I saw this post over at Janetha's blog awhile ago (lovelovelove this blog!) and it totally inspired me to write this post. She used to eat all sorts of crap but changed her eating habits...but still likes the nasty stuff and lists her top ten faves. As you all know, I love me my food...but it doesn't all have to be highbrow stuff. In fact, sometimes the more ghetto the better. I totally subscribe to the 80/20 formula - if I eat properly 80% of the time, 20% of the time I can enjoy myself and not be thinking about the fat/carb/protein ratios! It's all about balance, right? Food is one of the biggest passions and joys in my life so to deprive myself of the things I love is unthinkable.
So...what are my top ten foods I would still eat if calories and health weren't an issue? In no particular order...
1. Pizza
Out of all the things on this list, pizza is the one that I could eat most often. Cheesy hot deliciousness. The place Hubs and I frequent has a really good pizza called the Barcelona which is spinach, feta, garlic, onions and chorizo sausage...to die for, and my absolute fave. Hubs' favourite is a good ol' Hawaiian...I'm not a fan of pineapple on pizza but in a pinch, it'll do. Ha!
2. Sushi/Sashimi
I love sushi. LOVE IT. Probably top of my list of foods that I love to eat. The unfortunate thing is that Victoria doesn't have any really great sushi restaurants. There's some OK ones, but I've been a bit spoiled by the great, great Japanese restaurants in Vancouver...and because Hubs is a trained Japanese cook, he knows his way around Japanese food. We always make sure we hit up at least one sushi place when we hit Vancouver. My personal favourites are either chirashi sushi (bowl of sushi rice with assorted seafood on top) or negitoro roll (tuna with green onion).
3. Chips, Cheezies...Basically Any Salty Snack Food
Did I ever tell you guys about our bad food box? It's a banker box that we stash all our naughty foods, and on any given day that puppy is filled to the top with all sorts of chips and sweet sin. Every week we peruse the chip aisle at the grocery store, looking for our next hit of crunchy goodness. The only time we ever bust out the bad food box is Saturdays (we store it in the garage), and then sadly on Sundays, it goes back to it's rightful place. Hubs used to have to hide it on me, but it's like some kind of unwritten rule that on non-cheat days, you can't go into the box. Personal favourites - Smartfood and sour cream and onion chips.
4. Cheese - Any and All
Ahhh. The downfall of many a diet. And it totally sucks that I'm intolerant to dairy, because cheese is definitely a weakness of mine. It's funny...because I used to despise cheese as a kid. Couldn't stand the smell or taste, but we didn't eat a lot of cheese as a kid. This may be a sweeping generalization, but because my parents were immigrants, they weren't brought up on cheese in China and didn't like it...thought it smelled like old socks. I remember eating MILD cheddar and thinking it was too much. Luckily I've seen the error of my ways and love all cheeses now including the strong stuff, but particularly havarti, goat cheese and port salut.
5. Fries
Who doesn't love a good fry? Seriously. And even if you hate McDonald's, you gotta admit that their fries are pretty awesome. I used to be strictly a ketchup kinda girl, but I've come around and like some thick brown gravy on my fries as well. Vinegar is good too. Actually, all three at once is even better. OK, drooling now.
6. White Rice
As a proper Chinese girl, I grew up on massive doses of white rice. Rice at lunch, rice at dinner...no meal was complete without a scoop of the white stuff. When I was about 15, I read that white rice wasn't the best thing to eat since it was refined carbs so decided to tell my mom that it was bad for us. I was bold as brass, and threw it out there one day during dinner...and boy, did I get told off. How could I, a silly teenager, question the food that sustained generations and generations of Chinese people before me? The gall! Well, now that I'm grown up, we eat only brown rice but a secret part of my heart still longs for white rice. My dad feels a meal isn't complete without it, so when we have our Xmas family dinners I have to make a pot of it for him...and well...I maybe add in an extra cup so I can have leftovers. My favourite white rice concoction is soy sauce, sesame oil with a splash of rice vinegar all mixed into a big bowl of white rice. Sodium, fat and refined carbs...YES!
7. Instant Noodles
Speaking of refined carbs...instant noodles are another one of my favourite bad foods. So totally bereft of any nutritional value, but oh so good. I don't even boil them...I like to put the noodles and seasoning package into a bowl, throw some hot water on it and let it sit for an hour or so until the noodles have absorbed all the liquid and are kinda mushy and super salty. Don't judge me.
8. KFC
Our favourite treat as children...after a long day of working out in the garden, the last thing my parents would want to do on weekends is cook. Call up the Colonel! We always loved eating our KFC with a big bowl of white rice to counteract the saltiness. And I do really like their macaroni salad too.
9. Hot Dogs
Mmmmm...meat in a tube. Hubs and I regularly crave hot dogs, and they make the cheat day rotation on a fairly regular basis. Harvest All Beef dogs are the best. We even chose hot dogs as our meal of choice on the night of the Stanley Cup Final game. I know, I know...it wasn't a cheat day, but we wanted to celebrate with the Canucks if they won or commiserate with them if they lost. OK, I'm still not over it so I'll just stop now.
10. Tim Tams
Have any of you guys tried these things? These are a new addiction...I bought a pack on a whim a few months ago and these things are to die for. They're kind of like Twix, but you can get regular, caramel filled or dark chocolate. I love the caramel one as it's kinda chewy. Hubs has fallen for them too, after resisting the call of the Tim Tam and laughing at me that I was so in love with these things.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Marathon Quest 2011 - Week Three Recap
I feel sooooo much better this week I can't even tell you. I was so insanely tired last week I could barely function, but I've been feeling pretty good this week. As I mentioned earlier, I probably wasn't eating enough and that extra day of getting up at 5am was catching up to me. I have to admit - it's really hard balancing the food because I need enough to keep fueled and feeling good, but not so much that I end up with the dreaded marathon weight gain which I packed on last year. I'll have to keep tweaking things until I find a good balance between keeping my energy up and keeping my weight down!
Sunday - rest day
Ahhhh, yes. Love the rest day. Is it wrong that I still get the itch to work out though?
Monday - bootcamp
Sarge taught bootcamp again and it was kick ass as usual. We did a lot of hills and leg work, and unfortunately on one of the exercises I could feel my right hamstring scream back at me to stop the eff what I was doing. Argh! We'd just done a whole whack of lunges and then we were doing this exercise where you have to balance on what leg while bending and touching your toes. It's feeling better, but I can tell it's still not super happy with me.
Tuesday - 6k run treadmill
Same old, same old.
Wednesday -10K 6K run
I shortened up the run as my right foot was kinda bugging me and the hamstring still felt sore. Hubs joined me again. I'm considering switching out the days and doing a 10K run on the treadmill on Tuesdays and 6K runs on Wednesdays as I like running with Hubs in the morning and we can just head home together afterwards.
Thursday - rest day
Friday - bootcamp
Oy vey. We had an instructor that usually doesn't teach our classes, and he was tough. Tough. We did a short run, then had us do a few sets of hundreds - each set was one hundred pushups, one hundred tricep dips and one hundred side lunges...and needless to say, my upper body is super sore today. Sore in a good way though...I actually like the feeling of being sore because I know I've pushed my body and it's going to get stronger. I know, I'm a freak.
Saturday - 13K run
Hubs and I headed out onto our favourite trail - tons of people out today running, walking and cycling. It was weird, we were a bit out of sorts because we kept forgetting stuff. Hubs forgot a towel and I forgot to put on my Garmin. Crazy! And I even noticed that my arms felt naked, but I couldn't figure out what it was. Sooo brain dead...think we need a vacation! Anyways, overall run was good...poor Hubs though, he played hockey last night so he was a bit gassed.
Third week over! I'm a little worried...my leg/foot isn't happy and I can feel it when I'm running. I've got a physio appointment booked on Monday, so we'll see what she says. Got in all my stretches and exercises sessions, and am going to amp up my stretching even more now. We ran into an old coworker of Hubs' that is also a runner, and she asked if she could offer one piece of advice, and that was to stretchstretchstretch. She didn't and apparently her muscles were in this big lump because they were so tight, and she hasn't been able to run for quite awhile. I have it on my schedule to stretch every day, but will definitely spend more time getting it in there...love running and can't imagine what I'd do if I couldn't do it, so want to prevent any injuries I can!
Sunday - rest day
Ahhhh, yes. Love the rest day. Is it wrong that I still get the itch to work out though?
Monday - bootcamp
Sarge taught bootcamp again and it was kick ass as usual. We did a lot of hills and leg work, and unfortunately on one of the exercises I could feel my right hamstring scream back at me to stop the eff what I was doing. Argh! We'd just done a whole whack of lunges and then we were doing this exercise where you have to balance on what leg while bending and touching your toes. It's feeling better, but I can tell it's still not super happy with me.
Tuesday - 6k run treadmill
Same old, same old.
