Time flies

When I was last here I was telling you my attempt at being prepared like packing my gym bag in advance.

Well on Monday I managed to leave without it as I had to make a run for the bus. I did walk home everyday this week from the c-train station so that's a little over a mile and 82 stairs.

The week itself was busy but we got tons done in the 3 days of meetings. I wound up going into the office on Friday even though it was my day off as I had so much to catch up on.

My attention was to only stay until lunch as I was having lunch with some friends but no I didn't leave till 3 pm. By the time I got home I was knackered. I even went to bed early.

This morning my alarm went off for catching the bus to work time which is sooner then I would get up for weigh in so I leaned over and tapped the alarm thinking I should reset it and then I fell back asleep immediately.

I slept through weigh in...dumb, dumb, dumb. I should have set the alarm the night before.

I'm obviously needed the rest.

Today I headed out for 6 miles around the neighbourhood, I walked it today as I had no running mojo but had a pretty good pace going and still covered the mileage required for my training plan.

Next week is an amazing race week for me. I need to fly to Edmonton Monday morning, then back to site Monday night, then bus it to Fort MacMurray Tuesday night and fly back home Thursday night.

I'm in the last week of my 3 month tracker and it's probably the first one I've finished in an incredibly long time.

Tomorrow Tai Chi picks up again.

Hope you all had a great week

A change in routine this week

On Friday I went out and did 4 miles, on Saturday I did 3 miles as the weather was great and I intended to head out again today as the gym was closed due to Family Day and no DVD inspired me.

However today I totally misjudged the weather and got around the block before and felt super cold so I cut it short today. It was probably best to take a break today anyway. It was a quick trip around the block due to being cold.

What I did do today that I haven't done in a long time is pack a gym bag as I'm working in the corporate office all week. Tomorrow I'll be hauling my computer back pack and my lululemon gym bag. Normally I go to the gym 4 doors down from my camp room so I change then go. When I'm at home I go ready to workout. I haven't done the pack stuff and change when I get there in a very long time. It's funny I thought I was packed and then remembered hair band and elastic, then water bottle, then workout towel.

Running tomorrow lines up with half training better anyway. I planned it so I don't run two days in a row.

I'm going to be in a 3 day meeting and Wednesday is our social activity which means bowling (yeah something active) and dinner at a steak place.

In fact I'll also be dealing with catered lunches for the next 3 days, so I'll focus on configuring the plate for example 1/2 veggies/ salad and water, water, water.

On Thursday I'll bring the gym bag again.

It's going to be a real test this week. I'm feeling confident thought. I can do this.

Hope you all have a great week!

Walking, walking everywhere

I didn't mean to not post for almost a week, I've had super awful sleep since I last posted and with so many people around me under the weather my priority was rest.

I returned to my WW meeting today after my self imposed pity exile last week. I know that skipping a meeting is never the answer. When I went to weigh in I handed over 2 weigh in coupons, the scale lady said I should just pay the registration fee but I said no I'm facing the consequence of not coming last week. You can't have goals without consequences.

The scale gave me a -.2 since my last WW weigh in 2 weeks ago and down 1.6 lbs since my weigh in at home last week.

I'm cool with that but now more determined then ever to get back on track.

Today I had a hair appointment at Aveda but was early so I swung by the Bay for tights as I'm working in the Calgary office next week and need to get my corporate on.

I also picked up Jillian Michael's new book Slim For Life.

I'm not too far into it yet. I first downloaded it on my Kobo but after a few chapters I realized I want to own this one. It's structured in a no nonsense kind of way and I've already picked up on an aha moment. Jillian suggests instead of a cheat day have a cheat meal, o.k that's not new. She suggests not counting in days but counting in meals going after the 80/20 rule. I'm intrigued.

Then it was off for new hair and after that I hiked up to Lululemon (18 blocks there and back) so I could use the gift certificate I got for Christmas. I was after sports bras as I'm discovering there is a difference. I have one bra from them the Ta Ta Tamer, love it. I also really like the new Under Armor but Lululemon is $10 cheaper, shocking hey. Well I get there and they don't have my size so the girl suggested going up a cup size so I tried it on and that works.

I then went back to the downtown mall and had lunch. I went to Arby's and had half a Great Canadian and a third of the curly fries. I made sure to be mindful and put it down after every bite.

