2014 - Week 4 Recap

OK, who the heck came up with a five day work week?  A three day weekend would be just perfect...a day to hang out and do stuff, a day to do chores and errands, and then another day to just get to hang out and chill.  Either that or I need to get myself a wife...ha!  Anyways, I'm slowly getting my mojo back and feeling more spritely than I have in awhile...life is still busy but I've had a bit more down time so it's helped.

WORKOUTS:

Sunday: strength workout
Wow...that Functional Movement class I did at PISE had made a huge difference with my shoulder!  I think whatever my physio did the last time I saw her really helped to loosen things up, but it just needed that final oomph and I think the class was the piece de resistance.  The next day my shoulder felt like a million bucks with no pain.  I added in a tiny bit more weight with my shoulder exercises and so far, so good. 

Monday: bootcamp

Tuesday: rest
I went to go see my physio and...drumroll please...I'm looking and moving awesome!  I told her about my shoulder and how the areas that have been bugging me have been fine the past few weeks, even though I was in a bit of trouble the last time I saw her and wasn't moving well.  She said I had a tiny bit of tightness in my hips, but otherwise I only needed to see her on an as needed basis now.  Yippppeeeee!  I think the regular visits combined with regular stretching and mobility drills (regular as in every single night) has made all the difference. 

Wednesday: swim class
Second swim class!  So much fun...we graduated from gliding with a floating device to using nothing and kicking our feet.  And I've met some pretty nice people in class, especially my Russian friend.  Last week she was terrified...this week after class she was saying how awesome it was.  So amazing to see!

Thursday: Functional Movement PISE nothing (boo)
Noooooooooooooooooooooooo....as I had feared, class was cancelled due to low registration.  I emailed PISE because I wanted to give them some feedback on how great I thought the class was, and told them about how the one class made all the difference in my shoulder, and that I'm using those techniques daily.  I wanted them to know that the class was very worthwhile to run, possibly only for a few sessions or as a one time workshop.  Anyways, they were happy to hear how much it had helped me and said they would likely run it as a workshop...hooray!

Friday: bootcamp

Saturday: 10K run
Woohoooo!  First longer run in almost three weeks.  For one reason or another, Hubs and I haven't been able to get outside to run since New Year's Day.  I know!!  A travesty.  It felt great to just get out there and I'm feeling pretty good today...no soreness or pain.

FOOD:
Week Three of "Free" living has been good...we've both been able to stick with our changes, and Hubs is starting to notice a bit of a difference with his skin...yay!  I was looking at his neck the other day and normally it's reddish...this week, the skin colour looked normal and it wasn't dry or flaky but felt smooth.  I truly think this will make a difference in how he feels...we went out for dinner on Saturday night and while he tried to choose items that were "free", sometime things might slip in there and he noticed his skin itching a bit, whereas it wasn't before.  Small successes but it all counts.  Now the big question is...what gluten, egg, nut and dairy free options are there for Superbowl Sunday?!  Hmmm...

2014 - Week 3 Recap

Just going to start this post off by saying woohoo, go Seahawks AND go Broncos!  During the NHL strike when I was dying for any kind of sports to watch (no baseball though...blargh I hate baseball), I started to tune into football and am slowly, slowly figuring out football and...dare I say it...I kinda like it.  Shhhhh...don't tell Hubs.  Hee hee.

WORKOUTS:

Sunday:  strength
Slowly, slowly, slowly I'm adding strength back into my workouts and not lifting too heavy to start.  At this point I'm not trying to gain any muscle or really build a ton of strength or anything, but just to maintain my current level of strength right now.  My shoulder is feeling a lot better but I really want to get to the point where my physio is really happy with how I'm doing before I start adding a lot of weights...am hoping that if I work hard over the next while and get things under control, I'm thinking about doing some personal training starting in the spring!  Once a week weight sessions just to keep me committed.

Monday:  bootcamp
First bootcamp in the new year!  It was a super rainy and windy morning, but strangely I feel super badass when I'm out there running around in the crappy weather.

