Slow and steady wins the race...or at least the cupcake

When I was in Vancouver, one of the guys I trained under with told me about a marathon he had run in in France - it sounded like my kind of marathon. He said every mile there was a rest station with a small glass of local wine and appetisers from that particular region. He also laughed and said that as the race went on, it got more and more casual, with people strolling more than running (don't want to spill your wine!) and some didn't even finish due to all the good cheer. I think it would be a fun way to spend a day and see the French countryside -not too serious!

Last night I finished some initial statistical work on part of my data. Man it feels good to have a few real numbers. Sure I then have to try and make sense of them to write about them but hey - I'll take it! It's a real start. Feels like all this work is FINALLY coming into something. Another night of not enough sleep, but 5 hours will just have to do. tomorrow I can sleep in. GLORIOUS :)

This AM I came in for my workout B + 27 minutes on the stair climber and my abfest and now, after some tasty breakfast I'm sitting down with my coffee to settle my brain for the day. I'm trying to decide my weekend plans. Yes there will be a lot of work, but saturday, a coworker, who is becoming a friend, invited me over to see her new house for a bit...but it is roughly the same time as the annual Zombie walk (which I've always missed and really want to join in on), which will end at the downtown art theatre where, after, they are showing a cheesy horror movie. J will be hanging out with a friend all day at the horror movie festival seeing shows (lucky guy) while I work, but I'm trying to decide which I'd like to do more...I'm torn. It would mean I could meet up with him and a friend later. I'll have to see on the day of whether I feel like being all Thriller or just chilling with a glass of wine and getting a grand tour :) I've been working hard so I want to do a bit of something for a break. We shall see.

And so, my good peeps, I am off to the land of science. Have a great day!

crunchy yet satisfying

Last night I had a go at crunching data...confusing. There's just SO much data...I'm glad I'm meeting with a statistician today to go over stuff...I'm confused. It's tough to work all day and then come home and try and get things done...my brain wears out and would rather just go to bed. Perhaps on the weekend I'll get some more done with a little break in between fror naps...
It turns out I accidentally turned our water heater down too much tuesday night - poor J got a cold shower yesterday. Oops. Heh. We fixed it...and I'm leaving the knob alone now. :)

This AM was spin and sculpt class, and I forgot my HR monitor, but worked hard. My knee is a bit stiff ,but still not angry with me...I think it was too many jumping lunges in the workout yesterday. I'll try and be nice to it tomorrow. My abs finally don't hurt from tuesday...whew! I have a tasty lunch and just inhaled my breaky and coffee, so I am off to the land of science to try and stay awake and get to it.
Later taters!

food = ow

I experienced an entirely new uncomfortable feeling last night...I got home late late from work but was determined to make a nice meal so I took the time to make curried chic peas and cauliflower with quinoa and ate a bit too much of it...then as I felt overly full and a bit bloated, delayed muscle soreness set in from my hardcore workout in the AM - mostly ab soreness...heh. Ever had your abs pressed on from both sides simultaneously in an uncomfortable way? Let me tell you..it did *not* feel cool.
I spent most of the evening trying to ignore my stomach as it got worse...actually wondering if I would be ill, and then actually hope I would to possibly feel better. I survived. My abs (top half particularly) are still very stiff this AM.
Ouch.
This AM I came in and did the bodyrock.tv warmup and wicked things workout again like last wednesday and pushed myself - did it all in about 35 minutes, and then followed it up with 20 minutes on the elliptical and a few ab exercises for the sides, and to stretch them out a bit. Whew...I was dripping sweat by the end. The workout and warmup burned an epic 372 calories on their own, and then the elliptical ramped it all up to a grand total of 493 for my AM workout.
Booya.
I get encouraged by my HR monitor. I'm going to try and wear it agian for the next while to encourage myself to push myself, as well as know when my heart rate is in "the zone". The chest strap is compatible with most of the elliptical and bike machines at the gym, so I can keep closer check on my HR altho I find the watch gives a lower calorie count than the machines...I go with the watch, just cuz.

