Thursday, September 10, 2009

surprising results!

I have decided to write my post tonight because I can guarantee right now that I won't have any time tomorrow. Work is going to keep me tres busy all day.

So I attended Day 2 of the Booty Camp with surprising results!

Despite being broken and mucho sore (and therefore scared of what the evening would entail) I found it not too ridiculously hard! I had thought (mistakenly apparently) that physical exercise would make my muscles feel worse, but I guess warming them up actually made them feel ok. Not better necessarily, but not worse! I was pleasantly surprised.

Don't get me wrong, it was still ridiculously hard and I think I worked new muscles I've never used before, but it wasn't excruciatingly painful! *confetti*

I've also learned a lot of exercises that I can do myself. I just have to remember them and put them together in some kind of routine later. Although I will probably sign up for at least 4 more weeks following this. It's amazing what you can do with a little space and a mat, eh?

Tonight we did a bit more cardio and I have to say that running has really improved that. I'm not stellar, but definitely much improved from the beginning of the summer. I think back to when I signed up for that volleyball skills clinic. They made us run around the gym a few times and, man, I was wiped after maybe one lap around the gym. It was positively brutal. But now, we ran around a bunch of times, did grapevine-y type things, skipped, etc. I couldn't keep up for the entire hour, but I did a fair bit! So I'm proud of myself :D

Although, my secret shame is that I'm not actually doing as much running as I would like to these days. I am not going to be able to tomorrow morning because I'm aiming to be at work for 7-7:30, which leaves no room for running. However, I will try to get a good decent run in on Sunday morning. The marathon is coming up very soon!


Lessons Learned:
  1. Holding a plank is actually better when someone is there watching you and encouraging you. And when there are other people there that you can't show weakness in front of :D
  2. The above holds true for most of the exercises actually. I think I pushed myself harder because I didn't want to be the suckiest in the group.
  3. I'm actually less hungry after I work out. I ate maybe 2/3 of what I would normally have eaten for dinner. Although, I foresee that tomorrow morning I will be famished. :P More cake perhaps?
  4. Keeping your keys in your pocket while you workout is not smart. Especially when your session starts at 8pm and it starts getting dark at 7pm. *sigh* I had to get Mike to rescue me with a flashlight - luckily we found them pretty soon after that! What's extra funny is that on Tuesday another girl lost her keys. And I secretly thought she was retarded. Karma? It might be. If I believed in such nonsense. ;)
Ok, I'm sleepy now. Nini.

Then I have to get up and wear heels all day. My poor legs. What is that, class? That's right. Brutal.

Hope everyone has (or had) sweet and lovely dreams!

:)

i hurt. lots.

So ok. I did the Booty Camp Tuesday night and boy am I feeling it. Brutal.

I walk all gimpy and can barely manage stairs. Sitting down is very awkward, too. Brutal.

It's all good, though. I'd much rather be feeling the pain of my "tearing muscles" (as Tammy put it) than nothing at all following the workout. So I've been walking around like I have never walked before.

The best part is that I get to do it again tonight! It is day 2 of booty camp. Hopefully I will be able to go running Friday morning. If not, at least I'll have volleyball Friday evening!

We have finally signed up for dodgeball and I am looking forward to that! It doesn't start until September 21, though. However, this Sunday some dodgeball league is holding a free session that some of us will most likely be attending. If anyone else is interested let me know, it should be fun!

It's too bad being active costs so much money. I also want to go to Mont Tremblant, which Chow is trying to plan for December/January, but that will cost lots of money, too. Along with all these leagues. Pff. It's so much cheaper to be lazy! But less fun. Cost-benefit, right?

I don't know what else to say about that.

Confession:

All I had this morning until noon was a slice of cake for breakfast and a cookie and coffee for my morning snack. Brutal.

The rest of my day will be better. I swear.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

i love short weeks!

I'm sorry. I've been so lazy this past week or so and have completely fallen out of my routine. This has also meant that I've been too lazy and ashamed to write much in this blog! It would have just been excuse after excuse and I thought I would spare you.

I've been having trouble forcing myself out of bed and I have been tired all the time. But! As you all know I signed up for Booty Camp. This is now kicking me back into being motivated!

So I came home after work yesterday and had a quick dinner and went out in search of the group. The problem was that I had originally signed up for a different location because of Breanna, but due to the fact that she had to go away for work for 2 weeks she rescheduled and I tried to get into the session near my house. I called them up last week and they told me they had no record of me having paid. Awesome. I sent them the Paypal confirmation and they were saying they'd look into it and in the meantime I should just go to the session.

I asked Tammy if she received an email upon registration about what to bring/do/expect, etc. Good thing I did because there were waivers to sign and instructions about what to bring. It also mentioned I should show up an hour early.

In the past as I've walked up Keele I've seen their sessions in the park and figured that's where they would be for my session.

Therefore, I show up at 7pm expecting to find people - and nothing! Only families and this couple who were randomly throwing balls. It was very peculiar. They'd stand and one would toss a ball. Then they'd each pick up 2 other balls and throw them towards that one. From what I can gather they were trying to throw it as close as possible to the original tossed ball? But I don't know why. What the hell? Anyways.

I didn't bring my phone with me (See what happens?? Never again!) So I kind of mill around and hang out. Then I think, hm, maybe I'll walk up this hill over here and see what's what at this half of the park. I'm also wondering if I can get home from this path at the top of this hill.

