Resolution Run

To kick start our 2011 fitness goals, Pete and I are heading out to do a quick 10 km down the gorgeous Rideau canal before celebrating with friends tonight..... and yes, we will be sporting these matching awesome orange jackets (exactly as shown) - What an awesome way to end off the year!  Happy New Years Everyone!

Note: After the super mild weather of late and the rain from last night, the snow has almost disappeared... makes for much easier running!

Cooking Chronicles cont.

The madness continues this weekend... I blame it on the Food Network  (particularly the wednesday evening line-up) and all those darn food blogs I read... how am I suppose to sit by and watch such delicious and amazing things and not try to make them for myself?  What I really need to do is have my very own kitchen and make these things everyday instead of blitzing the kitchen on the weekend and salivating my way through the week.   So, what's on the menu for this weekend??

First up:

Stuffed Zucchini from a random Sobey's inspiration magazine.  I changed a few things around, added some nutritional yeast instead of cheese and added a shake of cayenne pepper- they were a wee bit bland but I am sure that can be fixed.  After dinner I whipped up a batch of Jenna's Cinnamon Walnut Bread (with a splash of vanilla and a bit of nutmeg for fun).  It was ridiculously easy to make - she promised 45 minutes tops (including the 40 minute baking time) and she didn't steer me wrong.  The bread is delicious, and even makes for a mighty tasty slice of toast the next morning too!   I think I'll bake another loaf tomorrow for the office crew back at base.

Tonight:

Fish tacos with guacamole ala Alton Brown at Good Eats.  Both were fantastic, I've never done the fish version of taco, and this did not disappoint. My mother in law pronounced it be to amazing and I left the dinner table rather pleased with my progress.

Tomorrow:

I'm thinking something yummy I can bring back to base with me (can you tell I'm avoiding the galley?).  Since perusing Jenna's blog daily, I see her eating her homemade Channa Masala quite often and I think it will make an excellent après yoga meal!  Now I just have to get something green to complete the meal - Jamie's special green monster smoothy maybe (amazing grass powder, spinach, frozen mango pieces, orange juice and pasteurized egg whites), yes I do think so!

In other news, Pete and I have decided to sign up for the Resolution Run put on by the Running Room.  It sounds like great fun on New Years, and we even get a snazzy jacket out of it!  Score!  That being said, I really should start a real training plan though, my runs these days have been up to 6 km and either hill sprints or proper sprints.  I have also - ahem -  "agreed" to do a triathlon sometime next year - I blame Frayed Laces and her amazing finish at last weekend's Ironman. For those who know me, know I CANNOT swim.  I somehow faked my way through many many levels of swimming, mysteriously got my SCUBA license and passed the swim test in the military without actually physically being able to swim.  What I do in water cannot be called swimming, nor can I keep it up for enough time to make it a proper distance consistent with a triathlon.   Pete seems to think that we can work on this and improve if we do it together.  That, however, remains to be seen.  Maybe once we move to Ottawa I will magically find my groove and not drown in the pool - fingers crossed!

Alright, it's saturday night, almost 10pm and I am beat - night!

16

Last tuesday I experienced an epic failure at the gym, I was set to run 16km - not a new thing to my legs - but for the entire time I was running I felt awful.  My legs were tired, my calves were burning, my lungs were unhappy... WTF?! I stumbled off the treadmill with only 7.5km completed... it was crap, I was pissed off and I moped for the rest of the evening.

Fast forward to yesterday.  I had originally planned on running outside, the weather was amazing all week and I was looking forward to the sun shine.  Saturday rolled around and it was cold and windy, so I opted to try the treadmill again.  This time I rocked my 16km.  My legs were awesome until about 13 kms in when they started to get a bit fatigued, and my lungs were great... quite the difference from tuesday I would say!

Today was suppose to be a quick recovery run but I decided some power cardio-burn yoga would be better for my hamstrings - and I was right, it felt wonderful.

This week I have some more 6.5 km runs scheduled and a great big french test on thursday - yikes!  I've had the test on my goals list for ages and I really would like to get an "exempt" (meaning I scored high enough that my bilingual status will be good forever).  However, my french has been,- how you say - non-existant since I graduated so I may not get that E.... oh well, anything would be beneficial from a job standpoint so off I go.

34 days until I leave Borden for Quebec City!!!  Although leaving my cosy private room, my car and the closeness of my awesome in-laws is not ideal,  I will be finally completing my training and getting a promotion - another stripe, and a pay raise!  Hooray!!

Back to studying I go, night.

The return

Way back in University I worked 2 jobs and had a full time class load.  Needless to say, I didn't sleep a lot and was pretty hooked on caffeine... These days I sleep more and only have 1 job, but I still like my caffeine.  


Where was I going with this, oh yeah - Second Cup.  


