: Getting weighed and measured at my gym. Found out that I've also lost 14 inches in the last year. Very pleased with that.

For getting to 5lbs below low weight: A cheat meal. Actually - two. Poutine (Yes, Deb & Julie - I did go for the poutine after all...and it was absolutely delicious) and family dinner at a buffet restaurant. Where I indulged but didn't go flat out crazy.

Since then, I've been taking a week-long break and have eating to maintain/prepare for 2012's Big Scary Goal Race #1: the 50K bike ride. It's on Sunday, June 3rd. I've also been hydrating like crazy and praying for lovely cool, dry weather.

Did I mention that I'm terrified? But that's kind of the point of Big Scary Goals, right? Step outside your comfort zone. Sign up, show up.

Keep your fingers crossed for me.

I figure I'll need a day or so of recovery meals, and be back at MFP tracking by Tuesday.

I have a feeling that between carb loading and water retention, I've put a pound or two back on this week. But the next milestones are within reach: 90lbs lost, Onederland. Need to start planning my rewards, because having that as a motivator really, really helps with this latest round of weightloss. Hey, perhaps a spiffy-but-affordable tri suit...any recommendations?

Here's this week's recap -
Sunday - Sweaty 5K Women's Run, brunch, then a 2K walk to the dog park & back at lunchtime.

NSV: Another dog owner (not a runner) asked me, "How come you're here? Thought you had a 5K today?" I explained that I'd finished before 9am and was now getting on with the day. Got a blank stare and a "Wow - it doesn't wreck you for the rest of the day?" in return. You know what - my first couple of 5Ks DID wreck me for the rest of the day, though it's been quite a while. So nice to have the reminder of progress made.

Too hot to walk the dog so put the sprinkler on for her...

Monday - Heat wave continues. Curves to stretch things out with a no-cardio circuit + bootcamp light (crunches, planks & pushups).

...and someone else came to join us!

Tuesday - Rest day.

Wednesday - Still warm but the humidity broke so I headed out for an evening run with Stella. We did 7s& 1s, 3s and 1s. Was only a 3K run and we seemed to struggle a bit, which had me worried. But then I remapped it after I got home and found out it was actually 4.6K. Oops.

Thurs - 2K dog park walk.

Friday - Pouring rain. Rest day.

CN Tower - Check!

My son and I climbed the CN Tower this weekend - again! 

It's a tall tower. See how it towers over the rest of the city?
Photo source.

That's 1,776 stairs, folks. 144 flights. Sweaty work. This was my third time, his second, and we both PR'd :-)

28:50 for me; an outstanding 21:02 for the boy!

Have to say - I was pretty nervous going into this as I haven't been specifically training for it. I used to take the stairs to my 7th floor office every day, but had to stop back in December when we moved to a building with locked stairwells.

So I was pretty much hoping that this winter's boot camps and C25K would get me there.

And they did!

I shaved just over a minute off last year's time AND had enough energy left over to say "OK!" when my son suggested that we jog back to the subway afterwards. I'm calling that one an NSV.

This has become an event that I to use to monitor my fitness levels - not just my finish time, but also how I feel afterwards. It's been very gratifying to see an improvement from year to year.

For my son - last year, he wasn't old enough to go it alone and had to stick with me. He was really nice about it, but definitely felt that he was held back by going at his mother's pace (um, thanks, kid). He was really eager to see how he could do on his own this year now that he's old enough to fly solo.

Turns out that he's a powerhouse! Said that he took a brief break at the 96th floor but otherwise went straight to the top. Shaved 8:33 minutes off of his "waiting for Mom" time. Huh - guess he really WAS holding himself back last year!

I'm crazy proud of him. And grateful. Grateful that he's a fit kid, grateful that he looks at challenges like this as fun, and grateful that he does stuff like this with me.

To you parents out there - how do your kids stay active? Mine are pretty active but balk at most afterschool & weekend lessons/leagues outside of Guides & Scouts - they really prefer to have their free time to ride bikes, kick a ball around, go for hikes and so on. This past weekend, they tried to teach the dog how to hula hoop - which meant that they spent a lot of time hula hooping to show her how it works. Whatever keeps you off the couch and outdoors, right?

