Tag: Exercise

The Daily EO: January 13th, 2013

I am looking for a run to motivate my return to healthy exercise and well. . .  running.  I am considering the Vancouver Sun Fun Run, because it is so traditional and so huge and so Vancouver.  And there’s the Grouse Grind, but that is more than I can handle right now, I think.  But maybe that is the point.

But I found this on the internet today:  http://www.colormerad.com/races/vancouver.html

What?  Really?  Who thinks up these things?  Like I am going to do that!

But, hmmm.  Could be interesting.

January 13th, 2013 Extra-Ordinary:  To be rad or fun?  Or both?

The Daily EO: January 1st, 2013

In my industry of Natural Health Products, I have been able to see first hand the ramp up to support the “New Year, New You” phenomenon.  I’ve written before about how I’ve always seen September as a new start, not January, so it seems a little silly to me.

I hate the gyms during January – classes suddenly full, never can get a treadmill, sigh… all these people clogging up the place.   Please hurry up and lose your commitment, people!

And yet, after 4 months crammed full with stressful and fattening things, I find myself knowing and having to engage in the ritual as so many others will do in North America.  My only solace is in that I can tell myself that I am just getting back into the routine that Emile and I started in Fit April – just trying to figure out how to do it here in Vancouver.  I am certainly not one of the crowd.

Alas, the ordinariness of it, I hate to fit in and yet I need to be able to fit in my pants, so we’ve launched Cliche January.

I’m too embarrassed to tell you the starting stats – maybe after some progress I’ll let you know.

January 1st, 2013 Extra-Ordinary:  Wiping off the remnants of an entire box of Ferraro Rocher from our lips (before the calendar turned over), 17.7 km walk around Vancouver’s downtown and Stanley Park completed.

Will anyone ever see this post, lost in the “resolution” tag?  Sigh.

The Daily EO: November 28th, 2012

November 28th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:  It’s a toss-up between Utah landscape, the fact that I took this picture through a hotel window with a cell phone while on a treadmill (with no post processing)l or that I was on a treadmill at dawn while on a business trip.  You choose.

The Daily EO: November 25th, 2012

The sun shone brightly and for those uninitiated, you would be led to believe that the day was warm and fair.  It was not, but it was a beautiful day.  And we live 3.5 kms from Stanley Park – Vancouver’s glorious 1000 acre park almost in the heart of the city.

I arose at 7:30, changed into weather thoughtful exercise clothes and waited impatiently for Emile to drag himself out of bed.  At 10, I announced with a flourish it was time to go – outside and the sunshine awaited us.  He too wore his warm clothes and we set-out.  We stuck to the North sides of the street that seemed to have a little more sun and kept our pace quick and brisk.

I was excited to visit the park, though I haven’t been there in probably 20 years.  But vague memories crept upon me as I viewed familiar landscapes and the totem poles.  We walked quickly, and then as we got to the seawall in Stanley Park, we ran.  And we talked and we ran some more.  We caught about Emile’s work, and my worries about my department at work, and Christmas and our plans for December and our upcoming vacation.

It was only by noon that I told Emile I was at the hungry stage and moving towards starving that we decided to make our way home.  Emile knows that this is where the danger zone begins.

Breakfast was at “The Chef and the Baker” just around the corner from our place – casual enough to accept unshowered people in workout gear, but also nice enough to serve loose chai tea.

Aaaah.

November 25th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:  A visit to Lord Stanley’s Park and a feeling of contentment and well being.

The Daily EO: November 8th, 2012

God, I hate running on treadmills.  The sheer boredom of it makes me avoid it.  Yet to head to the streets and run through downtown Vancouver at 6:30 am isn’t going to happen for several reasons.  First, I’m scared of that, and well, it’s too far.  So, I find myself climbing the 2 flights of stairs to get to the building gym discovering that the hill training in Huntsville has spoiled me.  I could run and make no concern about incline, speed, just try to run as far as I could without stopping in the trees, sun and the hills.

I try all sorts of games – think about something else.  Do 10% incline, then 6.0 speed.  Do Sprints, do walking.  Think about work, think about a book.  Listen to music, listen to an audio book.  Something – anything! – to take my mind off how many minutes I have left.

But who am I kidding?  In Huntsville by now, I would be running around the 200 m indoor track complaining to you that I couldn’t possibly go around the same track yet again without falling over.  The snow bluffs make is hard and dangerous to run, so I’d be inside either way.

And this leads me to the human condition.  My gym is well equipped with maintained equipment.  It looks over the Vancouver Harbour off of the 43rd floor.  The walls are floor to ceiling glass and the cardio machines are positioned to look out the windows.

I’m bored looking at this?

November 8th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:  Ho-hum.  Another day with a million dollar treadmill view.

 

The Daily EO: October 23rd, 2012

I’ve made the mistake of using Bell Tower as my iPhone alarm.  It isn’t jarring enough – it seems to lull me slowly out of sleep instead of jerking me awake.  But like the gentle tones.

