Operation Enough resurrected and more FitBloggin

Well hello my friends,

I returned to my WW meeting yesterday, my last weigh in was Sept.8th, whoa time goes fast. I do have a very bad habit of avoiding weigh in if things aren't going my way and there was one week I failed to set the alarm. I do realize hiding from the scale doesn't help me. So right here and right now I vow to not miss a weigh in unless absolutely necessary and never because I just want to avoid the number.

Avoiding the number never ever works and I pulled up my big girl pants and went. I was up 5lbs, it's a product of my actions. I will not look back only forward. I know what I need to do.

Right now the only weigh in that I might not make is when I go to Orlando for the half marathon, I will  hunt down a WW center in Orlando but I'm hoping it's not a mega huge cab fare from Disney World. Don't suppose anyone knows of a WW location close to Disney World?

A while back I created Operation Enough, it was around going to Vegas, my birthday and a numerous other events. Today I resurrected two things Operation Enough 2 and my half marathon training.

Operation Enough is a spreadsheet essentially, I love data and way back when I first started WW I tracked everything not just points. I tracked activity, percentages lost, daily weigh in (which work for me not for everybody). I cleaned up the spreadsheet making sure it went to Dec 31. It helped me track trends and look back at what works. I did buy a new 3 month tracker yesterday and Day 1 is tracked.

On the half marathon training front my last tracked run was Sept. 2 that was my last LSD (long slow) run. Yeah, I fell off the wagon on that one. Not sure what happened but I know I failed at scheduling my life. A combination of long days and a wee bit of a stress didn't help. I now have 6 weeks till the race and focus must be amplified.

Today was 8 miles on the training plan, last long day was 6 miles. I felt strong through the first 6 miles and thought I was doing really well but then I hit a monster hill and had no energy left in the engine. My neighbourhood is full of inclines and I had conquered a few already. I did commit to 8 miles and I did 8 miles. The weird part I was faster then Sept. 2.

Sept. 2 was 6 miles at a pace of 14:26/mi, today I did 8 miles at a pace of 14:21/mi. Yeah me!

I found this in the hotel gift shop in Baltimore. I have a thing for keys and that word believe is so important. The mini cards I took to FitBloggin have a key design, my goal is the key they give you at WW for goal and I fully intend to buy myself a Tiffany key when I hit goal as a constant reminder and prize. The key above is now on my key chain. Keys open doors and open hearts.

That leads me to the last of my FitBloggin pictures, I can't write a final FitBloggin recap as that experience is so much more and it lives with me every day. I just want to introduce you to some folks  you may already know but if you don't you should.

This is the amazing Kenlie of All The Weigh, when she spoke during the discussion Lots To Lose, she had me in tears. She has such a beautiful soul. She also posts a Friend Making Monday questionnaire that I admit I've never taken part in but I always read everyone else's. Perhaps tomorrow will be my first attempt.

This is Krystle of Skinny Jean Dreams, I was hugely inspired by her WW journey. What surprised me even more was she was surprised I read her blog as I guess she doesn't post there as often as before. At any rate she will remain in my RSS reader as she continues to be an inspiration.

This is Sue of Mrs Fatass, and she celebrated her birthday at FitBloggin. Last year she attended the Zumba class and it inspired her to be become a Zumba instructor - like how cool is that? She taught the class we did. OMG she's amazing so much fun and had over a 100 of us shaking hips and doing our thing. When I started to freak out about going to FitBloggin she was one of the first to reach out on twitter to tell me it would be amazing. She was right.

This is Samantha of Simplifying Sam, she co-taught the Zumba class and this girl has moves. I always think I look like a drunk interpretive dancer while doing Zumba. I want to learn to move like her. She is also a complete sweet heart. Wish I had more opportunity to get to know her so I do hope she goes to FitBloggin 13 in Portland.

This is Emilie of Skinnyemmie, she taught a session on "Using social media to drive blog traffic".  My blog has always been for me and if you enjoy it bonus. I've never wanted to use it to make money as I don't want to write to please people just write about my perception of my universe and hopefully find friends along the way. She's a genius. I do love data and the stuff she told us about had me intrigued. Check out the live blog recap.

Baltimore's Inner Harbor is beautiful, it was an amazing location, I took this from the window next to the elevator.

I have a thing for submarines, starting from book and movie The Hunt for Red October so I was thrilled to see one docked.

