What Resolutions?

This year has come to a close. In my part of the world we have four more hours to go before everyone loudly ad-libs the words to Auld Lang Syne and gets confetti in their eyes. I happen to be at work but it doesn't really bother me. I got myself some tuna makimoto (post-gym...ha!) and and I've got 1 1/4 jars of peanut butter so I'm all set. Come to think of it I should probably leave the peanut butter in the car tonight as I have already had about 2 tbsp and I am prone to midnight peanut butter raids. I plan to spend the last few hours of the new year drinking milk thistle tea and reading Oscar Wilde.

This is the time of year where a lot of us take a hard look at ourselves and start asking potentially life changing questions and start gearing up to blast through a mile long list of resolutions. It's also the most popular time to set weight loss and exercise related goals. I'm trying to think back on the resolutions that I might have set last year but I honestly can't remember a single one. It is probably safe to say that I didn't complete any of them. This year I have a few, some fitness related and some personal but I foresee 2011 being a lot less tumultuous than 2010. My fitness goals are simple; gain muscle mass and strength, keep eating well, find out where my abs are hiding and the like. My personal goals include finishing my online studies and perhaps getting a little more involved in the church. I'm open to whatever the year brings though. I'm kind of excited to just ride this year out as it comes. I don't know when last I have been able to say that without batting an eye.

However, I think that I am going to extend my diet/exercise challenge to the 26th of January. On the 27th-30th I will be traveling and I don't know how I will manage eating clean on the go but I at least want to keep disciplined until then. Today is Day Five and I'm still being good. I'm also feeling great as well. I can't believe that I am getting tired at night. It's a whole new world for me! Tired to the point of actually sleeping, mind you. My body is liking the new diet and physical challenges it seems. So all of you BBming me at 3AM...save it until morning please. (I have a terrible fear of turning off my phone. Haha)

My new year aside, to my readers I wish the best of luck with all of your new year's endeavors and if there is anything that I can do to help you along the way, please speak up! I hope this year covers all of the h's for you: Happiness, Health, Hard asses and Homies that got your back, yo.

On to business...
Today was legs at the gym. I once again could not meet my training buddy so I slipped on my big girl pants again and found a leg routine that I knew I could lift a decent amount of weight without needing spotting. (Spotting is when another person monitors your reps and slightly helps you complete reps when you are fatigued on your last reps with heavier weights. They also are there to support the weight if needed to prevent you from hurting yourself if your muscles give out.)

I started with a quick 5 minute warm up on the bike to get the joints oiled.

The routine was as follows:

6 sets of machine assisted squats. The first two sets were warm up sets, one with no weight and one with 20 lbs. Maximum weight 90lbs
4 sets of dumbell lunges (12 reps per leg). I HATE lunges. Maximum weight 25lbs dumbells
4 sets of leg presses. First set was a warm up set with 65 lbs. Maximum weight 250 lbs.
4 sets of seated leg curls. Maximum weight 65 lbs
4 sets of seated calve raises. Maximum weight 120 lbs
3 sets of full barbell squats. I had to rally the courage to do these by myself. I am so paranoid about form. I have only done unassisted squats once before so I decided to opt for the smaller bar with light weights. I did the first set with just the bar and then the last two sets with just 20 lbs. I wanted a weight that I could do a clean and then perform the squats.

Not bad for my first session alone. When performing my squats I also did something a little different this time. I was reading that women cheat themselves by only stopping in their squats when their thighs are parallel to the ground. Women are naturally more flexible and so we need to go right down into our full range of flexibility and complete the movement. This way you get the best results and the hardest challenge. It's only when you go down to this limit that your body really has to call upon the butt and hamstrings and you'll feel a huge difference in difficulty. I sure did. It also made doing lighter weights in the full barbell squats just right because I couldn't imagine doing those much heavier now I've improved my form! My butt definitely felt the burn today!
Oh and for the first time in my life whilst walking in the groceries I was told from a distance that I have a 'black batty'. Haha. That means 'butt' Robin. ;) For a scrawny white girl who had no butt whatsoever this is a triumph indeed! Haha!

Today's exercise challenge was another challenge indeed. My friend gave me a wonderful present for my last birthday. She got me a boxers jump rope with a leather rope and weighted handles. You should hear that baby whiz. Or at least try to whiz under the influence of my mediocre skipping skills. It drives me crazy to think back on how I used to skip for ages as a kid and think nothing of it compared to how I am DYING after a few minutes now.

The challenge (from Bodyrock.tv again) was to complete 1000 skips as fast as you can. Zuzana (the robot) finished in 8:06 so I was aiming for 10-11 minutes at least. A trick to avoid losing count was to place 5 objects on the floor and complete 100 skips in front of the first object and the move to the second and complete another 100. When you reach the 5th object you complete 200 skips and work your way back down the line. Well, keeping count was the least of my worries. I initially wanted to try this challenge barefoot but one stinging whack to my feet from that leather rope and I quickly changed my mind. I thought I was fair at skipping until I finished this challenge half dead at 16:08. The most skips that I could do at a time was 46 and then for the next few skip attempts after I would proceed to wallop various body parts with the leather rope from fatigue and inability to complete another skip. It also didn't help that my 'big girl pants' were actually a little big and kept sliding down when I would jump too vigorously. I'm not kidding anyone though. I was happy to stop and pull them up because it meant a BREAK. *heave* Surprisingly, I didn't get very frustrated considering what a hot head I am. I was more hell bent on finishing the damn challenge so I could have my bread at breakfast and forget this whole thing ever happened. I did my best though. I think that I will make sure to skip at least once a week as cardio to improve my form and strengthen my calves. God knows they seized up after that! Cracked wheat never tasted so good either!

It is now 9:12PM at work and I am so looking forward to lying down. My back is stiff from yesterday and my body feels heavy and I know it's time for sleep. I don't think I will do anything after work. I'd like to start the new year refreshed and make my way to the beach to try and get some tan lines again!

I hope that you all have a wonderful new year and if you're out partying, live and laugh it up! 2011 is YOUR YEAR!

P.S
I have been posting my workout times on bodyrock.tv along with all of the other bodyrockers but I noticed that only my crap scores are getting posted by the moderators. They were happy to post my 16 minute skipping time but my 6 minute Mountain Climbers mysteriously did not get approved. I wonder if they think I'm lying? Haha!

P.P.S
My nail dropped off just in time for the new year. Even my toe wants a fresh start!

Happy 2011!

Pu-pu-pu-pump it UP!

Okay! So today is Day Four of my challenge and I have been staying strong and only eating complex carbs like bread after a workout or exercise challenge.
I just thought you should know that last night I came terribly close to caving because I was craving peanut butter on toast. I bought this really delicious, freshly made cracked wheat bread that has the most scrumptious nutty flavour to each bite and I so wanted another slice even though I already had at breakfast. I wanted to casually ignore my challenge but I ended up cutting a pear in half and putting peanut butter on that instead. It wasn't the same but it was a surprisingly nice combination! At least I got my peanut butter! :D

I stayed true to my word and photographed myself for some 'before' shots on the 27th (post-Christmas poof and all) They are not the best quality but they are enough to give you the idea of my current physique.



Sorry for the blown out areas. I'm not trying to hide anything I swear. Haha
Okay so this photo annoys me a bit because it makes my legs look kind of deflated and my abs look leaner than they are.





This is a more honest look at my abs. As you can see, slight development in the stomach but not much. Also you can see my stick arms. So far my triceps are the most developed and those are what really give mass to your arms. You should have seen them before I ever started working out!




This is an ok shot of my back. My back is the leanest part about me although it is not my strongest. I am going to have to take the next shot of my back in a halter sports bra so you can see my middle back better.

I'll include one more body shot which once again greatly exaggerates my abs but shows the definition in my legs a bit better.




So...that would be me. Plenty of room for growth I'd say! Haha!

Yesterday I hit the gym and trained chest with my workout buddy. I arrived a little 'late' so I had to power through my sets as punishment to catch up...although let the truth be known that I was only 'late' because he did not tell me when he was going to the gym so I just went on my own and he happened to be there. :P

I did: 4 sets of seated chest presses with the machine
4 sets of hammer presses (watch these chicks slam some out)
3 sets of inclined chest presses and then a 4th set which was only negatives
6 sets of chest dips until failure (i.e until your arms might fall off)

I missed the set of chest flies due to time but I was kind of glad as the inclined presses take a lot out of me.

Then we did a quick abdominal session and cardio. I chose 25 minutes on the elliptical as my cardio.

