Back to My Daily Grind...

... uh, I mean routine. ;)

My Weekly Schedule and Goals

I arrived back home yesterday from the cabin and had full intentions of doing something physical last night, but I just had no energy.   Today though, I am ready to go and excited to getting back to my daily grind.  Since I have had this week pretty much of of any running, today will be around 3ish miles (5k) to get my legs back, and then I will head off to hot yoga later.  If it doesn't look like I will reach my daily step goal with my Fitbit by supper, I will be heading for a walk either outside or on the treadmill.

Speaking of routines, here is what my routine is right now which includes the 30 day yoga challenge.

Monday:     Yoga
Tuesday:     Yoga, weights at gym (full body workout)
Wednesday:     Yoga, run (speed work/acceleration gliders)
Thursday:     Yoga, weights at gym (full body workout)
Friday:     Yoga, run (speed work/cadence drills)
Saturday:     Yoga, walk (1 hr)
Sunday:     Run (LSD), yoga

My daily Fitbit step goal is set to 12000 steps/day.

Current weight is: 155.3 lbs (down 8.7lbs from original start weight, but up 2.3 lbs from last week)
Bodyfat is: 38.3% (down 0.1% from last week, down 0.5% in last couple weeks since getting our Aria scale)

My Galloway 1/2 training plan using the Lolo app is set for 12 min/mi @ 2min run/1 min walk, pace goes between 5.6 mph and 6.2 during the various workouts. Overall goal is to improve my half marathon time.  I will be playing around with the run/walk ratio as my fitness improves.

Oh how I missed thee...

For eating I follow my Fitbit's recommendation of calories (except this last week at lake) with Weight Watchers as my guideline still.  I don't eat much meat at all right now and will only have the odd chicken or turkey if I have no choice, but I will have the odd eggs and eat when I can fish and seafood.  I am not trying to be a vegetarian or vegan, but I am adopting part of the eating habits with some of my food like cheese (I use soy cheese) and I use almond, soy, hemp, or coconut milk instead of regular milk.  I have found that as I am getting older I am having more stomach aches and started to take food out of my diet.  I did the whole take away all bread stuff at one point but found I could not last too long so I have it in moderation.  Beef and pork though I found I was having just too hard of a time digesting them so I stopped eating them.  The cheese part, well, I went vegan for a while and found I like the cheese so sticking with it.  There are a couple of things that I have stayed with.  If you have read my post in the last week here about coconut oil, I don't think I need to explain that one anymore beside I use it and it is my main oil source.

I also try to limit the processed foods I eat and eat as clean and raw as possible.

For water, I try to get in over 64 oz/day of water in (this does not include any other sources of liquids)

So there you go, my weekly routine schedule posted now for the world to see, or at least the few that may stumble across my blog.  :)

Now off I go for a longly anticipated run...

What are some of your routines?

Running Withdrawals

My Hubby made a comment on Facebook this last week about knowing when your wife is a dedicated runner: when she apologizes to her shoes because she won't be able to take them with her and use them.

I have been doing so well keeping up with my training lately right down to monitoring my resting pulse to make sure I am not overtraining because I would usually get sick or injure something along the way.  Well, coming to the cabin this week has put a little damper on my training. I know every once and a while a kick back week is in order, and I did just run another half marathon distance 2 weekends ago, but I now have the itch and need a run... well, now.

The 30 day yoga challenge that I am participating in has kept me going in some ways because I can practice all I want at the cabin here, but it is not enough now.  I have gone for a walk out on to the frozen lake in the thigh deep snow, done loads of shovelling clearing walkways and areas for vehicles to park, gone up and down the stairs at the cabin here, just basically trying to keep moving which I am finding pretty hard.  I have been watching my Fitbit stats and I am not making my min steps per day. These min steps should be my basic goal and was usually easily obtained because of running which I can't easily do here.  Today though, I am going to really focus on achieving my steps today with my Fitbit.  That is one huge thing I like about my Fitbit One, is the motivation it can give me to reach the goals I have set for myself and love watching the steps add up when I go for a run. ;)

The Fitbit One

Now I know there are some die hard runners out there that can run through anything, but at the cabin in the winter? There are no trails even in the summer.  Just a gravel road with people driving silly on it which right now, this road only has one set of tracks for vehicles.  I am not going to take the risk.