In other news - I've been gaining and losing the same 3-4 pounds all winter and I've had enough. Time to recommit to weight loss. This was a good week of gigantic salads for lunch, portion control at other meals, no idle snacking, and tracking everything on myfitnesspal. Let's see how long I can keep this up - would be great to smash through this and hit the next milestone.

Here's this week's recap -

Saturday - CN Tower climb in the morning; slow jog to the school playground in the evening then walk back (2.6K round trip). Slept very, very well afterwards.

Sunday - Rest day.

Monday - Curves circuit integrated into a boot camp = 50 minutes of pure awesome. Then a very slow 250m at the pool. My arms were very, very tired!

Tuesday - Rest day. 1K slow walk with the dog.

Wednesday - 2K dog park walk after work, then later Stella and I went on our first real run in a while. Did 3 sets of 10s and 1s, covered 3.6K.

Blackberries take terrible pictures after dusk. And the flash makes the dog squint. But then we ran, and it was a good one.

Thursday - Another Curves circuit integrated into boot camp for 60 minutes. Sweaty, hard and hilarious.

Friday - Rest day. Should have gone for a run but the legs just weren't willing.  Instead, my husband dragged me out to help my daughter make a new addition to our family zoo. Meet Cinderella and Cocoa:

The pets outnumber the humans now. At least these don't shed.

The Thing About Rest Days

I love Rest Day. That day with a big blank on the calendar where a workout would ordinarily be. No scheduled workout, run or swim.

Occasionally, one rest day isn't enough, even if I ended up having a completely lazy day. Sometimes a second day is needed to rest a weary muscle, rest a weary body, take a mental break from the busy-ness of the active lifestyle, spend a bit of extra time with the family. 

And by the end of that second day, I'm refreshed and looking forward to getting back at it. That is, as long as I've been active in some way, like going for a family walk or hike or generally goofing around with the kids - skipping contests, playing catch, going skating, that sort of thing. Or even just taking the dog for a good, long walk. I think getting the heart rate up in some way every day generally helps with keeping the momentum going. 

But two lazy days in a row can be pretty dangerous, for me at least. Slippery slope territory.

See, I have noticed that the nagging voice in the back of my head pipes up on the morning of day 3. Who needs exercise when the bed is soooo soft. Gee, it's pretty chilly outside. Wouldn't it be great to just sit around the house in PJs again? Isn't it fabulous to have so much free time? Who needs exercise when you can reeeeeeelax?

And it's really, really tempting to listen to that voice. Expecially when it starts telling me that triple helpings of pizza, double chocolate cookies and a bowl of ice cream would go really well with a third day on the couch.

Why is that a problem? Because I know from my old life on the couch, and past experiences trying to change out of it, that three days can easily turn into four...into a week...and back into a sedentary lifestyle that's hard to break out of.

All of this is to say that I needed, and took, two rest days in a row at the end of last week. Didn't hear a peep from that little voice until it started whispering to me this morning. It took a heck of a lot of commitment and discipline to pull on sneakers and head out the door.

Funny how that little voice quieted down as soon as I made it to the front porch.

Lesson learned, I think - rest days should be playful, not slothful. For me at least.

Here's this week's recap -

Saturday - C25K week 6, run 2 (run 10 minutes, walk 3, run 10). Covered 3.1K. And man - it was windy! So windy that I was completely dry (not sweaty) when I finished.

Made a rather delicious vegetable-lentil stew this weekend. It's about the only way that I like sweet potatoes.

Sunday - 2K dog park walk. Saw the first robin of the season - and my husband came home from his trip!

Monday - Curves circuit + boot camp (200 squats, 350 crunches, 320 arm curls w/5lb weights)

Tuesday - C25K week 6, run 3 = 23 mins running in 10s and 1s. Covered 3.25K

Wednesday - Glorious weather today. Hit a park after school and another after dinner.  Before bed, ran C25K week 7, run 1 = 25 mins running in 10s and 1s. Covered 3.35K.

At the park/dog park on a stunningly beautiful evening.
Daughter was pretending she was Dorothy NOT falling into the pig pen from the start of The Wizard of Oz

Thursday - Fell asleep on the couch after dinner and missed Zumba. Decided to make today a rest day.

