Tag Archives: fitness

Doctors Visit

7 May

Sigh, spending any part of my day at the doctor’s office is not how I want to spend my time. I am very anti-doctor. Not for everyone, I don’t mean I shun Western medicine or anything, just that I personally don’t like doctors and would much rather let my body fix itself when it gets sick or injured. I have an immune system right? Might as well let it earn it’s keep! lol

Having said that I have been seeing a lot of doctors since January, ugh, I’m so done with this, and yet, I am not, sigh. Mentally I am done, physically I have to keep going. *rolls eyes* It’s annoying.

Last week I had an appointment with a specialist I am seeing in regards to my hip, if you want a refresher on that lovely little story click here.

As a result of that appointment I now have to go to physio, sigh, and get an MRI, double sigh. Then my normal family doc calls me, well her receptionist called me lol, to set up an appointment. I guess the specialist had sent over to her the results of the most recent tests he had sent me for so my family doc wanted me to come in so she could talk to me about it.

I saw the family doctor today, she told me what the test results were and what they mean, then she made a comment about what activities I do. Now, I tend to downplay what I have been up to with these doctors cause I don’t want to be told to not do something but I figured since the BMO Run was already over I might as well make a comment about it, not like she can tell me to not do something when it’s in the past right? 😉 lol I mentioned I did the 8km run last Sunday and then went to compete in a dragon boat race and her reaction was “So you’re fit”. Um, what? Obviously from looking at me you can tell I am not fit, eesh. So I commented back something along the lines of “you’d think but doesn’t matter what I do I can’t lose this fat”.

That comment actually got her attention, the rest of the convo went something like this:

Doc: You haven’t lost any weight?

Me: Nope.

Doc: Not even from the run? You didn’t lose any weight from running? Or dragon boat racing?

Me: Nothing. Trust me, I’m trying.

Doc: Have I had your thyroid tested? (she looked at my file) I haven’t had it tested…I’m getting it tested. If you are this active and you aren’t losing any weight you might have a thyroid problem.

Me: Um, ok?

So here is where I am at. I try to shun doctors and all their tests. Buuuuuuut if this blood work shows something wrong with my thyroid she might prescribe some form of treatment or pills that will help fix the thyroid and have a happy result of me losing weight and how awesome would that be?? I am now wondering just how twisted I must be to be sorta hoping I have a thyroid problem…fairly twisted? Or just sorta twisted? Maybe just desperate…not that that sounds any better…

sick and twisted

 

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Twice Yesterday, None Today

23 Apr

Yesterday I had a lunch date downtown and decided I didn’t want to drive to it cause (1) parking downtown sucks, especially during the middle of the day (2) gas prices are ridonkulous ($1.53 right now, arg!) so I’m trying to drive less and (3) I’m trying to not spend as much money which meant not forking over for high parkade fees or using the precious gas that is in my gas tank. So I bussed it and was horrified to learn bus fare is now $4! What the hell?? That’s crazy!…in my humble, non-informed opinion.

Because I have now turned in to a scrooge when it comes to spending money I decided to walk home instead of pay another $4 to take the bus. I couldn’t walk there because I wasn’t sure how long it would take but I figured I’d have plenty of time to walk home afterwards so why not? I am physically able to walk long distances and feel that if I can do it then I should because one day I will be old and won’t be able to walk a block without tiring myself out and I’ll wish I had walked more when I could. Right? Right!

I popped my earbuds on and started the long walk. It started off ok, interesting shops to look at, pretty cherry blossom trees in full bloom, random people to watch. I actually don’t mind walking places if the weather is semi-decent because you get to see so much more than when you are driving.

After a while, even with music playing in my ears that I love I started to get bored. sigh. The view was less interesting, just traffic on one side of me and non-interesting shops on my other side. The people on the sidewalk became fewer and far between as I left the bustle of the downtown core and was walking over the bridge, past the highway and onward.

I hit a stage where I wanted to stop. I didn’t. But I wanted to. My legs kinda hurt, I was bored, I just wanted it over. I gotta say, that part sucked. When I do long walks I do them as hikes on trails going up mountains, where I am surrounded by trees and nature and there is always that potential threat of running in to an animal that could kill me (bears I’m looking at you! 😉 ). Also, in the wilderness you have to pay more attention to where you are walking because of the uneven ground, twists and turns in the trails, sharp inclines and declines. Walking a mountain trail is way more interesting then walking along a city sidewalk.

Obviously I didn’t stop, who does that? Stops out of boredom? Not moi! lol I turned it in to a challenge in my head, sort of a can-I-maintain-my-speed-and-make-it-home challenge.

