Day 104

Well my challenge is officially over :) I've learned lots. I like exercising consistently, that is key for me. Weight lifting is very good for my overall firmness and my running. I can be active every day for an hour and it helps keep me in a good mood. When I exercise I am more apt to make continual healthy choices for the rest of the day. I went 104 days because my challenge was to work out 100 days in a row, but there were three days in there somewhere that I just couldn't make it happen. One I was too sick, one was a 12 hour work day, and one was a day after my long run coupled with a nasty spring cold. The best part of the whole challenge is that I have the daily habit of going to the gym, which is one habit that I am going to keep up with. I just keep an extra pair of shoes and gym clothes in my car so I have the option of working out. I tried out a few different gyms (drop in) when I was in other towns and on holidays. I am able to negotiate daily living without it tiring me out like it used too. Right now moving forward I am going to concentrate on my running training, my long run is up to 17 km. I'll get to do some hiking in Jasper next week :) and get a run in as well. Overall I am very happy with my challenge and quite proud of myself. Power on folks!!

Monday March 34 Day 72

Monday March 24 Day 72

I've had a couple of really good runs lately. I HATE FARTLEKS, but they work. So does cross training apparently. I am really happy with the power in my legs and the fatigue that I experience post run is starting to falter. Yesterday I had a 14 km run outside, I waited until after the snow stopped. Unfortunately my initial hope of better weather has been dashed, but it is nice to see the bright sun when it pops its head out!

Val Kuzmic has started a running club in Edson, we have the Muskeg Flyers, but they are a fairly established crew and maybe a little intimidating? I don't know but this group is mostly newbie runners (I think) so a nice source of inspiration! They are called the Edson Runners. Changing up some of the routines at the gym today we did 50's, which is Jumping Jacks, Crunches, Squats, pushups and you do 50 of each, then 40, then 30, 20 and 10. So after the long run I'm just putzing around this afternoon.

I've been receiving some unsolicited advice lately, which is interesting. It's like people can see I'm working hard but I don't fit into the skinny category and I think everyone is trying to be "helpful". One person suggested that I will run faster once I lose weight. (Duh) One person suggested that I go for a nutritional consultation (I meet with a food counselor once every two weeks and follow a food plan). I am sure there are various methods to accomplish a fitness goal but it is intimidating and annoying when individuals make assumptions concerning my approach. I'm sure I do this too unfortunately so I will be sure to quell my advice and curb any assumptions!

Before I went on my run I was simply exhausted. It had been a long week and I was in and out of the city, long drive, early mornings, hotel beds, and some restless nights. My son is very active and plays many sports so I asked him how he gets motivated when he doesn't feel like it. And he suggested the most important thing was just to get started and then the motivation follows. I think that's true. Sometimes (actually most times) I don't feel all that excited to get to the gym, but once I'm there I sort of slide into a routine. The same was true of my run. I just didn't want to do it, but once I got started I was surprised how strong I felt, and my pace was my half marathon pace, and that kept me motivated to keep it up, once I hit halfway I knew I was home free, the rest was quite literally downhill!!

So here are some pictures of beautiful curvy women in fitness clothes:

March 19 - Day 65

It's been a while almost 3 weeks. I am sort of in that spring break up mode. Starting to get outside with more runs and still committed to the workouts everyday, today my motivation is low. I have been increasing my long runs by one km every weekend, and am looking forward to a 14km this weekend. My whole body is tired and I forget about this feeling every spring when I start to train. As a result I become cranky like the dog when I kick him at night he growls and jumps off the bed. I know that I just have to work through this training tiredness until I get used to it again, and I know my body will respond. So I am eating to fuel myself, last year I added more whole grains and legumes to my diet that really helped, I am also adding extra protein it too. Fingers crossed looks like I am through the cold and flu season, and my body seems healthy in that aspect!!

I am also going to switch to tea in the afternoon. I have some matcha, green tea, Yerba matte, and chai teas that I love. Maybe the antioxidants will give me a boost!! I think the key here is just to stick with it. Sometimes I forget why I am doing this training, and I remember running the 5km in Montana one year with my family and my husband was so sore the next day he really felt it on the stairs, and he asked if I was sore? and I wasn't because of the training. So I know with a few events to look forward too I will be happy I logged the time and effort. On a surprising note, the crosstraining, or the Jacobs ladder, or something, is really helping me with my hills. I had a particular hilly run on the weekend and was pleasantly surprised by the power in my body both with strength and aerobically, my lungs were good, I didn't get that feeling like my lungs were bleading. So I have to make the gym more exciting again. Power on folks!!