I then walked through the revamped Devonian Gardens. I spent a lot of time in Devonian Gardens as a kid and when I got my first job downtown, it's literally a park on the 3rd floor of the downtown mall.

It used to be more stand alone but the mall has gone through some major renos and it now flows off the food court. It's a little oasis.

Direct quote from the city's website: Devonian Gardens, in the downtown Core Shopping Centre, has officially re-opened. Experience the 10,000 shrubs, 1.5 million pounds of soil and the 550 trees used to re-create this "tropical oasis".

You can feed giant Gold Fish, or at least I think that's what they are. I fed them as a kid as you can buy fish food from little machines near by.

 There's cute fountains. It's pretty serene I saw loads of people studying, playing cards or just reading.

 There's beautiful trees even in the dead of winter.

 Indigenous Art is everywhere

 The main park is on the 3rd floor but on either side you can go down levels if you want a quiet space. When I worked in the mall a bizillion years ago these little side parts where my favourite place to go to enjoy a coffee and a book.

 There's even an indoor playground, again pretty handy when it's wicked wind chill. This is a lot different from the old one but they look they're having fun The only thing that didn't come back was the indoor skating rink which I spent loads of time on as a kid.

Right off the food court there's little seating areas by these plant walls, a nice alternative if you don't want to sit in the main part of the food court.

You can gaze on the myriad of Plus 15s, those are the pedestrian bridges that go across the street, they're called Plus 15 because they're 15 feet off the ground. Super handy when you work downtown and it's -30C and also handy when it's +30C. Started in the 1960's but now span the majority of downtown as they pretty much go up with every new building. You can't really see due to the window covering but there are least 4 bridges in this picture.

I then headed home and tackled the C-Train station stairs.

62 steps in all and always make a point of taking them instead of the escalator. I'll have to keep these in mind as a workout option for a stair workout.

By the way so far today I did the equivalent of 25 flights of stairs which is a new FitBit milestone for me and 6.25 miles of steps.

Here's to a fabulous week ahead!!!

Hugs!!!

Going Dark

When a weight loss blogger disappears one tends to think they've fallen off the wagon and that's what happened to me.

Why off the wagon? I have yet to learn how to deal with emotions.

This whole job thing was driving me more nuts then I wanted to admit. I went in to the office on Friday and met my replacement. Well the email came out last Monday that we had a new member on the team and I got emails asking what the story was.

It bothered me that there's a plan for the new person, a plan for my co-worker but no plan for me. The root of all this is there going down to one HR person at site. In all fairness the original plan was to do no more then 36 months at site so I knew I would go back to Calgary eventually. I'm bothered because no one can tell me where I'm going.

Now my replacement is here and I will be expected to transition which I would any way but I'd feel better about it if I knew I had a job in Calgary.

Now I've been told people have my back, have I mentioned I have trust issues.

Well on Friday I met her and I think she's great. We had a team lunch then I walked her to her office. She asked me if I was looking forward to going back to the Calgary office. I then wondered if she knew more then I knew. My brain can be dangerous when I start to over think.

Well Friday was also after work drinks courtesy of my boss' boss so 3 vodka paralyzers later I walked home from the train station in a funk.

I blew off weigh in as I purposely didn't set my alarm.

Saturday was a baby shower. Sunday was my 2nd Tai Chi class. Funk continued.

Today I had a regular call with my boss and told her it was seriously bugging me. It's the season to set goals for 2013 and knowing I won't finish the year supporting this group had me stalled with this process. She assured me nothing to worry about. No changes till Q4 and goodness knows lots can happen in the future.

The funk is lifting. I watched BL and always get inspired with something someone says.

Tonight the words mediocre or elite stuck with me.

I choose elite so back to basics and focusing on what I can control.

Back into the light

Reckless

This is how I would describe my behaviour this week, not in put myself in danger sort of way but more sliding into bad habits kind of way.

I tracked on the weekend but it went sideways starting on Monday.  Monday was a long day as I was up at 3:30 am and in a meeting until 8 pm. We had a co-worker visit us up at site on Monday so we took her for lunch in the camp kitchen. Normally I pack my lunch on Mondays. I don't go for lunch in the camp kitchen as healthy is a challenge and it can set me up for a bad day.

