- I have been remiss is reporting back about how I fared in this year's edition of the January Jeans Club. Marion over at Affection for Fitness hosted a challenge this holiday season. The challenge was to simply NOT gain wait over the holidays. I think I can say with absolute conviction, that I nailed this challenge. I haven't weighed in for almost two weeks and saw that I have dropped another 1/2 a pound. My weight this morning was 156.5. Now that could simply be water fluctuation. I'm not putting too much stock in the number on the scale right now. All I know is that my size 8 skinny jeans that used to fit me like a glove, are sagging in the butt and I have to pull them up a lot when I wear them. I may soon have to invest in another pair of skinny jeans. I am finally dropping weight in my ass and thighs. Likely because there's no where else for it to come off.
- I will always be curvy, and I'm okay with that. I like my curves. And I have been told by one elderly woman that I have a nice bum. I'll take it because a compliment is a compliment! I think my ass is a tad flat. Needs some muscle definition for sure. I'm looking forward to starting at the gym in the spring (after I run the Bay). I'm curious to see how my body is going to change when I introduce strength training to it. Running will still be my main form of exercise because I love it so much. But I'm going to go to the gym a few days a week and see what happens. I think it will make me a better runner too.
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| My ass in my skinny jeans. Looks a little flat no? Pulled these babies up as high as they would go just before the photo was snapped. My butt looks GIANT! |
- This past week was a bit of a mess for my running schedule. I have a no excuses rule when it comes to running. I feel like I made one on Thursday. I had to drop Tuesday's run due to the temperature. It was -38C with the windchill, and I had to declare that a national emergency. No running on that day because I value my skin, fingers and toes. So I ran Wednesday and was supposed to do hill repeats on Thursday. I use the hill at McMaster University for hill repeats. It's about 400m long and it's cleared in the winter because there are parking lots at the bottom of the hill and people have to walk along the pathways. I normally run in the morning and I couldn't go and run on the campus at 5am on Thursday for a few reasons. The bottom of the hill is adjacent to the Dundas Valley. That means wild animals and vagabonds. And if I get approached by a possum, angry or otherwise, I'll lose my mind. I am terrified of possums! There is no one walking around the campus at 5am, and no buses or security would be patrolling the area. In a nutshell, I didn't feel safe. If I waited until the evening to run the hills, the paths are lit, the shuttle bus is running, security is out, and the campus is busy due to night classes. So I planned to run my hills Thursday after work. Well Thursday evening rolls around and I just couldn't do it. I was beat by the time I rolled into Hamilton at 7pm, and couldn't even fathom for a moment running hills. Also my boss advised me against running all together because he freaked me out about my paralyzed hand and kept telling me I could be doing worse damage because it's all connected to my spine (talk about over-analyszing). So I decided to put the run off till Friday which is normally my planned rest day. I am happy to report that I did run my hills on Friday after I saw the orthopedic surgeon at St. Joseph's in regards to my paralyzed hand. I am strictly a morning runner! Should I give myself a break? I just changed one running day for another.
- Hills sucked. I was at about 7 hill repeats back in August just before I broke my ankle. I ran 3 on Friday and the first one was brutal. The last one was the easiest. A hill repeat workout is as follows; a 3K warm up run to the hill, run down the hill then run back up at a faster pace, run down the hill again (which is also recovery) then run back up at a faster pace then repeat. Next week I move onto 4 hills until I get all the way to 10 hill repeats. By the time I'm doing 10 hills, I'll be running about 10K. I got as far as 9 hills when I was training for my last two half marathons. So I know I can do this. And I better end up with a bitching,shapely ass. Nuff said!
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| You think I would have looked a touch more ecstatic than this after completing my hill workout! |
- On Friday morning I made my way over to the Plastics Clinic at St. Joseph's to meet with the orthopedic surgeon. I am not going to lie, I had a pretty stressful week. I had all kinds of crazy going on in my head. I was convinced I had a bunch of symptoms for Multiple Sclerosis, or much worse, an inoperable brain tumor. I know, I know. Drama queen. Seriously, I always imagine the absolute worst. So my splint was starting to look all shoddy like, and the hot ER doctor told me to purchase a splint from Shopper's Drug Mart if the tensor bandage started to look grungy. I went into my linen cupboard in search of a new tensor bandage and what did I find? Not one but two removable wrist splints that I purchased from Shopper's...and they fit my left wrist. So this has happened to me before. For the life of me (and my husband, and my brother) I could not remember why I wore the splints in the past. So I wear the splint to work on Thursday and head over to see my oldest work friend Linda in hopes that she can shed some light on the situation. Lo and behold, she remembered why I wore the splint. I had bad tendinitis about 5 years ago from nursing Julien and lifting his car seat out of my car. He nursed better from the left side. That is why I wake up with my left arm numb and it gets all tingly. So this all started to fall into place and make sense. Long story short (and this is getting pretty long), I pinched the same nerve again in my sleep some how and this whole thing should blow over in a few weeks. If I'm still not 100% in a month, I should go back to the clinic because there could be more extensive nerve damage that may require intervention. But doctor felt very strongly that I would recover completely on my own. I'm at about 80% right now. And I don't have to wear the splint anymore. And he told me to keep running because it would help the situation, not hinder it!
- This morning I met Tanya at the Running Room and we went for a very slippery 5K run. Honest to God, we were just trying not to fall on our asses. Although the temps were mild (+3C) and I easily wore one layer of everything, There was still a thick layer of wet ice to contend with. We ran down Cootes Drive (which is on an incline), and ran back up it again. At some parts of our run we had to run on top of the snow banks because we were just slipping and sliding all over the place. My feet were soaked and I am shocked I didn't fall. I was yakking the entire time and trying to concentrate as well. I'm not a good multi-tasker! All in all it was a good run. The pace was slower, but considering our conditions? We kicked ass!!!! And got to maintain our dignity by not falling on our asses:)
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| Check out that ice, ice baby! |
- Well I'm heading to bed. You get left with a very short video from the Anniversary Series called, In a Teepee. Hubby is trying to photograph my in the teepee, but doesn't realize that the camera is still on video. Gripping, I know!