Slow is the New Fast

Friday! Friday!

2012-02-17T12:26:00.000-08:00

And so my week of total and complete post-race rest (and complete abandon of all things physical and healthy!) is coming to an end. This week was fantastic:

Only one run completed and I don't feel bad in the least! Guilt-free!
Set out to make granola bars but made brownies instead and I've already eaten most of them. All by myself! Fantastic!
I had lots of snacks and enjoyed every one of them! Yum!
Stayed home most of the week and just played with the kids. Wonderful!

So yeah, it was a good rest week. But, yesterday I committed myself to the BMO Vancouver Half Marathon in May, so I really should jump right back into things and get working again. A few goals for this training/race:

Get back to my routine of daily exercise
Stick to my half marathon training plan, including all sessions of hill training
Try to run with the HM clinic for Sunday long runs whenever I can
Add in a bit of cross training whether it be spinning or swimming or something along those lines
Dedicate more time to extended stretching and rolling to help work out the kinks and keep me moving!

But first, I've got a night away in the States planned with my seester for tonight. Maybe I can finally convince her to sign up for an HM or something with me! Or maybe I'll find that new running jacket I'm hoping for. Then tomorrow night we're heading to a gala evening - Masquerade Ball-themed, at that - yikes, my dress is tight and my eating has been big this week...hope it still fits!

So until next week, have a great weekend! I know I will.

BMO 2012 - Here I come!

2012-02-16T21:17:00.000-08:00

Four days post race and I'm already itching to get working on the next one! I realize I am so much better able to stay focused and committed to my running (and exercising and eating "healthy" for that matter) when I'm committed to something like a race.

So, committed I have become!

The old credit card came flying out of my wallet far too easily and now here I am, registered for the 2012 BMO Vancouver Half Marathon on May 6! I'm relieved it's all done and confirmed because I have been hearing that the event is selling quickly. Phew!

BMO was the first half marathon I ever ran back in 2008 and my first HM clinic instructor has always bugged me to go do "my race" again. So I am. And I'm pretty excited about it. Let's see if I can match the excitement of doing it the first time...

I guess I've got some work to do now...

Update the countdown ticker on my blog (most importantly, of course!)
Come up with some kind of training plan
Start tagging along for the long runs of the current BMO clinic at our local store
Get out and find that more flattering rain jacket! If you look good, you feel good and if you feel good, you run good, right? Obviously, a new jacket is therefore an essential component of this being a successful round of training!

But first, like any good runner, I am going to finish milking the last few days of my post-race rest week. I've thoroughly enjoyed barely thinking about my running and not feeling guilty about it. I think in some way I burned out a little before the Van First Half and truly resting during this week is a big part of shaking that off and getting psyched to continue and start working towards BMO Van 2012!

Oh no, those toes!

2012-02-15T21:20:00.000-08:00

I've written a lot about my toes in this blog. Like here and here and most disgustingly here! I will warn you now, if you do not like feet or find toes in any way disgusting, then I probably wouldn't read this post! Because it's all about my toes!

I was feeling very lucky during the training for this half marathon because I seemed to be avoiding the inevitable black toes! Aside from my unfortunate toe injury in Hawaii, my toes did good. Until the last two weeks, that is. Boo. On my 20km training run I was wearing snow spikes and the toe strap cut across my shoe and over one of my smaller toes - consequently it got a tad bit bruised. No big deal, it felt fine in a couple of days.

Then along came race day. Sigh.

I knew close to the end of the race that I was going to sporting a few new runner's toes. That's okay, badge of honour, right? For the past two days a few toes have been feeling pretty tender, but today I gathered my courage and removed my toenail polish to check out the damage.

Yup, I got me some big black runner's toes! Actually, the shades of purple are quite amazing. Ha ha. I was actually thinking of posting a picture, but then I was kind of embarrassed because they sure don't look very nice. The tally goes something like this: 1 nail will fall off (Hawaii injury), 6 nails are bruised (oh the rainbow of colours!) and the rest are okay.

It seems that many people find my blog when Googling black toes (nice) I am by no means a doctor or qualified to advise and you should always see your doctor first, but here are my thoughts on a few FAQ:

1. Black toes, maybe you should get some new shoes? That's what I thought too and I have cycled through numerous brands and sizes of shoes over the years, but always get the black toes after long distance. I sought the advice of a podiatrist and he watched my feet while I ran and said it was most likely being caused by the length and shape of my toes and how they move during each foot step. Apparently the distribution of pressure over my toes when I run will inevitably give me those darn bruises. Lucky me. Thanks a lot foot physiology!

2. Ouch they hurt! What should I do? Being a hobby podiatrist (just kidding) I have tried a little bit of everything. If they are just bruised toenails, I leave them and in a couple days they usually feel better. If they're really bad, sometimes you can get a combo of bruising and some blistering between the nail and the nail-bed. If this is the case, go see your doctor, but mine has always suggested we drain them to release the pressure and usually they feel better overnight.

3. It's falling off! Should I finish the job? Generally when your nail is damaged bad enough, it detaches from the base of the nail-bed and will over time grow out as the new nail grows in underneath. It can be tough having a somewhat detached toenail, but I have learned to resist the urge to pull it off. Leaving it in place protects the new nail underneath and keeps the nail-bed from becoming permanently damaged (which I suspect might be the case on one of my toes).

4. What should I do with them when I run? It can be quite painful to keep running if you have bruised or blistered toe nails. But, when you're training for a big event, it seems like a small price to pay if you want to stick to your training schedule. If it's just bruises, suck it up buttercup. If a nail is blistered underneath it can be raised or loose and I have found it works well to tape the toe and nail to keep everything in place and reduce any further movement of a loose/raised nail.

5. Any preventative tips? Here's what works best for me:

Making sure my shoes are in good condition and have been fitted properly
Keeping my nails trimmed but not too short
Double-layer socks help reduce friction between the toes, nails and shoes. I really like Wright anti-blister socks
I've heard that toe socks are also good for preventing blisters and so the separated toes might also help to reduce pressure on your nails. I know several people who wear Injinji toe socks
I like lacing the "marathon loop" in my shoe laces to prevent my feet from sliding forward during downhill strides. This guy's blog shows how to do it pretty well. Thanks Tall Guy Surfing!

Okay, so that's about all I have to say about toes for one night. It's a shame this always happens but in a way, I've kind of grown to appreciate my ugly toes. They're proof that I'm doing something tough! And, being a girl, I can also hide them up pretty good with a nice coat of nail polish - phew!

Post Race Thoughts...

2012-02-14T16:10:00.000-08:00

Two days post-race and I'm still kind of feeling that high. I love that. I'm still super happy with my run and have the following thoughts on the whole thing...

1. Yay! I did it!

2. Yay! I beat my goal!

3. Happy Valentines Day.

4. I'm thankful that my friends and family made me feel like this race was as special and important to them as it was to me. I know it's just another half marathon, but it was kind of a big deal for me and I'm so lucky that I have people around me who appreciate that.

5. Ouch, my toes! My toes are always kind of battered and sore after a long run like that and they're still feeling pretty tender today. It's going to make it very interesting to squeeze these sore feet into some fancy heels for Valentine's Day dinner tonight with the Hubs! Think he'd mind if I wore running shoes with my dress?

6. Big thumbs up on the compression socks. My legs felt soooo good wearing them! Will definitely be making more use of those in the future!

7. IT band = really sore after this run. Decided I should finally try foam rolling to try and loosen it up, however, I don't think this is what they meant...

8. Went for my first post-race run today - just a short 5k, nice and slow, just enough to get my stiff legs moving again. In general, I'm planning to just to rest and relax this week before starting up training again.

9. Training, you say? What's next? I'm planning to sign up for the BMO Vancouver Half Marathon in May. This event was my first HM four years ago and so it kind of has a special place in my heart.

10. What else is next? Convincing my sister to do it with me! She kind of hinted at doing another HM with me this year, so maybe BMO will be the one. Our last HM together was Okanagan International in Oct 2008.

11. Bling. The medal and race bib are all hung up with the others in the laundry room. Yup, the laundry room. My favourite bling from this race though is the Pandora bead my mom and sister bought for me - it's the bead to the right of the heart bead and it symbolizes Inner Strength and will always be a special one on my bracelet...

12. Must, must, must start the hunt for a new rain jacket. And hat. My running hat is ugly.

13. The Vancouver First Half was really a great run. I loved the event, the course was amazing and although the weather can be iffy, I kind of like having a race so early in the year. Gets things off to a good start. If you're in Vancouver you should check it out.

13.1 I'm really glad that I linked my blog for friends and family to see. Especially right before the race. I have received so many wonderful comments and words of encouragement - there's no way you can fail when you have so much support around you. Thank you!

Race Report: Vancouver First Half

2012-02-12T19:42:00.000-08:00

Well, where do I begin? Today was awesome! I've got my first post-baby half marathon under my belt, I know I did my best and now I can sit back and relax (without feeling guilty about it! Ha ha)

I actually had a pretty relaxing morning, which was a great way to start off - usually I'm all nervous and anxious but today I felt calm and ready to go. By the time I got into Vancouver it was pouring buckets. Boo. As I parked my truck, I changed into my rain coat which is neither comfortable nor flattering. (Note to self: must buy more flattering rain coat for running!) As I got into the Roundhouse and checked my bag I started to get nervous again - everyone looked sooooo fast. There were flimsy singlets, short running shorts and compression socks everywhere I looked! Despite the rain! Needless to say, I felt a bit frumpy in my running tights, skirt and running jacket!

When we finally got outside to the start line, the skies had cleared somewhat.

A quick photo and we were ready to go!

I told myself I wouldn't check my pace until at least 25 mins into the race. I find that first 10-20 mins so hard so I figured there was no sense in even thinking about watching my pace until I had actually settled into a rhythm. Turned out to be a good strategy because when I finally felt like my breathing and turnover had settled, I was clicking along right where I wanted to be. I decided I'd check back against my pace band only at major milestones like 5km, 10km, 15km etc.

The route started out by heading east and doing a loop around Rogers Arena before passing the Roundhouse again and heading off to the seawall. Before I knew it, we were well into Stanley Park and we had already hit the 5km mark. I checked my time and I was about 2 mins ahead of where I needed to be. Good stuff.

The park and seawall portion of the race was great. You can't really get much more scenic than running the Vancouver seawall. I also think I was so excited to finally be at the race that I'm sure I was grinning like a fool, I barely even paid attention as the first 10km went by. Checked my pace again and this time I was 5 mins ahead. Excellent.

This race was marked out in miles instead of kms and I think that kind of helped pass the time. Compared to others I've done, this race seemed pretty relaxed - there was tons of conversation amongst runners and it just felt kind of friendly. I was so relieved because I expected it to be such a pro kind of race for some reason...guess those fast runners weren't exactly back in the pack with me! Ha ha.

Somewhere around 13km I just about died when I saw that I still had to go all the way around the lagoon still. For some reason this part of the race felt like it took forever and was definitely the hardest. Ugh. I don't know why but I just felt so tired all of a sudden. Every step around that damn lagoon felt so slow. It seemed like forever before I was finally back on the pathway and headed back.

I knew I was getting close to the end, so I figured I should hunker down and try to finish as strong as I could. I glanced down and my Garmin said 16.57km. I glanced down a few minutes later and it still said 16.57km! What? I watched it for awhile and the damn thing was frozen! I tried to shut it down, but no luck! Crap. I no longer knew where I was, what my pace was or when my 10:1's were counting down. Grrr. I've never had a major Garmin malfunction and I felt so lost! ha ha. I decided to take a walk break every 2-3 songs and just keep going. I'm pretty sure my pace suffered from this point on though. I still don't know what happened but eventually it just went blank...

At the end of the course were two short hills to get back up to Pacific Blvd. My god, they felt like friggin' mountains. By this time my right hip was killing me, so I walked up the short hills because I'm pretty certain I could walk faster than I could run at that point. Once I hit Pacific Blvd I knew I was just around the corner from the finish so I dialled in a good song and went for it.

Right at the end i saw my Dad, sister and niece who had come to see me finish. So exciting! I started to cry a little bit but had to stop myself because then I was kind of gasping and choking and I didn't want to look like a goof as I passed my family. I sucked it up and smiled my heart out instead. I love how the finish is always so exciting with so many people cheering. Just as I crossed, I found my husband and Marcus and the race was done!

When I finished I didn't really know what my time was. The gun clock said 2:26 so I knew that I had at least beat my goal of 2:30. Official results say 2:24:27 - yay! Beat my goal by 5.5 mins and got my second fastest half marathon time ever.

Yep, today was just fantastic. I felt good during the race (aside from that pesky hip pain) and feel like I did the best I could. I beat my goal and guess I just feel a bit validated that I can still do this. It's a good feeling.

A few last things - here's the finisher's medal...

And here's the unfortunate pile of stinky, sweaty running laundry I still have to do...

And here are my toes all cozy and secure in their compression socks...feels so good...

Last Minute Race Prep

2012-02-11T21:40:00.000-08:00

9:26 pm. I should really be in bed. But, I'm one of those people who can't go to bed really early. 9:30/10:00 kind of is an early night for me. :o) And besides, I'm just finishing up a few last minute things so that I have little to do in the morning. Here's my last minute prep:

Clothes: I have my main outfit as well as backups and last minute alternates all packed and ready. A few things are in the dryer, but I have a big note out to remind me to grab them.

Garmin: Good and charged!

Race bib: With the rest of my stuff. I like to pin it on at the last minute, just in case I've changed my shirt a few times...

Snacks/Nutrition/Water: Breakfast is planned, water and en route car snacks are all packed and my beans and gummies are ready to go. Fuel belt is out and bottles are waiting on the counter to be filled.

Music: Judge me if you want, but hey, I like running to music. The playlist is all synced and the iPod is grabbing a bit of last minute charge over night.

Compression socks: Packed and ready to go. I'm curious if they're going to make any difference or not. Regardless, they're in my bag and ready to go for after the race!

Camera: Battery charging. What's a race day without a few pics?

Paceband: Sometimes I use one, sometimes I don't. I'm not going to cling to it, but I'll pin it inside the hem of my shirt so I can check and see where I'm at. A brand new box of Glad Press n' Seal will make sure it stays nice and waterproof, the weather is supposed to be rainy. Boo.

Goals: This is a tough one. I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a goal in mind. But, I'm being totally realistic and I know that it's going to be tough for me tomorrow and I might not get anywhere close to that goal. It's all going to depend on how I'm feeling in the morning, hopefully I have a good day and can have a good race. I won't be devastated if I don't hit my goal, but I'll be pretty darn thrilled if I do reach it.

I'm feeling pretty nervous but excited at the same time. I know I can do it - even the last person across still gets to say they did it, right? I kinda think that the runners tomorrow are going to be pretty fast - they all looked so hardcore at the package pickup today. Ha ha. I have a feeling I might be racing the course sweeper to the finish line!

Oh well. With all of that said, I think I'm going to pack it in and head up to bed. I've done everything I can. All that's left is to have a good sleep and see what happens!

On training solo...

2012-02-10T10:49:00.000-08:00

The first time I trained for a half marathon, I did it with a Running Room clinic. I loved it and I credit the instructors as one of the biggest reasons I actually got across that finish line.

This time around however, I haven't been able to do my training with a clinic. Unfortunately my husband's work schedule of late has been so busy with travel that I just couldn't commit to evening clinic and Run Club times. Boo. It was really scary not being able to do it the way I was used to.

For this half marathon, I had to do my training solo. Yup. All. By. Myself. Scary stuff. This time it was going to be just me and my treadmill...

Thanks to my trusty Running Room's Book on Running, I had the "Half Marathon - Complete" schedule to follow. I modified it a little because I had more weeks to fill than what the schedule required, but I logged it all (albeit somewhat shoddily) in my big binder of running and exercise. Yes, I have such a thing.

Anyhow, here I sit, in the midst of taper week, with my training behind me. And I managed to get it all done. Solo. So how does it compare? Well along the way I noticed a few differences...

Schedule:

Clinic: Gotta stick to it or else you fall behind
Solo: I could make changes where necessary, but I have to admit, some of my changes may not have been exactly "necessary"

Training Plan:

Clinic/Solo: Pretty much the same. However, as noted above, I could change things when necessary and so I actually repeated a couple weeks when I felt I could use an extra week to adjust to a jump in distance. Nice.

Hill Training:

Clinic: So hard...but at least you have your clinic-mates to cheer you up the hill
Solo: Even harder! And not nearly enough people in my basement to cheer me on when doing hill repeats on my treadmill!

Speed Training:

Clinic: A necessary evil
Solo: What speed training? Oops.

Outdoor Vs. Indoor:

Clinic: Running outside is lovely - wet and cold sometimes - but the fresh air feels good
Solo: Many kms logged on my trusty treadie and somehow this view just wasn't nearly as inspiring...

Conversation:

Clinic: It's amazing what you get to know about your running partners when you're spending hours on the road together! The delirium of distance makes you share everything!
Solo: Conversation? What's that? (I really should have made a better effort to run with people when I could...)

Support/Encouragement:

Clinic: Even when you're the last one back to the store, you know somebody's still rooting for you...
Solo: Do my kids count? Ha ha. Luckily I have very supportive family and friends who took an interest in my training. Phew!

Conclusion:

I am a huge fan of the clinic format. Our clinic groups were always a broad mix of old and young, new and seasoned, fast and slow so I have to believe that the format works well for all kinds of runners. But sometimes we just can't commit to specific run times due to work and family schedules.

So have I grown to love doing it all solo? Not exactly. Am I proud to know I can do it though? Of course! I think I'm a bit more of a social runner and would always prefer the group over slogging it out by myself every time. But, I hope I have learned a bit of discipline through this process and I guess on Sunday morning we'll see if I did enough to get this old mom-body across the finish line again!

Inspiration and putting it all out there...

2012-02-09T11:52:00.000-08:00

The day is only half over, but already it's a good one.

I logged into Blogger this morning to find the nicest compliment - check out this post! I have been following Running for Two for ages and it was so nice to see what she wrote in her post. When I started my blog, I did it primarily as a way of tracking my progress with running and it kind of grew into a place where I could share the ups and downs of learning to run after a major injury and everything that goes along with that, both running-related and otherwise. I chronicled my running through two pregnancies and then again the journey back to running again after having kids.

I have appreciated the ability to write about both broader and personal topics and hopefully haven't offended, shocked or grossed anyone out along the way! This blog has allowed me to "meet" so many other amazing runners, athletes and mothers and get to know the struggles and successes they see in their lives everyday. I have been incredibly inspired by many and I am very touched to know that I have inspired at least one person along the way.

There is something comforting about writing on the internet - over time you gain an audience and while you get to know so much about each of them, there's still a bit of anonymity there that makes it possible to put yourself out there, good and bad, successes and failures, happy and sad. Oddly enough, I have always kept it that way and most of my friends and family don't even know I have been keeping this blog.

Like so many things, writing about my running and recovery has become as much a part of the journey as it is about the journey. And so something in Running for Two's post today has inspired me to put myself out there even further and for the first time today, I'm going to link to my blog on Facebook so that the rest of my friends and family can have a look. That makes me kind of nervous, but on the same hand, I have connected with so many amazing people on Facebook that maybe someone there can learn or take something away from what I have written. We shall see!

So thank you for your kind words today, it means so much.

Less running means more shopping!

2012-02-08T19:54:00.000-08:00

This week is taper week and in the absence of longer training runs, I am just going to have to occupy myself with other things this week...like shopping!

Seriously, I like to make sure I have everything I need before a big race so a trip to the running store was in order. As for the other stuff well, every runner feels good when they have a few new things to wear, right?

Anyhow, here are my recent running purchases, what do you think?

1. Lululemon! I hit up the local Lulu outlet for the first time and found some awesome deals! Crops for $9, running shorts for $10, a rehearsal bra for $29 (I just bought one of these in the regular store for twice the price! Urgh!) and a few Ivivva goodies for my niece's birthday...

2. Nutrition! I can't decide which gummies/beans I wanna bring along on Sunday morning, so I bought a few of my faves and will decide later. I don't know why I bought the gel, I don't even like gels. Whatever.

3. Skirt! Who doesn't love a good running skirt? I grabbed this at Costco the other day and for $14.99 I think it's a good find! It's got a reflective black pattern all over the skirt and is made of a nylon-y kind of fabric over compression shorts. You can't see in this photo, but there are even nice little pleats down the front left side of it. I have other running skirts from Costco and they've held up well, hope this one is the same!

4. Compression! Given the soreness I had after my last 20km training run, I did some research and have decided to try some compression socks after the HM this weekend. I have spoken to so many people and have heard good things - guess I'll see for myself in a few days. Pink!

5. Like any good runner/blogger, I've also recently just joined Pinterest and have started my "Ultimate Running Wardrobe" pin board to keep track of all the other awesome running gear I'd like to get one day. Check it out if you're interested...

Sadly, I don't think I'll be able to wear any of my new clothes this weekend as I think the weather is going to be grey and wet (read: crappy, rainy, windy, friggin'-cold and otherwise miserable). But hey, that's what running in Vancouver is all about!

Okay, now I'm off to the basement for a quickie run before a hot date with my PVR'd shows tonight! Oh that Conda, I hope she gets kicked off BL soon!

Taper Week

2012-02-07T10:47:00.000-08:00

Sigh...oh sweet taper week, you are finally here. I need you because your level of effort matches my level of energy as of late! Ha ha. I am hoping that because there are only a few light runs on the schedule, I will have no problem feeling successful in getting them done this week. That is what I need this week. Good feelings. Good thoughts. Positivity.

That's been hard for me lately. I've just had a sucky few weeks and I'm getting tired of it. I'm ready to put an end to this funk. And I think having a nice, restful week and then an exciting race will be just what I need to kick start myself for a successful spring ahead.

Do you ever get like this? I do every so often, but for some reason this time I feel kind of guilty about feeling bummed. I have a good life. I have a nice family. I have very little stress in my life. I am running again. Yay! I guess that's just how life goes sometimes - up and down. Sometimes down some more. Oops.

I am resolving to enjoy this week though. This is me turning my new leaf over. I'm cutting back on the way-too-frequent-and-bad-for-me snacks (every now and then is okay!), I'm trying to get more sleep, I'm organizing things around the house (makes me feel more peaceful when things are tidy) and I'm trying to keep my patience even when I've had enough. Most importantly, I'm trying to stay focused on my race this weekend and doing what I need to do so that I feel good on Sunday morning for the big day.

It's not much, but it's a start.

Happy Anniversary

2012-02-05T14:10:00.000-08:00

Today I posted this on Facebook...

7 years ago we chose not to let it beat us. Therefore today we do not look back and mourn what happened, instead we celebrate everything wonderful that has happened since. Happy "anniversary".

I have learned many things in the past 7 years... I have learned patience, determination and acceptance. I have learned to appreciate what is good and try my best not to let what is bad define me. I have learned to seek support and encouragement, but never sympathy. I have learned tons about myself, my family and my friends. I have learned to stay positive, no matter how hard it is. I have learned to work harder at this than I have ever worked at anything ever before. I have learned I am capable of so much more than I ever knew.

It sounds kind of cheesy, but the past 7 years have shown me that your life really isn't at all about what happens to you, it's defined by how you choose to handle the things that come your way. It saddens me that I can't say the same for the others but 7 years ago WE chose to fight and do everything we possibly could to get better, to heal and move forwards.

Today, I am incredibly proud and thankful to say that I think we succeeded.