Wednesday -
I shortened up the run as my right foot was kinda bugging me and the hamstring still felt sore. Hubs joined me again. I'm considering switching out the days and doing a 10K run on the treadmill on Tuesdays and 6K runs on Wednesdays as I like running with Hubs in the morning and we can just head home together afterwards.
Thursday - rest day
Friday - bootcamp
Oy vey. We had an instructor that usually doesn't teach our classes, and he was tough. Tough. We did a short run, then had us do a few sets of hundreds - each set was one hundred pushups, one hundred tricep dips and one hundred side lunges...and needless to say, my upper body is super sore today. Sore in a good way though...I actually like the feeling of being sore because I know I've pushed my body and it's going to get stronger. I know, I'm a freak.
Saturday - 13K run
Hubs and I headed out onto our favourite trail - tons of people out today running, walking and cycling. It was weird, we were a bit out of sorts because we kept forgetting stuff. Hubs forgot a towel and I forgot to put on my Garmin. Crazy! And I even noticed that my arms felt naked, but I couldn't figure out what it was. Sooo brain dead...think we need a vacation! Anyways, overall run was good...poor Hubs though, he played hockey last night so he was a bit gassed.
Third week over! I'm a little worried...my leg/foot isn't happy and I can feel it when I'm running. I've got a physio appointment booked on Monday, so we'll see what she says. Got in all my stretches and exercises sessions, and am going to amp up my stretching even more now. We ran into an old coworker of Hubs' that is also a runner, and she asked if she could offer one piece of advice, and that was to stretchstretchstretch. She didn't and apparently her muscles were in this big lump because they were so tight, and she hasn't been able to run for quite awhile. I have it on my schedule to stretch every day, but will definitely spend more time getting it in there...love running and can't imagine what I'd do if I couldn't do it, so want to prevent any injuries I can!
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Three Things Thursday
1. More Cookbooks
I know. I have a serious problem. I can't stop buying cookbooks lately! I went to Chapters today to pick up one cookbook and walked out with four. I justified it because they were having a buy three get the fourth free and I just had to do it, right? Spend to save, right? Hubs was waiting in the car for me after my little shopping spree and just shook his head when he saw the bag from Chapters. Hee hee.
2. Feeling Spritely
I'm feeling much, much more lively this week...thank goodness! I think I just had to get used to all the new exercise regime, and I've been eating a bit more this week which seems to be helping my tiredness. I seriously felt like dropping dead last week, but this week have been feeling pretty good. Yay!
3. New Rules of Lifting for Women
Ahhhh, yes. I've got my next fitness challenge in my sights! After the marathon training is all over and done with, I was thinking that I'd like to focus on weights for awhile. I bought this book awhile ago as I heard some really good things about it:
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Overall I'm happy with where my cardio is at, and because of all the running my legs are fairly muscular and strong...but my upper body? Seriously...I need a lot of work on my noodle arms and flabby back. I have no tone on my arms and shoulders and would really like to build up my upper body strength so come November, I'm going to do the lifting routine in this book. Can't wait!
I know. I have a serious problem. I can't stop buying cookbooks lately! I went to Chapters today to pick up one cookbook and walked out with four. I justified it because they were having a buy three get the fourth free and I just had to do it, right? Spend to save, right? Hubs was waiting in the car for me after my little shopping spree and just shook his head when he saw the bag from Chapters. Hee hee.
2. Feeling Spritely
I'm feeling much, much more lively this week...thank goodness! I think I just had to get used to all the new exercise regime, and I've been eating a bit more this week which seems to be helping my tiredness. I seriously felt like dropping dead last week, but this week have been feeling pretty good. Yay!
3. New Rules of Lifting for Women
Ahhhh, yes. I've got my next fitness challenge in my sights! After the marathon training is all over and done with, I was thinking that I'd like to focus on weights for awhile. I bought this book awhile ago as I heard some really good things about it:
Overall I'm happy with where my cardio is at, and because of all the running my legs are fairly muscular and strong...but my upper body? Seriously...I need a lot of work on my noodle arms and flabby back. I have no tone on my arms and shoulders and would really like to build up my upper body strength so come November, I'm going to do the lifting routine in this book. Can't wait!
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Summer is Here!
Whoa...I was just checking out the last time I blogged about food and recipes that I've tried, and it's been awhile. Not sure what's up with that...I think the last few months I've been so distracted with hockey, that I haven't had time to blog as much. And homework...darn course also took up tons of my time. Now you guys have me all to yourselves - aren't you guys lucky?! Ha!
I've been feeding my cookbook addiction like crazy lately...I think I've added about a dozen new ones recently, including this one which I've completely fallen in love with:
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I saw her promoting this cookbook on TV, and the recipe that she was demo-ing looked so good - granola, which normally isn't my thing...but it looked deelish. I had to have this cookbook and I'm so glad I bought it - the recipes look fairly easy, tasty and pretty healthy (I know this isn't a "health" cookbook per se, but the only complaint is that I would have liked nutritional info...small thing though). I've marked off a ton of recipes to try, and tried this awesome recipe for a fresh tomato basil soup that is amazing. AMAZING. Crazy easy and with the bounty of delicious tomatoes and fresh basil available at this time of year, it's definitely going to make our food rotation a lot this summer.
Farm Fresh Tomato Soup with Basil - from In My Mother's Kitchen by Trish Magwood
Serves 4 - 6
3 tbsp butter
1 large onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
4 large ripe tomatoes, peeled and cut into chunks (about 4 cups)
1/2 cup packed fresh basil leaves
1 tbsp sugar
salt and pepper to taste
3 cups good quality vegetable or chicken stock
Chopped chives or parsley for garnish
In a 3 quarter saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion and carrot, cok, stirring until onion is soft, about 10 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, basil, sugar, salt and pepper and stock. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Using a hand blender, puree until smooth. Serve garnished with fresh herbs.
As Ina says - how easy is that? Ha! My notes - I used Kitchen Basics low sodium chicken stock, which we really like as I can adjust the salt. I'm sure you could sub the butter with olive oil and it would still taste good, but I think the butter really added another level to this soup. I don't cook with butter often, but I think because there's so few ingredients in this dish, that the extra flavour and sweetness really comes through and adds a lot to the soup.
Yum.
I've been feeding my cookbook addiction like crazy lately...I think I've added about a dozen new ones recently, including this one which I've completely fallen in love with:
I saw her promoting this cookbook on TV, and the recipe that she was demo-ing looked so good - granola, which normally isn't my thing...but it looked deelish. I had to have this cookbook and I'm so glad I bought it - the recipes look fairly easy, tasty and pretty healthy (I know this isn't a "health" cookbook per se, but the only complaint is that I would have liked nutritional info...small thing though). I've marked off a ton of recipes to try, and tried this awesome recipe for a fresh tomato basil soup that is amazing. AMAZING. Crazy easy and with the bounty of delicious tomatoes and fresh basil available at this time of year, it's definitely going to make our food rotation a lot this summer.
Farm Fresh Tomato Soup with Basil - from In My Mother's Kitchen by Trish Magwood
Serves 4 - 6
3 tbsp butter
1 large onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
4 large ripe tomatoes, peeled and cut into chunks (about 4 cups)
1/2 cup packed fresh basil leaves
1 tbsp sugar
salt and pepper to taste
3 cups good quality vegetable or chicken stock
Chopped chives or parsley for garnish
In a 3 quarter saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion and carrot, cok, stirring until onion is soft, about 10 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, basil, sugar, salt and pepper and stock. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Using a hand blender, puree until smooth. Serve garnished with fresh herbs.
As Ina says - how easy is that? Ha! My notes - I used Kitchen Basics low sodium chicken stock, which we really like as I can adjust the salt. I'm sure you could sub the butter with olive oil and it would still taste good, but I think the butter really added another level to this soup. I don't cook with butter often, but I think because there's so few ingredients in this dish, that the extra flavour and sweetness really comes through and adds a lot to the soup.
Yum.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Marathon Quest 2011 - Week Two Recap
Week Two recap - this week has been a particularly tough one. I'm not sure what it is, but I'm incredibly tired and so is Hubs. I'm sure my body is trying to get used to the extra running and early mornings - I'm up at 5am four weekdays now to get the runs in, whereas before I was getting up only three. Allergies are also acting up and making me crazy and tired. I'm also going to take a look at my food intake to make sure that I'm eating enough - I checked out my food logs and I think I might not actually be eating enough to keep my body fueled for the workouts. What?! I get to actually eat more?! Bring it on!
Sunday - 10K run
Hubs and I got up and headed out on our favourite trail - gorgeous morning, and a good run overall. I'm having a hard time keeping my target pace...I've been so used to trying to maintain a faster pace that trying to stay at around 6:15 to 6:30 (recommended LSD pace for a 4:30 marathon) is hard.
Monday - bootcamp
One of my favourite trainers taught on Monday, and as a nickname for her we call her "Sarge", as in sargeant...I'm sure that gives you a bit of an idea that she's pretty tough! We ran around Thetis Lake, which is not my favourite...mostly because it's pretty hilly and a tough run...ha! I tell ya...I'm really lazy at heart. I kept a pretty fast pace so felt pretty tuckered out after.
