Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Trains, planes...no just planes

I get on one very very very early tomorrow to head to Fort Mac and then I'll be on one every week from now on. Which means very very very early mornings on Mondays.

The plan is to be in bed early tonight so I'm somewhat functional tomorrow. I have travel companions tomorrow as two of my co-workers are also going so that will be fun.

I'll really miss these people when I spend two days a week elsewhere. They're a great group.

It was bit odd thinking what I needed for Fort Mac and site plus realizing I wouldn't be back at that desk until Wednesday.

I am looking forward to Friday off but that will be all about the test and a paper. Then after the test will be reviewing the paper and submitting it. Sunday I must hit the gym for a make up workout that I miss tomorrow. I will create something and share it with you.

Yoga was good yesterday but we did these crazy moves where you were isolating your leg and whoa I could feel that. We did this new flow I've never heard of called Kali. I liked it so I'll have to google it and see if I can remember the sequence.

Alright tales of Fort Mac tomorrow - one of my other co-workers is celebrating 35 years with the company tomorrow. Craziness.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Electrolyte issues?

Workout tonight was rough and not too far into it everytime I crouched down I felt like I was going to toss my cookies. I didn't complete it as I had to take breaks to shake off the icky feeling.

It began with traditional warm up.

Then 21 Dumbell push presses (bend knees and push up holding two 15lb dumbells)
21 Dumbell squats - same weight
The waiter walk - one 15lb dumbell holding in one hand your arm straight up, walk about 50 feet, switch hands and walk back.
45sec Plank

Repeat with 18 sets, 15 sets, 13 sets - boy I tell you the waiters walk and plank just about killed me.

Next round:
21 dumbell thrustes - 2x 15lbs
21 sumo wrestler lift - long dumbell, legs wide apart, grip in the centre, lift weight to chin will keeping a flat back to chin, kind of like a plunging motion.
21 dumbell swings - 20lbs
45sec wall sit

Then 18, 15 - I died somewhere in the 18 range as every time I dipped I felt nauseous.

Then it was a bunch of sit ups, push ups and pull ups. At this point I was totally out of it. I got the push ups and the sit ups done but never made it to the pull ups. Laying on my back on the mat was awesome.

Trainer told me to get gatorade on the way home. I'm not sure what it was. I do have a hard time fueling myself for a trainer workout. This is intense stuff I can totally understand what the Biggest Loser people go through. Can't imagine doing it all day. If I eat too soon before hand I feel gross, if I eat too far before workout I feel gross. I've got to figure that one out. Maybe I'm eating the wrong stuff. I need to do some research on that.

On to other stuff - I love the Yubisaki pillow, I wasn't so sure after the first couple of nights but now I'm hooked. No neck or shoulder goofiness at all. I've always adored my bed from Ikea but now it's especially difficult to get up.

Yoga tomorrow and I hope it's a decent flow and not 80% downward dog.

So far 2 goals Chicago, zip for Calgary....it's do or die tonight for my dear Flames. Come on boys, I believe in you.

Hugs.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

It's sort of like a blizzard

It's snowing. I will not complain about the weather, I'm tired of people complaining about the weather. This is southern Alberta you can get all 4 seasons in one day. I say this stuff saves me money on my water bill as it will hydrate the new grass that's growing.

However being a native Albertan I also know the more goofy the winter/ early spring the nicer the summer/ fall is. I learned a long time ago to not plant any flowers until after May 21.

I did hit the grocery store today and got the fixin's for turkey burgers. This will be work lunch in a 100% whole wheat pita. I saw this recipe on some bbq show but he put slivered almonds in the turkey burger. It's a nice twist and gives the turkey some oommpff. I also picked up yogurt and bananas as my morning snack, turkey burgers with cucumber slices and tomatoes on the side for lunch and the pre workout snack will be an Almond sweet and salty granola bar. Got a little creative wiht the spice rack in seasoning the burgers (cumin,basil, marjoram)but they smell good. Thursday I'll be in Fort Mac so probably buy lunch and I took the day off on Friday.

I managed to leave the grocery store with no unplanned purchases.

Then I came home and did a practice exam, didn't do so well but that's o.k it's a practice exam. I'd rather do poorly on the practice and review my errors so on the real thing I don't make the same mistakes. This test is a tricky thing as it can usually gets you in the phrasing of the question. If you pay attention and think about it the right answer is usually not that hard to find. I also found I over thought things as my first instinct was the right answer but then I doubted myself and changed it.

I just need to be calm, cool, confident and collected come exam time Saturday morning.

Tomorrow I will bring you another workout from trainer, Thursay wasn't heavy weights just lots of repitition. I get the feeling will be lifting some heavier weights tomorrow. Tuesday I have yoga and Wednesday I'll do cardio. I think I need to switch it up on the cardio front like maybe 20min treadmill, 20 min bike and 20 min something else. Smaller blocks therefore no boredom.

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend until tomorrow.

Hugs!

