Sweaty Sunday: Snowy Monday

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

It's snowing today in usually snow-free Victoria, BC! I love it! I love it! I love it! Everything is so quiet and pretty. Lovely.

It's also my 'running' day but no way in hell was I running it that! But I did go out for a nice wander with my wee point and shoot. Some piccies:

Here's Moss Street, not looking very mossy, but very pretty.




I thought the old heritage houses looked especially lovely.






The local solar powered parking metres... Looking at the mound of snow on the panel, I'm guessing parking is free today!



The local tattoo studio looks very quaint and jolly in the snow! lol...




There's always one, isn't there.




I just love how the snow brings out textures and shapes.




And colours.




The requisite shoe view:




And me, feeling happy in the snow:

Sweaty Sunday: Let's try that again!

Ok, well! I don't think I'm going to achieve my Fitness Challenge:
Run 50 Miles in August! (see right). I can't run 10 miles in two days. And I won't cos I've learned the hard way what happens if I push too much, too quickly.

Just a turtle I see occasionally. Someday I might run faster than him. :-)

I may reach 46 miles but the goal of 50... nope!

Here are my excuses/reasons:

1) Heatwave! A week of temperatures over 30 degrees. No way should people, especially more heavily insulated ;-) people, run in that heat.

2) The day after the heatwave, I was literally on my way out the door to go 'run' when I dipped into my top drawer for a pair of socks... and shut the drawer...a bit too hard... which caused the 'heatwave fan' I had propped on the top of the dresser to topple... and fall right, smack on the top of my bare foot.

Much swearing, bleeding and swelling... it was really quite gross!

And another few days of not being able to run cos I couldn't even walk because of the swelling.

But, once it was better I eased back into it.

I didn't get to the 50 mile mark but I think that I did pretty good at trying despite a heatwave and a hurtie. I'm gonna give it another go in September!

Sweaty Sunday: Some Inspiration

I used to be fit; good cardio going on and I was very, very strong. Though I'm getting my cardio back and gradually shedding lard, I miss my strength.

I loved feeling strong and I loved lifting weights. Not dainty pink dumbbells but rusty plates of iron on a barbell (grrrowl!). I sweated and groaned and at my then best could deadlift just over 200lbs/15 stone. I felt like She-Ra Princess of Power!



I loved the mental and physical challenge of the actual lifting, the release of stress and tension, the completely shattered feeling that followed, the solid sleep and the slight yummy ache the day after.

For many months, I've wanted to return to this exercise that I truly love but lots of excuses have gotten in the way. The result is feeling more like this version of She-Ra:

Image swiped from here.

A few days ago my friend Jayne emailed me wonder video (thanks, Jayne!):



A much needed perspective adjuster for sure and just a beautiful wee film in its own right.

I have just finished my first 'back at it' weightlifting workout. So that along with my 'running' I hope to regain my fit self. :-)

What motivates you? What gives you a different perspective?

Sweaty Sunday: Here It Goes Again

During my holiday to Scotland, I ate and drank a lot... waaay too much! Lots of great beer, wine, cider, crisps, fish n chips, the best 'coriander chicken' I've ever had, 5 million full Scottish breakfasts, an amazing steak, a memorable chili burger, scones, baguettes, etc... etc... and I did SFA in terms of exercise.

I loved the food and booze binge but wish I would have kept up with the 'running' cos I was finally making real progress. Alas, I didn't... so the last 2 weeks have been all about easing my way back at it... well, really the first week back I pretty much slept 24/7... but this last week, I've been back on the golf course trail, walking -->walk/running. It was tough at first but I've improved a lot in the last couple of days.

I've just looked at the forecast for the coming week... hot and sunny... like 30 degrees hot (ugh). Hmmm... I just might have to stick to a treadmill in a gym with A/C. I've never run on a treadmill before... Hooray for YouTube and instructional videos:

;-)

Sweaty Sunday: No Sweat.

Yesterday was the local 10K race, the TC10K, the Times-Colonist 10K... the Times-Colonist is the local rag. It's the second largest road race in Canada with over 13,000 participants. Not bad for a wee city on an island, eh?

Photograph by Adrian Lam, Times Colonist

Last January, I signed up to 'run' the event but last week I decided that I wasn't going to participate. My knee is finally feeling good again and I simply do not want to rescrew it up.




I thought about walking the race but I know myself too well. I know I would have gotten caught up in the energy of it all and start running ('running' being running and walking). Plus, my decision to take up running was to run for it's own sake; I just want to do it. Getting my fitness back and shedding some lard are secondary (and necessary!) motivations. Participating in races is a tertiary objective. I don't think I've ever used the phrase 'tertiary objective' before, lol. So, the decision not to participate was dead easy and without any regret.

I did go pick up my t-shirt, bib and shoe timer thingy though! haha!





Next year I will enter again and hopefully I will not only participate but actually run the bugger!

Aside: the winner of the mens was a dude named Kip Kangogo. What a great name!

Sweaty Sunday: A Convert to Chips

Gawd Allmitey! Praize da Lawd! Sweet Jeebus! I have converted to chips.

No, no, no... not these kind:



I'm already a dedicated and faithful follower of the above and these too:



Too faithful really.