January Report Card

2012-02-02T10:33:00.000-08:00

I didn't really set any specific goals for January, but I see a lot of other bloggers re-capping their month and I thought that might be a good idea. Maybe it will be like a kick in the pants and help me shake off that after-christmas-new-year funk that's still hanging around. So here goes...

Report Card
Name: Nikki Scott
Month: January 2012

Half Marathon Training: B
Nikki has continued to follow her half marathon training plan in January, with the exception of a few missed runs in recent weeks. She is dedicated to improving her running, but I know she could try harder. Perhaps some additional homework, such as more cross-training, would help her improve her running even more.

Non-Running Workouts: F
Unfortunately Nikki has not met expectations with regards to her non-running workouts. The dedication she showed during the fall has not continued in January. She must start adding other workouts such as strength training, P90X and other methods that have proven successful in her past.

Motivation: C
Nikki's motivation has suffered in January. I congratulate her for finding ways to stick to her half marathon training, but I think her overall level of motivation is lacking and I would like to see her become more dedicated. Perhaps adding additional goals will help renew her sense of motivation.

Eating Habits: C
Nikki's eating habits in January were not commendable. I do not think she is the type of girl to closely follow restrictive diets, however, I think she needs to try harder to resist fast food and unnecessary snacking throughout the day.

Sleep: B-
While Nikki has always been a night owl, she has regressed into patterns of staying up way too late at night. Add this to her intermittent sleep problems (due to physical pain) and it leads to less-than-ideal rest.

General Mood: C+
While Nikki has not been a total downer in January, she has not been her usual positive self. I think the decline in her level of activity and poorer eating habits have led to an overall lack of energy and is getting her down.

Overall: Needs Improvement
Nikki definitely seems to have been in some kind of a funk for most of January. This is due to a combination of less working out and less nutritious eating. I strongly believe that if she applies herself a little bit harder, she'll be able to find that state of being motivated, feeling energetic and having better moods on a daily basis. It takes a lot of hard work, but that has never stopped her before.

My suggestions for future success would be:

Find a few new goals (even small ones) to add some excitement in February
Work hard and get yourself to race day. The excitement of the day is sure to renew!
On the eating front, hide remaining chips and snacks in the garage so they aren't so easy to mindlessly grab.
On the sleep front, leave the iPad downstairs and just turn off the light and let herself fall asleep.
For heaven's sake, stop being so lazy!

Learning humility through running...

2012-02-01T00:20:00.000-08:00

I read a great post today by Running for Two - turns out she had a bummer of a run today and it really hit home with me because I had such a horrible run on Sunday. At the end of her post she said that not every run is a rock star run, we need to have a dud in there every so often to humble us.

So true.

Since starting this blog and getting to know so many other amazing women through theirs, I love that running, training and racing seems to empower all of us. It strengthens our bodies, clears our minds, renews our spirits and boosts our moods. I'm sure we all run for different reasons, but I can be pretty certain that part of everyone's reasoning falls back, at least a little bit, on how running makes us feel.

Strong. Powerful. Determined. Focused. Healthy. Successful. Happy.

I know that it sure does for me. In addition to: capable, healed, transcendent, peaceful and whole. And today, I am going to add humble to that list.

I have always admired and looked up to those of you who seem to be almost superhuman in the distances you cover, the hours you put in, the paces you keep, the goals you achieve all while having jobs and raising families. Amazing. I am inspired by those who started from nothing or were overweight or have overcome injuries or illnesses or who are still running despite being slow and tired and always at the back of the pack. When I put it all together, I think it is our training that makes us stronger runners, our successes that make us more determined runners and our failures and struggles along the way that make us better runners.

I don't mean to say that failing is a good thing, but I think that can be where we learn the most. At least for me, I think my struggles have made me the runner I am. When I decided to start running in 2008 - 3 years after my accident - I thought for sure I was getting into something I would never finish. I think lots of people did. But as the weeks of training passed by, I realized that very slowly I was actually getting somewhere. Not for lack of struggles and failures though. Each week was harder than the last. Each week the pain got worse or something new started to hurt. I had many runs where I had to walk and even when I ran, I often got back to the store hours after the other runners.

But these were the things that kept me coming back each week. These are the experiences that gritted my teeth and made me even more determined to get past these obstacles and make it to race day. I am a huge believer in thinking positive and believing you can do anything (that's by far the biggest thing that got me through my recovery) but, I think it is so important to remember every once and awhile that you aren't invincible. It sometimes takes failure to find success. The humility I have learned from trying so hard, and sometimes failing, is what makes me want to keep going and stay committed.

To some people, running comes naturally and maybe there aren't any dud runs, or encounters with "the wall". But in my case, I've had my fair share of crappy runs, physical exhaustion and ongoing injuries. These are the things that have taught me to be humble and remind me that the best things in life are those you have to work for. The failed runs along the way only make the victories that much better.

I'm hard on myself though and when a run totally blows, I usually blame it on not working hard enough, or not eating properly or just being damaged. But I have learned that instead I should see these as just part of the process.

So now, here I sit, a mere two weeks away from my 4th half marathon, having struggled back into running shape after having two back-to-back pregnancies. It's been hard. I have failed along the way. I have hurt immensely and cried often. But I'm here. And I'm humbled. And I'm ready to both start and finish that race with a smile on my face, no matter what may happen in between...

Last long run and an encounter with "The Wall"

2012-01-30T19:33:00.000-08:00

I posted about my funk last week and yup, it's still here. I can't quite put my finger on it, maybe I'm just burning out, but whatever it is, I just felt so entirely UNMOTIVATED to complete my scheduled runs this week that I only got 2 out of 3 done. No big deal, but that's all I did last week, no extra stretching, no weights, no abs, no P90X, no nothing! And boy did I feel it on Sunday morning when I headed out for that last long 20km training run!

Despite the lack of any positive motion during the week, I at least dedicated myself to eating a relatively light meal and drinking lots of water and stuff on Saturday night. The last thing I needed on top of no motivation was to have tummy troubles too. Thankfully I felt okay in that department Sunday morning.

I got off to a later start than I had planned but was feeling okay and trying to trick myself into feeling pumped and excited about the run. Given that it was absolutely stinking pouring, I just couldn't get excited. Luckily as I headed out it dried up a bit and was actually barely spitting for about the first half of the run. I followed last weekend's super twisty route and just added on extra loops here and there to make up an additional 2km. It made for one very circuitous route, but I just didn't want to get too far from home in case I ran into any problems.

The first half of the run was fine. By about 11km, I was starting to feel pretty pooped. My legs were heavy, my hips were feeling tight, my arms were getting awfully close to my body. But then I remembered I had some fruit snacks so I started popping those for energy during my walk breaks and it definitely helped.

Then at about 14km the rains came back. With a vengeance! Holy crap. It was raining so hard, I swear my soaked clothes were adding an additional 20lbs, I felt so wet and slow! My face was streaming and with what I couldn't tell. Was it rain? Was it snot? Was it sweat? Probably a few tears? It was crazy, I was so freaking wet. But I trudged on.

By about 17km I hit this long stretch back towards home and it felt like frickin' forever before I got to the street light at the end. Then I realized that I was close to home but still had 3km to run, so i started to go loopy trying to add distance. Around the block. Around the cul-de-sac. And again. Up the street. Down the street. I felt like a fool.

By about 18.5km the muscles in my hips were totally seizing up. Ouch! They got so tight, it was really weird. This is where I kind of started to lose it. I just wanted to go home. I was done. I hurt. I was tired. I was wet and starting to get cold. At 19.5km I BBM'd my husband and asked if he'd walk down the block and cheer me on the last 500m, but alas, he was out doing an errand. Boo. One more loop of the park and then I could head home. By this point I was walking more than I was running.

By the time I finished around the park and started up the hill to get home, I actually did lose it. Why did I plan a hill at the end of a frickin' 20k run? What was I thinking? I started to cry, but because I was breathing heavy hoofing it up the hill, it was kind of more like a gulping, hyperventilating kind of thing. I hope nobody was outside to hear me snivelling up that last hill! Ha ha. If I could have just laid down in the street and cried, I would have, but that would have been weak. I guess this is what you call hitting "The Wall". Funny thing is, I think my Wall turned out to be both physical and emotional.

I don't know why I lost it so much. I guess because after last weekend's crappy run in the snow, I was really hoping this 20km would renew my faith that I'd do okay the race in two weeks. I really wanted a good run. And I was mad at myself that I didn't have a good week leading up to this run. And I was so wet! And so sore by this point. I really started to doubt myself about finishing the race at all and I guess it all just brought out the tears.

That's okay though, I got out what I'm sure was a really ugly cry on the road and pulled it together before walking through the front door. The inlaws were in town so I couldn't show any signs of weakness. Ha ha. I didn't stop to chat though, I headed straight up the stairs and into the hottest Epsom salts bath I could stand. Except that I was out of Epsom salts - what do you think the healing properties are in AVON bubble bath?

So the bad news was:

This run pretty much sucked at the end
I'm pretty sure at least one passing driver saw that crazy wet, snotty and sweaty lady limping and crying on the side of the road (aka ME!)
I was pretty full of self doubt by the end of this run
I bruised another toenail. Damn. That's 2 now!

But the good news was:

It was over.
My average pace (even with all that walking and snivelling at the end) was 7:03/km which is well below what I will need to maintain to hit my goal at the race
My husband was kind of enough to bring me water and a snack while I was soaking my blues away in the tub

Yeah, so I'm glad I got the run done and I guess in technical terms it actually was a fairly successful run pace-wise. But I would have to say this was probably my first big encounter with "The Wall". And I didn't like it. I was feeling crappy physically by the end and that's to be expected, but I was doubting myself emotionally and I think that's what ran me smack into the Wall. Lame.

It wasn't quite a triumphant conclusion to my HM training, but it's complete, so I'll count that as a "win". This week is going to be a few short runs and a 6k "long run" on Sunday before having a nice restful week before the race. Hopefully I can pull myself together for the next two weeks and coast into race day feeling ready and refreshed and excited.

Oh, and it's like 18 hrs later and my running shoes are still soaking wet! Gah.

Three things Thursday...

2012-01-26T21:48:00.000-08:00

1. Here are two photos I downloaded from the Chilly Chase 15k on January 15th. I always look like such a goof when I run...

2. Still a bit in my funk today = no running today either. Boo. That hill training session is still haunting me...maybe I'll actually get it done tomorrow. (Why is it so easy to feel like you're falling off the wagon just weeks before a big event??)

3. Remember how last January I vowed I was going to get my home gym all finished? Well one year later I am seriously almost done. Just a couple more small things to fix up and she's done like dinner! I have soooo wanted to post pictures, but I'm holding myself back until it is really, totally, fully completed. My goal this weekend is to get those last few things done, so hopefully next week I can do the big reveal!

Hump Day, Slump Day, Grump Day

2012-01-25T17:29:00.000-08:00

I think today I'm having one of those days. Maybe it's just that it's that Wednesday hump I have to get over. Maybe I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Maybe I'm just a big fat grump today. Here's what I'm grumpy about:

My back hurts. A lot. It's getting in the way of everything. It's hard to put on my clothes. It's hard to get on and off the toilet seat. I'm in a lot of pain when I wake up in the morning when I should feel rested. Sometimes I can barely lift my kids.
I'm struggling to get my good-eating mojo back. I did so well all fall and ever since Christmas all I can think about is chocolate and chips and popcorn and fries.
I LOVE being at home with my kids and know how fortunate I am that I have the opportunity to stay home while they are young. My only job is to take care of these boys, to love them and to help them become wonderful, sensitive, caring, kind, thoughtful, intelligent young men. Yet, sometimes I just don't feel like I'm that stay-at-home-SUPER-mom that everyone blogs and brags and talks about. I wish I was more creative with their time.
I'm doubting myself and my being ready for the HM in a couple weeks. I've trained well on my own, but yesterday's 6km felt like it was going to kill me! Am I really ready to run a HM? Have I done enough strength training? Am I really back in running shape? Can I actually get anywhere close to my 2:30 goal?
I have a super fugly temporary tooth right now. In two weeks, they will finally put on the permanent veneer, but until then I'm stuck with this ugly, hillbilly Chicklet tooth. Yuck.
Will Marcus EVER truly learn to share with his younger brother? The word "Mine!" haunts me in my sleep!
There are so many fun races and events I'd like to do this summer, but how do you balance racing with vacation etc.? And, going back to the doubt mentioned in a couple points above, am I even ready to take on new challenges? It's getting me down.
Did I mention my back hurts?

And there's other random negative things bugging me too, but these are kind of the big ones. I guess this morning I woke up and they were all just weighing on my shoulders. Grr.

Anyhow, I'm sure I'll have a more positive outlook tomorrow. At least I hope I do. I don't like being in a funk and today I definitely was. And when I'm feeling funky I rebel by shunning exercise so that means I am very deliberately NOT doing my 8 hill repeats tonight.

There, now I feel a bit better.

Thanks for the shout out!

2012-01-24T16:11:00.000-08:00

I like to check the stats for my blog and see where people are coming from and how they are finding me. The other day, I noticed that an awful lot of people were coming from triathlontrainingschedule.org. Huh? Thought I'd go check it out and what do you know, I found my blog listed there!

Sure, it's only one person's opinion, but Terry from triathlontrainingschedule.org included my blog as one of the Top 125 Triathlon Blogs to read in 2012. I perused the list and thankfully there are other non-tri blogs on the list (phew!) but sure enough, there I am at #99. Thanks Terry! If nothing else, it's a nice little shout out and a whole list of new blogs that I think I'd like to check out myself.

Anyhow, it also sort of has me thinking a bit lately...since 2008 I've considered myself a runner. You know, a real, actual runner. Sure, I swim (for cross-training but it's been awhile) and ride my bike (every few years, eek!) but I have never really had any intention of diving into multisports in any serious way.

But! I am thinking of maybe making an exception to that rule this summer. I'm sort of, kind of, maybe considering doing a sprint triathlon this summer, in homage to my spot on the list, but also just to mix things up a little. My sister and I have done several sprint tris in the past and what I like about that distance is that it doesn't really require much in the way of training (in fact, I don't think I trained at all for the ones I've done!) and just might be something fun and different for a change.

I haven't totally made my mind up yet, I'm still trying to convince my sister to come do it with me, but we'll see. There's one coming up at UBC in March (yikes, is that enough time to remember how to swim 400m or 800m?) or I could go back for a re-match with the good folks at the "My First/Next Triathlon" event in Harrison Mills in July or August. If I did UBC, do I really want my old co-workers to see me dragging my butt around campus on a bike? Hee hee.

Who's gonna be...

2012-01-23T21:54:00.001-08:00

...my 60th follower? C'mon, everybody loves an even number...

Tagged for 11 Random Things...

2012-01-23T17:13:00.000-08:00

I almost forgot! Nicole at Haute Runner (and new Mama-to-be) tagged me for 11 Random Things! It's been awhile since I've done one of these things, so here goes...

11 Random Things About Me...

1. Absolute favourite snack of all time - potato chips! Especially plain, ripple ones.
2. I used to have a Diet Coke addiction so I gave up brown pop altogether. It's been at least 5 yrs since I've had a Coke but will have the odd Root Beer for ol' times sake!
3. I recently bought a DSLR camera and am diligently trying to learn how to use it. I've always liked photography and hopefully now I can learn to take better pictures. I'm even starting a photog blog...
4. I'm married to one of my fellow bloggers' ex-boyfriends from university days. Long story...
5. My running "dream" is to one day travel somewhere really cool for a big race.
6. I bruise really easily therefore my shins always look like those of a 12 year old boy.
7. I would love to own my own business someday but am still trying to think of that million dollar idea.
8. I have some VERY talented and successful friends - photography, graphic design, decorating, baking, writing, sewing, crocheting...
9. Speaking of crocheting, my sister taught me how to crochet 7 yrs ago and I still like to make the occasional blanket or hat every now and then
10. I'm way too chicken to jump straight into cold water (heck, any water!) I know it's harder but I always let myself in slowly...
11. Even though I love my Macbook Pro, I'll take a Blackberry over an iPhone any day!

Questions from Nicole:

1. How many languages do you speak? What are they? Just one, English. Unless Pig Latin counts? Oh and I can ask "Do you have a cat?" in French.
2. What side of the bed do you sleep on? The left. Always.
3. Are you a morning person or a night owl? Night owl. Who whooooo!
4. What's your biggest time waster? Definitely the internet/Facebook/blogs...
5. Mac or PC? I'm a newly minted Mac user and I love it!
6. Can you drive a standard car? Nope! And I have no desire to! I'm convinced that my left leg doesn't work because I just can't operate a clutch!
7. Where did you go on your last trip? Paradise - Maui!
8. What's your favourite game? Scattergories, Scrabble, Rummoli and Canasta
9. Did you play any sports growing up? Basketball and volleyball for a few yrs in high school.
10. What's your favourite number and why? 2 is good, I have 2 kids, 2 legs, 2 eyes, 2 boys...
11. If you could live anywhere where would it be? I'd stay right where I am. I love Vancouver and I just couldn't leave the West Coast.

Now, my problem with the tagging part is that I follow a lot of the same blogs as the person who tagged me and so most of my favourite blogs have already been tagged!

However, if you have a random question that you'd like to ask me, go ahead! I'll use my newly updated Blogger commenting to answer you! Ha ha.

The longest 18km of my life...

2012-01-22T10:05:00.000-08:00

I really like the part of half marathon training that I'm at because we're up into the big double digits. For these three weeks it's 18km, 18km and then 20km before pulling back and tapering off before the race. Last weekend was my first of the two 18km runs and so this weekend the plan was for the same. 18km, long and slow. And I was dreading every km of it!

While last weekend was cold and sunny and crisp, this weekend is warmer (but still cold), rainy, wet, slushy and grey. Boo. I just wasn't looking forward to an 18km swim! Ha ha.

So after sleeping through my alarm and getting a much later start than I planned, I hummed and hawed over what to wear. Warmer temps, but all that wet slush and rain. Ugh. The Smartwool socks were a must as was a hat to keep rain off my glasses. But spikes or no spikes? I decided no, but barely 4 mins away from the house, I turned around and came back for the spikes because although it was more slushy than icy, I could barely take a step without slipping!

On some roads I could run on wet pavement, but on the side streets there was still a lot of snow, ice and slush and hardly any sidewalks shovelled. I spent a lot of time running on pavement in spikes which probably isn't good for them, but hey, at least I didn't wipe out.

This run was also tough to plan because I knew that a lot of the pathways I normally like to run on would just be too wet and slushy, so I had to stick all to roads. And, I didn't want to get too far from home in case I had problems or wiped out or something. I ended up with the twisty-est, curvy-est run route I've ever planned!

The first 10 mins of the run kind of sucked while I found my footing and settled into a rhythm. It was tough to just "go" though because I had to spend so much time dodging huge puddles, swerving around ice floes and heading for the safest ground. Even with spikes I had to walk in lots of places. I stepped in so many puddles and fell through a lot of ice. It was treacherous! And slow! I could tell this run was taking forever...

I enjoyed myself until around 13km when I got the hugest cramp under my right ribs. Ouch! I managed to breath it out over the next km or so but I almost thought i'd have to stop. Thankfully it slowly went away and I finished up my last few kms. I was SOOOOO relieved to be headed home. I had enough of this wet, slushy, slippery run!

I'm hoping that this run is no indication of how I'm going to do at my race in a couple weeks. I'm pretty sure the slow pace was due to all the wasted time and extra walking...right?

Anyhow, what did I learn out there?

1. Smartwool socks ROCK! I stepped in sooo many puddles and yet my feet never felt wet or got cold. So rad!
2. Spikes are still where it's at. Although it was still really tough, without the spikes I would have had to walk the whole way.
3. I'm comfortable running 18km. I was pretty tired, but it feels great knowing I can handle the 18km, because really, what's 3.1 more km, right?
4. No ankle pain on this run. Phew! Seems like it's going to be okay as long as I don't push too hard.

The "comments" discussion...

2012-01-20T16:54:00.000-08:00

Thanks for all the great comments on my commenting woes. A few people have mentioned comments being easier when an email address is registered. What exactly does this mean and how do I do it?

Comparing blogs, I also noticed that my comments page is kind of "old school" looking whereas some of you on Blogger have comments that appear a lot more sophisticated... Is there an option I can change in my blog? Is my template just really old?

And, because of all of this talk, I also just noticed that when I receive a notification of a comment on my blog, I can just reply to that email and respond to the commenter (if an email is present). I always thought these were just notifications, I didn't even notice that they seem to have personal emails attached?

Anyhow, thanks again for all the help! Maybe I can get my commenting system more "with the times" after all!

Comments, questions and sports bras...

2012-01-19T09:37:00.000-08:00

How many times have you left a question in the comments on a blog you read, or have been asked a question in the comments on your blog? How do you answer them? I usually go back to their blog and answer, but then your comment usually doesn't apply to the post you had to post it on... It just doesn't feel like the best way to do it. But what are the options?

I've seen a few blogs switch recently to something like Disqus and my understanding is that it allows you to comment and answer questions back and forth better? Do you use it? If so, do you like it? Are there other services like it that do the same thing? I'm thinking of putting it onto my blog because although I don't get tons of comments, a lot of time there are questions and I feel bad not being able to answer them properly.

And so, that is why today's post is dedicated to Nicole from Haute Runner! She was obviously catching up on blogs and so I received a whole bunch of emails from her and some had questions. So in response to her question about the Lululemon sports bras...

"Nice bras, do they offer enough support for running?"

"Why yes Nicole, they do! I have never been very well endowed and when I was a teenager I was convinced this was going to ruin my life. When I hit my 20's I realized that I actually had it made in the shade with small boobies. You can always boost them up if they're small, but it's hard to truly minimize 'em when they're big. So when I started running I realized again what a blessing the small boobies were because I didn't have to worry about fancy sports bras or bouncing or anything.

Now, fast forward to post-breastfeeding days. Yikes! Yes, breast is best, but man oh man, can it do a number on your boobs! I had nothing before I breastfed and now I seriously think I have negative boobies. That's right, I essentially have the same size boobs as my husband and he actually has a nice, strong chest right now! It sucks.

So in response to the question about support, heck yes! But only because I really don't need ANY support these days. Ha ha. I don't know how supportive the Lulu Rehearsal Bra or the other one (I can't find the name of it now!) would be for larger chests, but for little guys like me they are awesome! So comfortable and with a little padding, they make me look like a girl again!"

My new favourite running gear...

2012-01-16T21:18:00.000-08:00

We got a whole bunch more snow today so the boys and I laid low and stayed home. We played in the snow, we watched some Thomas the Tank Engine, and we just generally hung out in our jammies and played. Even though I was feeling pretty good and not sore after yesterday's 18km, I was just kind of dreading working out tonight.

Then it hit me. What if I went for a run in the snow? Great idea!

Although I'm fairly comfortable running at night, I don't generally do it. You know, just in case. But with all of the snow, it's way brighter outside and I figured that any creepy guys looking to cause problems were likely inside staying warm and saving their shenanigans for a warmer night. Ha ha. Besides, I was kind of eager to try out my snow spikes after digging them out for yesterday's race. And here they are...

I was really happy with how well they worked! They're not actual Yak Trax brand, but they are a brand called Due North that Costco sold last year and they were awesome. I kept running and trying to slide just to get a feel for how "sticky" they were and no matter what I did, I couldn't slip at all. The roads were mainly packed snow and ice and the sidewalks were everything from fully shovelled and salted to nothing at all.

In no time at all I settled into a nice little rhythm and was enjoying my run. It was a slow go in some places because of how deep the snow was and I had to dodge the occasional car. There were so many people out too - people with dogs, kids playing in the snow, couples walking. It was nice. I even saw some interesting things:

A full sized igloo...