Saturday, April 25, 2009

New food find


Before I begin, let me first say hi to Sarah and congratulations on her little one (Completely adorable by the way). Check out her new blog at elephantsteps.blogspot -she's also follows me -totally honored by the way. I'm happy she's back as I've always enjoyed her blog.

Tonight for supper I decided to try the new Mcain Sweet Potatoe Super Fries. Right away I'm a bit miffed that their more expensive, smaller package and the same point value as the regular potatoe super fries (3).


I'm very picky when it comes to sweet potatoe fries. I only like them if they're crispy. I've been to restaurants that give you giant slaps of sweet potatoe and call them fries. Ah no...if it's mushy it's not a fry in my book. If I wanted a slab of sweet potatoe I would have asked for it.

I got the crinkle cut because for some reason I think their better tasting in general even though I know it's just cut differently. I also prefer my hashbrown shredded and really it's all potatoe.

There alright and since I'm unlikely to make them from scratch (yes I know it's easy but again I like them crispy and when you start giving me directions like brush with egg white all bets are off) I will probably try them again as there is 4g of fibre in a serving.

As I was looking for a picture I came across McCain's US website first and noticed the packaging was blue and in Canada it's the above. Bizarre how these market researchers decide things. For example Neutrogena Make Up not available in Canada and I'm not sure on the rational behind that one as we have every damn skin care product they launch.

I've discovered over the last few days that a few people are quite excited about my new schedule with two days in camp. Not for me but now apparently I can track down an HR manager that's particularly difficult to get a hold of via phone or email. What do these people expect me to do...stalk him?

Friday I did hit the gym for cardio and did 45 min on the treadmill at brisk walk. Wowsers my cardio has suffered and I was strangely sore this morning. I had planned to go for a walk around the hood today but just as I was about to head out when this bizarre hail/rain/ snow stuff started to pour, about 2 hrs later it was giant fluffy flakes. Instead I just focused on studying as the big test is next Saturday. OMG my attention span with the online prep stuff is lousy, since I've now watched all of them I tend to tune out and start thinking about grocery lists. Going forward I'll do the practice tests on line but I'm going back to books.

Tomorrow I'll go grocery shopping and definitely get a walk in. Monday is last Monday workout with trainer after this it will Thursdays only unless he creates a group workout on Wed or Fri. Look forward to off the top of my own head training recaps to make up the differance. I also asked him for homework.

I ordered this thing by Jillian Micheal's that's 50 workouts in a box. I'm getting it shipped at the same time as the True Blood season one DVD so it won't be here until May 25ish.

On the day of the test I also have a paper due...yippee. Thankfully this class also lets me use real work scenarios so that's a bit easier. I'll probably work on a rough copy tomorrow.
Go Flames Go, I really hope they figure out how to win in Chicago or we're in trouble. Down 3 goals so far, it's not impossible to come back from that but I don't know if I can watch.

Alright tales of the grocery store tomorrow


Hugs

Thursday, April 23, 2009

The filthy fifties return...

The workout that is.
This is what we did tonight.

Warm Up 1000m on the rowing machine

50 box jumps - yes even I did this but mine was a low box
50 assisted chin ups
50 dumbell swings - 20lbs
50 walking lunges
50 sit ups
50 push presses - 35lbs
50 wall ball - in a squat position throw a 10lb medicine ball against a wall so it bounce off about 6 feet above your head, catch it and repeat
50 modified burpees (off a bench as opposed to the floor)
200 skipping rope jumps

Holy Moly I was tired after the 50 box jumps. I have a feeling I'll be sore tomorrow.
However I finished everything and trainer said I looked fitter...I think I was wearing a looser shirt but I appreciate the comment. I'll have to take measurements this weekend and see if there is a change.

The first time I did the filthy fifties there were 6 exercises, tonight I did 9 in the same amount of time. That is progress my friends.

It's official I head out to camp for two days a week every week starting May 4th. So this kills my Monday gym workout with trainer and depending on what flight I get home my Tuesday yoga class. Trainer is cool with one day a week but that does put the responsibility squarely on my shoulders to make up the work.

Right now my flight gets in at 6:45 which will be tough to get across town and ready for yoga at 7:30 but I'll try. There is a better flight however it's full but our lovely admin person is keeping an eye out on for me. There is one other flight that could get me home sooner but it's via Saskatoon. Yes, northern Alberta to Saskatoon to southern Alberta...otherwise known as the milk run. That's an extra hour in the air. Forget that.

Now the other challenge will be eating carefully on site. I can't say the menu selections are necessarily healthy but there's always options including veggies. I must chant the rule of half plate of vegg, 1/4 protein, 1/4 starch/grain. I must commit to a Monday night workout in one of the site gyms.

Alright my friends I must figure out dinner and hope into a warm bath.

Hugs!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Weight training + Yoga = yikes

Oy my muscles were tight today and especially in all the areas that had been weight training the day before. I could really feel it in my shoulders and wrists.