Day 34 to Day 43 Brings me to Feb 25, 2014 (getting close to halfway)

Day 34 to Day 43 Brings me to Feb 25, 2014 (getting close to halfway)


It's been 10 days since my last blog ;o

I have been fighting a cold and feeling like I'm losing the battle. It has sucked my energy but somehow I've managed to stick with my hour of exercise, although sometimes it is an hour of restorative yoga. Even this has been a learning experience. I am often surprised how horrible I feel in the morning and after dragging myself to the gym how much better I feel even if its just an hour of walking. I would love to have some spring weather to look forward to, but even the brighter mornings are helping. I am so glad that my routine is firmly established and that I have a workout partner, otherwise there would have been several mornings that I would not have made it to the gym. I'm also surprised that on a day I wouldn't normally go to the gym because of my cold, how often I can actually get a decent workout in. Not always, but most days are fairly productive. I think working out with a cold is OK, but if I was throwing up I don't think I could work out. So I haven't been feeling quite that bad. I would say I have a nasty cold, but not a flu.

I also eat more when I have a bad cold. I know that sounds weird, but frozen yogurt makes me feel better, so does chips and pop. Not exactly quality nutrition. My defences are down when I am not feeling 100% so I have to be careful.

On the upside, the gym has some new equipment in. This has freed up some of my favorite exercise machines (the elliptical) and today I walk/run on one of the new treadmills. The only thing I don't like is that the treadmills look out the window, and not towards the TV. I will have to download some magazines onto my ipad for reading. I have been using an app called "full fitness" at the gym at it has great application for weightlifting, programs and stretches.

This blog is just for my own personal reflection on this journey and to track my progress through my challenge, so I am surprised that I have so many viewers, but seriously if I can do it, you can do it too!

I have a couple of things that I do for gym cardio that might work for you too:

Cycling: I go to youtube, and download "spin class" and do the GCN spin class here is a 60 minute version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFbjsRvjF-A

I also used "yoga studio" an iphone/ipad app on my phone, when I just couldn't drag myself to the gym, it has great yoga from 10 minutes to 60 minutes. Be aware that there is no "beginner" 60 minute yoga, so I did the intermediate yoga, and it is harder than it looks!

I also did a 60 minutes of zumba one day, and did 50 minutes from one video, and 10 minutes of another called "latin dance"

Day 32 and Day 33, Friday Feb 14, 2014, and Saturday Feb 15, 2014

Day 32 and Day 33, Friday Feb 14, 2014, and Saturday Feb 15, 2014


Today I am 1/3 through my challenge. I didn't even realize that until I wrote down the days. What a nice Valentines gift to myself! I was at the gym Friday and did arms and abs. I did mostly "pull" muscles, so I did tricep pull downs, lat machine pulls, free weight pulls, and alternated with ab exercises.

Saturday was a beautiful day -10 (Must be a Canadian, when a beautiful day is -10 degrees Celsius!) I finally got to do my long run outside. I am way ahead of my training program, so I am concentrating on mileage and not so much on speed or tempo, which is a good thing, because my pace is really slow right now. I like to plan my long runs so that for the most part I am running from start point to midway and back. I don't like to do loops otherwise I could see myself cutting my running short. If I am 6 kilometers away from my car at halfway, I have no choice but to run back! LOL.

The first thing I usually do is pick a route, I use "map my run" on the computer and find it is very accurate. Also it tracks other runners routes, so you can use someone else's route for fun. I don't like to carry water so I drive my route first, which also gives me an idea how busy the road are and if there are any issues with traffic etc, and I drop off water along my route. That way I don't have to carry water with me. I always lotion up my feet well, hydrate with water, have at least 2 coffee, supplements, and breakfast. Then I turn up my Nike app and go. I don't know if I can explain to you what goes through your mind when you are running for almost 2 hours. I always start off with everything bothering me for the first two miles, my socks itch, my bra is irritating, my bula is twisted, my earphones aren't staying in, everything hurts. Then after about 3 km my body hits a pace and it's like "well if this is what we are doing today, I'm in" and after that I kinda get with the program. I go through times when I feel like I can't go another step, to feeling like I won't ever stop. After about 5 kilometers, I finally look up and around, and that is usually my first "bliss" moment. I realize how beautiful it is outside, how good the music is, how great my body feels and I usually get my first water break.  I alternate between feeling good and bad all through my run, until I have about 5km left to go. Then it seems easy, like I have done 5km so many times, that is all I have left?

There are two facets to any good training program. 1. Mental preparedness and 2. Physical preparedness. Physical in my case is broken down into mileage. I have to follow a training program and know on race day that I can (and have) run that mileage. Mental preparedness is following the physical program. I say that in the only way I know how, what I mean is that when I am running, sometimes my mind thinks I can't go another step, and somehow my body does it anyway, and sometimes physically I am so tired or sore, and don't think I can go another step and somehow I  think my way through it. Either way from talking to lots of runners every one does it there own way. You need to use the training program that gets you there on race day. If that is your goal.

