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?

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?