I feel good (albeit still slightly ab sore) now and after a healthy breakfast I feel like I just might want to eat food again :)

400+

Last night I was the queen of grumpy. Muttered at the cats. Muttered at J. Had some leftover fried rice and chicken and later nibbled on some popcorn because I couldn't get my emotions on the level and was still hungry. I muttered at my corn and worked on my project. Still working on my data....meh. Tonight I believe that I will be DONE my data proofing, which I have trouble believing. I've been at it for WEEKS now...and I am starting to really hate it, so I'll be glad to move on a bit. I have meetings and work to do, as well so I need to get on it.

One of our dept's grad students defended her thesis yesterday and I missed her speech and the celebratory dinner, which I'm a bit miffed about. I was stuck helping a faculty member who, to be honest, is treating me like a personal assistant and not a tech. The student's project was an extension of something I'd started out so I'd wanted to be there. She passed with flying colours and I'm so proud of her - she's worked SO hard and I helped her a lot. Now that I think about it - I bet missing that was part of why I was so very grumpy later...I don't understand how some people are able to be in positions of authority and not use me to my potential - to actually waste my time for their personal gain while others appreciate me and I don't get to always be involved in teh final parts of all my work. Drives. Me. Nuts. I really wanted to be there, but I don't have the authority to just leave things and go...even trivial (and honestly not really my job sort of things)things. If you ever have a person work for you - remember - what you do is not necessarily the most important thing in the world...

Anyhoo...enough venting...that gets me nowhere.

This AM I came in to spin and sculpt class. It's odd - the same class as last tuesday and I rocked it today. Weird eh? It was challenging, but I wasn't feeling nauseous or anything like last week. I had half a peach before class, but nothing to bother my that way and I guess I'll just have to chalk it up to random variation - today felt good. I keep meaning to wear my HR monitor to see how much I really do in the class. Today I actually remembered to wear it...but then forgot to turn it on until the second song of spin started, but at least I have MOST of the workout logged - it was 398 calories for the part I had it on for - whew! NO wonder I feel bushed at the end! It's a really solid 1 hour of sweat.

After some chia overnight oats with the other half of my delicious juicy BC peach I have many meetings and things to do in my day. More yummy borscht for lunch...more crazy for supper and beyond. SO much to do...gah.

Yes - all aboard the train to Crazytown my friends :)

Choo Choo!

Quick post

No time to dally. Here to log quick...came in for workout this AM - workout A + 28 minutes on stairmaster and abfest. Healthy lunch (mmm... homemade borcht and a bun and apple).
Gotta run!

Kale chips rock

I made kale chips last night for J and I to nibble as we (finally!) got a chance to sit down and watch a few episodes of Game of Thrones.
Delish!!
We put some sea salt and pepper on some torn up, olive oil sprinkled kale and baked it until it was crispy but not brown at 350 for ~15 minutes, flipping halfway. I sprinkled a bit of sour cream flavour on at the end. MAN they're good. Totally unlike anything I've ever had before...healthy crunchy snack. Gotta love it! I will definitely be making them again.

Today I'm hanging out with the plumbers, working on my grad stuff. Neither I nor them got much done yesterday afternoon since there was a 4 hour power outage yesterday. They couldn't finish the furnace and water heater...soooooo they're back to finish up. Hopefully it won't make it too much more $$...I'll just be glad to have hot water and heat again.

New hotness

Today is new furnace day. Goodbye money!
Ah well...it will be nice to not worry about the furnace - it's VERY old and inefficient and the wiring is brittle. It's already cracked and arced once on us and actually made a hole in the furnace casing (luckily we were home so no real damage done)...it's only a matter of time until it starts a fire...since replacing all the wiring is nearly the cost of a new furnace, we're moving on up to a more efficient one. I will be working at home while the workers do their thing. Hopefully all goes well and it comes in on quote.
This morning I crawled out of bed and drove in to the gym to workout to get awake for my day. Workout B + 26 minutes on the hill program on the stairclimber (200 calories - woo!) and my abfest. Now that I'm home I think I'll concoct up a big old smoothie for breakfast and try and get some work done while the furnace dudes do their thing. We shall see...

Hope you all have a great day and a great weekend !