My exercise challenge for yesterday was a repeat of Monday's 300 Step Ups. I woke up hungover from a 3/4 glass of wine and groggily set up for my challenge because I wanted some of that bread with my breakfast. This time I alternated legs after 50 reps and I managed to beat my old time of 11:15 with my new record of 9:51. That was 9 seconds faster than Zuzana's first time but 37 seconds slower than her second time. I'm catching up though! More importantly, I beat my own record and that is the true goal.


________________________________________________________________

Today, I decided to put on my big girl pants. I've realized that I depend on my gym partner too much for my workouts and on days when I couldn't meet him at the gym I would usually stay home and do crossfit or run. This is fine essentially, but it is not conducive to my goals. I want to gain mass and so I need to put in the time with the heavy weights.

I spent most of the morning scouting back workouts. A lot of bodybuilders pair back with biceps but due to limited time today I decided to just go with back.

I gradually increased the weight in each set. Here was my workout.:

4 sets of wide grip pull ups. I gradually lowered the assistance weight on the assisted pull up machine. So far the least amount of assistance that I can use is 70 lbs. Weak weak weak. Haha
4 sets of stiff arm pull downs. Max weight was 50 lbs.
4 sets of seated cable rows. Max weight 70 lbs
4 sets of medium grip upright cable row. Maximum weight 30 lbs.
4 sets of lateral rows (on t-bar machine) Maximum weight 35 lbs.

After that, I just did some quick abs and rushed out to work. I like to make up my own ab exercises so I will share some with you some time.

Today's exercise challenge was 500 Mountain Climbers to be completed as fast as I could (courtesy of Bodyrock.tv)
I have been doing a lot of my exercise challenges barefoot as I would like to test out this barefoot theory that I have been speaking about with a friend. I'm going to go more into this in another post but in short, I'm finding that being barefoot requires me to really concentrate on my pronation and stabilization. I do not consider that a bad thing. However, please do not do your Mountain Climbers barefoot because you will get blisters.

I approached this challenge this morning with the hopes of beating Zuzana's time which was somewhere in the five minute margin. I did the first 100 reps non-stop and then broke up into sets of 50 with as little rest as possible. I was really pushing to make the time and this exercise burned my hip flexors like crazy. When I had 100 more to go I saw my time and managed to pound out the last two sets of 50 with almost no rest and finished in 6:01. JUST missed the five minute window!
I went on bodyrock.tv to check Zuzana's times again and much to my surprise her time was 7:29. Hurrah! I beat her for once! I need to set ridiculous goal times more often! Haha

And so that concludes my last two exercise days. Monday after I posted I just did crossfit in the garden and tried not to be eaten alive by sandflies and on Tuesday I used a 25 minute power yoga for stamina session and then an additional 100 crushes non-stop as my exercise challenge. In the afternoon I went to the track and did some high intensity training and running drills with my trainer Casey followed by two speedwork intervals of 300m. After the running drills that was all we could handle. I wish I could break down that workout for you but it was so intense and fast paced that I can't remember everything! Think suicides, jump squats, side to side hops and jumping frog squats in a sand pit with a few duck walks, backward sprints, and walking side squats for good measure. Did I mention that I RIPPED MY PANTS doing the squats? Well, I did. :P

I hope you're all proud of me for keeping up with these exercise challenges because all of that fresh bread is bawling for me. Haha. If you're trying any of these challenges please let me know!

I Made It! Sorta!

Phew! So, all of my strategies worked for Boxing Day but I admit that I fell victim to the Dessert and Seconds fairies on Christmas Day. Hahah! I actually managed to scrape up a healthy plate with salad, my torte, steamed veg and turkey breast to begin with but then I had half a glass of wine...and was buzzing. I can't believe that I have become such a cheap date! Haha! At first I just had some extra turkey and steamed veg for my seconds but then the desserts came out...
I portioned well with about a 1/3 cup of mom's coconut ice cream and a very small amount of Christmas cake...but one glass of wine later I had another helping (same portion) and then after midnight I unabashedly raided the kitchen's leftovers again. Hahah
I didn't really care until I woke up the next morning when I was supposed to have my morning easy run and I was too full (and admittedly dehydrated) to even think about running. I rolled over and woke up past 10! Great belated Christmas present!

My torte came out quite nicely by the way!



Since I missed my morning run and I had already taken two days off I wanted to do a little something or the 26th so I decided to 'just do' one of the exercise challenges from bodyrock.tv
It was a crossfit challenge to complete seven rounds of the following exercises as quickly as you can:

50 one-legged jump rope on right leg
50 one-legged jump rope on left leg
10 commando push ups

The commando pushup is basically this: Lay on your stomach and place your hands next to your chest and power up to plank and draw one knee to your chest. Lower back down to the floor and power up again bringing the other knee to your chest and lower again (essentially a push up/knee tuck combination). Then roll over to the other side of your mat. That is one rep.

The creators of this challenge completed it in 16:39 and 17:57 respectively so I figured I should be able to do it in about 20 minutes. WELL, I was SO sluggish from Christmas day and shamefully slow on the one-legged jump rope that I finished in an embarrassing 26:31 AND I was totally beat. However I will give myself the small excuse that I have never done more than 10 one-legged jump ropes at a time and I also had to battle off my dog that kept harassing me during my commando push ups. The fact remains that I sucked at this challenge though! Hahah! High intensity interval training on Boxing Day proved to be a suicide mission.

This leads to the main point of today's post though: My New Exercise/Diet Challenge for myself.

I have been following Zuzana Light from Bodyrock.tv for a while. This woman has an insane physique and only exercises for 12 minutes a day on average. All of her workouts are high intensity interval training (HIIT) and she claims (and proves by the way she looks) that it's all you need to be lean. She also follows a very strict diet of only getting carbs from fruit and vegetables except for the meal after a workout where she has 'earned' her carbs like bread or potato. Now, I admire her very much but our goals are slightly different so I do not follow her workout schedule 100%. I use her workouts on days where I want to do a little crossfit at home and now for my new challenge for myself. I can't deny how ripped she is looking since she has taken on her new diet so this is inspired by her.
The exercise challenge that I used yesterday is just one of the many that they post on the site. These challenges are short and designed for rest days when she doesn't do a full workout and just wants to get her body moving and 'earn' her carbs. Just for the record, I don't believe that everyone needs to earn their carbs that way but I have decided to take on her diet strategy for at least a couple weeks and see the result I get. My problem is that I want to eat grain and such more than once a day but I only go to the gym once and I don't want to have to do another full workout at home just so I can have my oatmeal! This is where her shorter exercise challenges will come in handy. Some of them are as short as 2-5 minutes! So, I have decided that I will try to do one of her short challenges before any of my meals with complex carbs like whole grain. This will also stop me from having the late night carby treats that I have been sneaking like cake and too-much-peanut butter and toast. Hahah! I'm very excited to take on this challenge and today marks Day One! Let's see if I can make it a whole two weeks!

This morning I knew I would have oatmeal at work for breakfast so as soon as I woke up I did a quick stretch and set up for today's exercise challenge:

150 Step Ups on a chair per leg as quickly as I could. A Step Up is a very simple exercise but it can be hard on your knees so if you have knee problems I would not suggest trying it. You place your right foot on the seat of a chair while your left leg is straight and out to the side. It's kind of like you are in a side lunge with your leg elevated but your stance is not as wide as a full side lunge. Then straighten the leg on the chair as you step up and draw your left knee to your chest while keeping your core tight. Zuzuana completed her challenge in 9:54. She suggested doing 20-50 reps at a time and then switching legs but I was silly and did the three sets of 50 on my right leg and then switched to the left once I completed the 150 reps. By the time I reached my left leg I was so burned out that I had to lower to sets of 20 and then 10 near the end. I finished in 11:15 and I solemnly swear to LISTEN to Zuzana next time. Hahah! I also just discovered that she did not do the knee lift either...
This small routine to start my day has completely revved my metabolism! I am getting hungry much faster and I also feel so energized! I LOVE this new challenge and I really hope to stick to it for the full two weeks!
Bodyrock.tv won't be posting enough exercise challenges to keep up with me since I am doing them pretty much every day so I will have to make up some myself. I'll be sure to say whose is whose to make sure that Bodyrock.tv continues to get the credit for their great ideas!



Need motivation to try this challenge with me?

























THIS is Zuzana doing the Step Up exercise. Who wouldn't want to look like that?? Haha!