These are paddle boats you can rent, they just made me smile as I immediately thought of Ogopogo, the mystical creature in Kelown, it's like North America's Loch Ness Monster.

I just loved the whole area being from land locked province the harbor was beautiful.

So my schedule this week is a little whacked. I fly to work and back on Monday. Tuesday is an all day meeting in Calgary and then the Carrie Underwood concert. Wednesday to Friday I'm heading to Canmore for a girls weekend. The plan is to relax, look at mountains and a spa day.

This is where we're staying, how gorgeous is that?

Now the friend I'm going with isn't so focused on a fitness lifestyle. I completely respect that as it's to each our own. We've already determined there will be snacks. That might be a bit of a challenge for me as I can be lead astray. The room we have has a kitchenette so I will focus on healthy snacks and keep looking at my believe key. I will pack gym clothes as the resort has a gym. I can do this.

Alright I leave you with this as my alarm is going off at 3:30am.

Hugs!!!!

More FitBloggin, New Hair & Day 1

Well Hello,

Can I say how it good it is to be home? I've been all over the place lately. I worked right up to FitBloggin, went to FitBloggin then back to work the next day. I pretty much dumped my suitcase and packed my backpack for site, turned around and left.

I got to work on Monday not realizing my Thursday meeting was in Fort McMurray not Calgary so I had nothing with me. Good thing I keep duplicates of everything in my camp room so I had a toothbrush and clean underwear.

Wednesday night took the bus from site to Fort McMurray (2hr ride), checked into the hotel, grabbed dinner at The Keg and then to sleep. Next day was full meetings and super bad food like The Keg for supper, waffles for breakfast, chicken fingers and fries for lunch; and pizza for supper. Yeah I know not the behaviour of someone who wants to lose weight. I felt like was I on a run away train so happy to home to reset and start over.

It started today with new hair

A few inches shorter and freshly trimmed fringe, I love the blunt hair cut perhaps it comes from being a science fiction fan and always liking the Vulcans and Romulans on Star Trek.

At any rate I wanted to share a few more pictures from FitBloggin with you all.

I had to fly from Calgary to Toronto in order to catch a plane for Baltimore, so a view of the Toronto skyline as we were starting to land. The pointy thing in the middle is the CN Tower.

I passed this mural on the way to the luggage once I landed in Baltimore. The airport was crawling with US soldiers dressed in dessert fatigues. Then I remembered there's a huge military base in these parts. When I actually got off the plane and into the terminal there was a big line of their packs it almost looked like a snake. I was tempted to take a photo but didn't know if that was appropriate.

On the first night of FitBloggin there was a little social get together that also involved making you name tag. Next year I'll make sure to bring some Canadian Flag and Cowboy related stickers.

This is the amazing Susan or you may know her as Foodie McBody, she gave a one woman performance about finding out she was facing diabetes. It was incredibly moving and touching. I think she gave me my very first hug at FitBloggin. She is also a Weight Watcher so I feel kinship with her.

I then went for dinner with two brand new FitBloggin friends the wonderful Amy from Mostly Forward and Cali from Broccoli Cupcakes, as we were eating at J.Paul's a pirate ship drifted by with a whole lot people yelling "Argh".

The next day there was a Crossfit Class with Reebok and I got paired off with the amazing Dani (who I did not get a pic with :(. She's a WW leader, and a super fun person.

I'm actually reading a book right now about the history of Crossfit, it's a good read.

I also like how it explains some of the exercises at the back. As long as I'm on a fly in fly out schedule I won't be joining a Crossfit gym, way too expensive for something I can only use for 3 days anything in writing is super helpful.

I almost forgot the amazing sway they gave us, I was warned but I never expected such generosity. Those fabulous Reebok Flex are super comfortable and actually designed for crossfit or any cross training. I had to leave the yoga mat and cereal you can barely see behind.

I'll post more FitBloggin pictures tomorrow and introduce to more people I met plus some shots from my short exploration of Baltimore's Inner Harbor.

Tomorrow I go back to weigh in and I'm declaring a restart - Day 1. I saw a very scary number on the scale last night but I need to face up to facts and go back to basics. I'm going to buy a new tracker tomorrow and get this show on the road. I have a 5K on Oct 20 and the Disney Wine and Dine Half on November 10th both dates are looming very close.

Whatever number comes up tomorrow it's data and data I need to make the right changes.

Hope you had a great Friday.

Hugs!!!