Tuesday - 6K treadmill run
Argh...SO hard to get up...I was still feeling pretty tired from Monday bootcamp. Meh.
Wednesday -10K 6K outdoor run
The tiredness was building up now...I didn't have the energy to do a full 10K, so shortened it up to 6K. Hubs got up and came with me, which was nice.
Thursday - rest
Thank goodness...I actually got to sleep in until 6:15am!!
Friday - bootcamp
My other favourite trainer taught and she also kicked our butts...we didn't run far, but we did intervals on hills - five one minute sprints, five really fast 30 second sprints, two one minute sprints, then one long 2 minute sprint. I felt like dying.
Saturday - 13K run treadmill
Both Hubs and I were so exhausted by the end of this week that we decided to do our runs on the treadmill...nice, slow and easy. I know, boring right? But we were both so bloody tired that the thought of running outside just made us want to curl up into the fetal position. Oh well...we didn't run outside but at least we did it.
Whew! So tiring week. Food-wise, I did pretty good overall...snuck in a bit more dairy than I'd like, but otherwise kept things clean. Definitely will re-look at food intake to make sure I'm eating enough.
Sunday - 10K run
Hubs and I got up and headed out on our favourite trail - gorgeous morning, and a good run overall. I'm having a hard time keeping my target pace...I've been so used to trying to maintain a faster pace that trying to stay at around 6:15 to 6:30 (recommended LSD pace for a 4:30 marathon) is hard.
Monday - bootcamp
One of my favourite trainers taught on Monday, and as a nickname for her we call her "Sarge", as in sargeant...I'm sure that gives you a bit of an idea that she's pretty tough! We ran around Thetis Lake, which is not my favourite...mostly because it's pretty hilly and a tough run...ha! I tell ya...I'm really lazy at heart. I kept a pretty fast pace so felt pretty tuckered out after.
Tuesday - 6K treadmill run
Argh...SO hard to get up...I was still feeling pretty tired from Monday bootcamp. Meh.
Wednesday -
The tiredness was building up now...I didn't have the energy to do a full 10K, so shortened it up to 6K. Hubs got up and came with me, which was nice.
Thursday - rest
Thank goodness...I actually got to sleep in until 6:15am!!
Friday - bootcamp
My other favourite trainer taught and she also kicked our butts...we didn't run far, but we did intervals on hills - five one minute sprints, five really fast 30 second sprints, two one minute sprints, then one long 2 minute sprint. I felt like dying.
Saturday - 13K run treadmill
Both Hubs and I were so exhausted by the end of this week that we decided to do our runs on the treadmill...nice, slow and easy. I know, boring right? But we were both so bloody tired that the thought of running outside just made us want to curl up into the fetal position. Oh well...we didn't run outside but at least we did it.
Whew! So tiring week. Food-wise, I did pretty good overall...snuck in a bit more dairy than I'd like, but otherwise kept things clean. Definitely will re-look at food intake to make sure I'm eating enough.
Friday, June 17, 2011
The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
The Good:
Well....as many of you know by now...the Canucks didn't win the Stanley Cup on Wednesday. I fully admit - I shed a few tears into my playoff towel, and I get verklempt when I see replays of the players on the ice when the game was over, shoulders slumped in what must be agonizing disappointment over being so close to the one thing you've dreamed about winning your whole life. Yes, I know...it's "just a game"...but I felt like I'd gone through all the ups and downs with them during the last two and a half months. We screamed like banshees when Burrows scored in overtime in Game 7 of the Chicago series, my innards turned to ice when Kesler limped off the ice in the San Jose series, and we groaned collectively when we received a drubbing in Game 3 of the Boston series. The Canucks gave us one of our best seasons ever and what a totally fantastic time it was. This video is a thank you from the Canucks organization to all their fans, and it captures perfectly the feeling of this playoff season. Thank you boys for a great run, and for taking us on this wild and crazy ride.
The Bad:
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The Ugly:
As many of you also know, beautiful downtown Vancouver was besieged by rioters after the game. To be honest...I'm still in shock that this happened. Maybe it was because I had been a part of the magic that was the Olympics, and had assumed that we'd come a long way since the ugly incident in 1994. Maybe it was because I'd seen all the coverage of the other Canuck games where tens of thousands had amassed with very little issues. Maybe it's because I believe that people are inherently not idiots. I saw this picture on Facebook, and it captured perfectly the absolutely insanity of these riots:
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Well....as many of you know by now...the Canucks didn't win the Stanley Cup on Wednesday. I fully admit - I shed a few tears into my playoff towel, and I get verklempt when I see replays of the players on the ice when the game was over, shoulders slumped in what must be agonizing disappointment over being so close to the one thing you've dreamed about winning your whole life. Yes, I know...it's "just a game"...but I felt like I'd gone through all the ups and downs with them during the last two and a half months. We screamed like banshees when Burrows scored in overtime in Game 7 of the Chicago series, my innards turned to ice when Kesler limped off the ice in the San Jose series, and we groaned collectively when we received a drubbing in Game 3 of the Boston series. The Canucks gave us one of our best seasons ever and what a totally fantastic time it was. This video is a thank you from the Canucks organization to all their fans, and it captures perfectly the feeling of this playoff season. Thank you boys for a great run, and for taking us on this wild and crazy ride.
The Bad:
The Ugly:
As many of you also know, beautiful downtown Vancouver was besieged by rioters after the game. To be honest...I'm still in shock that this happened. Maybe it was because I had been a part of the magic that was the Olympics, and had assumed that we'd come a long way since the ugly incident in 1994. Maybe it was because I'd seen all the coverage of the other Canuck games where tens of thousands had amassed with very little issues. Maybe it's because I believe that people are inherently not idiots. I saw this picture on Facebook, and it captured perfectly the absolutely insanity of these riots:
I'm sad and disappointed that this is what this great hockey season will be remembered for - a bunch of no good hooligans who trashed one of the most beautiful cities in the world. As the saying goes...you can't fix stupid.
It's not all ugly though...even though this isn't a happy time for Vancouver, the response to this unfortunate incident shows the true character of the city:
Volunteers coming to clean up the next morning:
The impromptu Wall of Pride, where people wrote messages of support on the boarded up windows at the Hudson's Bay:
A police car with post its, thanking them for the work they did to help protect the people and the stores:
Thank you, Vancouver...you're a classy city.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Final Shout Out
OK boys...this is it...my final shout out to the Canucks! I know it's not running or food or health or anything my blog is normally about, but I need to show my support for them somehow...so now it's out there, immortalized on the interwebz.
So guys - let's do it for Hamhuis, Rome, and Raymond...let's go make some history.
GO CANUCKS GO!!!!
So guys - let's do it for Hamhuis, Rome, and Raymond...let's go make some history.
GO CANUCKS GO!!!!
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Go Canucks Go!
If you live anywhere in BC, you know what's been going on with the Canucks. Our boys are facing the Bruins for Game 7, and it's going to be a crazy night tomorrow no matter what happens. I will fully admit - I'm totally and utterly invested in these playoffs, and have been riding all the ups and downs with the Canucks. I have a love/hate relationship with these games - I want to watch and support them, but my heart bleeds when they don't do well and I hate how dejected they look after a bad loss. After they lost two horrible games in Boston, it was like I had lost.
I was cruising around on Facebook this evening and A posted this great post from ededition.com - it gave me a lot of perspective, and that no matter what happens tomorrow, our boys gave us an awesome playoff ride that I won't forget anytime soon. Now don't get me wrong - I'm not giving up - WE WANT THE CUP!!! I'll be cheering our boys on like crazy tomorrow and will be wearing my jersey all day and waving my playoff towel like a fiend. In short, our boys rock and I'm proud to be a Canuck fan!
GO CANUCKS GO!
Monday, June 13, 2011
Reminiscing
Yay! A few ladies at work are being bitten by the bug and starting up exercise programs - another gal who works in our building has had some amazing results working with a personal trainer (that combined with Weight Watchers) so I think inspired these ladies to start their own fitness journeys. Love seeing people getting into exercise! As I was thinking how awesome this is, I started thinking back to when I first started bootcamp, and what that was like. One my oldest friends D, who I met way back from elementary school, had been going for a long time, lost a bunch of weight and looked absolutely fantastic so she inspired me to give 'er a go. I thought she was crazy to get up at 5:30am in the morning to exercise, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to try it out and give myself a kickstart. Obviously working out on my own wasn't working for me, since I'd always come up with some kind of excuse. I was tired of being tired, out of shape and unhealthy but I needed something more regimented and to be honest, I need to be told what to do when I exercise. Leave it up to me and meh...whatever. I'm a people pleaser at heart, so having a trainer yell (and encourage) me works. I signed my little self up and met with the owner of the bootcamp who weighed me (ack!), took my measurements (double ack!!) and gave me a food log where I was to write down everything I ate and bring it to class for the trainer to review (triple ack!!!). After that, it was just a case of waiting for impending doom - otherwise known as the first class.