This resulted in me not going to the gym since Saturday morning.  I set my alarm with good intentions, but then I lie in bed and think about England so peacefully while listening to the sounds of the seabus and bells.  Why England?  I don’t know, but church bells make me think of the UK.

So, there I lay, and by the time I get out of bed, I only have 20 minutes remaining for a workout and I think, well, I don’t really have time.

October 23rd, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:  Better to not do it all than half assed.   Time for a shower then.   And a spot of tea.

The Daily EO: August 14th, 2012

Good news, people!  My sports doctor – yes, I have a sports doctor – ahem.  As I was saying: My Sports Doctor says he doesn’t think I have compartmental issues (at least in my legs – I probably have them mentally, but no sports doctor is going to fix that).  As you may recall, I was referred based on shin pain while and from running.  The doctor listened to my symptoms and asked me a whole bunch of questions.  I got nervous and sweaty – I really don’t know why – and tried to answer them to be best of my ability.

I felt foolish – who doesn’t experience pain while running? – if we didn’t, we probably wouldn’t have invented cars.   And it’s wasn’t an obvious traumatic incident with bones sticking out, or crutches required.   And with the Olympics wrapping up, I felt a little silly.  I mean Clara Hughes broke her back and placed 5th in the cycling time trials!  Paula Findley refused surgery on her hip and cried through an entire triathlon!  Tory Nyhaug has his spleen removed to make it to the Olympics!  Oh Poor Little Me.  My shin twinges a little sometimes.  Sally.  Wuss.   No Olympics will I be attending with my lack of grit and fortitude (And I had such a chance at the age of 38).

Apparently, you can’t just go out and start running.  Did you know that?  You can run wrong?  Wha!?  How can I run wrong?  It’s it like eating, sleeping, or any other normal body function that you do?  Well, after reviewing the soles of my shoes and my awkward hallway jogging, it appears that I run too much on the front of my foot.  Which apparently is better than running too much on my heels.  And good news, I am an efficient walker!

All this front foot running is causing my gastrocnemius muscle (the one on the inside of my lower leg) to try to contract and expand at the same time. Hence micro tearing, pain after extended use and couple days recovery.

I’m like a sprinter – not enough like an endurance athlete.  Unless I want to reduce my daily workout to 10 seconds a day – and I do really, but that would defeat the purpose of exercise – I need to fix my running.

Now, I have to find myself a running coach to watch and assist me with running mechanics.

August 14th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:   Focusing on putting my foot down more in the centre.  This is seriously jeopardizing my ability to chew gum and walk at the same time.

The Daily EO: August 11th, 2012

I dragged myself off the couch today and went for a run.  I pulled so hard even Emile joined me – I waved him on ahead while I stretched.  It was overcast and humid.  It was miserable.  Tired, Hungry, Distracted, and Stressed.  There was nothing left in the tank.

I promised myself that I would keep going until I saw Emile coming back.  I ran, I hiked, I walked, I crawled.  And still I didn’t see him.

August 11th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:  Emile’s goal to catch-up from a runless week with a 10k did not fit into my plans.  I ended up with 7.6 myself.  Curse him.

 

The Daily EO: August 10th, 2012

For some reason as soon as I got home from our travels, I stopped running.  I am not sure why.  I just didn’t feel like it.  Perhaps it is the anxiety that I wrote about on August 9th, 2012 or perhaps it is something else.

All during my vacation I ran every 2nd day as a minimum, and I felt pretty good about that.  My diet was pretty good but there were significantly more carbohydrates than I usually eat, more diet root beer and definitely more desserts.   But I didn’t weigh myself for the time I was away.  I didn’t really want to know because I assumed it just creeping up every day.

So I kept running, but reaching for second desserts.  So, with trepidation I stepped on our scale when I got home:

2 pounds?  That’s nothing – it’s like a good pee!

Hmmm.  Running does work.  Running kept me in check.  Tomorrow I will begin running again before I completely fall out of the habit of it.  Then I can keep eating the world’s most delicious grilled cheese sandwiches ever made with 4-year-old Wisconsin cheddar (thanks Emile!)

Complete 180 degree for you here.  I would like to talk about things I don’t “get”.  For example, on Star Trek, I thought the Away Team was actually “A-weigh team” and wondered why they named it such.  Perhaps a naval term.  Or the word “puny”.  I read it and thought it to be pronounced “pun-y” (like rhyming with money), and thought it meant thin and colt like (like wiry) based on the context.  I didn’t know “puny” (pronounced p-u-nee spoken out loud) was the same word.  It was only a couple of years ago I learned this.   I wondered where AC/DC (the band) got their name, I thought it was a strange random group of letters.

August 10th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:   On vacation, I was asked if I wanted to “sup”.  Huh?  Oh, paddleboarding.  That’s a weird name. . . Hmmm.  Okay, if that’s what it is called by the cool kids.  3 weeks later (today) it came to me out of the blue.   Stand-Up Paddleboarding!  Aha!