Because I worked at an Opto office near a large outlet mall type area in Calgary that also had numerous coffee shop options, I would often stop at Second Cup and grab a crème brulée ristretto before heading to my night class - it was delicious and it was my first foray into the world of coffee. But sadly, one day I found out that they had discontinued the creamy cinnamon syrup used in the ristretto :(  and I had to get a new drink.  I was pretty upset when I found out and then switched over to Starbucks because it just seemed easier somehow (not really sure how that makes sense).  Later after we graduated when I lived with Heather, we had a great supply from Starbucks, so I continued to drink their coffee.  Then I moved to Victoria for the military and as there are ZERO second cup stores on the island I remained dedicated to Starbucks.  Now however, I am in Ontario and there are some Second Cup stores but besides the Maple Latte I didn't have a real reason to go.  A few weekends ago I was visiting Pete in Fredericton and we popped into a Second Cup for my coffee (didn't see any Starbucks in the vicinity) and they had a new drink feature - The Cinnamon Spice Latte.  I tried it, and I am amazed at how similar it tastes to my beloved crème brulée ristretto - hooray!


So in short, I have my drink back,  it makes me very happy, and it helps me to get through my crap essays- ughh, I've been struggling with this one all weekend, good thing it isn't due until Tuesday ;)


Short training / weather update - it's been grey and dreary all weekend.  I was suppose to run 16.5 km today but I have a severe dislike for running in the rain so I've decided to change it to a 5 km easy run on the treadmill on base tonight and the 16.5 km tomorrow after work. OK back to the essay :)

Today's Motivation

I've been chillin' at the in-laws this weekend... as I said on facebook, it is BLISS being off base... Not that the base isn't a happening place (oh boy it is!) but eating at the mess, hanging in my room, and at the gym doesn't make for a happy Linda. She needs to spread her wings and see some non-military folk every once and a while so off I drive to my in-laws. Life here is SOOO nice... they have real food, and a dog :) and a whole house that I can lounge around in. Plus, they take me on outings to visit the extended in-law family... AWESOME! (I'm being serious, my in-laws - all the extended in-laws included - are amazing and lovely and everything fantastic) YAY!
Anyhoo, I've been able to run around a neighbourhood in the out of doors which is a welcome change to the treadmill at the base gym (although it is nice that I can watch the Olympics while running) . But I digress, the actual reason for this post is because I saw this over on Happy Go Lucky Alex, and it made me laugh... well done!

New Motivation

Is it wrong that I increased the length of my intervals and my speed (fastest ever) so I could do my proper miles and get home in time to watch NCIS????

I just can't help it, these Ontario times are killing me.... who puts a prime-time show on at 8:00?  My whole life I've structured my tv viewing for the 9 o'clock hour... darn you Ontario!

Amazing

I'll be thinking of this girl the next time I think about not giving it my all when I run.

Running

So since I last posted I've been getting into my running, mostly because Pete has encouraged me to sign up for races. Also because, for the moment, I live in Victoria and can run outside most days of the year.

I managed to get through the Times Colonist 10km run - after a night shift no less - which did make me feel pretty happy. Although running with 11,000 other people was awful, and all those people who started before me and walked from the beginning were frustrating to navigate around, I did feel like the run went well.
Fast forward a month and I am running my first 1/2 marathon. Not sure if this was the smartest move, having only a month of extra training in between the two but I have come up with a plan. I originally was going to run it as a 10km and then walk run the rest until I was finished, however now I think I'll do a 2km run then 1 km walk and see how that goes. Pete is also running this one, not beside me, but he will be on the route roughly around the same time. He is running on a newly repaired collapsed lung but I have no doubt he will be just fine, he lives for this stuff.

I have another race in the fall to train for which I assume I will be more prepared for. Plus I am spending the summer in Quebec City and one of my classmates has decided that we are going to be running this exciting race..... so who knows I might just do well.

Days like these

It's days like the one I am having thus far that make me very happy that I only have 10 more working days at Job #1. I really dislike 1/2 of my job - the requisitioning of funds - and lucky for me today I am being bogged down with problems... fun!

What makes it even better is the fact that this morning's run, despite still having trouble walking from Thursday's and Friday's workouts, was AWESOME! Basically it was 1 minute fast run, 1 minute fast walk - repeat x30 minutes. I was dreading this one big time but it turns out that it was pretty fun. I did have my finger on the darn button to change the speed for most of the run, but it went relatively quickly and it wasn't too difficult - unlike Thursday's run which I barely made it through.

Oh, I wanted to say something else about the weekend before I get to engrossed in my workout regime - as I know you all enjoy reading about my running schedule so much! Anyways, Saturday was my last Saturday at job #2. The whole gang was there and it was really quite fun - except for the unbendable legs thing. Saturday night however was the Flames last regular season game and we had a work function at Schanks south to celebrate. I got there at about 8 and the party was well under way. The game itself was awesome to watch as we destroyed the Cannucks 7-1 and our beloved Iggy got his 50th goal!!!! I left around 11:30 and collapsed into bed, ready for last day at job #2

Sunday - Last day at Job #2!!!! I normally hate working Sundays because the whole day is crap. Customers are usually awful, coworkers are no fun, the manager is pretty lame, and I generally spend the day thinking of all of the things I need to get done before Monday comes. This Sunday did not disappoint! It was pretty horrendous - the only saving grace was that one of my regular Saturday girls was working with me on Sunday so I got to chat a bit with her. After I extracted myself from there I popped over to see my Aunt and Grandma. They are always so much fun and they always feed me such yummy dinner that I can never turn down the offer. They did not disappoint.