Fake cupcake distraction

It took me a while to get working last night - I got distracted by a cupcake show. Don't judge me :D I loves me some good cupcakes. I love watching people make them. It's a leftover from being a baker for a few years...pretty edible things rock my world :)
When I got down to work I really got things done...and blinked and saw it was midnight, so I rewarded my self by watching the latest My Drunk Kitchen (makes me laugh so hard...), made lunches and bumbled off to bed, rather pleased with myself. Wish I'd started earlier...who knows what else I could have gotten done!
J got home much later after his show...he picked up a little treat for me - the new Moby CD. Squee! I wasn't exactly coherent when he arrived, so we'll have to listen to it tonight. I made myself go back to sleep and not wake up. As it was I only got~4 hours of sleep...but yet I feel OK for now. So far so good...
This AM I got up to go in for Spin and Sculpt. On a whim I checked the scale to see how my hard work was going...and it's going well. I've made a real dent in the holidays since I've been home. I'm sure a bit of it is water weight, but it feels good to know I'm within 2 Lbs of when this all started. I need to make myself a little wiggle room...for life. Knowing I can get it together gives me hope I can maintain this healthy life long term.
Giggedy.
I tried the laughing cow cheese and almond thing again and it worked like a charm. No queasy. No nausea, and I pushed myself in class today, with none of the blechiness I felt Tuesday. I am slowly learning what my body needs :) Now it's time for my cottage cheese with fresh strawberries (drool) and a huge mug of coffee. Work calls. I have a meeting with a statistician today to go over my data - I hope he can help me to make sense of it so I can start writing...I should be ready to do that with my data by next week. I'm almost done cleaning it up and verifying it...which is as dull as it sounds!
Hope you all have a good day. I'm going to muddle through and take things as they come. We have to empty out part of the basement for furnace dude tomorrow. I'll be working from home for most of it to be around while they work. Woo...
Caio!

Revamping Wednesdays

Yesterday we didn't make it to Ferris Beuller's Day off - we went fro a walk by the river instead...and I feel better for it. Poor J - he shoots a weekly pet adoption segment for the local SPCA and there was a kitten last week that stole his heart after so many segments. He was working out how to foster the little guy until he found a home and was looking forward to playing with him and finalising the details and discovered when he went in today that the poor little thing had caught a respiratory disease and died...so he was very glum. We walked away some of the glumness before I had to dive into work. Sweet husband I have...his heart is as big as the moon and as warm as bathwater. :)

This morning I thought I'd rearrange my workouts for the next while...so my week will be like this now:
Monday - workout A + abfest + stair climber
Tuesday - Spin and sculpt class
Wednesday - New workout + abfest + elliptical for whatever time is left
Thursday - Spin and sculpt class
Friday - Workout B + abfest + HIIT biking or stair climber
Saturday/Sunday- rest days with a long walk by the river

My Wednesday workout was inspired by Zuzana on Bodyrock TV. She's got a lot of bootcamp style workouts that varythings up and challenge you in a short amount of time. Since I have an interval timer, some of their workouts I can do improvising in gym equipment like a Bosu ball, crunch station or medicine ball for some of the things she uses. Today I thought I'd do her 5 minute warm up, followed by the Bodyrock Wicked Things workout . I did it in 23 minutes and some change...not too bad. It got hard at the end, and I had to modify the last move a bit since I don't have a pullup bar (changed the kneeraise on the bar to a front kick), bit I tried hard. I admit my pike pushups were pretty lame - I'm working on my form so they'll get better...but the thing is I *did* it and tried my best :) Then hopped on the elliptical for 15 minutes, had an abfest and hit the showers. After a yummy bowl of cottage cheese and some fruit and I'm good to go for the day.

I had a wedge of laughing cow cheese and a few almonds on the way out the door this AM - they sat well with me and I think they gave me a boost of energy - I pushed myself but felt better than yesterday...maybe I didn't have enough fuel in me then?? I need to look into fueling up before workouts somehow without getting queasy. Trial and error and all that...

