Thankful for Friday Nights.

I love Friday night when the whole weekend is still spread out in front of me and while we have plans and I know it will be busy, it's still a bit more our time and it will be nice. 
Thursday morning, 530 am found me in the basement with P90X Day 8 going on; back to chest and back or something like that. Push ups and pull ups like mad.  I think Im getting more used to it; I didnt have to watch them as much and I was able to do some things better.  Pull ups are brutal. I cannot even do one. I put a foot on the chair and manage to pull up on the bar, but Im not really doing pull ups. I try to remember that even pulling up some of my weight Im doing more than before. And maybe by the end I will be able to do one.

Push ups are better, I can do lots of those, and some are even going really well. Im trying to use good form but sometimes I resort to doing them from knees (such a chick) so that I can concentrate on keeping body straight and do a few more of them. Better than none. Dive bombers were so much better day 2...I could figure them out faster and I did 5 the first time with good form before I dropped on my face. I noticed on Tuesday that I had a pain in my abs - a burning sharp, not a sore ache; and suspect in the puke fest of the weekend I may have pulled something. Thursday I did not make it very far into Ab Ripper...the sharp pain became a stabbing and I am convinced Im going to get a hernia. I KNOW I wont. But jeez. I will try it again soon.


Running conditions in Balmy NS

 Thursday was another day off school - big ol snow storm Blew through! It was awesome, fluffy light snow, a foot of it, And it blew around enough to cancel school again.  I had no classes so I stayed in and worked from home with the kids; coffee and computer in the rocking chair works super well:):):)
Late in the afternoon I threw on the running clothes, figuring there was a chance the roads might be clear enough for a run. They were, barely. I thought the plows had the roads nicely pushed back but the drivers going way too fast on slippy roads must have thought otherwise, the looks I was getting.  and the shaking fingers. Shaking heads, swear words.  I tried really hard to stay to the side; when a wood loaded truck passed me on the bridge I stayed very still lest I slipped underneath; but it wasnt enough. They have way too much faith in their tires.  SIGH share the roads?  My active lifestyle should not be such a burden.
Anyway the slush on the sidewalks was unwalkable let alone runable so I did most of the running on roads. Barely any sidewalks anyway.  The loop was 8.6 km door to door and it took an hour. And 5 seconds.  SO slow!
A bath and sleep by 8 pm completed that night. So I could get up early and do Day 9 of P90X.  It was Plyometrics. The cardio in that program always leaves me a little..."that's it?" It's not that its not hard. Im used to more intense cardio.  And the rests in between? lots of those.  Not that I dont get tired.  Just not enough.
So after an hour of PLyo this morning I did 57 minutes run 8 km tonight while Taylor was at swim.  And the sidewalks were still not cleaned off. SIGH it is like running in sand. And I was weary and cannot believe I did not fall at least once.  SO hard!  Snow running deserves its own category of Hard Core. It was a perfect day; around 0 C, sunny by times, totally nice. (ok a little wind). My loop took me a lot of up hill and then rewarded with some downhill then flat for about 3 km. It's good.

Now tonight, pretty tired. Having a slumber party for some little girls.  I want to go to sleep; hockey at 7 am. Might get to sleep eventually.

I think my plan is to NOT run tomorrow; 3 days in a row anyway. Will get day 10 in sometime tomorrow; I think it must be legs but I dont remember.
I need to get a long long run in this weekend but I dont know where to go; these sidewalks are killing me with their 4 inches of snow/slush. I need roads somewhere.  14 miles in this weather is hard; calling for more snow tomorrow.  Banks are already at my waist and crossing them has been challenging.

I'm not scared of NS winter!

Time is not on my side; no run yesterday. Got sidetracked and suddenly I was at the rink watching hockey practice. And it was snowing. And Icey. And I was cold. And tired. A million excuses but fact is no run.

This morning? Back up around 5 for P90X Kenpo X like kickboxing...I am so uncoordinated, I hope that I manage to Figure it out because I spent too much time grumpy about not understanding the moves.

And then even tho we had snow and were getting more I did so go for a run! so hard!with that much snow it was more like running in sand. It was totally fun but so hard and I'm rather sore from it. 4.5 km took over 31 minutes! Fun in the snow tho!

A short snowshoe trek when I got home completed my day !

Whew Where did the time go?