The world's most sinister looking snowman. (I'm going to have nightmares of this guy tonight. Sorry about the crappy photo)...

I was enjoying the run so much that when I glanced down at my watch, I had to hoof it back home so that Hubs didn't start to worry. All in all, here's what I did:

Total Distance: 6.29km
Total time: 47:19
Average pace: 7:31/km

My perfect running playlist

2012-01-16T09:06:00.000-08:00

When Santa decided it was time for me to switch to a Mac, I embarked on the huge task of switching ones life from PC to the Steve Jobs way. This has been a long, steep learning curve, but I'm getting there and slowly seeing the light! Ha ha. Anyhow, one of the tasks I've had to do is switch my iPod over to the new computer. Although you can do this rad home sharing thing and access iTunes libraries on all the computers in your home from your Mac, you still have need to have your iPods synced to just one computer in the network.

So, late on Saturday night, I realized that if I wanted to update my iPod for Sunday's race, I would have to do that. So I did. And the results were startling - having to recreate my running playlist led me to my perfect running playlist! I didn't skip through a single song!

The beat of these songs was perfect for me. The mix of fast and slow songs was great. I have my good old standards and some new songs too. Hopefully you can find one or two from this list to keep your feet moving too...

If I Had You - Adam Lambert
The Time (Dirty Bit) - Black Eyed Peas
Someday - Black Eyed Peas
Don't Stop the Party - Black Eyed Peas
Rock That Body - Black Eyed Peas
Meet Me Halfway - Black Eyed Peas
I Gotta Feeling - Black Eyed Peas
We Found Love (acoustic) - Coldplay
Turn Me On - David Guetta ft. Nicki Mina
Howl - Florence and the Machine
One More Night - Jordan Knight
Somebody to Love - Justin Bieber
What Goes Around - Justin Timberlake
Fire in Your New Shoes - Kaskade ft. Dragonette
Mr. Know It All - Kelly Clarkson
Stronger - Kelly Clarkson
Let it Rock - Kevin Rudolf ft. Lil Wayne
Move For Me - Kaskade ft. Deadmau5
Makes Me Wonder - Maroon 5
Electric Feel - MGMT
Animal - Neon Trees
Moment 4 Life - Nicki Minajj ft. Drake
Good Life - One Republic
We Found Love - Rihanna
Electric - Shawn Desman
Higher - Taio Cruz ft. Travie McCoy
DJ Got Us Fallin in Love - Usher ft. Pitbull
Companion - Wide Mouth Mason
Super Bass - Nicki Minaj
Give Me Everything Tonight - Pitbull
Moves Like Jagger - Maroon 5

Race Report: Chilly Chase 15k

2012-01-15T19:26:00.001-08:00

There's nothing better than sitting down to your computer and writing up a race report. I'm still looking for a decent, free Mac blog app but until then I'll manage with Blogger. Anyhow, writing race reports is even better when there's a glass of wine involved...

This morning I woke up nice and early so that I had lots of time to figure out what I was going to wear and to make sure I had lots of time to drive to the race. We got about 8 inches of snow this weekend and I'd be lying if I said that didn't concern me - both from a racing and a driving perspective.

After breakfast and a shower, I settled on wearing my tall SmartWool socks, fleece-lined cold-weather running tights, a running skirt (to keep the tush warm and give me an extra pocket), a fleecy base layer, a mid-layer and then my outer jacket. I also wore fleece gloves over my running gloves and a fleece headband AND hat. I was layered to the max!

It was a very slow drive down to the race, but on the way two of my all-time favourite running songs played on the radio so I took that as a good omen. When I got there, I got out of the car and just about froze my buns off. Luckily my training plan called for 18km this morning, so I headed out for an easy 3km warmup run around the area. By the time I finished that, I was nice and toasty and felt incredibly comfortable considering the -3 degree temp!

I lost my warmth mojo thought because there was a 15min start delay while the City crews setup a change in the traffic lights on our course (lame). But eventually the gun went off and we got started.

Once we got going, I was happy to see that a good part of the main roads were plower and we would be running on wet pavement. Before the start I debated whether or not to wear spikes but was nervous using them for the first time at a race. I'm glad I opted not to, because I was totally fine. It didn't take long to find a comfortable rhythm and the km started to just fly by.

This was due in part to my new running playlist. I had to re-sync my iPod when I switched to the new Mac and whatever I put in my running playlist this time just totally rocked. I didn't skip through a single song. My favourite thing is when you're running along and the scenery is pretty and you're feeling good and the music rocks. Today was totally one of those days.

Before I knew it, I was nearing the 10km finish line and kinda wished I was turning off myself. I still had to go back do the 5km loop and I'll be honest, I was feeling pretty tired. My pace wasn't too bad, but I was going pretty slow just to make sure I didn't slip or fall or twist an ankle. Speaking of ankles, I didn't have any ankle problems during this entire run so yahoo.

The 5km loop was on pretty much snow-covered roads but it was really neat. The sun was shining so bright and there was a slightly slushy top layer on the road so it felt like I had a bit of traction. By the time I reached the water station at about 13km, I was kind of ready to be done. No pain, but I was feeling kind of pooped. With my 3km warmup, this was already like 16km for me.

The last stretch was back along the pavement on the main road so I tried to pick it up a little bit. Nothing felt better than passing my first half marathon clinic instructors who was Marshalling at the end of the course. Big high-fives and then it was off to the finish. The finish chute was totally snow covered so it was a bit tough to sprint, but I managed to pick it up a little.

So no records set today, but it was just a fantastic race all around. Beautiful day. I felt great, tired but great.

Total Distance: 18.01 km
Total time: 2:06:43
Average Pace: 7:01/km
Race Distance: 15km
Official Race Time: 1:43:05
Official Race Pace: 6:52/km

It's not my fastest, but given the ice and snow I'm pretty pleased. And, if I can keep it up then I should be able to finish my half marathon in February in under 2:30, which would be rad for me.

On a final note is Blogger ever crappy to use when you want to use pictures in your posts! Grr!

'Twas the Night Before Chilly Chase...

2012-01-14T17:47:00.000-08:00

'Twas the night before Chilly Chase,

And all through my mind,

Are visions of snow, ice and slush

Through which I'll grind.

The race is tomorrow,

And unfortunately last night,

The snow started falling,

Much to most people's delight.

But this intrepid runner,

Is less than impressed,

How will I manage,

And how shall I dress?

The snow that has fallen,

Is about 6 inches deep,

I have wool socks and yak trax,

But will I really be able to stay on my feet?

Won't my fingers be chilly?

And my butt turn to ice?

My nose will be red,

I won't look very nice.

So those are the details,

And tonight now I'm worried,

That 15k in the snow,

Sure won't pass by in a hurry.

And what's worse than the snow,

Is that 15k isn't all I'll have ran,

I have to add 3 more kilometres,

To stick to the 18k on my training plan!

So when you get up tomorrow,

And are in jammies with hot tea,

Just remember how lucky you are,

To not be out running with me!

Because although I am tough,

Deep snow and ice always sucks.

And you know people who drive by,

Will be thinking, "Look at those crazy f---ks!"

er, I mean runners....

Wish me luck tomorrow morning! That my toes don't freeze and my fingers don't get frostbite in our chilly weather! Oh well, the race IS called the Chilly Chase after all...

Okay, okay so I ended up running tonight

2012-01-12T22:02:00.000-08:00

My teeth are feeling much better so I sucked it up and headed downstairs to the treadmill for a bit of late night fun after all. 5.02km run including 6 x 1:45min hill repeats at 9%. Thank god I can scratch that hill training off my schedule for the week!

My teeth told me not to...

2012-01-12T16:34:00.000-08:00

I have a very good excuse for not working yesterday for not likely not working out today: my teeth told me not to. No, I'm not kidding.

When I was 14 I got kicked in the mouth while I was swimming and one of my two front teeth "died". Since then it has slowly been changing colour and yellowing over the years. Since 2012 is my year to get my whole self back in working order, fixing that tooth is part of the plan. Before they can replace it with a veneer though, they wanted to whiten all of my teeth first so yesterday I had Zoom! whitening done. (Notice the one yellow-er tooth in the front?)

I am super happy with the results - my teeth look really bright and white. But, along with such a strong whitening process comes extreme sensitivity. Ouch! I was okay until last night and then my teeth hurt so much all night that I barely got a couple hours of sleep! Needless to say, I didn't really feel like doing weights last night and now today with basically no sleep and still-throbbing teeth I think I am going to pass again.

Not a great situation, since I'm in the throes of my last month of training for the half marathon, but heck, when your teeth tell you not to do something, you should listen! They are starting to feel better so maybe after dinner I'll feel like pounding out a workout, but for now, I'm not expecting much.

In other news, the forecast is calling for multiple inches of snow on Sunday! Grrr. I'm running a 15km race on Sunday. Appropriately it IS named the Chilly Chase, but still, I'd prefer not to be running it in the snow! Any of you done many races in the snow?

What the physio said...

2012-01-11T09:08:00.000-08:00

So last night I went to physio for the first time in a loooong time. When you spend as much time in a clinic as I did in that clinic, it's kind of like visiting relatives. Sure there are new employees and new patients, but many of the same patients are still there (my physio deals with lots of catastrophic and life-altering injuries). It was a bit weird because it was like going back to that old part of my life where I was at the physio clinic multiple times per week. Thankfully it's NOT that time in my life, but it's funny how your memories work and can transport you like that.

Anyhow, I told her all about how I've been doing and what I've been doing physically. She's always been amazed that I have been able to get into running after everything I've been through. She did a pretty thorough exam and she found some interesting stuff.

Not surprisingly, my main issue is lack of strength and muscular condition. In my back, in my stomach and in my whole pelvic region. More importantly, she noticed that I have a fairly significant imbalance - my left side is way weaker than my right. So while I have definitely gotten into better shape this past 6 mos, I still have a long ways to go in terms of all those supporting kind of muscles. She said that a lot of it comes from my damaged nerves not controlling the muscles properly and the lack of mobility in my spine and pelvis not allowing things to move properly and develop.

It's good news in the sense that we know exactly what to do to try and make it better. But it's bad news in the sense that this will take a long time and lots of hard work. And I have to start small. As in some exercises I can't even do because there are literally NO muscles to do them with! Ha ha.

I'm armed with a big list of targeted stretches and exercises though so all I can do is just get to it! Let's hope it doesn't take too long before I start to feel some improvements!

In other news, I soooo didn't want to do my scheduled 5km run yesterday but I told myself I couldn't relax until after it was done. So I did it, and it turned out to be one of those great runs. Phew! Only 4 more weeks until the half marathon!

I'm so not a streaker...

2012-01-08T19:42:00.000-08:00

Many friends and fellow bloggers have pledged to go on a running streak in 2012, vowing 2+km every day in 2012. I really like the idea but immediately doubted I could do it. But, before taking on the challenge, I decided to give it a try and see what happened.

5 days. That's all that happened.

I managed to run every day for 5 days, but it didn't take long for me to remember that this bod ain't built for that much running. With my back problems, I think I'm pretty lucky to run as much as I do, or heck, to even be running at all. Daily running is just too much for me and I don't want to challenge myself in a way that could jeopardize me even running at all. I think my body really needs those days of rest.

Anyhow, the streak was fun while it lasted but I am proud to say that I sooooo not a streaker!

In other news, I did my 12km long run this morning. This was supposed to be a recovery run after doing 16km for the previous two weekends. I actually only completed one of those 16km runs, so I don't count this as a total recovery run. Instead, I treated it like a "test-the-waters-to-see-what-pace-is-sustainable-without-making-my-back-and-ankle-hurt-too-much"! I realized today that instead of pushing myself to try and go faster, what my body needs right now is some emphasis on the whole theory of the "long slow distance" run. Heavy on the long and slow so that I can actually cover the distance.

I lowered my pace by about 30 sec per km and I finished the whole run without any aggravated pain in my hip or ankle. Yahoo! I'm in no hurry to set personal records, in fact, my main goal has always been just to finish with a smile, so now more than ever, I need to keep that in mind until my back gets stronger.

To celebrate my great run this morning, I went out and bought some new duds. Lululemon had some awesome light-support bra tops and I couldn't resist. My boobies never had it so good - these two exercise bras are so dainty and pretty! And no, those aren't me in the pictures...I only wish my décolleté looked so nice!

Blogging on a Mac?

2012-01-07T17:08:00.000-08:00

Just a quickie post tonight. I'm still bummed about my back, but that's the "whiny me" saying that. After I'm done writing this I'm going to go downstairs and have a wicked work out. That's the "cool me" saying that.

Anyhow, I guess I was a good girl this year because Santa delivered a shiny new Macbook Pro under my Christmas tree. Yup, I'm making the switch and going Mac. I'm slowly being seduced by the simplicity of it all and nobody can deny that the actual computer itself is pretty darn pretty. But, I'm feeling a bit lost since I've only ever used a PC and a Mac is just. so. different.

I don't know if any of you are using Macs, but if so, do you have any suggestions for blogging software? On my old computer I used Windows Live Writer and I really liked it. Does anybody know if there is a Mac equivalent or have a blogging software they'd like to suggest? For now I've been using Blogger and it's like going back to the dark ages after using Live Writer. Ha ha.

Wanna know the best part about having a Mac? Photobooth. Anyone with an iPhone I guess will know this program I guess, but it's new to me, and who wouldn't get a kick

out of being able to take photos of yourself like this... May I present Alien Nikki and Chipmunk Nikki.

Call me a geek but the Hubs and I sat and played Photo Booth for hours just howling at the stupid pictures. Thanks Steve Jobs, now I can really see how you made the world a better place.

The ankle bone's connected to the...back bone?

2012-01-05T21:26:00.000-08:00

So today was my anxiously awaited appointment at the sports therapy clinic to figure out what's going on with my ankle. I would have bet money that either:

a) My orthotics needed updating, or

b) I needed and ankle support for a weakened or sprained ligament

WRONG! On both accounts. And this is where it sucks...

I'll start off by saying that I do not seem to have any kind of major ankle injury. Phew! And for that I am extremely thankful. But, what they've told me is that the ankle problems are actually a sign of further issues relating to my back injuries from the accident. Boo.

Since I got hurt in 2005 I have struggled with all kinds of problems in my right SI joint. I didn't actually break anything in that area, but something in my spine "twisted" and resulted in ongoing spasm, tightness, instability, weakness and nerve pain stemming from that joint. Since getting home from Hawaii this Christmas, I have been suffering from a really bad episode of pain and spasm in the area.

As it turns out, the problems in my SI joint prevent the L5 nerves from doing their job and properly instructing the muscles in my foot which leads to weakness and instability in the ankle, causing overpronation and extra stress on the ligaments and therefore all that pain! So it's great that we have figured out what is going on, but I'm feeling kind of let down tonight as I think about what that all means. I was hoping for some new orthotics or a nifty ankle brace, but instead, the only real solution here is to release that SI joint and strengthen everything in my core, back and pelvic floor.

That's a big job and will undoubtedly require lots of regular physiotherapy and probably massage and ART too to start correcting the SI problem. It's a huge, huge job - my SI joint is wrecked because my back is weak. My back is weak in part due to my core being weak. My core is especially weak right now because I just had two babies and have an abdominal diastasis. But it's really hard to strengthen your stomach when you have no support from your back. And in order to have truly strong core, you need to have a strong pelvic floor which I basically will never have because of my surgery. Working on all of these things causes pain, but the pain doesn't get any better until I get stronger. It's a vicious cycle - I have to get fit to lessen the pain, but getting fit causes so much pain in the process. Grr.

Anyhow, I'm not trying to whine or complain, that's not what I'm all about. I know how important it is for the management of my back pain to get fit and strong and how much better that makes me feel physically, but it sucks to think about how difficult it is going to be to get back to that place. With all of the work I've put in over the fall I am definitely seeing improvements and am feeling better, but this whole ankle issue shows me that the problems run a little bit deeper and that it's going to require more outside assistance (i.e. therapy) to get this old bod in order again.

I think what the real let down of this whole situation is, is that it's back-related. I never in a million years thought my ankle pain could possibly be related to my back injuries. But, this is kind of like a slap in the face reminding me that it's always going to be there, the problems I have been left with will continue to come back and haunt me forever. I hate that.

The good news is that I am cleared to continue running as long as I let my pain guide me. So to celebrate the victory (being able to keep running) instead of wallowing in the defeat (the injury) I hit the treadmill for a quick 3km tonight. And now, I am off to hit the floor for some targeted stretching to hopefully start releasing some of the spasm in that damn joint! Wish me luck!

An ankle update...

2012-01-02T21:56:00.000-08:00

So tonight I ran just over 6km on the treadie. And my ankle didn't hurt at all. What the heck does that mean? On flat ground it doesn't hurt at all. But outside where the ground slopes and is uneven, it hurts.

Planning to make some appts tomorrow to get this all sorted out.

Ringing the new year in with...a sore ankle?

2012-01-01T19:44:00.000-08:00

Wow, this holidays has been incredibly busy and fun and has flown by incredibly fast! Sadly, I don't think I've taken the time to post in a whole lot of days. Whoops. I have lots to write about as we've had a fantastic Christmas and New Years but I guess it'll take me some time to get caught up. I am also hoping that 2012 will be a good one - lots of plans in place, but that too, will have to wait until I get caught up in my posts!

Anyhow, I've been a very bad runner (and a bad HBBCer too!) I haven't run or worked out in any way, shape or form in 11 days! Yes, 11 whole days! It's been fantastically and luxuriously enjoyable, but the old conscience is feeling pretty bad. Ha ha. 2012 is going to be about so many things for me - running included - so I just had to get out and start the year off with at least a little bit of exercise.

Unfortunately I didn't participate in the local Resolution Run (by the time I went to sign up, they were all sold out of my size of the awesome running jacket they give out) but to make up for it, I headed out for a 'quick' 5km at dusk. In general it was a pretty good run. Lots of Christmas lights still out there, comfortable temperature and I started off feeling pretty good.

My problem however, is this - I think I am developing an ankle problem! About 8km into my 16km run the other week, my left ankle really started to hurt. Like I had to stop it hurt so bad. I fiddled with my laces and adjusted my orthotics but it continued to hurt. I played with my foot strike a bit and if it was on totally flat or right-leaning slope it didn't hurt. If the road crowned off to the left my foot just killed with pain! Ouch! Tonight it felt great until about 4km and then started to hurt again. Damn.

I did a bit of research and it seems like I am having some sort of problem with the ligaments in my left ankle. Mostly on the inner side. I so so so so don't want to have an injury right now. My half marathon is in just 1.5 months! I don't want to have to forfeit. Or suck. My training has been going awesome and I want the race to be awesome too!

So, my priority for this week is to get in and see someone who can help me figure this out. A doctor would likely just tell me to RICE. Boo. I need someone who can also show me how to support it or work WITH it while I finish my training. Maybe a podiatrist or physio. I don't know. It's not a major problem, but something that feels like it could get worse if I don't give it attention now. I'm thinking it could be related to my orthotics, or that maybe some taping or a support of some sort might help.

Anyone have any suggestions? I obviously want to be smart and take care of it however I need to, but I don't want to have to sacrifice running and missing my race either. I've had tons of aches and pains over the years I've been running and this really feels like something that could likely be worked with if I just find the right person.

Anyhow, an injury isn't exactly how I pictured ringing in the new year, but hey, I guess we take what we're given. A big happy New Year to all of you and your families - I look forward to seeing what 2012 will bring! Thanks for letting me follow along on your blogs!

Race Report: Maui Christmas 10k

2011-12-22T19:13:00.001-08:00

Okay, I am now just finally starting to get caught up with the last couple weeks of my life and this post is part of that. While we were in Hawaii, I ran the Maui Christmas 10k Fun Run in Kahului.

A few months back I thought it would be fun to enter a race while we were away. The only race I could find was this one, and it was a fun run put on by the local run club – Valley Isle Road Runners – and was a bit of a year-end social it seemed. I emailed to see if they’d mind a Canadian taking part and all was good so I signed up. My friend’s, husband’s mom (who was also travelling with us) is also a runner, so she signed up too.

The race fell a full week into our trip, so by race day I had had plenty of time to eat tonnes, drink lots and imbibe in every way possible. Ha ha. I didn’t exactly eat light the night before, so I was a bit worried the old stomach monster might rear his head on race morning. I set my alarm for way-too-early-for-vacation and was up, showered and dressed while it was still dark. The race was about an hour away from Napili Bay where we were staying, so we had to leave at what felt like the ass-crack of dawn.

Just before we left, I was trying to release the parking break and accidentally popped the hood. While I was jumping out of the car to fix it, I jammed my left toe REALLY HARD into the bottom of the door. I was afraid to look down because I was pretty certain my toenail would be gone. Luckily it was still there, but not in great shape… It hurt really badly for most of the drive to Kahului and I was a bit worried I might not be able to run.

When we got to the park I put on my socks and runners and luckily the toe felt okay. Phew! We headed off to grab our race numbers and got ready to line up and start.

The race was pretty casual and the director (?) made a short announcement at the start to tell us which direction to go in when we started. The 5k went one direction, we went the other…

Luckily there were lots of nice shirtless men at this race so E and I had lots to look at before the gun went off. Maybe that’s just how they do it in Hawaii, but I certainly don’t see many hot shirtless guys at the races I usually go to! Thanks guys!

Anyhow, the gun went off and so did we. We started off down the road and pretty quickly I realized that we were at the very back of the pack. I mean, very last place! Ha ha. Other than during my training, I can’t say I’ve been in very last place too often. I think it’s a function of the race being made up of mostly club members and to be honest, they all looked like pretty good, fit, fast runners. I wasn’t worried, I like being the caboose!

Not far into the race it began to pour. Like Vancouver X100 kind of rain! I had to take my sunglasses off because I just couldn’t see. But it was still warm, so that was okay. It only lasted for a short while and then it cleared up and was dry the rest of the way. We wound our way around the airport mostly on bike/walking trails. Not much of a view considering we were right by the ocean, but a nice easy route nonetheless…

E and I had decided to take it easy for this race and that’s just what we did. We chatted a bit with other runners when they seemed willing and otherwise plodded along with no real goals in mind. This was the longest run E had done in awhile (since recovering from injury) and so I was really happy that she was able to do it and finish the race.

So here we are just after the race, pretty tired, but feeling good…

There haven’t been any results posted, but Garmin tells me we finished the run in 1:12:35. Definitely one of my slower 10k’s in the last while, but considering I was on holiday I was happy with it. Heck, I was just excited to do a run while we were away. One day I’d like to travel specifically for a race, so for now this will satisfy that craving. Ha ha.

This was also the race that where the photographer captured my awesome elephant legs. Yuck! But, the other race photos were pretty cool…

**Photo courtesy of Aubrey Hord

This is just a copy of a proof, so please excuse the large “o” across my chest.

Anyhow, it was a fun race and I’m glad i had the chance to take part. The running club hosted an awesome pot-luck afterwards so we had a quick nibble, chatted with a few other runners and then it was back off to vacation-land for us.

Thanks for the great race VIRR!

My toe keeps haunting me…

2011-12-20T21:20:00.001-08:00

So ever since I started running regularly in 2008 my toes have bugged me. Way back then I started out in a pair of shoes that didn’t fit quite right and I guess my big toenails were a touch too long and shazaam! I wrecked a few toenails, most notably, the big toe of my left foot. They healed but never really went 100% back to normal. During my training and running of several half marathons that year, I did a real number on my toenails!