Weight training doesn't exactly work on flexibility that's for sure. Trainer likes to say he's training athletes for the game of life. Sure in terms of strength but flexibility is important too. Note to self make sure a good yoga practice follows weight training.

I'm committing to two days of cardio this week so that's on tap of tomorrow. It's been awhile since I've focused solely on cardio.

New tracker was different for me today. I didn't write down any points, I just focused on healthy options. One could easily track points in this. We'll see how this plays out.

I'm really hoping Tara wins Biggest Loser.

Hugs!

Where to get the 365 day journal


I got it online here after seeing it on the local news.


Don't know if they ship to the US but check it out if your interested.


I'll be writing on here how I feel it's working. What I was intrigued by was that it tracks a year.

Monday, April 20, 2009

30 more sessions

At tonight's workout I was mid 145lb deadlift when I realized I need these training sessions. Yes I know I can work out on my own but I know myself well enough that I would never grab the long bar and plop mega weight on each end, set it up on a pair of steps so it's properly aligned. I would never grab a 25 foot rope thing and tie it to weights.

I would do the standard exercises and just build on weight and reps. There's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing quite like having another person believe you can do something when you stand there in doubt. Like a trainer believing you can deadlift 145lbs.

So I signed up for 24 more sessions. I made Trainer's day -I think not because of the added revenue but I think he might have actually missed me. He was beaming at the 145lbs.

We began with the usual warm up but mid-lung I felt a twinge in my left thigh. Everytime that legs knee touched the floor I felt it again. I stopped doing lunges.

So first up were deadlifts.
8 reps with 60lbs, then it was 3 reps with added weight, 3 reps with added weight and so on.
Trainer told me that one of my group went up to 135lbs earlier so I said lets go higher. Tada 145lbs, he was so proud it was cute.

Then it was 50 squats so your butt touched a dumbell on the floor
Then 20 shoulder presses - 40lbs
Then 20 dumbell thrusters - 20lbs

Repeat 3 times, yeah that last round of squats was torture. The last round of any of that was hard and I slowed down significantly.

Then it was 250m on the rower
15 push ups - which may I say I fired off like nothing, I distinctly remember getting to 5 and having to take a breather.
15 ball drops - I like this, slamming a medicine ball into the floor while keeping your abs tight.

So now with 30 more sessions look forward to more reports on workouts. Plus I need to get more serious too and incorporate more cardio so I can truly see results.

I got the 365 day journal today and it's kind of neat. A page is broken down into breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack plus each section has check of section saying I achieved the 3 parts of a balanced meal. You check of grain/starch, vegetable/fruit and source of protein.

Then it has an area to check of exercise (happy face, blank face, sad face). A place to check off if you took your supplements, drank 8 glasses of water, how you would rate your day and a spot for reflections.

For the end of each week you rate different things from 1-5 like overall health, eating habits, body image, intellectual growth and stress managment.

Let's see what it's like to follow a plan created by a nutritionist.

Many adventures ahead.

Hugs!

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Brain fuzz

My brain is fuzz. I've spent the weekend studying for the mega exam of May 2nd. I got through 13 modules and have one remaining. It's labour relations so I think I'll leave that for tomorrow as that's more complicated and requires a fresh brain.

My master plan was to read through everything at least once this weekend and then review again over the week. I still have another weekend before the test but I thought focusing on practice exams might be good because then I know the weak areas to focus on.

I'm taking the day off before the test so I can have more quiet review and I'm thinking some Yoga Nidra to ensure a calm mind.

Last time I wrote this I finished 2% shy of moving onto the 2nd test. This time I want to be damn sure I make it to the 2nd test.

I'm doing this online prep course and the video lectures are given by one of the authors of a Human Resources Management text book. It's not the one I used when I took the class but I figure close enough so I'm taking that to work with me to review.

This woman's voice is mega irritating, maybe it's not the voice but she kind of explains everything in a kindergarten teacher kind of voice. In other words sounds like she's talking to a 5 year old.

Other news of the weekend down 2lbs, yeah. I admit I was hoping for some mega amazing result but I'm quite happy with that.

7th last training session tomorrow so stay tuned for that.

I fell victim to an infomercial, this does happen but I didn't buy it off of TV. I found it on Ebay for cheaper. I am the proud owner of the Yubisaki pillow.

I now have an ergonomic pillow from Ikea, which is fine if you sleep on your side or back. I sleep on my right side, my left side, my back and my stomach. Yes sometimes I wish I could count this as activity points. So the ikea pillow did not work so well for stomach sleeping as I would be awkwardly angled on the end. So this new pillow is different and the test is tonight.

I shall report back on that just because I can.

So happy Sunny won Project Runway Canada. That guy is gifted and I think the best I've seen on this show including the US version.

I'm watching Miss USA in the background and wondering why they're all blond and named Kristen. Man I wish I had their abs.

Hugs!

Friday, April 17, 2009

Is it sad that I'm tired after 4 days of work?