FitBloggin Aha moments

I've found a bunch of new blogs to follow thanks to FitBloggin, so I'm reading a lot of recaps of the event.

I'm also realizing there's a whack of interesting people I didn't get a chance to meet & cool stuff I didn't do. Now I feel regret.

The fact that I went to FitBloggin at all is a miracle. I'm super shy in unfamiliar situations and not in the habit of putting myself out there. Yet from the moment I heard about it I had to go. A place where people on a journey to better themselves can meet & connect is simply amazing.

I definitely put myself out there more then normal but perhaps not enough. I'm not going to dwell.

Instead I will focus on learning more about these amazing people I spent 3 days with and foster friendships online. Then next year in Portland I'll make sure to go all in.

The experiences I did have will be with me always.

Hugs

FitBloggin Photos Part 1 - some of my fave peeps

Oy vey am I tired. When I got home I unpacked (quickly), packed my bag for site, laid out my clothes and went to bed by 10pm.

Woke up at 2am in a panic because I forgot to set my alarm. Set the alarm then got up at 3:30am and off to the airport again by 4am. 

Took this photo this morning just before we landed, I do work in the middle of nowhere but it sure is pretty. 

Now I have some vanilla bourbon herbal tea and let me share my FitBloggin photos. 

I did discover at this event that I'm a terrible blogger. I'm terrible at documenting things and posting photos. 

Let me start with the amazing Roni Noone who created and executed this amazing event. 

Don't mind my bangs, the room was really warm as this was at the reception on the 2nd night and it was a great turn out. 

The entire FitBloggin crew, these are amazing people - funny, inspiring and incredibly kind and friendly. 

I met some of my blogger idols

I walked right up to this gorgeous woman on the very first day and told her she was my WW idol, I have loved Sheryl's blog and I'm so attached to her writing because I see her as my "after". We're the same height (she's wearing fabulous heels) and her start weight is super similar to mine. I see her success and know I can do it too. She is a very popular person and so incredibly kind and nice. 

The one the only Jack S*ht and my very first FitBloggin friend Amy. Jack was so kind to answer our questions about writing such a popular blog and his Ignite Fitness presentation was incredible. The finale was mentos in coke and the volcano was worth it. Amy was a first time FitBlogger too and it was so nice to have a friend to navigate this conference with. 

I sometimes feel like I stalk this wonderful woman on Twitter. I was really looking forward to meeting Robby and I love her blog FatgirlvsWorld. I totally relate to being a fat kid since a young age but her spirit is fierce and I so admire that. Not to mention her generosity she's giving away the Kitchen Aid mixer she won at FitBloggin, go to her blog for details. 

I was on a mission to find this amazing woman. I have been honoured to have her comment on my blog and I feel so blessed when she does. This is the amazing MizFit. I absolutely adore her message of yet your freak flag fly. When we taking this picture I said that and got this very special pose. I did originally find her in the bathroom and didn't even think twice about giving her a hug. 

Alright my friends more pictures to come but I now need sleep and drink my lukewarm tea. I met so many amazing people that I didn't get pictures of but these people's stories will stay with me and I can't wait to see them in Portland in 2013. 

Hugs 

Best day ever - FitBloggin 12

My friends, today made the entire 2 planes, 7.5hrs and 3194 KM (1984.6 miles) journey worth it.

Today there was a discussion about having a lot to lose. Now I consider my blessed that I realized I had to do something before I got into 3 digits of weight loss but needing to lose 69lbs got close enough.

Amazing people shared their lives, struggles & stories. I was so moved, inspired and in awe.

I've been very blessed in my life that I never had to deal with abuse, drug addiction or alcoholism in my family.

My parents did the best job they could, they were iffy on good nutrition but my parents had me much later in life. Both of them lived through WW2 so their food issues were based on never knowing where your next meal was coming from. I have never blamed them for thinking a bowl of whipped cream was an acceptable snack or the mandate to clean ones plate whether you were hungry or not. Yes my father has called me fat but I know it came from a place of concern and that was a very long time ago.

It was the day I realized I was 204lbs that hit me like a ton of bricks. I remember walking into my first WW meeting & thinking it would go something like - "Hello my name is Sylvia and I'm fat". Of course it was nothing like that. I 100% believe in WW I know it's a plan that works for me. Well it works for me when I follow it. I followed all the way to 168 and then I freaked out and now find myself back in the 180s. What I realize is I haven't learned all the lessons I need.

I absolutely believe one needs to find the plan that works for you.