Ever since then, they’ve been easily susceptible to toenail problems, even though I have fixed the fit problem and do everything in my power to protect the nails during training. I even went to a podiatrist about the issue a couple years ago. He analyzed my gait and felt that the recurring injury might in fact be due to the “shape” of my toes and how they hit the pavement with each step.

So far during this round of training I hadn’t had any problems at all. Yay. Until I went to Hawaii. Yikes. I accidentally jammed my toe on the car door and pulled up the nail on the big toe of my left foot! Since it had been previously damaged, it just wasn’t tough enough to stay put when I jammed my toe. Despite the lovely polish on my toes, you can see a bit of the damage. Ouch!

What’s worse is that this happened in the parking lot right before my Maui Christmas 10k race! Luckily, the toe didn’t bother me during the run. See? That’s not the face of someone who is running in pain…

I guess my shoes are enough to stabilize the toe and protect the nail from any further movement. I tell you though, I was in some serious pain for the rest of the week trying to walk around in flip flops and bare feet! My runners protected it nicely during the other runs I did that week, so phew, at least the injury wasn’t going to affect my running.

Anyhow, now that we’re home and the pain has subsided enough that I can actually touch my toe, I’ve done a bit of reconnaissance work and have determined exactly what happened. Unfortunately it seems that I’ve actually detached about 90% of the nail – yeow! Luckily it’s still “attached” at the base and on the right side, but for the most part, this piggy’s gonna fall off! Great…

It’s not like I’m not used to having yucky runner’s toes, but I thought I was actually going to get away without losing any nails this time! It’s lame that I’m losing one because of an accident, not because of training. Oh well. I saw a cute quote on the Running Room Facebook page the other day and it really holds true…

“You know you’re a runner when the number of toes and toenails on your foot are not the same!”

Elephant knees anyone?

2011-12-19T07:07:00.000-08:00

I always like checking out the race photos from any event I do. I’m not the most camera-friendly runner, but I guess I like looking at pictures of myself anyways. At the Maui Christmas 10k they even had a professional photographer – Aubrey Hord – which is always appreciated.

However, I think the lens of her camera captured something that nobody should ever have to see…

That awful, horrible phenomenon you can often FEEL as your legs pound their way down the road…

The undeniable bouncing of your cheeks as your feet hit the ground, the thunderous jiggle as your thighs transmit the shockwaves of each step…

Yup, I know my body jiggles and flaps and bounces along when I run, but I don’t really care because I’m just happy to be out there running. I know I don’t have one of those rock hard athletic Nike ad kind of bodies but I’m proud that I can, and do, run. However, I didn’t exactly need photographic evidence of that jiggliness! Ha ha.

Anyhow, check out the mid-jiggle waves on my thighs, knees and calves in this race photo…

**Photo courtesy of Aubrey Hord

I mean seriously, are those elephant knees or what? Ha ha. I actually think that bulge below my knee on my left leg is my calf “muscle” hanging down. Ha ha. I know, I know, it’s probably not nearly as bad as I’m making it out to be, but yuck, not my favorite moment in time.

The rest of the photos are pretty good, big smile, less jiggle. :o)

Yay or nay…

2011-12-18T20:40:00.001-08:00

Back from Hawaii and had an awesome trip – yay

Back from Hawaii and weigh 4 lbs more than before I left – nay

Celebrated an early Christmas with Hubby’s family – yay

Kids are totally crazy and wound-up from too much excitement – nay

Felt good about my first few weeks of HBBC – yay

Even managed to earn a few points while on vacation – yay

I don’t think I’ve earned a single point since getting home! – BIG nay

Belly feels big – even BIGGER nay

I’ll get back on track again, I know. We have a few days at home this week and then are heading up to the cabin for Christmas with my side of the family. Think I can lose 4 lbs and get back in shape this week? Likely not. Ha ha. But at least it’s easier to stay focused at home, right?

We’ve just barely gotten our stuff unpacked from Hawaii but once I get organized around here, I’ll spend some time and do some updates – HBBC, Maui Christmas 10k Race Report, vacation photos, half marathon training etc…

Until then, enjoy your last week before the holidays officially begin!

HBBC points to date: Maui Edition

2011-12-11T16:44:00.000-08:00

Okay so even though I am on vacation at the moment, I am still technically supposed to be trying to earn my HBBC points. While I haven't been quite as disciplined as I try to be at home, I have at least managed to rack up a few points, as follows:

Sunday - this was our travel day but I managed to burn out 7.6 mi in the morning

Monday - we spent most of the day grocery shopping and playing on the beach and not quite enough veggies, so no pts

Tuesday - this was also a relaxing, at home day, playing on the beach etc. managed to get my fruit and veg point today!

Wednesday - got up early and did a short 3.2 mi run. We also walked all over Lahaina about 2 mi worth so I earned 5 pts today

Thursday - no real exercise today but I got those fruits and veggies eaten . Yum, and I'll collect one point for that too.

Friday - another beach day

Saturday - did the Maui 10k run so that's good for 6.2 pts plus my f/v pt makes 7.2 pts - my best day yet

Sunday - and here we are today and I'm not headed for much in the old pts department. I didn't run quite as many times as I had planned, but should still be able to get one or two more runs in before we leave.

So yeah, my pts tally has been pretty sad down here in Maui. But that's okay, I try not to be too hard on myself. Vacation is all about letting go and enjoying yourself. Now I have eaten an astonishing amount of macadamia nuts this week, but that has been totally beyond my control...I mean c'mon, I'm in Hawaii! Ha ha, I'm pretty sure even the locals would be impressed by my nut consumption!

Oh no! My toe!

2011-12-10T15:27:00.001-08:00

So greetings from Maui! We are having a fantastic trip and enjoying the sun and relaxation before the busy Christmas season officially begins. We've been spending our time playing on the beach, playing with the kids and eating, eating, eating. Did I mention I've been eating? Unfortunately I don't really have any good pictures for this post because I am using the iPad and I can't transfer to it from my camera. I tried to take a pic with the iPad but cant figure out how to insert it. Gerry, Apple products frustrate me...Anyhow, HBBC hasn't been going so great because I've been eating like nobody's business. Ha ha. I have been running, but let's just say that the fruit/veggie point has eluded me most days so far. This morning I did the Maui Christmas 10k and it was great. What wasn't so great was bashing my toe into the truck door and partially uprooting my big toenail. Ouch! It didn't bother me on the run thankfully, but damn does it ever hurt now! I have pictures but those too I cannot get onto my wonderful iPad so when I get back onto a full computer I'll do a race report and show my trip pictures. And lastly, I think this is my 500th blog post. That's a whole lotta writing about myself! I hope you've enjoyed reading all of it because I have certainly enjoyed putting it all out there and getting to "know" you all! Now I must go, my cold fruity beverage is waiting for me!

WIMP: 90 Day Results – Maui here I come!

2011-12-04T14:30:00.001-08:00

Today is officially Day 90 of the Wowie in Maui get fit Plan! And that means it’s over! In a mere 6 hours we’ll be boarding the plane and heading off for some pre-Christmas sun. I’m not really the type of person to try and get in shape just so I can look good on the beach, but this trip has been a convenient milestone to work towards in my overall effort to get back into shape since having my boys. That, and well, it would be nice not to *totally* frighten people too badly when I lay it all out there in my bikini!

Anyhow, here are the final results…

Measurements:

Body Part	90 Days (chg fr start) +/- inches	Commentary
Arm	+0.5	No further change
Leg	-1	No further chg since 60
Chest	0	Hmm, no chg overall
Butt	-2	2 inches gone now
Stomach	-6	Bye bye belly!
Total	-9 (and +0.5)	Yahoo!

I really didn’t see much change at all in this last month, other than an additional inch gone from my stomach. I think the bigger changes are not so much in my measurements, but in how things look muscle-wise. I’ve certainly got no six-pack or mad guns or anything, but I’m starting to see a few lines here and there (you know, if I hold my breath and flex really hard! Ha ha)

Weight:

Not a whole lot of change here either, but I managed to lose another 2lbs for an overall loss of 12lbs. I wasn’t expecting huge losses but this seems like a good amount for a 3-month time frame.

Photos:

And how about some photos? Well that would be nice now, wouldn’t it? Unfortunately we are a bit tight on time as we have to leave for the airport in about 30 mins so I don’t have time to download the photos! Argh! I hate being disorganized! Anyhow, they’ve been taken, I’ll post them soon!

Summary:

I am very happy with the outcome of this dedicated effort. My main goal was to just get back into shape after the kids and I feel like I’ve taken a huge step towards that. It’s cool because I like what I see and I FEEL stronger and it’s not so hard to DO everything anymore. I even dropped a few dress sizes and I can’t complain about that!

Running is going awesome and I’m excited to be well into my training for the First Half in February. It all just feels like it’s falling into place and that’s great.

So, until next time – Aloha! My next post will be coming to you from sunny Hawaii so wish me and my little boys good luck on the flight (maybe they’ll just sleep, right?) and I’ll catch you on the flip side!

Race Photos: The Ginger Jar Historic 10k in Photos

2011-12-02T06:33:00.000-08:00

The Ginger Jar Historic 10k race that I did last weekend was hosted by Try Events – a local organization who puts on a lot of cool races in Vancouver, the Lower Mainland and out here in the Fraser Valley. The races cost a little bit more, but I like the fact that you get a medal for EVERY distance and I think for a lot of runners – especially new runners – that medal is a really nice pat on the back at the end of the race. I have a ton, but it still feels good to cross the finish line and get a medal.

Anyhow, another thing I like is that they always post their photos on Facebook where you can simply download the ones you want. I usually look like a total goof in race photos but I still get a kick out of seeing them, so here we go…

First of all, the course was beautiful – who wouldn’t want to run around in these parts:

Here I am just crossing the mats at the start line…can you see me? I’m the tall white hat with with the bun in my hair against the white truck on the right! Ha ha, I can’t believe you didn’t notice me there…

And lickity-split, here I am in my pink shirt at the finish line. Look at that form, look at that intensity…just kidding. Hmm, at least both my feet are off the ground…

And here’s my favorite – this picture proves that I guess I look like a total “he-she” when I run. Geesh, get this girl some lipstick or something, or heck, maybe I should start stuffing my running bra? At least a new hat would help, no?

Ahhh, gotta love those race photos…

Hill training on the treadmill

2011-12-01T20:08:00.001-08:00

So today was week 2 of my half marathon hill training. And why didn’t you hear about week 1? Oh, that would be because I skipped it last week - oops! Even today’s workout was a bit of a makeup session as I was supposed to do hills yesterday – oh well, main thing was that I got it done.

I have always done my hill training outside with each of my clinics and the hill we use is a hard one. I wasn’t totally sure how to mimic hill training on a treadmill most effectively so I did a little research for ideas online. A lot of recommendations were to run 1% for a time period then rest, run 2% for a time period then rest and run 3% for a time period onwards up to 8% or so and then back down again. I like this idea and I might try it in the future, but for today I tried to just mimic our run out to the outside hill and back.

So here’s what I did:

Run 2 km steady (as our usual hill is about 2ish km from the store)
Run a 2 min “climb” at 5% (Our usual hill took about 1:30 to climb so this would allow a bit of extra time for the treadmill to change up to the desired incline)
Walk/run a 1 min rest (to mimic coasting down the hill)
Complete 4 repeats for today’s workout
Run another 2 km steady (to mimic getting back to the store)

And how was it? Pretty hard actually. I’ll take that to mean that it was relatively accurate for my usual hill training sessions. It worked out to be a total of 5.7 km (3.57 mi) and here are a few things I will change for next week:

I want to map out the distance to be sure my to/from distances are accurate
I flipped through John Stanton’s running book and he suggests 6% – 9% for hill training so I think I’ll dial the incline up a % or two next week
My hill training series will increase by one repeat each week up to 9 repeats. Ugh.

I ran into a running friend last night at the store and we were talking about how different it is to train on your own vs. the group/clinic training experience. I am pleased with how “easy” it is to complete the same kinds of runs including speed work and hill training, but running all alone in my gym just isn’t the same as being outdoors with your running buddies. I miss that environment but am so thankful to have a treadmill that allows me to do this at all. If it’s run-on-the-treadmill or not-run-at-all, I’ll take the treadmill ANY day!

And in HBBC news, this week is going better than last week but those darn veggie points continue to tease me…

Today’s pts – 6.1 (hill training distance plus strength training and stretching, no veggie points)
Week so far – 26.2 and counting (must. eat. veggies.)
Total pts to date – 41 (I think I saw some people who had this in the first two days!)
Today’s pathetic HBBC-related thought - “Do the potatoes in potato chips count as a serving?”

On eating 7 servings of fruit and veggies a day…

2011-11-30T08:02:00.001-08:00

I have never been good at this. Here in Canada our food guide says we are supposed to get 8-10 servings of fruit and vegetables in a day, so I’m even worse! When I started running I started to pay more attention and use the fruit/veggie guideline as a bit of a diet plan – if you eat all 8-10 servings in addition to your protein and grains, there’s no hunger left over for any junk food and voila! You lose weight!

Anyhow, HBBC has reminded me I should be paying more attention to my fruits and veggies in a day. I’m still not very good at it. A few other HBBC’ers have posted some great posts about ways to get more fruit/veg, but it still takes a very dedicated effort for me to get all 7 servings in.

Things I’m trying to do that help reach the goal:

Extra scoop of fruit in my breakfast smoothie
A banana or apple with breakfast or morning snack
Beets! Yum! I love beets and can easily eat 2 or more servings along with my lunch (they must be a super-food because it doesn’t take many slices of beets to equal a serving)
Salad for lunch. I adore dinner way too much to waste it on salad so if I have salad for lunch then I don’t feel bad if I have a dinner that is heavier on carbs or protein

Things that prove it is still hard for me to get all those servings in:

I find myself wondering if ketchup counts as a serving of tomatoes (just kidding)
I actually looked online to see if fries count as a serving of veggies (not kidding, sadly)
I desperately measure because even a half serving should be counted toward the daily total
I still have days where I can barely make even half of the day’s requirement!

I know I’ll get there and back to that place where it’s just natural to get in all those fruits and veggies. In the meantime, I am giving myself a HUGE pat on the back each day that I get my HBBC fruit/veggie point because it feels like a big accomplishment.

In other news, my 90 day WIMP plan is coming to a close. This is the last week and so final photos and measurements are coming soon. It also means that we leave for Hawaii in a mere few days – yahoo!

Race Report: Ginger Jar Historic 10k

2011-11-27T21:29:00.001-08:00

Lately I’ve been having the worst luck when it comes to race day weather. Granted, the few races I have run recently have all been in October and November so that’s a good indication that there will be some rain, but overall we’ve had a pretty nice fall with a large number of beautiful sunny days. Unfortunately none of them seem to fall on race day Sundays. Oh well.

This morning my alarm went off at 6:00 am and it was pitch black outside and so rainy and windy – yuck. I’m pretty sure I heard my husband laugh as he rolled over and snuggled back down into the blankets after I got up. Jerk. Surprisingly I felt pretty good though, wide awake and ready to go. But first, I went straight to the shower to tame my hairy legs – gotta look all nice and groomed on race day!

The drive into town sucked. There were so many HUGE puddles on the highway, I thought for sure I was going to float away. I eventually made it to Stanley Park and found my way over to Deadman’s Island (HMCS Discovery Island). This island is a prestigious historic site in Vancouver and active Canadian Naval Base. Named after Her Majesty’s Discovery, the Discovery (under Captain Vancouver’s command) was responsible for surveying much of the northwest coastal area of North America. Anyhow, these historic sites are why this series of races are called the “Historic…”

Now that the history lesson is over, back to the race. What was cool about this venue was that we could wait inside the naval gymnasium and stay dry until it was time to start. Unfortunately I stepped in a puddle on my very long walk in from the parking lot so my feet were already soaked. Lame. But, it was still nice to sit and stretch in a warm, dry gymnasium.

I got tricked into standing outside for the group warmup, which I never usually do. And it pretty much sucked standing around stretching in the rain. But, it was finally time to hit the start chute and get going. After a quick chat with some nice ladies from Washington, the gun finally went off and so I got my feet moving.

Despite the cold rain, the air temp was pretty comfortable. I turned up my tunes and tried to settle in and find some kind of groove. It didn’t take long before the rain became a background issue and my feet started to just carry me along. I liked today’s race because I felt great right from the start. I didn’t feel super speedy, but my legs felt good and I didn’t have any pain issues today which was nice.

Running around Stanley Park is always nice because the scenery is so fantastic. The Lion’s Gate Bridge, the yacht club, the Totem Poles, the lighthouse, the mermaid on the rocks – there is always something to look at. And, dare I say that all this treadmill running makes me a better race day runner – I think I am so excited to be outside with interesting scenery, that I get carried away gawking and the distance goes by quickly.

Anyhow, I could tell that I was pushing myself a bit during each run interval and that was good. I wasn’t on pace for a sub-60 10km, but I was running in the high 5:00/km and that was awesome. Combine that with my walk breaks and I was running on average 6:15/km which is close to my old running pace before having kids.

For a good part of the race I was getting distracted by the girl running in front of me. She was wearing low-profile shoes, I think like what barefoot runners wear…but her foot strike was so weird looking! I think you’re supposed to strike more mid-foot if you’re into barefoot running, but this chick ran totally on her toes and looked like one of the three little piggies toeing along down the path. She kind of flicked her heels funny too and the whole thing was totally distracting so I had to find a way to get away from her!

By the time we hit 8km, I was starting to feel pretty tired. I glanced at my watch and thought if I booked the rest of the way I might be able to at least get a PB. Pushing just that much harder made me feel like I was going to puke though so I figured I likely wouldn’t hit a PB today. Then, just when I thought I was actually going to hurl, I passed a marker that said 10km. I got confused and thought they had over-distanced the course and got kind of ticked so I slowed down my pace realizing that I wouldn’t be able to get an “official” timed PB now. Then, a few metres down the path I realized that marker was for the Half Marathon course and that our course was measured correctly and I had just blown my speedy finish. Whoops!

I was pretty much done by this time so I found a steady pace and ran the rest of the way in. We had to run over a little bridge to get back on the island, and that little hump of the bridge felt like a mountain on my noodle legs. But phew, I finally finished and the race was done.

Probably my favorite post-race goodies so far, we got CLIF bars and brownies and then I head for the car to get home for Grey Cup and birthday celebrations this afternoon.

All in all it was a fantastic race. I felt comfortable and relatively strong. No pain so far tonight so I’m a happy lady. I didn’t get that PB, but I did hit a new average pace that makes me happy.

Total distance: 10.18 km
Total Garmin time: 1:03:36
Average pace (Garmin): 6:15/km
Official Chip Time: 1:03:38

Sorry, no real pictures from this race as it was wayyyy too wet to drag a camera or phone along. This is the lone picture I have from today, me after the race back at the car…

I have bad race weather luck!

2011-11-26T22:36:00.001-08:00

Okay, so tomorrow morning I am set to race the first ever Ginger Jar Historic 10km race in Vancouver. I’m pretty excited, but unfortunately the Lower Mainland is in the middle of a heavy rainfall advisory! Yuck!

I checked my good friend weathernetwork.com and here’s what he tells me…

Ugh – way over there on the right is our 9am start time and whattaya know, 100% chance of precipitation! Yick! I am thankful at least that the temperature isn’t supposed to be that bad, but rain, rain, rain. My last race was also run in the pouring rain, but it was much colder that day.

Oh well, with the warmer temps at least I can give my new Lululemon running capris a spin, but what to wear on top…I’ll have to plan this one carefully.

Anyhoo, today was a busy day battling the crowds (I don’t get it, we don’t even HAVE black Friday shopping in Canada and it's still crazy out there), finishing up my Christmas shopping and baking some yummy treats for the Grey Cup/3-person birthday party we are going to tomorrow…

I probably even ate one too many of these babies but I just don’t think I can count it as strategic pre-race nutrition!

HBBC Summary…

Week 1 – 14.8 pts
Week 2 – gotta beat Week 1!

Imaginary numbers

2011-11-23T20:24:00.001-08:00

Way back somewhere in my mathematics history, I remember learning about imaginary numbers. I’ll be honest and admit that I totally can’t remember exactly what an imaginary number is, but today these so called imaginary numbers have been on my mind.

Why, you ask?

Because today, like yesterday, I didn’t really do many things to make my body proud. Nope. I had crap for lunch, instead of working out I had a nap and then after that nap I had a couple mini chocolate bars. Bad, eh? Knowing that I still had to do my scheduled run for the day (a short 3km, thank goodness!) I reluctantly dragged my sorry ass upstairs and put on some running clothes. I so didn’t feel like running that I even made a pit-stop on the end of the couch to lament to my husband just how much I didn’t feel like running!

I eventually got myself downstairs, laced on my new runners and jumped on and dialled the iPod to my favorite kick-me-in-the-ass song these days (“Howl” by Florence and the Machine, just makes my feet move!) and got to it.

Before I knew it, I was feeling the groove. I decided to try and ignore the clock by not thinking about anything except for every breath, every step, how my feet hit the belt and how my hips felt with each stride etc. It’s kind of like a running trance, but I find it really helps get through those hard runs or runs you don’t wanna do!

Anyhow, I finished 1.94 mi in 19:00 mins. As I wrote it down in my log (have had to go back to pen and paper partly, since not every run is a Garmin run these days!), I noticed how my 3km run time has changed over the past two months:

Oct 5 – 1.91 mi, 35:21
Oct 21 – 1.92 mi, 22:02
Nov 23 – 1.94 mi, 19:00

That’s a pretty big change I think. 16 minutes improved in the past two months. That should be worth some HBBC points, no? Maybe some imaginary HBBC points – let’s call them iHBBC points, shall we? And hence, that is why I’m thinking about imaginary numbers today.

Wikipedia defines imaginary numbers as “any number whose square is a real number less than zero”. My aging and unused engineering brain can barely remember what that means, but Wikipedia also told me that “imaginary numbers were regarded by some as completely useless”. In the case of my newfound iHBBC points today, I like to think they’re not useless. I feel good awarding myself a pat on the back (or some imaginary points) for seeing some cool improvement.

So far, today’s HBBC tally goes something like this…

Running – 1.9 pts
Fruit/Veggies – 5/7 servings = 0 pts
Imaginary – 100 iHBBC pts ha ha

Don’t worry, I’m not actually adding any extra points to my tally today, I’m just joking around. But really, I do feel pretty darn good. I also still have to do my ab workout for the day, so hopefully I can earn another REAL point or two depending on how ambitious I get!

Getting Started with HBBC

2011-11-22T21:21:00.001-08:00

Okay, so my first two days of the HBBC were pretty crappy. So really, in MY head, this challenge didn’t start until yesterday. It’s time to get serious and actually start racking up some points!

Here are my thoughts so far:

1. Unofficial Day 1 (Monday) was good. A nice 4km run, more than 7 servings of fruit and veggies, a nice 45 minute strength session in the evening…BAM! Almost 6 points.

2. Unofficial Day 2 (Tuesday) – not so good. If treat-sized chocolate bars were points I could have gotten HUGE points today, but alas, I’ll have to settle for my 30 mins of strength training tonight and just start fresh in the morning. You win some, you lose some.

3. I find it INCREDIBLY motivating to read about everyone else and their HBBC thoughts and exploits. What a great way to bring us all together. And, I LOVE that this challenge has opened my eyes up to some new blogs – it’s great!

4. I find it incredibly depressing to see that people had already racked up 30+ points by Sunday night, only Day two of the challenge! I’m kidding, it’s awesome, not depressing, but it does put everyone’s activity levels in perspective, that’s for sure!

