Too bad that there weren't exercises to erase lines

I was out with my family yesterday and my baby sister snapped this pic of me and my Bear ... I can't believe how many lines I have earned over the years. All I can say is that I obviously laugh too much and that I wish there were exercises to erase some of them!!

Make it a great day!

Another quick pic share

My baby BUBBA graduated last week... he is moving on to elementary school from pre-school so Momma took the kids to the beach to capture some memories...

Just a pic or two to share

So, I haven't been updating much... sorry! I thought that I would take a moment and share a couple of photos with you all.

Here is a photo of the Relay for Life team (click on it for a bigger shot). The first two (on the left) are my eldest daughter whom I refer to as Bear and her BF. I am the third lady from the right with the black and grey hat on ;)







On to the next photo... we were gearing up to do 18 kms of Kayaking so that is why we have on our sexy wet suits. One girl even wore a toque because it was so cold that day... we made it in 2.5 hours!!! I think that we broke some kind of a record as it was a 4 hour course :P I am the third lady from the left.

I am not blogging as much these days as I try and finish up the school year here at work. I am also preparing for a visit from my sweet baby sister and I do not have a lot of time right now. I will update occasionally.

Make it a great day!

Week Two is Behind Me

The tragedy of #life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it - Anon

I read the above quote from Running Quotes and it struck a chord with me. That is how I feel BUT I also feel that at least I began!

So, a little recap of week two:

Day 1:

06/05/2011 - Groin is SORE and I am apprehensive about this run. Should I do it or put it off... I decide that I have been putting things off and making excuses most of my life and will CHOOSE not to do that anymore. I also decide that I have to "get real" and if this pain gets worse I will not be doing myself any favours by running and risk hurting it more - so I take to the treadmill and run on there. Easy and slow pace was the key to success on this run. I finished with a calorie burn of 673 calories and an average heart rate of 147 with a maximum heart rate of 174.

Then the pain in the groin got worse... I considered going to the clinic and told myself that if things did not get better by Friday that I would go seek medical advice but on 06/10/2011 I felt good enough to tackle day two. This was a tough course that we decided to take... that is right WE (Mr. Wonderful and I) with big elevations but I felt SOOOOOOO good when we finished. It was hot, it was the only night in about one year that there was no wind, it was hilly but OH SO GOOD. I burned 872 calories and had an average heart rate of 155 with a maximum heart rate of 182.

06/14/2011 - Day three we head out on my favorite run... just the right amount of hills to get your heart rate up but flat enough that I can convince my teenager to attempt the run with me. I talked her right into it and we were off. We ran a little slower that I would have liked for the first run segment and then my Bear ran at her pace and allowed me to run on ahead so that I could get a good burn. I loved running with Bear because we got to chat and I was encouraging her and it made me shut the voice up in my head that sometimes tells me that I may not make it. I think that I can safely say that this was my favorite run so far... 698 calories with an average heart rate of 155 and a maximum of 177.

So, for those runners who encourage me and leave me comments THANK YOU! You help me to keep going thinking that you all started as I am... one foot in front of the other. I also would like to hear your feedback on my pace... right now (according to my B210K App with GPS) I am running a 12 minute mile for the run... is that ok? I know that I have a goal of running 10 - minute miles but does it start with a 12 minute or should I be running a bit faster and pushing myself more now?

Looking forward to hearing from you all... make it a great day!

Relay for Life + sugar free + B210K = A rough week!!

Oh boy, where to start? I guess that I should begin by talking about the Relay For Life that I had the privilege of participating in. I want to THANK my friends and family for their generous donations and I can proudly say that our little part of the world raised over $250,000 towards cancer research. It was also announced Saturday night that our Relay was recognized for it's uniqueness because we have included the three cultures of our region; Micmac, English and French. It was truly an uplifting experience that we are already talking about participating in again next year. Oh yeah, and I walked 5.5 hours that night burning a measly 1352 calories (there were a lot of people on the track and it was hard to get any real burn on).

On to the Sugar Free portion of this post... all I can say is F-A-I-L. I am going to try to continue to be more consciencious of sugar in the food that I eat BUT I can't get rid of it all together. I long for sugar, I need sugar... and I will treat myself once a week. I was walking around like someone took my best friend away from me... I was nearly in a depression! So, I cheated... more than once this past week but I am better now and more focused on healthier eating. As a result of the cheats my scale did not move this week... at all - not up nor down, so I will take it and make this week a better week.

Now on to my favorite thing of the month... my Bridge to 10K program. I began the week well despite a terrible pain in my groin area (a first for me). Because of the level of pain I was afraid to go out and run so I did W2,D1 on the treadmill so that if the pain got too bad I could just press stop and not have to limp home. I did it and the first 10 minutes or so was rough but I got into my groove and did well. Then I could barely sit, walk, kneel, anything for a few days so I just took a bit of a break. The on to W2, D2... I asked Mr. Wonderful to come for a run with me and he accepted. We headed North on a gravel road and I went faster than I normally do... because I wanted to impress my sweet hubby. It was HOT, no breeze and uphill and I was suffering. Again the first 15 minutes were the worse with some walks thrown in... I just could not make it the entire 15 minutes. BUT after the first set, with a two minute walk to bring my HR back to normal levels I was able to run 15 minutes, followed by a one minute walk and then 18 minutes, followed by a three minute walk and then another 5 minute run with the cooldown. I managed the 8.5km run in 1 hour and 2 minutes and burned a whopping 872 calories!!! It was an amazing feeling I had following that torturious run - can't wait for the next one!





