Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving all! After taking a few days off I decided to do a workout today and try out the newest Jillian Michaels dvd I bought called Six Week Six Pack. Holy cow it was intense. I definitely think this was one of the toughest workouts I've done by her. The others are 3-4 short circuits repeated twice but this one has a long list of exercises, all of which you repeat at double time after the first time through. I was exhausted after the first circuit, the second circuit was just torture. I also expected it to be really focused on abs but it also worked your arms, legs, and back as well. Overall it was a great workout but I was exhausted by the end of it.
(Workout Updated: owwww oh my gosh so sore. The provided warm up and cool down are not enough apparently, be sure to stretch very well after this workout cause you will be in so much pain otherwise)

Today was also a fun day because my family came over to celebrate thanksgiving. We got to catch up, hung out, and played Mario Party which was fun until my cousins turned on me and I ended the game with a grand total of 3 coins changing me from 1st to last place. I'm not a big fan of that game because I always seem to end up with nothing but it's fun for the most part. Was also nice to see my cousins dog, he's an adorable mooch. :)

Workouts

Yikes I haven't updated this in a little while. I did do some workouts but the last couple days I took off so a biopsy scar on my back could heal without irritation. My family and I went hiking on saturday at Mont St Sauveur which was a blast; we hiked all the way to the top and back down which took us about an hour to an hour and a half. The colors were gorgeous and it was great to get out hiking again. It may sound insane but one of my favorite workouts is running hills; I find it easier to run up a hill rather than slowly trek up. I also had a lot of fun on the steeper slopes coming down the mountain because I would just let myself run straight down the steepest sections rather than tiptoe down and hurt my toes.
Today I decided to get back into workout routines so I did the Jillian Michaels kickbox fastfix level 3 which focused on abs. I liked the ab sections but the actual kickboxing I found harder to follow. The combinations were much longer and more complicated than in level 1 and I had some trouble remembering each of the exercises in the combination. It was a good workout though, I was exhausted by the end of it even though it's only 20 minutes long. I haven't tried level 2 yet but I'm assuming it's a way to introduce you to the longer combinations.
If any of you get the chance to go for a hike and see the fall colors, I definitely recommend it. I do recommend the kickbox fastfix dvd however do the levels in order to work your way up to the more complicated combinations.

Happy Friday!!

Happy Friday all! Today was a pretty good day; I'm still a little bit sick or congested from allergies, I'm not sure which, but I'm getting much better. My mom and I went shopping and I found two awesome tops for under 15$ each (pictured below). I also did a Jillian Michael's workout which is intense as ever but I love it. I like running now but I much prefer interval training workouts and her 30 Day Shred is just that. This time I alternated between using the 3 pound and 8 pound weights depending on the exercise and I found it much more difficult at times. That's all for today, I'll probably try to do another workout or run tomorrow :)

Out For A Run

Hey guys! I'm finally feeling better from my cold although I'm having headaches which are fairly annoying. I've been wanting to go for a run for awhile now but wasn't feeling up to it or haven't had the chance. Class ended earlier than usual today so I was able to take advantage and go for a run. It felt so great to be out running again, it amazes me how much I actually enjoy running now when I used to hate it. I stopped at a park to do some leg lifts, pull ups, and swing outs before continuing on my run. I didn't run very far but it felt good nonetheless. When I got home I did a short ab and weight exercises workout and some stretching. I'm hoping to get into a routine for working out since my schedule isn't great for it most days. I'll figure something out :)

Sick

I'm sick; I chose a lovely time to get back into fitness blogging. I keep wanting to do workouts but by the time I'm home from school it's evening and my cold is at it's peak of the day. As much as I want to workout, not being able to breathe well doesn't go with workouts. I shall continue working out as soon as I feel remotely better or can breathe properly again. In the meantime, here's a song I think it rather empowering and could be fun to run to.

Quick Updates

Hey all! I haven't been working out as much as I had hoped because I haven't felt great. I did manage to do level 1 of the Kickbox Fastfix dvd tonight which wasn't bad. I just finished my second week of school and as usual, I got a cold. On top of that, it's been extremely stressful because of regular school duties and lots of meetings to figure out what I want to do once I graduate. Researching grad schools is rather stressful it turns out. I can't decide whether I want to take a year off or go straight back to school. I figure I'll research schools and see how I'm feeling a little later in the semester.
Back to fitness; I've been thinking about starting a run/workout group similar to the spartan training just to keep in shape and run with a group. A friend of mine has mentioned she'd be interested so hopefully we'll get something organized. That's it for now, hope everyone's doing well. :)

Getting Back Into It

Hey guys! I know it's been awhile since I updated, I have been working out but I wanted to take a break from blogging for awhile after doing it every day for over 2 months. After the Spartan Race, we trained but not nearly as often. My sister, her friend, my cousin, and I did the Color Me Rad Run which was a lot of fun. It's a 5k through streets where you get doused with colorful powder or liquid every 1km. By the end of the race we were extremely colorful but it was a lot of fun. Next year I'm hoping we'll wear costumes to have even more fun with it. Videos to both races can be found below.

During the summer, I travelled quite a bit and thankfully did manage to keep up with workouts. I use a lot of workouts on youtube (recommendations below), and while I was in Florida I went for runs on the beach in the morning and did strength exercises in the nice air conditioned room afterwards. Two days after being home from Florida, I was heading off to a field course in the Adirondacks where I was hiking for the majority of the day so I didn't do additional workouts. Since then I've slipped out of my workout routine so I'm going to continue posting my workouts and thoughts on those workouts here to keep me motivated.
I recently bought two workout dvds from Jillian Michaels so I've been trying those out. This past weekend I tried the Kickbox FastFix which was so much fun. I love kickboxing so this was a great workout for me. It was one of her easier workouts, though it certainly didn't feel that way during the workout itself. It includes lots of kicks, punches, and weight exercises. I only have 3 or 8 pound weights so I used the 3 pound for now, though I will hopefully be buying 5 pound weights to use. My only complaints with this dvd are that it doesn't include a warm up and the cool down didn't have enough stretching to prevent my upper back from being incredibly sore the next day.
Today I decided to try level 1 from the other dvd, 30 Day Shred which was intense. It has a warm up, then 3 circuits of 3 minutes strength, 2 minutes cardio, and 1 minute abs for a 20 minute workout. I once again used the 3 pound weights (after trying the 8 and deciding I would be insane to use them) and by the end of the workout everything was burning. It works your legs, arms, abs. It's only 20 minutes so it's going to be an intense workout without breaks.
My current plan is to rotate routines to keep things interesting as I get bored with routines if I do them too often. I hope to include runs (both street and hill), dvd routines, youtube routines, and maybe pilates on the WiiFit for off days.
I don't know if I'll post updates every day but I'm hoping that keeping a blog of workouts will motivate me. Hopefully you'll enjoy my fitness journal and if you're starting a workout routine feel free to leave me comments on your progress!

Workout Recommendations:
Jillian Michaels Kickbox Workout
Fight Club - HiitCombat #4
Suck It Up - HiitCombat #2
Jillian Michaels: Banish Fat Boost Metabolism Complete Workout
I Made It Without Vomiting - ZWOW 57 HIIT
Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred: Level 1
Arms and Abs Home Workout


Spartan Race and Color Me Rad videos:

Journey to the Race: Day 70 RACE DAY

I've worked too hard and too long to let anything stand in the way of my goals. I will not let my teammates down and I will not let myself down.
-Mia Hamm

Today was the day we've been training for! The Spartan Race! A 5k run with 15(ish) obstacles where if you can't complete and obstacle, you have to do 30 burpees. We woke up at 7, left at 8, and got there around 9-930. We had to take a bus to the hill because there were already so many people that we had to park far away. When we got there the number of people was overwhelming; there were thousands of people. We lined up to check in and get our numbers, then got our bibs and time chip set up and checked our bags. By the time we did all of this, we had about 10 minutes until the heat which was stressful. We got to the start line on time, and got pumped up by everyone around us.



And then we were off, running up a very steep hill to the top of the mountain. And before I continue let me say, that everything was mud. Uphill, downhill, everything. Mud and rocks. It was less of a run and more of a trek or hike. At the top we had to lift and lower a weight by rotating a bar above our heads (may sound and look easy but man does it hurt your arms). We then ran back down the muddy, rocky mountain where we came to the bottom obstacles where we had to crawl under barbed wire in mud and rather large rocks. My knees and shins were so sore and bruised, oh my gosh. We then had a shorter mud crawl, then running/climbing through tires on the ground which were full of mud, then climb over a wall. Lauren and I did not master the wall climbing technique until the second wall so the first time over the wall was interesting to say the least.