5. I’m heading into a tough period over the next few weeks. We leave for Hawaii in about 2 weeks so I am trying to be as good as I can, but once we’re away, I know I won’t be quite as active as usual. Maybe all of that fresh fruit will save me? Ha ha. My friend’s Mother in Law who is coming on the trip is a runner too, so maybe she and I can motivate each other to get out and run lots while we’re away.

Anyhow, that’s all for now. My last treat of the night is waiting for me along with PVR’d episodes of Biggest Loser and Gold Rush Alaska. Sounds like Tuesday night to me!

Does HBBC award negative points?

2011-11-20T22:15:00.001-08:00

So the long-awaited Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge started yesterday. Bring on the fitness! Bring on the vegetables! Bring on the activity!

And what did I do to ring in this most awesome of challenges? Let me tell you in a nice bulleted list:

Headed south of the border for a kid-free weekend of shopping with one of my besties
Ate dinner at Cheesecake Factory on Friday night (and yes, that meal included a piece of cheesecake!)
Ate dinner at Crab Pot on Saturday night (and by “dinner” I mean a huge table-full of steamed shellfish and crab complete with butter, butter and more butter!)
Purchased and ate an individual bag of plain potato chips
Returned to said Cheesecake Factory for lunch on Sunday (it was a decision based purely on convenience of location, no dessert this time)
Said ‘yes’ to the sample chocolate at See’s Candies – yum!

Notice the absence of the following words (and all related words) in the above statements:

Vegetables
Activity
Running
Fitness

Yeah, that’s right. I’m pretty sure my performance is worthy of NEGATIVE HBBC points! I’m already an HBBC flunkie and it’s only Day 2! Ha ha.

Oh well, sadly that’s the way life goes sometimes. While the trip had been planned for months, joining HBBC this year was a relatively recent decision and while I in no way defend my gluttonous activities this past weekend, I enjoyed EVERY MINUTE OF IT! I got all my Christmas shopping done, had a fantastic weekend away with a girlfriend and enjoyed a little break from this fall’s fitness-focused push.

And while I probably should feel guilty reading about how awesome everyone else is doing with HBBC so far, I am excited to see how motivated everyone is. Thanks Amanda for starting such a cool blogland institution!

As far as this HBBC newbie is concerned, I’ll put my game face (and my running shoes) on starting tomorrow…

The Treadmill: Here it goes again…

2011-11-17T17:22:00.001-08:00

Thanks for the sock suggestions, sounds like Smart Wool are the way to go. I know they sell them down at our local Running Room so I’ll have to check them out one of these days because it’s getting cold! In fact, we’re expecting snow tonight!

The Hubs is working late tonight and due to a rather aggressive and time consuming leaf-raking episode this afternoon, I didn’t get my run done during naptime today. (But, I did discover that raking leaves can be somewhat satisfying, if not back-breaking!) Anyhow, it was down to the basement for me tonight after the kids were in bed. That is so the beauty of having a treadmill – I love that I can always get a run done regardless of weather, timing etc.

What I don’t like about the treadmill is the mind-numbing boredom it can induce. I’m working on my inspiration wall, but need to procure some drywall plugs before I can mount it. In the meantime, I am using the following treadmill music video by “OK Go” for a bit of inspiration. It is just mesmerizing and I wish I had that kind of talent on a treadmill!

If you haven’t seen this video before, you seriously have to watch it – even just a bit of it, it’s THAT cool…

Isn’t that cool? On “Pop Up Video” they said that the band had no budget so they rented 6 treadmills and practised this until they could do it all in one continuous take.

Anyhow, my 3km are now behind me and I can hit the floor for a bit ab work while I catch up on some Thursday night tv!

I have cold feet!

2011-11-16T21:37:00.001-08:00

Not about an upcoming event, but just plain old cold feet when I run! Brrr. Yesterday my poor husband had a case of the “man-cold” and so he stayed home sick from work. This generally had no effect on my day (except for the fact that it gave me a third “baby” to wipe noses and make meals for!) but it did have one huge benefit – I got to take my daytime run outside!

As a bit of a fall resolution, I have been trying to make the best use of my kids’ naptime. They are usually asleep or otherwise tucked away upstairs in their rooms from 1:00 pm until 3:30 pm – that’s a full 2.5 hours that I would usually just use to relax or nap myself. Since starting my WIMP plan in September though, I’ve been trying to be smarter and have started to use that time for my workouts and runs (thanks to my new best friend, the treadie). While I’d probably rather be on the couch, I feel so organized and proactive getting my running and strength training out of the way during the day.

Anyhow, back to the cold feet. So yesterday with the Hubs tucked in bed upstairs alongside the kiddos, I figured I could get outside and do my run instead. I had 5km on the schedule and it felt great. It was a beautiful sunny day, but awfully cold. I was wearing my new thermal running tights (love them), a tank top, a thin running jacket and my running gloves and it was just about the right combination to stay comfortably warm.

Except for my feet!

I have always run in Wright Socks double layer socks because they seem to help prevent blistering. But, in the cold winter months the old tootsies are feeling cold! Especially when I run in the rain and they are wet too.

I know many of you live in colder climates so if you have any good cold weather sock suggestions, I would love to hear them. My feet would thank you!

Quick shoe review

2011-11-13T21:45:00.001-08:00

I got my new Mizuno Wave Rider 14s last week and so far have taken them out for a few runs. Outside a couple of times and also on the treadmill. So far, all my reviews are good!

I only sound surprised because after I ordered the shoes, I saw some reviews saying that a few aspects of the shoes had changed noticeably since the last version and so I got a bit worried. Luckily, I am not noticing those things and so here is my quickie review of the shoes so far:

Fit: The reason I run in Mizunos is because of how well they fit my feet. So if you too have large, wide (but-not-too-wide) women’s feet and have toenails sensitive to damage, then these are the shoes for you!

Flexibility/Stiffness: One of the key “complaints” I read is how stiff the sole of the shoe has gotten. I don’t actually notice any difference. Of course, they feel a bit stiffer but it seems to be more because they are new, than a change in the actual build of the shoe.

Heel Cup Fit: This was another “complaint” I read about and I don’t seem to notice that it is too deep like some of the reviews said. Now, I wear orthotics and so I remove the insoles anyways and maybe sit at a different height in the shoe, but in general, they feel good in the heel.

Weight: One cool thing I notice about these shoes is how light they feel. Not that my old shoes were overly heavy, but instead of feeling like I’m running around on big spongy shoes, I can barely tell the shoes are even there. I think that’s cool.

Cushioning: I can already feel a difference with each strike in these shoes. Some of the soreness I was feeling in my old shoes is gone completely because of having proper cushioning again. And like I said above, they don’t feel all big and marshmallowy like some shoes I’ve run in before.

Complaints: I don’t really have any complaints so far, other than my feet are cold in these shoes because they have good ventilation and I clearly need warmer socks! I have noticed some soreness on the top of my foot from tying them too tight the other night – I kind of forget that the top of the shoe is not all floppy and worn in, the leather is still kind of stuff and it hurt the other day.

Overall, I’m pretty pleased and I really love the color of these shoes. Saturday was my longest run in them so far and my feet felt just great, so I really can’t complain about that! We were on Vancouver Island for the weekend and I managed to get out for my scheduled 9km run. It was a dreary, drizzly day, but the run went great. Had a bit of trouble running along a creepy, spider-webby pathway, but otherwise, it was pretty good. I was running along a lake road and so it was somewhat hillier and more rolling than I’ve been running on lately, but it felt good to hit the pavement, especially in those fancy new shoes!

Mama’s got a new pair of shoes!

2011-11-09T14:43:00.001-08:00

Yay, I was finally able to drive down to Blaine, WA and pick up my new shoes.

I’ve known for a looooong time that I needed a new pair, but with my surgery this summer, I just let it fall to the wayside. In the past I have always been good for replacing my shoes as needed. But this last pair, whoops, they slipped through the cracks! I bought them a couple of years ago, but in my defence, I really only “ran” in them for a couple months before Marcus was born and then for about 6 months this year. The rest of the time they were just worn for walking or other kinds of light exercise. They’re beat up, but don’t have nearly the miles that your average runner’s shoes would have…

I’m going to miss these shoes, I really liked them. But, I’ve replaced with the newer version below – Mizuno Wave Rider 14s. They look so bright and shiny (and totally geeky all new and white like that!)…

For a chick, I have pretty big feet. They’re long and wide. Not wide enough to need “Wide” shoes, but wide enough that your average shoe just doesn’t seem to have enough room. I’ve had disastrous results in Saucony and Asics but always found comfort when running in Mizunos. I find that the toe box is fairly roomy and they seem to work really well with my feet.

I’m anxious to try them out tonight. I’ve read a few reviews online where runners said that they found the heel cup to be a bit high and the overall flexibility in the sole to be a bit stiff. I’ve never found that in previous versions of the Wave Riders so I really hope those aren’t issues in this pair.

I did a quick visual comparison and the heel doesn’t really appear to be much higher, but I guess I’ll have to judge after running in them…

Anyhow, that’s my big news for the day. I’m looking forward to running with Laurie tonight but my legs are still pretty sore from Monday night’s 9km boredom-fest on the treadmill.

In other news, my little Riley turns 1 tomorrow! Eek! How can a whole year of your life go by so quickly? Not just my life, but his little life – wow, 1 year old.

I got my spot!

2011-11-08T20:42:00.001-08:00

So this morning I had a somewhat “interrupted” sleep. I was up at 3am, 4am and 5am. And each time I woke up, the blackberry was in my hands…I was checking to see if registration for the Pacific Road Runners’ First Half had opened.

For the past 4 weeks I have been following my old half marathon training plan, just as something to keep me organized and focused. When I started, I told myself that if after awhile things were going well that I would try to find a race to sign up for at the end of training, which would be the end of January. The two races that popped into my mind were the Fort Langley Historic Half and the Vancouver First Half. I’ve run the 10km event at the Historic a few times but the half course is notoriously hilly and that kind of scared me. The “First Half” has a fast, flat course, but the race sells out in a matter of hours every year. I figured I would try for the “First Half” and if I couldn’t get registered then I’d try out the Historic.

This year, to avoid crashing the server they didn’t announce the registration open time and instead just said it would be “very early on Nov 8th”. So why the sellout every year? Well, this race follows the Seawall for part of it’s route and since it is a confined space they have to limit the number of runners to only 2000. And, I think because the route is so nice, it’s a popular choice to start off the racing year.

Anyhow, I checked the website at 12:01 am but no beans. Woke up at 3am but no beans. 4am and still no beans. 5am and what do you know? Beans! I grabbed my laptop and got myself registered for a spot! Yay!

I’m super excited because I think this race will be a good one for my running level by that point – a hilly course just didn’t seem like a good idea for my first half back in the game. Now all I have to do is hope that the rest of the training goes well! I’m pretty confident that my previous “lady problems” won’t be bothering me anytime soon, but I’m not looking forward to the inevitable aches and pains and sore toes and tight hammies that go along with building up some distance for me. Regardless I’m just really happy to have a big goal to work towards, especially after all the crap I’ve dealt with health-wise this year. I know it’s not as big of news as some people I know, but for me this half marathon is a pretty big deal!

So what is the training plan going to look like? Well, I’ll continue with my previous half marathon schedule, but I need to incorporate all the other things – strength training, swimming, walking, P90X – all while taking care of the boys. I think this one will require a bit of planning, but I’ll post about that when I’ve got it sorted out.

Until then, February 12, 2012…here I come!

Running in one spot

2011-11-07T22:18:00.001-08:00

I had a 9km run on the schedule for yesterday, but, like a lazy-ass I opted out of it at the last minute. I was down in the States for the weekend for my first of two Christmas shopping weekends this month and we had just gotten back from a really long (but successful) day of shopping followed by a yummy dinner out. Our weather was really cold and I just didn’t feel like getting up early, leaving all my friends asleep in the condo and heading out for a run in the dark and freezing temps.

No big deal, I can roll with the punches and make up for lost time…unfortunately that meant I had to get that 9km run done and my only option for doing so today was to do it on the treadmill. Ugh.

9km running in one spot was just about as boring and painful as I thought it would be. The first half was fine, felt good, legs were good, breathing was good, but by the 3/4 mark I was getting pooped and bored, bored, bored! I hope to not have to do too many long runs on the treadmill this winter, but it was my decision to skip it yesterday so I accept my punishment gracefully.

And painfully boring or not, the main thing is that I got it done and that’s really what matters most, right?

Total distance: 9.07km
Total time: 1:01
Average pace: 6:43/km

In other news, my new shoes have arrived and are waiting for me to pick them up from the shipping office. Yay! I can’t wait to get my poor feet into some new shoes!

WIMP: 60 Day Results

2011-11-03T10:58:00.001-07:00

Okay, so here we are 60 days later. And here are the results…

Measurements:

Body Part	30 Days (chg fr start) +/- inches	60 Days (chg fr start) +/- inches	Commentary
Arm	+0.5	+0.5	No further change
Leg	-0.5	-1	Another 1/2 inch
Chest	+0.5	0	Hmm, no chg overall
Butt	-1.5	-2	2 inches gone now
Stomach	-4	-5	Bye bye belly!
Total	-6 (and +1)	-8 (and +0.5)	Still happy

I didn’t expect there to be as significant changes in the second month of my plan, but I am glad to see that at least some things are continuing to improve. My gut was my main concern and that got a bit better, so that’s good.

Weight:

I guess you could call this my plateau…in the past thirty days I never once got below my last weigh in. But, I did manage to fluctuate everywhere from that weight to 5lbs above throughout the whole month! Ha ha. I guess those Halloween chocolate bars wreaked a bit of havoc (well, that’s what I’m telling myself). On weigh-in day, I was up 1 pound from my last results.

Photos:

And here are the photos…

From the front: My photos are slightly different scales (whoops) but I’m pleased with how things look. Still no guns though, although push ups have gotten way easier…

From the side: Not a lot of change from 30 day results, but I’m still happy with the general profile…well, except for those disappearing boobies, nobody would be happy about that!

From the back: Really hard to see much change other than in just general contour I guess.

In hindsight, it probably would have been better to take these photos in a bathing suit or something more revealing. I find it tough to distinguish any muscular changes but they are still useful to see where you’ve come from. It’s also really hard to take the exact same photo every month! You should likely thank me anyways for not posting bathing suit photos these days!

Summary:

Still really happy with how things are going. Eating less is not nearly as hard as it used to be and I find I can have treats here and there and it doesn’t totally throw me off. Working out has become a definite part of everyday and although I don’t always feel like doing it, I always manage to get it done. I like that it’s a solid part of the routine now. Most importantly, running is going awesome and I feel like I’m finally getting somewhere with it. My legs are feeling stronger and I’m excited about the coming months and hopefully picking some bigger goals.

So there you have it. 2/3 of the way done, let’s see what I can accomplish in the next 30 days…

Push ups, push ups and more push ups!

2011-11-01T21:12:00.001-07:00

Monday marked the start of my third month of P90X (stay tuned for my post on Day 60 results) and so far so good. I’m doing a modified version of P90X which substitutes running on the usual P90 cardio days and I think the combo of running and strength training with the P90 nutrition plan all works well together.

Anyhow, yesterday was a return to the Chest and Back workout as the schedule doesn’t include that one during the second month. Basically, it’s an all push ups and pull ups workout and damn, it’s hard. The workout includes 6 kinds of push ups, 3 kinds of pull ups 3 other chest/back exercises.

It was cool to go back to this workout because I was able to do noticeably more reps of each different kind of push ups. There were even two of the kinds that I couldn’t do ANY of and now was able to do 10 or more. I know, I know, it doesn’t sound like much, but I was pleasantly surprised to see how much more I could do in the push up department after the past month of workouts. Call me crazy, but it always feels good to see improvement.

Tonight I had 4km on the running schedule so my pal Laurie and I headed out. It’s starting to get chilly so I decided to take my new running pants for a spin and they worked out great. I need to tighten the drawstring a little more I think, but overall, I was nice and toasty.

And, by the time we finished, we had actually run 6.39 km so that was a nice treat too. It always amazes me how quickly the distance flies when you’re visiting with someone.

Race Report: James Cunningham Seawall 9.5k

2011-10-30T14:24:00.001-07:00

Yay, I finally get to post a race report! It’s been awhile…

So today’s race was the James Cunningham Seawall Race and since it runs the Stanley Park seawall, it’s a bit of an oddball distance – 9.5km. Seawall races are great because the whole way is nice and flat and the views are just so beautiful. Unfortunately today it was super rainy and foggy, but it was still a scenic race route.

When I got downtown the rain seemed to have let up but, as I sat in my car and waited to go join the starting line, the skies opened up and it rained even harder! It was awful. Luckily I had brought lots of layering options, so I changed out of my warm long-sleeve and put on a more waterproof-ish outer layer instead.

The downpour also meant some alterations to my costume. After all of my research, I ended up planning to run as the devil. Basically just a set of horns, a tail, a cape and a pitchfork, this has proven to be a very running-friendly costume in the past. With the deluge of rain though, I decided to leave the cape and the pitchfork in the car and this is what I ended up running in (picture taken after I got home and warmed up though!):

And yes, that sad little red arrow pointing down and away from my bum is actually supposed to be my devil’s tail. I know, I know, I could have been a lot more creative with my running costume, but with the crappy rain, I’m glad I played it safe. Heck, at least it was a bit more creative than my costume from Friday night’s party…

Anyhow, back to the race. About 4 minutes before the starting gun, I crawled out of my car and headed for the starting area.

Right from the start I was feeling really good today. My goal for the race was to just get settled during the first 10 mins and then after that, try to keep up a steady pace. Being my first race in so long, I didn’t really have a time goal, I just wanted to run well and not burnout partway through.

The halfway mark came awfully fast. Before I knew it, we were already passing under the Lions Gate Bridge and I was still feeling okay. With all of the cloud and fog, you can barely even see the bridge back there!

Along the way, I kept making myself little “challenges”. Just dumb things like to try and run harder until I passed the next landmark, or not to look down at my watch until after a certain corner. I also tried to push myself to run a bit faster for the last couple of minutes before each walk break. Sounds kind of dumb, but it helped stay focused. Sometimes when I get tired I start watching my Garmin too closely and then the distance creeps by way too slowly. Today that wasn’t an issue at all.

Somewhere around the 7km mark, I started to feel a bit of a twinge in my left hip. I am suspecting a bit of a femoral nerve injury from my surgery because I’ve been having some pain and tingling in that area and I was bummed to feel it flare up during today’s run. I dialled it back a tiny bit and the pain went away so luckily I was able to keep it under control.

Before I knew it, I glanced down and only had about 1km left to go. I switched the ipod to a more upbeat song and decided to speed up for the rest of the way home. I guess today I had moves like Jagger because I sailed across the finish line and got wicked high fives from both a life-size water bottle man and a woman dressed as a really messed up animal kind of thing.

According to Garmin, here’s what happened out there:

Total Distance: 9.6km
Total Time: 1:03:03
Avg Pace: 6:34/km

If I project that up to a full 10km, it would be just under 1:04 so I am going to use that as my time to beat in next month’s Ginger Jar 10km.

So all in all, it was a great race. A wet race, but a good one. I didn’t really stick around afterwards because all I could think about was getting in the car and taking off my soaking wet socks! I’m now home, feet up, nice and warm. And as for my sad running costume? Well, at least my Riley liked it!

Using my Running Room Groupon

2011-10-29T14:15:00.001-07:00

Awhile back, Groupon ran a promotion for Running Room, including for our local store here in Langley. $50 to spend at the store for only $25 to purchase, sounded like a good deal to me!

I had planned to use the Groupon to purchase my new running shoes (I am soooooo in need of new sneaks!) so I had them order in my size and everything. But, when I got there, they had gone on sale and you can’t use the Groupon for any sale merchandise. Oh well, had to go pick out a few other things instead I guess!

But first, I scoped out the shoes I plan to buy and checked out the colors. I thought I wanted the pink, but when I saw the teal, they are actually REALLY nice. Unfortunately they didn’t have them in my honkin’ size 11, so I’ll have to order them online.

So, I headed off to the warm weather running clothes to try and find something to buy with my Groupon. I have always wanted a nice, truly warm pair of running pants or tights. The ol’ thighs and bum get so cold running during the winter months so some thermal or wind-breaker tights would be really nice to have.

I must have tried on about 10 different pairs. Most too short, some too tight, some baggy in the crotch, some too loose in the waist. But, I finally found a pair of Brooks Utopia Thermal Tights and they fit great. Nice and cozy. I’ve never had any Brooks gear before, but I think I’m going to like these pants. Zippers at the ankles to get your shoes on, not too crazy reflective accents, warm but not too thick and rubber at the ankles to keep them in place.

Since I also had a $10 coupon from the Ginger Jar 10k registration, I also grabbed a few other things:

A pkg each of Sport Beans and Power Bar Gel Blasts. I don’t really use any serious nutrition these days but I thought a few gummies would be a nice little treat during tomorrow’s race.
A pkg of new rainbow caps for my water bottles. I’m soooo glad they sell the caps on their own because Marcus chewed on most of mine and wrecked them!
Some running book that was only $0.99. It’s got some stretching and training ideas in it so for 99 cents I figured it might be worth flipping through. I’m a sucker for clearance books!

All in all it was a good little purchase. You can’t go wrong getting $100 pants and random other things for less than $50! Now, off I go into the cyber-shopping mall in search of my new running shoes…

Research: Halloween Costumes for Running

2011-10-27T22:18:00.001-07:00

As I sit here, I have sweat dripping into my left eye. Ouch! Doesn’t help that in an effort to become a hotter mama, I have been experimenting with my eye makeup and now that is running along with the sweat, into my eye. Ouch. But, at least I got my scheduled 3km run for today, done.

Anyhow, in prep for Sunday’s costume run, I spent a bit of time researching Halloween costumes that are suitable for running. Seems like something the trusty interweb should be able to help with, right?

Well, sort of. Turns out there are a few resources out there:

Runner’s World turned out to be somewhat of a resource and there were lots of discussions on their message boards about the topic. Unfortunately, their article on running costume ideas fell quite a bit short for me.

Hulaman.com actually had a pretty comprehensive set of articles explaining how to make running costumes and even a slideshow showing his own costumes over the years.

Team Sparkle has a really cool site that gives suggestions for how to create Disney themed running costumes. They even have idea boards showing running skirts, tank tops, head bands and socks to create each DIsney character. Really neat. Especially if you’re running any of the Disney races!

None of these tickled my fancy, so next I hit up my good friend Google. First up, I would LOVE to run in something like Lauren from Merry Mishaps, below. Seriously, how cool is a running refrigerator? Alas, since I’m not in great running shape yet, I doubt running as a large cardboard fridge would make things any easier!

Then I came upon these lovely ladies and thought maybe they’d be a totally appropriate, yet inappropriate choice for me. Ha ha. Just kidding. Kudos for having the balls to run around as a giant vagina though!

Hmm, that reminds me, we actually have a penis costume downstairs…it’s funny, but NO WAY.

I think I probably need to shoot a bit lower and find something that is a bit more appropriate for running 10km. So here are my criteria so far:

It must be comfortable – no sharp edges or rough fabric to rub or chafe
Can’t be too hot – nothing made of plastic or too suffocating because this running mama needs to breathe
Should incorporate typical running gear somehow – some kind of character in tights, shorts, tank top etc.
Has to look good with running shoes and a fuel belt! While the costume is fun, it has to come secondary to my gear necessities!
Must be cheap! I don’t want to spend a bunch of money creating a masterpiece that could get ruined or may end up getting ditched if it turns out to be a nuisance
Don’t wanna look like a total fool. Costumes are fun, but seriously, I don’t want to look like a huge idiot out there!

