What a difference, hey?!

Some days it is extremely hard to get up and exercise.  Some days it is easy peasy. Most days are hard! I miss getting up or getting off work and going for a run (when there are no kid activities to partake in) but those days will soon be here again. I can't wait for the warmer weather. 

When training gets hard and all you want to do it give up, just flip through your older pictures and see how far you have come. The first picture was taken at work on February 25, 2015 and the second picture was taken today, February 24, 2016. What a difference, hey?! 

Saturday was a busy day! We had an awesome Snow and Ice run for our very own Paradise Running Club member, Diane Coffin who has been diagnosed with breast cancer! It was such an awesome turnout!  

I went to the gym that Saturday night, not a soul on the treadmills! 

It was great.  So I jumped on the treadmill and sent a selfie to Shelley, Paula and Lori to prove that I went by myself. Paula said that she wished she had gone, I told her it wasn’t too late! She showed up! I ran 5 km's and then walked for 30 minutes. While I was walking on the treadmill next to Paula I could tell that she had enough and just wanted to stop. So what did I do? I motivated her to keep going…by increasing the speed.  She wanted to be finished the 5 km’s so I made her run faster to get there faster! Smart hey?! Not really because Karma…well Karma knows who I am. 

I get all kinds of energy and go to the gym and then for a few days later I am a ZOMBIE! I can hardly open my eyes. My whole body is tired! Marc wanted to go to the gym with me the other day, I just wanted to sleep. Marc won and off we went. 

So he drove us to the gym.

Shelley wanted to know if I wanted to run outside. 

I didn't. I could hardly run the length of myself, let alone run outside where I HAVE to run back to my car. See, I just realized a pro for running on the treadmill. When you don't want to run anymore, just get off the treadmill and proceed downstairs to Canteen Matters and have a tea. BRILLIANT!

As much as I don't like going to the gym some days, I do like how I feel when I finish an awesome work out or accomplish another 5 km on the treadmill.  But it is a bit discouraging when you get to the gym and you find it hard to lift your feet to get ON the treadmill! Hopefully by the time spring rolls around I will have more energy or find out why I don't have any energy. Well, I will have to suck it up because the Half Marathon is just around the corner!

The treadmill is hard!

I managed to do 7 km on the treadmill the other day at the gym, and then I decided to do 15 stair repeats. It was hard! The next day I didn’t want to do anything but I still went. Well, actually I never really want to do anything at the gym. One day I will convince the rest of the girls to go for a tea and not run. Lori is the problem though, all motivated and stuff!   

Shelley and I ended up going to the gym Friday night, we went around 8:00 pm and there was hardly anyone there! Go figure. Friday night. 8 pm and no one was at the gym. We got a treadmill next to each other and chatted for a bit. We knew Border Patrol was on so Shelley paused her treadmill to go on the hunt for the remote. No luck! So no Border Patrol! Kaitlin must have hid the remote somewhere. (Kaitlin, if you are reading this please change the channel before you leave for the night to detour (or NTV) just in case we go to the gym late on Friday night again.) So we carried on with our run.  We both ran 5 km; I found it hard and looked like I needed a shower. Shelley looked like she never even ran.

I am not sure if I have mentioned this before but I am also in an adult Hip Hop class at Revolutions Dance in Mount Pearl. I. LOVE.IT. I was in it before having kids and a few months after having Ava, then got pregnant right away and then I couldn’t go again.  My pregnancies were not pretty! I could hardly walk, let alone dance. 

Anyway, I think Janelle St. George is trying to (a) kill us or (b) whip us into shape so we can dance to the Missy Elliott remix she got going on!  Two weeks in a row now she has us doing a circuit for our warm up. Last week I had an accident with the broom stick where we were supposed to jump OVER the stick that was place between two chairs. My feet did not like this idea.  I jumped right in the middle of the broom stick and made a "little" bend in it. I did find out tonight that someone did even more damage and the broom stick is no more. We now have to jump over tension bands laid on the floor. Do you think I could jump over that without tripping up? Nope. But I don’t think anyone noticed.

This is week two now of a weight gain with Weight Watchers. I feel like I have to start all over again or be in that mind set again.  I knew I was going to be up again but I still weighed in. I was actually able to get to a meeting later that day! I did really good this weekend and even went to two birthday parties and didn’t have any cake! I didn’t pick at any treats and I tracked everything I ate.  

I pay for the monthly plan and it just comes out of my account every month. I am going to change that plan. I am going to pay for 3 months (like I did when I first started) and set goals within those months. I also get a free month!  By the time the change is made on my account it will be for April (March is already paid for) which is when I started last year. I wanted to lose weight for the Tely 10. This will be a goal for me again!

I will keep you posted next week after my weigh in!

I can't wait to run outside again!

I really can’t wait to start running outside. I think the next “nice” day I might get out there and run! I am writing this while looking out the window on this snow day. I really don’t like the cold but I am glad I get to stay home today.

