not letting life get in the way of my life

Since Tuesday, I've gone again to the Body Pump class at Goodlife.  It was just as enjoyable (and hard) as the first time I went.  It was already easier to follow the class and there was a different instructor who was awesome!  I almost didn't go because I knew I had to work late and the idea of working late and then going to the gym was horrid to me!  Fortunately!  Tammy was also saying she didn't want to go to the gym, so the two negatives turned into a positive!  Tammy offered to help me so I wouldn't have to stay as late and then we would go to the gym together!  If she hadn't done that, the chances would have been very very slim that I went at all.  Thanks, Tammy!

Since I vowed not to eat cheese, admittedly I have fallen off the wagon a couple times, but only because I tend to forget pizza has cheese on it.  Oops.  But overall, I think I've done pretty good.  I'm trying to eat more fruit and vegetables.  Well, more fruit anyways.  I'm still working on eating more vegetables.  Side note: Fuji apples are delicious!  They taste like they're made with honey! Yum.

So the reason for this post is that I was thinking about how the gym fits into my life.  I had to work this morning, then met up with Denise, went shopping with Michael, and came home.  Exhausted.  Tomorrow I have to go back in to work, then we have our pool end-of-session banquet in the early afternoon.  I was waffling on whether I had time to go to the gym before or after work and before the banquet.

I was looking at the classes available and some were too early (the subway doesn't start until 9am!), some were too late (the banquet is at 2pm).  The only ones that seemed to fit were the Body Pump classes and I wanted to try something new.  So I decided to check out the spin classes.  I haven't done these in a while!  I found one that looked like it would sort of fit into my time frame and was considering possibly maybe going.  Then I decided it was too much work and that I wouldn't have time and that I should just go to work and be done with it.

Then randomly I was just browsing the Goodlife website and came across this post by someone who was talking about life and not letting life get in your way.  She was basically saying that life is full of choices.  As cheesy as this sounds, we control our own destiny.  Only I can decide what I can and cannot do.  Within reason, obviously.

I really took this to heart because up until now, that's all I have been doing. All I think about how is how/if I can fit gym time into my life.  There are a ton of reasons why I can't go this day or that day.  But I have to re-prioritize and consider how everything else will fit into my life as I schedule the gym into it regularly.  I make excuses and use that to stop me from living and becoming the person I want to be. I know it's cheesy, but if I can't eat it, I might as well share it!

So.  I've decided to take the bull by the horns, so to speak, and will go to the 10am spin class tomorrow morning.  Hopefully it's not busy, but if it is, I always have options.  Maybe I'll give the elliptical a go tomorrow if the spin class is full.  Then I'll go to work and just show up late to the pool banquet.  Priorities, right?

Sorry if this post was boring!  But I had to share my revelation with you.  I feel like I'm on the right track.

Be happy!

oh, my gravy!

Ah, this feels good.  To be able to write a post after I wrote about the changes I would make yesterday and actually being able to say that I accomplished something.  I realize this is just one day, but!  All journeys start with a single step, right?

Accomplishments:

1. I did not have a snack with my morning coffee.  I had breakfast at home and a pastry-less coffee.  It was slightly sad (since someone got my order wrong at Tim's :P), but manageable!
2. Despite much dawdling, I managed to get to the gym on time for the 6pm Body Pump class!
3. I did not have cheese.
4. I did not go to a buffet! Shocking, I know.

I stole this picture from the GoodLife website. I was not this happy during the class!  That's for sure!

So I'm very proud of myself!  Especially since I got to the class and it looked like everyone else was already fit and knew what they were supposed to be doing (ie. getting a mat, and weights, etc).  I walked in and I almost walked out!  I was telling myself I would just do the circuit and be done with it.  That it would be the same!  But I forced myself to stay and am really glad I did!  I enjoyed it quite a bit!  Although, I already have trouble walking down stairs and I can feel my shoulders stiffening up as I type!  

Regardless, I really enjoyed the class and am hoping to make this a regular Tuesday occurrence.  The great thing about this class is that it's easy to make it harder by just adding more weights. Exciting, isn't it?!

Tomorrow I hope to walk to work and even though I don't have ultimate frisbee on Thursday, I will still try to go to the gym.