So what does that leave me? Well, likely some type of animal, occupational-themed or pretty simplistic costume I would say. I have a few ideas that meet my criteria above and that I already have the materials to create. Some things require a bit of treadmill testing first though to make sure they are running friendly.

Anyhow, I’ll reveal my final running costume this weekend, but seriously, don’t get too excited. You know, just in case it sucks. Ha ha.

Is imitation really the sincerest form of flattery…?

2011-10-26T21:30:00.001-07:00

I totally forgot to mention the best part of my run on Monday night. As my running partner and I were running down the road, we noticed a group of 4 teenaged guys walking along the opposite sidewalk. Typical loitering teens: oversized puffy jackets, hats on backwards, cigarettes lit and pants way down on the ground.

I guess they thought they were pretty funny because all of a sudden, all 4 of them came racing across the street and started running along with us. Two in front and two behind, they were clearly making fun of us running down the road. It was really quite dumb, but man, did they think they were funny. We just kind of laughed because we really didn’t care, but I can honestly say that’s the first time I’ve ever been mocked/harassed/imitated on a run! Ha ha. Funniest part was that their already-too-low jeans kept falling off their bums as they trotted along.

Anyhow, in other news I’ve finally figured out a few runs I can do and have got myself all registered! Yay! So here’s the racing schedule for Oct, Nov and Dec:

James Cunningham 9.5km Seawall Race on Sunday, Oct 30. That’s THIS weekend, yikes! I gotta come up with a running-friendly costume!
Ginger Jar Historic Half 10k on Sunday, Nov 27. This is a new race in town and although it also runs the Stanley Park seawall, it’s the event that works best with our very busy November!
VIRR Christmas 10k in Maui on Saturday, Dec 10. Looks to be a pretty low key fun run, but what better way to stay motivated on vacation than to sign up for a race!

Nothing too challenging or complicated, but I figure easing in with three 10km races will be a nice return to racing events again.

Now, I must go do some costume research – I need something for wine club this weekend as well as the race!

Last minute run and coconut!

2011-10-25T13:10:00.001-07:00

I love it when a run sneaks into your life when you were least expecting it. After my two P90X workouts yesterday (1 scheduled and one a ‘make-up’) and my daily walk, I figured I was done exercising for one day.

Then Laurie BBM’d me. “What’re you up to tonight? Let’s run!”

Ugh. My husband wasn’t going to be home until late. I had a nice turkey lasagna cooking in the oven – it was soooo tempting to just say no. But, like a good little girl, I said that if she didn’t mind running after 7pm, I’d be happy to go. We haven’t run together in ages so it would be nice to meet up after all.

Laurie lives across the trail that runs behind my backyard so we agreed to meet on the path. It was dark and cold, but we agreed to do it. We set off to run about 3ish km, this wasn’t on the schedule after all. But, as we got going, we fell into our groove and got busy visiting and catching up so we kept going. It wasn’t a colossal length run, but we ran 4.71 km when we really only planned for 3km.

It was slow, but it was a great run. I love running at night and this run reminded me of how great running with a partner can be. I’ve been so solo lately that I forgot how quickly time and distance flies when you’re with someone else. I am soooo glad she dragged me out last night.

I also tried something new yesterday. I’ve taken a bit of a shine to CLIF bars and I tried a new flavour – coconut chocolate chip. Yum-o. I really like these when I don’t have time for breakfast, or half a bar makes a great afternoon or mid-morning snack. Last night, that half-bar was a perfect snack before our run since I wouldn’t be eating my lasagna until later than planned. Anyhow, if you like CLIF bars, try the coconut chocolate chip, so good.

Sunny Sunday long run…

2011-10-24T08:07:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I was able to get outside to do my ‘long’ run again. I put the word long in quotes because I know my distances aren’t overly long yet, but they’re longer than the rest of the week so I guess that counts, right?

Anyhow, we’ve had a beautiful stretch of weather lately, so while I was tempted to put it off until the afternoon, that sunshine convinced me to gear up and get out there right away. So with Mike feeding the boys breakfast, I pulled on the old running tights, a long-sleeve and grabbed my gloves to head out.

I still get butterflies when I head out for a run, because I think part of me is still worried about some of my previous ‘problems’. When I run on the treadmill I’m just at home, so I don’t really worry, but when I hit the pavement I think my mind is still conditioned to worry about what’s going to happen if nature calls ahem, urgently, or if the pain gets too bad that I just have to stop. It was so crushing to have runs ruined by those things before my surgery, and I guess I haven’t yet shaken that. Yesterday was no different, but after about 5 mins out there, the butterflies went away and I felt confident again. I am sooooo glad I got myself all fixed up!

My training schedule had 7km on the plan for yesterday, which would be my longest post-surgery run so far. Since I enjoyed last Sunday’s route, I headed north from my house to tack on an extra 2km loop to make up the full distance. Things felt really great yesterday. Sure, my legs aren’t as strong as I’d like them to be, but overall, I felt capable. No major aches or pains and I didn’t feel the need to add extra walk breaks or anything. I really think the sunshine, pretty fall leaves and great tunes helped carry me along a little bit.

So, here’s what I did:

Total distance: 7.25 km
Total time: 49:28 mins
Avg pace: 6:49/km

All in all, this was a decent week of running. I got my weekday runs completed and my long run was awesome. Today is actually a P90X day, so later on I’ll be sweating my butt off while Tony Horton barks at me from the computer. Music to my gettin-in-shape ears!

No run for me today

2011-10-20T17:09:00.001-07:00

Nope. Going to be a bad little runner and not complete today’s scheduled 3km run. I did get my walk done earlier today, but the run just doesn’t seem very likely.

Tonight for the first time ever, I’m hosting an in-house sales-type party. I’ve been to tons of Tupperware, Partylite, Silpada, Norwex, Epicurious and sex-toy parties, but I’ve never hosted anything myself. A good friend of mine recently became a consultant for Stella and Dot jewellery and I couldn’t help myself, I booked a party. Everything looks so nice, I can’t wait to see more of it tonight.

So tonight’s the night and I’ve been busy all day with errands, a hair cut, making food, cleaning house etc. I’m excited for a visit with the friends who are coming tonight. I’ve always been a bit nervous to anything like this and so I am really appreciative that my friends and family are coming and supporting me tonight. The reality is, I’ve already picked out a ton of stuff I’m ready to buy so if my friends happen to buy something too, then that’s a great little bonus.

Anyhow, so in favour of domestic duties and social plans, I’m postponing today’s run until tomorrow. And boy do I feel guilty! Especially since there is likely a plate of appies and a glass of wine or two in my future this evening…

The Good and the Bad

2011-10-19T20:46:00.001-07:00

I’ll start with the good:

I completed yesterday’s scheduled run downstairs on the treadmill. It was only 4km but man oh man, I had to fight – hard – for each of those km! What gives? I waltzed down there thinking it would be easy, but I guess I just couldn’t find my groove because that 4km felt like a million miles. Oh well, at least I can check it off the list.

The bad:

Since running on a treadmill feels so different I wanted to see how different I might actually look. So yea, like a geek with a new camera I set it up and took pictures of myself running on the treadmill.

Of note, I wouldn’t recommend doing this as you just might look as retarded as I did…sorry for using such an inappropriate word, but seriously, I don’t think anybody looks cool running on a treadmill.

The next good thing:

Was that I completed today’s P90X workout just now. Back and Biceps baby. Oh yeah, and did I mention that I have no visible muscles in either of those two areas? I always find this workout hard because normally at the gym I would do a couple biceps exercises, but the P90X workout is about 20 bicep exercises, all slightly different. And I only use pretty low weight (8-10 lbs) but it’s super hard.

And the bad:

Ab Ripper X (sounds so hardcore, hey?) was also on the schedule so I reluctantly got that done too. Unfortunately a few of the P90X ab exercises are a bit advanced for my back these days, so I’ve just modified the workout and inserted a few of my physio’s ab recommendations in place of the ones I have to omit. As I sit here now my tummy feels sore, so it must have been a decent little workout.

Now, off to the couch for some crocheting and America’s Next Top Model! Oh yeah baby!

Running on sunshine!

2011-10-17T13:25:00.001-07:00

It’s pretty much fall here now, the weather has gotten cold and I have to put hats and mittens on the kids now. But this weekend, oh this weekend, the weather was lovely! So sunny! Even warm in the sun!

So what does any good little runner do? She throws on her gear and hits the pavement of course! And what does that runner do if she’s also a good blogger? Why she takes a picture of course! (Or, has her husband do it, which explains the low quality photo!)

Now this was my first run outside since, hmm, May 26th. I had my surgery a few days after that run and then went on hiatus and only just started back about a month ago. And even then, the whole past month or so has been purely treadmill running. Which I like just fine because it’s by far the most convenient, but man, yesterday was so nice.

It felt a bit rough for the first 10 mins or so, but I kind of expected that. Treadmill vs. road is just different and it felt like it took a little while to find my groove. But once I did, things were good.

I ran along my usual walking route because I know that it is roughly 4.5 km and I figured that was a good goal. Not long into the run I was already shedding layers – coat, gloves, down to the tank top and capris. Ahhh, felt so nice. With the music turned up, clear bright blue skies and nice quiet roads, it was totally like running on sunshine. By the time I was headed down the last stretch of my planned route, I decided to add on another block just to make sure I would run at least a full 5km.

Upon returning home, I found Mike and Marcus washing my truck (Riley was inside finishing his nap). It was pretty funny because Marcus was soaked from playing with the bubbles in the bucket, but he was happy.

So here’s the digits from this run:

Total distance: 5.22 km
Total time: 35:02
Average Pace: 6:43/km (all treadie runs have been 7+/km so this was a nice surprise)

I don’t know why, but I was really nervous about road running this time. Things have been fine on the treadmill, but I was scared that maybe I’d have pain again pounding down the road, or that for some reason it would just be way harder. I think I was afraid that it just wouldn’t be the same anymore. But it was fine. Everything stayed in place and felt just fine. Aside from not being in good running shape yet, I didn’t feel any of those other problems and pains that I’ve dealt with since having kids. Yay for surgery! Ha ha. Maybe I’ll try doing all my long weekend runs outside and just keep the shorter, and more mundane ones during the week on the treadmill.

What have I committed myself to this time?

2011-10-14T07:26:00.000-07:00

Well, I’ll tell you: HBBC!

For the past few years I have seen so many of you participating in Amanda’s Holiday Booty Buster Challenge. I never really took the time to consider whether I should do it or not, but always enjoyed reading about everyone’s escapades as they ran, walked, swam, cycled and ate their healthy ways through the holidays, fuelled by the Holiday Booty Buster Challenge.

Since I’m on my own journey to get fit this fall, I decided why the hell not? I’m going to join too! I’m real big on accountability this time around, so maybe HBBC will add another dimension of “don’t crap out now!” to my workout motivation.

And so, with that, I am adding the HBBC badge to my blog (yay, finally something new to decorate the ol’ blog page!) and am joining the ranks of you fellow HBBC’ers. Thanks for allowing me to sweat along with the likes of you!

Three Things Thursday

2011-10-13T19:20:00.001-07:00

1. Went for an awesome 5k run yesterday in my running dungeon (aka the treadmill in my basement). Not that I am expecting any congratulations, but it felt good to hit the actual 5k mark. Lately I’ve been running based on time and it just feels like I don’t get anywhere. Yesterday I decided to go based on distance and for some reason those kms just ticked away like nobody’s business. I think the music helped…because I even ran 9:1’s and they felt great.

2. Although the run was great, this sad situation just won’t do for much longer…

Yup, that’s the blank, blank wall that I stare at while on the treadmill these days. You can see the cable outlet up in the top corner, but alas, no tv yet. I’m taking small steps towards rectifying it though (see below), those are the white board and bulletin boards on the floor that I bought for my inspiration and training walls. Just gotta find time to hang them…

3. I may have found a race I can do this month! Heidi suggested the James Cunningham Seawall Race on October 30th. Approx. 10km and no wine night the night before! And, the best part is I can still wear a costume! I don’t know why I get such a kick out of running in costume… Thanks Heidi, maybe I’ll see you there?

To race or not to race…

2011-10-11T09:20:00.001-07:00

That is the question and I think I know the answer.

I have always liked doing races. Not because I have a hope in hell of ever placing in my age group or in any form at all, but because I like the excitement or running with a big group of people. I especially like doing races that have a cool premise, a neat location or a really neat route.

Anyhow, I hadn’t really thought much about racing this year because after my surgery I really didn’t know how long it would be until I could. I’ve been back at it a few weeks and I really do think I would be okay if I started to try and do some 5k or 10k races. I’d be horribly slow, but it’s the experience, not the result for me these days.

Upon doing some research, there are a couple fun races coming up that I’d love to do:

Rubber Ducky 5k – I’ve done the 7mi here a few times, and although that would be a bit long for now, they do have a 5k
Spooktacular Scurry Family Fun Run 5k – how’s this for a premise? A costume race! Fun!
Energizer Night Race 5k or 10k – I’ve been looking forward to this new race all year. Nighttime race, cool LED night gear as the event swag, everyone runs in the dark. Fun!
Vancouver Historic Half 5k or 10k – Also a new event to Vancouver, I’ve done the sister event, Fort Langley Historic Half and it would be cool to try the Vancouver one for something new.
Boundary Bay Moustache 5k or 10k – I really don’t know why this is called the Moustache Marathon, but it’s along the beach so that would be cool but cold. Brrrr!

Most of these events are put on by our local event organizer, Try Events and are usually pretty fun. The Energizer race sounds cool to me because it’s a bigger event and we just don’t seem to have a lot of those cool or nationwide events in Vancouver. Or maybe it’s just race envy – the races everyone does in their own cities always sound so cool.

Anyhow, the problem is, a few of these events fall on really bad dates for me. The Rubber Ducky is this weekend and I don’t even know if it’s sold out or not, The Moustache is on a weekend that I’ll be out of town and the Energizer Night Race is on the November long weekend and we’ll be on the island. The Spooktacular Scurry is the morning after our next Wine Club night so that doesn’t work well either. I know it’s all choices, but it just feels like a lot of the races I wanted to do this fall won’t really work with my schedule.

So what’s a girl to do? Here’s the best I can come up with:

Keep watching the event lists and see if I’ve missed anything that might work
Run the Spooktacular Scurry hungover – heck, I’ll be in a costume nobody will know who I am anyways, right? Ha ha.
Look for something to race while we’re in Hawaii – it’ll be warmer there anyways
Forgo racing for this fall and just focus on getting stronger and then fill up my schedule with races in 2012

Sigh, something tells me #4 is the best choice from above, perhaps with a little #3 and #2 thrown in for good measure.

Thanksgiving Summary…

2011-10-10T21:25:00.001-07:00

Squeezed in one last run last week before heading away for the weekend. I soooo didn’t feel like running, but had enough time to fit in 2.5 mi during nap time on Friday.
We spent this Thanksgiving up at the cabin in Shuswap. I was nervous the highway pass could be snowy, but all was well. Phew!
Started the weekend off with great resolve – no falling off the wagon for me!
Made my husband a totally ridiculous but kind of awesome wake-surfing birthday cake, complete with a stand-up photo of him surfing on the cake! I’m still no Cake Boss…

By Saturday dinner, I lost said resolve and had both a piece of cake and a cookie for dessert! Oops!
Sunday was family picture day and although I was nervous about taking family photos for the first time with my new camera, I am really pleased with the shots we got – getting 10 people together for a photo can be kind of like herding cats! Hard! Perhaps I will post some of the results once I get them edited…
Sunday afternoon was spent hanging around the fire pit and just relaxing – Riley had fun playing with the pumpkins in the backyard…

The drive home today was long and relatively uneventful. A lot of people think we’re crazy making 4+ hour road trips with a 1 and 2 yr old, but we like to think we’re teaching them how to be good travellers…ha ha. All I can say is thank goodness for snacks and portable DVD players! Oh, and train tracks beside the highway!
All in all, I didn’t go totally hog wild in the food dept this Thanksgiving weekend, but I definitely did indulge in a few treats like pumpkin pie, homemade cookies and wine with dinner…and the occasional bowl of chips.
On tap for tomorrow: visit with friends and then I’m hitting the treadmill for a 5k run during nap time. Gotta get back on track!

Wimpy Wednesday

2011-10-05T22:21:00.001-07:00

Here’s what’s got me feeling wimpy today…

I’m not really into heart rate training, but I kind of understand a bit of the theory and can appreciate it. So, I noticed that my treadmill has a cool heart rate training function where you can dial in all your info and if you wear the HRM then it will automatically adjust incline and speed to keep you in your fat burning (60% max HR) or strength training zones (80% max HR). Since my shoes were all soggy and wet from today’s walk and I only had an old crappy pair to wear, I didn’t feel like doing a full-on run tonight so I thought I’d try out the HR program.

Lame. It started out good, but then it turns out that it’s a pretty slow speed that keeps me in my fat burning zone. No running for me tonight, in fact, at times it was barely a brisk walk! Lame.

I hear that when a lot of people embark on real, honest-to-goodness HR training, they are often surprised at how slow they need to pull back in order to stay in the right zones. But, it just kind of surprised me the speed that put me at that 60% zone. It just wasn’t really the treadmill time that I had imagined for tonight and just made me feel kind of out-of-shape!

One thing is for sure though, it kind of illustrates why those long, slow runs are so effective at keeping the weight down. I guess for me, the longer, slower paces are what keep me down in that optimal fat-burning zone.

Anyhow, I don’t know that I’ll do the HR program all that often, but it also showed me that my 1hr walks I’m doing each day likely have me right in that good fat burning zone so hopefully those are beneficial. I wonder what the right mix of staying in the right zones and pushing yourself to get stronger and fitter at running, is optimal? Are you better off to run or walk really slow until you get fitter and then work on your running, or is it still beneficial to push yourself and ‘practice’ your running during that period of getting fit?

Hmm, sounds like it’s time for some research…

WIMP: 30 Day Results

2011-10-04T17:08:00.001-07:00

Part of my ‘accountability plan’ with trying to get back in shape this time was to take measurements and photos at the start and then at 30 days, 60 days and 90 days. Hopefully that way I could actually track how I was doing, besides just watching the scale since I don’t think the scale is truly an accurate indicator of health or fitness.

So, here are the 30 day results!

Measurements:

Body Part	30 Days (+/- inches change)	Commentary
Arm	+0.5	Some muscle perhaps?
Leg	-0.5	It’s a start…
Chest	+0.5	I hope this means my boobies are getting bigger!
Butt	-1.5	Bye bye butt…
Stomach	-4	Don’t look preggo!
Total	-6 (and +1)	Good stuff!

Okay so I’m pretty pleased with the measurements. I figured that nobody really needs to know the nitty gritty details, so I just posted the +/- inches difference from the start (Sept 5). Obviously I am most pleased that I no longer look about 4 months pregnant, but am also pretty happy that maybe my butt is changing a bit too.

Weight:

Again, nobody needs full disclosure, so I’ll just say that my total difference in weight is – 10lbs. I’ve been down and up and down and up and up and up and down again in the past 30 days. I’ve always been a big fluctuator when it comes to weight so this doesn’t surprise me either. Again, pretty happy with the results, but I have to say that most of it came off in the first week and the last week with the two middle weeks pretty much being a big plateau…

Photos:

The P90X program makes you take measurements and photos at the beginning of the program, so I followed their suggestions on how to pose etc. I had to cut a few out though because I just look way too silly striking any major body-builder poses! The start is on the left and today is on the right.

From the front: hard to see much difference here, other than my shirt doesn’t look as tight as it did at the start. No guns yet though, boo.

From the side: I think this one’s my favourite because I’ve gone from frowning at the baby belly to smiling about the non-baby belly. My pictures aren’t exactly the same since I’m standing a bit straighter today, but I honestly think that is more due to strengthened back muscles because it doesn’t hurt as much to stand straight as compared to the start.

From the back: I don’t like looking at photos of my back because all I can focus on is the crooked wrinkles of where my scar goes down my spine and how the muscles around my shoulder blades just look kind of twisty and gnarly. Hmm, not a huge change here, other than Marcus picking his nose in the corner of today’s photo. Nice.

Summary:

All in all, I’d say I’m pretty happy with the first 30 days. A total of 10lbs and 6 inches lost (and one inch gained, but I’ll count that as ‘muscle gain’ ha ha). I guess the main thing to take from this is that I guess I am at least heading in the right direction and I can’t be anything but happy about that!

Now, on the downside, today when I was out on my walk I got a huge nerve pain travelling up my leg and through to my back. Yowch! I can’t say I’ve ever felt a nerve pain quite like that, so maybe I need to do a bit better at stretching…

Updating my running playlist

2011-10-03T07:04:00.000-07:00

I admit it, I love running to music. It helps me focus. It helps me forget how long I’ve been running. It keeps my feet moving when they just don’t feel like they could possibly take another step. And, there’s nothing better than blasting a rad song while you’re pounding away.

Since I haven’t been running for awhile my ipod shuffle died so for the past few weeks I’ve been using my old ipod nano plugged into the treadmill. Wow, blast from the past. There is some old stuff on there. But, it brought me back to when I was training for and running my half marathons a few years ago so the motivational/nostalgic factor was cool.

Anyhow, it prompted me to update my playlist so here’s a few of the new ones I’m running to these days:

The Time (Dirty Bit) – Black Eyed Peas
What You Know – Two Door Cinema Club
Animal – Neon Trees
Moves Like Jagger – Maroon 5
Give Me Everything Tonight – Pitbull
Superbass – Nicki Minaj
Good Life – One Republic
Tonight – Enrique Iglasias
Don’t Stop the Party – Black Eyed Peas
DJ Got Us Falling in Love – Usher
Don’t Wanna go Home – Jason Derulo
Pumped Up Kicks – Foster the People
Someday – Black Eyed Peas

I know, I know, nothing ground breaking there – but these ones don’t disappoint when I’m staring at the wall on my treadmill. And of course, I decided to keep the following of my all time running faves:

Move For Me – Deadmau5 and Kaskade
Let it Rock – Kevin Rudolph
What you Waiting For – Gwen Stefani
Dashboard – Modest Mouse
Don’t Stop the Music – Rihanna

If anyone has any of their all time running faves that they are willing to share, that would be cool. I’m always looking to add new songs to my repertoire!

Who do you follow?

2011-10-02T19:35:00.001-07:00

Okay, okay, I know I said I don’t like posting twice in one day, but here I am doing it again! I was just cleaning things up in Blogger and on my blog and it got me to thinking – I need some fresh meat!

I’ve been following the same blogs for ages. And while I love them and think of many of you like friends because you allow me to read about your daily lives, I’d love love love to read some new blogs too. About new runners. About runners who are new mamas. About people coming back from injury. About people trying to get fit. About interesting people in general. About people who share too many personal details (I like those kind of people!)

So do YOU have any suggestions of new or interesting blogs that you are following? If so, I’d love to hear which ones.

Thanks!

(Sitting here with fingers crossed, anxiously hoping that someone actually makes some suggestions!)

No matter how fast you run, you can’t erase pizza

2011-10-02T16:51:00.001-07:00

Nope. You just can’t. We ordered pizza on Friday night and after a good week of healthy eating and working out, I decided to allow myself some treats. And by treats, I mean several pieces of really greasy, crispy crusted pizza. Yum. And that pizza just may have been accompanied by an alcoholic beverage or two and possibly a handful of cheezies. Oops.

