Time is NOT on my side

Monday morning drive to Peterborough for...

Cheap gas!  It was 130.7 in Toronto!

 



















The past couple of days have been hectic!  I have been trying to get into the office the past two days, but find myself overwhelmed with stuff going on with clients in the community.  I tell you, there just isn't enough time in the day, or days in the week to complete what I need to.  Yet I still manage to fit running into my busy schedule.  Running, blogging, physio, working, commuting, mothering, home making.  You name it, I do it!  The young woman I ran with on Sunday told me that she couldn't run more than a couple times a week due to her busy schedule.  Now granted, she worked a couple part time jobs and went to school full time.  Same thing I did when I was in college and university.  I told her everything I did including my five runs per week and she became silent.  But I guess it's all relative.  

Some people are willing to get up at ridiculous times in the morning to fit a run in, and some aren't. I get it.  I have to do what I have to do.  No one is making me do it but me.  I'm not gonna lie.  I want to stay in bed when it's -14C (6.8F) and I'm headed out my front door in the dark. Not even my dog will hang with me.  He's smart enough to go back to bed.  But I also know that if I want something badly enough, I will do it.  I have proven that to myself over the past 17 months.  I definitely don't want to gain back any of the weight that I have lost, therefore I run.  I run my ass off (hopefully it will fall off soon) and I continue to eat the same way I have for the past year and a half. I have figured out what works for me and this is it.  Everyone is different.  This is my reality.  

Check me out.  I finished my run this morning
in the daylight.  Dare I say spring is around
the corner?

I haven't booked another appointment to see Dr. Stephen yet for my maintenance weigh-in.  I'll figure out when I'm headed out to Peterborough again and book myself in to see him then.  I have peeked on the scale, and my weight is pretty solid with a pound or two fluctuation.  Although my weight is up and down by a pound here and there, my clothes are getting loose again.  My size 10 jeans are getting big around the upper thigh and waist.  I can take one pair off without undoing the button or zipper.  So my body continues to change.  I don't think I'm gonna see much difference on the scale pound wise, but I can definitely see differences in my body.  I guess my ideal weight is supposed to be around 165 - 168.  I fit comfortably into size medium tops and pants, and have size 8 jeans that are real comfortable.  I am happy with that. I just need to tone up some problem areas (ie: abdomen, upper thighs, upper arms), and I'll almost be normal.  Almost because my upper arms are pretty much hopeless without surgery.  I can't complain though.  That's really the only area that likely needs surgical intervention.

I attended my physio appointment yesterday and Graham, the therapist, was manipulating my back.  I started to feel anxious and self conscious because he was arranging me on the examining table by lifting my hips and legs and would feel me tense up because all I could think of was that I was too heavy and he was going to hurt himself by moving me.  He kept telling me to relax and to let him do the work.  This is one of those times where my inner fat girl should just leave me alone because stuff like this will affect my treatment. I was finally able to relax and let him move and lift me where he needed to, but it took everything in me not to resist.

I'm really looking forward to Saturday morning.  I'm heading out to Brampton to meet some other Dr. Poon lifestylers (is that even a word?).  I think not since spell check is highlighting it.  Anywho (also not a word), others who eat the same way I do.  I communicate with them via Facebook, and it will be nice to meet them in person!  They meet for regular support groups and this will be the first time that I will be attending.  I'm a bit nervous, but excited all the same.  That's no reflection on them.  I always get anxious when I meet new people.  I already know they are lovely.

I won't post again until Thursday night so this is your reminder that I will be appearing on the Steven and Chris show this Thursday (February 7th) at 2pm (EST) on CBC.  The description of the show is, "Our makeover dream team pulls off another amazing transformation".  This is pretty accurate, since I look nothing like myself!  Now for my American friends, I have found a list from another blog of the American stations that pick up the show, but this list is from 2010, so things may have changed since then.  I do know that you can watch episodes of Steven and Chris on the LiveWell Network in the US.  