Feel free to check up on me and make sure that I am sticking to the new plan! If you want to try it with me please let me know how you're doing!
Consider it our pre-New years resolution!

The gym is closed until tomorrow so when I finish work I will probably do a 300 rep crossfit session and call it a day. I wanted to run but my calves are seized up from the jump rope yesterday. I will try to take my 'before' pictures today as well!

Thanks for reading and keep enjoying the holidays!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas (Cake)

I can't believe that tomorrow is Christmas day...
This year's Christmas has been a lot more relaxed for me. So relaxed in fact that I got to work this evening and realized that I hadn't bought anything to fill my mother's stocking tonight or any of the ingredients to make my side dish for tomorrow...AND I didn't even know what side dish I was making!! So I joined the mad rush of people scrambling around the groceries at the last minute on my break from work. Thankfully I managed to get everything that I needed in time.
So here I am on Christmas Eve in my office sipping ginger mint tea from my Rudolf coffee mug, surrounded by a pool of grocery bags and donning a rather grannyish red sweater in my attempt to look festive. Ho ho ho...

Now, everyone knows that Christmas is a very special time of year. Your kids turn to saints because they couldn't bear the grief of being neglected by the all-seeing Santa. People are walking around wearing ridiculous Christmas gear like semi-crushed Santa hats or singing reindeer antlers with half dead batteries that strain to whine out the tune of 'Jingle bells'. Family time becomes mandatory and it seems like everyone is making a special effort to be pleasant this time of year. I personally love it and I admit that I also love that the kitchen is filled with bright tins of my mother's lovingly made Christmas cake. Let's face it guys, Christmas is also a time of really delicious but rather unhealthy food and it's hard to pass it up! If you log on to any fitness or diet site you'll find article upon article of tricks to beat holiday cravings and motivational speeches on why it's not worth abandoning your diet at this time of year. I'll be honest and say that I've not been restrictive with my diet at all. I eat according to my usual method during the day but when that sun goes down the moonlight hits those cake tins so attractively...Its so hilarious really. In the morning I think, 'Okay! I had cake last night so none today!' and I'm 100% devoted to this until about 12:30AM where I shoot up out of bed and the first thing that comes to mind is, 'Cake!' and of course I sneak down the hall and have 'one bite' which leads to one slice. I would have felt totally guilty about this at one point but these days such things matter a lot less. Obviously I want to eat healthily, and I do, but I'm not going to beat myself up over the cakes and chocolates that I have been sampling. Admittedly, my stomach is a little...fluffier since I've been having the extra sugar but on the other hand my leg muscles have gotten larger. They seem to be loving the extra calories! The truth remains that if you want to be completely ripped for the holidays, you can't eat the cake, or the chocolate...or the nougats or eggnog or cookies...you also can't go all out on the cheese platters or the spiced nuts...ham in moderation and so on and so forth. Not to mention you also have to politely beat away each of the cooing relatives trying to fill your plate with a house sized portion of whatever they brought. Basically, come meal time, just hide.
This isn't the Christmas that I had in mind though, so I'm having my cake and eating it. However, I'm still taking small measures to make sure that I'm not going overboard so I figured that I would share those with you.

Bring a dish.
Add an option to the Christmas spread that you know is healthy. Apart from that there is almost always a salad (or you can bring that yourself) so right there half to three quarters of your plate is already filled with smart choices. Whatever you decide to fill the rest of your plate with is your Christmas present to yourself. ;)

The dish I chose to make this year is a Potato and Sweet Potato torte. I got the recipe from Eatingwell.com and you can see it here: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/potato_sweet_potato_torte.html
I decided to use purple potatoes instead of Yukon gold to add some funky colour!

Turn a blind eye to the store bought desserts.
You can tell when a pie is made with love as opposed to made in China. Don't pick the plastic and processed frozen pies and cakes or the packaged cookies. Indulge in a homemade delight even if it is more fatty. I rather eat a cake made with real sugar and butter than 100% organic high-fructose corn syrup.

Sip lightly.
You know why. If you get drunk and jolly you're not going to care if it's your fourth piece of chocolate covered deep fried ice cream cake. I don't know if they really make that but I'd imagine I'd try it if I was drunk enough...

Don't fast.
Even if you plan on eating the entire dinner spread and the platters it came on, don't starve yourself during the day. That will backfire in so many ways. First of all it will shift your body into starvation mode and it will end up hanging on to every crumb that you have once you eat and that also slows your metabolism. It will make you unnecessarily ravenous come dinner time and you will be more likely to eat far more than you should. It's my belief that its better to eat something, even an unhealthy something, than not eat at all.
I actually made for myself a yummy ginger carrot chicken soup so that I'll have a healthy meal on hand when I need to resist the leftovers as well! I will share that recipe with you sometime because it's scrumptious!

And yeah., that's pretty much it. The rest is up to how well I moderate my portions.
Whatever happens though, I'm not going to measure my Christmas enjoyment by how tight my shirt seemed to get between breakfast and lunch. It really is too special a time to be hung up on calories. Have a merry Christmas!

I also have a bit of freaking great news. Santa came early this year and gifted me with the ability to run again! On Tuesday I hit the track and did three 300m intervals. I nearly threw up but this time not from pain but from being so out of form. Haha! I'm so happy though! I think I will get up early on Boxing Day and have a nice easy run!

If you notice, I've been blogging mostly about diet so far and not posting much about my workouts. Well, trust me, I've been working out. Yesterday we did heavy leg work in the gym where my trainer/friend had me leg pressing 290 lbs and taking ten seconds to complete one slow squat. I also did my first session of unassisted squats. Every step I take today feels like someone is pinching my backside. Haha!
I've decided to take my 'before' photos after Christmas. That is, after all of the Christmas damage. :P Once the season is over I'll start giving you a run down on my workouts and you can start tracking my progress with me. :) I also would really love to hear what you guys are doing for the season and how you're keeping yourselves fit these days! Don't be shy!

So...Merry Christmas to you all! Thanks again for all of your support this year with the marathon and I hope to see it through and complete next year's event! If any of you that live where I do want to train with me too, please let me know!



Happy holidays from my office chair! Notice that I included the festive fire extinguisher.
Perhaps I will brush my hair for Christmas...

*Cluck cluck*- Recipe and Diet Update

I mumbled it at the end of my last post...and now it's official. I have started eating lean chicken! No plans to eat any other kind of meat apart from fish though...

Why did I make this decision after 6 years of pescetarianism? A few reasons really. Since I have started lifting heavier weights I knew I was going to have to rethink my diet. I have to get serious about protein so that I can supply my body with a sufficient amount to promote muscle growth and repair. I can't break down my muscles like that and then neglect giving them what they need to recover. I felt that I was doing well without the meat for some time, but I don't eat fish as much as I would like because it is expensive and my soy products were already equally, if not more, expensive. Eating some soy is fine when bodybuilding but it isn't recommended to be getting the majority of your protein from soy. Soy is not the best for optimal anabolic muscle growth (i.e bulking up). A lot of soy is also quite processed. As I mentioned before I would like to cut down on such things and I feel that adding good old fashioned chicken breast to my diet to replace some of the soy will be in my best interest. I admit I'm kind of excited! My grocery bill is going to be a lot easier on the eyes and I now have a kaleidoscope of new recipes to try! *happy dance*

To commemorate the replacement of my ever-handy vegan patties I decided to make my first chicken experiment healthy chicken patties. I found a great recipe on bodyrock.tv which has few ingredients and promised to be a yummy replacement for my old frozen standbys.

The ingredients are:

1 large portabella mushroom cap
1 leek
1 tsp olive oil
12 oz chicken breast
4 cloves of garlic
4 leaves of fresh basil
2 tbsp lite coconut milk
2 egg whites
Salt and pepper to taste

Equipment needed:

A cookie sheet
A food processor
A skillet


Now for preparation:

-Preheat oven to 350.

-Chop the mushroom and the white and pale green part of the leek. Make sure that you really wash your leek properly because dirt gets all the way down in there sometimes.

-Heat the olive oil in a skillet and saute the mushroom and leek until the it begins to brown. Stick it in the fridge to cool.

-Chop the chicken and basil and crush the garlic cloves.

-Grab your food processor and throw in the chicken, egg whites, coconut milk, garlic, basil and salt and pepper to taste (I didn't use any salt). Process until the chicken is fully ground into a thick paste.

-Stir in the mushroom and leeks evenly into the paste. Don't be too rough or you'll smush the mushrooms.