So technically I've had two 4 day weeks back to back but to compare me to all my co-workers who worked 5 there's no difference. We all had the glassy eyed, just let this day be over look on our faces.

Got the syllabus for my new course starting Tuesday and the first assignment is due the day of the giant test...eek. My weekend is completely dedicated to studying with the exception of some brief breaks for groceries and walks.

The group went to Juan's for lunch today (traditional mexican food), so I don't think I managed to land an OP day. I'm not remotely hungry now so I'll let my body tell me if it wants dinner. It was super nice lunch though we laughed a lot.

My inner geek is uber excited about the pending Wolverine and Star Trek movie. Wolverine comes out May 1 so I'm thinking that after I write the giant test on the 2nd I way treat myself to a matinee.

Alright nothing remotely interesting to say today, hopefully that will change.

Hugs!!

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Trainer found a new toy

Tonight's training session will be difficult to describe because we did a lot of new things but I'll do my best to describe.

It began with regular warm up.

Then he had us do "Box Squats"
It started with 4 step risers (the things that make it higher) stacked on top of each other with a milk crate on top of that.

Now you had to stand in front of this and squat until your butt touched the top of the crate will holding a long stick across the back of the top of your shoulders. We did that a few time and then he removed 2 risers and we did 8 more. Then it was just the crate and we did two sets of 10.

The thing about this move is you have to stick your butt way out (I called in peeing in the woods where you don't want your butt touching anything). You're dipping so low that your body fights you and wants to pitch forward to balance out but no your thighs and butt are doing all the work.

Then we moved on to one of the new toys ...kettlebells.
First 21 dumbell swings using an 8lb kettlebell. Now 8lbs isn't so much for me anymore but the kettlebell part made the whole exercise seem different. Different muscles were engaged to prevent that bell swinging behind my head and just to hang on to the damn thing.

Then it was 21 dumbell thrusters with a 35lb kettlebell. OMG this was hard, you had to almost hold it like you're holding a bowling ball so the handle is facing down. These got so hard for all of us that we got switched to the lower weight kettlebell.

Next he tied a 25foot long rope type thing to a 45lb weight and you had to squat at the end of the rope and now pull the weight toward you hand over hand. Repeat this twice.

Now repeat all this another two times changing the reps on the swing and the thruster to 15 and then 9. The next time you do the rope pull add another 25lbs to it and now you're pulling 70lbs for two more times.

Next it was spin bike for 2mins - 30 sec sitting, 1 min standing, 30 sec sitting.

Next for 1 minute as many as you can - Sumo deadlifts - Bar weight 45lbs, squat in front of it and grab it at the top in the middle with your hands right next to each other. Now stand up bringing the weight to just under your chin. On the way down pause at hips and then lower to the floor in your squat.

Next for 1 minute as many as you can - bench press with kettlebells - lying on the floor in bridge pose hold one kettlebell in each hand so the bell is at the back of your hand. Push weights up so they touch each other now lower and repeat. This was bizarre as you're trying to keep the kettlebells stationary, trying to keep your hips off the floor and focusing on getting your arms up.

Repeat the above 3 exercises 3 times.

For the end it was 3 sets of 3min of new style sit ups with 1 minute rest in between. New style sit ups, lie on the floor with a folded up towel under the small of your back. But your soles together and now do the sit up. The towel kind of gives your back something to swing off the floor with.

I think new muscles will hurt tomorrow.

So now we're counting down the remaining sessions. Trainer is still trying to convince me to sign up for more sessions. The other day he told me the gym was hiring, I just shook my head. It's not that I want to leave my job, I just want to survive the merger.

Even if I get more sessions it's still a gym membership on top of that. The membership I'm stuck with until January.

I will miss him but then I realized I can still come at the same time and just observe and get ideas while doing a different workout. Goodness knows I own enough material to create weight workouts between biggest loser, bob, jillian and other training books.

I will borrow one thing for sure and that's writing the workout down and taking that with me to the gym. Plan the workout ahead of time and put it in writing. All the trainers have the workout written on a pad of paper that they run around with.

Got the news today that I will be getting on a plane more often at least once a week and be on site for a day or two a week. That's alright and doesn't shake up my schedule too bad. Not sure when that will start but probably soon.

Totally OP today again...whoo hoo.

Alright that's it for today.

Hugs!!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Totally on track for the first time in a long time

I tracked everything I ate today and I'm totally OP, I drank all my water too. Wow, I didn't think I had it in me anymore.

In the first few days of tracking I blew all of my flex points and I was over by 6, but happily with exercise the WW online tracker doesn't look like stocks are declining. Plus with the trainer workout tomorrow I'll be out of the hole.

I had intentions of doing 1hr of yoga tonight but I wasn't feeling the dvd so I did a bit on my own and may do some more. My more important intention is to really start to study every day until the NKE test on May 2nd.

I had to do a lot of self talk today like "Don't eat that you have a plan for dinner" and "You don't need a snack".