I still remember that first class clearly - I got my out-of-shape carcass up bright and early and trundled off to class. I started in February, so the weather was still pretty chilly...in fact, the first day of class it was snowing, and we ended up working out in an underground parkade to stay out of the snow. Big class too, and I will totally admit that I was completely intimidated. Scared shitless in fact - thank goodness D was there to nudge me in the right direction - what are lines? Stinkbugs?! Those sound painful. You want me to do pushups???! I was completely out of shape so any type of exercise was tough.
Well...the next day was even tougher. Actually, the next week. Getting up and walking was sheer and absolute torture. I could barely walk, I was so incredibly sore. Every part of my body ached...my legs, my abs, my arms, my back...every single muscle that had sat unused for the better part of a decade was saying "WTF, Wong?" Friends at work had a good laugh because I walked like I'd just gotten off a horse - there was no delayed onset muscle soreness, it was instant! I won't lie - it was hard and some days I didn't love it, but I kept at it because I met some really cool people there, and the trainers are tough but fun. Three years later I'm still going and glad that I made that first move to start, as frightening as it was.
So to anyone who is reading this that might be thinking of starting an exercise program? I won't lie - it's not easy to start. It's real scary. And I remember clearly worrying about being the last one in the class, being scared, and having flashbacks of my pathetic athletic life in school and the ineptitude that I exemplified. What if I can't do it? I'm so slow, what if everyone leaves me eating their dust? Or what if everyone looks at me and are thinking that I totally suck? As the famous slogan goes, just do it. I saw this motivational poster the other day and it sums up perfectly the reason to just get yourself out there...
I still remember that first class clearly - I got my out-of-shape carcass up bright and early and trundled off to class. I started in February, so the weather was still pretty chilly...in fact, the first day of class it was snowing, and we ended up working out in an underground parkade to stay out of the snow. Big class too, and I will totally admit that I was completely intimidated. Scared shitless in fact - thank goodness D was there to nudge me in the right direction - what are lines? Stinkbugs?! Those sound painful. You want me to do pushups???! I was completely out of shape so any type of exercise was tough.
Well...the next day was even tougher. Actually, the next week. Getting up and walking was sheer and absolute torture. I could barely walk, I was so incredibly sore. Every part of my body ached...my legs, my abs, my arms, my back...every single muscle that had sat unused for the better part of a decade was saying "WTF, Wong?" Friends at work had a good laugh because I walked like I'd just gotten off a horse - there was no delayed onset muscle soreness, it was instant! I won't lie - it was hard and some days I didn't love it, but I kept at it because I met some really cool people there, and the trainers are tough but fun. Three years later I'm still going and glad that I made that first move to start, as frightening as it was.
So to anyone who is reading this that might be thinking of starting an exercise program? I won't lie - it's not easy to start. It's real scary. And I remember clearly worrying about being the last one in the class, being scared, and having flashbacks of my pathetic athletic life in school and the ineptitude that I exemplified. What if I can't do it? I'm so slow, what if everyone leaves me eating their dust? Or what if everyone looks at me and are thinking that I totally suck? As the famous slogan goes, just do it. I saw this motivational poster the other day and it sums up perfectly the reason to just get yourself out there...
True dat.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Marathon Quest 2011 - Week One Recap
Yahooo! Week One is over and done, and so far so good. I'm lovin' my little schedule, and crossing stuff off...why didn't I do this sooner?! Yes, I am a geek. So to recap Week One:
Sunday - 20 mins HIIT - stationery bike
This was scheduled in as a rest day, but because I had an IMS session on Thursday, I couldn't go to bootcamp on Friday (can't exercise for 48 hours afterwards) so decided to do a quick HIIT session. I always try to target five days for workouts per week...now whether or not that happens is a whole other question!
Monday - bootcamp
Oy vey...our instructor had us run up and down the beach with a tire held with straight arms above our heads...seriously, that almost killed me! It was an awesome work out though and anytime I get to try and bulk up my spindly chicken arms is a good thing.
Tuesday - 6K run - treadmill
Tuesday tempo run - the treadmill is a bit dullsville, so I might try to alternate one week inside, one week out.
Wednesday - 10K run - outside
Hubs and I got up at the crack of dawn to get out there and done before we had to get to work...gorgeous morning! My coworker M suggested that to mix it up, I could stash everything I needed to get ready at work on Tuesdays and then run to work on the Galloping Goose Trail. This trail links the Western Communities to downtown, and it's about 11K from where I'd be starting. We have a shower at work so I could get ready there. Brilliant! I love morning workouts as it gives me so much more energy during the day.
Thursday/Friday/Sat - rest days
Le sigh. This whole Canucks Stanley Cup gig is really messin' with my training schedule. KIDDING! Mess away, as I can give a little on the training if I can see my boys hoist the cup (Hamuis - have your people call people - heh). I scheduled my physio appointment for Thursday after work whereas normally I would go on Wednesday, but the Canucks were playing that night and, and...well you know. After IMS I'm not supposed to exercise, run, stretch or pretty much do anything for 48 hours, so I'm moving my long run to tomorrow...normally I might have pushed it and run anyways, but I still have some residual soreness from those darn needles. This means I'll have to do six workouts next week to make up for my three days off, but worth it to give my muscles a chance to recoup after an absolutely killer IMS session.
So overall - Stretches done every day, missed one day of physio exercises (oopsie). Food-wise, I did pretty good - I kept it clean throughout the week and will have a little debauchery today, but nothing crazy. One week down, 17 more to go!
Sunday - 20 mins HIIT - stationery bike
This was scheduled in as a rest day, but because I had an IMS session on Thursday, I couldn't go to bootcamp on Friday (can't exercise for 48 hours afterwards) so decided to do a quick HIIT session. I always try to target five days for workouts per week...now whether or not that happens is a whole other question!
Monday - bootcamp
Oy vey...our instructor had us run up and down the beach with a tire held with straight arms above our heads...seriously, that almost killed me! It was an awesome work out though and anytime I get to try and bulk up my spindly chicken arms is a good thing.
Tuesday - 6K run - treadmill
Tuesday tempo run - the treadmill is a bit dullsville, so I might try to alternate one week inside, one week out.
Wednesday - 10K run - outside
Hubs and I got up at the crack of dawn to get out there and done before we had to get to work...gorgeous morning! My coworker M suggested that to mix it up, I could stash everything I needed to get ready at work on Tuesdays and then run to work on the Galloping Goose Trail. This trail links the Western Communities to downtown, and it's about 11K from where I'd be starting. We have a shower at work so I could get ready there. Brilliant! I love morning workouts as it gives me so much more energy during the day.
Thursday/Friday/Sat - rest days
Le sigh. This whole Canucks Stanley Cup gig is really messin' with my training schedule. KIDDING! Mess away, as I can give a little on the training if I can see my boys hoist the cup (Hamuis - have your people call people - heh). I scheduled my physio appointment for Thursday after work whereas normally I would go on Wednesday, but the Canucks were playing that night and, and...well you know. After IMS I'm not supposed to exercise, run, stretch or pretty much do anything for 48 hours, so I'm moving my long run to tomorrow...normally I might have pushed it and run anyways, but I still have some residual soreness from those darn needles. This means I'll have to do six workouts next week to make up for my three days off, but worth it to give my muscles a chance to recoup after an absolutely killer IMS session.
So overall - Stretches done every day, missed one day of physio exercises (oopsie). Food-wise, I did pretty good - I kept it clean throughout the week and will have a little debauchery today, but nothing crazy. One week down, 17 more to go!
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Three Things Thursday
1. Canucks
Yes...I know. All I have to say is, they're just taking the hard way to get there, kinda like the Canadian Men's Hockey team did at the Olympics, right? And look how that turned out! You can do it boys, hang in there! Go Canucks Go!
2. Physio
I went to see my physio for a check in since now I'm officially starting marathon training again...my foot is bugging me, but it's now the inside of my foot. My physio says it is still to do with how I'm striking and all related to a weak core which is making me roll my body all over the place. We went through all the exercises again and refined them even more to really strengthen specific muscles and then she killed me with the needles again. I definitely have a love/hate relationship with IMS...it works like a hot damn, but I always feel so bad as I can't stop myself from wincing or gasping in pain. Poor physio, she's so nice that she always apologizes! I haven't gone through childbirth, but there were a few spots last night that I can imagine could be similar...ouch.