Friday - Still tired so took a second rest day. Crazy windy, cold and a lot of blowing snow. Took Stella to the dog park (2K round trip walk) for an hour. Brrrrrrrr.

Amazed

You've seen my daughter here a few times. She's a smart, sassy, fun-loving 7-year-old who loves being outside just as much as the rest of our family. Skipping, biking, swimming and sledding are among her favourites, but she's really up for anything. 

Maple Syrup Festival - March 2011

Kayaking - July 2011

Monkeying around - September 2011

This girl announced 2 weeks ago that she wants to host her own race this season.

She even had a concept: call it the "Rudolph Run", invite our friends and try to raise money for cancer research.

Excuse me while my jaw hits the floor.

"Sounds great - do you have anything else in mind for this?"

Yes. It should be about 5K with a 1K for any smaller kids, it should be at a local park, it should be free to sign up, we should have water and snacks at the finish line, and we should have race bibs.

"Okayyyyy - you've clearly thought this out! Do you want to make this happen?"

YES.

So - we've spent the last two weeks picking a day (November 27), measuring trails at a park (thank you, Google Maps), settling on a 3K and a 1K route, selecting a charity (the Terry Fox Foundation), getting the word out to our friends and her classmates, picking up supplies and ordering bibs. She's the Race Director and has recruited the rest of us as event staff - I'm the secretary, her brother designed and typed up a poster, her father will work the start & finish line and take pictures.

Can I tell you how proud I am of this girl? Actually, I don't have the words for it.

She's seven.

I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

I'm really looking forward to this race! Please say a little prayer for us that the weather cooperates.

Here's this week's recap -

Saturday - Gym + 20 pushups; 2K run/walk with Stella.

GPOYD - Watching squirrels on our way home from the dog park

Sunday - 2K dog park walk; 75 assorted crunches + 30 pushups

Monday - 2K dog park walk; Curves + boot camp lite (9 mins on stairstepper, 120 assorted crunches, 30 pushups), 2K dog walk.

Tuesday - Rest day. 1.5K dog walk

Wednesday - 2K walk with the dog.

Thursday - 2K dog park walk; Zumba + Curves + boot camp (10 minutes on the stairstepper, 270 assorted crunches, 40 pushups); 2K run/walk with Stella. And...LOOK AT WHAT I CAN DO!

GPOY achieving an NSV

After boot camp tonight, one of the girls asked if anyone can push themselves up off the floor into a bridge. I automatically said no, because I know that I'm a girl who can't do a bridge. Despite everything I said last week, I said no, because I've defined myself as someone who can't do this. And then I realized what I was doing. And thought I'd better give it a shot. It turns out that I CAN do a bridge - something I don't think I could do even as a kid. And then I did it two more times so that my trainer could take a couple of pictures. And then I did it at home to show my kids. NSV.

Friday - Rest day. Followed by my office holiday party tonight. I'm planning to eat well today and not go overboard tonight. Wish me luck...and willpower, K? Thanks. 

Boot Camp and Distance

I'm able to get to my gym 3 times a week, and Ana makes sure that I get the most out of my time there. You may have noticed me mentioning that I've been doing boot camps in addition to my standard Curves workouts and weekly Zumba class. Yep, Ana's behind all of that.

Have to say that I'm loving it. Loving how strong I'm feeling, loving the improvements in my endurance and strength, and loving the variety that this brings to my workouts.

I'm also loving that I've gotten fit enough to do a boot camp immediately after a full workout. Sometimes with a Zumba class thrown in there too.

And noticing that brings me to Distance.

Specifically, being aware of the distance that I've put between myself and my old life on the couch.

In the earlier days of this journey, I used to be hyperaware of the positive effects of my weight loss and how my increasingly active lifestyle was such a fantastic improvement over my sedentary one. A few times a day, I'd have thoughts like -

• It's so great that my feet don't hurt in the mornings anymore. Good-bye, plantar fasciitis!
• Check it out - I don't see black spots after climbing a flight of stairs anymore!
• Remember how much I used to dread the hot days of summer? Not anymore!
• Wow, clothes are so much more flattering now!
• Someone invited ME to do a 5K??

And so on.