I now really like my Tim Horton coffee with milk instead of cream....who knew.

So this day is done and it went well, now the goal is to repeat that tomorrow.

Toon in for the trainer workout description tomorrow.

Hugs!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Whoa....

Got into work this morning and asked where someone was, was then told 3 people were let go yesterday. Whoa..... I didn't see that coming at all. I feel so bad for them and for the people who were there yesterday. I was blissfully unaware having the day off. They had the whole day to think about it.

Mood was alright today. They loved the cupcakes and I think I hit the ball out of the park with the icing. One person said it tasted like ice cream. That's a keeper.

Day was a series of meetings and a chat with my supervisor. I get to keep the area I have so that's good.

Met up with trainer at the end of the day.

It was a bit of a blur as I was pretty tired.
Started with warm up.

Then it was lunges holding a 15lb weight in each hand - I estimate about 20.
Then 21 standing overhead presses - 40lbs
Then 21 leg lifts
Repeat lunges
Then 15 standing overhead presses -45lbs
Then 15 leg lifts
Repeat lunges
Then 9 standing overhead presses - 50lbs
Then 9 leg lifts

Then 5 deadlifts - 60lbs
Then 15 bench presses - 40lbs
Then 20 sit ups - new style (lay down with a towel under your lower back and put your heels together.

Then 5 deadlifts - 65lbs
Then 15 bench presses - 45lbs
Repeat 20 sit ups

Then 5 deadlifts - 70lbs
Then 15 bench presses - 50lbs
Repeat 20 sit ups.

We finished off with as many squats (bum had to hit dumbell on the floor) and as many dumbell swings 17.5lb.

I was ok up to the last bit and then I felt nauseaus and slowed down considerably.

It was a good workout and as of this minute I have 8 sessions left with trainer. I counted today so I had a final number.

Eating was not so good today as I went for lunch with a group and made stupid choices.

However tomorrow is a new day and I just have to take it one day at a time.

That's it for today....hugs!

Monday, April 13, 2009

Lazy Day

When I first started working for my new company and received the elusive flex days I often saw people tag one onto a long weekend and I'm so happy I did it this time. It's nice to just have one extra day.

I didn't go to Spa Lady today and decided to stay home and just chill. Well chill and get things done. The mat is rolled out for a practice today on my own.

Did my taxes today in decent time and that was with multiple T4s. I love ufile.ca, it uploaded like a dream to netfile and tada I'm done. I get money back too. I really don't mind paying $16 bucks for no stress.

Made strawberry buttercream for the chocolate cupcakes I baked yesterday. I kind made up the recipe as I went and used less sugar than my St.Patrick's day icing. It's got a hint of strawberry flavour with my pureed strawberries acting as the liquid as opposed to milk or water. It's also a fluffier texture. Now hopefully it doesn't seperate over night.

Now I'm trying to finish my paper due Tuesday and keep coming up with wacky percentages but I see no way around it. I'm thinking if I can defend my wacky percentages I'll be good to go.

Have an elluminate session tonight at 6:45pm and then get this paper in and I'm officially done with this class.

This morning I reset my weigh in on ww.ca as I haven't been the greatest at following the program lately. Yes I am one those people who do killer workouts at the gym and not lose a pound. Well that's because I'm not tracking anything. Today I started tracking and like that they added a measurement tracker on planner as well. The good news is I stayed steady.

8 sessions left with trainer so that's about 4 weeks and then it's up to me. I'm definitely stronger I was flinging a 20lb bag of potatoes around like it was nothing at the grocery store. Booyah!

I do find it easier to get moving with the weather being nicer. Far easier to walk outside or go to the gym when there's not 2 feet of snow. I'm handing in my corporate gym membership paper work tomorrow. I'm thinking it will be fairly empty after work as it seems most people go at lunch.

Alright my friends, tomorrow I bring you another edition of trainer workout.

Hugs

Sunday, April 12, 2009

yoga yoga yoga

We are going today at 4pm, the class is called Sundae Yoga, I'll report back.

Since I'm taking Monday off I decided to look up what Spa Lady has to offer on Monday and they have a hatha yoga class at 10:45am. I think I might check that out too.

Reporting back...
So the yoga studio is called Yoga Passage West, it's in a strip mall in the middle of suburbia. It's not big. You walk in and there's a spot to put your shoes and a little bit of a retail secton. They had a lot of Halfmoon Yoga products, I love Halfmoon Yoga products. I picked up a new mat spray...I'm always on the look out for a decent mat spray that doesn't have patchouli or frankincense in it (smells like dirt to me). They also had some cute journals, cards on top of yoga supplies and a really good selection of mats.

There's one studio and it's pretty spatious. When we arrived she said about 18 people usually come to the Sunday session. 18 mats in that room would be a tight squeeze. The room was 25 degrees celsius. I've come to the realization I can never do hot yoga, even 25 was a wee hot for me and I had a sweat going on doing sun salutations. I wasn't crazy about that bit. The session ended with 30min of Yoga Nidra.