My experience with LSD

So this morning I ran my longest distance to date.  That's right folks.  I ran 18K.  And I was the solo Back of the Rat Pack Girl there.  Dawn was still on hiatus in the Caribbean somewhere on her running cruise, Monica was having some knee issues, Brett's car wouldn't start because of the cold and Tanya's little peanut was sick.  So I was the lone Pack Girl there and had to run with people I don't know very well.  Not my favorite running scenario, but I needed to getter done, so I ran with strangers.

My pre 18K meal.  Coffee with cream, 2 hard boiled eggs,
an apple and 2 TBSP of natural peanut butter.

It was cold this morning. About -14C (6.8F) when I headed out to the Running Room for my run.  I would have liked nothing better that to stay in my warm house drinking coffee, but if I had done that, I would have felt like complete crap all day.  So I dressed in my running shorts, with my running pants over them, a technical t-shirt, long sleeved technical shirt, and my RR jacket.  I had on gloves and mittens, a head band and a hat.  And my technical ski socks from Walmart!  My feet were toasty warm all run long:)

Never had either of these flavors.  I'm a boring
vanilla girl...

As I headed out, I made sure I had some Gu with me.  Gu is an energy gel that is used by athletes to replenish lost nutrients during strenuous activity.  Since my run was going to take me over two hours to complete, it was important that I had a little something something to get me through my run without  feeling as though I was gonna pass out.  I did eat a breakfast and I ate really well the day before, so I wasn't too worried that I was gonna be undernourished or anything.  I also had two flasks of water, that ultimately ended up freezing.  But I was able to get some of it down with the Gu.

Four of us started out running together.  At about the 6K mark, two of my group went off on their own, and although I ran their pace, I stayed behind with a young girl because I didn't want her to run the route alone.  She was visiting from Toronto and came out for run club, so she wasn't familiar with the route we were running.  Plus the running instructor in me just couldn't leave her on her own.  So I slowed my pace down and stayed with her.

All in all we ran 15K together before she had to stop because her stomach was bothering her (too much Gu if you ask me) and said she was going to walk back into the Running Room.  So I ran the last 3K by myself. I turned my phone off at 15K because my battery was dying and I didn't want to lose my run, but I ran a 7:15 pace with my young friend, then ran my normal pace for the last 3K.  I'm happy with that.  Sunday runs are our Long Slow Distance (LSD) runs.  All in all an enjoyable experience that could have been more so if I dropped LSD just prior to the run.  May have been more enjoyable, or just completely psychedelic   Who knows where I would have ended up.  Probably a good thing I didn't.  I may not be writing this right now!  And can you even get LSD these days?

Anywho, although my left hamstring was still a bit achy, it definitely felt better overall.  And for the first time EVER, I had no cramping in my toes!  Very bizarre indeed because I kept waiting for the pain to come and it never did.  My knee problem from last week was also not an issue.  The knee pain went away the same day it came.  I also ran up the giant hill on Spring Gardens Road in Burlington again.  When I'm running it, It feels like it's never going to end. I think that this is the 3rd time I've run it.  It gets easier every time. Not sure how easy it will be during the Around the Bay when I've run all the other hills prior to the giant last one!  So all in all I'm happy with my run this morning.

Wednesday is the beginning of our speed work.  I'm not exactly sure what it is except that we do a warm up run, then we run around a 400 meter track as fast as we can twice, then around once slowly before running twice again as fast as we can.  Or something like that.  I'll let you know on Thursday how that goes.  I ran 50K (31 miles) this week.  I have never run that far in a week before. I also ran over 170K (106 miles) in the month of January.  Not too shabby considering the weather conditions.  I'm sticking to the promises I made to myself.  I'm not missing runs, no matter what the circumstance (illness and family emergencies are the only exceptions).  We're already into February and the days are getting longer.  I look forward to running in daylight everyday very soon. That will make me an even happier runner!