I started Monday with trying the new version of my breakfast sandwich and once again got half down before tossing it. I'm thinking a protein shake might be a better option for such an early breakfast after a few hours of sleep and just waking up.

Tuesday was a whirlwind as I was flying home that day. It turned a wee stressful for me as well. By the end of 2013 I should be starting a new job but I have no idea what that job will be. Well it will be more or less what I do now but supporting a different group. New boss had hired my replacement, these are her words. Those words cause a little uneasiness as again no idea where I'm going and I don't think they know that yet. I do know my replacement and I will at some point be spending a few months together as I transition to her I just hope I know where I'm going by then or that will feel super awkward.

I'm a planner, so being in the dark is driving me a little bonkers. I try to relax and just trust in the process as my boss's boss tells me he has my back. New boss told me I was being shopped around. I saw boss's boss a few weeks ago and he asked me how I was doing. I told him I was apparently being shopped. He paused and said that's not the message I should be receiving and this was all about development. Hmm..new boss certainly has a way with words.

At any rate flew home Tuesday and get a whole 6 days of sleeping in my own bed. The Eric Church concert was fantastic and he seemed to be genuinely happy with the response he received from the crowd. The opening act was Colt Ford and I had no idea who he was. I think he started as a song writer. Every time he preformed a song he dropped a name of who he worked with on it. It was a kind of funny. 

Today I was supposed to go to a seminar  that I signed up for and paid for myself but yesterday I was looking around my house and every surface was covered with something. So today I decided to stay home and get sorted. A chaotic environment doesn't help me. Dusting and vacuuming are done. Now I'm doing laundry and then steam clean anything that can't go into the washer.

The other day I ventured into trying to sell my bib for the Hypo Half. Now I've never done that before and had a potential buyer. I contacted her yesterday and she was mentioning I change it to her name but I wanted the gym bag so I need to pick it up. In the end she wasn't going to be able to make the run so I probably won't sell it but I did decide kind of last minute to not do the run so I'll suck it up.

On Wednesday I went baby shower shopping and went a little crazy. I adore the mom to be and at one point I put stuff back only to turn a corner and see something she had to have.

Saturday is the shower and then a bunch of us are going roller skating. I haven't roller skated since I was 13. Should be interesting and not sure I'll be brave enough to actually skate but we shall see.

Friday I'm going into work even though it's my day off as I have lots to do and taking the last two days off but me a little behind.

In the meantime I'm taming the reckless and tweaking the focus.

Hugs!!!

1st Tai Chi class

I've always been fascinated by Tai Chi starting back when I used to do Sunday morning runs with the Running Room, my locations is right next to Chinatown and you'd see a group of people in the park doing Tai Chi.

In the spring and summer I pass a house on my way to weigh in were a little old lady will be doing Tai Chi on her balcony.

I had researched classes before but none really worked for my crazy fly in fly out schedule but low and behold my gym was going to offer a class so I signed up.

It started today and I was happy to see the instructor was Chinese, though people all over the world practice  Tai Chi it just would have felt funny if she was a  bouncy blond with blue eyes. It turns out Yen learned Tai Chi from her Grandfather and then studied extensively in China.

She spoke very broken English but I got the jist of what she was saying and it was kind of profound. We all have Chi (Qi) described as our life force but we live in a hectic world and on auto pilot so we forget our Chi and don't foster it.

I once had a Chinese massage which is supposed to work on your Chi and when I got off the table I was wicked woosy so I think there's something to this. Multiple cultures have a word for ones life force that gives more emphasis then the English language does.

We worked on the first 2 moves and there are 24 in all and this was the first of 6 classes.  I'm going to need to practice a little before the next class. At one point we were doing a standing meditation where you focus on your head, eyes, mouth, chest and so on. You have your eyes closed but at one point I heard someone take 2 very quick steps then wham they just crumpled to the floor. She looked young and was fine just a little shaken. We were standing for awhile and that can do wonky things to you.

It was a small class maybe 12 people but I think that's a good thing as it's easier to see her and for her to correct your movements. After the class we asked her to run through the whole sequence so we could see it, it was beautiful and I hope I can get this down to keep getting better.

Before the class I did 4 miles on the treadmill as that was my long run for this week. The treadmills at the gym shake so at one point I just walked it out at a quick pace and incline.

I will focus on keeping my long runs on Friday or Saturday.