No big deal, I’ve always said that I don’t really believe in restrictive diets. Well, they have their place but I just don’t think that anything too restrictive is sustainable in the long term, so I whole heartedly believe in letting yourself pig out now and then. But this time I’m feeling kind of bad. Usually the day after the pig out I might feel kind of bogged down or heavy but that goes away. Unfortunately I’m still feeling that bogged down pizza feeling and I don’t like it.

I had a wicked workout yesterday afternoon. Started off with a great 30 minute run. Only got about 2.5 miles in, but that seems to be my average distance in 30 mins these days. I even experimented with my speed a bit. What I dislike about the treadmill is that its easy to feel like you’re running slow and like your stride just doesn’t quite jive with the belt speed. So I was feeling that way yesterday and decided to crank up the speed a few notches. Although it was tough because I was running a lot faster and that was hard, my stride felt a lot more natural. It was cool but it was hard all at the same time. I could just feel those slices of pizza coming off… And then kaboom! I got a HUGE stitch in my side that I just couldn’t run through so with only 15 seconds left to go I had to dial it back to a walking pace. I followed the run with a great strength workout. Can’t tell if the workout was really that good or if I was just excited to be using my almost finished weight room. Ha ha.

Anyhow, what I have learned is that although I defend the right to pig out now and then, that heavy feeling the next day is pretty gross. And even though I had a totally rad, fast run yesterday no matter how hard or how fast you run, you just can’t erase those slices of pizza! Maybe I’ll just have a salad for dinner…

Things I shouldn’t have eaten or tasted in the past 48 hours…

2011-09-30T21:03:00.001-07:00

1/2 of an order of Escargot, with gnocchi – yum
Lobster truffle mac and cheese – even more yum
The delicious onion ring that came atop my petit filet steak
My portion of the bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon – the Edge - we ordered at my husband’s birthday dinner
1/2 of the Creme brule sampler
Pizza hut pizza – oh the delectable, crispy, greasy crust!
2 Smirnoff Ice – yes, I know they are girly, but so am I so it all evens out!

Even though it was my husband’s birthday yesterday and therefore this weekend we’ll be hanging out lots with family and friends, I really have no excuse for my awesome, yet detrimental, eats in the past 2 days. Guess I need to work out extra hard this weekend, which shouldn’t be too hard since our basement is ALMOST DONE! YAY!

Wandom Wednesday

2011-09-28T21:59:00.001-07:00

I know, I know, the word ‘random’ doesn’t typically start with a ‘w’ but I needed a catchy title for today’s random Wednesday post.

After a couple weeks running on my new treadmill, I have only found one thing I don’t like so far – it seems to only track in miles and I’m more of a km girl. Not a big deal, but I miss my kms…
While grilled swordfish, peppers and couscous taste great on the way down, they don’t make for very kindly burps when running. Now I know from experience…
Everybody and their dogs were out walking today. It was a little bit crazy, there were soooo many more people out than usual (and I walk at pretty much the exact same time every day) and they all had either a dog or a kid…
Olive oil is NOT a good deal at Fred Meyer – Trader Joe’s had a far better selection and at far better prices!
As of about 5:30 this afternoon our basement took two huge steps towards completion - both the painters and the plumbers finished. We’re on the home stretch, just gotta hang doors, install door handles, finish the edging of the gym flooring, put up the bathroom mirror and stuff like that. Oh yeah, and clean it all.
My day has ended with a bang. Wait a minute, make that a barf. Tonight I noticed that Marcus had kicked his covers off so I went to pull up the blankets and yuck! I put my hand in a pile of barf! Poor little guy threw up in his sleep. We moved him to our bed and got his bed all cleaned up and now he’s back in his room safe and sound and snoring. Hope he’s not getting sick!
Lastly, my husband just looked over my shoulder and made fun of my title. Boo.
Oh and I forgot to mention that I clocked 2.55 mi on the treadie tonight. Man I really, really, really gotta put something up on the wall in front of me. I get dizzy looking at the blank wall!

Anyhow, that’s all for now. Pretty wandom collection of thoughts, huh?

Adjusting Intervals

2011-09-27T16:49:00.001-07:00

So on my current return to running (man, it feels like I am ALWAYS “getting back into it”!) I’m not really following any set plan. I guess I would consider myself just experimenting for now, trying to get a feel for what kind of running and possible training my new body can handle since surgery.

One thing I do know for sure is that this body is still made for interval running. I’ve run steady in the past but since breaking my back, I find that running 10:1’s just works well for my body. This style of running has allowed me to go much further and longer than I ever could running steady.

To date, I have only run 4 times since my surgery. On my first run I ran a random combo of 3 min walks and 5, 6 and 7 min runs. I was more just getting a feel for running and trying to see if I had any squeaks or rattles. On my second and third runs, I settled on 2-3 min walks with 7 min runs. That was okay, but I found that by the 5 or 6 min mark, I was really dogging it

On one of my recent posts, Runner Leana told me she was working her way up from 3:1’s to 4:1’s and eventually onwards from there and it just reminded me that I don’t have to kill myself by trying to start as close to 10:1’s as possible. Although that is my ultimate goal, I have plenty of time to work up to that, right? So last night I did a 2 min warm up walk and adjusted my intervals to 5:1’s after that and it was AWESOME! I think I found my new interval rhythm.

The 5 minute run interval felt just perfect for right now. I was able to run at a faster speed and keep it up, as well as finish stronger at the 5 min mark. It was a much more sustainable level of exertion and I even had a bit of extra steam to sprint for the last few minutes which was actually a treat. Last night’s run actually felt like a good workout, like how running used to feel. I may have repeated Maroon 5’s “Moves Like Jagger” a few extra times, but hey, whatever keeps your feet moving, right?

As for today, I managed to get out for my daily 1hr walk, despite the light sprinkling and menacing dark clouds. We managed to stay dry and just now I finished my P90X workout for the day – a modified legs and abs workout. It was supposed to include back too but since I’m doing it in the family room today, I decided to omit all the pulldowns for lack of equipment.

Our basement is finally, finally almost done. The countertops were installed last week and this week the painter is in getting everything all spruced up! All that is left is to have the plumber come back and connect the bathroom and bar sink plumbing. So close!

Just say no…

2011-09-26T19:43:00.001-07:00

Ooooh, that was hard. I just said no to a second wrap at dinner. Gah, I hate being responsible. Especially when it comes to food.

See WIMP? I told you I was re-committed…

Are you there WIMP? It’s me, Nikki…

2011-09-26T07:56:00.000-07:00

Dear Wowie-in-Maui-get-fit-Plan (WIMP):

First off, let me start by saying that I have really, really, really enjoyed our first few weeks together. Like any new relationship, it’s been so exciting, intoxicating and lovely to have you in my life. I think about you as I fall asleep at night and am excited to see you when I wake up in the morning. I’m hooked.

That being said, I have to confess that I have definitely strayed in the past few days. Instead of staying committed to your healthy baked fishes, bright green steamed veggies and high protein, low carb breakfasts, I may have found myself in the arms of fluffy doughy flatbreads, tempted by the sweet flirtations of Smirnoff Ice and red wine and even seduced by the occasional rasher of thick sliced bacon. I know, I know, it’s terrible. You may have even caught me once or twice in the sweet embrace of my couch when I know I told you I’d be with you working out. I’m terrible.

Anyhow, with this letter I want to assure you that I am focused again and will not let my sensibilities or tastebuds stray again. I miss you, I need you and feel so much better when you’re around. I commit myself to you again – I promise. You’ve probably heard this from others before, but I mean it. Honestly, I do.

Please take me back. Before my ass gets out of control and devours my entire upper thigh. It’s a distinct possibility, so please save me from that fate and take me back…

Sincerely,

Nikki

The Wine Diet

2011-09-25T13:34:00.001-07:00

In the spirit of my “all popcorn, no exercise” diet of late, I’ve decided to add a new element to my healthy eating – the wine diet. Ha! Not exactly a diet, but a fun interlude to the healthy eating I’ve been working really hard at this month.

So these friends of ours have been part of a wine club for years and we’ve always heard about their vinting and culinary adventures, their “Zin-Din” competitions and the multitude of blind tastings they host. Anyhow, I guess we made the cut because we received our first invitation to this exclusive club and last night was our inaugural tasting. I say the word ‘exclusive’ in fun and mostly because I don’t think of myself as a wine connoisseur, so therefore a group of knowledgeable wine drinkers is pretty exclusive to me!

Anyhow, last night’s varietal was Cabernet Sauvignon and we tasted five different wines ranging from 2004 – 2009 and from places such as Argentina, California, Australia and BC. In general, I don’t know much about wine. I know what I like and what I don’t like, but vintage, food pairings and the details of taste are things that are pretty new to me. Needless to say, I was a bit nervous knowing that I had no idea how to describe what I was tasting and worried that I’d say something totally dumb.

But, it was totally great. The group was really nice and so not-pretentious or elitist or wine-snobby in any way. Ha ha. I learned a ton about the wines we were drinking and it was really amazing to see how much the flavours changed from the initial sip to with different foods that brought out different things in each of the wines. For example, one wine was really quite pungent, but when you ate with aged cheddar it turned wonderfully fruity and yummy.

Now this was a blind tasting (where the labels are concealed until the end) and the others in the group, my husband included, were able to distinguish where the wines were from just from their tastes. But lil ole me, I just enjoyed drinking all the wine and was even able to pick out the oldest of the wines. Point for Nikki!

Anyhow, it was a really neat experience. I likely won’t ever get to the point where I can pick out all of the details that others can, nor do I really think I need to, but it was really cool to see how the flavours change when paired with food. I’m a pretty laid back wine drinker and I’m just happy to drink wines that I enjoy, regardless of vintage, price or notoriety.

So how was this “The Wine Diet”? Well it really wasn’t. Unless you consider copious amounts of rich, red wine and foods such as stilton cheese, truffle pate, gorgonzola-pecan-arugula flatbread and dark chocolate to be a suitable ‘get-fit’ diet. Oh how I wish it was. I have to say, now that I am a bit more back on track with exercise, having these totally sinful nights don’t feel quite so bad. But I have to admit, I kind of slipped a bit this week with my eating, so next week it’s all hands on deck, hardcore healthy eating and lots of exercise again. It’s weigh-in, photo and measurement day coming up this weekend! Gulp!

A bit of remorse…

2011-09-23T09:59:00.001-07:00

There’s the “No-Walk Remorse”. It was pouring rain yesterday during my usual walk time so a friend and I went and walked around Costco instead. Great for feta procurement, but not so great for skinnier-butt procurement. When there’s so much to look at you just don’t walk as fast or as far! Ha ha.

There’s also the “No Additional Workout Remorse”. In absence of my walk I really should have at least done another workout or a treadie run or something. But nope, I didn’t. Part of the reason is that our basement is all torn apart because the painters are in finishing things up, but that’s not a reason why I couldn’t have worked out in the family room. Nope, instead I parked my butt on the couch and watched a bunch of season premiere tv shows last night.

And then finally, there’s the “Popcorn Eater’s Remorse”. I don’t know if it was the downhill slide I was already on yesterday or the fact that I was parked on the couch, but the desire for popcorn, the NEED for popcorn swept over me! I couldn’t help it! I had not one, but two bowls! With butter! Mind you, they were perfectly measured ‘servings’ in those bowls, but still! Oh well, this is a good example of why i’m just not meant to exist on a restrictive diet. Ha ha.

And then, the only good part of all this remorse is that this morning, after a week of no change, I actually lost a pound. ha ha. Go figure. A no-exercise, all-popcorn diet? Sounds good to me!

Thoughts on my first run(s)…

2011-09-21T21:14:00.001-07:00

I’ve taken the treadmill out for a spin or two in the last couple days and here are my thoughts on beginning running (again!) so far:

Treadmill is AWESOME! Outdoor running is still cooler, but the convenience of having the treadie in the basement is unparalleled when you have two little kids
Having iPod speakers and a fan on the treadmill is even awesome-er! Even when not running/walking, I can blast the tunes for working out and the speakers actually sound really good!
So far I have run a total of just under 5mi in two short runs
I was so happy on my first little run that I actually shed a little tear (geeky, I know, but soooo thankful)
Best part is that my new ‘bits’ all felt really good during both runs. No heaviness, pain or discomfort. Phew!
Even better part is that there was no residual pain, heaviness or discomfort in the night or day following the runs either so that’s fantastic too.
I’ve definitely lost my runners legs though – I have all kinds of sore going on my groin, quads, calves and butt
Staring at a blank wall doesn’t do much to motivate, so I need to invest in something, anything, to put on the wall in front of me
Not feeling strong enough to run very fast yet but that’s okay
On these first two runs, I ran 3:7 min walk/run intervals for 30 mins each and it seemed to be just about the right distance and time for where I’m at right now
Need to look up some Learn to Run or maybe 5k or 10k training programs to find a schedule that I can follow this fall as I don’t think I’ll be able to join any RR clinics just yet

Anyhow, nothing groundbreaking in terms of my summary thoughts, but damn, it felt good to run just a little bit! Yay for treadmills and yay for things feeling better!

Crab, shopping and running (finally!)

2011-09-18T20:21:00.001-07:00

Crab:

My girlfriend and I have a tradition of heading down to Seattle for a weekend of Christmas shopping every November, but since having kids and being pregnant etc. our tradition has been interrupted in the past two years. This fall, neither of us is pregnant so the tradition stands, but we decided to do a little warm-up trip for just a single night and have some time away and do a little shopping. Friday night we packed up and left the kids with our dutiful husbands and hit the road! I think my favorite part of these trips is that we always have dinner at a restaurant down there called the Crab Pot. And it’s awesome.

They basically dump a huge bowl of steamed crab, clams, mussels, prawns, oysters, sausage, potatoes, corn, salmon and halibut on the table in front of you and you hack away at it and eat until you can’t eat anymore. It’s delightful. And messy. And yummy and buttery. And we haven’t been there in two years so it was a long-awaited treat. I admit, the butter didn’t exactly fit with my healthful eating plan, but I decided to give myself a break and enjoy this special treat. Yum!

Shopping:

After dinner we headed to our hotel and relaxed and enjoyed a peaceful sleep knowing that neither of us had children who would be waking us up in the morning. It was awesome. But we still got up relatively early and hit the road to head for the malls. My boys are pretty good with shopping since I’ve always just dragged them along with me, but it’s a totally different experience shopping without them. Nobody else’s schedule, no diapers to change, no boredom to deal with and we could saunter around and spend as much time in the changerooms trying on clothes as we wanted! It was rad.

We spent the WHOLE day shopping and didn’t get back home again until about 10pm Saturday night. We got tons of great deals, a few frivolous buys and really enjoyed the chance to be away and just be girls for a fleeting 24 hours. The experience was even complete with a flirty young salesman at one of the outlet stores – nothing makes you feel young again like a flirty young dude trying to sell you clothes. Ha ha.

Running:

Yes, THAT running. I actually did some of it! That shiny new treadmill was calling my name so I decided to hop on and take it and my new crotch for a spin! Ha ha. Both performed very well. It was just a quickie but it went well and I’ll actually write about this momentous run tomorrow when I’m less tired and haven’t already babbled on for an entire post about crab and shopping.

Yay for running!

Cheater, cheater Pumpkin-eater!

2011-09-14T21:47:00.001-07:00

Yup, I did it. I had my first ‘cheat’ today. I was visiting my mom and dad and my mom had just made a nice, fresh, delicious-looking pumpkin pie. And pumpkin pie is my absolute FAVORITE pie!

At first I said a dutiful and committed ‘no’. But then, I started to reason with myself and since pumpkin really is just a vegetable, I decided to have a go. But a small one. And I didn’t eat very much of the crust.

And oh was it heavenly! But oops. I shouldn’t have done that. In general, I believe in a way-of-eating that allows you to eat more or less what you want, but within reason and as long as you’re burning enough calories to deal with it. But, during this first few weeks I’m really trying to be disciplined so that my body and my metabolism can re-learn what it’s like to eat healthy and not be bogged down by excess calories. So with that, I feel a bit bad about the pie. But boy, was it ever good!

This afternoon I managed to drag my butt off the couch and go for my walk again. Today I decided to cut it a bit short though so that I could give Marcus 15 mins at this really cool park we discovered a few walks ago. He loved it. And they had a really great toddler sized area so he could run around and climb and I didn’t have to be right beside him because it was safe for little people his size. There may have been some tears and protest when I popped him back in the stroller to leave, but hey, that’s what you get when your mama’s got a goal! Ha ha. (This photo isn’t from today, but a few weeks ago with his Nama and Tapa – just had to include it since we were talking about playgrounds and he looks so happy in this photo!)

Tonight’s dinner was nothing exciting. Chicken, veg and salad. We’re trying to make the general switch from meat, rice/potato and veg to meat, veg and salad. There’s really no need to gobble up rice or potatoes every single night like we used to, so now it’s more of a treat when we only have it every few nights. I miss the delectable whiteness of all of those starches though!

Tonight’s workout was the P90X Shoulders & Arms. Both of which are areas that I have none. My arms and shoulders have always been what could easily be described as piddly. I don’t expect pipes, but I’d love to get those arms that have just little lines of definition to them. Guess I’ll have to see about that.

And lastly, I CAN’T WAIT TO REALLY USE MY NEW GYM!! The painters come in to finish the moldings and doors and wall touch ups next week and then save for the fixtures in the bathroom and the countertops, the basement will be done! For now though we have the treadmill and Bow Flex set up and the exercise bike (but I can’t find the power cord, oops!) I’ve been doing my strength training in there and using the stereo on the treadmill, but each night I sit and drool about when I can finally go down, do some running/cardio and a full strength workout. Not that I particularly love treadmill running, but that beauty of a machine is sitting there begging to be ridden!

Several weeks ago my surgeon said that I am healed enough to start running etc. But I’d like to get my physiotherapist’s opinion as to whether I am strong enough to start running again. As much as I hate it, there is a big difference between the two and I don’t want to risk anything by starting to run too soon. So, off to see the physio next Thursday – I’ve already got my fingers crossed for good news.

Oops, my second post of the day

2011-09-13T21:47:00.001-07:00

I’m not really into posting more than once a day, but I’d like to start doing at the end of the day to keep track of what I’ve been up to. So, in order not to lose today, I’ve gotta do another post tonight. Sorry.

I have to admit, I’m still in that place where as I lay in bed in the morning and think about what I’m going to do that day, I still kinda dread thinking about the walks or workouts I have planned. I know that dread will eventually go away, but right now I’m very firmly in a place of “I don’t want to!!!” Usually by the middle of my workout I’m feeling more ‘into it’ and actually start to enjoy it, but I still really need that kick in the pants.

Today, for example, some friends came to visit during the day and that was great. But as we neared the end of nap time, I knew it was getting close to ‘walk time’ and I kind of hoped my friend would forget to call me! But alas, she called so out we went for our walk. We went a different route today that included a huge freakin’ hill at the end. Boo to hills. I know I have previously professed my love of hills, but right now it’s purely a ‘hate’ relationship. Anyhow, as I was trudging up the hill I calculated how much weight I was pushing around:

Marcus – 35lbs
Riley – 25lbs
Stroller – 25lbs
Case of formula I bought at the store in the middle of our walk - 10lbs
Total = 85lbs!

Sure, it was all on wheels, but 85lbs is 85lbs and going up that hill it felt like a million!

So the walk counted for my long cardio for the but tonight I still had to do some kind of strength workout. I did P90X for the last few nights so I decided to mix it up a little and do a different interval workout that a friend showed me. It was mostly abs but man did it get the sweat pouring. Since the tunes were sounding particularly good tonight I decided to take the old Bow Flex out for a spin and did some general weights and stuff like that.

Eating was not too bad today – more crazy vegetable soup and yummy ahi tuna for dinner. They say you grow to love things the longer you do them, and although my dinner was really good tonight, it’s just not the same as sinking my teeth into the salty goodness of french fries! Ha ha. Perhaps I need to start relishing the fact that I’m doing something good for myself, instead of just going for the glory of something that tastes good. Sigh. It’s hard to be good.

Smoothies, I love you

2011-09-13T08:39:00.001-07:00

So this week has started off okay. I know it’s only Tuesday, but maybe that’s why it’s easy to say that it’s already good. Ha ha.

I managed to get out for 1-hr walk yesterday and thankfully the temperatures are just a smidge lower so it was much more comfortable. Marcus gives me a constant commentary about what he sees - “Big truck! Fast motorcycle! Plane up in the sky!” – so it’s pretty entertaining. Today I’m supposed to meet up with a friend and her little guy so I guess I can’t skip out like the lazy me would like to do. :o)

I also managed to get my P90X in last night – chest and back. This one is all push ups and chin ups, but since we don’t have a chin up bar in the basement yet, the video substitutes pull downs with a band or pulley machine. I always kind of hate this workout because I just can’t do many push ups. So while Tony Horton and his merry gang of fitness geeks are pumping away 20 and 30 push ups, I can barely do 5 or 6 of most types. I realize I’m just beginning and that (hopefully) I’ll get better, but it makes things feel so hard when you know you’re not getting many done. ON the upside, the whole workout goes faster when you can’t do as may reps!

And lastly, I have fallen back into love again with the smoothie. When I was pregnant I sucked these back like there was no tomorrow but then kind of got out of the habit. I pulled out my Magic Bullet the other day though and have been back on the smoothie train once again. They are great for breakfast, great for a snack and taste deliciously sweet even though there is no added sugar. Here’s my usual recipe:

1/2 C or 1 full C of frozen blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries (lots of fiber!)
A splash of orange juice
1 scoop of protein powder
Handful of ice
Water up to the top of the cup and blend
Yum!

These days I am also adding a few teaspoons of Benefiber to make sure I am getting enough fiber each day and sometimes I’ll throw in some yogurt if I have it kicking around. Anyhow, it makes for a good snack or breakfast and I actually enjoy it even though it’s good for me. Ha ha.

Anyhow, off to start my day with the boys. We’ve got an exciting trip to the grocery store on tap for today (why does it feel like I am ALWAYS buying milk and formula? Gah!) and then a couple friends dropping by for a visit. My walk is scheduled for later this afternoon and I might actually get to the pool for a swim tonight with one of my running partners. We’ll see.

Honesty, it really is the best policy

2011-09-12T11:41:00.001-07:00

Okay, this post has nothing to do with fitness or exercise or running or eating healthy (although I did make a HUGE pot of healthy soup this morning!), so my apologies in advance. But have you ever had someone in your life who you didn’t think was being honest so you called them on it?

Well I did. And I feel so much better now.

I’m going to spare all the gory details but lets just say that I had a ‘friend’ from my past who acted friendly and said she was really glad we got back in touch again, but then ‘unfriended’ me from Facebook unexpectedly. Now, I know it sounds petty, who really cares about Facebook anyways, right? I agree, but it just got me to thinking about how much it bugs me when someone is nice to your face but really might think otherwise. In this case, this ‘friend’ and I had been through a tough situation together – I chose to work hard to get better and stay positive, she didn’t and instead pulled a huge ‘poor me’ act and still whines and complains to this day. Needless to say, I quickly found out that she and I are very different people. After several years we had just recently gotten back in touch – I knew we would never be great friends again, but it was nice to at least be in touch and catch up. Anyhow, then she unfriended me and it got me thinking…I don’t want to make space in my life (or my Facebook account for that matter!) for people who can’t be honest.

So I called her on it. I’ve rarely done that before.