Discussing afterwards, my neighbour said the flow was almost indentical to one on myyogaonline.com and I told her the yoga nidra was almost identical to one on myyogaonline.com. I really liked the teacher, she had a great voice and good instructions.

I would like to keep one live yoga class a week just for the tweaks on posture so if I can't make my normal Tuesday community hall classes I'd definitely go back.

Tomorrow..yoga Spa Lady style.

Later

Happy Easter!

I hope all of you are doing whatever you want today, whether that's the church thing or the family thing or something entirely different.

My friday was spent cleaning my house and I took the neighbours dog for a walk. We tried to go to the off leash park (which most dogs adore) however this dog was not feeling it. We got there and went about 20 feet into the park and then she saw an old golden retriever and wanted the heck out of there. Alright then so we crossed over back to our neighbourhood and she picked up on the 5K route I took her on when I was looking after her.

Saturday was day with Dad, we conquered Superstore thinking most people would be out of town. We were wrong. My Dad is 86 and you probably wouldn't be able to tell that but I can tell the arthritis is bothering him more than before. Heck he's 86 I strongly encourage rests. So I'm happy that the weather is heading into more temperate conditions not the wild and woolly march with extreme temperature changes. This should make him feel better.

Today he left at a quarter to 8am to head home and avoid traffic. So I started laundry and I need to bake cupcakes today.

When I dropped off the dog on Friday, my neighbour (who is also one of my yoga buddies from the community classes) asked me if I was interested in doing a yoga session on Sunday. A yoga studio near by does have a class today from 4pm to 5:15pm. I'll wait to hear from her but if not I'll definitely be doing some on my own.

I also want to have a rough copy of my cost benefit summary done today as it's due on Tuesday.

I took tomorrow off as well, tomorrow I want to focus on NKE prepartations and making strawberry buttercream for the cupcakes. Plus I need to remember to pack gym clothes as I have a session on Tuesday which is not normally a gym day. There's no yoga because of the easter holiday so that works. I must remember to go to yoga on the 21st.

Alright my friends now you're up to date on what I've been up to.

Hugs!

Thursday, April 09, 2009

It's alright

While Wednesday was more reflective, I wasn't absorbed in sadness. There were two birthdays in the office that day and laughter all day so I think that helped a lot.

After work I went to Twigs and got two bunches of tulips and they wrapped them up with pussy willows. That was for Mom. It was kind of neat walking through downtown Calgary with my arms full of spring and I caught more than one person smiling as they gazed at the flowers. When I got home I lit a candle in her memory. I know she's in a much better place now as she was ill for more than a few years before her death. Now she no longer suffers.

On to happier things.
On the way to the bus I stopped by a hair salon that sells OPI nail polish a wee cheaper than everywhere else and I found Yoga-ta get this blue and Purple with a purpose. The blue almost an identical blue to the one on my toes. I needed a bit of spring in my life.

Man, I hear birds chirping all the time for the past few days and today I saw a robin. The other day as I was on my way to work I saw a boot camp running at 6:15am. Yup, spring has sprung.

Workout tonight was hard, I don't know if it's because it's been a week or because I sneezed a whack of times today but I felt nauseous and winded through the whole thing.

Here's what we did:
Regular Warm Up

Then we hit the treadmills.
400m - 4.5 fast walk and then 5.0 jog for the last 100m
40 Squats
15 push ups off the end of the treadmill
25 - 20lb dumbell swings
20 - 35lb dumbell thrusters

Repeat 4 times

No after the first jog I could barely breath and I did the first round alright and then I died. So I got a modified 2nd, 3rd and 4th round.
I still did the treadmill but walked at 3.7 and then jogged for the last 100m
I got assigned 20 squats, 10 push ups, 10 Swings and 5 thrusters. I still found that really hard and my breathing was still difficult.

Then we did Tricep pulls and bicep curls - 21 each, 15 each and 9 each.

I know I'll be sore tomorrow. I got things to do tomorrow as it's Good Friday I have the day off and my plan is to clean my house from top to bottom. I'm also taking the neighbours dog for a walk tomorrow - we bonded. I'm thinking the off leash park and go for a long walk.

Dad is coming in for Saturday and Sunday and then I took Monday off.

Trainer will have no one on Monday so he's doing a session with my group on Tuesday.
I have 8 sessions left so 4 weeks. He called me this morning to ask if I wanted to renew. I told him not right now first I'd like to know my job is secure and I probably won't know that until the end of the summer. I do like working with him so there is a strong chance I'll go back especially as I'll have the next few months to see if I can keep this up on my own. He was talking about 48 weeks for two sessions a week. I told him "I get a discount right?".

Of course my gym membership would expire in January and with the new corporate gym with all the high tech equipment for $20/month. I don't see renewing with World Health. After all I'll still have Spa Lady for weekends as my location of WH isn't open on weekends.

The true goal is become my own personal trainer.

