Ramp Up to Big Sur- Week 23

Well week 23 has been a week of its own....




   I started the week off strong with last Sunday's run, a great time at Monday's kickboxing class then.... it was about an hour after kickboxing I realized I was tired not normal tired. My body was exhausted. Weird! I just racked it up to the start of the training and my body adjusting. Later that night at 11:30pm to be exact I woke up to my throat completely raw, nose stuffed up and knew I was sick. Damn! Tues I managed to squeak out one of my friends daily fitness challenge. The 20 burpies did not feel good but I got them done and the other forms of entertainment that were attached. I knew I should have started with the burpies. Wed came around and I didn't feel a 100% but I didn't feel bad either. Now comes in the test! Yes the test! Anyone who is into fitness knows when you are not feeling good there is a test- "The Neck Test" if your symptoms are from the neck up your good to go, if your symptoms are from the neck down you need to take it easy and possibly a break. Okay most likely a break is the true answer. On Wed I passed the neck test so woo hoo! off I went for a short training run. I took my puppies so it would be a nice pace and I wouldn't push my luck. After my wonderful run on Wednesday my week progressed rapidly downhill. Cold/flu is definitely in my body. I have lost my voice for 3 days- ( insert cheering here). No workouts completed Friday or Saturday minus very short walks with my girls due to freezing temps!! Now Sunday is my long distance training run.....what to do, what to do?! I took the neck test and unfortunately I do have this slight feeling of someone physically standing on my chest. Yet I could not stand the thought of another idle day. Plan B- spin bike it is!! I have learnt over the last couple of days that I have energy for fleeting moments so I decided to break up my ride. Nothing too exciting but I rode my bike 3 times for 15 min intervals. Excitedly each interval I covered more distance and needless to say faster. Honestly it felt so good to sweat- My image was the sweat taking the toxins away!!! I will know later if what I did was a good idea but for today it made me feel just a little bit human again! 

Ramp Up to Big Sur- Week 24

   The last 2 Saturdays my legs have gone into my workouts screaming at me! Last Saturday I rode my bike and my legs were burning through the whole process. I had made a conscious decision to change my training run into a bike ride to give my legs, knees and hip flexor's a bit of a break. While spinning away I seriously questioned my thought process as I felt that running would have hurt way less than how I was feeling on that bike. Regardless of how I was feeling the pain was put to the back burner and the mileage was completed. Fast forward to this Saturday- again conscious decision to miss a training run and instead take on the entertainment of being able to hit a Kickboxing  class! Yet again another brilliant idea! Jumping squats, jumping lunges, walking lunges not only in forward motion but throw a few backwards ones in there. I believe there was more torture that was thrown at us but the brain shut down at some point and just did vs. think!!! I do recall during one of the jogging sections actually hitting my legs with my fists to try and relieve the tightness! Needless to say both Saturday nights I questioned how the morning run was going to go..... 


 Believe it or not in both cases my runs went awesome! The first couple K's my body was trying to find its stride and loosen up. Today I heard the time on the completion of my first km and was pleasantly surprised. I had no idea that I was actually running anywhere near that pace- woo!hoo! Then came the prompt for time and pace at the 4K and woo!hoo! yet again ahead of my usual pace! Speaking of the 4K mark someone must have sent Mother Nature a text that I was having a rocking good run! So "BAM" she showed up in the mode of a horrific wind! She slammed me around for a good half  K then felt guilty for it and gave me a friendly forward shove along the path for a good 0.25K! Very kind of her I thought?! Then randomly as my pace felt great I would get smacked again..... funny this time it was never followed up with a gentle shove in the forward direction. Just repeatedly against me or directly to the side! There is something about running in the wind that brings out the Inner Warrior in me and I go faster! That feeling of someone saying "Oh I am sorry. Is this wind getting in the way of your run?!" just gets my gggrrrrr! Now creme de la creme I hit my 9K mark with 1K left to go and again I get my update. Hell yeah! I am on course for a PB for the 10K!!! My mistake this time I clearly thought this way too loudly and Mother Nature reared her ugly wind storm again! This time I was actually hit so hard that I took two paces backwards! "Hell no I have 1K to go and you are not stealing my PB" so on I pushed while she pushed me back and I am very proud to say "I WON"! New PB created today! This is not my overall PB ever but it is my new PB since getting back into running and I am one happy runner! 