Also, because I'm new to GL, they have some introductory packages for personal training.  I get a free initial assessment and then they offer a "Guaranteed Six Week Fat Loss Program".  It includes 18 one-on-one personal training sessions and fitness assessments, nutritional plans, weekly shopping lists, etc.  It doesn't say how much, but that there is a savings up to $250.00!  I should have gone to speak to someone after the class, but I was too wiped.  I'll go talk to them on Thursday.  

Oo, I can also get a free tan!  Not that I would.  I'm just saying.

I will leave you with this.

MM CHEESE.

ok, here's the deal.

NEW PLAN.

So.  I don't think I mentioned my secret shame this last 2 months or so, but it involves buffets.  Too many buffets.  Primarily delicious Mandarin with its delicious food, more specifically, its waffles.  Mm.  I'm not proud of this, but it is what it is! 

Over the duration of these past 2 months I haven't noticed that much change to my weight.  I definitely wasn't losing weight, but I didn't think I was putting on any either.  To be quite honest, I was quite impressed by my super metabolism.

Until now.

It's aaaall caught up to me.  I feel like over the past 3 days it all just appeared.  And it ain't pretty, my friends!

Luckily, I have a newfound feeling of motivation and, more importantly, a brand-spankin' new gym membership!

So, here's my...

NEW PLAN:

1. Start going to the gym.  Stat.  I plan to go Tuesdays after work, Thursdays after Ultimate (that's right, I'm hardcore), then on Saturday.  
2. I am now (again) officially DONE WITH CHEESE.  Maybe not forever, but at least through the rest of the year.  I did this once before with good results and I'm ready to do it again.  
3. I am going to try (again) walking to work on the mornings I don't go to the gym.  
4. No more buffets.  Until my birthday.  Or someone else's birthday.  It's not my fault they make it free on your birthday!  
5. Continue the battle with food.  Especially breakfast!  I have had a tendency to get a donut or a muffin in the morning.  Or both.  

So I would say that the breakfast thing is probably the most difficult because what can I have with coffee that's both delicious and relatively low in calories?  Thoughts?  Suggestions?  Some kind of low-fat cookie or granola?  I have a hard time enjoying my coffee without a snack - although maybe this is the habit I need to break?  Hm.  Food for thought.

Oh!  I should mention something else.  I have been given some funds from a generous benefactor (who shall remain unnamed) for personal training sessions.  Probably just one session a week.  I'm thinking Saturday is the best day for this.  My more detailed plan involves a PT session on Saturday, a BodyPump class on Tuesday, and the circuit or if my PT provides me with a plan then I'll do that on Thursday. 

Good plan, eh?

READYGO.

good news and bad news..

Bad news first!  Unless you want the good news, then scroll down first.

Bad News

So.  I've discovered that I might hate running.  I couldn't run for very long and everything started to hurt!  Randomly the side of my lower left leg hurt!  How do I stretch that?  I think maybe I carry too much weight to run and that I'm only damaging my feet/knees/hips by running with extra weight.  Or maybe this is my new rationalization.  In any case, I might hate running. 

Good News

I got up at a reasonable time and actually made it out the door!   I was out for about 30 minutes.  Not all running, but I tried to mix it and power walk when I wasn't running.  This time I decided to actually make my way to High Park and take advantage of the neighbourhood.  It was nice!  Lots of people out running and walking with their dogs.  Lots of boot camp classes going on - I'm trying to resist the urge to sign up. 

Just News

I am going to focus more on other activities, such as the classes and my sporting activities and maybe actually do some strength training at the gym to build up my muscles and cardio so I can try running again. 

So maybe my thought of doing a 10k in the fall isn't so farfetched.  Denise has recently started to talk about taking up running and Olessia might do the 10k with me, too!  So that's fun! 

And! Erin is interested in Dragon Boating!  So maybe if I can round up a few more troops, this might actually happen!  I am super excited and think it will be super fun!

I'm also enjoying writing in this blog again.  I'm very happy that it's not just another blog I started then kicked to the curb.  I'm thinking I should add some pictures.  I see other blogs and they are entertaining.  But what would I take pictures of?  Me running?  Not fun. 