Even though I have other activities that can keep me active, it is still not running.  Nothing feels like a good run does.  The satisfaction of a good sweat, the feeling of achievement, the small victories of a new PB/PR, a new training speed, or even just something simple as when the first time you have ever ran a steady 30 mins, 60 mins, or even a longer distance/time that gave you such a proud feeling of accomplishment that only your other running friends would understand.

Simply put; I am going nuts not being able to run right now. I could handle the first few days, but now it is time.  I know I should be thankful that I can run at all and this too shall pass.  I just have to think about the times when I have been injured and not able to run in the slightest, or any weight bearing activity.  Call it runner's block, a runner's mentality, or whatever you want, but it is a funny thing about us runners, we are a funny breed.  Take our running away from us and we go insane.


Now for something non-running related:  I just would like to give a huge shout out to my sister +Sasha Leigh, who came out to the cabin and visit for a couple of days, and say Happy Birthday!! :) 

How long does it take you to go without running before you start to go nuts?

Wishing I was back in Disney...

I can seriously say that the DisneyWorld Half Marathon on Jan. 11, 2014, was the best running event I have ever been to.

The one that used to be my favourite was the Nike Woman's Marathon in 2011, but their event in Oct. 2013 tarnished that (will do a race recap sometime and explain further).  I will say the only good thing about the Nike event in 2013 is that I did it with Team in Training, the Tiffany finisher necklace, and I actually managed to get the Tiffany Blue Nike Runners (seen in pic).

Now even though I did not manage to get the Disney New Balance Cinderella runners at the DWM expo, that did not even come close to tarnishing such an amazing event.  It was truly such a magical experience that I would like to experience again, and again.  I am hooked.

My teenage son ended up coming with me on my trip and since this was a very quick trip (fly in Thurs. night, and fly home Sun. afternoon) we had to do some advanced planning of exactly what we really wanted to see in two of the Disney Parks, and what we wanted to see at Universal.  It was a compacted tour of everything that we wanted to experience and see, but we did it, right down to enjoying a Dole Whip cup and float, a Turkey Leg, and at Universal some frozen and cold Butterbeer in the Harry Potter area.

Now, I must admit, going to Disney wasn't really one of the things that was on the top of my to do list in life because it always seemed out of reach.  As I got older, the more I wanted to experience going to Disney.  So when I saw an email from a running event tour provider after my last Nike event, I talked to my hubby and went for it.  Combining two loves of running and Disney? Definitely! Seriously the best decision ever as everything was so perfect, minus the whole Cinderella runners thing because I was a newbe to the whole event and did not know the process in how to get them.  Next time I will be prepared.

We stayed at the Disney Resort: Port Orleans - The French Quarter and loved it.  We were set up with Magic Bands and to me, these were the cat's meow.  Loved the convenience of them.

All transportation was taken care of like the airport transfers by Disney Magical Express, all park transportation and event transportation by the Disney buses.  A real turn key event vacation.

The whole time my son and I were at DisneyWorld, I was giddy and had a huge smile on my face.  Even every single picture taken of me during the half marathon, I had a smile on my face.  I did not stop once for any photo opportunities with the characters as the lines were huge and figured I would come back for sure and do some then. ;)  The weather that day on the Saturday was so humid and hot! I was drenched.  Coming from -40C to +30C was a factor for sure.  I was jealous of everyone running the full marathon on the Sunday because the weather was so much nicer.

My half marathon outfit:  green sparkle skirt and tierra from SparkleSkirts, mint green calf sleeves, sleeveless running shirt from One More Mile (I think that is what they were called), my running short tights, my Nike+ Sports Watch, iphone armband and iphone, my Fitbit (loved gaining all those steps that day), and glow in the dark Mickey ears.  Almost everything that I wore clothing wise was acquired from the event expo.  I really wanted a sparkle skirt... and then it went on from there. ;)

I used the Lolo half-marathon training program by Jeff Galloway for this race as best as I could and had the app going on race day set for 30 sec run/45 sec walk (adjusted for heat), but, something happened and the app quit working on me 1/4 way in to the race. So, I counted in my head the best I could the rest of the race.  Since I am going to try the Galloway program again, I bought the Galloway Gymboss interval timer to use.  So far, so good and will do a product review sometime. Edit: I did try to use the Lolo app again for a practice half-marathon and it worked fine.  I think the issue was my phone on why it stopped working, not the app.

