Monday, June 24, 2013

2013 - Week 25 Recap

Zomg, zomg, zomg!  

So about a month or so ago I wrote this post about the Colour Me Rad runs, and how awesome and cool that I thought doing one of these would be...I know sometimes as runners we get so wrapped up with splits and intervals and fartleks and speedwork and personal bests and, and...well, you get the drift.  Anyways, I figured it would be so much fun to do a run strictly and solely to have fun with your friends and all the runners around you.  Well guess what...Colour Me Rad is coming to little old Victoria!  Squeeeeeeee!  It came up as a recommended post on my Facebook page (seriously, it was fate), and as soon as I saw it I knew who I wanted to do it with and that was my bootcamp buddy, D.  We've worked out together for the past five years and she's been my friend since we were in the sixth grade, so who better to ask?  The run isn't until April 2014, but she's in like Flynn and we're so excited.  Cannot wait.

does this not look like the most fun, evar?!

WORKOUTS:

Sunday:  yoga
Yay, finally made it to yoga!  It was desperately needed as I've been so tight and stiff lately.

Monday:  bootcamp a.m./PISE p.m.
Gorgeous day for workouts!  Morning was out at Esquimalt Lagoon...seriously, there is probably not a better location to do a morning bootcamp...you get to work out by the ocean with the sun rising as you work up a sweat...can it get any better than that?  Evening class was an absolutely killer class where all we used was a medicine ball, and if we dropped it we had to do burpees as punishment.  Let's just say no one dropped their ball.

truth...

Tuesday:  rest

Wednesday:  bootcamp a.m./PISE p.m.
Am seriously loving our new trainer at PISE.  I just gotta say, I've been so lucky to have had such great trainers there so far.  She is totally kicking our asses and pushing us just enough to make us work hard and improve our fitness but not so hard that we barf up a lung.  She's been amping it up each and every class, I swear after each class I looked like drowned rat with my hair pasted to the side of my head and makeup running everywhere...and no, I am not one of those chicks who puts on makeup to go to the gym.  Ha!

Thursday:  rest

Friday:  PISE p.m.

Saturday:  30 minutes treadmill
I know, I know.  We jammed out on our weekly run, but Hubs was catching up from jetlag and I was, to put it simply, feeling like ass.  I was tired and woke up with a screaming headache, but we cut a deal that we'd still have to work out but could forgo the run.  Done!  As always, I started out tired and groggy and after some hard intervals on the treadmill, I felt great but the best thing?  My headache totally went away.  Awesome.

FOOD:
Food was bang on this week.  Yes.

RECIPES:
Lentil burgers from Back to the Beginning by the Three Sisters - this recipe was absolutely fabulous and the best veggie burger I've made to date...even better than the one from Whitewater, and that's high praise, folks. 

Sunday, June 16, 2013

2013 - Week 24 Recap

OK...I gotta say...I think I've been sore almost every week for the last 22 weeks since I've been working out at PISE!  I'm one of those crazy people who actually likes being sore but if I keep this up, I'm going to have to start packing my foam roller and tennis ball around with me everywhere and have my RMT on speed dial...oooooooooooch

WORKOUTS:

Sunday:  10K run

Monday:  bootcamp a.m./PISE p.m.
All I remember about this day was it felt like all I did was pushups...in the morning we did a pyramid workout and push ups were one of the exercises.  At the evening class, Dania busted out a can of whoop ass on our butts and had us do eight rounds of eight exercises, 20 seconds on, 10 seconds rest.  Twenty seconds doesn't sound that bad, right?  Except we had to finish the eight rounds of each exercise before we could move on to the next one.  I swear, after the eighth round in a row of push ups I thought my arms were going to spontaneously combust and I'd have to drive home with my feet.



Tuesday:  rest

Wednesday:  30 mins treadmill a.m./PISE p.m.
Back/neck was hurting and I was worried about a rib being out (sigh, hypermobility is such a PITA) so I didn't risk going to a Jason class and decided to do some cardio on the mill.  I massaged my back with a tennis ball intermittently during the day and it must have popped something back into place as things loosened up and I was able to go to evening class...and so glad I did!  Josh was back for his graduation so it was great to see his smiling face.

Thursday:  rest

Friday:  PISE p.m.
Sigh.  Some more sadness this year...I tell ya, it hasn't been a stellar year in this regard, that's for sure.  Hubs' stepdad passed away last week so he had to fly to Manchester on Friday to be with his mom.  His stepdad was a really nice guy, we had a chance to meet and hang with him when we went to Hong Kong a few years ago.  Anyways, glad we were able to find flights on such short notice and that Hubs can be there for his mom.