Then crawl over an ice mound covered in mud (of course) which was extremely cold as I'm sure you can imagine. After freezing our hands, back up the hill we went, this time climbing over big tubes. I expected maybe 5 tubes but they just didn't end, they went about halfway up the mountain. We then had to trek through the muddy forest and more uphill hiking then for the last big hill we had to carry a sandbag up and back down before climbing back up again. Thankfully there was a water station at the top that was greatly appreciated at that point. After the station we had to drag a cinder block on a chain around in the mud before heading to the walls where we had to climb over, then through a window in it (which was so fun). After going back down the very slippery muddy and rocky mountain (and twisting my ankles about 5 times), we came to the hercules lift where you lifted a very heavy block using the rope. This went fairly well except that instead of letting go of the rope as it fell back down, I held on and got rather bad rope burn. Then we came to the coolest obstacle: the fire pit! I took a running start and jumped over, and it was so fun. Next was the cargo net that we had to climb over.



I did not like this one, it was by far my least favorite of the obstacles. The rope swung anytime anyone moved and there were easily 20 people climbing at a time. I got to the top, tried to go down the wrong way and sort of got myself stuck but a nice man behind me helped me get myself situated so I could descend properly. And then the next mentally challenging obstacle: the dark, enclosed tunnel. Not so fun if you don't like enclosed spaces. We managed to get through it and then we had to run back up the mountain again which was not so fun. At the top we once again had to carry a weighted object, this time an ammo box, up and back down that last hill before continuing to walls. The ammo box was heavy so I carried it against my leg to sort of take some of the weight. This turned out to be a bad idea, my right thigh is so unbelievably sore and bruised so don't do that if you do the run. Then we had to go over, through, and then under the walls. Under was probably the worst because there was a hose to create more mud under it, and instead of crawling under I decided to roll which ended up with me being absolutely covered in mud (not that I wasn't before, but it was much worse at this point). And then once again down the slippery slope being careful not to fall. Once at the bottom we came to the javelin where you had to hit a hay target; there was a long line and very few were really able to do it so Lauren and I opted for burpees on this one. And then came the rest of the awful ones all at the end. The 3 giant hay stack things weren't bad at all, but then came the giant collection of monkey bars, rope climb, and rings. Each counted as a separate obstacle and by that point everything was muddy and slippery so they were next to impossible for us and we did burpees for each. And after that came one last big obstacle; you had to use a rope to climb up an incline, then get to the platform at the top where you'll lower yourself down a rope on the other side. This one was fun except I learned it's a lot easier to climb a (non muddy) rope and descend than to descend from a platform. Something about heights maybe. And then came the final challenge, get past the spartans with big padded batons at the end who are allowed to hit you. I ran in a group and only got hit once and water kicked in my face so not too bad but not terribly pleasant either. And then we were done!!! We got our medals, tshirts, took photos and then wondered what to do about our completely covered in mud clothes.



There was a washing station but the water was absolutely freezing so I just washed my hands a bit then decided I'd rather sit in the car in muddy clothes than freeze and get changed. So we walked back to the car, put plastic bags all over our chairs and drove home. We still weren't allowed in the house covered in mud so we were swept with a broom, then had to get any large amounts of mud off before we were allowed in the garage where we had to ditch any muddy clothing before we were allowed in the house. I took the longest showers ever, and I still have dried mud on me, I figure it'll take a couple showers but I've got the worst off. Was kind of shocked by the state of my legs though; my knees are extremely bruised and I have scrapes and cuts all over my shins. Not to mention I'm already sore and will no doubt absolutely ache tomorrow. So the question is, was it worth it? Absolutely. :)





I'll update this with a link to the video whenever I get it made and posted.
**Updated: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OenVt7ey2Y **

And last but not least, I want to thank the gym for having such an amazing program with incredible trainers. I couldn't have done it without you and you made training so much fun. I'm going to miss our sunday training sessions but hopefully will see you again next year. :)

Journey to the Race: Day 69

Teamwork is the ability to work as a group toward a common vision, even if that vision becomes extremely blurry.
-- Unknown

Ahh getting so close! Today was a day off spent relaxing and buying more exercise gear for the race since mine wouldn't work as well as I'd have liked. My arm is feeling better although I still get an ache every now and then so more rest is needed. I haven't been sleeping that well lately so hopefully I'll get a good nights sleep tonight. Hope you're all having a good weekend! :)

Journey to the Race: Day 68

It's not about perfect. It's about effort. And when you bring that effort every single day, that's where transformation happens. That's how change occurs.
-Jillian Michaels

My arm is still hurting which is more frustrating than painful. The weather also hasn't been great as it's been raining all week. I wanted to take it easy but still go for a run so my sister and I ended up going out for a run. It was cold but thankfully didn't rain while we were out. We had planned to alternate running and walking but ended up running the entire 2.5k with only about 3-4 10 second breaks to catch our breath. We also jogged most of the 2.5k back even though we had planned to walk. I feel really good that I can push myself to run that far even with short breaks. I'm still resting my arm but it does feel a bit better so hopefully it'll be better soon. And now I'm off for the rest of the evening. Night all :)

Journey to the Race: Day 67

I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death.
-Leonardo da Vinci


Sue passed away today in her sleep. She went peacefully with her husband holding her hand. After fighting for so long first with breast cancer then when it spread to her spine, then sepsis, it's nice to know that she's no longer suffering or in pain. She was one of the strongest, happiest, inspirational, and most optimistic people I've ever known. Though I never got to meet her in person, I had the pleasure of talking to her with my mom through skype while she was in the hospital before her condition worsened. She was one of those people that you can meet once and never forget, and I know she will be missed by many.
R.I.P. Sue <3



My arm is still aching so I avoided any arm exercises and stuck to leg exercises. I did a short workout of the exercises below doing each for 30 seconds and going through the list twice.
jumping jacks
wall sit
oblique crunch
ab crunch
squat
reverse crunch
high knees
lunges

I'm really hoping that my arm will be better soon, I think I strained something but I have no idea what or how I can fix it other than rest it.

Journey to the Race: Day 66

I am doing the best I can given what I have today.
-Jillian Michaels

Sorry for not posting yesterday, I only worked out around 11pm and then I forgot to make a post. So here's yesterdays.
I'm still very unmotivated to workout which is horrible. I'm on a new med that has a side effect of muscle pain so my left arm and abs in particular have been aching lately. I'm trying to rest both for now while still exercising. I did force myself to workout so I biked for 20 minutes. I had planed for at least 30 but I was getting very dehydrated. I'm hoping to get out running tomorrow so we'll see what happens. Hope you all had a great day :)

Journey to the Race: Day 65

“When adults say, "Teenagers think they are invincible" with that sly, stupid smile on their faces, they don't know how right they are. We need never be hopeless, because we can never be irreparably broken. We think that we are invincible because we are. We cannot be born, and we cannot die. Like all energy, we can only change shapes and sizes and manifestations. They forget that when they get old. They get scared of losing and failing. But that part of us greater than the sum of our parts cannot begin and cannot end, and so it cannot fail.”
― John Green, Looking for Alaska

Today's been...interesting. Started well, with me driving all over town job hunting. I've driven more today than in the last year. I applied to about 10 places, only about 2 of which actually seem at all promising but we'll see what happens. After I got home was when the day took a turn for the worse. I came home to find a post on facebook letting us know that my moms best friend, who has been fighting breast cancer which spread to her spine, had sepsis and was no longer responding to treatment. She's now in a drug induced deep sleep so she's not in pain and will very likely pass in the next few days. It was very hard news to get, and even worse to have to pass on to my mom as she's been relying on me for updates. Needless to say I was in no mood to workout and my left arm has been aching so today was deemed a day off. I'm exhausted so I'm going to read then go to bed. Night all.