Whadda ya know, I succeeded! 🙂

The only times I stopped were at red lights, nothing I can do about that. Luckily I hit almost all green so there was very little stopping. I maintained my speed even when on the hills and I have proof of that thanks to my Runtastic App lol I want to upload a pic of the route I took with all the info but my phone has 9% battery right now so my Dropbox App won’t transfer the pic due to low battery life, lame! I’ll come back and edit this post tomorrow to add the pic so you can see. 🙂

In the end I walked 8.75km in an hour and a half. Not too shabby…I think? lol I never know what a good time is when it comes to how long it takes to run or walk a distance so I’m gonna go with a rating of “not too shabby” and hope I am right lol 😛

I thought I’d be home in time to chill before going to dragon boat practice and I sorta was, depending on how long of a rest I wanted lol I had enough time to have a cup of tea, sit, wish I could sit for way longer, then change, stuff my hair up under my hat, grab my gear and book it to practice. I was actually a little bit late and missed part of the warm up but didn’t feel too badly about it considering the walk I did.

So there we have it, yesterday I exercised twice, the loooong walk lol and dragon boat practice. I was really happy with myself for doing that. 🙂

Today however, hmm, lazy much? lol I was supposed to go for a walk with a friend who only goes cause I drag her, she haaaates doing any of the physical stuff I like to do, sigh. We ended up going to Costco instead and after we were done hanging out I ended up at home, sitting, doing nothing of importance. Normally I’d of at least done the laundry or something so I could justify not going for a run or to the gym buuuuut nope, nuthin. So lazy! Boo! 😦

lazy

I’m trying to pretend that because I exercised twice yesterday it is ok that I didn’t exercise today, like it will somehow all balance out at the end of the week lol I don’t think it really works like that but for today I am sticking with that illusion. 😛

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Rest Days

19 Apr

I’m not sure how I feel about rest days. I know for muscle growth you need them, but generally you can have a rest day that isn’t really a rest day. That makes no sense to you I’m betting, what with you not being in my head an all lol

If you are working on building muscle it is easy to have a rest day because you just divvy up what days you work various muscle groups. So, Monday might be arms and shoulders, Tuesday  legs, Wednesday back etc. You are still going daily but you are also giving certain muscle groups a rest.

A year or so ago when I was following an extreme workout regime given to me by a super fit friend I got one rest day a week, my week looked like this:

Day 1 – short cardio, arms and shoulders

Day 2 – cardio, core

Day 3 – short cardio, legs

Day 4 – cardio, core

Day 5 – short cardio, back

Day 6 – cardio, core

Day 7 – rest

I personally feel a rest day needs to be earned, and because I am super hard on myself I feel that until I am at the fitness level I want to be at, and am maintaining, I have not earned a rest day. Doesn’t mean I don’t have days I don’t exercise, but that is due to scheduling or sheer laziness, not because I have it marked down as a rest day lol.

rest day 3

This past Wednesday though I consciously took a rest day. The previous Sunday I went running, did a bunch of squats and some upper body weight work, Monday I went for a hike, Tuesday I had dragon boat practice. The run alone caused me some muscle pain, mostly in my legs, well, most likely the run combined with the squats lol, but whatever the cause, there was muscle pain. The hike on the Monday was not planned, I was supposed to be doing something else but it ended up as a hike (on a new trail, yay!) but that did nothing for my muscle pain, especially when I wasn’t content to just hike so I did interval work while hiking. By that I mean whenever there was a flat section I would either stop and do squats, change from walking to doing walking lunges, plank, do some push-ups or do calf presses (standing ones, I would find a curb or log to balance on). During the course of the hike I did each of those exercises three times, each time a set of 12, it made me feel the hike was a better workout for the inclusion of the extra work.

But yeah, so by Tuesday my legs were kinda pissed at me lol and the run I was going to take before practice did not happen. By the time Wednesday came around all I could think was my legs would never forgive me if I went running or hiking that day so I did nothing exercise-y. I did some house work but not enough I feel it can be counted as exercise lol

Thing is, while I am not adverse to building muscle, when I think about building muscle I think of my back, shoulders and arms, mostly because that is where I need it for dragon boating. I don’t really think of my legs, which means I don’t generally give them a day off. The days I decide to not go running or hiking are usually days my knee is acting up, so I give the knee a break but that break is in no way meant as a rest day for my leg muscles, shrug.

I count my runs and my hikes as cardio, and I’m sorry but who gets a rest day from cardio? Nobody!…Least, I don’t think we are supposed to, are we?  But this past week made me realize that I am dummy and sure I am getting cardio when I go hiking or running but I am also building strength in my legs which means I am working the muscles, doh! Sooooo now I am wondering if I should be spacing my runs and hikes so I don’t do them every day, or at least consecutive days because I need to give the leg muscles a rest between workouts…

Why oh why do there have to be so many questions when it comes to working out?? sigh.

I think for now I’ll just follow what my body says, if the legs are hurting to the point the hike won’t feel good but will just be painful I won’t hike, but if I think the hike will stretch the muscles out and make them feel good well, bring it on! lol 😉

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Stir Fry Sunday: Mediocre Is The Best Praise I Can Give

13 Apr

Hey look at me, making stir fry on a Sunday again! Sadly, it wasn’t that great of a stir fry, but they can’t all be, right?

it doesn't even look good, sigh.

it doesn’t even look good, sigh.