Big Sur Ramp Up week 25

                               First official Week of Training!! 

                     "Bring It" was this weeks motto....

 Armed with my new Lulu gloves, I Phone with Nike GPS and  tunes- week one of training begins...


   I have know since the beginning that training this time is all about the mental game. The miles will just happen but your head has to be in the game and keep you going when everything else is yelling "Stop"! This is my tool to convince me that winter running is all part of the process to help me have a good marathon.  Well we wouldn't want Mother Nature to fail on her part so..... last Sunday was a great teaser to the start of my training. Beautiful, sunny, gorgeous day minus the 25K winds but whatever I live in Lethbridge its all part of the course. This Sundays long run  was initially postponed to happen later in the day. Something about -10 didn't excite me but something about -4 made me run right out the door. Its all about enjoying the honeymoon phase of your training.



   My body continues to amaze me at its ability to remember. I worked hard to become a runner! Every second running was a concious effort.... seriously!! and yet here I am with basically having taken a full year off and running 10-14K and feeling awesome! Thank you! Thank you! to my body and legs for committing with me and making this happen! The new theory is..... if I can go out with no training and bang off a 14K run whats a little Marathon with some actual training! We shall see how well that carries me later- LOL!

Big Sur Marathon....

Dedication time is coming...... Yowzer! Big Sur is not that far away! as a matter of  fact it is 27 weeks away! 27 freakin' weeks! are you kidding me- LOL!!!

I have decided to have October as my fun-play month! This month is about exercising when the passion hits me. Its actually quite amazing how much fun a run is when there is no pressure on time or distance. I need to remember how to hold onto this feeling when the winter and the long distance hits! November the training and mental preparedness starts! Oh yeah my January is going to be a blast full of 26-29K runs! whoop! whoop! Bring on the New Year's resolution peeps to run with me.... Hill training starts in January too! Best time of year for it- at least I won't have to worry that it will be too hot for hills. I recently started up kickboxing although I have been sidelined this last week due to an accidental kick to the hand. I love it and in my inspirational moments of getting out for one of those non committal runs I have found the kickboxing warm up to have been a HUGE help to my running and not losing anymore stamina.

Today was commitment day to figuring out my schedule. I have learnt that my body responds well then crashes so I am taking advantage of the extra weeks I am putting into my training calendar and giving myself rest weeks (novel idea).  I believe I have a manageable training program ready to go.... official start is Oct 30th!

My plan is to blog about my adventures on training for this Marathon experience!!! please as my friends help keep me in line! Yes a nudge and a full out shove may be required during this process....

BIG SUR here I come.......

Update and a Check In

After my last blog I knew it was time to take some serious action. I have been watching for quite awhile now the Tone It Up Girls and had my interest peeked but left it at that. With my new outlook and the need for some structure I thought now might be the time to get involved and jump in! So did I?! Oh I did! It appears the Tone It Up Girls have a nutritional plan and in that nutritional plan also includes a 7 day slimdown. Well surprise in exactly 7 days from when I jumped in I had a family wedding so typical Yvonne style- why not?! Right then and there the next day I was starting.  Talk about a shock to the system. Going cold turkey on all your bad habits lets you learn a lot. Third day in "headache" and I am sure it is was withdrawals from the bad foods. Bad food and maybe the red liquid that goes nicely with said foods. Honestly I am not a horrible eater in comparison to some so  I could not imagine the withdrawals that some people would go through- youch! 5 days in and 5 inches smaller already. Additional lesson learned-portion control! Yes people you have no idea how much we over consume!!! I completed my 7 days with zero slip ups- I was so proud of myself and felt so much better than I had the week before. Yeah!!! I felt better both inside and outside! That every so great feeling of "I'm back"