Journey to the Race: Day 64

Where there is unity there is always victory.
-Publilius Syrus

Was feeling lazy today but my mom and neighbour decided to go for a walk so I joined them. They walked the 5k while I would run to a landmark then walk or jog back. We also went to a hill and I ran up it twice, my mom joining me the second time which was fun. I should train at that hill more often since I mostly do flat ground exercises otherwise. Overall we figure I ran/walked at least 7.5km in about an hour and a half so I'm pretty happy with that. Was a very beautiful day with blue skies and lots of people out and about.
Great day and now I'm off to relax for the rest of it :)

Update: well that was odd. Apparently my parents found an animal skull on our lawn and asked me to see if I could ID it. I was able to (red fox) but I have no idea how a skull ended up on our lawn so that's weird ><

Journey to the Race: Day 63

This is where it matters the most. This is where lives are made, in these moments when you can choose whether or not to say 'I cant' or 'I can.' It is a choice that will either make or break you for life.
-Jillian Michaels

Yay for an official training day! Damn that was a good workout. We did some light stretching, jogged to the park, then did a warm up including:
20m squat run
20m karaoke run
20m medium skip
20m high skip
20 walking lunges then jog back 10m
run up and down a steep ditch about 10 times
Needless to say I was tired before we even began the real workout sets. We then had several stations but our little group did them out of order so here's what we did:
stairs 3-4 times
jog (read: walk) back to the park
attempt 50m crawl with the foot peddle wheel thing and end up doing regular crawl the rest of the way (seriously, I couldn't get 2 feet at a time on that thing)
20 walking lunges
10 broad jumps
30 burpees
run to the stairs
rope climb
3-4 stairs
rope climb

Was a long but good workout. And I finally forced myself to not say "well I can get this far, I'll get to the top during the race" and climbed the entire rope so that I had to touch the metal bar at the top. Somehow managed not to scrape up my ankle badly either so that's always nice. I'm also getting better at forcing myself to continue running even though I'm out of breath. A lot of it is in my mind with negative thoughts so I'm working on pushing through it and telling myself I can do it rather than I'm going to pass out. Overall I'm so happy with the progress I've made, I'm able to run farther and push myself farther than I have in a long time.
And that's it for today, I'm off to clean before my family gets here. Enjoy the long weekend!

Journey to the Race: Day 62

I have so much chaos in my life, it's become normal. You become used to it. You have to just relax, calm down, take a deep breath and try to see how you can make things work rather than complain about how they're wrong.
-Tom Welling

Today was a lazy day, I just felt like taking a day where I didn't do much of anything. I did clean my room since my family is coming over tomorrow but that's about it. I used today as a rest day since I'll have a big workout tomorrow, and just watched How I Met Your Mother all day. So yes, very lazy day. But tomorrow will be busy so it was nice to just take a day to sit around and not do anything.

Journey to the Race: Day 61

Part of abandoning the all-or-nothing mentality is allowing yourself room for setbacks. We are bound to have lapses on the road to health and wellness, but it is critical that we learn how to handle small failures positively so that we can minimize their long-term destructive effects. One setback is one setback...it is not the end of the world, nor is it the end of your journey toward a better you
-Jillian Michaels

You ever have a day where you just feel overly sensitive and insecure for no apparent reason? I call those "blah days" and today was a blah day. Argh. They also tend to be very lazy days, so I spend most of the day sleeping and watching youtube videos. Very productive. I did convince myself to workout but was feeling angsty so I decided to go for a run. I hate running alone so I asked my sister to come to the park with me where she met up with a friend and chatted while I ran out and did exercises for 30-40 minutes I guess. I did laps of the park, sprints up the hill, swing outs, monkey bars, burpees, walking lunges, all that jazz. Then I came home and decided to do an ab workout. And I was very happy that I finally managed to do all 25 in and outs in one set rather than having to break them up into smaller sets. And now I'm off to snuggle with my cat who is meowing for attention through the house. Hope you're all having a good day :)

Journey to the Race: Day 60

Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.
-- Helen Keller

Today was a good day :) I met up with friends to see The Great Gatsby then went out for lunch at McKibbins. The enjoyed the movie more than I thought I would, I think it was really well done. I wasn't a fan of the book, I vaguely remembered it but knew I didn't enjoy reading it. The movie was well done though, and I enjoyed the soundtrack although I do wish they had modernized it a little less and kept more of a jazzy feel to it at times. It was so great to see my friends since I hadn't seen them in what felt like ages.
I'm still not feeling all that motivated to workout but I did do a short workout with my sister. We did the workout from yesterday but only once through and then I did a short ab workout doing more crunches, reverse crunches, roll up pike up things, and ins and outs. It felt good but my stomach isn't feeling 100% so I'm relaxing for the rest of the night. G'night all :)

Journey to the Race: Day 59

You're never a loser until you quit trying.
-- Mike Ditka

I've been rather productive today so I'm pretty happy with that. Between last night and today, I've made seven journal skins for use on deviantART. Other than that I booked yet another doctor's appointment to renew prescriptions, and I forced myself to work out. I've been so unmotivated lately, the weather has been drab and when it's nice I just want to go walk outside or hike. It was very dreary today so my motivation was nonexistent. I forced myself to do a workout I found on pinterest that I thought would be intense but short so I could get it over with quickly. I did the workout once through and decided I would do it through a second time and add in some exercises that are more geared towards exercises I need to improve. The workout is called The Scientific 7-Minute Workout in which you do each exercise for 30 seconds with 10 seconds rest in between. I modified it a bit by adding exercises so my version looks like this:
jumping jacks
wall sit
push ups
ab crunch
reverse crunch
mountain climbers
step up onto chair
squat
burpees
tricep dip
plank
high knees
butt kicks
push up and rotation
left leg lunges
right leg lunges
left side plank
right side plank

It was a great workout, and only took about 20 minutes. And now I think I shall read for the rest of the evening :)

Journey to the Race: Day 58

The bamboo which bends is stronger than the oak which resists.
-Japanese Proverb

Since we didn't get to spend mother's day with my grandma, my mom decided that we'd take her out for lunch today. We went to lunch then went for a walk on mount royal which was beautiful. Lauren and I had fun playing in the playground and acting like fools. We then did a somewhat workout in that we piggybacked each other for short distances, then would run up any steep hills and would jog now and then. I also brought my camera and took lots of photos which was great. Overall was a beautiful day and I hope to go back to mount royal for workouts in the future.

Journey to the Race: Day 57

Nothing ventured, nothing gained

Today was an interesting day. I finally had a doctor's appointment that I've been waiting about a year for, then was sent for blood tests, and then had to run errands. My arms are rather stiff and sore from the rope climb yesterday so between that and the blood test I decided not to work out today. I'm considering joining the gym my mom goes to, I think I'd be more motivated and have more types of classes that would interest me.
I finally decided to take the plunge and start selling my photography on redbubble. I'd always said no one would buy it so why bother but with a more positive attitude (in great part thanks for training) I realized that no one could buy anything if it wasn't available in the first place. So I decided to make prints and whatnot available and see what happens. My photos are now available as greeting cards, postcards, prints, and iphone cases which look freaking cool if I do say so myself. The shop is here if anyone wants to check it out: http://www.redbubble.com/people/caybeach/shop



That's it for today, I'll have more workout updates tomorrow :)

Journey to the Race: Day 56

A human being is a being who is constantly ‘under construction,’ but also, in a parallel fashion, always in a state of constant destruction.
— Jose Saramago

Happy Mother's Day!!
Today was an official training day with the group and we did some more runs, stairs, and rope climbs. The rope climb was fun and went well except I burned a small section on my ankle when my pant leg lifted. Other than the running and stairs, Lauren and I focused on getting her able to do the rope climb since she wasn't there to try it last time. And she did it! The weather wasn't great though; it was cold and rained at one point but thankfully it wasn't too bad. Lauren and I also did an ab workout when we were home.
For mother's day, my dad took my mom on a road trip and shopping spree at her favourite store. While they were gone, I went shopping for some last minute supplies and then my sister and I baked a cake. Once they were home I made supper. I must say, I think we outdid ourselves this mothers day. We had a card, flowers, supper and dessert. Supper was garlic shrimp with rice, and green and yellow zucchinis sautéed in garlic butter. The cake was lemon cake with blueberries and a lemon glaze. I'm rather proud that I managed to bake the cake and do the dishes so as to keep it all a secret once they were home. Overall I think she had a very nice mother's day :)

Journey to the Race: Day 55

If you put yourself in a position where you have to stretch outside your comfort zone, then you are forced to expand your consciousness.
— Les Brown

Today's been a lazy day. I have a pain around one of my eyes that I think is from a migraine but who knows. I've felt tired and lazy all day so I took today off just to rest and hopefully get rid of my migraine. I have training tomorrow so I know I'll get a good workout in and hopefully be more motivated after tomorrow.

Journey to the Race: Day 54

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.
-C.S. Lewis


Years ago I had gone hiking with girl guides and I've been wanting to go back ever since. One of my goals this summer was to go hiking and today we did it! We went to Mont Rigaud and it was a great time. The hike took just over a half hour and wasn't too difficult. The best was when we got to the top and realized there were about eight turkey vultures gliding nearby. I've seen a grand total of one turkey vulture before and I didn't see it all that well so to see that many gliding was so exciting. Needless to say I took a lot of pictures. You can see some video clips and pictures from today in this youtube video. It was so great to get outside and I'm glad it didn't rain like it was supposed to because that would have been a brutal hike when the ground was wet.