That is a genuine smile.  I just finished the 18K:)

My week in pictures

Just because...she's real pretty:)

Yesterday was my rest day and I was stiff and sore all day.  My physio appointment went well.  By the time I left, I was feeling much better.  Much more movement in my hip flexor and no pain in my hamstring.  Now they have given me even more exercises to do.  Every time I go I get a new exercise and my 15 minutes 2x per day, has turned into 30 minutes 2x per day.  I can definitely feel improvement though, so it's worth it.

Just back from my short run this morning.

This morning I went out for a short run.  Well, it was supposed to be a short run.  Six kilometers is what I had planned.  I met my former Learn to Run student Sher out on the trial near my house. He actually just lives around the corner from me.  He hasn't run since before Christmas and wanted to get back into it again so I agreed to run with him.  We ran 4x 4:1 intervals at a comfortable pace. When you have such a gap in your running, you need to pretty much start over again.  However, if you stick with it, you will regain your running endurance pretty fast.  After I ran with Sher, I ran my 6K on the same trail.  I ran about 2.5K with Sher and the .5K it takes me to get to the trail, so my short run actually turned into about 9K.  S'all good though.  I ran pretty leisurely with Sher, and managed a sub 7:00 per kilometer pace on my own which is the fastest I've run by myself for weeks.  I didn't want to push too hard.  I have my long run tomorrow morning.  Eighteen kilometers. You read that right people.  I'm running 18K tomorrow!

Real sexy I know.  Quad stretch!

When I got back from my short run, I stretched myself out real good and did my exercises.  I didn't get to eat my recovery meal until a good hour after I got back.  A little bit too long to wait, but I didn't over exert myself so I wasn't too concerned.  I was watching the Steven and Chris show this morning and there was a fitness expert on the show who was talking about working out and what you should eat after an intense workout.  She gave the worst advice I could imagine when she said that you could eat an entire chocolate cake after an intense workout and it wouldn't affect your weight at all.  A chocolate cake is just junk.  Junk is not going to help you build muscle and effectively replenish your nutrients.  Worst advice ever!  I cringe to think that some viewers are actually going to listen to that!  She did however make a pretty good stir fry with chicken breast, turnip, sweet potato, red cabbage and other yummy veggies.  Now that you could eat a whole lot of after an intense workout and it wouldn't affect your weight.  I know because I do.

I look different when I lie down.  My face
looks bigger and dare I say less wrinkly?

As you know, I'm on Twitter and I still don't really get it.  I was hacked a few days into opening my Twitter account and I'm sure I annoyed many of my followers by sending them bogus private messages about "miracle weight-loss secrets".  That is so not me.  I used to be a believer of a miracle weight-loss solution.  I never found it, but I was sure it was out there somewhere!  I really just didn't want to put the work and time into losing weight at the time I guess.  If you ever get a message from me saying I endorse some sort of weight-loss method, delete it.  I'm hoping the problem is solved because Twitter security finally reset my account for me.  I actually considered deleting my account because the spam and bogus messages were overwhelming.  I lost a bunch of followers too.  Oh well, it's all good, for now!

Tuesday's fortunes.

Baby shower cupcakes that I did not eat!

Ripped jeans on a blustery day.

Friday's fortunes. (See how much I go to the Mandarin)?

Goofing with the hubs.
And looking real wrinkly.

Goofing with the boy just before my run this morning.

Things are slowly returning to normal at my house.  Hubby has been sick since last weekend.  He finally hauled his ass to the doctor yesterday and got antibiotics for his strep throat.  Jules also had antibiotics for his Impetigo.  The Impetigo has cleared up and he's just finishing up the medication.  Hubby said that the week before last a kid was in the classroom with a rash and sores all over his face.  Why oh why would they let that kid in school if he had such a bad rash. And call me over cautious, but if my kid has a strange rash anywhere, we go to the doctor tout de suite.  That's just the way we roll around here.