Saturday:  10K run
A quiet run on my own on Saturday...just me and my thoughts.  I missed Hubs, but it was kinda nice to just get inside my own head and let my thoughts wander.

FOOD:
A few treats slipped past my lips this week...I couldn't resist trying this dessert that my coworker brought in for us as she had some leftovers from a dinner she had made the night before.  What was this irresistible dessert?   It goes under a few names...Mud and Snow Tire Cake (sounds appetizing, no?) but better known as Better Than Sex Cake.  Chocolate cake mix as a base, with a mixture of warmed condensed milk and caramel sauce poured over it and then topped with a layer of Cool Whip, Skor Bars and more caramel sauce.  It was delicious and worth every sugar laden calorie. 

RECIPES:
Thai noodles from Cleaning Eating 3, Potato Salad from Back to the Beginning from the Three Sisters, and baked pork chops from Food.com.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Eating Clean: Step Two

So a few weeks ago I wrote this post about all the lifestyle changes Hubs and I have made to work on some Hubs' health issues.  The changes were pretty drastic and some days it was hard to stay on track, but I have to say...I'm pretty proud of Hubs' as he stayed on course the whole way.  Anyways...as a follow up to his initial blood work where we discovered he had elevated cholesterol, blood sugars and blood pressure, Hubs' had some more blood tests recently at the three month point to make sure that the changes we were made were working.

I'm so happy and absolutely thrilled to say, Hubs' cholesterol levels have dropped and are well within normal ranges!  The doctor was so impressed, he thought that he had put Hubs' on meds and just couldn't believe his eyes that the changes were all done through diet and exercise and in just three short months.  Here are the numbers, so you can see how things have improved:

Total cholesterol (normal range 2.00 - 5.19)
Before:   5.97
After:  3.37

LDL (normal range 1.50 - 3.39)
Before:  3.39
After:  1.78

HDL (normal range, higher than 0.90)
Before:  0.93
After:  0.84 (booooo!)

Triglycerides (normal range 0.42 - 2.29)
Before:  3.62
After:  1.66

Chol/HDL ratio (normal range, lower than 4.9)
Before:  6.42
After:  4.01

So while we're thrilled that things are going in the right direction, we still have a bit of work to do to get his HDL up (I'm thinking more omegas).  Blood sugars have dropped and are at the high end of normal, so still some improvement to be made there...this in particular is something I want to work on as Hubs' grandma and dad both have Type 2 diabetes.  Blood pressure has dropped but still a teeny tiny bit high.  But overall, I'm so happy to see the improvements and it's confirmed that we're on the right track.  This whole thing has just confirmed to me how absolutely important nutrition is to health...as Socrates said "let food be thy medicine and medicine by thy food".  Smart man.

Sunday, June 9, 2013

2013 - Week 23 Recap

So you know all those motivational posters that say how you won't regret your workout? 




You get the gist, right?  Well, today I really put those sayings to the test.  After another week of three really tough double days, I wasn't in the mood to go for a run this morning.  I was super unmotivated and I even tried to entice Hubs into being bad with me and asked him if he really wanted to run or not...aren't I awful?  Hubs, being the good egg that he is, just matter of factly said yes.  Bah

As we headed out on our run, it felt like my legs were made of lead and they were so sore and tired.  The first few hundred feet were just painful, and I thought well, maybe I'll just do a few kilometres and let Hubs run the rest.  I was feeling out of breath and just wasn't in the mood to run so most of the first few kilometres we ran in silence as I suffered quietly.  Then slowly as my legs and body warmed up, I felt a bit better.  I still didn't feel great, but I didn't feel like the big pile of crap like I did earlier.  Then Hubs and I started chatting as we plodded along, and I began to feel better and better, and by the end I actually felt pretty good and was so glad that I made myself lace up my shoes and get out there...Hubs was a big part of it, so I thanked him for not letting me be a total jam tart.  So even though those motivational posters might seem all cliché and simplistic...alls I gotta say is that they're the truth.

Sunday: rest

Monday:  bootcamp a.m./PISE p.m.
First double day of the week.  Evening class at PISE was our second class with our new trainer and I commented afterwards that I thought I only had burning stumps left for arms.  Hah!  It was all about the arms that night and they were just vibrating afterwards.  We started the class with some work with the prowler (prowler is a weighted sled type thing that you can either pull or push) and it was hilarious because for the first round, I could honestly barely move the thing.  Thankfully we dropped the weight so it was a bit more doable...anyways, it was awesome working with the prowler for the first time.  After this class, I was girding my loins for Wednesday's double day as Jason would surely be in fine form and Dania was proving to be quite the asskicker.