I used vermicelli noodles, topped with a sweet and sour sauce. The veggies are Europe’s Best brand, the Zen Garden mixture (that is code for veggies commonly found in stir fry lol), they were heated in a pan with a stir fry sauce. Then on top of that was half a honey garlic glazed chicken breast and half an avocado (cubed).

The best I can say about it is it was mediocre. Definitely not my best! I wasn’t all that hungry though so there is the possibility that I was all “meh” about it cause I would have been perfectly content not eating anything. I made enough for two meals, the other portion is patiently sitting in my fridge, waiting for tomorrow to come when I will once again eat it for dinner…let’s hope it tastes better warmed up! *crosses fingers*

The reason I made stir fry was because after work I actually had enough energy to workout (shocking I know!) and I figured my body would want dinner since it had been forced to be active, apparently I was wrong. But hey, whatcha gonna do? I already had it made so not like I was just gonna ignore it.

Sundays and Mondays are my chill work out days. If I manage even a walk around the neighbourhood I am happy. I start work at 7am which means I am up at 5:30am and since I’m a night owl and don’t sleep well prior to 3am I usually accomplish those two days on roughly 3 hours of sleep each. Sucky.

Today I was determined to exercise after work so I took my workout gear with me, the plan was to change at work and go for a run in the neighbourhood I work in. I find the drive home lulls me in to a state of “I need a nap” so well that no matter how determined I am to workout once home, it just never happens. The solution seemed to be to avoid that situation completely. Well, let’s just say I’m not always a genius lol I forgot to take my pants…yup, that’s right, I had changed my upper half and went digging through the bag for my yoga pants and hmm, nothing there…oops! I thought I would get home and say screw it, it’s a sign I shouldn’t workout but instead I lectured myself, saying I was half dressed to workout so I might as well finish changing and go, and I did! Yay! 🙂

It was a fairly pathetic workout, I ran (well, jogged/walked) for a little over 5km, then did a bunch of squats, then did some upper body weight work with a set of dumbbells I have, then stretched, then declared it time to hop in the shower. 🙂

I know it’s not a great workout but like I said, on Sundays I am happy if I manage to go for a walk and this was better than a walk! You know that quote about how it doesn’t matter how slow you run you are still going faster than the person on the couch? I hate that quote, making yourself feel better by thinking poorly about some faceless person, not cool. So I changed it, I kept reminding myself while I was running that I may be slow but I’m faster than the lazy me who goes home after work and naps, and that should count for something, right?

On a junk food sidenote, I have received two care packaged lately, one from my mom and one from my uncle, both filled with junk food from England. Man-oh-man! My tastebuds are sooooo happy! My waistline? Not so much…This evening I snacked on something called Fruit Salad & Black Jack. Don’t let the name fool you, there is no fruit lol They have the texture of a Starburst, which I love! but the flavour is, hmm, not my favourite. There are black licorice pieces which I thought would be great, I love licorice, but it tastes like licorice combined with fruit and one piece leaves my tongue numb, ick. The other pieces taste fruity, I couldn’t narrow that down to a specific fruit flavour if there was a gun to my head, just a generic fruit flavour, those pieces I kinda like. I’ll be done the bag freakishly fast since I’m only eating the fruit pieces and the bag is mostly licorice pieces, I’m trying to look at that as a good thing, saved calories ya know? 😛 lol

2014-04-13 21.23.02

I will be bombarding you with English candy updates as I graze my way through the two care packages. I would love to be able to say it will take me ages to eat it all but English junk food is way better than Canadian (I’m sorry! I know that is non-patriotic but I love the food from across the pond! Please don’t kick me out of Canada! lol) and it won’t take me all that long to decimate  what has been sent to me. Guess I’ll have to push the workouts up to the next level or I’ll be doomed! DoooOOOOoooomed! Too dramatic? Nah, I didn’t think so either! 😛 lol

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So Far So Good

2 Apr

Last month I tried this thing, I wrote on a calendar I have hanging on my bedroom wall every time I exercised and I highlighted it in pink. This way, I could see at a quick glance how much or how little I was exercising. I wasn’t going to push to exercise more than normal, I just wanted to see where, in my normal routine I drop the ball.

2014-03-31 19.02.14

Uh, wow, I dropped the ball a lot! If you count the pink on that calendar page I only exercised 10 times. 10 times out of 31 days, uhhh…what?? Talk about being a lazy butt and having proof of it! 😦

I am guaranteed two times a week because of dragon boat practice but I’ve got to stop slacking the other days! The easiest day to exercise, besides my dragon boat days, is Wednesday because it is a day off. Fridays through Mondays are where I suck. Those are my work days. If I don’t get my exercise in before I go to work Fridays and Saturdays I won’t get it done because of how late I get home. Sundays and Mondays I am usually so tired after working the morning shift I do nothing but crash.