I'm so excited because I finally got all of my grades in and I'm so happy with them. My overall GPA is finally over 3, which has bugged me for ages. I ended the semester with 3 As, an A-, and a B+ so I'm very proud.

Still no word about jobs but one company said they'd phone in the next two weeks if I'm offered a job so hopefully I'll be hearing from them soon.

I'll probably be doing a more intense workout tomorrow so we'll see what tomorrow brings. Hope you all enjoy your weekend :)

Journey to the Race: Day 53

Success isn't how far you got, but the distance you travelled from where you started.
-Steve Prefontaine

My mom and I were hoping to go hiking today but by the time we were getting organized it was a bit too late and it was supposed to rain so we decided to go for a nature walk instead. We went to the arboretum for a 3k walk through the forest which was beautiful and allowed me to get out and take some photos for the first time in months. I did sprint up one hill which ended up a lot bigger than it looked but I walked all but that one hill. Except for the bees and wasps being attracted to my shirt, and the mosquitoes being persistent, my mom and I had a really nice time. Later tonight I realized that I was just sititng around watching tv shows and youtube videos so why not bike at the same time. I set a goal to bike through an entire movie. So I grabbed a movie (Tangled) and got my laptop set up so I could use the headphones since the bike is fairly loud when in use. About an hour into the movie I got pretty tired of it but I was determined and pushed on until the end of the movie when I very happily hopped off the bike. Also, your knees get very sore when you're not used to biking for any extended amount of time. Even though I will probably have very sore knees tomorrow, I'm very happy to have accomplished my goal and proud that I managed to bike the full hour and a half. And now I'm off for the night because I'm exhausted. G'night all :)

Journey to the Race: Day 52

The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare.
-Juma Ikangaa

Today's been a lazy day, I just haven't felt motivated to do anything. It didn't help that my hopes to go hiking and kayaking were kind of shut down after I found out it's going to rain for the next several days. Ah well, life goes on and I can run in the rain or workout inside. I told myself all day I'd get outside and exercise but by the time I got around to really thinking about it, it was about to get dark and the bugs were out. Instead I decided I would bike while watching How I Met Your Mother. I only watched one episode and in hindsight I should have biked for longer but I wasn't motivated so I stopped at one. Hopefully it'll be nice tomorrow and I can go for a run, if not I may go out for a run anyway, we'll see.

Journey to the Race: Day 51

Even the longest journey must begin where you stand.
-Lao-Tzu

Since the last two days have been fairly intense workouts and I didn't sleep all that well last night, I decided to make today an easier rest day. I did the Jillian Michaels cardio kickboxing routine that I found on youtube which is still a good workout but not nearly as intense the one I did yesterday.
I'm also realizing that I eat like a five year old so I'm going to try to decrease my junk and processed food intake and start eating more healthy meals.
I came across Losing It with Jillian on youtube when looking for some more workout videos and I'm hooked on this show, I've already watched 3-4 episodes.
I'm hoping to get outside and do some fun outdoor workouts such as kayaking or hiking so hopefully I can get out and do those things soon.
And now I'm off to eat some salad while watching tv :)

Journey to the Race: Day 50

What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.
-Henry David Thoreau

It seems fitting that day 50 be a big workout day. And oh my god was it ever. I decided to try another Jillian Michaels workout and wow was this one ever intense, much more so than the kickboxing one. It's about 45-50 minutes long and full of exercises that work every part of your body. I was exhausted and drenched in sweat by the time I was done this workout. I'm proud just to have finished it, even though I sometimes took 10-15 second breaks between sets rather than the given 5 seconds, and it shows how far I've come in these 50 days of training since there's no way I would have made it through in the shape I was in then. I feel stronger and even though I was breathing heavily through the majority of the workout, I was never so out of breath that I couldn't make it through a set which is a vast improvement. I'm so happy with my progress and I definitely want to continue these workouts after the race. I definitely recommend this workout to anyone interested in strength, cardio, and endurance training.

I just want to talk about the Jillian Michaels workouts for a bit. Hers are by far the best workouts I've found that are challenging and intense but you'll enjoy it. You develop a bit of a love-hate relationship with her because she will push you to the limit and you'll kind of hate her for it but once you're finished you will be so happy about what you've accomplished that you'll appreciate that extra push. One of my favourite things about her is that she's real; she's not bubbly and overly excited about a workout and cheering you on constantly. While that may sound good in theory, it gets on my nerves. I much rather her style of continuing and telling you to continue, to push through, and being realistic in saying which exercises are going to be hard and offering modifications to those exercises. She will push you and challenge you, and it's absolutely worth it.

I'm done exercising for the day so I'm off to relax for the rest of the evening. :)

Journey to the Race: Day 49

I'm a big believer in starting with high standards and raising them. We make progress only when we push ourselves to the highest level. If we don't progress, we backslide into bad habits, laziness and poor attitude.
-Don Gable

Today was another official training day. Thankfully it's in the morning so we get the workout done before the unbearable heat starts. Today we did:
1 jog around the park
1 jog around the park with 3 sets of 10 walking lunges
1 jog around the park sprinting up the hills
25-50m army crawl
5 pull-ups
10 swing outs
10 sand bag tosses
25-50m wheelbarrow
10 sprints up a steep hill
1 run up a long hill carrying a sand bag
1 run up the hill without the sand bag

It was a long but good workout. The run with the sand bag wasn't as bad as I was expecting but I'm very glad we did that run first because by the second time up I was tired. The army crawl was harder than I was expecting and I now have a rash all over my knees so hopefully that'll go away soon. I can already tell my arms are going to hurt tomorrow as today had a lot of arm exercises. I'm' extremely glad we got it over with in the morning but I have a feeling today it going to be another very hot day when I would rather not go running in 30C (90F)weather.

Once I was home I decided to do a quick ab workout in which I did 20 crunches, 30 bicycle crunches, 20 reverse crunches, 10 jackknives, 20 in and outs, 10 hip rock & raises, 10 v up/roll up combo. This also included some snuggle time with my cat as she loves to check out the mat and sleep alongside me while I'm doing crunches.

Overall, great workouts and I'm going to spend the rest of the day relaxing most likely. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Journey to the Race: Day 48

Unless you puke, faint or die, keep going!
-Jillian Michaels

Oh my gosh it's hot out. I swear we go straight from winter to summer. I knew I wanted/needed to workout today so I decided it would be a good idea to try a workout outdoors to get used to the heat. I started with 1 set of this workout from pinterest then started on the 5-4-3-2-1 workout but it was just too hot and my hands kept slipping off the mat so pushups and mountain climbers and burpees didn't work too well. I ended up stopping that workout and heading inside where I did another kickboxing routine from youtube. I didn't like this one as much as the Jillian Michael's one but I liked the moves and it was a good workout. Only downsides were that the audio was too quiet and the colours didn't have enough contrast to be clearly seen from a few feet away. I also prefer Jillian Michael's encouragement in telling you not to give up rather than just telling you you're doing well and to hold in your abs constantly. Was still a good workout though as I was completely drenched in sweat by the time I'd finished the routine. Today just further proved that I need to get used to exercising outdoors so I won't be completely overwhelmed at the race. Now I'm off to grab a snack, drink a whole lot of water, and relax for the rest of the night before training tomorrow. Hope you're all having a great day!