Isn't there something about spring that just gives you a renewed energy for healthy stuff. I know I'm feeling it.

I'll probably post at some point on the weekend but I want to wish you all a Happy Easter in case I don't.

Hugs!

This weekend I'll also go back to old postings and make sure my workout notebook is up to date.

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

It's done

My performance management and training class that is...no longer do I need to spend 3 hrs in a class room after putting in a 9hr day at work. The class was fun though we played a game of Jeopardy that was absolutely hilarious. There were 3 groups and each had to come up with an animal sound as a their buzzer sound. My group went with something along the lines of "EEE-EEE-EEE" really fast. Apparenlty it's some type of monkey. We got a lot of questions just because we squashed out the sound of the other groups (Kaw-Kaw) and Moo, our sound was far more piercing.

So one more paper - a two pager and I'm completely done.

Had my first quarter mini review at work and apparently I'm doing a good job.

Trainer emailed me back with what I missed:

100 feet of lunges
21 pull up
21 push up
21 sit up

Repeat the 100 feet then do 18, 15,12, 9, 6 reps for pull up, push up, sit up

Sound fun huh? Not sure how many lunges make up 100 feet but I'm sure that's alot especially 6 times. Can't wait to see what happens on Thursday.

Must make a shout out to the Glitterati, if I have a daughter one day I want her to be just like her -Smart, funny and a beautiful person. This beauty wunderkid tracked down the name of the Orly nail polish that I have on my toes and gave me not one but two potential alternatives....along with pictures. To top it off she's an overall genius, not just about beauty products.

Alright tomorrow will be a bit of a sad day as it's the anniversary of my Mother's passing, it happened 7 years ago so the wound is not fresh but I still miss her.

So take care kids and take a moment to appreciate all those you love as time passes in a moment.

Hugs!

Monday, April 06, 2009

How cute is that

I got an email from my neighbour today telling me that the dog (I was babysitting last week) got out of the van after an off leash walk and went to my door instead of theirs. How adorable is that? So I asked if she (the dog) would be available for a play date sometime this weekend.

Missed my training due to a meeting that ran late. I didn't know about it until it was happening so had no heads up time to give trainer. So I sent him a hugely apologetic email and I'll see him on Thursday.

Class tomorrow, this is such a long day that I'm super happy it's the last one. Next class all online, thank goodness. I'm buying lunch tomorrow as I don't want schlepp a lunch bag all over town. My stuffed potatoe and hamburger patty lunch today was awesome.

I'm overjoyed that the Yogen Fruz in the building across the way is open. It's so nice to have a healthy desserty type of place especially as the weather gets warmer.

My boss is in town tomorrow which is nice, I usually only see her when I go to Fort Mac.

The Hills are back for the last season.....love it.

Alright later my friends...hugs.

Sunday, April 05, 2009

Sunny Sunday

Totally slept in today and tried Multi Grain Cheerios with a banana for breakfast. I was prompted to buy this cereal after watching Jillian's plug on Biggest Loser. It's true 100cal and 5g of fibre.


I do often find the product plugs during shows somewhat irritating. I was watching Chuck the other day and out comes Subway subs and the $5 foot long promo. What sold me on the cereal is that I'm getting bored with my usual cereals and I like that they mentioned why it was a good choice and not just focus on the multigrain part.

Did a whole lot of laundry today and cooking. Not as much cleaning as I would have liked to do apart from dusting but I can tackle it in smaller chunks throughout the week. I asked for Monday off so I'll have a 4 day weekend over Easter. It hasn't been approved yet but I see no reason why it wouldn't.

I don't plan on taking any vacation time until the work thing is sorted and I know where I land. Instead I'll take advantage of the paid time off days and tack them onto weekends here and there.


Today I baked two potatoes in the toaster oven. I was craving baked potatoe and normally I make it in the microwave which isn't baking it's steaming. There is definitely a difference my friends. Had one for supper and split the other one in half and made stuffed potatoes. That will be part of my lunch for two days along with a hamburger patty. Tomorrow's dinner will be left over pizza and some veg.


It's back to the gym tomorrow so we'll see how my return after melt down goes.
Stay tuned.

Hugs!

Saturday, April 04, 2009

Spaaaaaaa......