-Now you can pretend you're baking cookies! Grab your non-stick cookie sheet and mold the chicken into palm sized patties. Don't make them too thick though. Don't let the patties touch on the baking sheet.

-Stick the tray in the oven and bake until done. You can start checking them after about 25-30 minutes. When they are ready the patties are firm to the touch and the leeks may burn just along the edges.



Let them cool and eat them in a whole wheat bun or with a salad.
They were actually really delicious. Even my father who won't touch anything I cook because its 'healthy' and has 'green bits' in it polished his off. When I first saw the recipe I found the patties looked a little unappetizing due to the pale colour but I was more than surprised by the taste. You really get the flavour of garlic as well which I love!

Not a bad start to bird munching!

I think that I need to eat them one at a time because my stomach isn't used to processing meat anymore. I ate two for dinner last night and I felt really heavy and it was like it sat in my stomach all night! Haha! It was worth it though. Yummy and good for you too. Made a nice light lunch today as well!




So there is my new major diet change. The next thing that I am going to look into is coconut oil. I've noticed that a lot of people are making the switch and I want to find out what the fuss is about! I'll update you with my findings. ;)

Happy holidays!

We'll Start at the Table: Diet Talk!

Before I begin, let me just explain that I am not a nutritionist. These blogs are filled with my thoughts on diet and my personal experiences and opinions. I'm doing my best to make educated decisions and provide useful information, but please feel free to leave your comments if you have any questions or concerns about the content of these blogs.

One of the things most of us struggle with is diet. I definitely have and I'm familiar with how daunting it can be. Whether you are trying to lose or gain weight or simply maintain a balanced, healthy diet, today's media is constantly confusing us with this 'proven method' or the latest diet fads. Sometimes I just want to scream. It's almost like every week we have a new study that proves the results of last week's studies false and its hard to know who is right or what to do. When I decided to take up bodybuilding I found that a lot of the diet strategies were so technical and anal...and not to mention confusing. There were 'ripping' as opposed to 'bulking' diets with precise calculations of how many grams of carbs you should eat vs. grams of fat and protein and when each should be eaten...it was enough to make my head spin. They claim it's straightforward but then they have all of these little side rules like fruit only at breakfast and complex carbs (like bread) only within 2 hours of exercise. Some say no carbs after 6PM, some say it doesn't matter what time you eat, some say you have to eat every 3 hours while others insist that three meals a day is the better option. All of this aside, the one statement that kept popping up that drove me insane was, 'Only view food as fuel.'
No thank you.
This is something that I think is what will make or break an eating plan. I don't think that anyone should have to stick to a bland diet that you don't enjoy because someone nutritional fat cat says it's the only way you'll lose belly fat. I refuse to eat another rice cake! I'm also not a fan of these low-carb diets. I've tried that and I swear my head was spinning all day from hunger. It just didn't work for me. I don't believe that diet should equal deprivation.
Now, that's not to say that I think that you should go and eat any old thing. We have the right to fill our plates with what we enjoy, but we also have the responsibility to take care of our bodies and you won't be doing that by swapping your whole grain bread with a moonpie and your lean proteins with bacon. One may raise their eyebrow at me because I usually will pass on dessert or order the salad, but that is not to say that if I really feel for ice cream or chocolate that I am going to stuff myself with celery and pretend I'm happy. I believe in responsible moderation of what you eat on a day to day basis. I love the food I eat. I enjoy playing around with new recipes and I know that healthy food does not have to be boring! I don't think you should treat your mealtime like a scientific equation. There is so much great food out there and I don't think its simply there just to get me through those extra 5 reps.

So, what have you changed?
As I mentioned, I have cut out some of the complex carbs that I was eating before because the amount I needed for training for a marathon was huge which isn't really necessary anymore as I'm not running for 2 hours straight. I still eat them though!

I also mentioned sugar. I've always been a little negligent about monitoring my sugar intake. This is because I figured I am someone who doesn't have a sweet tooth or touch table sugar so I probably wasn't having that much...but I didn't realize that all of the added sugars in the fat free yogurts that I ate, and the honey, brown sugar syrup and sugar that was all in one of my granola bars really weren't the best thing for me. There are some fitness enthusiasts that would rather eat a boat load of fat than sugar. I still haven't quite figured out why its so bad for you but considering that the body doesn't need it at all makes me think that I am wasting calories on junk instead of obtaining beneficial nutrients. Have I quit granola forever? No way...but I'm not eating it everyday like I was before. I will say that I am noticing more definition in my stomach since I have made this change and I chalk it up to less water retention. For people who don't want to give up sugary treats I'd say to at least make sure that your snacks are not store bought and are made from real ingredients and not high-fructose corn syrup. Rule of thumb, if you can leave it on the counter (sealed or not) and eat it next week...its probably full of icky additives. Have a homemade cookie or ice cream. My mom happens to make the best coconut ice cream which I happily tiptoe down the corridor at night for and I personally think that Ben and Jerrys can kiss it.

Something that I am trying to work out at the moment is cheese. I adore cheese. I usually buy soy cheese which is nice but the truth remains that cheddar 'flavoured' soy cheese is a) processed and b) isn't fooling anyone. I'm trying to reduce the amount of processed products that I am eating. I'm eating more seafood and a bit less soy to start but the issue of cheese remains. I'm all for good fats but an ounce of cheese really does have a lot of saturated fat. So the toss up is between processed soy cheese, fatty real cheese or SUPER processed fat-free cheese. I like the good fats in my soy cheese, but I love the taste of Parmesan on my tomato sauce or a nice sharp cheddar with some grapes and the soy cheeses just don't have that zing...and then there is the processed, tasteless, fat-free plastic that they have the nerve to label cheese, packed with sodium and things I can't pronounce. I've been looking for reduced fat cheeses and most of them have about 6g of fat, 3.5 of which are saturated. I guess it's not terrible but I will have to make sure to really make an ounce, an ounce and no more. I feel that this is ultimately the way to go. Once again, even saturated fat is okay in moderation. I just wish that the groceries would moderate their PRICES as all of the quality reduced fat cheeses are about $22 a block.

Now, you may ask what my typical eating day might look like. I try to switch it as much as possible, but here is a good example. I would use today's but I was Christmas shopping and had a light chocolate mint latte and bought sushi which isn't typical. Anyways:

Breakfast: oatmeal made with almond milk and blueberries

Snack: Grapes and dried pineapple

Lunch: Baked sweet potato with Grilled vegetable burger wrapped in lettuce with tomatoes and rice cheddar (was experimenting with that and it's gross. No more rice cheese)

Snack: Protein shake

Dinner: Salmon chowder

Snack: 2 cups air popped popcorn sprinkled with dried currants

Midnight snack (if I'm hungry I'm gonna eat!) Toasted whole wheat bread with honey, a handful of nuts (or peanut butter) and a glass of skimmed milk.

I'm trying to reintroduce wheat into my diet and being able to sleep right after eating it helps sometimes if it makes me bloated and uncomfortable. As you can see, I'm not against late night eating. If you're hungry, I don't see a problem with having a small meal or snack. Just don't eat the whole fridge because no one is looking!

I didn't choose a particular bodybuilding diet. My main focus is on eating quality food regularly, intuitively selecting my meals instead of eating my rice now because the book says I must eat it NOW, limiting saturated fats and most importantly, enjoying everything that I put into my mouth. Lets not go down the 'good' food 'bad' food road. Feed yourself responsibly. If you really tune in to what your body is asking for you won't have a hard time choosing the banana and peanut butter on toast over the 'low calorie' oreo cakesters. Those give you black teeth anyways which is very unbecoming...

My challenge for you is this:
The next time that you are hungry in between meals, before you even look in the fridge or wander over to the vending machine, ask yourself what you truly feel for. Visualize your potential snack options and what is it that really appeals to your needs? Not your cravings...your needs. See if you can tell the difference.
I seriously don't expect you to do this every single time that you want something to eat...but I do want to encourage a little more self awareness and even gratitude when we approach eating. Eat your meals slowly and don't focus on cleaning your plate. Really pay attention to the flavours of your meal and notice when you begin to feel full. Don't force yourself to eat more than you really need and try to appreciate each bite. This sort of self awareness is handy when you are now trying to figure out your ideal portion size as well. We all need to figure ourselves out! ;)

Anyways, the point I would like to make is...I still don't have a calculated diet and I don't feel like any less of an athlete for it. I still fully intend to block my ears to the food ONLY as fuel demands and I will continue to try and eat food that wouldn't make mother nature smack me. If I make any diets changes, you'll know about it!

