2013 - Week 45 Recap

Today Hubs and I went for a really nice Fall run around the hood (full 10K and no pain or niggles!) before we headed out to the annual Remembrance Day ceremonies that take place not too far from our place.  Remembrance Day is something that we always celebrate, no matter what the weather...there's been times where it's been pouring rain but we always, always attend because it's the very least that we can do to honour our veterans...because of them, we have the freedom to do the things we love, like going for today's run.  Standing in the rain for a half an hour is nothing compared to what these people have endured.  The thing that I really noticed this year that I thought was totally cool was that there were quite a few younger people in the crowd, paying their respects...and it wasn't like they were there with their parents so had to go, but they were groups of young teens that were going on their own accord.  All I have to say is...someone done taught their kids right!

WORKOUTS:

Sunday:  10K run
First full 10K that I've run in months and man, did it feel great when we were done.  I've really made sure that I've resumed distances slowly and while sometimes it was frustrating to hold myself back from running further when I was feeling good, I'm glad I did.  Nothing like being injured to make you appreciate being healthy!

Monday:  bootcamp
Lots of running and hills in this class, so I was a little bit tired and draggy after having run the day before.  I ended up getting paired up with a lady who's very fast and pushes the pace, so by the time we were heading back to our cars I almost yelled "uncle!!" and had to stop and walk for a bit.  I could feel my hamstring getting a bit tight so thought better safe than sorry. 

Tuesday:  rest

Wednesday:  bootcamp
Finally decided that I was OK to attend a Jason class.  Not gonna lie, I was feeling a bit scared because I haven't been to his class in forever, and he is one kick ass instructor.  I definitely wasn't disappointed...after a brief warm up, he had us line up on a field where we had one minute to do two sets of exercises and then sprint to where he was standing and back...all this fifteen times.  After this I was already gassed, but he took us over to the neighbouring stadium and had us do five sets of stairs while our partner did an exercise like pushups or tricep dips...lather, rinse, repeat five times. Thinking we were done, I was ready to crawl back to the car but nope...out we went to run hills backwards and forwards.  I was done like dinner after but felt great.

Thursday:  Raise the Bar class
So the class I've been dreading for weeks, but super excited about was Thursday night.  After silently freaking out all day, I drove myself to class and sat in the car to gather my nerves before I went in...as I waited for my doom, a friend was texting me and making me laugh which totally helped (thanks G!).  Turns out the class was really small, with only two other guys and me...the advanced class is run at the same time, so the instructor went back and forth between the two groups as we practiced.  We started off the class by doing a basic squat, and then moved up to doing a front barbell squat.  Now keep in mind these guys were both well over six feet tall, so I had to have a bar set up for my five foot and change self, otherwise I couldn't load the bar properly.  The front squat is a fairly basic lift but dang, it was hard!  So many things to remember as far as body positioning before we even start the squat portion of the program.  It was awesome because the two guys that are in the class with me are a good mix...one is quieter and I think newer to any kind of strength work, and the other guy seemed to have a bit of experience and was more chatty so was pretty good with providing feedback.  After we worked on the front squat, we worked on the deadlift, which was one of the lifts I've been dying to learn how to do.  Again...I've done deadlifts with the trap bar, but the instructor really broke it down and I realized I was doing a few things incorrectly before, like not really setting my body before I started the lift.  It was totally awesome because after I did my deadlifts, the instructor nodded approvingly and asked if I'd lifted before!  That totally made my night.  So yep...it was all fine and I'm totally glad that I signed up for it, and even though I was super scared to go to class.  Signing up for this class totally made me realize how much my strength has declined since the summer when I was taking classes at PISE because man, was I ever sore!  Using muscles I haven't in a long time. 

Friday:  20 minute treadmill run/stretch
Yep.  Legs were feeling super tight/sore and I was feeling tired after ramping up the workouts this week, so I didn't go to bootcamp in the morning (D was in the same boat so we tag team played hooky) and decided to do a very, very slow treadmill run and rollered the soreness out of my legs.  Upper body was sore too, and I think the combo of Wednesday's Jason style thumping and Thursdays class, my shoulder was bugging me again.  Staying off it and taking it easy this week! 

Saturday:  bike intervals
Hubs and I were busy and couldn't do our run Saturday, so I did bike intervals while he did a circuit.  I definitely have a love/hate relationship with intervals...love how I feel after and love the results but hate the during. 

FOOD:
Food was pretty good this week...no more Halloween candy binges!  The next week and a half is going to be interesting...Hubs is going to take the same test that I did a few years ago to look at food sensitivities...his skin has been really bothering him and has been so red, itchy and inflamed.  Part of the test involves eating as many foods as possible on a list of 96 items, so it's been a test of my mad culinary skillz to come up with recipes that incorporate as many of the foods as possible.  Look for future posts on results of Hubs' testing.

RECIPES:
All Canadian Seafood Chowder from Canada's Best Recipes and the Lazy Margherita Pizza from Smitten Kitchen.  Just going to put in a glowing review for the pizza recipe...if you've been looking for the easiest and best tasting homemade margherita pizza ever, make this recipe.  It is the best, I kid you not.  I made the crust with half whole wheat and it was still amazing...and the best thing is that it was crazy easy with no proofing of the yeast, no double rising, no kneading and no rolling.  I will never buy a store bought crust again.