I was right; Friday I did not get the run in :( I felt bad shorting Scott on his birthday as it was, and I just went and picked up supper and cake and went home; thought I might get a workout of some sort in that evening but it just did not happen.  I dont remember what DID happen LOL.  Annika was a lot better by evening; we just had a quiet one.
Saturday dawned early.  I was up at just after 6 to get to a hockey game at 7.  Then Annika played at 830 and Holly at 930 in the same rink 20 minutes away. Tight!  Annika played Goalie and she was pretty darned cute, a little tentative but she did her best!
She then played at 12 in town, and afterwards we went home and I did a weekend worth of cleaning while Scott went to pick up our new furniture and then I squeezed in a run.  I meant to go 16 km this weekend's long run; I managed 8.4 due to time constraints and a faintly upset stomach....sign of things to come I believe. I thought after Holly's 530 game 1/2 an hour in the other direction, I might get more run or some sort of indoor workout in; being's it was day 5 of P90X; but felt very tired and kinda ugh after getting home from hockey around 730 and Annika was all out of sorts so we settled into the new recliner to watch a movie and were well asleep by 10. 
And up again by midnight and routinely through the night; both Scott and I were victim's to the nasty stomach bug going around.  I think that the flu should be counted as the mother of all ab routines.  EW.  Taylor was sick at her grandmother's house; we have all had it now.
I dragged out of bed at 7 to get Annika to hockey for 8; rough tho :( Scott stayed on the couch.
I even dragged myself out to my own hockey game; bofy fluid emissions had by this time stopped and I figured I would not feel worse out than in and the the coldair was nice..it was difficult tho but our team had only 4 players plus a spare and I really could not leave them any shorter.  I played the game and felt a little better right after but very tired once home and after some cleaning and bathroom disinfecting I was back on the couch for a nap until it was time for Holly's hockey game at 5.  Still a pretty gross bunch at this time.
And back home and to bed; I really attempted some school work but gave up and succombed to headache and sleep.
Monday....long day at work and I was still pretty nauseous and dizzy; reallly dizzy. And the headache was bad.  I did make it to work after poor sleep and stayed the day (no lecturing; could not spend that much time up in front talking) even making it through a digestive tract dissection lab.  And 2 long Computer labs. after Annika went to sleep I marked all evening. 
Whew not enough sleep today.  But I dragged out of bed at 515 am feeling better than yesterday and did Day 5 of P90X - Legs and Back. I think this was my fav day yet. Although I did not do the pull ups right.  Doing something has to be better than doing nothing. But if I could do one from hanging, it would be 100% improvement.  I pull the chair under.  Finished up with AbRipperX and before 645 I had worked out, done 2 loads of laundry washed and dried, and started supper.  Baked Beans in the crock pot thanks to a recipe HERE Thanks Faith Ann! I will let you know how it turned out; I added extra water because I will not be home all day to check the beans! :)
I do hope to get a 5 ish km run in today before it starts to snow, which is going to once again mess up my run for tomorrow :( I believe 10 km is my plan tomorrow :( Id do it today if I had more time :(

Something New and "old"

Monday was, as expected, extremely cold. With work being dreadful and the temps I didn't even attemp a run. And my best laid plans of an hour on the bike trainer went very wrong lol. I was charmed into comfy jammies and bed instead.

So moving on to Tuesday without a look back ;) I got up bring and early and put in a DVD...P90X is now finally started. Day 1 was chest shoulders and back, and ab ripper. I toon awhile and although I did terribly, I did the whole thing. I cannot really do a pull up without the chair and barelynwith...but I will get Better. I modified a lot of the push ups and found a lot of the crunchy things really hurt my hips and back on the cement floor. But I did the workout.

I didn't manage anything else tho lol, coming home from work early to stay with Holly, having coffee with Karen, taking Taylor for vaccinations, cooking supper, there was no good time for a run that I needed. Glad that I got the DVD in the morning done. It was damned cold anyway.

On to Wednesday and now 2 days without a run. I'm determined to not go more than 2 days without a run. Weather peermitting it should not be that hard.

Weather permitting what a joke.

I got up at 5 in the morning so I would have an hour to do day 2 of P90X before the kids got up. plyometrics. jump training. It was a lot of jumping. And squatting. And lunging. I am going to have to coordinate run days with some of these leg days.

As the day has gone on my arms and shoulders and ribs have gotten more sore. Legs so far are ok.

And last thing today before leaving work and going home, I forced, yeah, forced myself into the running clothes and out for 5 km. I so easily could have said no and gone home. It would have felt so good. But instead I got that few kms in and picked up the kids to come home. It wasn't the best run; it was cold and damp and icy and breezy but after about 5 minutes, I warmed up enough to not shiver and it got better.


Wednesday was my 38 th birthday and I found it, as usual, a bit of a hard day. I have no issues with getting older; in fact most of the time can barely believe that I am in my late 30's. It's no biggie. But for some reason I always expect birthdays to be this awesome day with people smiling and peace on earth and it still surprises me that it is just another day. Same shit to be done. Ahwell, my family always makes it super special and they are adorable so that is what counts.

After my short 5k I picked up the kids and headed home for my birthday supper and cake :) now I'm warm in a new winter coat and comfy in new yoga pants and sweater, and full of chocolate lol.