3. My Secret Garden
Along with food and running, gardening is absolutely one of my passions. I love it! I love the satisfaction of seeing things grow, I love the feeling of seeing how the garden changes from week to week and day to day, I love being able to use fresh herbs from the pots that we have on our deck. Last summer Hubs and I put in a new garden bed in our backyard - it was absolutely backbreaking work as we had to wheelbarrow five yards of dirt from the front of our house to the back - but we're reaping the rewards this year for sure. This is strictly an ornamental bed...we have an area behind our house where we're going to put in a veggie garden but that's next year's project...we figured we'd give our backs a rest this year. First year the plants grew a bit but not too much, but this year they're really filling in and things are just starting to bloom. I had a landscape designer help me with the design, and overall I'm pretty happy! Things are blooming at different times so there'll hopefully always be something of interest in the garden. There's a few things I'll have to move around - apparently I picked a very tall and vigorous brand of shasta daisy and placed it right at the front of the bed - whoops! Anyways, just had to brag a bit about the garden as I'm admiring it from the couch as I blog. Happy sigh.
Yes...I know. All I have to say is, they're just taking the hard way to get there, kinda like the Canadian Men's Hockey team did at the Olympics, right? And look how that turned out! You can do it boys, hang in there! Go Canucks Go!
2. Physio
I went to see my physio for a check in since now I'm officially starting marathon training again...my foot is bugging me, but it's now the inside of my foot. My physio says it is still to do with how I'm striking and all related to a weak core which is making me roll my body all over the place. We went through all the exercises again and refined them even more to really strengthen specific muscles and then she killed me with the needles again. I definitely have a love/hate relationship with IMS...it works like a hot damn, but I always feel so bad as I can't stop myself from wincing or gasping in pain. Poor physio, she's so nice that she always apologizes! I haven't gone through childbirth, but there were a few spots last night that I can imagine could be similar...ouch.
3. My Secret Garden
Along with food and running, gardening is absolutely one of my passions. I love it! I love the satisfaction of seeing things grow, I love the feeling of seeing how the garden changes from week to week and day to day, I love being able to use fresh herbs from the pots that we have on our deck. Last summer Hubs and I put in a new garden bed in our backyard - it was absolutely backbreaking work as we had to wheelbarrow five yards of dirt from the front of our house to the back - but we're reaping the rewards this year for sure. This is strictly an ornamental bed...we have an area behind our house where we're going to put in a veggie garden but that's next year's project...we figured we'd give our backs a rest this year. First year the plants grew a bit but not too much, but this year they're really filling in and things are just starting to bloom. I had a landscape designer help me with the design, and overall I'm pretty happy! Things are blooming at different times so there'll hopefully always be something of interest in the garden. There's a few things I'll have to move around - apparently I picked a very tall and vigorous brand of shasta daisy and placed it right at the front of the bed - whoops! Anyways, just had to brag a bit about the garden as I'm admiring it from the couch as I blog. Happy sigh.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Marathon Quest 2011 - First Day
Finally, finally, finally...summer seems to have hit Victoria! The weather has warmed up for the first time this year into the 20s...can you believe that? It's June, right? Normally I'm solidly in my shorts and flip flops by now, so this little bit of sunshine is very welcome. So because I'm not used to the warm weather, Hubs and I went out for our first run of this training cycle late - normally we like to be running by around 7 or 8-ish, but yesterday we ventured out at around 11am...what a mistake! Even though it was gorgeous out, it was also really hot and not an easy run. Note to self - get out before 8am next week!
So as you guys probably know by now, I'm a stickler for lists and schedules - must be the Taurus in me. I didn't want to have to think too much so did a full training schedule for the next four months listing all my runs, what days I need to stretch (every day), my physio exercise days (every other day), bootcamp/yoga days, rest days, and when I need to schedule physio and massage appointments. As the days run along, I'm going to cross off what I've done so I can keep track because now that I'm old, my memory is failing me! And I'm all about the visual and loooove to cross things off a list. I'm going to post it up in the kitchen right next to my "Go Wong" card that A made for me last year - sounds like the perfect place to me.
PS. GO CANUCKS!
So as you guys probably know by now, I'm a stickler for lists and schedules - must be the Taurus in me. I didn't want to have to think too much so did a full training schedule for the next four months listing all my runs, what days I need to stretch (every day), my physio exercise days (every other day), bootcamp/yoga days, rest days, and when I need to schedule physio and massage appointments. As the days run along, I'm going to cross off what I've done so I can keep track because now that I'm old, my memory is failing me! And I'm all about the visual and loooove to cross things off a list. I'm going to post it up in the kitchen right next to my "Go Wong" card that A made for me last year - sounds like the perfect place to me.
PS. GO CANUCKS!
Monday, May 30, 2011
Sizzling Tandoor
So even though I'm all about the food, I generally don't write restaurant reviews...but because Sizzling Tandoor was that good, I'm making an exception. Hubs and I were looking for restaurants to take my parents to for Father's Day - it was funny, because we kept taking them out for Chinese food, because we figure hey...that's what they wanted. When we were kids, we never went out for dinner ever, and always ate homestyle Chinese meals. So assuming that all they wanted to eat was Chinese, for every occasion we'd truck them to our favourite place in town. One day, I ask my mom for dinner and she kind of brushes me off...so after some questioning, I find out that they're totally sick of Chinese food!! Well that opened the culinary floodgates for my parents...and also opened my eyes to never, ever making assumptions. We've taken them out for Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, steakhouses...so thought a cuisine that they'd never tried was Indian. We'd heard great things about this place called Sizzling Tandoor here in Victoria, so thought we'd better try it out before we take them there. Gotta test it out, right? Hah!
We decided to order take out - lamb rogan josh, dal makhani, fish pakoraas and chicken vindaloo. Unfortunately, they missed the rogan josh (argghhhh!!!) so we only got the other three dishes. Now I like dal as much as the next guy, but it's generally all the same...nothing too different. The dal from this place however...well, it absolutely and completely blew us away. The fish pakoras were tasty and the vindaloo was delish...but the dal was so amazing that I felt compelled to blog about it - it's that good! Thick with incredibly deep and complex flavours...we couldn't get enough. The food was...dare I say it...even better than what I had at Vij's...and to me, that's sayin' something. Hubs and I are still craving the dal. If tha't's what the takeout tasted like...I can only imagine what the other menu items must be like!
So if you're in Victoria and you've got a hankering for Indian food - give this place a try...you won't be disappointed.
We decided to order take out - lamb rogan josh, dal makhani, fish pakoraas and chicken vindaloo. Unfortunately, they missed the rogan josh (argghhhh!!!) so we only got the other three dishes. Now I like dal as much as the next guy, but it's generally all the same...nothing too different. The dal from this place however...well, it absolutely and completely blew us away. The fish pakoras were tasty and the vindaloo was delish...but the dal was so amazing that I felt compelled to blog about it - it's that good! Thick with incredibly deep and complex flavours...we couldn't get enough. The food was...dare I say it...even better than what I had at Vij's...and to me, that's sayin' something. Hubs and I are still craving the dal. If tha't's what the takeout tasted like...I can only imagine what the other menu items must be like!
So if you're in Victoria and you've got a hankering for Indian food - give this place a try...you won't be disappointed.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Me and O
I love Oprah. OK, there. I said it! I've been watching her off and on for years and liked seeing how her show transitioned to be more meaningful, rather than the trashy talk shows a la Maury and Sally Jessy. Bleh. Oprah is the only talk show that Hubs doesn't mind me watching, as he feels the other stuff has absolutely no redeeming value (yes...he knows my penchant for a good ol' episode of Jerry Springer now and then). Now think what you want about Oprah. Some people love her, some people hate her, some people are meh. I personally looooove Oprah and have gleaned a lot from her shows...maybe it's the stage of life I'm going through but her shows really give me a lot of food for thought.
Because there's all the hype around the end of her show, I started recording the last few weeks so I could watch them at my own leisure. The other day I watched her finale show, and I was blown away. It was just her, talking about the things she's learned from her show. You know how sometimes you hear something, and it really hits home? It was like in this show, she was talking to me directly. I'd been struggling with finding my passion for years before discovering my love of running, food and all things healthy. There's a few potentially life changing things on the horizon where I feel like I'm on the brink of something big, and the "whispers" are pointing me right at it, to take the chance and go for it. Here's a piece from the transcript of her last show to show you what I mean:
On what our jobs are in life:
What I knew for sure from this experience with you is that we are all called. Everybody has a calling, and your real job in life is to figure out what that is and get about the business of doing it. Every time we have seen a person on this stage who is a success in their life, they spoke of the job, and they spoke of the juice that they receive from doing what they knew they were meant to be doing. We saw it in the volunteers who rocked abandoned babies in Atlanta. We saw it with those lovely pie ladies from Cape Cod making those delicious potpies. … We saw it every time Tina Turner, Celine, Bocelli or Lady Gaga lit up the stage with their passion. Because that is what a calling is. It lights you up and it lets you know that you are exactly where you’re supposed to be, doing exactly what you’re supposed to be doing. And that is what I want for all of you and hope that you will take from this show. To live from the heart of yourself. You have to make a living; I understand that. But you also have to know what sparks the light in you so that you, in your own way, can illuminate the world.
