The Run

I did it! I had my 10k run yesterday. It was a lovely day, and our time was.......

are you ready for this?.......

1:16:08!!!!!

Awesome! 7 entire minutes (minus 8 seconds) faster than we had anticipated, and we thought that time was a conservative effort!

I'm so excited - and pleased!!

Seriously, Monday Already?

Gee, where did the weekend go?

Friday I ran 7k with "J" and burned over 580 calories doing so! I think this is because there are so many hills on our route. Fun times. I had to stop and walk twice, but I figure only for a TOTAL of 1.5 minutes - so we have improved a ton. This is good news, because I'm running a rather challenging 10k on Saturday.

Friday night we curled. We lost, but I did make one shot. After I drank .5 litre of wine & 1/2 a 10" pizza!

Saturday was 1.5 hours of yoga during which the teacher came over and told me I had lots of work to do. This is the second week she has been crotchety with me. I think she needs a cleanse. In any case, it was a challenging class.

Yesterday was my running room run. Next class I do will be with the Tech Shop. The leader changed the route again, and the pacers spent the whole time running behind me talking about how slow they were going cause they were hung over, but at least they were out. This is true, except my cousin and I were working quite hard to keep that pace, and them yammering on about how slow it was was quite discouraging. I'm not going to stop going, because it is 3 days a week that I'm out moving, but...eh, maybe I'm just too sensitive.

Puppy finished puppy training classes yesterday. Received a certificate of excellence for changing his behaviour and a toy. So cute! They are running another class in January, so I think we will sign up again.

So, people......I didn't write down what I was eating this weekend. Didn't make good choices. Ugh..Last night we had munchies at the club - I so could have ordered a salad. Why is that never my choice? I actually even like salad. Sheesh....Makes all this running for nothing if I'm going to eat like crap.

Have a healthy day!

I'm so excited!!

I am so excited! Last night was my running room run, without my cousin, the run that I usually get left behind on....and I DIDN'T!!! A pacer that doesn't usually come on Wednesdays came. We had a really small group - only 7 of us - and the run was great. We did 3k - in 21 minutes. I'm quite happy with that.

Another reason I'm happy? I bought myself a Garmin Forerunner 301. It has a heart monitor. It tracks your km's, your heart rate, your course (it has gps), your calories..(I burned 245 by the way!). It is so awesome!!!!! I'm quite excited to wear it on Friday with my run with "J" to see how hard we are working. I can download my workout history to a program on the computer....ooooo....I just love being able to keep track of things....I'm all about keeping stats.

Today I have my weight training with my personal trainer. Timing is perfect, because I am now able to move without muscle pain - time to sore them up again! HA!

Yesterday eating wise....well, I had a big breakfast out with a friend, but didn't eat again till dinner, where I had a shockingly small portion of tortellini. I wasn't really hungry, but didn't want to run on an empty stomach. Turns out I should have - ah, live and learn. I ate too soon before the run, and ....well, it wasn't comfortable for sure.

Here are some pictures of my puppy - the one on the left is the "before", the one on the right is the "after". He had his first puppy cut. So cute. Basically all they did was trim up his face, so he could see. And I think they trimmed his paws.

Tuesday...sweet Tuesday

Well, the pain is finally over. The yoga really helped. I had my run with the running room on Sunday - at one point we had the team leader and 3, yes 3 pacers all up front....with us slow runners at the back with no support. I won't repeat the string of swear words that my cousin had to listen to, but I was NOT impressed.

Yesterday I didn't exercise. I was supposed to run with "J" (last time we went out we did over 7k!), but I had to cancel - I had an installer to wait around for. Kinda worked out well, 'cause I kinda felt like I needed a day off anyhow.

My puppy is having his first grooming today. I can't wait to see him. The hair around his face was so long - he is just getting a puppy trim, cause it is his first time. The lady said it won't take as long as a normal grooming, which is good, cause the puppies don't like to stand for long. I took a before picture, and will take an after picture tonight.

Well, I have some work to do for the sparkpeople NewYear'sBest challenge I'm co-leading. Have a healthy day bloggers!!

Waiting for the pain to stop...

I had my meeting with my personal trainer on Thursday. It was AWESOME!!

We did all kinds of things. Some stuff on the bosu for core, some free weights, some machines. All of it hard. All of it more than I would have done on my own. And we even had some giggles. It was so worth the $$. I know I did way more reps than I would have on my own. We did two sets of all the exercises.