And tonight? More data work. Woo. I am passing up a night out with the girls drinking beer and watching chic flicks to work on my project...sigh. I know that when I'm done I can do this stuff again, but I sure feel like a lame-o sometimes...I miss seeing my friends. I rarely get to, as my free time is consumed with school...but what will be will be. I knew what I was signing up for. I'll keep at it...
And when I'm done? Cupcakes for all! :)

barftastic

I got up this AM after a late night of data work and came in to spin and sculpt class. Because she keeps each month the same I knew what to expect - the same workout as last tuesday, but today it was harder somehow. I worked my muscles to fatigue on all the sets...couldn't even do them all like last time, even with a reduced 12Lb bodybar that I had as backup for some. My thighs didn't ache after lunges which is good...I was more careful with my form. Near the end of the workout I was really pushing myself to the limit on some arm and ab work...so much so that I started to feel very nauseus. So I backed off a bit. I haven't done that in a while...because I am not a fan of that kind of feeling -I do not like to ever push myself to that point - it doesn't benefit me (it takes a LOT for me to get ill so I know it's too much if I get there). A drink of water and some stretching and I'm OK, but it was a very exhausting workout.
I certainly earned my chia overnight oats...
On the plus side I had time after class to actually curl my hair - I'm all pretty and girly today. I'm relearning all this hairstyling business now that my hair's past my shoulders. Oooh lala :)

Today is a busy day. I'd love to get away in the evening for a few hours to see for customer appreciation night at our old old theatre in town - they're showing an old fave of mine: Ferris Beuller's Day Off. We'll see how it goes. Last night I was an absolute saint and instead of going to see the new X-Men Origins movie at a friends house with J (which I've been dying to see and missed in the theatre) I stayed home and worked. Not a fun choice, but it had to be done. I just keep reminding myself that it's only a while longer. This is the last year of school...there will be all the time in the world to watch movies when I'm done :)

I must dash. Long day of work ahead and I need a little cup of coffee to make it go by more sweetly. Later taters...

Naps are good for the soul

Friday I was beat, so I went home and decided to crash for a nap...and slept 2 hours! I really was that tired I guess - J tiptoed around so I could sleep as long as I needed to. It sure helped - I felt like a human being again. I spent the evening with J and the day was much nicer after that :)
This weekend I didn't get quite as much work done on my MSc as I'd hoped, but I spent a bit of it spending some time with J and going out for a long walk by the river...things I haven't been able to do in a while. Slept as much as I could. To sort of psych myself up for the insanity to come. I think I'm ready now for the work to come...I think :)
This morning I came in to do my workout A with abfest and 28 minutes on the hill program on the stairclimber. I'm liking it...it's a challenge, but I went up 148 floors today...201 calories -not to shabby. No problem for my knee at all and makes me sweat buckets. I discovered some new workout tunes this weekend too...I do like the psytrance, and I've got some new stuff on my iPod to keep me grooving. After some yogurt, granola and banana and a cup of coffee I do believe that Thundercats are go for today. I even have some leftover bento from yesterday for lunch today. Having a solid entire week of eating healthy and exercising regularly has me feeling a bit more level...like I'm back in control. I do believe I'm ready to go. Insanity awaits :)

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.
Later taters!

Music to go up 148 floors to:



Meh

I am tired today. I have lots to do and then must dash home early so I can meet the furnace dude who is coming next week to install our furnace. We have to pick out our furnace and he can tell us how much crap (please dear god not all of it) we have to move up from the basement. I have tonnes of work to do on the weekend and it's daunting. I feel like throwing a 2 year old tantrum -I don't wanna! :)
I did come in to workout this AM tho - workout A plus abfest plus 26 minutes HIIT biking and I'm in for the day. Last of the bento for lunch.

I was craving pie last night but instead I made a pie smoothie...which is a lot healthier, and less calories. It had pumpkin, pie spice, frozen bananas, some oats, vanilla protein powder, almond milk and some ice in it. Slightly less calories than a real piece of pie for a huge glass of yum...I really just should have had some tea, but sometimes...well...yeah. Food and I go way back. Sometimes it's a real struggle...especially when I just want to lose a few pounds...then all of a sudden it gets challenging. Boo.
Ah don't listen to me. I'm mopey.
Last night I had some computer issues but I just had no ambition to do anything. I got a bit of work done, but not as much as I'd wanted. I'm hoping after furnace dude leaves I can have a nap. Being overtired is making me grumpy and tetchy...I am feeling large and bleh and mopey too, so I think the best thing for me is to finish my breakfast of yogurt and granola and a banana, chug some coffee and just get at it.