Tuesday:  rest

Wednesday:  treadmill a.m./swim class
Wooohooooo!!  First swim class...I gotta say, I was actually more nervous taking the Olympic weightlifting class than I was swimming.  Weird, hey?  Anyways, I got to the rec centre super early to make sure I got the lay of the land...I'm taking this class by myself so always feel a bit nervous as I don't know what to expect!  I managed to get myself changed and out into the pool area...it was a bit disconcerting because it was SO incredibly busy...zillions of kids taking lessons, so there were lots of parents sitting off to the side watching and people just hanging out in the whirlpool.  I ended up skulking over to the area where people were waiting for the instructor, and managed to strike up a conversation with someone else in the class...whew!  It helped to ease my nerves a bit that I'd made a friend, haha.  There were about ten people in the class, and the instructor split us up according to our level of experience...I've taken lessons before but decided that I just wanted to start from square one and ended up with two other total noobs.  One of the other noobs was a Russian girl who was absolutely terrified...she could barely stick her face in the water without absolutely losing her shit and freaking out.  We started off with just floating, and it was cool because there was one point where she managed to stick her face in and float for just a few seconds...both the instructor and I were cheering her on, and next thing you know, she was floating like nobody's business!  It was cool to see someone who was so terrified make so much progress in just one session. 

Anyways, the first class was floating and gliding, which I was pretty OK with.  I gotta say, it was a ton of fun and I'm so glad I took the step to sign up for lessons.

Thursday:  PISE
Second new thing of the week!  I signed up for a sample class at PISE for a Functional Movement and Mobility class...I was intrigued when I read the course description:

"Already have a solid training routine but feeling a few aches and pains? Functional Movement and Mobility is the key to giving your body the TLC it needs to facilitate recovery and maintain optimal functioning. Our instructor will lead participants through concise and coordinated movements aimed at improving current motor patterns and facilitating an increase in mobility and functional stability."

Hmmm....sounds right up my alley!  I wasn't sure what to expect but the class was awesome.  We did a bunch of dynamic stretches and then lead into a lot of mobility drills and stuff like foam rollering to loosen things up and free up restricted areas.  I felt like a million bucks after the class was over...I decided to sign up because the day after, my shoulder which was ached every day for the last three months, felt absolutely amazing!  I'm not sure how much interest there's been in this class but I hope it runs...it's not a "bootcamp" style class but I think people need to pay more attention to this kind of stuff in order to prevent injuries. 

Friday:  circuit
I know...I shoulda gone to bootcamp but my bootcamp buddy D was still sidelined with sickness and I decided to work out in my nice, warm basement.  Yes, I suck.

Saturday:  circuit
Poor Hubs...he's had his share of back troubles this week...he had two ribs out which was locking up his back and causing him so much discomfort!  He decided he didn't want all the jarring from running, so we ended up working out at home...him on the stationery bike and I did a circuit. 

FOOD:
Week two of "free" living has been good...Hubs has been a trooper and is sticking to his new routine no problem, and I've managed to stay totally egg and dairy free this week and I totally feel the difference!  My face (especially under my eyes) and waist were so puffy from the dairy (and sugar) overload I was on during Christmas, and I'm starting to deflate and am feeling really good.  Hubs hasn't noticed much of a difference yet, but I'm hoping that maybe after a month or so when the inflammation has had a chance to settle down, his skin will get better. 

Why I Love Sports

I admit it, I wasn't always a sports fan.  In fact, I would say I was the exact opposite and just couldn't be bothered.  But over the past few years, I seem to have become a sports addict...I would say 90% of the time, our TV is on Sportsnet, TSN or CBC.  I got hooked a few years ago on hockey (Canucks, I am your number one fan!) and have developed a whole new appreciation for what it takes to compete as an elite athlete...I think a piece of it is that I truly admire what athletes can do with their bodies.  I'm no athlete, but I've tasted a tiny piece of what it is like to push your body to its limits when I ran the marathon, so have a whole new appreciation for people who push their bodies to the limit every single day.  The other thing that I love about sports is how it can bring people together...we all remember how sports helped people heal after the Boston marathon tragedy...I still can't hear the song Sweet Caroline without getting a teeny bit verklempt.  And the Olympics...anyone remember Vancouver 2010 and how everyone under the sun was wearing the Canada gear, and how the whole nation cheered as one when Sid the Kid scored the golden goal?  But the thing that makes me appreciate sports the most is how it can help people see their full potential and truly believe in themselves...watch this commercial and see for yourself.



So inspiring.  Go Seahawks (and Broncos!).

2014 - Week 1/2 Recap

Well I gotta admit...the first week and a half of 2014 haven't been the best as far as working out and eating well have gone.  Still suffering from a post holiday hangover, even the promise of the new year wasn't enough to get me really motivated.  I don't know why, but this December really took it out of me...all I wanted to do after Christmas was over was to crawl into a cave, curl up into the fetal position and hide from everyone.  Ha!  It's been tough to fit in workouts as both Hubs and I have been feeling under the weather, so while I've worked out, it definitely hasn't been with any real intensity.  I've just been so meh.  And...I gotta admit, my food has been pretty crappy as well...way too much dairy and sugar and I've been feeling like a big Asian dumpling, but not in the good kinda way.