And I’m so glad I did. I guess in the past years I’ve learned that life is too short to waste your time dwelling on things you cannot change. And this is clearly one of those situations. I will never be able to change her weaknesses and will always have trouble respecting her unwillingness to try and help herself during tough times. And that’s fine. But it felt unfinished so I asked her why she did it and forced her to be honest and although she admitted she is still upset after all these years, I feel so at peace that I can file this all away now and just be done with it. I know I have taken the higher road and I know that I acted honestly and with integrity during those times and if she couldn’t do the same, I don’t feel bad one bit that she is being ignorant and seems to be holding that against me.

So yeah, this post has nothing to do with my physical self-improvements this fall, but I like to think it was a big step in my emotional self-improvements. It feels good to have dealt with something that was uncomfortable for me and to feel good about what I have said and done. This was one relationship that fell apart years ago but always had hard feelings still attached to it. I am so thankful that I’ve finally just put it out there, told her how I felt and wished her well. End of story.

Phew! Now that I’ve taken care of my emotional well-being for the day it’s time to move on and eat soup! I don’t think I have ever seen so many vegetables all hanging out in one pot, but it smells wonderful and hopefully will taste the same!

WIMP: How’s it going so far?

2011-09-11T20:24:00.001-07:00

You might as what WIMP is. Well let me tell you, it stands for the Wowie in Maui Plan and I kind of like that it spells out WIMP since that’s what I am.

Anyhow, the purpose of this post is to update how things are going. I haven’t yet posted what my actual get-fit training plan is and that’s kind of because I am still waiting on the doctor to find out if I’m okay to add running to the mix. Until I know for sure, I’m just trying to get active how ever I can and I’ve also started working on what I eat too. Once I get the yay or nay from the doctor, I’ll be posting a more detailed plan of what I’m trying to do. Until then, here’s a short summary of how my week has been:

Diet/Eating:

I’m not one for diets, but I do however, like the idea of being extra disciplined right at the start to give the metabolism a little kick in the pants
I’m planning to follow the P90X diet for a few weeks to give the old system a kick start, so that’s lower carb, lower sodium, low sugar, lots of fresh foods and a bit more protein
So far so good, but I miss my junk. I feel so much better when I’m eating only fresh, healthy foods, but old habits die hard and I miss those potato chips!

Exercise:

I managed to fit in a 1-hr walk every day this week
Considering the fact I have to push two, squirming, heavy little boys around and that it has been 30+ degrees all week, this is a HUGE accomplishment!
As a bare minimum, I’d like to be walking each day
On top of that I did either a P90X video, a different workout video or just a regular strength workout 4 days out of 5 this week
I also did a spin class on Saturday which I really enjoyed. It was freakin’ hard however so I wasn’t totally upset when the power went out and we had to end class 10 mins early! Ha ha.

How am I feeling?

Happy, but hungry!
I’m glad I’m getting my butt off the couch, but when you go from eating whatever the hell you want, and then some, to eating just what you need and all healthy stuff, it leaves me feeling a bit hungry! I’m still tweaking the amount of protein and carbs and stuff I need for the amount of activity I’m doing, so that will help, but man, cutting out the sugar also gives some nasty headaches!

Weight:

I’m not super tied to the scale, but could stand to lose a few and so far I’m down 4 lbs this week so that’s cool
My bigger measure will be how my clothes fit and whether the flab goes away or not!

All in all, it’s been a good week so far. It feels good to get moving, but I have to admit feeling somewhat un-motivated since I’m facing such a huge task. I know that after a month or so it will all feel more natural but in the meantime it is so hard to train your mind and your spirit into wanting to do this.

So with that, I should go. My workout is waiting for me downstairs in the basement!

The Pre-Race Nutrition

2011-09-05T21:23:00.001-07:00

Sounds like an actual running-related post topic, doesn’t it? Well sorry, it’s not! But, if by “race” you mean “effort to get in shape” and by “nutrition” you mean “pure gluttony”, then this post is for you!

So I’ve been realizing that I need to do something serious to get in shape. Without running and race training a part of my life, my general ability to stay in shape has gone totally by the wayside. And aside from hating how that leaves me feeling and looking and fitting, I’ve got exactly 90 days left before I will be expected to exist solely in a bathing suit for 10 glorious days in Maui. When I visited Hawaii with my family earlier this year, I was running at the time so felt somewhat okay about gracing the beaches with my scantily-clad mom-body. This time around, I have since had two surgeries, about 12 weeks of absolutely no activity and lots and lots of alcohol and food to help make me feel “better” about not exercising!

But the fun must end, starting tomorrow I am embarking on the 90-Day Look-Wowie-in-Maui Get-Fit plan. What exactly does that entail, you ask? I’ll get into that in a future post, but what is important for now is my so-called “pre-race nutrition” aka Labour Day weekend at the cabin!

My sister is also looking to get fit again this fall so we decided to completely indulge ourselves this weekend. Here are a few of our notable pre-race eats:

Apple pie for breakfast
Alcoholic bevvies before noon
Chips with lunch and dinner
Pizza and sushi as our “last meals”
Pop, oh glorious pop!
Chips as a bedtime snack
Bacon and eggs for breakfast, hold the eggs, just bacon
Who am I kidding? Chips anytime we could get them!

Let’s just say we didn’t limit ourselves at all this weekend. And it was great. So now, what’s left? Well, I gotta go upstairs and take photos and measurements. Yikes!

Oh, and I guess I should bid a fond farewell to potato chips too. Oh how I’m going to miss your salty, crunchy goodness!

I gotta do something…

2011-08-25T16:04:00.001-07:00

Something to get in shape, that is! So I fully admit that one of the main reasons I like to exercise is so that I can kind of eat what I want and still stay fit. I’ve tried all kinds of “diets” and tried to cut out snacks and treats and fatty foods altogether but I always fail. I find I am the happiest, and feel the best, when I exercise lots but still allow myself to have treats or dessert or fries. As long as I don’t overindulge and have crap everyday, I seem to be able to find a balance.

However, there is NO balance to be found these days! Aside from being really weak and out of shape from my surgery recovery, summer seems to bring out the over-eater in me. All snacks, all the time! Alcohol? Sure! Wendy’s for lunch? Okay! Chips for lunch? I’m in! Dessert with every meal? Of course! It’s fun, but I’m feelin’ it now!

Anyhow, usually in the fall I shape up by getting back into routine and that used to include getting more regimented with my running schedule. I’m still not totally sure if I’m okay to start running yet so I’m going to have to devise some other kind of plan. However, it’s been a long time since I have relied on just strength-training and other cardio for fitness. So I’ve been brainstorming about some of the things I like and that seemed to have had some benefit in the past:

Weights – I’ve always liked doing strength training at the gym. I’m still on the hunt for my own rack of free-weights but do have that snazzy Bow-Flex in the weight room that works pretty darn good.
Spinning – for a short while during my second pregnancy I took up spinning but was somewhat limited by my burgeoning body and it’s ill-compatibility with such a small bike saddle!
Circuit training – I’ve done a few circuit-type classes after each of the boys were born and liked the upbeat pace and combo of cardio and weights.
P90X – c’mon, who DOESN’T like a little bit o’ Tony Horton in their day!
Swimming – well I can’t say I ever liked swimming, but when I used it as cross training during my heavy running days I think it was a good addition.
Pilates – oh how I enjoyed my reformer classes. I felt so good when I was doing private classes 2x per week. It may not be in the budget right now, but maybe I could find a decent mat workout for now.

So I have lots of methods at my disposal, it’s really just a matter of finding what is going to work best and setting my mind to it. I think I need to come up with either a schedule of some sort, or a commitment to do at least one thing each day or something like that. I always liked having a prescribed running schedule, so maybe I should try writing something up and following it in the same way. I think this will likely be a bit of trial and error until I find what works well for me and what fits best into my days.

I know one thing for sure. I need to keep myself accountable. Whether it be checking off days in a schedule, blogging each days activities or tracking my weight or something…I need some tangible way to keep track of this or else I know I won’t do it. Oh well, at least I know my weaknesses, right? Ha ha.

I think part of my accountability program should include photos. Yikes! And measurements. Maybe I’ll even post my ‘before’ photos (don’t worry, I’ll be suitably dressed). I think having a good honest look at my new muffin top and after-baby-gut, and possibly even posting those for everyone to see, will be a good kick in the pants.

Anybody else got any good ideas for motivation?

Cake Redemption

2011-08-23T19:49:00.001-07:00

Last year as a first time mom having a kids party, I decided to make Marcus a birthday cake. In my mind I had visions of the perfect cake – a bright orange, car shaped cake. But, this is how it turned out:

Not bad, but certainly not the vision I had in my mind. The worst part was how badly my family bugged me for making my poor kid a flesh-coloured car cake. It was supposed to be bright orange, but I guess I bought cheap food coloring and hence, flesh colour.

This year I had to redeem myself. I decided to make Marcus a Thomas the Tank Engine cake for his second birthday. I was going to just make it a flat sheet cake, but my friend talked me into making it a carved, 3D cake. She said, “Oh you’ve seen Cake Boss before, just do it like that!” So I armed myself with the proper tools and researched cake ideas on the internet. I baked 3 chocolate sheet cakes and threw them in the freezer overnight.

Here’s what happened next…

I started by stacking the cakes and building up Thomas’ roof and engine. I had to carve out a few places to give him more shape and then I covered the whole thing in a thin crumb coat (I sound like a professional, right?)

I then threw it back in the freezer and mixed up my coloured icing. I bought proper gel colours this time and the colours were so much truer. I even made black and it turned out to be a nice, dark, midnight black…

I then started to cover the whole cake in Thomas blue. Like my apron?

And then I decorated it up by outlining the roof top with black licorice and rosebudded it with black icing to fill it in. I used red to do some details and more black to outline the front of the engine. My piping skills aren’t great as you can see, and the warm room didn’t help the consistency of the icing, but beggars can’t be choosers!

To finish it off we used red ribbon around the bottom and Oreo cookies as wheels. I was going to draw the face with icing, but decided to print one off the internet instead. I Googled a high-resolution Thomas face and printed it on glossy photo paper. I stuck it to one of the icing lids (yes, I lazed out and bought my icing) and pressed it into the front of the cake. A few tracks made out of black licorice and it was done!

So it’s certainly not perfect, but I think I did a lot better than last year. And what did I learn?

Use professional gel dyes – they’re awesome!
An angled icing spreader is invaluable
Freeze your cakes periodically to keep things more solid and easier to carve
Keeping the icing chilled would have helped a lot too
Make use of printed things to do details like Thomas’ face
A crumb coat is the best invention ever, I barely had any crumbs in my coloured icing

And the best part of this cake? Marcus loved it!

And me? Although it’s not perfect, the Thomas cake was a much bigger success than my poor flesh-coloured car…

No luck shakin’ it…

2011-08-21T14:24:00.001-07:00

No luck shakin’ this blog hiatus, that is! It’s been another while since I last posted. But at least this time I didn’t leave you hanging with a poop post, right?

Things are busy around the Scott-Nygren household these days:

First of all, I snuck away to the cabin for another few days of sun. Pretty relaxed time, just me, the boys and my sister and her kids up there. We had a nice time enjoying the warm weather…

But as I was just looking through my photos from the trip, I came across this one. Hmm, trust my sister to capture me at my best!

We took the kids to the waterslides in Salmon Arm for the first time while we were at the cabin. Marcus took a LOT of convincing to go down the slides with me or my sister, and in the end, this is how he enjoyed it most:

Yup, playing cars at the flower bed, while Riley slept in his stroller. Oh well, at least I got the lay in the sun while the boys “enjoyed themselves”.

Marcus’ 2nd birthday is this week. Wow, 2 already? That came fast! Anyhow, our little family dinner turned into a dinner for 16 adults and 7 kids – whoops! Today I’m busy preparing for that and tomorrow I am going to attempt the cake. A 3D Thomas the Tank cake – am I crazy? I think so! I will post photos no matter how good or bad it turns out. So far all I’ve done is bake three chocolate sheet cakes. I’m so scared to stack them and start cutting!

And lastly, I’ll post an actual post about the gym, but in the past week the bathroom has been tiled and the kitchen/bar cabinets installed. Hopefully we can get the last few people in this week to finish up. In the meantime we've started setting up the gym and it’s going to be rad. I’ll post some pictures later and write more about it.

Moving right along…finally!

2011-08-10T22:43:00.001-07:00

Yep! We are! You may remember this post, oh about 7 months ago where I said we were going to prioritize finishing off our home gym. Well, as you can tell by the absence of any “It’s Done!” posts in the past half-year, we haven’t exactly progressed on this project quite as much as hoped!

But (and this is a good but for a change!) we are finally getting somewhere! Here is what my home gym looks like tonight…

And how is that any different than it has been? Well, a lot has changed actually. The impact-resistant gym flooring is stacked up, waiting to be laid. The treadmill is sadly still in it’s shipping box. Boo. On the positive, we now have lighting in the gym space! In other parts of the basement, the bathroom is well underway – the tiler and cabinet guys need to come in and it’ll be all done. The finishers have been in to frame in and hang the doors, install all the baseboards and put in the window casings.

HUGE improvement! We even replaced the outside door with this french style one to let in more light since it’s well, a basement.

And so, in the meantime, this is where I’ll be working out. On my Bow-Flex which is oh so conveniently tucked in behind this roving Ikea bookcase!

In other news, my running ladies invited me out for a reunion run tonight at Run Club but unfortunately I couldn’t go. I so, so, so would have loved to but I don’t actually have the go ahead from my doctor to engage in such physical pursuits. Even if I had the all-clear, I think my vag-physiotherapist has some more lengthy recovery plans for me before she’d like to see me jump back into running. Damn! Until then I guess I’ll just focus on my Bow-Flex body. After all, I have a goal to work towards now…we finally made the decision that we’ll be joining close friends of ours in Hawaii this December for a little tandem family vacation. We’re super excited but my less-than-stellar physicality these days has me thinking I’d better get this flabby butt o’ mine in gear if I plan to gallivant on any Maui beaches this Christmas!

It’s true, winter is high whale season in Hawaii, but I think that refers mainly to the underwater whales…not the flabby-thighed-Canadian-transplant types! Ha ha!

This and that…

2011-08-08T20:40:00.001-07:00

1. Whatever happened to my running clinic? Well, it finished! A few weeks ago our training ended and I just finished up all of the paperwork etc. to close out the clinic with RR headquarters. With my unfortunate health problems, I had to pull away for longer than expected but was extremely lucky to have a fellow runner who was willing to step in and cover for me. I feel awful about not being able to be there for the final weeks, but I think my runners understood. So would I do it again? DEFINITELY! Overall, I really enjoyed the whole experience and would love to do it again – hopefully at a time in my life when I don’t have any surgery looming! It’s going to be awhile before I can run again (gee, I’ve heard that before…) so I won’t be instructing any clinics for awhile, but it’s totally on my to-do list for future.

2. Hi my name is Nikki and I have a Bow-Flex Body. It sounds so cheesy just saying it, but yes, I’m working on getting myself a Bow-Flex body. Ha ha. So it’s been 8 long weeks of recovery and virtually NO activity. What little muscle I had is gone, gone, gone. I am horribly weak and flabby at the moment but still have strict orders to enter back into activity slowly. That means no running, aerobics, heavy weightlifting etc. What I’d LIKE to be doing is running and doing P90X workouts on my days off. What I’m settling for is light strength training and brisk walking and/or riding an exercise bike. I kind of have to just work with what I’ve got, and what I’ve got is a treadmill, an exercise bike and a Bow-Flex home gym that a co-worker gave us for free. It’s collected dust in the basement for months but I finally dusted it off and gave it a shot – on the whole, you can pretty much do any strength exercise on it, so I think it will work just fine for my purposes! Wish me luck!

3. Get me back to the cabin! Luckily we have had beautiful weather in the past weeks since I’ve been home, but my heart is still back up at the cabin. I’m staying home this weekend for a wedding and then am planning to hit the Shuswap again next week for some sun and boating. If I can’t be fit, at least I can have a fabulous tan and that is much better achieved at the lake where we spend most of our time outdoors swimming and boating anyways.

4. Diving right in. And speaking of the cabin, while I was there a couple weeks ago, I learned something momentous. I learned how to dive. When I was a kid, I failed my swimming lessons miserably and therefore, never learned how to dive properly. Even though I’m a scuba diver and can swim well enough, I’ve always been afraid to let go and enter the water head first. My sister being a swimming instructor, she finally showed me how to do it and with a huge group of people in boats, in the water and on the dock watching, I dove for the first time! Yay me!

Not fair

2011-08-05T09:46:00.001-07:00

Okay, okay so it’s been many many weeks and I know it’s not fair to go on hiatus having a poop post being the last thing out there for awhile. Oops, sorry about that. It got a lot of you thinking though, right?

Anyhow, this whole surgical recovery thing has turned into a monster of its own! At the end of my 6-week no-lifting ban and recovery period I was still having a lot of really bad pain so back to the doctor I went. Everything looked okay he said, but still wasn’t totally healed and a few spots were causing a bit of trouble. He said I should take another 2-4 weeks of full rest before resuming normal activity.

Damn! That put a huge wrench in my life since we had already relied on our family and friends so much for the first 6 weeks and now had to ask for an additional few weeks of help. I was pretty upset about it and bummed that I still had to ask for more help. After a couple days of piecing together some support, we whisked the kids up to the cabin where my sister and my parents were around to help.

After a couple weeks up there I was feeling much better and the sharp pains were gone. I still have to go back to the doctor get the final “okay” to resume activity, but I’ve started lifting (very carefully) and so far haven’t had too much trouble with that.

What IS causing me trouble is my flabulous body! OMG. After 8 weeks of doing NOTHING, what little bits of muscle I had are totally gone and my legs and butt and stomach are soft like goo. It sucks. My back is feeling terrible right now too because I am so out of shape and having to be so careful about lifting, I am finding it tough to engage my core muscles properly when my back and core are so weak! Rar.

I’m not going to be running for many more months yet so I am going to have to put together some other kind of exercise program. It has to be convenient, inexpensive, start slow but be adaptable as I get stronger and doable at or near home with two little kids in tow! Sounds easy, right? Ha ha. Anyone have any suggestions? I’m going to start some strength training in the basement and brisk walking of course, but I’d really like to add in some pilates perhaps. Anybody have any good pilates DVD suggestions?

Anyhow, so I’m not dead and I promise I won’t leave a poo post as my legacy again. Thanks for hanging in there in the meantime though!

Put a little fibre in it!

2011-07-14T19:29:00.001-07:00

When you’ve had the kind of surgery I’ve had recently, it’s inevitable that you’re going to get asked about your ahem, bathroom habits. Not whether you go and how you go, but how often you go, what shape it is, how soft it is etc. Yup, it’s kind of humiliating, especially when I was handed this…

Yes, that is a scale that doctors use to “classify” your stool. Now I didn’t exactly have poo-related surgery, but when your “nether-regions” have been operated on, the uh, nature of your stool can make a huge difference to how comfortable you are during your healing.

So where do you fall on the scale? You don’t really have to answer that, but I was told that everyone should aim to be “Type 4” – like a nice smooth sausage or snake. Without revealing too much, I’ll just say that this exercise lead me to realize that I need to get more fibre in my diet.

I did a bit of research and they say that the average American gets less than 10g of fibre a day. Turns out we SHOULD be getting somewhere around 25-30g, depending on a few different things. I was surprised, so kept a food journal for a few days and sure enough, I was somewhere in the 7-10g range. Yikes.

Enter the “Fibre Quest”. At least that’s how I’ve been thinking of my diet lately – I don’t normally count calories, carbs or anything like that but for the past couple weeks I have been making a better effort to get the right amount of fibre. It has lead to a huge change in the things I eat and snack on. Right now it is taking quite a bit of effort but over time I am sure it will become more habit than hassle.

Anyhow, this has lead me to try lots of new, high-fibre foods. Some good, but some definitely bad. I thought I’d share some of the things that I have enjoyed so far as part of my fibre quest:

Raisin Bran – 7g of fibre vs. 3g in a bowl of regular Cheerios
Whole Wheat Peanut Butter toast – 6g in the bread and another 1g in the PB (it would prob be even better if I started eating flax or soynut butter instead)
Whole wheat pasta – we’ve been eating this for a couple years now, but it’s got 7g per serving
Apples – skin on and you’ve got somewhere between 3-5g of fibre depending on the size
Hummus (yum) – I’ve always liked hummus but a serving of it can contain up to 6 or 7g of fibre, even more reason to keep eating it
Soy beans – 1 cup cooked gives you 9g of fibre
Black beans – a whopping 13+g per cup!
Peas – cooked, 9g
Almonds – 1oz has more than 4g of fibre
Blueberries, strawberries, raspberries – 1 cup in a smoothie gives you 6g of fibre, yum!

None of these things are ground-breaking but I think that’s the point. A lot of foods that I already liked are high in fibre, I just need to make the effort to include them more often. Until my habits are more ingrained, I’ve also been including an extra shot of fibre to my smoothies by adding a couple teaspoons of Benefibre. This stuff is awesome, non habit-forming and you really can’t taste it even in a glass of plain water!

Including more of these foods has totally changed my “habits”, I had no idea how easy it was. Maybe you fall outside of the expected Type 4 poop too, so if you do, put a little fibre in it and you’ll be shocked at the difference. Happy pooping!

My runner’s feet are back!

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Yup, blisters and all! Alas, these runner’s feet are NOT due to running. Sigh… Here’s the story.

Way back when, close to 15 years ago, Runner Leana and I met and were studying engineering together at UBC. Some of you probably have followed her running blog in the past as she worked her way up through half marathons, marathons, the Goofy Challenge and finally Ironman Canada. We graduated in 2001 and off she went to work in the States before coming back to Canada. While we had our ups and downs in university, thanks to the magic of Facebook etc. we have stayed in touch over the years.

Anyhow, if you have followed her blog you may also know that she met the love of her life and got married this weekend here in Vancouver, BC (congratulations Leana!) And like a good blogger, she blogged the whole planning process here. Part of the pre-wedding festivities included a huge trip down memory lane…that’s right, the NKOTBSB! She said it was fate that the New Kids on the Block and the Backstreet Boys were playing a concert in Vancouver the night before her wedding. Now who am I to say no to the New Kids – I just HAD to go. And it was AWESOME!

It was hard trying to find something to wear that would be nice for the dinner and drinks before hand, yet still comfortable and cool for the concert afterwards. Fortunately or unfortunately I elected to wear a new pair of shoes…

Now if you haven’t heard of TOMS, I suggest you check them out. They started with the ultra casual canvas espadrille (or alpargata) type shoe but they also brought out a wedge style too. For every pair you buy they donate a pair to a child in need (hopefully not the wedge style for the kids though…) so you can feel good while wearing your wedges. Anyhow, while they are super comfortable, they happened to rub funny on the big and small toes of my left foot. Sadly, I left the concert with not only a fresh dose of boyband-itis but also a blistered foot. Boo. Wish I had a more honourable and running-related reason for those blisters!

On the upside, my aching foot is tempered by having spent a fun night singing along with some delightfully cheesy and high-pitched 90’s love ballads. Nobody hits those high notes like my man Jordan Knight and I think somewhere in the back of my mind I still kind of dream that one day we’ll meet and run off to get married (just like I dreamed when I was 12!) I hope Marcus and Riley won’t mind a life on the road and living in the NKOTB tour bus! Ha ha.

It was really hard to get a picture, but if you look closely you just might see some Jordan Knight in this photo (he’s the one with the outstretched arms)…