On what your life is saying to you:
...and your life is always speaking to you. First in whispers. ... It's subtle, those whispers. And if you don't pay attention to the whispers, it gets louder and louder. It's like getting thumped upside the head, like my grandmother used to do. ... You don't pay attention to that, it's like getting a brick upside your head. You don't pay attention to that, the whole brick wall falls down. That's the pattern I've seen in my life, and it's played out over and over again on this show. A couple weeks ago, we brought back Carolyn Thomas whose face was literally shot off by her boyfriend. You ask Carolyn now: 'Were there whispers? Were there bricks before the disastrous bullet?' What Carolyn would say to you? 'Don't wait for your face to get shot off before you hear your own life speaking to you. What I've gleaned from this show: Whispers are always messages, and if you don't hear the message, the message turns into a problem. And if you don't handle the problem, the problem turns into a crisis. And if you don't handle the crisis, disaster. Your life is speaking to you. What is it saying?
Powerful stuff. I know I for one, will miss her show. Thanks for 25 great years, O!
Because there's all the hype around the end of her show, I started recording the last few weeks so I could watch them at my own leisure. The other day I watched her finale show, and I was blown away. It was just her, talking about the things she's learned from her show. You know how sometimes you hear something, and it really hits home? It was like in this show, she was talking to me directly. I'd been struggling with finding my passion for years before discovering my love of running, food and all things healthy. There's a few potentially life changing things on the horizon where I feel like I'm on the brink of something big, and the "whispers" are pointing me right at it, to take the chance and go for it. Here's a piece from the transcript of her last show to show you what I mean:
On what our jobs are in life:
What I knew for sure from this experience with you is that we are all called. Everybody has a calling, and your real job in life is to figure out what that is and get about the business of doing it. Every time we have seen a person on this stage who is a success in their life, they spoke of the job, and they spoke of the juice that they receive from doing what they knew they were meant to be doing. We saw it in the volunteers who rocked abandoned babies in Atlanta. We saw it with those lovely pie ladies from Cape Cod making those delicious potpies. … We saw it every time Tina Turner, Celine, Bocelli or Lady Gaga lit up the stage with their passion. Because that is what a calling is. It lights you up and it lets you know that you are exactly where you’re supposed to be, doing exactly what you’re supposed to be doing. And that is what I want for all of you and hope that you will take from this show. To live from the heart of yourself. You have to make a living; I understand that. But you also have to know what sparks the light in you so that you, in your own way, can illuminate the world.
On what your life is saying to you:
...and your life is always speaking to you. First in whispers. ... It's subtle, those whispers. And if you don't pay attention to the whispers, it gets louder and louder. It's like getting thumped upside the head, like my grandmother used to do. ... You don't pay attention to that, it's like getting a brick upside your head. You don't pay attention to that, the whole brick wall falls down. That's the pattern I've seen in my life, and it's played out over and over again on this show. A couple weeks ago, we brought back Carolyn Thomas whose face was literally shot off by her boyfriend. You ask Carolyn now: 'Were there whispers? Were there bricks before the disastrous bullet?' What Carolyn would say to you? 'Don't wait for your face to get shot off before you hear your own life speaking to you. What I've gleaned from this show: Whispers are always messages, and if you don't hear the message, the message turns into a problem. And if you don't handle the problem, the problem turns into a crisis. And if you don't handle the crisis, disaster. Your life is speaking to you. What is it saying?
Powerful stuff. I know I for one, will miss her show. Thanks for 25 great years, O!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Marathon Quest 2011
Sooooooooooo...I admit...I've been a bit lax after the Oak Bay Half. I was riding the high of a PB, easing back a bit on the workouts and had a fantastically chill long Victoria Day weekend. I'm fully enjoying this break because now it's time to get down to business and get on the marathon train!
I registered for the Running Room online clinic...there's actually lots of run clinics in Victoria, but they always do their long runs on Sundays (doesn't work for Hubs and I want to keep running with him) and they do their speedwork after work on weekdays (I get sidestitches no matter how many hours earlier I stop eating - yes, I know, I'm so much trouble). Sometimes I get a little wistful as it would be cool to meet other runners, but the online clinic has lots of forums so maybe I'll get to meet some friends virtually. The running community is pretty tight knit and supportive of each other so I'm looking forward to it!
First day of this marathon cycle - June 5th and then 18 weeks of nose-to-the-grindstone training. I'm going to stick with doing bootcamp a few times a week as I honestly feel that if I'm stronger overall, my running will be better. I really didn't like how weak I got last year and we do a fair amount of running and hillwork in bootcamps. So my week will look something like this:
Sun: rest
Mon: bootcamp
Tues: medium run
Wed: medium run (or bootcamp)
Thurs: rest
Fri: bootcamp
Sat: long run
Other things that I'll be doing this training cycle - I promise I will stretch every night and I promise I will do my exercises...basically I'll do whatever it takes to get my butt across that finish line! I'm going to do up a big calendar, post it up where I can see it daily and mark off runs/exercises as I complete them - I'm all about the visual! And of course, I'm going to pay a little visit to my physio every month and maybe slightly more leading up to the marathon to make sure I stay healthy and injury free.
Nutrition is also going to pay a bigger part of this cycle as well. Last year...sigh...I admittedly packed on more weight than I would have liked, as I definitely used all the running as an excuse to eat everything in sight. And not super healthy stuff either. Not this year! I'm logging all my food into My Fitness Pal, so I keep an eye on making sure I balance my food and I'm going to really try to focus on keeping the diet clean (with one off day per week in moderation). Doing the Ten Pound Challenge has really helped my running so I'm going to work hard to keep my weight steady. And....I really don't want to have to do another challenge during Christmas, like I did last year! Seriously, that almost killed me. Ha!
So time goal, you're probably all wondering? I would be absolutely thrilled beyond belief if I finished in 4:30 so will focus my training on that time. I have no illusions of grandeur of a sub four hour, and honestly just want to finish feeling good and enjoying the experience of my first marathon - you only get one first marathon so I really want it to be a good one!
And...as a reward after the marathon - Hubs and I are heading to Maui again! We were going to skip a year and not go since we already went to Hong Kong...but there was an amazing seat sale on Westjet...and well, we just had to. So we've booked to go Oct 18 - 25, so about a week and a half after the marathon. The bad thing is...because we're taking that time off, I'll be using up all my vacation so I'll have to go to work the next day after the race...aaaaaaand....there are lots of stairs at work. The good thing though is that hopefully I'll be recovered enough to be able to enjoy it, as we were originally trying to fly out the next day. I told Hubs he'd have to piggy back me throughout the airports!
I'm excited. I'm hepped up. Game face on. Marathon Quest 2011, here we go!
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Oak Bay Half Marathon Race Report
Wow, can't believe that the race is done and over! The Oak Bay Half Marathon is a fairly small and intimate race that winds its way through the beautiful streets of the Oak Bay neighbourhood in Victoria. At first I wasn't sure if I was going to like it since most of the races I've run in the past are pretty big with thousands and thousands of entrants, but overall I have to say I really enjoyed a smaller race. More room to move - nothing drives me more crazy when you have to deke in and out of people who run five abreast (grrrrr!) - and no massive line ups for the portapotties. Excellent! They also do a relay at this half as well, which I took part in a few years ago through the bootcamp I go to.
For about a week before the race, all I kept hearing about on the weather reports was about an impending weather system that was going to hit us - you guessed it - smack dab on Sunday. I kept obsessively checking the weather and it just kept getting worse and worse - rain, rain and more rain! Argh! I haven't raced in the rain before, so I didn't really know how to handle it or what I was going to wear.
As usual, Hubs and I set out our gear the night before. I kept changing my mind and eventually changed the shirt to a short sleeve - I figured the rain would just make any sort of sleeve unbearable. I also decided to wear a fuel belt as the course map didn't note what kilometre the aid stations were at.
I also did something this race that I hadn't tried before - a pace band:
Note the time..hee hee:
The last race I ran I really wished I'd had one - I had my garmin so I could see my pace, but I didn't know if I was losing or gaining time. Because I knew it was going to rain, I covered it in packing tape so it wouldn't turn into a big soggy mess on my wrist.
For this race, we never ended up running the race course so we decided to drive it the night before to get an idea of the hills and markers. SO glad we did this because there were some long gradual hills that were pretty killer, so we knew that we had to gird our loins. The start of the race course was fairly flat and there were some good downhill portions, but the second half wasn't pretty. There was one fairly big hill at the end, followed by a short one that crested just before the final sprint to the finish line. This hill would haunt me as it stayed on my mind the whole race.
Our plan was to get up at around 6:30am to get down to the race by 7:30-ish. Hubs didn't have a great sleep, but I slept fairly well the night before and felt pretty refreshed. Of course, the first thing I did was look outside and sure enough...it was a torrential downpour. To keep ourselves dry while we waited for the race to start, we tried to stay under some awnings and had brought along garbage bags to cover ourselves with. I was actually going to bring my iPhone with me so I could take photos, but I knew it was going to be way too wet, so sorry guys...not many race photos! We meandered our way over to the start line, and hung out at the back of the pack. At 8am sharp, off we went! I gave Hubs a kiss, we wished each other luck and I took off.