Sooner begun sooner done.

Zzzzzz...

Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins

At Charlotte's request - Recipe posted on my recipe blog...enjoy :)

Come on you magellans, come with me I've got pie...

Yesterday was foodorama. But in a good way. It was AWESOME. I made pumpkin oat muffins, and then used my new bento stuff to make a healthy supper. I made sticky sushi rice seasoned with sushi vinegar and a bit of saki to made lots of little shaped rice balls - triangles, rods...even flowers. Very cute :) I steamed up some veg and made some ginger sesame flavoured chicken to go with it and WOW...delicious. I have a bento box of leftovers packed for my lunch today...I hope the rice balls keep. It was fun, and honestly took only 5 minutes more than regular rice...J tried them when he got home from a shoot and liked them too, so I'll definitely be doing it more often.

I also made pumpkin pie spiced overnight chia oats for breakfast (from Oh She Glows)...1/4 c pumpkin, with a 1c almond milk, 1/2 c oats and 1 1/2 T chia, a splash maple syrup and molasses and a 1/4t pumpkin pie spice and a little stevia. It was like pumpkin pie pudding. Only it was my breakfast. Oh my.
Yeah it's like that!
I love making delicious food. Having a bit of time to make healthy delicious food is great. I love it.

I got up and came in for the sculpt and spin class this morning. It was a nice hard challenge. I got a solid workout and now today will be a long day. New lab procedure and I'm very tired. I stayed up too late last night...Must dash :)




cramps de jour

This morning my quads or arms didn't hurt until the end of my workout, which surprised me, as they sure hurt yesterday after class from the lunges and armwork with the 15Lb weight bar in class. I wasn't sure if I'd be in today at all since last night I spent a few hours curled up in a ball with some of the worst abdominal cramps I've had in long long time...J was very concerned when he got home late from work...thankfully they let off around midnight so I could get a bit of sleep. This AM I woke up right before my alarm, so i figured it meant I should come and workout. I count myself lucky that I don't get cramps often...
And I had a decent workout - my workout B (minus the quad machine I usually do in it, since my quads were tortured the day before) and an added set of cable rows. I varied up my abfest a bit, using dumbells for the obliques instead of side crunches and I didn't do any cartwheel crunches, since I'd done a whack of them yesterday in class. Add on 26 minutes of cardio on intervals on the elliptical and I figure it was a solid workout.
And I had more of my chia overnight oats with nectarine again for breakfast-yum.

Last night conspired to keep me from getting data worked on (between cleaning up catmess and fighting with my laptop battery and then cramps de jour) so I'm hoping tonight I can get a bit more done. I've hammered out a deadline for when I need all my ducks in a row for my permission to write meeting at the end of November so it is, as they say, ON.
I am tired, but I shall get down to it when get home and settle in at the computer for some data mining before I head to bed (I hope) a bit early.
Holiday's over kiddies. Time for a bit of the old slave labour again!

quadariffic

Last night J and I went out and stocked up on healthy food. Not the most exciting evening, but all there was was bachelor chow since I haven't been home much for a few weeks! I have my chia overnight oats with nectarine in it this AM - I threw in a bit of low fat greek yogurt to bulk up the protein. Yowza - it's so thick...yum. Not sure if I'll do it all the time, but variety is a good thing :)
This AM I did the spin and sculpt class...and wow. My quads ACHE as I'm sitting here right now...after I foam rolled them after class. Yeah - I think she's taken a few comments to heart because she's definitely ramped class up a bit - she definitely kicked my ass this morning...some of the tricep dips and lunges I had to rest during as I chose a 15Lb body bar in a fit of zealous fitness fury and it was a bit too high for some moves-I just couldn't finish them no matter how hard I tried. At least I know I had a thorough all over workout this morning...hope my quads let up though or tomorrow will be a stiff one. I've got a healthy salad lunch with tuna and I'm looking forward to a long productive day here and at home. Tonight I have a lot of organizing and planning to do for my project and want to prep some healthy soups and lunches for the rest of the week. My new Vegetarian Times came and it's full of tasty squash recipes...after reading it on the bus this AM I'm already daydreaming about squash EVERYTHING!
On to victory!