I was also jealous and amazed at everyone coming off the full marathon buses at my resort on Sunday with multiple medals hanging over their neck.  Again, I was a newbe so I really did not know how they acquired them so I asked.  I now have a mission to find a way to get in to to the Dopey Challenge in Jan. 2015!!!  If not the Dopey, then for sure the Goofy. I am hoping I can go with the travel agency that sent me last time again for the Dopey.  In the mean time, I have learned about another Run Disney medal and that is the Coast to Coast medal.  So, on Jan. 28th, I sat by my computer and crossed my fingers to get a spot at the Disneyland event in August.... I did!! And, I managed to get a Dumbo spot! I am extremely excited for both the Dumbo Double Dare and the Coast to Coast. :)

My flights are booked, I booked a hotel that I hope is OK... I read it is within walking distance so, hopefully.  This time I am going alone so I wish I was on the Disney property, but I just could not afford that much.

Now, my official time at the DisneyWorld Half Marathon was 2:59:15 which I am happy about considering all the extra time getting extra water due to the heat and the potty stops that went with them.  If you want to know about placement, I placed mid pack for age, gender, and overall where I am nice and happy.  Race events around me, I am always near the back.  That brings up one more great thing about running Disney... You are never alone, and the very last runner is treated just like the first.  The support is huge for everyone and I would highly recommend a Disney running event to runners, especially if it is your first event.  Now, I can only speak about DisneyWorld here, but if DisneyLand is as well organized, I am going to have to make more money to afford my new Run Disney habit. :D

So when I am reading about all these running events back in Disney... I wish I was back there. ;)

Any of you ran Disney or plan to?

Post Adventures Monday

(If you are here to read about fitness and or my wt/loss, please scroll to end of this post)

Well, not a real adventure, but a typical Canadian highway trip at this time of the year.  It all started off fine.  I waited for the minor blizzard conditions to clear, had sunny skies, and at the point when we left, there was just blowing snow across the highway.  Well, as we continued on, my gut started giving me a heads up as the visibility started to get worse and small drifts of snow were now on the highway every once and a while.  Those small drifts turned in to large drifts, and only a bit of the highway was visible.  The drifts were getting as high as the wheel well in my car.  At that point, I had my son text my hubby and said we really should have taken his 4x4.  My car was ok in the snow, but not for these conditions.  If a vehicle came towards us, I would have to look in advance for a place that had shallow enough snow for me to pull in to so they could pass.  There were many parts of the highway I could only drive on one part of the road, opposite side or not, because of the height of the snow drifts.  At that point I really considered turning around because I did not know what kind of conditions I was going to be driving in to.  My thoughts were that I was approaching another city as I got closer to my destination and that the roads would be at least cleared.  Well, I was partially right, they were cleared but icy.  The best roads were surprisingly nice by the cabins as one of the owners was on top of clearing them for everyone.  That was so nice of him.  He saw my son and I digging a place for my car to park and said, if he had known that someone was coming this week he would have cleared the spot out for us. :)

Here is a picture that my son took of the good part of the highway.

So, we are at the cabin, I have done the walk around to look for any forced or attempted entries (from break ins), I have turned up the heat, and plugged in the water well lightbulb for some warmth in the well.  Fast forward a couple of hours... I turned on the pump breaker and the pump, my son and I went and checked for any cracked pipes (the heat is always on just enough so they don't - but you never know), and... no water.  Ugh.  I added water to the pump to make sure it was primed, checked the hose to the well that is in the cabin part and there is water.  After a few more tests, figured out that the well was frozen where we get the water.  Good thing we always stock up those big Culligan drinking water jugs here.  After, I place out the new mouse poison in the crawl space, and then my son and I lit one of these:

Made some chicken noodle soup, and sat back and relaxed for the night.  So, my plan for today once the sun is up is to see if the well is unthawed enough for getting water.  If not, oh well.  With the temperatures warming up here now, I can try again later, or even tomorrow.