I am still finding it hard to stay motivated while running on the treadmill (even thought I updated my playlist) and it seems lately at the gym it is harder to find a treadmill not in use. And it seems like it is out of the question for all four of us to have a treadmill next to each other. :) When I am not on the treadmill, I find myself wandering over to the Lateral machine. I used to find it really hard, only lasting about 5 minutes.  This is around the time me and Shelley would give each other the look to find another machine…or go home.  Last night I was on that machine for over 20 minutes!! It was great!

I have been on a weight loss plateau that has been going on for months now! At least the gym is keeping me active, right? I am still in Weight Watchers but they changed the plan…again and I do not really like it. Yes, I know Oprah lost 26 pounds by eating bread everyday but we can save that for another blog. So, to add some more activity into my life I decided to take adult swimming lessons at the Summit Centre in Mount Pearl starting in March. I can swim, and I love swimming but this will make me GO swimming! This class is for intermediate swimmers. I don’t really know what to expect but I am hoping it will make me faster!! Hey, Sara Ralph can I request you to be my instructor? 

I will be 37 this month and I have been playing around with the idea of doing a triathlon for a while now but I really don’t like fish…and the pond…and fish.  I know, I know they won’t be swimming by my feet or face but they are still there! I can feel them looking at me, I really can! I told myself that I would tri to complete one before I turn 40. That is long enough to train, right? 

The pros and cons of having gym buddies

The pros and cons of having gym buddies:

Pros: they make you go to the gym!

Cons: they make you go to the gym!

I didn’t make it to the gym last night because I had to help put together our bed that took way to long, so I planned on going tonight. I sent a message to Shelley, Lori and Paula to see if they wanted to go tonight which is not usually our gym night. Paula was the only one able to go; the other girls had other obligations. Then Paula bailed.  At first I thought, deadly! I don’t need to go to the gym! Then it clicked in to why I actually go to the gym. To be active and to lose weight.

The girls needed proof that I went to the gym solo.  I ended up bumping into Gina Barnes, Shelley Penney, Marion Barnes and Wendy Wall. They were just finishing up their workout while I was starting.  Gina was ever so kind to take a picture of me running on the treadmill. I did 5 km’s on that thing! Brutal! It was brutal!  I can’t wait for the snow to go. Just sayin.

So while on the treadmill, I was thinking that I was done after the 5 km’s and I was going to go home. I then decided to go on the recumbent bike for 10 minutes, then the lateral machine for another 10 minutes.  I don’t think I am going to be able to walk tomorrow.

Something kept me going tonight. Maybe it was because I actually updated my playlist, maybe it was because I missed yesterday’s gym time or maybe it was because I actually had some energy!

I made my way over to the mat to complete my workout with some stretching. I then decided to do a plank! However, I had to find someone to take a picture of me doing a plank (thank you random stranger entering the gym) because it never happened if there is no picture while at the gym without your friends. Lori, you would be proud! I did a plank, it wasn’t for long but I did it!

I am not done yet! I then decided to do 13 stair repeats. That was brutal as well! I had to do 13 because Paula has a thing about odd numbers. See what a good friend I am! (Thank you gym employee for taking this picture while randomly walking up the stairs!)  

Shelley is probably saying, "why didn't you do 15, we stopped at 13 last time we did them."  It was hard Shelley and I didn't realized how much I depended on you to count them! 

This is by far the best workout I have had in a long time. It was really hard but I pushed myself through it!

Tomorrow is my weigh day at Weight Watchers. I am pretty sure I am going to be up but tomorrow is a new day and I will start fresh from there. I have to think about how far I have come.  If it wasn’t for the gym and my gym buddies I would have gained weight already this winter.

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned!

Welcome to February

Well hello again. Welcome to February. I will be your host for this blog.

I won’t be writing about many (if any) outdoors runs during this blog, I don’t like running outside in the winter because, well, it is cold. And if you remember the Tely 10 after party me and cold don’t mix. (If you can’t remember you can scroll back to the July blog.) I am also afraid I am going to fall down and hurt myself. Again. Some of accidents/incidents have been documented in Shelley Gosse’s blog. Check them out! http://thericekrispiequeen.blogspot.ca

So I joined the gym and I convinced a few suckers to join with me. Ya that’s right Shelley, Paula and Lori! It is fun. Sometimes.  I would much rather run outside but I had to do something in the winter to make sure I don’t gain back the weight I already lost and to keep up my cardio.  I have only ran 5 km on the treadmill at the gym and I find that hard to stay motivated.  I will be training for a half marathon in the next few months but I won’t be doing that on the treadmill that is for sure.

I wanted to give a little update on my health. My back, knee and every other muscle and joints still hurt but I think I have come to terms that I will always hurt but I know I always got to keep moving!  

I recently went to my doctor again, my regular checkup. Like always, I am frighten to death that my Dr. will up my meds (I am diabetic).  I thought for sure my fasting sugars were going to be super high and my A1C’s were going to be up again. Well guess what!?  He was happy that I was still losing weight AND my fasting sugars were down AND my A1C’s were down! I was shocked! I have also been complaining of stomach issues that have been ongoing for a while now. We are not sure what is going on but with trial and error I was taken off ANOTHER drug! If all goes well in the next few weeks I can stay off that drug! That means I am only on one drug now. ONE. This is also motivation to get my butt to the gym. 

Well, that's my update. Now it’s bed time.