For one thing...I am considering reintroducing lean chicken into my diet....we'll see!

Thanks for reading!

And Off We Go!

I'm baaaack!

So, I've decided that I am going to continue with this blog and just widen it's horizons a bit. So I'm not just going to be blabbing about running. I figured it would still be fun to keep a fitness blog to discuss diet, workouts, exercise equipment and anything else of interest! I'll share some recipes, tips and anything else that I learn which could be useful. They say it's also important to keep an exercise log so this can double as that. I've had to change a few things since I was no long able to run so I'll start to update you on what's new in my ongoing travels through the world of healthy living!

As I mentioned in my last post I've started bodybuilding. Due to my work schedule and my training partner's schedule both being a little helter-skelter I am not on a strict regime. Its safe to say I bodybuild about three times a week and on the other two to three exercise days I do things like crossfit, kickboxing, yoga, walking and hopefully I can add running to the list again soon. I try to keep each week different to have my muscles continuously guessing and I'm always on the look for new challenges or fitness adventures to jump into. And now, I'm going to take you along for the ride!

Since my goals have changed, my diet has also had to have major alterations from my runner's diet. I've had to cut down on the carbs and my caloric needs are not as high. My new diet concentrates on lean proteins, vegetables, good fats and carbs in moderation. I've started counting calories again on most days to monitor my protein and fat intake. Another thing that I have become conscious of is sugar. I wasn't paying much attention to the added sugars that I was consuming on a daily basis and now that I have cut out things like store bought granola I am starting to see real results. More details on that soon.

Anyways just a quick reintroduction to the blog and I'll be back soon!

The Week Before The Marathon...and some news

Hey everyone...
No I haven't forgotten you. :)
Things have been a little bit crazy for me recently as the big concert is tomorrow and the day after so every spare moment I have had has been at rehearsals. Anyways here I am with a bit of news for you. A few weeks ago I would have said that it's bad news...or the worst freaking news ever...but to quote Oogway, 'There is just news. There is no good or bad.'
If you remember, I was having some knee pain which I discovered was actually due to my IT band in my leg being aggravated from running so I took the week off and continued to cross train as was suggested. I figured by the following Monday I could ease back into my routine. The week off went very well and by the end of it I had no limp at all and I could race up and down stairs as usual. No pain during other workouts or anything like that was happening so I knew I was good to go!
Or so I thought.
Well Monday came around and I did some strength training and then bolted up the stairs at the gym towards the treadmill, anxious to start running again. I was going to do a 20 minute tempo run to get back into the swing of things. I started with my usual warm up mile happily, grinning from ear to ear to be running again...and all of a sudden I got this dull pang of pain in my band again...you know the kind of pain that is deep and feels like its hit you in the pit of your stomach? Well it was like it...it actually gave me a chill up my spine and I felt nauseated. But I'm stubborn so I kept on doing my warm up. I know its usual to be achey on a warm up run so I was hoping with all of me that it would ease up. It seemed okay for the rest of the warm up but once I started my tempo I could feel it more and more. My friend who was watching me said that he could see my 'gallop' getting worse and worse as I went on. I ended the tempo section a mile and a half in as I couldn't push it any further. I wasn't back to square one pain wise but I was faced with an unfortunate truth.
I can't run.
Its almost hilarious that I can do everything else with no pain but the moment I start to run my body screams. I sat in the car after my tempo run all teary eyed and feeling very sorry for myself...I had to accept that my band hadn't recovered but that's easier said than done. My friend suggested that I get one of these bands that go above the knee at the base of the thigh which stabilizes the muscle and I was considering it but after some real thinking I've come to the conclusion that its not in my best interest. The leg is begging not to be pushed and I have to listen. I could potentially make it worse. Even if the band alleviates the pain, it doesn't eliminate the real problem, the muscle is damaged and shouldn't be used for running.

When I tell people they get all wide-eyed and watch me like they expect me to cry or something. Haha. Everyone has been awfully sympathetic and I'm grateful for the amount of people that had faith in me to finish this race. How do I feel? Well I'm disappointed of course but I'm actually surprised at how little this injury has devastated me. I was very emotional when I had gotten off the treadmill on that dreary Monday...but when I sat in the car my inner coach decided to be my voice of reason again. It really isn't the end of the world. Its a race...and there will be more. I reminded myself that I'm not an Olympian who's life is geared towards nothing but race day but I definitely sympathized for anyone who trained like them and couldn't compete on the day. Yes, I trained hard...and I really wanted to do this...but at least I'll be able to run again once I heal up. I'm grateful that the injury hasn't limited my ability to walk and stay active. In fact I'm incredibly lucky.
Another thing that I am fortunate for is all of the friends that I have made because of this. There is actually a running coach that has seen me work and really wants me to train with his athletes! What a blessing! So I have something to look forward to! I'm very excited about the prospect of training with someone who actually does this for a living because then I can be pushed and pulled back accordingly by someone who knows the ropes and can spot things that I can't. Something that I have to consider is that even though an IT injury is typical of runners...its possible that I got it from doing too much too fast. As I mentioned when I started, I only ran now and again before I took up this program...and the program was intense. That could easily be why the muscle got so aggravated. So once I heal up and get a real coach, this may not be an issue anymore.

So...to conclude I'll leave you with my current state of mind. I'm not thrilled to be missing the race but I have to say that I've taken this pretty well. I know myself...and something like this would have shattered me before. I thought that I would have been completely devastated but to be honest I've kind of shrugged this off. Not too long ago if something like this happened I would have felt like a total failure...but I know in my heart that I'm not. I really tried. I can say with certainty that I gave it every scrap of me and my heart was in it 100%. My heart is still in it...I find myself still photographing my meals and thinking of things to post and hoping that my leg will miraculously heal up before the race. The difference is that I can handle it if it doesn't.
The day after I realized that I couldn't run I went straight to the gym and signed up. Over the past couple weeks I've gotten into heavier body building and discovered a different kind of strength that I had. Perseverance. I didn't let this knock me out of my game. I went straight back to training my body like the race didn't exist and I would be lying if I said that I'm not having a great time. My bodybuilding partner is insanely fun and has taken me under his wing, helping me out with weight adjustments, form and routines. He's been at this for a while so he's very knowledgeable and so it isn't hard to trust his judgment. We're a lot alike when it comes to drive and he knows how to push me. I'm enjoying the experience and I'm actually shocked by how much weight I am able to push already. All of my home training payed off! I'm already squatting more than my body weight and he's whipping me into shape upper body-wise. No more stick arms! Hahah! But I fully intend to get back into running again. Even with the pain...it felt amazing to run again on Monday. I'm missing this race...not missing my legs. You haven't heard the last from me yet!

On another note...I'd like to thank all of you who have followed this blog and supported me along the way. You don't know how much this means to me and I hope that you're not too disappointed. For any of you that still have questions on running, diet and training...actually questions on anything at all!...feel free to contact me because I'd be happy to help you out in any way that I can. I'm thinking of continuing to update the blog with my new training and diet so if that sounds good to you, let me know! I'll definitely start up again once I'm running again!
But thank you ALL so so so so much. You're all stars and I hope that you keep up your running while I resort to the bike! Haha! You're all in my thoughts. :)

More to come...eventually ;)

End of Week Six and and on to Seven

Week Six Day Seven

Yesterday morning I slowly got out of bed and tested my leg. I was able to walk fine with just a slight tweak in the outer thigh if I put weight on the leg at a strange angle so there was definite improvement. I still wasn't ready to run but I could definitely cross train. I was going to go to the gym again today for that crazy training session that I did last week. I loved it so much so I knew it was just the thing to lift my spirits. I also reminded myself that if I was doing my marathon training routine today would have been a cross train day anyways.
I started the day with plain yogurt with whey protein mixed in and my usual chopped apple.
I had to go back into town for more errands. This would be the true test as to whether I should train that day because if I could walk about for extended periods with no problem then I'd give myself the green light for the tough cross-fit session that I was in for.
And as I was out and this is only a $15 meal, I went to the vegetarian restaurant that I love so much...again...



Stewed lentils with okra and pumpkin and a carrot beet salad.

I cleaned the plate this time around.