So, that was my week. I had a lot of cheats, could not keep the schedule for the B210K because of the relay and the sore groin BUT I am finishing up week 2 tonight and will be on to week three on Wednesday. I hope that you all had as great a week as I did this past week -

Make it a great day!

Doing well on B210K

This is just a quick update to say that I am nearly done week two of the Bridge to 10K program which means that I am running 15 minute intervals now and I can hardly believe it. I also can hardly believe how much I like this running thing. I should mention that I had to take a four day break because I pulled a muscle or pinched a nerve in my groin area and I was really sore... but I am feeling MUCH better now and ready to get back at it.

I should also mention that my diet has not been as good as last week **blush** because I have been at meetings most of the week and have been eating what they were serving. I did opt for a large green salad and no macaroni salad ... but still did not make ALL the best choices and I am sure that it will reflect the weigh in this week.

Better days are ahead.

Hope you are having an awesome week and don't forget to MAKE it a great day!

Weighing in on the Sugar-Free Challenge

So, it is time that I recap my first week of the Sugar-Free Challenge... I have to forewarn you all that it was TOUGH and I was less than pleasant with everyone around me. This past week made me realize that I think that I am a sugar-aholic!!! I love EVERYTHING sweet and it was tough to realize that when you have just committed to dropping everything sweet :S

So, the first day I was highly motivated and determined to make this work. Every time that I went to eat something I paid particular attention to the sugar content and made some major changes to my diet. I traded in my low-fat yoghurt for Greek yoghurt (now a fave of mine), traded in my morning toast and PB with a side of coffee for above mentioned yoghurt and felt FULL all morning. My lunch routine (typically a protein shake) was traded in for a BIG subway salad with grilled chicken as opposed to terryaki chicken and I loved it too. Finally my supper was a LARGE portion of veggies, steamed, and a portion of protein. I did eat an apple for a mid-afternoon snack and had at least 64 oz of water every day. I would lie if I told you I didn't cheat... I did a few times. I added honey in my green tea after supper to avoid a binge of sweets and I did succumb to a tiny morsel of a crispy crunch bar (1/2" square) and I did treat myself to two coffees but other than that I did really well. So, how did I feel?!




I would love to tell you that I felt great BUT that would be a LIE! The first day I did because I really believed that I needed this. The second day I was lethargic... I couldn't even get up and do my run that night. I was drained. The third night I MADE myself run and thought that it was going to be really bad ... but it wasn't. And I progressively got better from there. That doesn't mean that I stopped thinking about sweets and that my mouth wasn't watering from all the sweets that were all around me... but I managed my temptations really well. My body began to find other means of energy and I started coming back around to my active self and near the end of the week I weighed myself to see if it was the thing that was finally going to stop the scale from climbing... and it was!! I lost 4 pounds this week ... I think that sugar was ONE of my biggest problems.

So, this week I will continue and try to reduce all my sugar intake... and I think that I am going to remain more conscientious of sugar from now on, especially since my body has recovered from the initial shock of sugar reduction.

On to my training for the week, as I mentioned earlier I did my week one of the B210K and it went well. I did a chest and back (352 calories), an arms and shoulders (440 calories) and worked with my hubby all weekend (which should count as a workout). Total calorie burn for the week was: 2776 calories and 22.18 kms ran. I am a little shy of my 100km goal for the month but with the new week here and the run I did last night I know that I will be ok...

On to a new week of sugar limitations, running and working.

Make it a great day!

B210K - week 1- in the books

Well, I have week one of the Bridge to 10K program under my belt and I am so pleased with myself. I started by running 4 miles the first day, on the treadmill, and felt relieved when it was over. The second day I ran outside and ran about 7.5kms and felt like I really accomplished something. Then the third day I ran outside again and ran 8 kms and felt tired :P Every day was a new feeling but overall I am proud of getting out there and putting it all on the line.

After Terri Lynn's recommendation I have decided to take the breaks that are suggested and do the program as it was designed. I am doing chest and back, arms and shoulders and a long bike ride on the other three days that are not dedicated to running. This should make the transition back to P90x in the cold days of late fall and winter much easier.

So, here are the facts of the first week's workouts:

Day 1:
638 calories
Average HR: 150
Max HR: 179

Day 2:
666 calories
Average HR: 162
Max HR: 175

Day 3:
680 calories
Average HR: 160
Max HR: 178


Make it a great day folks! Happy Trails :D

Motivation

"He who fails to plan, plans to fail" - Proverb Quote

I was introduced to this quote when I first started working for an insurance and financial group and it has always stuck with me. My best week's or most productive weeks are those that I plan for... and so, with inspiration from the blog Racing With Babies I have decided to make some of my goals public and on the first of the month I will update my progress with them.

Personal:

- To choose the University that I will be registering with
- Begin the transfer of credits process
- Book our summer holiday
- Pack my lunch everyday to avoid falling off the clean-eating bandwagon

Running:

- To continue to respect the Bridge to 10K schedule
- Run 100kms this month
- Gain confidence while running in public
- Watch my form to avoid injury and work all the muscle groups

Cross-Training:

- Weight-train two-three days per week
- Increase weights before the end of the month
- Add cycling when possible, at least one long ride per week


My only other goals for the month are to keep smiling and stay off Prednisone :P I am feeling really sore today and I am thinking that the weather is not helping me right now but I am praying for the pain to go away without any assistance of more meds.

So, that is it for me ... make it a great day!

** oh, and I wanted to state, for the record, that I do not usually keep such a messy back yard but we just finished building the deck and that is why there is wood and the trailer sitting there.... :P I will take a good pic when we are all cleaned up and looking good! Thanks for the nice comments anyway ;) We are blessed to live on the farm and to have so much land to roam on. I love my life!!