Fast forward to Friday, the next day when the only part of my body that isn't sore is my ears. I have to meet "J" for our bi-weekly run. I think we did almost 9k....in an hour of running and walking. By the time I got out of my car when it was all over and I was home, I could hardly get out of the front seat. I then had to figure out how to get my sports bra off, because I couldn't lift my arms over my head!

Fast forward again to this morning, when I had 90 minutes of yoga. There wasn't one move that we did that didn't almost kill me. I have never needed a stretch more in my life. At one point, I was having trouble with a pose and the teacher told me I need to work on my core. I'm like "chicklet - that's why I'm here!!". She wasn't being a ditch pig though...it was said with kindness.

Tomorrow I have my running room run. 2 x 10:1. Should be fun times, because my cousin will be there. I won't be running alone.

My points have been plentiful, but counted. Thanks to all (Poppy & Kate) who helped with the activity points. I actually noticed that I had miscalculated some for my running (which is intense, or so it says on the points finder). I love finding points.

Well, I guess I've blathered on long enough. Hope all of you are having a healthy on program day!!

Help from fellow Weight Watchers

I need to figure out my activity points for one hour of lifting weights with the trainer - would any of you consider it "moderate" effort?

8 Running Room Classes down - 22 to go!

Went for my running room run last night. The leader managed to f*ck me over again....had us run a whole route instead of turning back after 1/2 way through the time, and the slow people turned off the route, so I ended up quite alone on my run. At one point I couldn't even see the gal in front of me to see where we had to go. I was so mad by the end, I told myself - that's it - I'm not running on Wednesdays anymore! But then I realised the only one that hurts is me. Crap.

Good day eating wise, still on program.

I have my session with the personal trainer today. I'm excited and scared at the same time. I've taken classes with this gal, so I know her well enough, which is why I'm excited - she is really nice. I'm scared cause I know I will have to go farther than I do on my own. Which is the whole point, but still....

Have a healthy day bloggers!

Wednesday....

Last night I had my run with the Running Room. I think I mentioned that I didn't like the route last week. It was too long for the amount of time they had planned for the run.....Well, this week we had a new route.

They had us running along the sidewalks under the street lights, and we ran out for 1/2 the time and then ran back. It was perfect. Safe and the exact right length. I was going to skip the run tonight because my cousin can't make Wednesday night runs, but I won't now since I can't get lost on this route. Yay. Although, I was looking forward to a day off.

So, who watched Biggest Loser last night? Because of my run, I had to stay up LATE to watch it. Good episode. I was glad that Jillian's team lost the weigh in, although sad to see one of the twins leave. I don't like Jillian's style. Those men look like they are melting away.....Jim sure looked good in his after clip didn't he? That show is so inspiring.

Watching those folks on "vacation" and trying to deal with the challenges you face....really brought to the front that the rest of our lives are going to be about making good choices. It is unfortunate that more often than not, we look upon good choices as some form of punishment. Seriously. What the hell is that about? I am making a serious effort this week to think of good choices as a treat. I'm going to suggest that as one of the challenges for NewYear'sBest.

Don't forget to stop by SparkPeople and join in!

Have a healthy day bloggers!

New Challenge

I am so excited. We are starting a new challenge over on SparkPeople called "NewYear'sBest". I'm going to be a team leader!!! Yes, me!!! WOOOHOOO!!!! We have, I think, 7 people signed up so far. Good times ahead. My goals for the challenge are:

1) To loose 1 lb per week
2) To exercise at least 5 times per week
3) To not gyp myself out of fitness by taking it "easy" on myself during the workout
4) To be accountable to myself when I go off track, but not give myself a pass to give up

If any of you are on SparkPeople and want to join up - the more the merrier!!

Today I went running with "J", the gal that I signed up for the 10k run with. Neither of us brought a watch, so we ran/walked but don't know what intervals we were doing. Anyhow, we were out there for around 50 minutes, maybe a bit more. It was a good run. Seemed like lots of hills. Just about killed me. What is worrying me though is the run I have to do tonight with the Running Room. It is a short one, two intervals of 10:1.....oh, well. It is just for today. I meet with "J" again on Friday for another run. Tomorrow is a day off. Can't wait.