Also, on a side note: I need a new camera since mine got fried in Cuba.  Maybe once I get that then I will also showcase my photography skillz.

my pledge to you, my friends!

I seem to experience quite the ebb and flow in my activity levels, as evidenced by my recent and not-so-recent blogging efforts.  I still feel that this is the year that I make a significant difference to myself.

As I mentioned in my last post, ultimate frisbee is starting up again soon, and beach volleyball starts next week!

Also, I just joined Goodlife Fitness and plan to pick up my membership card on Thursday. And will start going to the classes soon!

And to kickstart my new pledge, I am planning to get up early tomorrow (like I used to) and go for a run.

I know, I know, this isn't the first time I've said this, but now that summer is coming, I have no excuses.  Um, unless it rains.  Who runs in the rain?!

So this new surge of wanting to do something may have something to do with the fact that it's Tuesday night and we are flipping between the hockey game and The Biggest Loser.  It's makeover night on TBL and it's very inspiring!  It's amazing to see the transformations and what difference a bit of weight loss can make.

If only Montreal would focus more on scoring a goal than knocking the hell out of Pittsburgh!

In any case, this is a short, but sweet blog just to say that I am giving running another go and am very vaguely contemplating running a 10k at the end of the summer.  Vaguely. 

So!  For the summer, in addition to ultimate and volleyball, I propose to:

• run at least twice a week
• take at least one class per week at the gym
• make better food choices

I mentioned in a previous blog that I want to also try some racket sports this summer and I am going to do it.  Dammit.  Soon.

Also, I'm really curious about Dragon Boating!  I recently met someone who coaches DB teams and has said if I can put together a team of 22ish people who are willing to pay ~$160 each for 2 months of training (once a week) with coaching and a race, we can do it!  Who's in?!

Alternatively, Mount Sinai has a DB team, although they seem really hardcore.  They practice twice a week and started in January!  I may consider trying it out, but I'm scared.  But!  As Chow so kindly (read: rudely **UPDATE** read: rudely, but supportively) pointed out - it's time for me to break out of my comfort zone!   So maybe I'll suck it up and go to one of their practices.

Life is good, people.  And I want to enjoy it!  :)

hopefully not another false start!

Ah my friends - how I've missed you all!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful 2010 thus far! Mine's been pretty good, but filled with too much laziness and inactivity until now.

The first hint of real activity I had was that first nice day back in March? We hit the beach and played volleyball and ran around with the frisbee like madmen. It was awesome! It felt so good to be out and running around.

But then I fell back into my old rut and started getting lazy again. Don't get me wrong, I was still playing dodgeball every week, but it just wasn't enough activity - although dodgeball is more exercise than you'd think! And can be really fun! Someone once told me (or thrice told me), you get as much exercise as you want to when playing dodgeball. You can hustle and run around and go nuts, or you can hide in the corner. Guess what I did most of the time.

Fortunately, we are now coming up to ultimate frisbee and, more importantly, BEACH VOLLEYBALL season! /cheer. Just thinking about it makes me want to get active again.

Also fortunately I have some new friends who are active and old friends who are newly active.

This has resulted in my having gone jogging on Wednesday night. Admittedly, I did try to cancel on Ylona. But she made me :( So I went over and we ran near the Lakeshore from about her place until close to Parkside, I think. I just checked on Google Maps, that's about 10k total there and back. We obviously did not run the entire way. I wimped out pretty early, but I kept trying to run when I could and so we were out for about an hour and a half total.

This is the first time I have ever gone running with someone else, other than in the 5k "marathons" I did last year. It was good! It was motivating to try to keep up with someone else and not let them down by having to walk - although I did it quite a bit, but not as much as I wanted to. Thankfully I didn't get shin splints, but I did get this pain in my hip that I've noticed I get when I run. It sucks. Otherwise, I could have run more that evening. I think.

So it was good! I felt good. Motivated.

I woke up feeling a bit sore in the legs, but I had to suck it up because!

Charles was back in town so we decided to celebrate by going out for a Mandarin dinner. Mm. Chow has recently been on a big Muay Thai kick so he invited us to join him for a class prior to dinner. We obliged. Then we regretted our decision. Then we thanked him.