Just a note here. I like this meal because it's got a variety of colour which means that you're getting a variety of different nutrients/phytochemicals as well. I remember reading an article that listed a set of colours and stated that you should eat that colour fruit or vegetable at least once a day. The USDA recommends giving particular attention to orange (2 cups per week) and dark green (3 cups per week) produce, both packed with vitamin A and other important nutrients. The other colours are red, yellow, light green, blue and purple/deep red. Most days I get all except blue...as blueberries cost as much as a quarter tank of gas here.

So I got to the gym about 20 minutes early so that I could give my body a thorough stretch. I focused into the IT band (which is the muscle down the side of my leg that's acting up) and once I was finished my leg felt perfect! Everyone else except the instructor was late so I hopped on the stationary bike and did about 18 minutes of a program called 'pikes peak' or something.

It's a good thing I stretched. Good grief. Today was a million times harder than last week! We started off doing laps of frog squats all around the gym and then straight into jump rope and then the intensity never dropped until about 20 minutes in. It was insane. Burpies, jump squats, exploding star jumps, high knees, mountain climbers, lunges, holding squats while lifting weighted bars out in front of us then above our heads then back again....all of that with NO rest. My heart was pounding so hard! Then finally we got to drop down on the mat and do things like bridge lifts, back exercises, different leg exercises...and then we had to do push up drills which I actually did very well in! I finished second and I was the only girl! *smug grin*
It was absolutely intense though and I had to push myself to keep going...which is just what I wanted after missing my run! Hahaha! I can't wait to go back again next week! I taught yoga in the evening so I got to really stretch out my limbs after the workout and I was hoping with allof me that I could run the next day.


Waiting for the boys to show up...can you spot me?

I'm wearing blue!










Week SEVEN Day One

Today makes a week since my last big run. I really hoped that I would be able to run today but after some thought I had to admit that it was probably a better idea to not run just yet. I had set my alarm early just in case...and I slumped back in bed a little defeated when I made my decision. At least I got to get some extra rest. I was lazing about a bit all morning but once I managed to reassemble my stink-o attitude I chose my cross training of choice.
Yesterday was an intense full body workout so I opted for a weight free day and stuck to the stationary bike. All that I was going to do was an hour of moderate to vigorous intervals with a ten minute light effort warm up.

Breakfast was yogurt and apple...again... <3















I've never done a full hour of intervals so this was a new challenge that I gave myself...and I definitely was feeling it about 35 minutes in. I got a good burn in my thighs (not to mention butt) and it was a simple yet fun way to challenge myself. I pedaled away to Avatar so my cool down intervals felt like a trail ride through the rain forest! I'm still a little down about not running but its forcing me to be creative with the workouts that I do. Tomorrow I am in for a burn as I am doing weight training with a bodybuilder friend of mine. I will update you on the fun tomorrow!
For now I have to get back to work!! Hahah!

P.S...my leg feels even better tonight!

Week Six Days Five and Six

Day Five was my total rest day. I noticed that in the evening on Saturday my knee really started to act up. I was resting and when I got up I was horrified to see the severity of my limp. My leg didn't hurt terribly but I found a strange discomfort in the back of my left knee when walking. I figured it was just playing up after a long day. I was glad that the following day (Sunday, Day Five) was a rest day. I woke up on Sunday with a stiff leg but nothing terrible...but as I started to move around the discomfort got worse and worse to the point that I was so uncomfortable walking in my sandals. I realized at this point that I needed a knee brace. Unfortunately this meant walking about it the huge grocery store here. I was also aggravated because I had choreography practice for our big concert in the evening and I would have to be on my feet. The pain isn't in the knee itself but in the muscle traveling along the outer thing to the knee. The back of the knee feels like its going to snap when I put too much pressure on the leg. I took some Tylenol and managed to hobble through the dance routines. The Tylenol really helped but I was still very discouraged by how slowly I had to move about. This just came out of nowhere and all of a sudden I'm reduced to granny speed! Uuuugh.

Day Six:
Today the pain isn't as bad. The brace has been helping a lot.
I'm using the knee stabilizer by Ace.

It fits really well and the support feels great. I was worried that my little legs may not fill it out but I was happily surprised.















So...I was supposed to run today but that's out. Am I happy about this? No. Now isn't the time to be slowing down. I'm trying not to think about it whatsoever. I hope that I will be okay by Friday which is when I plan to do my big run. I don't want to slow my training now...I'm so close! I'm giving the knee the rest from running but I am still going to try and be active in other ways. The knee feels better today so hopefully tomorrow I can do some cross training.
The main focus for me right now is to refuse to feel sorry for myself and just work with my body. I'm feeling insanely restless but I know that the days off are necessary. I'm partially tempted to run through the ache but I have to remind myself how disastrous that could be. It just feels terribly wrong going from so much activity to being the slowest person to exit the studio. Pooh.
Anyways the injury really isn't that bad and I'm sure that all I need is a little rest.
I will keep you updated.

Love,

Hop-along

Week Six: Days Two-Four!

Okay time to play catch up!

Week Six Day Two:
Hallelujah! Noooo hangover! I wouldn't go as far to say that I didn't need some extra Zzzs, but once I got that I was up and about as usual. More errands to start my day...tons actually. I was walking about town for three hours! If I walked anymore I would have had to skip training! Haha! I figured as I was out again I would eat at that vegetarian restaurant again. I hardly eat out so this was a treat! Twice in one week!!


Curried chickpeas (garbanzo beans) with steamed spinach and a cucumber/tomato/red onion salad drizzled in a rice wine or something with sesame seeds. Mmm

Once again, too much beans but I almost finished it. Not quite though.






After trekking about all morning I figured I'd need a quick snooze before I decided to work out. Today was upper body and core training. Once I had napped I started with my stretch and warm up on the stationary bike and then did a 'fast-as-you-can' cross fit session that looks short when written down but murderous to do. It was appropriately named 'Suicidal Sweat Workout' by the trainer who wrote it up. It has draining reps of 2 jump squats straight into a jump knee tuck straight into three push ups and on the third, jumping back into the squat to do the sequence again...fifteen times...yeah. Brutal but rewarding. After that I did a different upper body strength workout this week. I used one of Gilad's training sessions that you use slightly lighter weights for but more reps with no rest. I forgot how hard it was!
Definitely a successful cross train day though. I felt the burn!

Week Six Day Three:

Tempo tempo tempo! (ugh! hahaha!)
Another tempo run...and it was to be even harder this week. If you remember, last week's run was a mile warm up and then run all out for 25 minutes. It was a struggle last week and I wondered how I would be able to manage this weeks increase to 30 minutes. It was also ridiculously hot and I was not too keen about running out in such conditions. I decided that today's tempo run would be done on the treadmill...which would actually make it harder because I couldn't slack in pace. I have been doing some reading about tempo runs and they were saying that most people either run their tempo sessions too fast or too slow and its important to know your pace. A 'comfortably hard' pace was the term used again. I decided to revisit my training calculations on runnersworld.com and from how I ran my last tempo, my pace should be about 7.2 mph. Perfect! All I had to do was lock that into the treadmill and try to hold out!

Breakfast was a new regular and favourite of mine. Very simple but sooo delicious and filling.


One medium apple chopped up and mixed into vanilla yogurt. That's it! But soooo good!











Apart from being new to treadmill tempo runs...I also had something else new on my plate.
My arches have been killing me since my long run and sometimes it hurts to walk without shoes. So I realized that my old running shoes had to go. I needed a slightly bigger size to protect my toes and ones with better arch support. That was one of the things that I had to do in town the day before and I am still swooning over my purchase.


OOoooh yeah! I got Shox! Hahaha

Nike Shox.










They are so much more comfortable on my arches and I got a slightly bigger size so it was perfect. AND they were on sale! WOOO!
*ahem*
Anyways, I laced up those bad boys and got to work on the treadmill. The movie of choice was The Lion King and Hans Zimmer's masterpiece of a soundtrack was ideal for running. Go Simba go!
The mile warm up seemed to take foreeeeever again. But I didn't mind as much because I knew what I had to do once it was over. 30 minutes at 7.2 mph. Before I started training for this marathon the fastest I ever went on the treadmill was 6mph and for 30 seconds!! Hahaha!
It was the perfect pace...not terribly difficult at first but as the time went on it became harder and harder. I swear I hit a wall after 10 minutes. Ten minutes into all of my sessions that require speed, I want to stop running about 10-15 minutes in. Its always in that time that I feel like I can't do it...that I can't finish...that I should shorten the workout...things like that. I have to remind myself that I have to push through. Its hard and I sometimes doubt that I can...but once I decide to try is when I make it through. 20 minutes in, I was tired but I wasn't letting myself off the hook. I knew I had it in me...I just had to think of something else and let myself do it. I zoned into the movie as best as I could and tried not to look at the time on the treadmill when I'd adjust the incline to simulate different hills throughout. I didn't make the incline particularly drastic at any point but I would run at inclines for over a minute at a time or gradually increase it by .5 every 30 seconds...then gradually decrease. I just played about with the numbers and tried to work with my energy levels but still present an increased challenge along with holding the pace. The last 5 minutes weren't as terrible as I would have expected. I was counting every second believe me...but I knew I could do it this time. It was hard but worth it!