Have a GREAT day!

Day 30 and 31, Wednesday Feb 12 and Thursday Feb 13

Day 30 and 31, Wednesday Feb 12 and Thursday Feb 13

Wednesday was major leg day. I have to do it mid week because my legs are sore from running on the weekend. In fact I know that during training, a lot of runners do not weight train their legs, but I would rather weight train than do hill training, which doesn't mean I won't do any hill training, I just will do both. My leg day is filled with squats (weighted), machine extensions, lunges (weighted), I don't even know what the one machine is called, and dead lifts. I alternated with abs, and did a 20 minute warm up on the elliptical.

So Thursday was technically a "rest" day, so light exercise day on my challenge. I did a 1 hour walk in Edmonton at the West Edmonton Mall. I made it around top floor, once and bottom floor twice. I noticed a couple things about this choice today. The mall is full of scents mostly perfume and food court smells, the cookies by George is almost overwhelming. The mall is also hard to walk as fast as I would like because I get caught behind families, and shoppers. The mall is distracting because there is so much to look at. But I got my exercise in, and then I did the mall once more because I had my shopping to do! and the upside to all that is you get easy access to bathrooms, coffee, and Yogun Fruz!

Cold weekend blues Feb 08-11 Sat, Sun, Mon, Tues days 26/27/28/29 of a 100

Cold weekend blues Feb 08-11 Sat, Sun, Mon, Tues days 26/27/28/29 of a 100

I don't know where day 5 blog went, its a long way back and I spent time on writing it but it got lost in South Carolina. But we are in the cold cold north. Not regular cold, -33 cold, like can't breath outside without a bula cold. And that is centigrade not Fahrenheit. So that is like -to damn cold in Fahrenheit . I saw runners out there (disbelief) and they didn't look to happy. As a singer I don't run in -15 it makes my throat raw and I end up with a cough and can't sing.

Over one quarter of my challenge. It is working into a habit which is a relief. I am going to re blog day five which didn't make it out there but goes over my reasoning for the challenge, and talk a bit about my running which deserves some mention.

Why a 100 day challenge, and why an hour every day? Before the challenge I was signed up for courses and running sporadically. I thought I was running more, but according to my Nike app I was not. So I wanted CONSISTENCY which I was lacking. Also my schedule can be a bit wonky some days I work all day and then go for stretches at home, and because I am in the entertainment industry I also work weekends, which are times for long runs but the two often conflicted, I couldn't always make my classes because I travel to Edmonton and Jasper. So I wanted to ELIMINATE THE EXCUSES. I figured if I really tried I could fit in exercise every day. Also I have a fairly sedentary lifestyle, other than my hour of exercise I mainly sit and create. I also struggle with depression, and I believe I need to treat it to beat it, so every day exercise is important in MAINTAINING SELF CARE for myself.
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/in-depth/depression-and-exercise/art-20046495

I am also "pre-diabetic" so I need exercise to help COMBAT BECOMING DIABETIC and relying on insulin. I also overweight, and wanted consistent exercise to help me with my WEIGHT LOSS goal plan. I also WANTED TO BE STRONGER so I have added weight training into my regimen. I also wanted exercise to be a habit and not be a struggle, or something I do occasionally. I want to have MORE ENERGY throughout my day. I have and always will be a busy person, and I want to make sure that moving forward that I can at least say I am now giving it my best shot at leading a healthy active lifestyle and that will help me as I age. My ultimate goal is to be able to wear anything I want without being self conscious, indulge in treats occasionally without guilt, and to be able to do any physical challenge I want without worry.

So I am well into my challenge over 25%. What have I noticed so far?

• I am more energetic after a workout
• I appreciate naps
• I am exhausted in the evenings
• I have to eat better all the time
• I have cut down on drinking alchohol
• my mileage for running is way up (Nov 8.49 km/Dec 5.19 km/Jan 52.4 km)
• I am running stronger, I don't feel "exhausted after a 1/2 hour"
• I am feeling more confident, therefore I am happier
• I am having a harder time sleeping in
• I am more energetic throughout the day
• I am drinking way more water and coffee
• I am enjoying the company of my workout partner
• I am inspired by the people around me
• I am grateful for my body for allowing me to do this

Running this weekend: I hate the treadmill, I can only run a max of 1 hour and that is what I did Saturday , I tried the track at Whitecourt on Sunday, it wasn't much better. Those are the options I have right now, so I am glad that I do have options, I just love the outdoors so much, and miss the scenery, fresh air, sunlight, and company of my dog skip. I have no idea what my running strategy is this weekend. I just hope it warms up a bit.