Dimsumorama

Well, I'm back again :)
I had a great weekend in Vancouver. I lucked out with my hotel and was told I was a few blocks from the ocean, so I got up friday morning (after being picked up at the airport in a silver Miata -bwaha!) and went for a 40 minute jog along the waterfront before my all day training session. It was FANTASTIC. The weather in Vancouver was sunny and amazing the whole time I was there and I had a great time.
...and friday I had sushi twice :)
Saturday I hung out with family and was good foodwise until the snacks came out. Eep. Something about being on holidays and me and snacking...there was pear cider and raspberry ale too. I tend to just ignore everything when I'm on a holiday. Sunday before I left we went for what has to be the best dimsum I've ever had, complete with mango coconut bubble tea. He heh. I love dimsum...and this was supremely incredible on every level, complete with a trip after to the giant 3 floor chinese $2 store - where I got a bunch of stuff for making sushi and rice molds and a bento box...and a few ridiculous things for J and some stationary for me that has a bunny eating cake on it that says "I am happy because of the cake!" on it...he hee. On the plane home I did not have much time for food (and honestly was still full from dimsum), until an extended stopover late halfway on my way home, where the only thing left open in the airport was a pub where I ended up having a side of fries and a beer. Yeah. I know...bad. It was that or other fried pub food and snacks or horrid coffee, so I ate a sad looking apple from the newsstand and then figured if I was going to have something bad for me I should try and keep it small and it should at least taste good. Demented logic I know, but I tried. I started off so well with bringing my own healthy breakfast to the hotel and running and having sushi...and it sort of nosedived after that. I feel bloated and blech...add PMS to it all and I'm feeling huge. I need to plan for travel better. I just don't travel much, so I forget the complete lack of healthy options in airports.
I had a good time tho. :)
And I know I can work on things. And I will.
This AM, even tho I got back very very late I crawled out of bed at stupid o'clock go into workout with my workout A + abfest + 25 minutes on the stairclimber. After a healthy breakfast of muesli and a banana and a decent chicken bean salad for lunch and I'm going to try and claw my way back to healthy land again. I have no holidays for a while now...just me and my kitchen with no delicious fresh seafood to taunt me :)
By christmas I am determined to be back at my preholiday state. It's on. It has to be. I can't keep adding on a few pounds here and there and not go back down again. It makes me angry that I can lose weight but then, with very little time it comes back, just by me being less than diligent. I'm stronger than that...and I know if I don't catch myself now, I'll regret it. I can recover from 8 or 9 Lbs if I keep at it. I don't like the thought of counting calories again, but I brought it on myself...so I will do what needs to be done to get things back where I feel comfortable again...
And so let the time of restraint begin...


Music to run by the ocean while grinning like a nutter to: Chemical Brothers - burst generator

Pit Stop

Well I'm home for a day. Whew! This AM after being up late after getting home from visiting my Dad, unpacking, doing laundry and repacking for Vancouver I came in to workout before work. I wasn't feeling great (tired) so I did the spin and sculpt class this morning. A solid workout. Could have been a bit harder, but it was a good overall workout...good for me. I'm still a bit sore from my bootcamp run at the lake so I don't think I could have done too much more this AM.