Lo and behold! There's the 6:45pm class doing their thing. I figure it's probably close to 7:30pm I'll just wait. But then the bugs start coming out. And I also start thinking that showing up an hour before is probably only necessary for the earlier class since it runs from 6:45-7:45pm and then the next one is 8-9pm. I go home and get bug spray and return closer to 8pm where the instructor does, in fact, inform us that we'd be staying afterwards to do the measurements and all that. Pff. What a waste of an hour!

It begins! Parts of it were really hard! It was also getting really dark and the bugs were out in full force. Gross. I was sweating and tired, but I felt good! I really think I needed this to break me out of my funk and get me active again.

I have grandiose plans to go to spin class Wednesday morning, which almost happens. But then doesn't :( I was already running late then I realized I forgot my wallet and had to go back, which made me more late, and ugh. So as punishment I went running - which I haven't done lately.

Taking a break from running is not such a great idea. I ran for about 11 minutes then took a 2 minute break and ran for another 9 minutes. It's bad that I'm really starting to dislike running. I keep telling myself I just have to hold on for a few more weeks until the marathon. So I'm going to start sucking it up and running more often so I can get back to what I used to be able to do just a few short weeks ago - as well as improve. Two and a half weeks to go!! I'm in trouble.

Anyways. Hopefully now that I'm back on track, my blog posts will be more frequent again. And joy and laughter will be brought back into all your lives!

:)

Thursday, September 3, 2009

the rise and fall of the connie empire

Forgive me, dear readers. It has been 8 days since my last confe-.. er... blog post.

I can't do penance, though, since I don't know my Hail Marys or whatever - despite being Catholic. I can do the Lord's Prayer, though! :)

The last post I made was pre-rock climbing and I think I've already told most of you about it or you were there, but too bad. It was super fun! It was actually much harder than I expected it to be. Even once I got there and saw other people doing it, I was inwardly scoffing because it looked fairly easy. That cliff showed me who was boss, though. It showed that my overall muscle strength and flexibilty is sorely lacking. Brutal. Also, it showed me that I bruise like a peach. It was fun and challenging, though! Very different than anything I've done before. The second time up was also a bit easier since I knew what to expect and wasn't such a sissy about letting go. I wasn't really worried about death or dismemberment, which was good.

Well, let me clarify. On the way down the side of the cliff to get to the bottom was a harrowing experience! There was supposed to be a "scramble path" that led down to the bottom - that we completely missed and had to practically machete our way through the forest to get to the bottom. I was worried I was going to tumble down the mountain or break a leg. Luckily, no disasters. Then we found the path after climbing over and under trees and rocks galore. The path was glorious. I maintain that we wouldn't have fully appreciated the scramble path unless we had gone where we had :P So, I guess that's something!

So I would definitely go again! Well, I have to since I bought a harness :) I think I'd like to try indoor next time. Or if I do outdoor again I will wear better shoes. I brought shoes that were small and would fit into crevices instead of shoes with grip on the bottom. A big mistake considering there were not really any crevices, but rocks that were slightly jutting out that you had to leverage against. I blame my shoes for my poor showing. :) Also the arduous journey that preceded the climb itself. Oh, and the burning sun. :P

No, but really, I had a blast. Especially with the camping and the fire and the company! :) I could have stayed another night.

So after that I got lazy. So lazy.

I had Friday off and I feel like I slept and lazed around most of the day. Oh, we did bike to High Park for breakfast and back :) That's something, right?

And there was volleyball on Friday evening. Always a good time, despite the crazy ridiculous wind. It was impossible to play actually, but we did our best!

On Saturday I think I did more of nothing. Well I went out in the evening, but nothing much that day I think. The less I do, the less I want to do :(

More of the same on Sunday (although I can't actually remember what I did on Sunday so I could very well have done something fantastic - but I doubt it :P)

Monday morning I went for a run! But it was a piddly one. I was so tired and felt ridiculously out of shape after not having done much for a few days. :(

Tuesday more of the same. I went out for a run in the morning, but it was also piddly. And apparently I forgot to pee before I went out so that cut my run a wee bit short, too. Yes, I'm 10 and can't hold it. I don't know about you guys, but for me if I really have to pee and I'm rushing it makes it worse. I have to walk a fine line of hurrying, but not too much or else it increases the urgency of the pee!

Tuesday evening was ultimate frisbee! Our second to last game. It was also harder than it has been because of my few days of laziness. It's amazing how quickly my body forgets. But at least it got me out there and running around. Then we had Hakka food after. My first time! It was pretty good. :)

Wednesday morning I missed the spin class. I almost could have made it, but then didn't.

It's getting harder and harder to get up in the mornings, I tell ya. I think I've also realized I might dislike running. It's just so mind-numbingly boring! But I will persevere at least until the 5k and re-evaluate.

So, this morning I also didn't run, but I did lunges and squats. So I should feel those tomorrow. And I plan to run tomorrow morning. For reals.

The one good thing coming up despite my laziness is that booty camp starts next week! I'm still really looking forward to that - even though Breanna can no longer join me for September :(

So maybe that will kick my ass out of this lazy funk I'm in and re-motivate me. One can hope!

That is all. Not a great post, but a post nonetheless. :)

Happy Thursday!

Ps Please sponsor me for the 5k Scotiabank Marathon! Click Me!

Thanks <3
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