What I have learned is comparing myself to others is not productive. Everyone's journey is different and the vitally important part is you are not alone.

So many brave people spoke today who write blogs like Fat Girls Can Run, Fat Girl VS World, All The Weigh, Simplifying Sam, Coffee Cake and Cardio and Redstar 5 They absolutely floored me with their honesty and bravery to share. I think I had an aha moment from all of them. They inspired more people to speak and I really felt the sense of community. I knew I wasn't alone in my battles to lose weight. The other thing that I felt was I can do this.

The reason I felt so compelled to write tonight is just to say you are not alone.

Big massive giant hug.

Just a quick one - FitBloggin

It's now been two days at FitBloggin and it's pretty amazing. My full report will be next week sometime so I can load some photos.

On Day One I so felt like it was the first day of school and you know absolutely no one. Many people knew each other as there were squeals and hugs everywhere. I was a wee intimidated.

I did have a moment of "what am I doing here" but I sucked it up as best I could and started introducing myself. So happy I brought cards.

You do make friends fast. I got on really quick with a few bloggers I will formally introduce all to in my real update.

Then I got hugs from some of my favorite bloggers. It was like meeting rock stars.

Today was Crossfit with Reebok and a workout with Cathe Friedrich. She can kick your patootie.

The most amazing session so far was Self Acceptance & weight loss. It was a discussion format and so many amazing people shared their stories. I'll give more details later.

Tomorrow it's Jumpstart Trampoline & Zumba

The next FitBloggin was announced today and it will be slightly closer to home in Portland, Oregon June 27-29.

Hope all of you are doing well.

Hugs!!!

I'm off to FitBloggin 12

Now waiting for my 4am cab, then it's off to Toronto and then Baltimore.

I'm starting to feel like it's the first day of school... You know a combination of excited/ nervous.

I'm so looking forward to meeting fellow bloggers, making new friends, trying new workouts and hopefully learn to be a better blogger.

Are you going to FitBloggin? If so looking forward to meeting you. If not, I'll tell you all about it.

Have a good Thursday

Hugs!!!

Pack Mule

So my Fitbloggin packing got as far as most of what I'm taking is now on top of the spare room bed. Tomorrow night when I get home it will go in to packing cubes. The plan is to only need to pack the stuff used up to the last minute on Thursday in the wee hours of the morning. My flight leaves at 6am. So I need to be out the door by 4am. It will be just like today.

I love packing cubes it keeps me organized and easy to find stuff. I'll have to take a before and after photo.

It seems like I'm bringing more workout clothes then regular clothes. When not in workout clothes it will be a casual look for me.

I'm bringing a little body spray and deodorant for my purse as it looks like it will be workout to mid day sessions.

I'm seriously starting to get nervous. Thoughts like this are running through My head "Will I make new friends?", "Will I freak out when I meet some of my favorite bloggers i.e. like Bitchcakes, Mizfit and Jack #%$ just to name a few", "I hope they
Iike me".

It's feeling like your first summer camp when you don't know anybody. That's my inner introvert making herself known. Of course logical self is all "Shut up, you're going to have so much fun".

Today I'm running on limited sleep which is traditional for the night before I fly. I have to keep reminding myself I fly home tomorrow and not Thursday. Today I was pack mule. In my backpack was 2 pairs of jeans as the ones here at site should retired, skin care more suited to cooler & drier weather, plus more odds and ends.

Right now I'm doing my site laundry so I'll be sorted for the Monday after Fitbloggin.

Then it's an early night for me.

2 days to Fitbloggin!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hugs!!!!!!!!!

Allow myself to introduce...myself

I couldn't resist that line from Austin Powers however the purpose of this post is to introduce myself to fellow Fitbloggin attendees plus a bit of my regular life blog writing.

So this is me, my real name is Sylvia and that's all I'll give you on the blog. The reason is I work in HR so I try to control what can be googled about my real name. My nom de plum / alias is Cowgirlwarrior. Funny story about that, I couldn't think of a cool name to use so the Cowgirl is because I'm a native of Calgary, Alberta. Calgary is famous for the Calgary Stampede. The warrior came from this weight loss/ fitness journey I'm on. I sometimes use that as a little mantra when I'm trying to push through a workout.

I just turned 40 this year, however most guess younger. Yesterday I went to a BYOB house warming and the girl at the liquor store asked for ID as she wasn't sure, boy was she surprised when I handed over my I.D.