As for physical activity today? Shovelling... lots and lots of shovelling needs to be done around here.  All the decks are high with snow and we need to make a path to the wood pile for wood.  I will also be taking my dog out for a stroll to help keep an eye on the cabins around us for any issues while the owners are not there.  I was happy to see a cabin neighbour come and check on my aunts cabin when we arrived to make sure that we weren't there to break in.  They just heard noises and came to check things out.  Have to love a good community that looks out for each other.  I also forgot to weigh in before I left home, so will see how that went when I get back.  I won't be able to do any running around here as safety is a big issue right now.  I will add though that I made my step goal yesterday on my Fitbit and will just strive for that again today to make sure I move around enough.  With all the snow shovelling and running back and forth up and down stairs dealing with the water, I don't foresee a problem reaching my step goal.  If I have to, I will just turn up the music and dance away. ;)

Pampering Sunday and My Love of Coconut Oil

Ah, Sunday... I love my Sundays and especially this week because I am now on my Reading Week Break from work and university.  My plans today are to go to head out for a run here for about 5 mi.  I just ran just over 13 mi last weekend because I was supposed to run another half marathon but it was around -34C/-29F and I just could not get myself to go and run on ice for that temperature last weekend.  After my run today, I will head out to some hot yoga, come home and give myself a mini spa (hair and skin) with my favourite coconut oil, quickly pack for a couple of days, grab my son, one dog, some groceries, and then head out to my aunts cabin for a couple of days. Yay!  My hubby was going to come out but he has to work on Tuesday.  :(  I also just like taking my one dog, Cleo, in the winter when it is just me and with/without my son.  She is a good lake dog, watch dog, well basically a good all purpose dog.  I am really looking forward to heading out to the cabin.  I plan on doing some relaxing, cabin upkeep, watching some movies, blogging, and I should do some homework so I don't get all frantic and stressed out like last week - procrastination is not good.  I have a midterm right after the break so this is a great time to study.  The only thing I am worried about is getting my step goals in with my Fitbit One the next few days.  Last week was really low due to sitting studying and doing assignments.  I can go for some small walks, or maybe I will have to just have a dance party to get some steps in. :)

So, now to to pampering and my love of coconut oil. Attention Guys: this works great for you too. 

(No, I do not have any shares in anything coconut or receive any monetary gain about writing about it)

Coconut Oil - I really love this stuff!  There is still so much controversy around it but I know how it makes me feel and that is what is important to me.  I followed all those Pinterest links and such that said 50 ways or 100 ways to use coconut oil, read loads, and used myself as a guinea pig with it.  I was impressed.  Usually you have things posted that make all these claims about stuff, but for me, it works wonders.  I must note here though that everyone is different and what works for one, may not work for all.  I am not trying to sell anything here, this is just a picture of one of the jars of coconut oil I have at home that I use.

So why am I posting about this stuff?  Basically, if anyone is anything like me they are going to google and google about information on one subject to death, looking for as much information that they can find about it.  I might say something that may encourage or deter... also, using this stuff is how I pamper myself daily, and extra on Sundays. :)

I use coconut oil for many things.  I was a bit leery about this one at first but it is now one of my favourites - my face.  Seriously, I put it on to wash my makeup off and rinse with warm water and a cloth. I also put it on my face before jumping in the shower and don't rinse it off until the end of my shower.  I use it like lotion after my shower.  I use it for regular lotion when needed, especially feet.  I have used it for deodorant - yes, this really works as long as you are not super active.  I also use it for shaving cream.  Coconut oil is also great for my hair as I have used a bit of it in my hair when my hair was wet or dry to help the ends of my hair, and I have put a healthy amount on my wet hair and covered with a bag and towel to give my hair a nice hot oil treatment.

I have noticed since I have used coconut oil instead of my old usual lotions for face and body, my skin is now better.  My wrinkles are even diminished a bit.  I wish I would have taken a picture of my face before so I could show the difference, but I did not think of it actually working, or me even blogging about it.  I have heard about other claims like sun screen and such, but I am a bit leery to depend on the coconut oil for it because of the risk of burning and such.  We'll see....  I should add here that whipping about one cup of the coconut oil in a mixer for about 6-7 mins makes it fluffy so it is easier to use in the bathroom for whatever.  Just keep in a sealed container and in not too warm of a place since coconut oil can liquify if too warm.

Now the obvious: I use coconut oil for everything when it comes to food.  Cooking, smoothies, adding to my coffee or tea, you name it.  I used to use Olive Oil for most of my stuff and now it is coconut oil.  My favourite is popcorn cooked in coconut oil... mmm... I may just have to pamper myself today with some of that. ;)

So do any of you use coconut oil for anything?