Tomorrow it's up at 3:30 am and I pre made a breakfast sandwich again. Last week I couldn't finish it but I think that was because the bagel thin was a little soggy and dense after being microwaved as a complete sandwich. This week I'll use an English muffin and kept the egg and Canadian bacon wrapped separately so I'll toast the muffin and nuke the egg/bacon.

It's going to be an incredibly long day tomorrow as I have meetings until 7 pm. I'm planning my day out to include snacks to keep me going.

I fly home on Tuesday as I'm going to the Eric Church concert on Wednesday.

Well I hope you all had a great Sunday.

Hugs!!!

An all over the place week

I will fully admit I'm not good when my routine is disrupted.

I knew this week would be different due to having to be in Fort McMurray Wednesday night, fly home Thursday 2 hrs later then normal and go into the office on Friday.

Monday was great - I got a great run in while watching Biggest Loser. Our bunk has a little gym that's just down the hall from my camp room. I've never seen it that full. It has a treadmill, elliptical, stationary bike, a bench and free weights. I was on the treadmill and a guy was on the bike. He watches BL so we talked a little about it while we were both working out. He agreed with my surprise the Blue team keeps surviving for a bunch of lazy complainers though still love Bob. Then one girl came and did the elliptical for a few minutes to be replace by a co-worker I know who wasn't familiar with BL so we explained it. I stayed on the treadmill for 60 min as I was timing myself to my laundry.

Tuesday I messed up. I had changed a meeting invite that's supposed to start on Feb. 12 well I goofed and it updated the meeting for this Tuesday. So I facilitated a surprise (to me) meeting. I have to admit supporting all men can be rough and I felt a wee bit picked on so after the meeting I went straight back to my camp room to re-energize.

Wednesday it was a 2 hr bus ride to Fort McMurray. At the hotel I opted for a burger and ate half but then I had the Jack n' Bananas. It was banana cheesecake deep fried in wrap with bourbon ice cream. The ice cream was a very mini scoop but I ate 3/4 of the deep fried cheesecake and then felt off. The hotel gym was open 7 am - 11 pm. Well the dessert was a mistake killed working out that night. We had to be out the door by 7:30 am. Why can't hotels have 24 hr gyms?

Thursday was an all day meeting in a meeting room that was positively freezing, the majority of people had their jackets on and we're talking winter parkas as it was a balmy -35C in Fort Mac. One girl had her mitts on. I don't if it was because it was cold or what but it was a foodapalooza for everyone. It finally warmed up as we were getting ready to leave. I didn't get home till 9 pm.

Friday I had to go into the office. Now my old boss would have given me a day off in lieu as I work a compressed work week so Mon - Thurs. New boss not so much, felt it was entirely acceptable to have me work for free, now I did volunteer to come in on Friday as it's so much easier then messing with flight changes. I get the feeling I'll be working a lot of free Fridays.

So weigh in today we had yet another sub and this one is not one of my favourites. She's like a grade school teacher who talks at you and comes off very stern. The meeting didn't respond to her at all and conversations were at a minimum. I was up .2 again and totally deserve it but I need to stop this roller coaster.

No normally I'd go to Zumba today but the weather was so nice +7C that I wanted to go outside so I went for 4 mile walk around my neighbourhood. The 4 mile walk plus the walk to weigh in, grocery shopping and the walk back made it a great activity day.

Tomorrow I start Tai Chi at the gym and I'm very much looking forward to it. I'm going to go early and get a run in first. On Monday I changed my interval to 1 min run, 1.5 min walk and it was awesome. I also find it's better when I wear my gym boss and just use the vibration as a signal to switch rather then watching the time tick down.

So this week the goal is back to basics as I'm bound and determined to have a good loss next Saturday. I have some challenges next week I actually fly home on Tuesday as I have a concert on Wednesday. This means I can check out classes at the gym during the day on Wednesday. Thursday I'm going to 2 hr seminar, so I can workout out around that and it's not a food event. Friday is a team lunch as we have a new hire in our group so I'll bring a gym bag and go after lunch.

I did decide to not do the Hypothermic Half and go to my friend's baby shower instead. I need to rethink races in Winter that need training in the coldest months. Now my training is completely focused on the Half in May and then Dumbo Double Dare in September.

Hope all of you had a good week.

Hugs!!!