I work for an Energy Company as an HR Advisor, so basically my job is to help managers and employees navigate HR programs. My client group includes the unionized work force so labor relations is a huge component of my job. I actually work at an operational site so I fly to work on Mondays and fly home on Thursdays. While I'm at site I stay in camp. Now by camp I don't mean tents. It's actually closer to a small hotel room. Hey you get used to someone else making your bed, cleaning, and making your meals. My work attire is t-shirts and jeans. At some point I'll be transferred back to the head office in Calgary and will have to get my corporate self on.

I'm an only child so I like to say I don't understand the concept of sharing. I apparently have a fairly unique laugh and people recognize me based on that alone at times which makes me think of Elmo. I do have a reputation of being funny and a tell it like it is sort of person. I'm pretty good at being tactful, well most of the time. The only times I might not be is if someone asks me for my brutally honest opinion.

By nature I'm an introvert especially in new situations, but can quickly turn into an extrovert if I'm comfortable. While I've certainly been to conferences before they've all been work related so this is my first blogging conference. This is also my first trip to central USA. For trips to the US I usually stick to California or Nevada.

My goal at Fitbloggin is to try as much as I can. I'm going to every workout on the schedule. I'm really looking forward to the Zumba, the Jump Fitness and the 5K. The only thing I have to miss is the McCormick tour as my flight time just didn't gel.

I'm so looking forward to meeting bloggers I've followed forever plus meet new people. I just followed the Fitbloggin attendee and sponsor list on Twitter. I started to work my way through the blog lists to follow as well.

Can't believe this is only 4 days away. I'm starting to pack today as my schedule this week is super complicated.

Alright now on to regularly scheduled programming.

I made these yesterday

I've seen loads of bloggers create these and I think it's a good visual goal reminder. I'm using 5 beads per pound, hey those .2, .4, .6 and .8 add up. In the pounds to go jar there are 265 beads - 53lbs to goal. I started from my original starting weight when I walked through the doors of WW.

Speaking of WW, I slept through weigh in yesterday I totally forgot to set my alarm. I will automatically miss next Saturday due to Fitbloggin so next WI is in two weeks. It's definitely been a catch up on sleep weekend. Not sure if I'll have time to blog before Fitbloggin but I plan on documenting my journey and writing a recap when I return.

I do hope all of you are enjoying your Sunday...Hugs!!

Time flies at supersonic speed

This week flew by as I was super busy. So I apologize in advance that this might be a long post.

I was a bit behind having spent Thursday and Monday working in Calgary as I was helping out in interviews.

That is probably what I miss most about having been a recruiter. It's always interesting to hear people's histories and aspirations.

At any rate once I got back to site I thoroughly went through my blackberry and created a monster to do list. I got through most of the priority stuff by Thursday. It was a long week. Working in an operational environment usually means late meetings, it's not uncommon to have a regular meeting that starts at 6pm.

Every quarter we have communication sessions which I get to hear 9 times in all. Once when it's actually presented by the big wigs, and then 8 more times with each of the 8 crews. Pretty much by the end I have it memorized. It's never boring though as everyone asks different questions. When the presenters change I'm there to help them out.

So this week was definitely long and once again workouts suffered, I definitely need a better plan. Working 12hr to 13hr days wipes me out by night time and adding morning workouts takes the will of Superman when it seems like you just fell asleep.

At the end of day it has to be priority. It's now less then a week to Fitbloggin and one thing I'm hoping to get out of the experience is some inspiration. I'm starting to get super geeked and a wee nervous. I'm an introvert by nature, yes I need to be a bit of an extrovert for my job. I can be extroverted when I'm comfortable but in new situations I definitely lean to introvert, I guess it's good thing I'm a Gemini.

Now I quite found of The Shopping Channel which is the Canadian version of QVC, I blame it on being  on a fly in/ fly out work schedule. No malls in the far north.

Well the other day I saw Lug featured. I had no idea they were a Canadian company anyway they were featuring quite the deal of pack of 5 different bags and they had purple. I love purple so I figured with the Fitbloggin trip plus Disney World in November so this struck me as a good idea and it was really good deal.

Well they came today, yahoo so they can come to Fitbloggin.

First of the Taxicab Full tote. I love bag with billions of pockets as I love my bags to be organized. On the back there's a strap so it can hook onto a luggage handle, not to mention an insulated pocket for a water bottle. It also has a removable mirror and coin pouch. It has a water repellent coating. Pretty nice carry on me thinks. It also has a plastic bottom kind of awesome if you put in on the floor. The other thing I like is pockets are big enough for boarding passes while being secure and easy to access.