Tuesday: rest
Must start going to yoga again.  Must.

Wednesday: bootcamp a.m./PISE p.m.
Second double day of the week.  Brutal day.  Morning class with Jason was hundreds, so we did a hundred pushups, tricep dips, these half burpee things and sit ups and then afterwards headed out on the trails for a bunch of hills and sprints.  I could barely stay upright Wednesday afternoon, and somehow managed to make it through PISE at night.  Woohoo!  Done like dinner.

Thursday: rest

Friday: bootcamp a.m./PISE p.m.
Third double day of the week.  Made it through morning bootcamp (a run around the lakes) but I was again, *this* close to jamming for the evening workout but I made myself go.  Once again, I was so glad that I did...do I sense a recurring theme this week?  Anyways, just two of us made it to class Friday night at PISE and it was an awesome, fun workout that we did out in the sunshine.

Saturday: rest

FOOD:
Food right back on target...staycation slide is officially over.

RECIPES:
Roasted cauliflower, garlic and leek soup from Food.com and sesame noodles with roasted tofu from Clean Eating 2.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

2013 - Week 22 Recap

I think that summer might possibly be on it's way...

what's that round thing called again?

OK maybe not summer, but definitely warmer, sunny weather.  Bring it on, folks...bring it on.

Sunday:  30 mins treadmill
After volunteering at the Oak Bay Half, I was absolutely freezing cold...my feet were soaked and I could barely move my hands when I got home so I thought what better way to warm up than a workout?  I did a quick 30 minute run on the mill and did a few pushups and other bodyweight type stuff and I was toasty warm by the end.

Monday: PISE p.m.
Wah!  Second to last class with Josh.  We did a circuit that included the lovely airdyne bike, which I absolutely despise...probably because it's hard.  Ha!  Oh, and no morning bootcamps on Monday/Wednesday...D had a busted glute muscle that she was letting heal up.  Not gonna lie, I was a bit glad to ease back on the double days this week.

Tuesday: rest

Wednesday: PISE p.m.
Sigh...last class with Josh...sad face.  We did a repeat of the circuit and at the end of the class the group of us hung out for a bit, had some goodies and treats that some of the ladies brought and we took a bunch of awesome photos with some of the equipment as props.  Yes, I ate a mint chocolate cupcake, but I had a bunch of veggies beforehand...it's all about balance, right?

Thursday: rest

Friday: bootcamp a.m./PISE p.m.
Gorgeous morning for a workout!  We ended up running around a trail and then doing some work with bands.  Evening class was our first class with our new trainer, Dania...I really enjoyed this class because we had a good mix of strength mixed with cardio and yep...I was sore this weekend, which is a good sign!    We ended up chatting a bit after class and it sounds like Dania wants to show us a bit of barbell work like Olympic lifting, which is awesome!  I'm always up for learning something different.

Saturday: 10K run
Ran with Hubs on a local trail...man, it was nice out.  It's interesting, both of us were saying how good we've been feeling on our runs lately...I think that after we really cleaned up our diet, we've had less "bad" runs.  I clearly remember going on some of our weekend jaunts and we'd be dragging our asses twenty feet behind us, but lately all of the runs have been feeling good.  Another win for the clean eating camp!  Next few weeks we're thinking of going just a titch farther, and maybe inching up to 15K over the next while.

FOOD:
Mea culpa...coulda been better.  I think I still have a bit of a staycation hangover, so need to clamp down as it's a slippery slope. 

RECIPES:
Pizza with whole wheat crust from Clean Eating, which you can find the recipe here.  Just wanted to say that this is a fabulous whole wheat pizza crust and I'm thrilled that it's clean.  I rolled this puppy out super thin (one recipe will make two 12 inch pizzas with very thin crusts) and topped it with some homemade pizza sauce (two 28 ounce cans of no salt added Eden organic roma tomatoes, oregano/basil, olive oil and garlic, cooked down until super thick) and then put on whatever toppings your heart desires.  It's fab.  Other new recipe I tried was for my parents...my dad is like the plant whisperer or something...he can grow anything, I swear.  He knows we like rhubarb so started growing some for us, so I decided to whip him up a strawberry rhubarb galette as a thank you.  I gotta say, I'm a wee bit proud of myself because I've always been a bit afraid of working with pastry/dough and yeast (all that kneading and rising made it seem so complex and intimidating!), so I attacked two fears this week!    The galette was super tasty, so if you're looking for an easy, delish and rustic dessert that looks impressive, make this one (recipe found here.

yum yum...