Journey to the Race: Day 47

Be brave and be patient. Have faith in yourself; trust in the significance of your life and the purpose of your passion. You are strong enough to sit in the space between spaces and allow divine inspiration to shed some light. When you put positive energy and productive effort into the world it will come back to you. Occasionally in ways you might not immediately understand and on a time frame you didnt expect. Look. Listen. Learn. Stay open. Your destiny is awaiting you.
-Jillian Michaels

I had my very first interview today! Turned out someone I went to high school with works there so she was one of the two people interviewing me which made me much more relaxed. I think it went well, and hopefully I'll hear from them and get the job. The rest of the day was spent buying new workout shorts which are so comfortable and definitely worth buying. After absolutely roasting on wednesday in long sweatpants I was definitely looking for some good exercise shorts. I relaxed for the rest of the afternoon and evening until about 10 when I remembered I needed to workout today. I really need to get into a better schedule so I'm not skipping as many (or any) days. I was going to do one of the pinterest workouts but decided to try a Jillian Michaels workout I had seen in Target when in the states. I managed to find it on youtube so I did the carbio kickboxing workout and loved it. I love kickboxing workouts so I had a blast. It wasn't as hard as I was expecting it to be but I also realize that a month or two ago there would be no way I could have finished that so I'm happy. I did find it a bit easier to complete the workout with Jillian telling you to keep going, work harder, and my favourite "you're not going to die, keep going". I finished the workout and decided to do some extra exercises so I did 15 burpees, 30 mountain climbers, 10 pushups, 6 in and outs, 30 bicycle crunches, 10 Hip Rock & Raises, 10 V Up/Roll Up Comb, 10 crunches, and 10 jackknives. And now I'm exhausted but feeling like I worked everything so I'm happy with the workout and will very likely do it again as well as look into other workouts on youtube. Definitely recommend her workouts as well as the ab ripper from P90X. Was a good workout day but not I'm off to relax before bed. Night all :)

Journey to the Race: Day 46

Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.
-William Faulkner

Today was a fun day. My mom, grandma, and I went to the states for the day to pick up some groceries that we can't get here. Spending all that time in the car after doing the kettle swings yesterday wasn't the greatest idea since my lower back is a bit sore now but it's not too bad. I didn't do a workout today but I shall definitely get one in tomorrow. The workout yesterday made me realize that I'm going to need to train outdoors in the heat to get used to it if I want to make it through the run. It's beautiful and hot out lately so maybe I'll go for a run outside tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm going to finish a book then head to bed. Night :)

Journey to the Race: Day 45

In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can.
-Nikos Kazantzakis

Since the easter training day was cancelled, I was owed a session so I joined the rest of our little gang for a session today. Wednesday sessions are apparently a lot harder than sunday sessions. We jogged to a park then did sets of burpees, kettle swings, sprints and jogs for the full four. The warm up was just climbing over jungle gym equipment and a light jog. The actual sets were so much harder than they sound, probably because we were constantly doing cardio and it was just so hot out today. I had gone through an entire water bottle before the hour was over which never happens. Great workout but I am exhausted. Spent the rest of the evening resting and reading, and now I'm off to bed. Night all :)

Journey to the Race: Day 44

Set your goals high, and don't stop till you get there.
-Bo Jackson

Today was actually another fairly productive day. I slept in, read, then cleaned my room and went through my clothes to see which I could donate or throw away. I also did about an hour of zumba, which I guess I haven't done in awhile because it was a tiring workout. Now to relax, read, and maybe watch a movie for the rest of the evening :)

Journey to the Race: Day 43

I'd rather attempt to do something great and fail than to attempt to do nothing and succeed.
-Robert H. Schuller

Today's been a long day of job hunting, which has to be one of the most discouraging activities known to man. I went out and applied to a bunch of jobs, and have one interview lined up so I'm really hoping I get that job. I'm a little sore from training yesterday, mainly my inner thigh which is bruised from the rope climb. I also seem to have pulled a muscle in my neck somehow so I'm taking today off from exercising. I'm also tired since I haven't been sleeping too well the last few days which isn't uncommon for the week or so after I finish school. I think my body just gets so used to constantly working on something that when I suddenly stop it takes awhile to adjust. The rest of the evening I'm just going to read and relax. :)

Journey to the Race: Day 42

If you want to conquer fear, don't sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.
-Dale Carnegie


Yay for another official training day with the gym. It was a more intense day today than the past weeks but it was a great workout. We started off with a run around through the streets then through a park and back to the starting place. Then we have 3 sections to do. 1) With a partner, race up the stairs then one partner sprints over the overpass and back while the other runs up and down the stairs as many times as they can before the sprinting partner gets back, 2) rope climb 3) do the job through the park with 10 leg raises at the park before returning to the starting point again. We made it through each section then decided to do the rope climb another time or two while it was set up. The running this week was a lot harder than previous weeks, and with the rope climb my legs were shaking by the end. The rope climb wasn't too bad once I got the technique down but it kills your hands. My ankle was hurting by the end so after I came home I just relaxed and read. Great workout, and it as always it felt great to get outside in the beautiful weather :)

Journey to the Race: Day 41

Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.
-William James

First day of freedom was lovely. I slept in, had a big breakfast, caught up on tv shows, and just lounged around. Lauren and I went for a 5k run/walk although there was far more running than walking. It was such a beautiful day and it was warm enough to not need a sweater so it was great to get outside. After dinner, dad and I assembled the deck table and chairs. And now I'm just going to relax, play around with makeup and nail polish, and read :)

Journey to the Race: Day 40

Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other.
-Walter Elliot

I'm actually not nearly as sore as I thought I would be so that makes me happy. My abs are obviously sore from the P90X workout but only if I laugh too hard or get hiccups or something like that. Today's been a very long day, I have 2 final exams. I had psych this morning and a mammology lab exam in the afternoon both of which I think went well. I studied latin names for the past week, I'm so happy to be done with memorizing latin names for awhile now. And those were my last exams so I am done!! This semester feels like it flew by but there was also a whole lot of work in it so I'm very happy to get a break. Now just to unwind and job hunt.

We had a family movie night tonight which was nice. My sister and I worked out a bit during the movie, she did some ab workouts and I did a very altered P90X ab workout where I basically did any exercise I could remember for 10-15 reps and did a few sets of each. It is very difficult to exercise with a cat around though, she decided to wind around my legs, curl up behind me, and steal the mat. That's life with a cat for you.

I'm still in finals mode so I still feel like I have things I need to study or work I need to do but hopefully that'll pass and the break will really sink in soon. For the rest of the evening I'm just going to relax and unwind. G'night all!

Journey to the Race: Day 39

One way to keep momentum going is to have constantly greater goals.
-Michael Korda

Oh my gosh I'm going to hurt so badly tomorrow. Once I had finished studying for one exam I decided to take a break and work out. I chose a workout from pinterest but I've done it before and I didn't find it terribly challenging so I decided to add something else. Why I chose the night before 2 exams to try P90X Ab Ripper I will never know but wow that's an intense workout. I did one set of this workout from pinterest, then attempted the P90X workout, then did the original one again. I did have to alter the P90X workout because 1) some of the exercises were just painful and my body won't allow me to do them 2) I couldn't do as many reps. I did do as many as I could or would stop for a few seconds then continue with the same exercise until I reached the goal number of reps. The V Up/Roll Up Combo was insane but after awhile you get into a groove and it does get a bit easier. I wasn't able to do the Fifer Scissors so I did a mixture of those and flutter kicks as I find those a little bit easier. The Oblique V Ups I wasn't able to do at all, I have bad hip joints and it was just painful to do even one so I did reverse crunches and bicycle crunches instead. The Mason Twists were harder than they look but I did as many as I could until I basically fell over and couldn't do any more. Overall, it's a very good workout although I did have to alter it. I did some stretching so hopefully I won't be too sore tomorrow. Now just to review a little bit and study some more for my second exam. Wish me luck!

Journey to the Race: Day 38

By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.
-Benjamin Franklin

Today's been yet another day of studying for exams. I have one part of studying done, now I just have to study for one more part of one exam, and for my second exam. I did the 5-4-3-2-1 workout from pinterest which I hadn't done in awhile. It's a great workout to do every day but if you don't do it for awhile it can be hard to get through. I altered it a bit by removing the 1 min of plank at the end, and adding in more crunches and 5 minutes of biking instead. It was a good workout, and it makes me want to do that particular workout more often to improve.

Here are some songs I've found that are good for workouts:
Moral of the Story - George Watsky
The Pheonix - Fall Out Boy
Rumor Mill - We Are The In Crowd

Also just an amazing song in general:
Affected - Meghan Tonjes

And now I'm off to study some more then relax before bed. G'night!