Lunch was my usual veggie burger/sweet potato combo before rushing out to work.

Week Six Day Four!

That's today! Yay I caught up!
Today I did lower body strength work. I started with 30 minutes on the bike alternating between moderate and vigorous effort pedaling. After that a quick lower body strength routine of squats, one-legged deadlifts, one-legged, elevated jump lunges, backward lunges, step ups and such with some push ups, crunches, lateral rows and mountain climbers thrown in. Quick and dirty. Then off to work which is where I am posting from!

More to come as the weeks roll on! Less than a month away from the race!

Crazy Amazing Days Seven and Week SIX Day One!

Wow wow wow time is just zinging past and I'm struggling to keep up!!
So sorry for the delay in posting. I don't have much time tonight but I will update you on two days and do the other two tomorrow!!!

Week Five Day Seven:

This was the day I finally made it into the gym for the first time in YEARS. One of my students told me about an intense training session that happens in the gym every Tuesday and he wanted me to try it out. I skipped on it last week because of lack of rest...and this week I didn't sleep that much more but I definitely felt way more energetic and so I was ready for the challenge.
I had a bunch of errands in the morning before and I was running low on time so I decided to eat out whilst I was in town.
I went to my favourite vegetarian restaurant that never fails to deliver great taste at an affordable price!

Stewed lentils, steamed spinach and ocra with a beet and carrot salad.

The portion of lentils is far too much so I only ate half.









This meal had me bouncing with energy and I got to the gym all excited and ready to kick butt. I was the only girl training with these huge guys...it was pretty funny to see.
I can't remember all of the exercises exactly but we did a lot of hip flexor exercises, tons of core work, they gave us all weighted bars that we had to do a series of exercises with and then hold the bar above our heads, then straight out in front of us (ooooooooouch) while walking laps. We had push up drills, some crazy exercises for our backs where the trainer holds a ball out in front of you at different levels (you're laying on your stomach) and you have to reach up and tap the ball one time after the next after the next with no rest and with the ball getting higher up and ou have to do it extremely quickly. We did different squats, burpies, plank jumps, high knees...yeah it was tough but amaaazing. So fun to be training with other people as well. It really makes you push yourself that much harder. We ended with some running drills to improve your running start in sprinting. I went home buzzing with energy and hoping with all my might that I would have next Tuesday off...and I do! :D


This is where it all went down!












I had yoga in the evening and then rehearsals after...and I felt so alive and invigorated. I wasn't a bit tired! It really was a great day.


Week SIX Day One!

This was my 'big run' day again...and it was made even bigger because this time I was doing everything by myself. I didn't want to say anything before because I hoped that it wasn't the case...but after last week's 12 mile run, my running partner threw in the towel.
Its tough...I mean this training program is intense. It demands all of you, all of the time and you have to be willing to push yourself to your limits...and far out of your comfort zone. The difference between he and I is that I enjoy this...and he wasn't enjoying it anymore. Its fair enough...but I'll miss him.
So, I found out kind of last minute that this run would be done solo, but I know what to do by now so I am fully capable of planning my routes. This run was an 11 mile race simulation so I was expected to run a bit faster...just like I would in the race. I woke up at 5 and actually GOT up this time and sauntered into the kitchen for the breakfast that I wanted to have for the long run the week before.



Oatmeal pancakes drizzled in light maple syrup with half a cup of chopped watermelon.










While getting ready I realized that I didn't have any Vaseline and so I had to use my noodle to find a substitute. I remember that I had a bottle of lavender baby oil so I slicked down my 'problem areas' generously and then I got ready, packed my cooler and my duffel bag and drove down to my starting point of choice. The plan was to drive out 5.5 miles, plant the cooler and drive back to the starting point and be off! Driving the 5.5 miles out made me realize how far I was actually running...it was like I was driving and driving but the miles were creeping by...when I got to the 5.5 mark there was a metal spoke in the ground with a pink bit tied on it. Perfect! I put my drinks in the grass behind it and headed back.

I got to the parking lot...stuffed my car keys down my shorts and then wondered what to do with the banana. What banana you may ask.
WELL...smartypants here forgot to get gels so I had to resort to bananas again. I initially packed two bananas, one in the cooler and one to start with. I was really not happy about having to eat a banana while running but I didn't really have a choice. I just hoped to God it wouldn't have me running to the nearest bush. I decided that I was not running with a banana in my tights so I was going to hold it in one hand and my water in the other.
Stretch, timer started and off we go!
The first mile of my run included the hill that I did hillwork on. I was so pleased to see how much easier it was for me to run lightly all the way up it. It wasn't incredibly easy but there was a great difference. Off to a good start!
The route had a lot of ups and downs so that made it challenging. It wasn't so bad running on my own. I felt a little bit proud of myself for doing everything alone...like the kid who finally uses the potty aaaaall by herself...and I enjoyed the morning breeze rushing over my cheeks. Pun intended.
I was hoping that I'd get some aromatherapy action from my lavender oil but I guess my old sweaty self pretty much overpowered it and made my sportsbra soak most of it up. The bra was lavender coloured though so I guess it was entitled. :P When I was about three miles in I started to soften up the banana by squeezing it gently trying to make the pulp mushy. My hope was that by the time I was ready to eat it I could squeeze it out like a gel. (Keep all of your potty-brain banana jokes to yourself from this point on! Haha!) But yeah...I had to pretty much massage the banana for a couple miles and then I bit off the tip and squeezed on the top end...and voila! It worked! I still ate it much slower than I ingest the gels because I was worried that it would be too bulky. Over about .75 miles I slowly sucked out half of the banana in small amounts so that it would not choke me like the last time. I felt pretty chuffed at my bright idea...but I still would rather a gel. Hahah.
I reached the 5.5 mile at about 55 minutes so I knew I was in good time. I got my Gatorade and left the other banana because I only ate half of the first one. I ran along the coast back in the other direction, making my way back to base. It got pretty hot and there were tons of cars on the road with early morning traffic. I tried to eat the second half of my banana inconspicuously but that was rather difficult. The hotter it got, the harder it got to run...and when I had two more miles to go I started to feel the effects of how much faster I was running...and how much faster I was taking the hills. I knew I could hold the pace though...and I was happy to see that I actually ran UP the hills faster than I ran the flats. Reaching the parking lot again was sweet victory as I finished in an hour and forty five minutes...which made me a few minutes faster than my last run AND it meant that I kept a steady pace of nine minute miles throughout!! The first thing I did was rip off my shoes and dash into the sea!


The victory sprint into the ocean!












There is nothing like the rush of seawater over hot, sore limbs. I ran in the sea fully clothed again and I had to try to refrain from doing the deadman's float because it might have been a bit alarming if someone saw me. But man...so good. I dried off and then went home and passed out for a couple hours after having a protein shake. When I woke up I was shaking with hunger and discovered a nasty pain in my arches. It was so bad that I could not walk without shoes on...I had to get my Burks with plenty arch support and drag my feet into the kitchen to make lunch. I must have been a sight in my underwear, night robe and my clunky Burks.
When I got to the kitchen...all I knew was that I wanted salmon and I wanted it NOW. Hahah. I was monstrously hungry. I was hoping to have a seared fillet but I pulverized the crap out of the fillet trying to force it to hurry up and thaw...so upon looking at the salmon mush that I had produced I though...salmon tacos it is!


Salmon and red onion tacos drizzled with honey mustard. That's the last of the plantain, baked.











I ended up nicknaming this my Zoidberg-er because it reminded me of Professor Zoidberg once I put it out on the plate...


















Then I REALLY had to ice my feet. I remember when I iced my foot when I first started to lose my nail that I felt a difference between the two feet for the rest of the day. My arches still hurt a lot so I got myself a bowl full of ice and popped my tootsies in!



Brrrr....











It made a world of a difference though!