But, like I said, things have to change.

So, I changed them. 🙂

This past Monday we had beautiful weather, sunny, warm but not hot, the cherry blossom trees are in bloom, a perfect spring day. I left work late but was determined when I got home I’d go out and at least walk, enjoy some of that sunshine. I ran in to my landlords when I was leaving the house and asked if their dog might want to come with me, they said yes so I had a super friendly golden lab with me. I didn’t care where we went so we followed her nose. Lemme tell ya, her nose took us on a weird, convoluted route.

the route the dog chose

the route the dog chose

I had planned on only walking, normally I get down on myself if I walk more than run but I was tired and my goal was to get some sort of exercise even if it wasn’t as intense as I would like. The dog however had other plans, lol. She wanted to run and who am I to say no to big cute doggy eyes? I am not that strong! 😉 So, it was a jog/walk. The green parts on the map are where we walked, the yellow was a jog, the tiny little orange section was more of a run, you can see that didn’t last long lol In total we went 5.45 km in 1:02:33.

Then Tuesday I had dragon boat practice so two hours of exercise there, yay! I usually (read that as Always!) sit left side of the boat but we were short people who sit on the right at practice so I ended up sitting on the right side. It was…odd…My body is used to sitting left so it was a tad more painful than normal but not bad painful, just, the other side of my body was getting worked more than it is used to, so muscle pain. Actually, I’m still feeling it today. *groan* poor muscles! lol

Today I went for my first hike of the season. I am soooo glad it is hiking season again, I didn’t realize just how much I missed it till I was out there, on a trail, in the wilderness, away from everything. Well, almost everything, I was with a friend lol We went slower than I would have if I went alone but the point is that we went…right? I used my Runtastic App to track the hike, like I did above with the dog walk, but my phone battery was low and it died while we were still on the trail so I don’t have full data on the hike. I plan on redoing that hike so I can get accurate distance and time it took. The app recorded a distance of 8.12 km in 1:36:06 which sounds horrible buuuuut please take in to account we were on the side of a mountain, on trails, going slower than my normal pace. Take a look at the picture below, you’ll see where it stopped tracking (where the red dot is)

the hike up the mountain and back

the hike up the mountain and back

The numbers on the trail are the app marking the km’s so we went up 5km then turned around and started back down, using my oh-so-non-impressive math skills I’m thinking that means we did 10km. Pretty snazzy math that! 😉 The red dot just past the number 8 is where the phone died but obviously I am not still on the mountain and I made it down and if I went up 5km then I had to come down 5km so yay for 10km! Unfortunately I didn’t notice what time the phone died at, and I didn’t take note of what time we started the hike or what time it was when we got in to the suv at the end of the hike so there goes any hope of my figuring out the math for how long we were hiking. Hence my needing to do the hike again, to get accurate numbers.  I don’t mind doing it again though, it is a really nice easy hike, a good one to start the season with. 🙂 I try to ease in to hiking season cause it can be brutal on my knee, sigh, this will definitely be a go-to-trail when I want easy, meant to relax me hiking, not intense-push-to-the-limit hiking.

So let’s tally things shall we? We are three days in to the week and I have exercised three times, booyah! I know I’ll be exercising tomorrow so that’s in the bag. My big challenge will be Fridays and Saturdays, for some reason doing some form of exercise before work on those days always seems so impossible. I don’t know why I can’t make it happen! I irritate myself with this failing weekly. Maybe this week I’ll manage it, after four days of being active maybe I’ll be so used to getting some sort of exercise it’ll be easier to get out of bed and head to the gym…maybe?

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Society and Rain

28 Mar

Two things stopped me from running tonight after work, well, three if you count my laziness whiiiiich I suppose is the only one that really counts but let’s ignore that one shall we? 😉

I once again didn’t manage to get my lazy ass out of bed early enough to workout before going to work today, sigh, I hate myself for that every time it happens which fyi, is every Friday and Saturday. blarg. I have plenty of time before work starts to get in some sort of work out, whether it is an exercise dvd, going to the gym, going for a run, hell even just doing some squats and free weight stuff in my apartment but do I do any of those? Nope! I sleep in just long enough to not have enough time to work out then I chill and do nothing important before going to work. An utter waste of a day. I do this every week, it’s pathetic. *rolls eyes*

After work tonight (I was off at 9:15pm) I actually felt like working out. I didn’t feel all super pumped this’ll-be-the-best-workout-ever! but I felt, I dunno, like it was time. Like I had hit my fed upness with myself, hit my limit of lazy and wanted to do something physical. I had to stop at Superstore on my way home but I decided on the drive to Superstore that once I got home I’d quickly change and go for a run. I was actually looking forward to it believe it or not.

teehee

teehee

Well, after Superstore I get back in the suv and start driving and got hit by a wave of tiredness. Completely out of proportion to the level of activity I had for the day I might add. I swear I felt like I could have gone home, gone to bed and fallen asleep right away. I never sleep early, my body just can’t do it, so feeling like that was uber weird for me.