Journey to the Race: Day 37

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.
-Helen Keller

Once again today was a bit of a lazy day. I stayed up late last night reading so I slept in this morning. I procrastinated most of the day then studied in the evening. Studying included looking up pictures of cute animals so it wasn't too bad. Didn't work out today, which I always think will be a good idea to rest but then I just feel off all day so I probably should be working out every day. I'll most likely do a workout from pinterest tomorrow so we'll see how that goes. G'night all :)

Journey to the Race: Day 36

When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.
-Thomas Jefferson


I'm only a little sore from yesterday, I honestly thought I'd be feeling it more but it's not bad unless I try to carry anything heavy at all. I have my first final exam today so the morning was spent reviewing and going back and forth between "I know this, I'll be fine" and "I don't care anymore". I think the exam went well, there were a few questions I wasn't sure about but overall I think it was okay. I picked up my tests and an essay for other classes and did pretty well on those so I'm happy with my grades so far. Only 2 more finals to go so I'll be focusing on studying for those.
In the evening, I went for a walk/run with my mom and neighbour. They walked the 5k and I would jog or sprint ahead and walk back. I also threw in some burpees, squat jumps, jumping jacks, and lunges at one point. Was nice to get out and see the sunset. :)

Journey to the Race: Day 35

If you can dream it, you can do it.
-Walt Disney


Woo today was a good workout day. We did jogs around a park for a warm up, sprinting up the hills and doing 20 walking lunges when on flat ground. Then we went to a steep hill and with a partner, took turns sprinting up the hill 8 times. We then went back to the park and did this circuit twice.

• 3-4 pull ups
• 10 pushup swingouts (not sure what it's called but you get into a pushup position with your hands on a playground swing, then swing your arms out then back to the pushup position)
• piggy back someone of approximately the same weight for...I have no idea but I'd guess 20-40m (vague I know, but I have no idea of the actual distance)
• pull a weighted sled the same distance

We finished the session with 2 runs up yet another hill, which is not as steep but is a long and slow climb. The first run up was a nice jog pace, and the second one was an all out sprint to the top.

The sled drag was by far the worst part, it was heavy and slow going. The sprints and runs weren't nearly as bad as I thought they would be although I did get a cramp in my side again. And I'm pretty sure my sister bruised my hips from gripping on so tight during the piggy back ride, but she kind of had to so she wouldn't slide off.

Overall a great workout, and now I get to spend the rest of the day studying for finals. Wish me luck!

Journey to the Race: Day 34

I don't believe you have to be better than everybody else. I believe you have to be better than you ever thought you could be.
-Ken Venturi

Today's been a relax and study day. As I get closer to exams, I feel less and less like working out but I know I still need to. I have training tomorrow so I'm not too worried about taking today off. Hopefully I'll be able to get lots of studying done. Posts on days other than big training and workout days are probably going to be pretty short, I'll hopefully have more interesting posts once finals are over.

Journey to the Race: Day 33

Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it's always your choice.
-Wayne Dyer


Today was a somewhat lazy day but I did manage to do about an hour of zumba and then some crunches and whatnot. Now just to keep studying for final exams ><

Journey to the Race: Day 32

The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential... these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.
-Confucius


This is the only problem having time off between classes and finals, you feel like you're done so you don't feel like studying. I finally forced myself to study tonight and I actually made it through all the lecture slides for my first exam. Still have more studying to do but it's a good start. I didn't workout today but if the weather is nice I'll probably go for a run with my sister. Either way I'll exercise, what I'll do depends on the weather. Good luck to everyone in exam period!

Journey to the Race: Day 31

Always continue the climb. It is possible for you to do whatever you choose, if you first get to know who you are and are willing to work with a power that is greater than ourselves to do it.
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox


Yay finally a day where's there's no snow, it's warm, and I can run outside! Grandma came over today so I joined her and mom on a walk. They walked for 5km and I would run ahead and walk or run back to them. I'm not sure exactly how much I did but about 6-6.5km. It was great to be able to workout in the outdoors when it's not cold and snowy. I did some stretches and crunches once I got home as well. I'll start studying for finals tomorrow, today is my day off and big workout day :)

Journey to the Race: Day 29 and 30

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”
― Fred Rogers

First off I have to say that my thoughts are going out to all those affected by the bombs in Boston.

I didn't workout yesterday, I had a paper to write and a test to study for and was just constantly working until 2:30am.
I think the exam today went well, but I was more worried about my wildlife conservation paper. I stayed at school to finish my paper since I had to hand in a hardcopy. I worked nonstop from just after 11 until around 3:30 when I finally finished. The school computer took forever to print it so I finally got it handed in around 4:15. Yay for handing in essays 45 minutes before the due time!
I didn't end up working out today either, I was just tired and feeling lazy after working pretty much nonstop on papers for the last week. Tonight was for rest before I have to start studying for finals.

Journey to the Race: Day 28

A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.
-Ayn Rand

Had another official training session today. We did a warmup jog of about 1km, then sets of 3 stations for about 45 minutes.
Station 1: sprint up stairs then jog down 5-8 times
Station 2: lift a weight approximately 8-12 times (varied depending on the weight used)
Station 3: run/jog 650m and back
I was so proud that I managed to do the full 650m without stopping. I did take it a bit easy with running because I am so tired from end of semester.
There was this one exercise where we had to hold a pipe above our head then rotate the pipe to lower then lift a weight. I can tell you it sounds very easy but of my gosh does it ever hurt your wrists and forearms. I very well may make one to workout with at home.
Overall it was a good workout, and I was tired by the end.
Once I got home I had to work almost non-stop on essays. I finished one paper, and got all the research articles and started taking notes for the second paper. I have almost 2 days for that paper and it's shorter than the other ones I've done so it should go fairly well.
It's been a long day of exercise and essay writing so I'm gonna go watch a movie or tv show then head to bed. G'night!

Journey to the Race: Day 27

Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe.
-Gail Devers


Still not feeling 100% but I haven't worked out nearly often enough this week so I forced myself to work out today. I did another workout that I found on pinterest which wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be, so I added different types of crunches. The workout can be found here, and I added 10-20 jack knives, 10-20 crunches, 10-20 reverse crunches, and 10-20 bicycles between reps. I did the full workout 3 times while watching How I Met Your Mother so it went by fairly fast. And now I'm off to work on my end of semester crazy amount of work that's due in 3 days >< Bye until tomorrow!

Journey to the Race: Day 26

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.
Thomas A. Edison

Man I'm so tired lately. I kept dozing off in class then fell asleep before dinner earlier. I ended up taking the evening off from work, I'll just have to work harder the rest of the weekend. I'm also trying to drink tea but so far I still don't like it much. I did do a short workout, mostly just different types of crunches and ab work but I also included some pushups and tricep dips. Just in the hopes of getting some energy. It worked for a bit but I'm tired again. I think I'll finish one section of my essay then just read until I go to bed. G'night!

Journey to the Race: Day 25

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.
C. S. Lewis

Yesterday was a bit crazy; I had multiple classes, then had to study for a test, and I went to the last school bar night of the semester. Needless to say, a workout did not happen. Still not feeling 100% but I'll probably try to workout tomorrow.

And since this post is so short:

Hilarious video "How Animals Eat Their Food" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnydFmqHuVo

Neat DIY projects http://www.buzzfeed.com/peggy/31-insanely-easy-and-clever-diy-projects

Journey to the Race: Day 24

Our nature consists in motion; complete rest is death.
-- Blaire Pascal

Today's been rough so I didn't workout. I'm absolutely exhausted and my entire body seems to be having a revolution against stress so I'm not feeling great. I managed a 2 hour nap but I had a weird/bad dream so it wasn't as restful as I would have liked. I had hoped to study for a test on Friday and work on an essay but so far the essay is going slowly and I haven't started studying. Thankfully I'll have time to study tomorrow so it's not too bad. I can't wait for the semester to be over so I can be rid of a major source of stress. Training isn't actually a source of stress, it's very much a stress reliever so I'm going to try to workout every day or two no matter how busy I am. Anyway, I'm going to get back to work then head to bed in a little bit. G'night all.

Journey to the Race: Day 23

With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.
Eleanor Roosevelt

No workout for me today, unfortunately I think that was a bad idea. Apparently I've gotten used to exercising everyday because I had way too much energy tonight. Ah well, lesson learned. Today was kind of a slacker today to be honest, I had a lot planned to get done but didn't actually do any of it. I'll have to play catch up tomorrow I guess. I did manage to get registered for next year so at least there's one thing down. Anyway, I'm off to bed so g'night!

Journey to the Race: Day 22

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” –Albert Einstein

Today was another good workout day. I did about an hour of zumba then some strength training for another half hour. I love zumba, it's a good and fun workout that I can do at home. For strength training, I didn't really have a set plan but I did about 45 burpees, 15 pushups, 50 crunches, 10 reverse crunches, 20 side crunches (bicycles?), and about 20 jackknifes.
I managed to finish one of my essays last night and I had planned to work on another one today buuuut that didn't really happen. I'm going to start some research tonight but I'm mostly just taking the day off to relax and not work since I worked most of the weekend.
Also, (mostly) healthy and delicious recipes:

Fruity Salad
Lettuce
yellow pepper
strawberries
raspberry dressing/vinegrette

Panini
Bread
Turkey or chicken
BBQ sauce
yellow pepper
tomato
-If you have a panini press, cook it for 2 minutes. If not, you can cook it on a grill or in a frying pan and it'll be just as good.