Cruising through the blogs tonight I stopped by BionicWoman's blog and she had this picture on hers and I had to follow the link. OMG how cute are these. I'm totally coveting the small downward and upward dog. Head over to Yoga Zoo for a closer look.
Spa was good but I wanted to punt one woman with a magazine because she was chatting away on her cell phone in the relaxing area. This is an absolute spa no no. It began with the massage and apparently I have angry rhomboid muscles and she worked them. I went in for deep tissue and she did really well. My hamstrings have no issues today at all. The pedicure was fantastic as well especially the sugar scrub and paraffin wax. I picked a rockin' blue colour and despite hanging out for an additional 15 minutes waiting for the polish to dry my big toes were smudged by the time I got home. It was funny she did ask me if I brought flip flops, the reason I thought this was funny is that there is still gobs of snow out there. It's not flip flop weather yet.
This has inspired me to find a similar blue colour thought. It looks damn good against pale skin. I couldn't buy it there as it had to be ordered. I'm not truckin' all the way down there just to pick up a nail polish.
Did a killer grocery shop today that needed a cab ride home. Of course when I got home from the spa I was passing barbeque smells and had a huge craving for steak. I don't have steak so instead bit of a treat I called Panago and ordered a small Steak Mushroom Melt pizza and a garden salad (I love their salad). It's all very yummy.
However it's just a treat. Tomorrow is cooking day and I've already put all the point values on everything I purchased today. I have options in my kitchen right now. Something I'm trying this week is to decide my supper the night before so if there's any prepping that needs to be done I can do it while making that nights dinner. It's my attempt at speeding up the process especially on gym nights.
I'm also going to bring my own coffee to work. The free stuff at work is terrible. Stopping at Tim's each day or Starbucks is costing money and calories. You see when I make coffee at home I use light canned milk so cream like texture no where near the calories. I'll be dusting off the timer on my coffee machine.
Tomorrow is cooking, laundry, vacuuming and reading day and perhaps I'll see if the dog next door is available for a walk.
Hugs!

Friday, April 03, 2009

Not as bad as I thought

I woke up this morning hella sore in my right hamstring, no lingering soreness with the left. So at least I know it was only one hamstring that caused my melt down.

I booked a massage for Saturday and tossed in a pedicure because dang it I'm worth it.

Tomorrow morning I'll do my grocery shop and load up on healthy options for home and healthy snacks for work. I'll get bananas - need that potassium. I need to get my act together and stop buying lunch.

I really need to get studying for the NKE I'm writing it once again on May 2nd. I know more than last year including what the test looks like so I'm feeling positive.

Plus usual weekend routine i.e laundry and cleaning house.

Ran into one my workout buddies and I guess Trainer told her that I had an incident at the gym. She told me his face was sad. Perhaps he'll treat me with kid gloves on Monday.

Last class for my university class is Tuesday, next one starts the 21st and when that's done I'm done. The certificate is finally finished. I'm bound and determined to have that CHRP designation by the end this year.

Alright kids, I'm tired and have nothing else to tell you so stay tuned tomorrow for tales of the spa.

Thursday, April 02, 2009

Not according to plan

Pretty average day today with the exception of every big wig in my area was in a meeting on my floor. We're talking the Sr. VP, the EVP, VP and whatever else they call each other. All it took was for everyone to realize they were there and we all took the long way around to the kitchen or bathroom so we didn't have to walk past that room.

I've been exhausted all day but I knew I had a workout tonight so I plugged through.

Got to workout did my warm up, 25 push ups, 250km on the rower and 40 dumbell swings with 20lbs and I took a step towards the weight rack to do my next set of push ups and SHAZAAM I had searing pain in the back of both my legs. OMG I could barely hobble and the tears started to flow.

Trainer quickly tossed me into a back room and head trainer dude came and they made me lie down. They were firing questions at me like "Did you hear a pop?", "Is it shooting pain?", "Is it vibrating pain?". I'm like it hurts and shut up.

So the other guy did some leg stretches and the pain started to subside. We suspect one heck of a muscle spasm in both hamstring muscles. Again the questions "Are you hydrated", "How much salt in your diet". I'm like dude let me lie here.

Now I was totally red and my eyes a spectacular vibrant green against the red face. He's asking me if I'm o.k because I still look upset. I had to explain that I stay red for a long time.

After the pain subsided now I felt mortally embarrassed and the tears started again. OMG it was kind of funny watching two manly trainers dealing with a sobbing female. They filled out an incident report. The other guy tried to make me feel better telling about a woman who once fell of a treadmill and put a hole in a wall.

No my hamstrings feel sore, I've taken a hot bath and did a good amount of time in Legs up the Wall pose to stretch. I don't need to face the gym until Monday.

You know what's really funny on Monday Trainer was talking about making people cry and I defiantly said you've never made me cry. Busted.

I'll go back on Monday....maybe in disguise?

Take care kids....hugs.

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

I need groceries


Toast for supper is getting old. Dog goes home tomorrow, while I loved having her and we did a killer walk tonight, the need to get home and let her out has complicated my schedule. She is a cutie but the need to be by my side every moment is exhausting.


She's so funny I picked her up today and she was already adapted to our one day routine. Hopped right into my yard and sat in front of my back door. She went straight to the spot where I had her water bowl the day before. Of course I had yet to unpack the water bowl.


She slept right next to me all night and this morning she gave me a "hit the snooze" look when the alarm went off.


I didn't sleep so great as I was very conscious of where she was and didn't want to knock her off the bed. Today I'm so tired I don't think that will be a problem.


Trainer tomorrow and I actually got cardio since Monday thanks to the dog.


There she is...as I so rudely interrupted her nap to take the shot

Take care of yourselves....hugs!