In an effort to get myself motivated, I decided to do a vision board...I've been wanting to do one of these for ages but for some reason I feel like I can only do one at the start of the new year.  I know, I'm so weird!  I was totally inspired one night when I saw a Facebook post by some of the bootcamp crew.  It actually came together pretty easily...I thought I'd have one or two things to put on there, but as I thumbed through various magazines, I was cutting tons of pictures out and slapping them down.  It's interesting because to someone other than me, all they may see is pictures of girls working out and some beaches...but that's the beauty of the vision board.  Each picture has a special meaning to you, and if nothing else it gets you to think about what you really want.  I'm not done yet as there's a few other things I want to add on there.

not the final one but it's a good start!  yep, that's a girl doing

a chinup...one of my bucket list items!

Even though I haven't been working out with any real vigour, I have managed to save $7 in my awesome jar!  And a couple of notes are in my gratitude jar.  These jars are right next to the couch where I do my blogging so they're a great visual reminder of my commitment to supreme awesomeness.  Ha!

Alrighty.  So I'm not going to do a full recap of the last week and a half as...well, I haven't done much exciting worth writing about....but with the dietary change from my last post, getting back into bootcamp and my first swimming lesson coming up this week (egads, what have I done?!), there will be some foibles to report, I'm sure. 

Oh, and today is Day One of dairy/gluten/egg/soy/nut free living.  So far, so good!

Eating Clean 2014

So remember how last year Hubs and I completely revamped how we ate?  Well, it's Eating Clean on steroids for 2014!  Poor Hubs has suffered for years with really bad skin...he has excema so bad that his skin is thick in spots and is red, raw and cracks and bleeds on a regular basis.  It gets particularly bad on his neck and face, and I always feel so awful for him because it keeps him up at night and I can hear him scritchscritchscritch-ing.  Last year he had a bout that was so bad that it looked like open skin, and no amount of creams, lotions or cortisone seemed to help.  Knowing how much food sensitivity testing helped me, I suggested that he go to my naturopath and get himself tested.  One thing that my naturopath had said to me that really stuck with me was that if my skin was irritated on the outside, could you imagine what was happening on my insides.

So what were the results?  Well, I'm glad that we'd already changed our diet quite a bit because the changes, if we had to make them cold turkey, probably would have been pretty difficult.  Here is the list of things he shouldn't eat:

Nuts
Soy
Wheat (gluten specifically)
Eggs (super bad for him)
Dairy
Cranberries
Pineapple
Garlic
Sunflower seeds
Sesame seeds

At first I was like, what can he eat?!  And garlic, the best thing on earth?  I could almost hear my heart shattering in my little garlic infused chest.  Basically the naturopath said paleo...fruits, veggies and meat, but Hubs also had high cholesterol and triglycerides, and cutting back on meat, dairy and eggs over the past while brought his numbers to well within normal range.  Argh.  What to do, what to do...after doing a little research, I realized there is still a lot of things he can still eat...grains like amaranth, buckwheat and oats are still OK (even though he has to be careful with oats), fish is good and beans are still a go.  So basically what this means is that our diet is going to be pretty darn healthy...it's going to be mostly fish, beans, tons of fruits and veggies, some whole grains/seeds like quinoa and amaranth and some very lean poultry occasionally (chicken or turkey breast).  Basically we were already egg and dairy free (except for some cheats during the holidays, oops), so it is mostly a case of taking out wheat, nuts and soy, which was a fairly large portion of our diet and significant source of our protein. 

While this may sound really restrictive, I'm actually kind of excited about it.  Firstly, because I want to get Hubs' skin under control, and I think he could really feel amazing once we get rid of a lot of the inflammation that these foods are causing.  He's tired a lot too, so I'm sure that taking these things out of his diet, at least for a little while, will really help.  I love to see physical changes as a result of a healthy lifestyle change, and Hubs' is all gung ho and wants to make these changes too.  He's such a trooper!  Secondly, I'm happy to eat better as well and this will really force me to stick with the egg and dairy free thing to support Hubs.  It's easy to cheat when it's just me, but when it's the both of us holding each other accountable, I feel bad.  The last month has been more egg and dairy laden than I'd like, and I can really see and feel the difference.  But the best part is that our diet will be even less processed, which is awesome! 

So there you go...we're doing this for three months and seeing what happens with Hubs, and will at that time also get his cholesterol and blood sugars tested to make sure we're still on track in that regard as well.  Hubs is also taking a probiotic and some other supplements recommended by our naturopath...we're starting this new regiment on Sunday.  For some reason, I have to start stuff like this at the beginning of the week.  Weird, I know.  Ha!

Eat Clean 2014, here we come!