Once I was up and about again...I had one more exciting thing on the agenda for the day. I had been asked to model as a cherubim and the shoot was that day! I was to have my back airbrushed and it was to be a 'tattoo' of three of the heads of a cherubim (an eagle, a lion and a bull). I was nervous and excited. My last modeling job was a disaster but it was a commercial shoot. This was editorial and much more up my alley.


Pretty cool eh? I had to stand like that for ages and try not to move while they painted it on. That was just as hard for me as my training...I am so fidgety.









But the shoot was fantastic and lots of fun! The photographer is a great guy and was very encouraging and gave clear direction. He was happy with my performance as well so it really was a great experience! Lots of laughs. Can't wait to see the finished result!
Yet another great day! How blessed am I???

I don't have time to post anymore so I will fill you in on the rest of the days asap!!!!

Big love to you all!

Week Five: Day Six

Lookie lookie at who is posting two days in a row!! ^.^

Day Six had a rocky start. I'm not sure if you remember a couple weeks ago I had a speedwork session that I couldn't get my head around and so I did hillwork instead. This same speedwork training session came up again on my schedule so I automatically decided to do hillwork again.
Well I set my alarm for 5:30Am and pulled another silly move by putting my head back down for a moment and then waking up at 6:30...which is when I wanted to be leaving. I was pretty aggravated at first and I was hoping that the day would have been overcast so I could still go...but no luck. I wondered if I should just suck it up and face the heat...or if I should just cross train...but I really didn't want to miss out on a running session. So I thought about it and I remember reading a hillwork training session that could be done on the treadmill and I considered doing that but then I decided to revisit the original speedwork session that threw me for a loop:

"2 miles at 10-K pace, 2 x 1 mile at 5-K pace, 2 x 800 meters at slightly faster than 5-K pace, with 5 minutes recovery after the 2-mile and 3 minutes recovery after the miles and 800."

I then realized, 'Ah-ha! I can do THIS on the treadmill!'. I had spoken to my running partner a couple weeks ago and we discussed how this session was to be run and he said the progression was warm up-2 miles-5 mins recovery-1 mile-3 mins recovery-1 mile-3 mins recovery-800m (half a mile)-3 mins recovery-800m-3 mins recovery-cool down.

After some calculating using my time and pace estimations from runnersworld.com (I pasted them to my last post) I worked out that my 10k pace would be 6.8 mph, my 5k pace would be 7.2mph and slighter faster would be just that. I'd try 7.5 which I thought was adventurous. Suddenly I was excited again and itching to start my run. I also think it was a blessing in disguise that I woke up too late for my hillwork because the treadmill is much lower impact and my hip is better but not perfect.

I uh...forgot to photograph my breakfast. Sorry. :P I had a soy cheese and egg white omlette with whole rye and a cup of chopped watermelon.

I have to tell you...I much prefer running outdoors. I can't run on a treadmill without a movie on...more specifically a Disney movie (shut up...) so I put on my usual choice of The Little Mermaid and plodded away happily to Alan Menken's genius of a soundtrack guiding my stride for my warm up mile. Everything seems to take that much longer on a treadmill...even with the movie playing. I was only really able to pay close attention to the movie during the warm up mile because once that was over it was time to pick up the intensity.
Longest...two...miles...ever...Even though you have the little monitor showing you every 0.01 of a mile that you've completed it still feels like you're getting nowhere. I guess because in reality you aren't getting anywhere...you're just running on the spot! It kind of felt like a moderate tempo run difficulty-wise though. Some runners say that running on the treadmill doesn't do much for you because the belt moving the world beneath you makes it easier...but then you also have the challenge of keeping the pace constantly or prepare to be thrown off (or in my case slammed into the wall just behind the treadmill. And yes it's happened before.) I was definitely counting the minutes but it was lessened by my occasional ability to zone into the movie. The two miles took me about 23 mins.
I had a 5 minute recovery after the two miles in which I decided to run and get my camera so I could see what my stride was looking like. I set the timer and jumped on the treadmill to do the second section of the workout.
I upped the speed to 7.2 mph and it didn't feel that much horribly harder. I started to feel it half way through but I wasn't ever at the point where I was dying to finish. After the mile I quickly checked the camera and none of the shots caught my full stride so I set it and then tried again.
Another mile...felt a little bit harder. Each mile took me about 8:30 mins.
Then it was time for the 800m.
I started at the 7.5 mph but it felt too easy. I knew I was only going to be running for half of the time of the last mile so I could run faster and I definitely had the energy. I upped the speed to 8mph and then 8.5 mph. That felt amazing. No I didn't have the world whizzing by me but it just felt so good to be moving at that speed. I finished the 800m huffing and puffing happily. One more to go!
I started at 8.5 mph again and then my enthusiasm took hold and I upped it right away to 9 mph. Now I really felt incredible. It was fatiguing to hold the pace but I wasn't dying. It was a wonderful feeling. I was glad that I set up the camera one more time for this session because I felt like I was flying. I finished the .5 mile at about 3:25 and then did my cool down mile at about 5 mph. The Little Mermaid was over by this point and I realized I hardly watched the movie at all. Oh well! The workout was so enjoyable and I didn't even have to leave my house to run those 8 miles! I wouldn't want to do my long run on the treadmill but it was fun for a change today...except having to mop up my sweat. :P

I made myself a protein shake right after and photographed it because I felt bad about breakfast. :P


Soymilk and whey protein













While enjoying my shake I poured over the photos and I was pleased to see that my stride was bigger than I expected along with my form being better as well!


This shot didn't catch my full stride but I liked it because both of my feet are off the belt. Hee hee












And I took this one just for you. :)


Looks like I am doing the running man. :P














I stiffened up pretty quickly after this run. I felt it particularly in my calves and hips this time around. I did some around the house chores and then made a quick lunch.


Fish tacos in a corn tortilla and baked plantain.












I'm loving the plantain these days. I haven't had any in the house in a while so I am taking full advantage.

And so the rest of my day went on as usual. Chores, cooking...quick nap and then off to work.

Before I end today's post I'm going to talk to you about my 'must haves' when it comes to hydrating. I make sure to have all of these in the house when I know I have a run coming up.


You can click to enlarge.












What's in the photo and why? Starting from the left:

Smart Water: This is electrolyte enhanced water. I mentioned before that I like to have this on the first leg of my runs now instead of Gatorade because I get tired of the sweetness of the Gatorade especially when the drink warms up. I also need to have this in the evening of the run and the day AFTER the run so that I can continue to rehydrate with electrolytes without having all of the sugar, carbs and unecessary calories of Gatorade. This is all that has been saving me from my runner's hangover. When I can't get this, the zero calorie vitamin water would be my next choice and I'd just have to put up with the sweetness. The added vitamins are most welcome though!

Gatorade in powder form: A bottle of Gatorade costs almost $5 here. I didn't realize at first how much it was adding up but once I did I was happy to discover that I had the option of buying the mix instead. This container yeilds 35 servings (a Gatorade bottle has 2.5) and only costs about $20. This also cuts back hugely on the amount of plastic bottles that I'm going through! I recycle but still! I also like being able to control the portions. When I do shorter runs that I don't necessarily need the 2.5 servings of carbs that I would get from the pre-mixed bottles, I can just add one serving to a full bottle of water which reduces calories and also the drink is like mildly flavoured water instead of that choke-me-tenderly koolaid taste.

Protein Powder: In this case BioPure. I sometimes have some whey protein before my runs but I always have protein in a shake form post-run without fail. Ingesting protein within the first 30 minutes after running increases muscle recovery by 20%. I also like to add it to milks, yogurts or oatmeals on days where I feel like I need to up my protein or haven't had enough. Great for repairing and building lean muscle.

EAS ready-made shakes: I'm not always home after a run so when I don't have the option of mixing my own shake, or when I am in a rush and don't have time its great to have these handy. EAS makes a great line of protein shakes that are low in fat, good calorie wise and most importantly, have high amounts of quality protein. Myoplex Lite shakes and AdvantEDGE Carb Control are my favourites.

Soymilk: This is Silk Lite Original Soymilk. Its got a great amount of protein, good fats (but not too much) and its only 60 calories. Its also delicious and has less sugar than the almond milk that I was buying. Almond milk is also a great choice but I've been going with the light soymilk because of the reduced sugar and the fact that it has more protein. I drink this a lot to help take the edge off of my hunger if I'm overly peckish at night and already ate a snack but I also drink it through the day with meals because its just sooo good. This is also my preferred milk of choice for when making protein shakes.

And that's all for now!

Thanks for reading! <3