If you've never been very overweight, you might not be aware that heavy people can spend a tremendous amount of mental energy in living this way - dreading shopping for new clothes, being self-conscious about trying to fit into a seat on a busy subway, worrying about being judged when eating in public, dreading warm weather, dreading putting on a bathing suit, standing at the back of the group when someone gets out a camera...the list is exhausting to think about. As they say, being fat is hard.

But now it's been a couple of years and I've kind of forgotten just how it felt to go through life carrying an extra 80 pounds. Back when eating properly, exercising and races are what "other people" did.

Somewhere along the way, those daily mental comparisons of obesity versus activity, and being grateful for the improvements, have become a very once-in-a-while thing.

I mentioned quite some time ago that I'd read that for every 25-pounds lost, it can take a full year for our brains to process how our size has changed. That until that time has passed, we continue to "think like a fat girl" - continue to avoid those cameras, get stressed about clothes shopping, and so on.

You know something? I think I'm finally caught up.

I no longer have those lingering social anxieties about being heavy. I'm excited about having a list of races as long as my arm on my mind for the coming year. And the things that I notice these days tend to involve my increasing strength and speed compared to my recent abilities. I'm no longer constantly comparing how life is better to how it was when I was inactive, and am spending a lot more time living in the present. Simply appreciating how my life is now.

And in realizing this - I'm pretty proud that I've gotten to this leg of the journey.

How are you doing on yours?

Here's this week's recap -



Beautiful sunshine but oh so cold for riding!



Saturday - FINALLY got out on my bike again. Rode to the gym & back (6K round trip), worked out including 30 pushups. Later - 2K dogpark walk and out for dinner (Indian - YUM) with the family.

Sunday - 2K dog walk in the AM, 2K dog park walk in the afternoon.

Monday - 2K dog park walk, Curves + boot camp including 30 pushups, 2K dog walk before bed.

Tuesday - 2K dog park walk

Beautiful sunset. But it's 5.02pm. We are not amused.

Wednesday - Curves + boot camp (including 30 pushups) + an impromptu 1/2 Zumba class...followed by a 2K dog walk.

Thursday - 2K dog walk.

Friday - Played in the leaves with the kids and the dog. Lots of hot chocolate afterwards.

Proud

Not of the way I've been eating this week, that's for sure. Anyone else carb loading for winter?

But.

Work has spectacularly busy this season. But I haven't let it interfere with my fitness goals.

I've gotten in the habit of putting my gym clothes on as soon as I get home from work so that I'm ready to go to the gym or out for a run/walk or whatever as soon as I have the opportunity to head out the door.

I had a particularly busy workload one day this week and really had to keep an eye on the clock to make sure that I stopped in time to get to the gym before it closed.

I had a bit of a jolt when I realized how determined I was to make sure that the trip to the gym happened that day, and how much of a contrast this is from my old lifestyle.

Two years ago? I used to let busy-busy-bringing-work-home-almost-every-night give me an excuse to skip the gym. Oh, I'm much too busy to take an hour off and work out. And this couch is super comfy, isn't it?

So - what's changed? As much as I enjoy my work, somewhere along the line I've formed a determination to not let workload interfere with my personal goals - particularly my fitness goals.

It also looks like I've developed the habit of going to the gym regularly now that I've been doing so for so long. There's also the fact that just plain feels good to exercise, and that I have noticed that feel yukky if I don't.

I call all of that that a NSV. And I'm proud of it.

Anyone else have a NSV recently?

Here's this week's recap -

Saturday - The 5K with my daughter, followed by a trip to my mom's. Stunningly beautiful fall day.

Big smiles for both of us - 3.5K mark

Sunday - Woke up with a bit of a bad stomach - blech. Took Stella for a slowwwwwwwww 2K walk, then went back to bed.

Spooky, spooky

Monday - Stomach still dodgy. My son's, too. We both stayed home, but did drag ourselves out to take Stella to the dog park (2K). Both of us were feeling much better later in the day. It's a Halloween miracle!

Tuesday - 1K dog walk before dinner, 1K dog walk before bed.

Wednesday - 1.5K run/walk with Stella. Later - 1K walk then Curves + boot camp including 40 pushups.

Thursday - 2K dog park walk, Curves + Zumba + boot camp including 30 pushups. For the record, this is what I look like after a triple workout:


It's not pretty

 Friday - Frantic rush to get my son ready for a camping trip. 1K dog walk.