I got home, sat in the suv and tried to mentally convince myself that I was going to go for a run, even if it was slow, even if it was pathetic, at least it would be something. I was texting with a couple friends at the time and one of them said I shouldn’t go running, it was too late at night and not safe. I was all “huh? that’s ridiculous” but it got me thinking. I’ve gone for runs at night before and while running have thought it was high on the list of stupid decisions I have made because it is dark, late, paths are empty, not only could I injure myself due to poor lighting conditions but I could come across someone who has less-than-nice intentions and get myself in to some serious trouble. I’d be an idiot to not be aware of that.

I absolutely hate the idea of fear making a decision for me, of my not doing something because it could be dangerous, could put me in an unsafe situation, could have negative consequences. People would never get anywhere, have new experiences, truly enjoy life to it’s fullest if fear made their decisions for them. For all of that though, I have to be realistic. There are certain situations I really don’t want to be in, like being attacked while running, and if running late at night is going to increase my chance of that well, maybe I shouldn’t go. sigh.

Despite living in a city that is considered safe, in an area that I feel comfortable walking home tipsy in, I still have to be aware of my surroundings, keep an eye out for someone acting suspiciously, someone who perhaps doesn’t belong or might have nefarious reasons for being there. And isn’t that pathetic, and sad, and horrible? That as a woman I can’t go running late at night without having a niggling fear it could be dangerous, without having to be aware that it is my responsibility to not put myself in a stupid situation because others can’t be trusted?

How did this come to be? Or better yet, how can we stop it being like this?

While having these somewhat deep (and mildly depressing) thoughts the clouds opened up and it started to rain, not lightly drizzle but pour rain, which ended my internal debate on whether I would chance it and go running or play the coward and stay inside because I do not run in the rain, I might melt! 😉 lol

So now it is almost 1am, I am still feeling a bit tired and I just might attempt to get an early night. Who knows, maybe if I get to bed and to sleep before 3am I’ll actually be able to drag my sorry ass out of bed in the morning and get it to the gym before heading to work! *crosses fingers*

Sidenote: you’d never know it by how lazy I have been for the past, oh, forever? lol but I actually really like working out. I know! I am that person, I said it, feel free to smack me upside the head! lol But I do, I like how I feel like I am accomplishing something, how I can feel myself getting stronger, how after I am done I feel better about myself – not just in how I look but how I feel health wise. You’d think all of that would be enough to get me out of bed and to the gym but somehow, it’s not. *rolls eyes*

and yet, still not enough motivation, sigh

and yet, still not enough motivation, sigh

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Let’s Hear Your Battle Cry!

6 Mar

I popped a Halls right before meeting my dragon boat team for practice this evening and the message on the wrapper was: Let’s Hear Your Battle Cry!

Hear me roar!

Hear me roar!

It was the perfect inspirational message, from the most unlikely source. lol

Practice tonight was all kinds of awesome! 😀 How do I know this? Because I am in sooooo much muscle pain right now lol Don’t worry, it’s the good kind of muscle pain not the crap-I-hurt-myself-again kind of pain.

We have a new coach and she is a lot tougher on us than our former coach. Which we are all, oddly enough, happy about. What can I say, dragon boaters, well anybody who takes part in a competitive sport, is a little kooky lol

It was raining but not cold, which is nice, what is also nice is when it is sorta chilly out there are fewer icky smells. Hey, it’s not clean water and once it’s summer our noses will be well aware of it 😛 On the plus side, there are some otters that come live in the training area during the summer and it’s always nice to see them. They pop their heads above the water and watch us and once they know we aren’t headed directly towards them they float on their backs and chill. Everybody saw awwwwwww! Cause we always do! teehee

omg could I be any cuter??

omg could I be any cuter??

Our new coach is focusing on our rotation which means my left ass cheek now hates me cause I sit on the left side of the boat so that is my pivot side and omg two hours of pivoting on one specific spot, ouch! I have a fat ass but at the same time it is bony, how that is possible I don’t know but it is. It’s always been like that, shrug. This means I am basically rubbing a bony part of my ass on the wooden bench cause I’m pivoting on it…the things I do for my sport! lol 😉

Dragon boating is all about core strength, you’re pulling the paddle through the water via the body rotation, it uses major muscles in your legs, core and shoulders. Which means a really great workout! It also means all those muscle groups are sore right now but it’s ok, they’ll be fine tomorrow. I’m hoping my muscle memory kicks in asap cause I’m not as strong as I was last season – that’s what comes from being a slacker during the off season – so I want to get that fixed. Whiiiiich means more gym visits, more hanging out with dumbbells, more push-ups, just…more!