And that's all for today. G'night all!

Journey to the Race: Day 21

"Every accomplishment starts with a desire to try" - Gail Devers

We had group training today and it went so much better than it usually does so I'm absolutely thrilled. We did stretches, then laps of a street doing walking lunges, high knees, and jogging, then ran around a block most of which was up or downhill. I did have to stop to catch my breathe once I got to the top of the hill but after a minute I continued to the end just fine. We then did laps up the hill jogging up and walking or jogging down. I did get a rather painful cramp in my side and had to slow down at one point but breathing wise it went so much better than the previous training sessions. I think I'm finally getting my breathing under control which makes me so happy. We did a burpee workout to finish the session off and that went well. Once we were home, I convinced my sister to join me in doing my usual workout. We changed it up a little bit but it was fun and a good workout. Overall, great workout day and I'm very happy with my progress so far. The rest of the day will be spent resting and working on essays. Hope you're enjoying your weekend! :)

P.S. Something my sister and I learned today; it is pretty much impossible to run to this song and not dance or laugh at the same time, especially if you've seen this video

Journey to the Race: Day 20

I've been thinking it's Sunday all day today so yay for an extra day of weekend! I've been somewhat lazy and somewhat productive today. I lounged around most of the day then went shopping for some athletic wear and applied for some jobs. Applying to jobs is one of the most frustrating things I've ever had to do because 99% of the time I get told they're not hiring or find out they're not hiring after filling out the very long application form. One place actually was hiring and went well so hopefully that one will work out. Since then I've just been working on a news scrapbook for one of my classes, and I managed to finish it so I won't have to worry about it later in the week when it's due. I have one more assignment I want to get the finishing touches done on and then I'll just have the rest of an essay and a test for this week. So many essays and tests and assignments. Why must everything be due at the end of the semester. Ah well, I'm getting better at focusing and getting the work done so hopefully I can keep that up. Today's been a horrible day for eating healthy so I'm actually looking forward to the workout tomorrow, and may add one of my own in the afternoon/evening. And now I'm off to eat maple toffee and peanut butter brownies with M&Ms (I told you, bad healthy food day). Night all! :)

Journey to the Race: Day 19

Almost forgot to write a post for today, whoops! Most of my day was spent on school work but I did squeeze in another half hour workout. I did the same as yesterday but added 20 crunches and 20 side crunches (bicycle crunches?) during the 3 minute set. Good workout, I'll probably take tomorrow off to rest my knees and ankles before training on sunday. And now I'm off to bed because I'm exhausted. G'night!

Journey to the Race: Day 18

Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.
-- Norman Vincent Peale

Today was a long day at school but I managed to squeeze in a workout before bed. And damn what a workout! I found a workout on pinterest and thought I'd give it a try and decided that no matter how it went, I would stick to it and push through it. And that's exactly what I did. It was an intense workout but it felt amazing to get through it so I'm very happy about it. I did alter it a little bit but I actually made it harder than the suggested workout. Here's the original post on Pinterest and below is my altered version. Definitely one of the best and most intense workouts I've done yet. And now I'm off to wind down then head to bed. G'night!

5 Minutes:
1 min: high knees
1 min: jumping jacks
1 min: burpees
1 min: jumping jacks
1 min: run in place

4 Minutes:
1 min: lunges
1 min: mountain climbers
1 min: lunges
1 min: mountain climbers

3 Minutes:
10 pushups
10 tricep dips
20 jackknives
10 side plank with pushup

2 Minutes:
30 sec: squats
30 sec: jump squats
30 sec: squats
30 sec: jump squats

1 Minute:
Plank

Journey to the Race: Day 17

"If anything is worth doing, do it with all your heart" - Buhddha

Yet another long day of school work. End of semester craziness is upon us so between that and the lack of sleep over the weekend, I'm either working or sleeping all the time. I have a big essay due soon so I spent any free time today researching articles for it and getting my notes organized. Thankfully now all I have to do is actually write it out. That said, I didn't manage to workout today so I'll definitely have to workout tomorrow no matter how much I won't want to. And now I'm off to bed. Night :)

Journey to the Race: Day 16

You just can't beat the person who never gives up.
-- Babe Ruth

Ughhh I'm so tired >< I've been waking up anywhere from 430-8am the last 3 days with weird/bad/frustrating dreams and an inability to get back to sleep. I also had classes, a test, and a lab report to do today so exercise didn't happen. I finally finished my lab report and now I'm going to relax and unwind for a bit, then head to bed and hopefully sleep straight through the night. G'night all :) P.S. Random song of the day you should listen to: Moral of the Story - George Watsky

Journey to the Race: Day 15

Yay for days off! Had more bad dreams this morning so that sucked but at least they woke me up later than yesterday. I'm not too sore from the run yesterday so I decided to do a short workout. I thought about going for a short run but the moment I thought that, it started to snow like crazy and was very windy so I decided to just workout at home instead. I'm not 100% sure what I did because I just kind of went with whatever I felt like doing in the moment. I do know that I did several sets of 10-20 squat jumps, squats, lunges, pushups, crunches, mountain climbers, side plank with pushups, jumping jacks, and burpees. It was a good workout; I was definitely tired and sore by the end. I still need to work on my breathing; I get out of breath so easily and my body seems to instinctively go to shallow breathing which doesn't work well at well. If anyone has suggestions on breathing techniques I'm all ears. I think that's all for today, I'm off to get some work done and try to relax a bit :)

Journey to the Race: Day 14

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together"
-African proverb

Happy Easter!
Unfortunately I didn't have a good night. I was awake early and couldn't get back to sleep for any real length of time because of weird and frustrating dreams. Finally ended up reading in bed before getting up for breakfast. Four of us doing the race decided to go for a run today since the group training was cancelled for the holiday. We ran/jogged/speed walked for 5km (took about an hour) with stops for quick workouts every kilometre or so. For the workouts we did either 1) 20 jumping jacks, 20 jump squats, 20 squats, then hold a squat for 20 seconds or 2) 20 high knees, 20 seconds of quick feet drill, and 10 lunges each leg then hold it for 20 seconds each. Started very rough and my lungs gave me a lot of trouble today but I made it. Once we got home, I did an ab workout with some pilates, pushups, side plank, and lots of crunches. Feeling good but very tired. Hope you're all having a good easter weekend :)

Good running songs of the day:

Try It Again - The Hives
Touch The Sky - Julie Fowlis
Up Up Up - Rose Falcon
Something In Your Mouth - Nickelback

Journey to the Race: Day 13

Difficulties mastered are opportunities won.
-- Winston Churchill

Happy Easter weekend! No workout today, I took the day off to just relax and read before meeting up with my family for easter. Got to videochat with family in Ontario that wasn't able to make it, and it was so great to get to see and talk to everybody. Lauren and I are talking about doing a run workout tomorrow with some others from the group so we'll see what happens :)

Journey to the Race: Day 12

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
-- Leonardo Da Vinci

My to do list and my accomplished list for today are very different ><
I had hoped to write a lab report, clean my room, workout, maybe go shopping. So far I've done school work all day. Now I'm going to do some pilates. Then if I feel like it I'll clean my room, and after that I plan to read and relax for the rest of the evening. Today's just been a very stressful and blah day. Hopefully the rest of the long weekend will be better and more productive.