Next up the Wings Day bag. This one also has loads of pockets and a shoulder strap. It has a nice front pocket and hidden water bottle pocket. What I like about this it's a messenger bag that will fit my Ipad, not to mention a few other things.

Now we have the Somersault shoulder pouch, I put in front of the Wings bag to show the size difference. Again easy access pockets and just the right room for essentials when you don't want to carry a lot.

This pack also came with some accessories.

The Canoe Brush holder, what I love about this is it stands up too, so perfect for a bathroom vanity and enough pockets for make up brushes plus you can put make-up in there too.

What had me at hello was the Clipper flat iron case, you can put a hot flat iron in this thing. Insert angelic music here. I can't even say the number of time I've gotten ready and tried fanning the flat iron so I could pack it or using at night so it's cool to pack in the morning. The other bonus that velcro strap in the front keeps the cord organized.

Last up the wallet, it has a whack of card pockets. Which sometimes I find a challenge with everything having some sort of customer card.

I've never been to their website but know I know they some pretty cool stuff especially for travel and at two planes a week I travel a lot.

I'm coveting this:

It's a travel pillow and blanket, there's an inflatable pillow and blanket inside, and then you put into the case and cozy up with the blanket.

Speaking of travel, I need to pack for Fitbloggin this weekend. On Monday I fly to work, on Tuesday I fly home, on Wednesday I have an all day meeting in Calgary and then on Thursday it's off to Baltimore and I have a super early flight.

Now in current news a friend from the past has resurfaced, well I wouldn't call it friendship exactly it bordered more on frenemies. We met in junior high and at the time there were 3 of us but only two were friends at any given time. Someone was always on the outs for some reason or another after all we were teenagers. Flash forward to University, we went to different schools. I think I stuck with this friendship for that long out of loyalty but I can't say there were too many wins for me. I always got unsolicited advice and if I politely declined this advice it made her mad. Now what confused me is I believed she would be there if the sh*& ever hit the fan. She always thought she was better then me in every aspect of life and admitted that to me point blank. I finally concluded this was toxic and I didn't need that in my life so contact dropped off and then she left for a job somewhere else.

Well she's back and I got the shock of a lifetime when she called me at work almost a month ago. Now it was asking me about what it's like to work a fly in fly out job. So I answered her questions but other than that didn't say too much. It was then followed by an email how it was so nice to talk to me and it was like picking up where the friendship left off. I didn't respond.

Tonight I had a message from her. It was to say hi and see what I was up to this weekend.

I'm torn, I don't need a toxic influence in my life, now of course people change but do they change that much? I need to think about this. I do have a busy weekend as I'm going to housewarming tomorrow and then Sundays are always an early night due to flying out in the wee hours of Monday.

Have you had frenemies in your life?

Hope you had a good Friday.

Hugs!!

Beast mode

I went to WI yesterday and stayed the same which I was expecting. I tracked up till Monday and then nada. I have no excuse, my tracker was on desk right in front of my nose all week. I just didn't treat it like a priority.

As I was sitting there waiting for the meeting to start and sipping my Starbucks I overheard these two women talking. One said coming back to WW was like AA after the summer and the other said she was so impressed when people hit goal in the summer. Yes summer can be a season of distraction.  What is it about fall that makes us all go back to school in some way. I'm not talking about formal school but even when the leader started to talk we talked about getting back to basics. I love fall, this is what I have on my office door, took this picture on Wednesday.

She talked about going back to "school" and encouraged us to read over the material again and then she showed us this:

Ladder of Achievement
100% - I did
90% - I will
80%- I can
70%- I think I can
60%- I might
50%- I think I might
40%- What should I do?
30%- I wish I could
20%- I don't know how
10%- I can't

Now this is the leader that I've always been a little iffy about as she quotes a lot of Dr. Oz but she's starting to grow on me. She asked us where we thought we were on the ladder. I put myself at 70%. She then said anyone at 70% or higher had a good chance of succeeding. It's all about working my way up that ladder and putting more faith in myself.