0-7K
The first few kilometres flew by and to be honest, I don't remember a whole lot about them. I kept checking my garmin to see what my pace was, and was surprised to see that I was hoofing it...my target pace was 5:41, so my goal was to stay below that for all my splits. My race strategy in the past was to go out conservatively and try to run a negative split but I decided to try to maintain a 5:30 pace this round to start and try to hang on to that. I was feeling really good, so went with it but tried to keep mindful of the fact that I didn't want to go out too fast and risk burning out at the end. For the most part, the majority of this section of the course was flat or downhill, resulting in some good splits. I also kept checking my time against my pace band, and was happy to see that I was banking some time.
1K: 5:28
2K: 5:33
3K: 5:27
4K: 5:30
5K: 5:22
6K: 5:22
7K: 5:24 - Gu time!
8-14K
I was feeling strong up to about 9K, when I hit my first hill - not a sharp one, but a long gradual climb. I started to feel winded, and thought uh oh...not good considering I wasn't even half way yet. I tried to put it out of my mind, but was wondering if I had gone out too fast. I had to really start concentrating on my stride and was trying to find someone who could pace me. I ended up picking this girl in a hot pink shirt that ran around the same pace I was running, and tried to keep her in my sights. I was really happy to see the halfway marker and boy, it was raining hard. At one point, I took water at the aid station and sloshed it all over myself but it didn't really matter since I was already drenched!
8K: 5:18
9K: 5:25
10K: 5:22
11K: 5:25
12K: 5:35
13K: 5:32
14K: 5:36 - Gu time!
Time at the halfway point - 57:00
15-21K
This last stretch was pretty tough and admittedly, I had a bit of a mental breakdown. The hills were really getting to me, and I ended up taking many 10 - 15 second walk breaks to gather myself as I was really, really tired. The only saving grace of the hills was that around halfway through the race I started to get a stitch which was made worse by the downhills, but going uphill made it better. A double edged sword! I was running slower on the downhills because of the sidestitch, but ran faster on the uphill - I guess just to power through it. I kept thinking about the big hill that was waiting for me, and I started thinking that I wasn't sure if I could even run it. I knew I had some banked time, but my legs were feeling really heavy and my mental focus started to disintegrate.
At around 15K, I grabbed some water at an aid station and took a quick walk break when one of my bootcamp instructors who was in the relay spotted me and screamed out "Goooooo Cindy!!!" That really perked me up and gave me energy to keep moving. A few steps later, the owner of my bootcamp absolutely screamed out my name which gave me a huge giggle! Feeling brighter, I found the energy to keep moving on. I was exhausted though...and you can tell by my splits I was totally slowing down. I'd lost sight of my hot pink race bunny ages ago. As my garmin chimed out 20K, I looked up and saw the nasty big hill was ahead of me. I really had to dig deep and managed to run the whole thing but it wasn't pretty. As I crested the last hill I could see the finish line, and could hear the announcer counting down to how many seconds left for a sub 1:56 finish...gaaah! I can admit this now - anything in the 1:55 range was "my secret whisper goal"...but I just didn't have the kick in the end. Sorry I held back on you guys. Final splits:
15K: 5:34
16K: 5:39
17K: 5:45
18K: 5:39
19K: 5:53 <----- as you can tell, this is where I completely fell apart
20K: 5:45
21K: 5:47
I couldn't believe it...my A goal was anything with a "1" in front of it, but I was stunned that I'd done four minutes under that and a personal best by five minutes! As I grabbed my medal, I hobbled off to the side to wait for Hubs to come in - I could feel my legs cramping up almost immediately and my feet were raw from the friction of the wet socks. I watched and cheered some of the other racers coming in and as always, it's absolutely part of the race that I enjoy so much. I soon saw Hubs and cheered him on - he finished with a time of 2:08:54, and was happy with his time especially considering he could barely run 10K last fall without being in pain! So proud.
Here's a picture of what the weather was like (photo credit to Body Dynamics Bootcamp)...it was absolutely pouring out, and I was soaked right through to my underwear. I didn't feel it at first, but after I found Hubs and we started walking back to the car, I started getting really, really cold. I actually think I was carrying around an extra two or three pounds of water weight as I was wringing out my vest. Apparently a girl who was walking the race started going hypothermic and they had call an ambulance, poor thing. I didn't feel the rain when I was running, but I am completely and utterly thankful that there was no wind because that would have completely horrible. Definitely the long, hot shower I took afterwards was the best.thing.ever.
For about a week before the race, all I kept hearing about on the weather reports was about an impending weather system that was going to hit us - you guessed it - smack dab on Sunday. I kept obsessively checking the weather and it just kept getting worse and worse - rain, rain and more rain! Argh! I haven't raced in the rain before, so I didn't really know how to handle it or what I was going to wear.
As usual, Hubs and I set out our gear the night before. I kept changing my mind and eventually changed the shirt to a short sleeve - I figured the rain would just make any sort of sleeve unbearable. I also decided to wear a fuel belt as the course map didn't note what kilometre the aid stations were at.
I also did something this race that I hadn't tried before - a pace band:
Note the time..hee hee:
The last race I ran I really wished I'd had one - I had my garmin so I could see my pace, but I didn't know if I was losing or gaining time. Because I knew it was going to rain, I covered it in packing tape so it wouldn't turn into a big soggy mess on my wrist.
For this race, we never ended up running the race course so we decided to drive it the night before to get an idea of the hills and markers. SO glad we did this because there were some long gradual hills that were pretty killer, so we knew that we had to gird our loins. The start of the race course was fairly flat and there were some good downhill portions, but the second half wasn't pretty. There was one fairly big hill at the end, followed by a short one that crested just before the final sprint to the finish line. This hill would haunt me as it stayed on my mind the whole race.
Our plan was to get up at around 6:30am to get down to the race by 7:30-ish. Hubs didn't have a great sleep, but I slept fairly well the night before and felt pretty refreshed. Of course, the first thing I did was look outside and sure enough...it was a torrential downpour. To keep ourselves dry while we waited for the race to start, we tried to stay under some awnings and had brought along garbage bags to cover ourselves with. I was actually going to bring my iPhone with me so I could take photos, but I knew it was going to be way too wet, so sorry guys...not many race photos! We meandered our way over to the start line, and hung out at the back of the pack. At 8am sharp, off we went! I gave Hubs a kiss, we wished each other luck and I took off.
0-7K
The first few kilometres flew by and to be honest, I don't remember a whole lot about them. I kept checking my garmin to see what my pace was, and was surprised to see that I was hoofing it...my target pace was 5:41, so my goal was to stay below that for all my splits. My race strategy in the past was to go out conservatively and try to run a negative split but I decided to try to maintain a 5:30 pace this round to start and try to hang on to that. I was feeling really good, so went with it but tried to keep mindful of the fact that I didn't want to go out too fast and risk burning out at the end. For the most part, the majority of this section of the course was flat or downhill, resulting in some good splits. I also kept checking my time against my pace band, and was happy to see that I was banking some time.
1K: 5:28
2K: 5:33
3K: 5:27
4K: 5:30
5K: 5:22
6K: 5:22
7K: 5:24 - Gu time!
8-14K
I was feeling strong up to about 9K, when I hit my first hill - not a sharp one, but a long gradual climb. I started to feel winded, and thought uh oh...not good considering I wasn't even half way yet. I tried to put it out of my mind, but was wondering if I had gone out too fast. I had to really start concentrating on my stride and was trying to find someone who could pace me. I ended up picking this girl in a hot pink shirt that ran around the same pace I was running, and tried to keep her in my sights. I was really happy to see the halfway marker and boy, it was raining hard. At one point, I took water at the aid station and sloshed it all over myself but it didn't really matter since I was already drenched!
8K: 5:18
9K: 5:25
10K: 5:22
11K: 5:25
12K: 5:35
13K: 5:32
14K: 5:36 - Gu time!
Time at the halfway point - 57:00
15-21K
This last stretch was pretty tough and admittedly, I had a bit of a mental breakdown. The hills were really getting to me, and I ended up taking many 10 - 15 second walk breaks to gather myself as I was really, really tired. The only saving grace of the hills was that around halfway through the race I started to get a stitch which was made worse by the downhills, but going uphill made it better. A double edged sword! I was running slower on the downhills because of the sidestitch, but ran faster on the uphill - I guess just to power through it. I kept thinking about the big hill that was waiting for me, and I started thinking that I wasn't sure if I could even run it. I knew I had some banked time, but my legs were feeling really heavy and my mental focus started to disintegrate.