I have the munchies today, but so far have managed to only have some water. I am about to have some raisin bran with skim milk. Mmmmm, I love raisin bran. I'm eating some of my activity points today for sure. I bought the best spinach salad for lunch.....so yummy....came with a bit of strawberries and mandarin oranges with a raspberry type vinaigrette.

What else? I think that's about it. Hope everyone is sticking with their programs today and having a healthy day!!

Taking Stock

I have been taking stock of my efforts lately. The other day I was watching a show called X-Weighted, and there was a gal on that was so afraid of failing, she was unable to really set a goal, let alone achieve it.

I just about fell off the couch watching this show, because it made me realize why I haven't been successful with my efforts. I too am afraid. Of success. As I watched this girl on her workouts, I saw myself. I do the work, but I always stop short of really pushing myself. Always. I will tell myself, well, what is important is that I got out here. But if getting out there consists of a run that is barely faster than a walk, and if it means that my heart rate was barely above resting, then I'm fooling myself. I'm gypping myself out of success. I'm spending the time doing it anyway, if I just push myself, it would be worthwhile.

This morning, on my running room run, I decided that it had to end. So, when I came to the part of the path that had a hill, which I would have normally just walked up and then kept going, I didn't. I told myself that I deserved the ass I was going to get if I ran up it. So I did. Oh, I could hardly keep running after I got to the top, but I didn't stop. I caught my breath and picked up my pace. Now, I realize this is just one workout. But I think now that I have seen where I keep going wrong...I will be better able to change the behaviour.

I've also done something rather silly. I signed up for the Halloween Howl run - which is a 10k race at the end October. I'm only running around 3 k now, but I have another gal to train with....and I figure the push will be what I need to get to the level I need to to actually burn some calories. I will meet this this gal twice a week to do longer distances, and I have my running class the other 3 days.

I have hired a personal trainer to meet with me on Thursdays to do weights. I'm just not getting the weights done on my own. If I can do weights then just one other day on my own.....my plan for the week will be:

Monday - weights alone at club, run with 10k training buddy
Tuesday - running room clinic run (pm)
Thursday - weight training with personal trainer, belly dance
Friday - run with 10k training buddy
Saturday - yoga with husband
Sunday - running room clinic run (am)

I had Thanksgiving Dinner yesterday. I made ham, scalloped potatoes, mashed yams, brussels sprouts. I was supposed to have corn also, but I actually forgot to make it! Anyhow, it all turned out good (although the scalloped potatoes didn't thicken) and everyone had a lot of fun. I'm happy I did it on Saturday, because now we have two whole days to relax!

Things I'm thankful for this year: My husband & daughter, my two favourite people in the world; our health, God has really blessed us in this way; my new found revelation which will lead to my success in the coming months and last but not least, my new puppy Indiana, who has provided so much fun and unconditional licking!

Bloggers, I am thankful to all of you also, because it really is a comfort to know that I am not alone with my struggles. Have a healthy day!

Wise Words

This post.....really hit the nail on the head for me. Give it a read....

http://canadiancarolyn.blogspot.com/2007/10/impact-of-scale.html

Monday, Monday, Monday

I worked today. My puppy spent the day at doggy daycare - he is already asleep! The lady said he did well. I actually cried when I dropped him off. I really need help.

I slept like crap last night - fretting about working today. Always the insecurities creep in...what if I can't do what they want....what if they think I'm not worth the $$...on and on for hours....felt like I slept 10 minutes last night.

I also popped off an e-mail to my trainer lady that set my weight program up - I'm going to start seeing her on Thursdays. I'm just not getting it done on my own. At least this way I will get one workout in.

Watched Big Bang Theory - still not sure about that show, BUT I just about split a gut when the one guy actually held up the sign that said "sarcasm". Good times. Wasn't impressed with HIMYM tonight - they better get better soon. Meanwhile - CSI Miami - what is with the dude that plays Horatio - he has to be the worst actor on the planet. Do you think he stands to the side like that when he talks in real life? He must be very insecure.

Hmmmmmmmm. I'm tired.......so,so day today food wise. Tomorrow at the running room clinic - 3 sets of running for 7 (yes, seven) minutes and walking for one minute. Fun times ahead......NOT!!!!!

Oh, I decided to take my lunch tomorrow so that I can tell you all tomorrow that I had a great day food wise - how smart am I??

Have a good night sleep. Meanwhile, shout out to Tigerlilly who posted a nice loss on her blog today.....Yay TL!!