Part of this program also includes the morning "Booty Call". You jump out of bed  a half hour earlier so you can get in a workout! Yep sounds like torture especially if you have some of the really early shifts that I have. Well my little Kamie (Maltese/chihuahua puppy) thinks this morning booty call is the greatest creation in life! As a matter of fact on a few mornings when I may have slid back into old patterns she was there in my face, panting and smiling ready to go. When the magic words came out-  "Booty Call" and she blasts to the front door you know your done. On our morning booty call we visit a park that I am sure my puppies believe has been created for their sole use. I started off with just the usual half hour stroll then creativity hit! I now throw in a few walking lunges, I have been known to drop to the ground and complete push ups or even a full set of ab workout. This morning a set of frog squats were thrown in. Meanwhile my girls are having the time of their life. On these morning walks I make sure to take time for some Nature Appreciation. One morning someone had placed a sunflower between the slats on one of the benches, another morning my Kama fell right into the pond in the middle of the park. All I heard was this big "splush" and suddenly her jumping back out drenched right to the top of her head. Every morning there is some kind of adventure and I use these as my motivation. When I find that something special I always remind myself "if you didn't get up for your morning booty call you would have missed out on this". A definite way to create motivation to get up early again the next morning!


I know it all sounds like roses but there are still definitely the challenges. We have travelled and we have had back to back company. At first I did a great job of protecting my morning booty call and being able to adapt the food I wanted to eat. As time goes on your just start to slide back to old habits! My challenge now is to figure out what it looks like to stay focused with your goals while maintaining the role of hostess. With the huge goals that I have coming up  insert>Big Sur Marathon<  I need to ensure that I keep my focus and not lose sight. Luckily I know I have amazing friends and family who are encouraging of my goals and will understand that I need to keep these things as a top priority. Funny I think I solved my own dilemma! Strange how you can put something out in words and there is your answer! Wow! Thanks world for the light bulb moment who knew it was such a simple solution?!

Thank you very much to Karena and Katrina- Tone It Up for giving me that nudge I needed!
http://www.toneitup.com/index.php
Thank you to all my friends and family in advance if I am sometimes selfish in fitness and nutritional needs. Remember you can always join me ;-)
http://www.bsim.org/site3.aspx

The Ongoing Challenges:

It's happened in the last few weeks I am finding myself worried when the camera comes out. Not all the time but once in awhile I catch myself doing the mental check- are you sitting/standing properly, suck it in, what about the lumps and bumps. I have not been this person for 10 years and here I am almost that person again. I say almost because thankfully I am catching this early. There is a picture of me almost 20 years ago and I don't even have to physically hold it in my hand. I know exactly where I am in this picture, what I was wearing, who I was with and worst part- I know what I looked like! This picture was such a horrible awakening for me that I hid it away. Once I lost my weight I re found this picture and that was the moment when it was emblazoned in my memory. No I am not posting this picture later- I seriously am WAY too embarrassed to every admit that was me. I am not sure that mentally I am able to convince myself that I was ever that person. There are times when that girl in the picture literally haunts me. Makes picking a salad vs a burger and fries a really easy choice when she is around!