We had this "warmup" for 30 minutes. Clearly, the instructors and I had a different idea of what a warmup is! Me: 5-minute walk/jog. Instructors: trying to kill us with running, skipping, jumping jacks, squats, burpees, pushups, situps, etc. This was the phase where I wasn't so happy with Chow.

Then finally the warmup ended and the fun began! We learned the Muay Thai stance and how to punch and kick. It was SOFUN. The hardest part was holding up the pads for someone else! I have talked before about how I wanted to do some kind of martial arts/boxing class. So I'm thanking Chow for finally getting me to try one.

Unfortunately, my job requires mostly sitting so I'm fine when I'm sitting, but every time I have to get up, I get more and more sore. But I like it. It means I did something useful for my body, right? This feeling (where I'm not so sore I'm practically disabled) is what motivates me to keep going.

I had vowed I wouldn't write again until I did a solid week of exercise. This never happened. But I'm getting close so I thought I would write anyways. My next step is to go to a Boot Camp class that Ylona's building is putting on for free for the month of May. This happens on Saturday morning. Then tossing the frisbee around in the afternoon with the ultimate frisbee team.

Then soon, very soon, the leagues start!

Oh! I've also joined a gym, which I now have mixed emotions about. But I'm determined to treat it as a good thing and make the most of it. I've discovered I work best in a classroom setting with other people vs. trying to work out on my own. Luckily, Goodlife has a lot of classes to choose from so I should be good to go. I would like to do more Muay Thai or something similar, but it is so much more expensive :( We'll see how this gym membership goes! I think it starts this weekend!

Anyways, I hope you've missed me as I've missed all of you! And I hope you're ready to follow my exploits over the summer! Not the really fun exploits - those might be more of an in-person conversation :)

a new year, a new me!

..or maybe just a slightly improved me.

I'm still walking to work intermittently, although my trips are getting a little shorter. I have taken to hopping on the streetcar about halfway to work, but I'm still walking at least 30-45 minutes in the morning. The big problem is that I am usually running late and showing up at 10am every day is probably not great. I am trying to leave earlier though - I just have issues!

I was a bit of a slacker in December, but I'm trying to pick it up again. Dodgeball season starts this Friday, I'm walking to work more, Michael and I are swimming a bit more, and will try skating more often, too. Also, I am going to seriously reconsider the boxing gym again and try out a few this month.

I also just researched triathlons in Ontario and there is a "Try a Tri" in August, which consists of a 375m swim, 10km bike ride, and 2.5km run. That seems pretty reasonable, eh? I will have to bike and swim more, but I'd like to give it the old college try.

There is also a duathlon in July, I believe. This consists of a 5km run, 20km bike, and 2.5km run. This doesn't seem terrible either - well, the 20km bike ride looks like it might be hard.

If I do one of these, it will probably be the Try a Tri. I'm excited to have a goal again since I've fallen off the wagon over this last little while. :(

I am ALSO trying to eat more vegetarian foods thereby limiting my meat intake. I have decided on Tofu Tuesdays. (I can't think of a better name for it). So I am at present eating an avocado and feta wrap. It better be delicious.

AND Michael made a yummy chickpea curry last night for dinner. I used to hate chickpeas in all forms, but I have decided that I need to try foods I previously disliked and try new foods. It wasn't horrible. I'd eat it again.

We also tried a new vegetable over the weekend called kolrhabi, which is a German turnip. It wasn't horrible. I'd eat it again.

I'm looking forward to trying new vegetables, fruits, and foods. Particularly grain products. I need to find an alternative to white rice. Even though it's so delicious. Mmm rice and meat.

Resolutions for this Year

1. Lose 20lbs by, oh - let's say.. May 1. Reasonable?
2. Walk to work (at least part of the way) 4 days a week minimum.
3. Go swimming and/or skating at least once on the weekend.
4. Find another regular activity outside of dodgeball, swimming, and skating (ie. boxing gym).
5. No meat on Tuesdays.
6. Reducing red meat overall.
7. Triathlon in August!

Easy peasy. Right?!