After weigh in I went to the gym, this was my activity for the day:
30min walk to WW and the gym
30 min walk on treadmill waiting for Zumba to start
45min Zumba
20min of Cardio HIIT class, there was 10 more minutes to go but that class killed me and I decided to save some energy for Iron Reps.
60 min of Iron Reps (not so wise to do this two days in a row as my muscles fatigued in record time)
30 min walk home from the gym

I earned a ginormous of activity points. I decided today would be a rest day even though I should have done 7 miles today. Rest is also important.

The rescheduling of some of those classes makes me realize I need to change my routine a bit. I'm not ready for that Cardio HIIT class even the instructor described it as more for the intermediate to advanced athlete. Plus that much time in the gym not so great the day before my long run days.

I love Zumba so that stays and maybe I'll stick to Iron Reps on Friday. I watched that last few minutes of the step class right before Zumba and might give that a try next week.

Today has been housework day, laundry, watering the lawn, dishes, dusting and etc.

Tomorrow I work in Calgary again and then fly up to site in the evening. The good part about that is I don't need to be up at 3:30am. This time I'm going to take an earlier bus to avoid the crowd I ran into on Thursday.

10 days to Fitbloggin....I'm totally getting nervous. Plus my schedule is whacked. I'll have to pack next weekend as I fly to work the Monday before back on the Tuesday, all day meeting on the Wednesday and then off to Baltimore via Toronto. That's a 6am flight to Toronto...oy vey.

However now I wind down, pack my work bag and review some WW stuff and off to a new week.

Hope your Sunday was wonderful.

Hugs!!

More weights

I did go to the gym today and decided to go to yoga and iron reps with tentative plans to run afterwards.

It's been awhile since I've done any yoga and every time I'm done I think I need to do this more often. I miss a regular class. This one was alright as it's done at the gym. I'd love to return to a studio. I'll have to think about that.

Then it was on to Iron Reps and a new routine. They tend to switch it up every few months. So many squats in this one. My stomach started to growl like crazy as it was now 1pm so I went over to the grocery store and grabbed a healthy lunch.

I've yet to run and not thinking that will happen today.

Tomorrow is WI and I plan to go to Zumba now 45min, try this new HIIT Cardio 30min and do another round of Iron Reps for 45min.

Then later on I'm helping friends move a treadmill, that should be interesting.

That's all I got today. Hope your Friday was super awesome.

Hugs!!!

Not used to it anymore

Today I had to go into the main office as I was helping out with interviews, sort of going back to old job to help out. Interviews are the part I miss the most. I used to love hearing people's stories on how they accomplished what they did and having a hand in how a group was created.

What I'm no longer used to is working in downtown Calgary. From the crowded bus ride in the morning to the even more crowded bus ride home again it was a lesson in patience. Not to mention the full face make-up and a desperate search for dress socks this morning.

I attempted to get some vanilla herbal tea at Teaopia after work but the downtown store is down to practically nothing as it awaits it's transformation into Teavana sometime in October. I guess I'll have to order it online.

Then I had to run to La Senza to get a few new bras. Then I zipped to Mountain Equipment Co-Op as I needed a cleaning kit for the bladders in my hydration pack and I also wanted to get the magnetic holder so the nozzle doesn't flap about as I run. I also picked up a head lamp as it will get progressively darker.

Then I found this

I am constantly untangling my headphones, I love that it clips on to things as well. I can clip it my bag or clip it to a zipper if I don't want the entire cord unrolled. I will test it out soon.

Now on Tuesday I didn't get back to camp until 8 pm, Wednesday I flew home an hour later and got home just before 8 with a very ill advised decision to stop at DQ for supper.

Today was again a long day but thanks to walking all over downtown I hit my Nike + goal.

Tomorrow I will head to the gym for a run and Iron Reps. I was checking the class schedule at my gym and I see they've made some changes.

My Zumba class in how an hour earlier, following my HIIT Cardio and then Iron Reps. Well that kind of messes me up for Saturday. Then I thought do I want to do 3 classes back to back - is that insane. I guess I'll have to try it to see.

Hope you had a good Thursday.

Hugs!!

2nd day of weight training

That is some sort of record for me since I worked out with a trainer almost 3 years ago.

Tonight was 5 rounds of:
10 Dumbbell Swings/Thrusters 10lbs
15 Dumbbell Squats 10lbs each hand
15 Sit ups on the ball
15 push ups on the bench

Whoa I was sweating like crazy after that. I could also feel some muscles from Saturday.

Tomorrow is a run day.I will stick toy workout plan this week.

Hope you enjoyed your holiday Monday!

Hugs!!!