Something I learned this evening, my new waterproof pants I bought a couple weeks ago? Awesome! Loved them! My waterproof jacket from last season? Not so awesome, sigh, it is no longer water proof on my left side which is the side I get splashed on, double sigh. Looks like I’m gonna hafta find money to buy a new waterproof jacket, ugh. Why oh why do items used for sports have to cost so much money?? *cringe* There should be tax breaks or discounts or something on sport clothes, I mean, if people are making an effort to get or stay in shape in a society that is involved in an obesity crisis they should get a break on the cost of the gear, in my humble and very poor opinion…and yes I know not all people who are large are that way because of their lifestyle habits, it could be because of health issues, I’m just whining because I am poor and now need to figure out how to afford a new waterproof jacket, I’m not trying to start a big debate on a touchy topic. Cause yeah, that so isn’t my blog style lol 😛

The only upside I am seeing to needing to buy a new jacket is I’m not that fond of the colour of the one I have so hopefully I’ll be able to get one I like better…on sale…a reeeeally good sale…

 

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Chatty Cathy Corner…Only I’m Not Cathy…

15 Feb

I don’t usually use my blog to talk about movies or tv shows. I have occasionally posted a link to a youtube video for a song I abso love but that’s about it.

Well, I just finished watching the movie Captain Phillips and am so blown away by it I feel I have to say something, to someone, and since my computer is within easy reach, and all of my friends are sleeping, you dear readers are the people I am going to tell. lol. So why don’t you grab a cup of tea, sit back and enjoy my random chattiness…

captain-phillips-poster

Go watch Captain Phillips. It was amazing, incredible, gripping.

Tom Hanks has a way of making you believe right from the moment he shows up on your screen that he is that character. And as Captain Phillips he humanized the Somali pirates and helped me (if only briefly) feel pity for them. This movie, while being about the first American ship being taken over by pirates in 200 years wasn’t all Pro-America-aren’t-we-great yadda yadda yadda. It was about normal people, put in a crappy situation…but that description right there, about people being in a crappy situation, describes both the Americans on the ship and the pirates who boarded them.

If you followed the news in 2009 then you already know how the movie ends, but in case you are like me and didn’t follow the news, or just forgot how it all turned out, I won’t spoil the ending by saying what happens. All I will say is I 100% recommend you (yes, you!) watch this movie, the acting alone makes it worth it, but the acting combined with the story will keep your eyes glued to your screen for the entire length of the movie, and how often does that happen? 🙂

On a completely different note, the trainer my lil sis and I worked with emailed us pictures he took of us while we performed various exercises so we would remember what they looked like. I printed them out today and stuck them on my fridge so now I have no excuse to not do them. I also printed a copy for my lil sis but doubt she’ll be happy to see that lol. All the exercises are designed to be things that can be done in a gym or at home, hence sticking the print out on my fridge where I will see it everytime I go to get food. There are a couple I can’t reeeeally do here but only because they involve my arms stretched straight above my head and my ceiling is too low for that, I could go on my knees for those, I think that’ll get me the same benefit as standing…maybe…I don’t really know…maybe I’ll just stand in the hall outside my door and hope my landlord doesn’t walk by lol

My Squat Circuit Challenge is going well, Saturday will be Day 7. So far I haven’t had any problems with my knees which is a relief. I think because instead of doing only the standard squat I am doing the 5 different squats it is somehow easier on the joints, I don’t know why I think that makes sense but in my head it does so I’m going with it lol

One Week Done!

One Week Done!

I’ve really got to decide what I am doing about this Ripped In 30 Jillian Michaels dvd challenge. Every now and then I pull out the dvd, pop it in and do the workout for Week 1. It is a good workout and weeks 2, 3 and 4 hold the promise of a real ass whooping but since I never do the first full week I’ve never bumped myself up to the next level workout. There is also a meal plan that I have yet to access online cause ya know, that’s how I roll apparently lol I should have started the Squat Circuit Challenge and the Jillian Michaels challenge on the same day then I could use the one to prompt the other buuuut I only just came up with that brilliant idea *rolls eyes* When I google results from her workout dvd there are amazing pics online, people seem to do really well following her workout dvd and meal plan so you’d think I’d be right on that but for some reason I’m not. I don’t even have an excuse for why I haven’t started the challenge, I just haven’t…sigh…

Why oh why haven't I seriously started this yet??

Why oh why haven’t I seriously started this yet??

My last bit of news is I got woken up by a phone call from the doctor today, oh joy. They got the results from my most recent x-rays and blood tests in and I yet again have to go in to talk to her about them. Ugh. I’m so done with that, can’t I just wait to see the specialist? Oh but wait, no, no I can’t cause she says I have to go in to talk about them. I’m not a big fan of doctors and all these repeated visits are irritating me. I’m not nervous this time about what she is going to say, she seemed to get all the scary words out of her system last time *rolls eyes*, I figure she’ll use the same scary words this time, or it’ll be worse (which I doubt due to my being very much aware of the pain level in my hip at every second of my day) or it will be magically better (which again, I doubt since I’m the one feeling the pain in my hip and that isn’t going anywhere). What could she possible tell me she hasn’t already? Aaaaand, I suppose by typing that I am tempting fate now aren’t I? sigh. I just want it fixed so it doesn’t cause me problems during dragon boat season which, oh yeah! That was my other news! lol

Grr! I am dragon, hear me roar!