On the weekend at the lake J and I went for lots of long walks and we didn't eat too badly (other than some delicious wine...ahem), but it wasn't until tuesday morning I got in a super hardcore workout up there. I did my own mini bootcamp and then went for a 3Km jog/walk after. I didn't run the whole way, but as much of it as I could...the weather was gorgeous. I had to go out for a run through the forest. I loved every minute...but oh did I ache the next day! My knee was forgiving and isn't too mad at me. I wish I could run more often. :)

My cabin improvised boot camp was 3 rounds through the following:
-15 pushups
-10 around the world squat+kicks (squat + kick front, squat + kick side, squat + kick back) on each leg
-15 one legged bulgarian squats (each leg)
-15 planks with knee into my chest then out extended back up behind me as high as possible
-15 step ups onto a chair with raised knee
-5 bent knee repeated back lunges (each side)
-10 back lunges raised up into forward kicks and back (each leg)
-20 boxer punches forward, each arm
-high knee marching for 30 seconds

Must run. It's one crazy day of work and then off to Vancouver for training for the weekend.
Have a great weekend everyone :)

Stairmaster 101

This morning I was up and in to workout after a lovely relaxing evening. I did my workout B with abfest and then thought I'd try something new - the stairmaster. I don't think I've ever used one since I tried getting in shape years ago way back in university. I recalled not liking it then, but I didn't like exercise at all back then...so I figured I'd give it another chance - I want to find something else to do other than my cardio on the bike (ho hum) after weight training. I figured since I've built up enough muscle strength around my knees now, as long as I'm careful with my form, this should not cause a problem. I put on some good tunes and tried a hill program and at first I thought "well this isn't very hard"...and then it got harder....and by the end of the 27 minutes I'd burned 180 calories (as much as I would have on the bike), had my heart rate WAY up there and was dripping sweat....so I guess it was good for me! My legs feel a bit jiggly, but my knee doesn't appear to have any complaints, so it's gonna be added to the list. They say to shake things up for your body every once in a while - hope fully doing this once a week will be a good change for my body, along with a few spin and sculpt classes here and there.

This weekend J and I are going up to the lake to visit Dad for a few days and then I'm going to stay on a bit longer to visit before coming back. I was going to stay all week, but it turns out I'm off to Vancouver for the next thurs-sunday for work and training (and a mini visit with family after). Wohoo! I'll bring my MSc data along and try and be good and do a little work at the lake and not fall behind. I'm sort of at a lull with my data now, waiting (and waiting and waiting...grrrr...) for statistical advice from people who are just now back from holidays -the person who was going to help me is on sabbatical in Europe...so I'm stuck. I am glad to have found a new website with some workouts you can do anywhere that only use body weight or a 5Lb weight - I wrote out a few of them and will take my workout gear along to try and fit in some workouts when I can. There will be a gym where I'm staying in Vancouver so that will be easier...but I'm determined to still keep up to 5 days of working out a week - whatever I can get in there. I may even sneak in a run/walk at the lake for old time's sake, even if it bugs my knee...it's so gorgeous up there.
I think I can I think I can I think I can...:)

Music to go up 125 flights of stairs to: Plastic Compilation 2, including an old fave Water from a Vine Leaf by William Orbit

There's something about Mimi

It was Mimi's (the awesome boot camp instructor's) last spin class this morning. I thought I'd take it to push myself. Whew! She does a lot of different things that really break it up - and challenge you to push yourself. This morning I gave it my all and had a real solid workout. Bonus is she always ends the class on time so I had time for my pushup challenge (40! Woo! Yes lots of those were girly but still!) AND a nice long shower and doing my hair...it's J's birthday today so I'd like to look nice :) I haven't had longer hair in about 6 years and so I'm relearning how to style it again now that it's past my shoulders again. I didn't really know what to do with it before, so this is all new to me!
I'm so glad J has taken the day off work just cuz it's his birthday and will be relaxing at home and reading and doing whatever pops into his head today. I left him in bed wih the cats and breakfast in bed and his present (I've had it since comicon and I've been dying to give it to him). It's been a busy month for him and he deserves the time to relax. Tonight the plan is to make him his fave meal (almond crust chicken and spaghetti squash with tapioca pudding for dessert) and we'll catch up on Doctor Who.
Love that man :)

I've got chia overnight oats again for breakfast...this time with an apricot. It's crazy how much I love this stuff. It's just different than anything I've ever had. I know I can't have it every day...or CAN I? Heh...soooo good :) Yay for crazy new foods!
Have a great day everyone. I know I will!