I guess that just leaves the Junos. It was the first time that I have ever watched them, and really the only reason I did was to see Russell Peters - who doesn't love him? The show wasn't that bad, I thought it was a bit weird that they had a different awards night the evening before and awarded some big name categories, but meh - it went well and I was entertained, what more could I have asked for?

Relief

Every time I go for my weekly Tecumseh meeting, I always leave feeling much more re-assured and relaxed about leaving (23 days). After our evening of training the other JOUTS (Junior Officers) and I all meet up in the wardroom for our social time and just end up chatting until usually around midnight. Last night was no exception and as we had a few new faces in the group it was the perfect time to say hi and get to know them. During the course of conversation Jamie and I learned that in the Basic for Naval Officers there are different "running groups" for the morning PT (physical training). Apparently we are sorted into the "slow" "medium" or "fast" running group so that the kids whose legs aren't sky high (like me) aren't left in the dust or killing themselves to keep up to all the 6'5" guys running next to them. This brings quite a bit of relief to me as I have been rather worried about the running aspect. Not that I am a horrible runner, but I am not uber fast and was scared that I was going to be that girl, in the back... looking like a chump. Now I am pleased that if there are other peeps like me who can go in the medium , or heaven forbid, slow group.

Having said that though I am still training and going faster every time I run. I'll be back at the gym tonight after 3 days off nursing a pulled groin (yikes!) muscle - but I plan on trying a 6.3 on the treadmill adding .1 in speed and a few minutes to time each and every time I run. The day before I leave I am trying to be at at least a 7.0 and up to 50 minutes straight of running plus some sprints (at 10.0) and some hills... wish me luck!

Post Workout High

As I mentioned earlier I am, or rather was feeling quite sick this morning. Not really lay in bed and feel like death sick, but a really crappy cold sick... especially my sinuses. Most people know that I usually do not take a sick day, especially as these days I am taking time off left, right and centre to get all my military stuff taken care of before I take off.

Anyways the point of this post is mainly to tell you all that tonight after a monstrous day at the office, I went dress shopping with my Mom at Chinook. I tried on a few dresses at Zara and Bellisima - the other stores were pretty awful but I was feeling quite happy with what I did find. Sadly my favourite dress (2 sizes smaller than normal!) was $250 and I can't really justify that, so I'll be heading to Winners to see what I can find for a better price. I did see something at Zara, but it was knee length and I think I want floor length as the wedding is at the Palliser and I feel like I should step it up notch in the fashion department. During our shopping escapades we stopped by the food court, my Mom had a snack, I opted to wait until I was home as food court fare normally doe snot jive with my nutrition plan... so as we sat I almost fell asleep out of sheer exhaustion, notice I said almost. We finished up the shopping and set out for home. When I got home I decided that I felt much much better (probably due to the energy drink I had, and the lovely cold drugs that Eleni gave me) and thought I should make sure to hit the gym before bed.. so I went. Probably not the smartest thing to do seeing how I was sick, but I did feel up to it so off I went.

Tonight's workout was lower body plus abs (as always) and a run, longer and faster (as always) than before. The great thing is that I managed to get it all done, and I felt great, and I still feel great... those endorphins are wicked! I think I'll do my sets of push ups and jump into bed though because I have CPR all weekend long at Tecumseh - yeah!

Alright, enough of the update, I've got to go to sleep, or Eleni will scold me... YIKES!

Weights first

Last Wednesday I went to a presentation by one of the fitness coordinators of the Canadian Forces and one of the key points that I took away from the whole thing was that you need to cross the Anaerobic Threshold to get to the Aerobic Threshold - and this takes about 20 minutes. So in theory I should be doing my weights first for about 20 minutes and then switch to my cardio which is of course an aerobic exercise. The reason she gave us as to why she cites this method is the plain fact that the first 10-15 minutes of the run are usually crap-tastic and make me want to die, therefore do some activity first to help you get closer to that threshold - hence the weights.

So I've tested the theory 3 times now and it does help, or maybe it's just that I think it helps. In any case my runs have been both longer and faster than before and I like it.

This morning for example, I got up, got to the gym at 6, did upper body weight stuff plus abs then switched over to my running. This to me is monumental as my morning runs are usually awful and I can't push through that "wall" very well - but this morning I did go faster than ever and for 3 minutes longer than normal so an improvement in both areas! The last 5 minutes were awful, but I took that as a sign that I was doing well and at an appropriate level to progress more. When I got home I did have a thought though about the entire workout regime that U have gone through since January - why is it that my bra size has gone down a cup, but my ass seems to be the same size - even after I kick boxed and ran my way through 3 months of hell??? Is that fair??? WTF???

Whatevs - as long as I can get through IAP / BOTC I am happy. Yeah for running!!!!