Grr! I am dragon, hear me roar!

My team signed a new coach, yay! Who has decided we are starting our on the water training Feb 27th instead of mid to late March like we normally do. This means (1) I’m super stoked to be getting back on the water! (2) my first practice of the season is the day prior to my meeting with the hip specialist which is not the order I would have preferred that to happen in and (3) I’m gonna have to hurry and buy my new water proof pants (mine stopped being waterproof part way through last season, it was weird)

All done your tea? Good, so am I! 🙂

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A Lovely Mountain Day

6 Feb

I spent a chunk of my afternoon up on a mountain today and thoroughly enjoyed myself. 🙂 This may not seem odd but anyone who knows me knows I don’t like being outside during the winter, it’s cold, and there is snow and ice, and it’s cold! Yes, I know, I am a failure as a Canadian *rolls eyes* 😛

I decided to go snowshoeing today, yay! It was zero degrees Celsius, which is, um…gimme a sec, I gotta google…it’s 32F…so nice n warm and perfect for spending outside. 😀

We haven’t had a lot of snow this winter (yes, I’m in that part of Canada lol) so I’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting for the trails to get snowy enough to make it worth my while and decided today was a good day to try em out.

There was snow, and a decent amount of it, but none of it fresh and none of it even remotely powdery, which, if you snowshoe you know is the most fun type of snow to trek through. Todays snow was all packed down, partially icy because the snow keeps melting during the day then freezing overnight – vicious loop that.

For part of the trail my snowshoes looked liked this…

2014-02-06 14.59.31yup, that’s right, they were being carried not worn cause the snow was just that packed down that there was no point putting them on my feet, sigh. I felt like an idiot carrying them and was really wishing I’d left them in my suv but obviously I wasn’t going to go all the way back to my suv to put them in the trunk so in my hands they stayed.

Until…

2014-02-06 15.23.23

 

I finally got to put them on! Yay! 😀

And hey, don’t judge the pants! They are super warm, fit well and my friend sold them to me for a measly $60, I heart those pants!…even if in this pic they do make my legs look huuuuuge lol

snow...

snow…

Me...

Me…the most unattractive cold person ever, sigh.

more snow...

more snow…

omg, me without makeup, on the internet, ack!

omg, me without makeup, on the internet, ack!

Do you see the damage to my toque? The loose threads that make it look old and worn? Well, lemme tell ya the story of that damage. This toque is brand new, this is only the third time I have gotten to wear it and I take good care of my stuff. So how did it get to look like this? The cat. *glares at the fur ball* I came home from work and discovered my toque at the base of his scratching post, it normally hangs on a hook on the wall by my front door. So he got it off the hook, brought it through the kitchen, in to the living room, killed it, then dumped the carcass somewhere I was sure to find it. The sadist. I’m trying to figure out how to fix or hide the damage but don’t know how…so right now, if you are keeping score, it is Cat-1, Human-0.

I didn’t get to go all the way to the top of the mountain due to timing issues. I got up there a bit later then planned which would’ve been alright except I was going on a trail I haven’t gone on before and accidentally went on the wrong trail to start with, oops! In my defence, there are two trail entrances, fairly close to each other, the first trail entrance turned out to be the wrong trail but the other trail entrance is hidden from site when at the first trail entrance so I thought there was only one trail…does that make sense? lol

Anyways! I went on the first, incorrect trail, and fairly quickly thought I was gonna die. It was super icy, lots of rocks, not a lot of snow, steep decline the entire way and of course the rocks were covered in ice so every part that had some serious decline trekking to do left me feeling I was facing certain doom. I don’t do awesome on ice, thanks to my stupid knee, and I didn’t even have my hands free thanks to having to carry my snowshoes. The trail was seeming like one super bad idea. I didn’t get all that far in to it when I decided screw it and I turned back. I felt like a bit of a failure but figured better safe than sorry. Since I thought that was the path I was supposed to be using I was deciding how I was going to get my exercise for the day since snowshoeing obviously wasn’t going to work out but when I got back to the start of the trail I noticed some people seemingly pop out of nowhere on my left side who had snowshoes. Being the nosy person I am I went to investigate and found the real trail, yay! and phew! lol

The second, and correct trail was way better because (1) it had snow (2) it was meant for snowshoeing (3) it was uphill and (4) way less icy patches.