At around 15K, I grabbed some water at an aid station and took a quick walk break when one of my bootcamp instructors who was in the relay spotted me and screamed out "Goooooo Cindy!!!" That really perked me up and gave me energy to keep moving. A few steps later, the owner of my bootcamp absolutely screamed out my name which gave me a huge giggle! Feeling brighter, I found the energy to keep moving on. I was exhausted though...and you can tell by my splits I was totally slowing down. I'd lost sight of my hot pink race bunny ages ago. As my garmin chimed out 20K, I looked up and saw the nasty big hill was ahead of me. I really had to dig deep and managed to run the whole thing but it wasn't pretty. As I crested the last hill I could see the finish line, and could hear the announcer counting down to how many seconds left for a sub 1:56 finish...gaaah! I can admit this now - anything in the 1:55 range was "my secret whisper goal"...but I just didn't have the kick in the end. Sorry I held back on you guys. Final splits:
15K: 5:34
16K: 5:39
17K: 5:45
18K: 5:39
19K: 5:53 <----- as you can tell, this is where I completely fell apart
20K: 5:45
21K: 5:47
I couldn't believe it...my A goal was anything with a "1" in front of it, but I was stunned that I'd done four minutes under that and a personal best by five minutes! As I grabbed my medal, I hobbled off to the side to wait for Hubs to come in - I could feel my legs cramping up almost immediately and my feet were raw from the friction of the wet socks. I watched and cheered some of the other racers coming in and as always, it's absolutely part of the race that I enjoy so much. I soon saw Hubs and cheered him on - he finished with a time of 2:08:54, and was happy with his time especially considering he could barely run 10K last fall without being in pain! So proud.
Here's a picture of what the weather was like (photo credit to Body Dynamics Bootcamp)...it was absolutely pouring out, and I was soaked right through to my underwear. I didn't feel it at first, but after I found Hubs and we started walking back to the car, I started getting really, really cold. I actually think I was carrying around an extra two or three pounds of water weight as I was wringing out my vest. Apparently a girl who was walking the race started going hypothermic and they had call an ambulance, poor thing. I didn't feel the rain when I was running, but I am completely and utterly thankful that there was no wind because that would have completely horrible. Definitely the long, hot shower I took afterwards was the best.thing.ever.
Chip time: 1:56:09
Pace: 5:32/km
Overall: 388/777
Age Group (F40-44): 26/62
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Gratituesday - The Running Edition
In light of the race I just ran, I'm grateful for the following:
- A wonderful and supportive Hubs who trains with me, even though he admittedly doesn't love running but loves the benefits (he says he only runs so he can eat!)
- Friends who cheered me on - means the world to me and I love you for it
- Long hot showers after cold, wet races
- Awesome race volunteers who stood in the pouring rain to cheer us on, give us high fives and make sure we had water.
- The spectator who saw me trying to check my pace and yelled "don't worry, you're right on target, you look awesome!" Made me smile even though I felt like dying
- The girl with the black braid and hot pink shirt who I used as a pace bunny - I don't know who you are, but thank you for helping me PB
- All the hill training we do at bootcamp
- The chance to discover running and how much I love it - it means so much more than just one foot in front of the other
- Advil
- No stairs
Sunday, May 15, 2011
And the Results Are....
...1:56:09, average 5:32/km pace - oh yeah baby!!! PB by over five minutes and A goal smashed to smithereens!
Needless to say I'm sore, tired and absolutely famished but I can't wipe the smile off my face as I sit here and type! Race report to come soon...
PS. I totally credit the cupcake. Heh.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Half Marathon Eve
Whoa! What's been going on with Blogger recently? I haven't been able to write any posts for the last few days and I couldn't read a lot of blogs...ack, I need to feed my bloggie addiction! Anyways, looks like everything is OK now so here I am.
Down to the wire, man! Half marathon tomorrow morning at 8am. I've been hydrating like mad today, and was feeling kinda stiff and headache-y so went to yoga this morning and I feel SO much better. I was pretty good the other night and didn't overindulge in alcohol (only one drink) and haven't had any sugar. Well, I made one exception - Fabulous Boss brought in some cupcakes and I had one, partly because it seems that every time I have one, I have great runs...but mostly because I just wanted one, dammit. Ha! But I'm feeling pretty good today now that I've gone to yoga so am really hoping that tomorrow I can finally break the 2 hour speed barrier. The only thing that might hamper a great run is that it's supposed to rain tomorrow. Light rain, not so bad...I'm just really hoping it's not torrential or something.
So before I get on to my ABC goals, I'm just going to talk quickly about something that's been under my skin for a long time, and I've blogged about previously. Do any of you guys have to deal with people constantly commenting on how/what you eat and your workouts? I have this individual who is constantly making remarks about what I eat (food commenters are one of my biggest pet peeves in life), supplements I take, or haranguing me when I choose not to drink when I'm training for a run. Or when I do have a treat, they have to make a comment about it - "should you have that?" "what? you ate that?" - argh. I know I should just brush it off but it's difficult sometimes to not take it personally. It incenses me when people feel they have the right to comment on my choices, especially when this person doesn't lead a very healthy lifestyle themselves. I keep my running really, really low key (which is why I blog about it - I gotta let it out somehow!!) but this person seeks me out to make comments. I like to run, I like being healthy and I like taking care of my body so bugger off. OK, rant over. Wow, I totally feel better. Ha! Moving on now.
Goal time! As you guys know, I've been trying to break 2 hours for the half marathon. And you guys also know...I'm goal oriented. It feels scary posting specific time goal because there's always that "fear of failure" thing going on, but I'm just gonna throw all caution to the wind and just go for it:
A - finish in any time that start with a "1"
B - finish in 2:01:24 (my previous PB)
C - finish in 2:10
Here we go - race report to come soon! Woohooo!!
Down to the wire, man! Half marathon tomorrow morning at 8am. I've been hydrating like mad today, and was feeling kinda stiff and headache-y so went to yoga this morning and I feel SO much better. I was pretty good the other night and didn't overindulge in alcohol (only one drink) and haven't had any sugar. Well, I made one exception - Fabulous Boss brought in some cupcakes and I had one, partly because it seems that every time I have one, I have great runs...but mostly because I just wanted one, dammit. Ha! But I'm feeling pretty good today now that I've gone to yoga so am really hoping that tomorrow I can finally break the 2 hour speed barrier. The only thing that might hamper a great run is that it's supposed to rain tomorrow. Light rain, not so bad...I'm just really hoping it's not torrential or something.
So before I get on to my ABC goals, I'm just going to talk quickly about something that's been under my skin for a long time, and I've blogged about previously. Do any of you guys have to deal with people constantly commenting on how/what you eat and your workouts? I have this individual who is constantly making remarks about what I eat (food commenters are one of my biggest pet peeves in life), supplements I take, or haranguing me when I choose not to drink when I'm training for a run. Or when I do have a treat, they have to make a comment about it - "should you have that?" "what? you ate that?" - argh. I know I should just brush it off but it's difficult sometimes to not take it personally. It incenses me when people feel they have the right to comment on my choices, especially when this person doesn't lead a very healthy lifestyle themselves. I keep my running really, really low key (which is why I blog about it - I gotta let it out somehow!!) but this person seeks me out to make comments. I like to run, I like being healthy and I like taking care of my body so bugger off. OK, rant over. Wow, I totally feel better. Ha! Moving on now.
Goal time! As you guys know, I've been trying to break 2 hours for the half marathon. And you guys also know...I'm goal oriented. It feels scary posting specific time goal because there's always that "fear of failure" thing going on, but I'm just gonna throw all caution to the wind and just go for it:
A - finish in any time that start with a "1"
B - finish in 2:01:24 (my previous PB)
C - finish in 2:10
Here we go - race report to come soon! Woohooo!!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Almost There
Alright...down to the last five days before the half! Last weekend in Vancouver was fab-u-lous...lots of shopping, lots of eating and lots of hockey - unfortunately my boys didn't win that night, but they ended up closing out the series against Nashville and moving on to the semi-finals. Woo hoo! Go Canucks Go. We also fit in a nice run around Langara College and it was a nice easy 10K to get ourselves firmly into taper week.
So - last five days before the race, so what are our plans? I must...MUST...update my ipod with some new music. I'm going to start hydrating like crazy, and going to bed earlier to get lots of sleep in. They say that the most important sleeps are the ones that are a few days before the race, not just the night before. No sugar, no junk food and no boozahol. OK, I might have to have just a tiny splash of alcohool as my BFF's final goodbye work party is tomorrow - but I find it really affects me if I overdo it so I'll have to take it easy. Must.be.strong.
I'm starting to get pretty excited! We still haven't run the course (gah!) so we're going to drive it so we have an idea of the hills and markers. Look out for my ABC goals in the next few days!
So - last five days before the race, so what are our plans? I must...MUST...update my ipod with some new music. I'm going to start hydrating like crazy, and going to bed earlier to get lots of sleep in. They say that the most important sleeps are the ones that are a few days before the race, not just the night before. No sugar, no junk food and no boozahol. OK, I might have to have just a tiny splash of alcohool as my BFF's final goodbye work party is tomorrow - but I find it really affects me if I overdo it so I'll have to take it easy. Must.be.strong.
I'm starting to get pretty excited! We still haven't run the course (gah!) so we're going to drive it so we have an idea of the hills and markers. Look out for my ABC goals in the next few days!
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