I have always struggled with weight since I was a kid. My Mom has completed pretty much every diet out there and I usually joined in when I was younger. If I recall our first shared diet was when I was 6. Not because I needed to but at that age it honestly sounded like a fun thing. Weight Watchers had a pretty wicked fake banana split in its day.  I knew the whole calorie in calorie out! I knew how many calories were in most foods without having to look at a label. I have seen Shape magazine since I was little. Oh and Rachel McLish for those too young to know her- google! She brought what a fit woman should look like to mainstream against all the amazon woman of the day. Loved her and was clueless on what the steps would look like for me to be my own version of that. (Appears I still am a tad clueless). As the majority of world I did the usual had two kids at a very young age, got married, stayed home, lost most of my friends and replaced them with prefab food aka Costco specials. I shopped at those stores that lie to you about your size. You know the ones if you are or have been over weight. Most stores you can't get a 13/14 past your knees and these stores they fly on then you fight with the zipper but at least they are up. Or the fat persons blessing one size fits all! Basically maternity wear but hey its all about denial! As the years went on I become more unhappy and gained more weight. Through most of this I still worked out, had a gym membership- I could probably lift more then than I can  now. It was the food! I had the fitness lifestyle but depression hit the second I was out of the gym and off to the fridge you go. I have never been one to fear the fitness side of things- I  have successfully completed a marathon, several half marathons, take on "Insanity" workout with a smile. Push Ups hated them so what do I do; create a challenge to conquer them. The fitness side is so much easier than the bigger picture of eating what you need to fuel that fitness.  Little did I know that regardless of my efforts I was self sabotaging due to the fact I was miserable in my marriage. Once enough became enough and I decided to take my life by the horns everything in the weight world changed and boy did it change. In something like 6-8 weeks I went from a size 13/14 in the special stores to a size 2/4 in any store. I literally would lose a dress plus a week. It sounds like a fantasy but honestly there was days that I was scared of the speed everything was happening. Of course everyone around me was happy to see me the lose the weight but it was always followed with- "it's because she is under so much stress" , "it won't last she will gain it back." Yeah well I easily maintained that weight for almost 2 years then went up to a whopping healthy sized 6 (LOL) and have pretty much stayed there until recently. This winter definitely did something to me what I have no idea?! I have decided that it chemically screwed around with my mind and body. My professional diagnosis. I have been aware since the fall of last year that the weight demons have been close by as my clothes have gradually gone from uncomfortable to in some cases not fitting. I have no idea weight wise what I have gained as I am a "NO" scale person- they are danger!!! Clothes tell you everything you need to know if your listening. Well body I am listening..... I am hearing the hints and trying to put the pieces together. I am stopping the bus early and we are turning it around.  I have recently rededicated myself to my running in a minor (LOL) fashion- I registered for the Big Sur International Marathon spring of 2012! Oh yeah baby! So if now is not the time to fuel the machine I don't know when is.

 I want to be me!!!

 I want to be the me that was confident in my own skin because I had finally found the true me and owned it!

Reuniting with my Inner Runner

Yesterday it finally happened!!! It was late afternoon, the sun was shining and mother nature was giving another tease that spring might actually appear. I was enjoying my new ride heading off to work when out of the corner of my eye I saw it..... a runner! Then another one and another one..... when yes it finally happened. That flutter of envy!! If your a runner you know the one I am referring to. Where you become mesmerized for a fleeting moment and you are there with that runner. Your body, your mind wants to be there on the road, trail whatever it may be. It has been a very long time since I have felt that flutter in my soul. Never one to deny myself of what I truly desire today became the day that the runners were laced, the I pod loaded and lululemon graced  me with her glory to take on the streets and parkways of Lethbridge. Then reality..... I have not ran on pavement other than a short "Girls want to go fast" moment. My line on the treadmill "this is boring" so I jump on my spin bike. Well today let me know it wasn't boring it was hard! So much for the theory- "3K! Whats the point in even tying up my laces?!" as I ran 5K wishing I was only running 3K. As I am plodding along thinking this will be one of the longest 5K's of my life I am quickly reminded of what the beginning stages of running felt like. I originally decided to try running as I believed it was something I honestly was not going to be able to do. Well surprise when you commit to something anything is possible. When I started a minute was torture..... well today it took 10 mins before I was really whiny. When I started running the concept of a negative split was uh?! you just go all out and hope that you can finish strong. Well today a true negative split the first half sucked! yep sucked! By the halfway mark my body started to remember what it was suppose to do. Lo and behold by the end the old runner in me was taking over. At no point am I going to say this was an easy run and I spent a lot of the run hoping to not run into another a runner as that would be embarrassing. Actually it might sound like this- "S***T do you think they saw me take a walk break?!"  Although I have a way to go before I am back to being the runner I was the love what you hate runner still resides inside me. Straight, flat and a break from the wind my attitude "this is okay!" Then a hill "Oh yeah baby!!" Then a hill and wind "Hell yeah I was made for this crap"

My PR for a 5K sub 24 mins. Today's comeback 5K 32 mins and 42 secs. Thank goodness there was not a lot of runners out there and for the one's who were. Thank you for running in the opposite direction :-)