Oh, and can I say people who take part in outdoor winter sports, super friendly! Every person I passed on the trail (by passed I mean they were going the opposite direction as I not I was faster than them and scooting around them) said hi, or asked how I was doing, a couple people stopped and we chatted a bit. Messed up my timing (I was tracking my distance and speed) and also shortened the length of time I was active but I don’t mind. People look out for each other, and that’s nice. This one lady checked to see if I was going up the mountain alone, I said yes so she gave me a recap of what I was in for (she was on her way down), reassured me about how many other people she had seen, where there were some rough patches, stuff like that. Nice lady. 🙂 I notice the same thing when I am hiking in the summer, people say hi as you pass on the trail, sometimes stop and chat, things like that. Maybe it’s all that sunshine people are getting, makes them friendlier lol

 

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Jillian Michaels Ripped In 30

1 Feb

The other week I bought the Ripped In 30 exercise dvd by Jillian Michaels. Not gonna lie, I bought it not knowing if I would actually try it, stupid I know lol. *rolls eyes*

Jillian Michaels Ripped In 30

Jillian Michaels Ripped In 30

I’m torn on my feelings for Jillian Michaels lol She is one of those people that I, in equal parts, want to meet and fear to the point if I saw her on the street I might run away lol 😛 When I watch her pushing someone on The Biggest Loser to the breaking point I always think (1) I have never had a workout that intense before and (2) I don’t think I’d survive a training session with her…I’m pretty sure I’d die…just sayin…

So this dvd, I know it is only a dvd but I thought, if it is anything like the Insanity workout dvds I won’t make it, just not gonna happen! My hope for this dvd was an intense workout that doesn’t have as much jumping as the Insanity workouts (so I could stop hitting the ceiling lol) and that pushed me but was also do-able.

The ’30’ in the title refers not just to the 30 day program but also to the length of time that is each workout, 30 minutes (or a bit less) for each workout and there are 4 different workouts so with each week your workout gets harder. Apparently with just 30 minutes a day 6 days a week I will get the body I want in 30 days…somehow I doubt this…cynical? Maybe. Realistic? I’d say so. 😉

This evening when I got home from work I decided to try it, sheer food guilt led me to my decision to work out, I ate pasta for dinner then had two shortbread cookies, sigh, and I wonder why I am fat?? *rolls eyes*

I cleared floor space, put on my work out gear and prepared to be yelled at a lot and feel like I wouldn’t be able to make it. I also was looking forward to that feeling of satisfaction I get after I have completed a good solid workout.

Welllll, it’s not that the workout wasn’t good, it just…well, wasn’t great? It was better than doing nothing, and some of the moves were good, but I didn’t feel like I was doing any kind of intense workout, I didn’t feel pushed, I didn’t feel exhausted by the end…shouldn’t I be feeling those things?

Part of it was because I only have one set of dumbbells, ten pounders, which admittedly aren’t huge but for some of the moves I was supposed to have smaller weights, like three or five pounds. I made the executive decision to use no weights for some of the moves because my ten pounders were too heavy, makes me sound like a wimp huh? I swear I’m not!…well, not completely lol Next time I will have some canned soup or beans or something near by and use those in lieu of small weights, random I s’pose but it’s what I have lol

She has two women working out with her, one to show a modified simpler form for the moves and one to show a more bad-ass form. I tended to land somewhere between the two, never needing the super simple form but not always doing the bad-ass version either. I am a bit of a dummy and didn’t realize the workout was only 30 minutes (I thought the 30 referred only to the length of time the entire program takes, the 30 days) so I kept thinking “don’t do the bad-ass moves, save energy to get you through the entire workout”. I think next time I will do the bad-ass moves since the workouts are only 30 minutes lol.

The bonus to the workouts being so short is I should have an easy enough time fitting them in to my daily routine! 🙂 I’m not anticipating getting ripped in 30 days, but a little slimmer wouldn’t hurt lol.

Her plan of attack is a good one, she goes in sets, 3 minutes of strength exercises, 2 minutes of cardio, 1 minute of abs. You do each set 2 times and then you never do those moves again during that particular workout. I like that she doesn’t have you doing the same things over and over and over cause that gets soooooo boring, especially if you use the dvd often – which I will be in this challenge!

There is also a meal plan that I can get online, I haven’t checked that out yet but will tomorrow. I’m not sure if I will follow it (since I haven’t read it yet) but knowing me I’ll take some of the recipes or meal ideas and ignore the rest lol. 😛 I find meal plans that come with exercise dvds usually have a lot of foods in them I don’t generally buy and it is too costly to stock up on what they say I need. shrug. I want to get in better shape but I’m on a budget and I have to take that in to consideration when planning meals. 😛

So yeah, I don’t have a finalized review of the Ripped In 30 since this evening was my first workout with it but I’m going to try to do as she says (workout 6 days a week using her dvd, and each week advance to the next workout so it gets harder) and maybe by the end I’ll be more impressed then I am right now. We shall see!

Oh, fyi, if you are looking to buy it Wal-Mart was selling it (and other of her workout dvds for $10) 🙂

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