Long Slow Day

Today was my LSD run, long slow day run/walk. Now I knew it might be a wee difficult as my last run was one week ago.

The goal today was 6 miles. It was perfect weather, not too hot and fall in the air. I love fall.

I started out with 1.5min run/1.5min walk, now that's a new interval that I should have started on Tuesday last week. It was kind of silly to start that on LSD day but I did 3 intervals of that and then dropped to 1 min run/ 2 min walk. I kept that up for 4 miles then walked the last 2.

I kept thinking if I'd only kept up better with the training I would not be so misreable right now. I was out with my hydration pack today (last time I used it was for the Honolulu Marathon a loonngg time ago) as I wanted to see if I liked that better then the bottles around my waist/hips (which sometimes feels like I'm running with an inner tube). That did add little weight to my back and again it was the first run in a week so I don't know why I thought it should be better. I snapped out of the negative thoughts and focused on what can I do now to make this better going forward. After all it was long slow day the goal was to hit the distance which I did.

A huge component is to keep up in the training and another huge component is to be lighter. I set a loafty goal for myself of losing 10lbs by Oct. 6 and another 10lbs by Nov.10. Now FitBloggin is in there but at least that's a trip that will factor in some workouts i.e. zumba, crossfit, jump start, 5K. It is technically do-able.

I didn't wake up too sore from my foray into weight training yesterday but I have a sneaky suspicion I'll be more sore tomorrow. As soon as I finish typing this I'm headed to a hot bath with epsom salts.

Here is today's deets:
6.10 miles/ 1:28:02/932 calories burned/163-183 HR

Hope you have a wonderful Sunday.

Hugs!!!

Back to the weights

Sort of a fuzzy picture as I was sitting in the last row of my WW meeting. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act but a habit. 

Another quote on the board today said "Habits are cobwebs first, cables last" 

I was up .8 today but I'm not disappointed. I missed last Saturday's weigh in because I went to a BBQ Friday night so I knew I'd see a gain. That's why my original plan was to weigh in the day before  In retrospect a really dumb idea. What I should have done is gone to that BBQ with a plan knowing I had to weigh in the next day. This past week was working on undoing the damage from last weekend. I won't be doing that this coming week or any other week. That just creates a vicious cycle anyway including treating Saturday as a treat day.  I'm ok with a treat not the whole day. 

Saturday weigh ins just make more sense for me so that's a fact to build habits around. 

I will get what I put in. Habits must become as iron clad as possible. 

After weigh in I headed to the gym. I love that my gym is pretty cheap plus newly renovated. What I don't love is every long weekend there are no classes the entire weekend. Now they normally don't have classes on Sundays unless it's a special pay extra program. Those can actually be quite interesting but i've never tried one yet. Today would normally have been Iron Reps and Zumba. 

I've read a bit of Superbodies and caught a bit of The Doctors plus I just know that weight training is important to my goal of getting fitter especially now that I'm 40. 

I made up a weight training routine for today using Smart Girls Do Dumbbells but when I got there I realized the gym had also added some new free weights so I readjusted my plan inspired by a trainer I had a few years back. It was at World Health downtown, not cheap and I didn't realize at the time but the workouts were based on Crossfit. I did really enjoy them but a company gym then opened which was incredibly cheap, then I went a site based job. That World Health nor the company gym are open on weekends. Alas Spa Lady (now owned by World Health). 

So I today I did:

Bicep curls 10lbs

Shoulder press 10lbs

Dumbbell thrusters started with 10lbs but too easy, upgraded to 35lb kettle bell

Skull Crushers 20lbs

Chest press 20lbs

Dead lifts 60lbs

Crunches on a stability ball

3 sets - 10 reps, 15 reps, 20 reps 

Plus I walked to WI, then walked 15 min on treadmill, rowed for 5min as a warm up, then walked home. 

I was facing the mirror while doing the weights and the reflection I saw was focused and strong. 

I did keep a notebook of all those workouts I did with the trainer so now to plan something for Monday & Wednesday. A crossfit gym is not an option for my schedule so that notebook will keep me going for now. Then there's always You-Tube.  I found something called Sandbells at the gym today and had to google them when I got home & watched a demo on You-Tube. There is a crossfit gym next to the hangar I fly out of but still not an option being home for 3 days a week. At any rate this was only day one a habit has yet to be established. I am pretty geeked that there will be a crossfit workout at FitBloggin. 

Hope you're enjoying your Saturday. 

Hugs!!!!