And depending upon where I am on the globe, spiritual nourishment can be found here (hi Neil):



Or here:



Or, depending on your interests, it can be found here (hi Jayne):



I've never been faithful to these chips:



But, at one time in my life, I was a worshiper of these chips:



Sinful, I know... but I was only 12!

I have no idea what this sign means but obviously some forms of chips are of Satan and not to be done (in that area):




But these chips are from Heaven! I have seen the Light! Halleluja!!!



Salvation is a six inch deep, 2 mile long spongy trail of freshly laid wood chips.

Amen!

More seriously, both Neil and Jayne had been bitching at me suggesting to me ;-) that finding a wood chip trail to run on would be good. "Yeah, yeah, yeah... but the view is so inspiring!" ... where I used to run, before a second round of knee pain knocked some sense into me.

Now, I 'run' here; on a chip trail around a golf course. It's a very beautiful, though hilly, trail that looks mostly like this:



Though from the top of the brutal 'Big Hill' I can still see my inspiring view:

The trail is on the far right... see the ant-people? Killer hill.

Weather permitting, the Olympic Mountains cheer me on. And they're a great excuse too. I can stand there and appear like I'm admiring them, when really... I'm just standing there cos I feel like my lungs are going to explode after hauling my ass up that fucking hill! ;-)

Sweaty Sunday: Mumbai Motivation

Last Sunday to Tuesday, I felt pretty gross. Wednesday's 'run' was not great but ok considering I had been ill. Thursday, I walked a million miles. Friday, I did some leg strength work (squats, lunges).

All good but Saturday's 'run' was my best since taking up this masochistic activity. I still alternated walking/running but I was impressed with my myself all the same! Eventually I'll string all these mini running segments into a steady, continuous actual run... and when I do? Neil Tasker has promised me that he'll send me a bag of Bombay Mix* when I can run a full mile without stopping!


How's that for motivation? mmmmmm.....

Anyways...

Here's where I'm at! The meat of Saturday's 'run' (excludes the warm up and cool down):
5 mins - walk
1 - run
3 - w
2 - r
3 - w
2 - r
2 - w
3 - r
2 - w
3 - r
2 - w
1 - r
2 - w
2 - r
1 - w
1 - r
2 - w
3 - r

40 minutes of sweat; 19 of it running.
No knee pain. (thumbs up!)
No pain or DOMS today (tomorrow's still a possibility though!).
It felt good and, most importantly, I enjoyed it!

One whole mile at once? Bring it on!!! (eventually...!)

*Punjabi Mix in Canadaland... imported from India by Indo-Canadians for Indo-Canadians, ie, it's very, very, very hot!

Sweaty Sunday: On a Tuesday

I keep forgetting to do my Sweaty Sunday posts on Sunday. So, Tuesday it is!

Warm up walkies - Ross Bay Cemetery, beautiful.

My knees have healed up nicely and while they did I focused on strengthening my quadraceps, walking, stretching and rest. It was frustrating but a good lesson in patience.

About two weeks ago, I started to run/walk again... very gently. I bought a stop watch and made sure I only ran for one minute (yeah, one single whole minute) at a time. A total of four minutes of running... but I just wanted to go very easy. All was well, no pain before, during or after. Great!

Stretching on the sea wall.

Between then and now, I've gradually upped the duration and frequency of the running segments of the 'runs' to this:

Warm-up walking/stretch.

Click 'go' on my stop watch.

walk 5 mins - brisk walking from here on in
run - 1 min
walk - 3
run - 2
walk - 3
run - 3
walk - 2
run - 3
walk - 2
run - 3

... and then cool down with 5 mins of slower walking.

I run from here to the top left bit of the bay...

and back and then through a bit of a neighbourhood.

This past Saturday's run, however was not very good. Actually I barely ran at all. Ok, I mostly walked. Ok, I strolled about 100 feet and turned around. I had zero umph. Then Sunday I felt all achey and spaced out. Then Monday, yesterday, ugh... upchuckitis. I must have caught what half the people in my art class had. I suffer for my art. (ha.ha.)

I feel better today but no energy to run, maybe tomorrow.

The photos are where I run... counter to Neil's advice to find some grass or chip trail. I don't listen very well but look at the view!



Can you blame me?!

Sweaty Sunday: Knee Needs

It's Sunday!

This week has been a bit frustrating.



Monday's 'run' was good!

Wednesday's was sore. A few strides into the running bit of my run and both knees starting feeling odd. Not really painful but a sensation that felt like a warning. I listened to it and stopped running. After a few more minutes of walking, I tried running again. Knees said, 'no.' So, I walked the rest of the way, went home and pouted. (violins)

Friday, I tried again. Still, my knees did not feel right.

On my way home, I detoured into a running shop 'just to look' and had a nice surprise. The woman working there was a runner and also a physiotherapist. We chatted informally about my knees and she gave me a bit of advice which was essentially: let my knees catch up with my enthusiasm and some other tidbits.

It's very difficult to finally feel like wanting to get fit again and finding the holy grail of sports bras and finding great shoes and having excellent support and feeling very excited about trying something new... even the weather's been great! ... and having to take it slow. ARGH!!!! ;-)

But, it's just what I need to do. Simple as that.

I'm still sweating though; walking and doing some strength building and 'prehab knees' exercises but... so frustrating! lol. And I should be back to running very soon!