Updated: I managed to do pilates for a half hour, and it was much easier than it used to be so I'm still really happy and feeling much stronger than before. I also cleaned my room, which was a disaster area as it tends to become during the semester. And now I'm going to paint my nails, read, and watch a movie :)

Journey to the Race: Day 11

You can only hold your stomach in for so many years.
-- Burt Reynolds

Hey all :) Today was a long school day and then I went out to dinner with my parents. Considering I did a long workout yesterday and have the day off tomorrow, I'm not too worried about taking tonight off to work on a lab report for a bit and relax. I'm really liking pilates right now so I'll probably do that again tomorrow with either some zumba or maybe a run if I can convince my sister to come running with me. I'm off to work for a bit then take the rest of the night off. G'night :)

Journey to the Race: Day 10

Energy and persistence conquer all things.
— Benjamin Franklin

Damn today's been a good workout day. I did about 1.5 hours of zumba, from which I already saw improvements in endurance. Between zumba routines I also did burpees, crunches, pushups, and jumping jacks. Then I did about an hour of pilates which showed a lot of improvement since the last time so I'm really happy with that. I also obviously made sure to stretch a lot so I'm not too sore tomorrow. I'm feeling great and more motivated now that I'm starting to see improvements. Now just to work on a lab report and relax. Overall a great day :)

Journey to the Race: Day 9

What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.
— Goethe

Man today's been a long day. Up early and when I haven't had class, I've been studying. Also had my water bottle decide to empty into my backpack, yet by some miracle did not get my books or electronics wet. Soaked the bottom of the bag, the floor and the chair it was on but everything else was fine thankfully. Haven't had the time or energy for a workout today but I've worked out for the last 2 days so I'm taking today off. Sorry for the short, badly written post but I'm still studying and I'm so exhausted I just want to fall into bed. And now I'm going back to studying. Bye for now :)

Journey to the Race: Day 8

You're on a positive road. You have some type of direction where you're going, so you have to just keep on going.
-- Bob Marley

Wow I've been productive the last few days. I've caught up on my scrapbook and finished an essay 3 days before it was due which is usually very difficult for me to manage. Exercise-wise I haven't been as productive and it's starting to bug me. Once I start working out I'm fine, it's the convincing myself to do it in the first place I have trouble with. After the training session yesterday I'm not sore in the slightest which leaves me wondering if I didn't push myself hard enough. Maybe I'm just more used to stairs than running, who knows. I biked for about 20-30 minutes and I pushed myself harder than I have been when biking so I'm happy with that. Also found some songs that work really well for me when biking because I can work up to the faster chorus then ease off a little bit during the verses. The songs I enjoyed today were:
Mugshot - The New Cities
Lose Yourself - Eminem
Snakes on a Plane - Cobra Starship
Imma shine - Youngbloodz
Let's Go - Suzie McNeil

And that's it for today, I'm off to bed soon. Night all :)

Journey to the Race: Day 7

If a man achieves victory over this body, who in the world can exercise power over him? He who rules himself rules over the whole world.
-- Vinoba Bhave

Second big training day today which included lots of stairs and running over an overpass to then do burpees, squat jumps or jumping jacks, and of course some stretching at the end. The stairs were actually easier than the running which I found odd. Once again my lungs were the main problem, and this time I got a bad headache and had to stop at one point because I was starting to black out (this sounds worse than it is, it happens to me fairly often). The run was hard and kick started my motivation to work out during the week and push myself more when I'm on my own. I'm actually not sore which makes me both happy and frustrated because I don't feel like I pushed myself enough during this workout. We'll see how I'm feeling tomorrow I guess. For some reason my hip joint cramped last night and has been aching a bit today but didn't effect the workout too much. I think I'm going to give myself 3-4 workout options and I'll try to do one every day or two whether it's zumba, pilates, running, biking, swimming. I need to stick to some sort of schedule and push myself harder than I have been. Overall today's been good, got the training done as well as getting caught up with some school work which is always nice. I think I'm going to do some zumba tomorrow so that'll be fun :)

Journey to the Race: Day 6

Today was a pretty good day, I had an oral and test but both went fairly well. I managed a short bike ride (about 20 minutes), some stretches, and some push-ups and crunches. My friend Mel hosted a "Caitlin's birthday/Game of Thrones" dinner party which was amazing and so much fun. Overall good day :)

Energy and persistence conquer all things.
— Benjamin Franklin

Journey to the Race: Day 5

Man today's been a long day and it's not over yet. Long day at school and the evening is being spent preparing for an oral presentation and studying for a test. That said, a workout is just not going to happen tonight but I'll exercise tomorrow, maybe both zumba and biking to make up for the lack of workouts the last couple days. Well that's it for tonight, sorry this is such a short post but school kind of took over today. Night all :)


Bite off more than you can chew, then keep chewing.
— Joe De Sena

Journey to the Race: Day 4

What a gorgeous day, bright blue skies and everything is coated in snow. Mom and I shoveled the last bit of the driveway so that was my workout for the day. The rest of the day was just spent relaxing, then went out shopping for a birthday present with my mom. I honestly completely forgot to workout which is why I'm counting the shovelling, but I figure if ever there's a day you're allowed to forgot to exercise it's your birthday. That's my logic and I'm sticking to it :P
I'm hoping to fit a workout in tomorrow but it's going to be a very busy day so we'll see.


Believe that you can run farther or faster. Believe that you're young enough, old enough, strong enough, and so on to accomplish everything you want to do. Don't let worn-out beliefs stop you from moving beyond yourself.
— John Bingham

Journey to the Race: Day 3

Well today's been an interesting day to say the least. I got up at 8 in the hopes of studying for my test some more only to find it had already snowed half a foot and I'd have to leave early to get to school. Managed to eat some breakfast and quickly look over a few notes before the exam only to have it be rescheduled. My potential running route is now covered in up to a foot of snow so the bike (which is finally set up!) will definitely come in handy. Mom, Dad, and I went out to dinner for my birthday (technically tomorrow but we're celebrating tonight)which was nice. We shovelled the driveway which was a workout on its own since there was over a foot of snow. After shovelling I decided to bike for about 20 minutes then stretch. Not a long workout but the bike's kind of loud and I figured my parents would be heading to bed soon. My legs feel so much better and less tense now so I'm very happy that we have the bike for workouts. And that's it for my day, I'm just gonna relax then head to bed. Night all! :)

Journey to the Race: Day 2

Day 2:

First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.
— Epictetus

Morning:
I'm actually not as sore as I thought I would be so yay! My thighs are very sore so sitting down and going up or down stairs hurts quite a bit but other than that I'm fine. I had an outdoor lab this morning and standing still (so as not to scare the birds) hurt my legs after awhile. It's very cold out (about -14C) today so I'm really not in the mood to run but the bike isn't set up yet so I'll probably either go for a brisk walk or do some light zumba routines. It's also supposed to snow a lot tomorrow so I'm really hoping to get the bike set up so I can work my legs without having to run in the cold and snow.
Evening:
Lesson learned: don't stay sitting for any long period of time or getting up will hurt very badly and your legs will have cramped up. Unfortunately I've learned this several times today. The bike still isn't set up but hopefully it will be tonight or tomorrow. Especially since we're supposed to get quite a bit of snow so the bike will come in handy until the snow is cleared a bit.
I have a big test to study for so no workout tonight. I also have a lab report to do tomorrow but I'll need to fit a workout in my schedule somewhere. I'll let you know what I figure out tomorrow!

Journey to the Race: Day 1

Apparently I'm crazy and decided it would be a good idea to sign up for a 5K run when I'm not in great shape and hate running. This obviously brings up the question of why the heck I would choose to do such a thing. My reasons? It looked like a fun challenge and I wanted to prove to myself that I could push beyond my comfort zone and finish this race. Of course about a week after signing up I had the "oh my god what have I done" moment, but I'm sticking to it and I'll push myself to do the best I can do. I'm training with a local gym one day a week but I'm going to have to add my own workouts throughout the week. My biggest problem is going to be my lungs; I'm out of shape and have asthma and to put it simply, my lungs do not like running. Hopefully with training and warmer weather that'll improve.

I'm hoping that by sharing this journey with you I'll be able to keep myself motivated. As one of my professors once said, "nothing is a better motivator than the threat of humiliating yourself in public" (he was talking about learning material for an oral presentation but I think it's a good general saying). 

So day 1:

It was a great day to start training, it was beautiful out but cold (about -8C). The group met up and did a short warm up jog then about 10 lunges and some stretches. The main run included going down a hill, through a tunnel that slopes downward then back up, then up a hill. At the top of each hill, we had to stop and do a set of lunges or burpees. The first set included 8-10 runs with 10-20 lunges each run. Set 2 included runs (as many as you could do with the leftover time) with increasing burpees per run starting with 5. 

I was able to do about 7 runs with 10 lunges each time, then about 4 runs getting up to 8 burpees per run. 

I'm not going to lie and say it went amazingly well the first day, that's just not realistic or true. Realistically, my lungs burned and I felt like I had a weight on my chest, and at times I had to speed walk instead of run.  I can also guarantee I have shin splints in at least my left leg but probably both. But I got through it and I'm looking forward to improving my endurance and pushing myself even more next time. 

My family recently got a gadget that allows you to transform your regular bike into a stationary bike so I'm hoping to get that set up and use it to workout to strengthen my legs when I don't feel like running in the cold.
My legs are a bit sore today but not too bad yet, I'm definitely not looking forward to tomorrow though. 

I'll quit rambling now and leave you with a quote:

“We conquer - not in any brilliant fashion - we conquer by continuing.” 

—	George Matheson