Thursday; up early for another P90X workout which was arms and shoulders this time. I liked that one. No push ups hahaha no pull ups. It was messy in weather so school was cancelled and I got the Ab Ripper X workout done as well before going to work. However with inches and inches of slush and nasty winds going on I did not make a run. Ugh.

Now it is Friday how does time fly like that?

4th day in a row of getting up at 5 am. This should make a habit eventually. I put in Yoga X without realizing it is an hour and a half! Gads no time for that.
45 minutes in I heard little feet upstairs and the coughing, gagging, vomit. Yup Annika has the stomach flu now. So no more yoga, barely out to work with some readjustment in scheduling I should get home around noon but will I get to run? It is Scott's birthday today and I cannot make him do the shopping and stuff...so I can run. But I do need to get a 5 k run in. It isn't near enough according to training plan.

Have to let this not so successful running week go and start again tomorrow; I think my training plan says run 21 km. Good lord doesn't it know it is winter in NS? I will try for 10 km right after morning hockey and see if I can fit a few more in around the hockey for the rest of the day!

Keeping Active in Wintery NS

can be challenging LOL  its cold and damp or frigid and windy or snowy or rainy but it's always interesting to see whats going to greet you when you leave the house :) 

Thursday I just could not face the cold and damp; I realise -3 isn't cold. I do.  Im not a wimp. but after spending the whole day feeling like crap, I just wanted my nice warm house. And warm, it sure was.  There's no middle ground in our house; it's either very hot or very cold.  I came home and changed and got on the bike trainer.  I lasted half an hour. It was SO boring LOL. Even tho I had a show on tv, it was still boring. And hard on the butt. And loud.  After half an hour, I did stretching and some light weights, some crunches, some planks. Yawners LOL.

Friday I took the running gear to work; weather coming was terrible, but I hoped to get out at noon while it was sunny :) And I did manage that!  5 km at tempo run pace of about 29:42 minutes.

Saturday morning was hockey; pick up hockey.  It was good :) In the afternoon, Annika's team had practice and I skated that too.  :) I had planned to go to hockey in the evening but I fell asleep and missed everything.

Sunday morning I got up early and when the kids were at church I ran around the Black Rock Road loop. It's short from the church so rather than the 12 km it was about 9; I added a bit more by running towards the bay for a bit but it was a long long downhill and I figured running back up was going to be brutal so I did turn back after a bit.  I ran to the main road and back up to the church where I arrived just as the kids were finishing. That run was particularly challenging because the dirt road loop was a sheet of ice, with tire track width gravel spots and some crunchy "groomed" patches at the sides. It was so tense; I slipped a few times and went pretty slow.  11.15 km in 1:14:42 wasnt so great for time :( But pretty good considering how icey it was. I figure running on ice should get extra bonus km points; the 13 I needed today didnt happen but 11.15 on ice should compare. It was beautiful out. But cold.  -12 with little wind chill.  Pretty good. I wore underarmour tights under my winter running tights. I wore a tech t shirt, long sleeved shirt, fleece, and my windbreaker running coat; one pair of socks and one gloves, but 2 hats; a light one to cover my ears, and a balaclava which I spent more time and energy readjusting than anything but it was really warm.  I got a sweat on for the first 6 km then was pretty wet and cold for the rest.  Ugh.  Im not sure how to avoid that.

After a bit of rest I went to our Sunday hockey game; I got 2 goals in the first 2.5 minutes, and we didn't want to totally crush the opposition so we all backed off; maybe too much since they almost tied us but we won 3-2 .

Now ready for a day off tomorrow; although I do think I will do more bike trainer and stretching and weights tomorrow evening, it's supposed to be cold with wind chill of -34 and Monday's are horrid long days for me. 

Nice Mid Week Long Run

Wednesday I planned a relative long run (10 km this week) but wasn't sure when I was going to get this done.  I knew it wasn't going to happen Tuesday thanks to the -22 C temps. Wednesday is a very busy day at work and I dont often fit in runs, especially if I have to pick Taylor up at the pool; I find it hard to get out of work on time and get the run in by 530 when she (supposedly) finishes.  With Scott taking care of the pick ups and also getting supper picked up (thank Nanny for making soup:)) I found I did have time to get the run in.  Preferably with the +4 temps (in rain) over the colder temps forecast on Thursday.  With the weather network promising a foot of snow on Friday I was psyched for some snowshoeing!  :)

So the plan did not go exactly as I hoped with working longer than I should have and it was still raining SIGH.  I really considered going home; had had a funny feeling in my belly all day but nothing specific.  I almost went home but reasoned I would rather do 5 km today than nothing, and better 10 today in the warmer weather than the next day.  Reasoned myself right out the door; extremely damp and chilly but I knew I would get warm if I got moving so I did :):):) So glad!

the first 5 km were actually pretty fast; this very long legged very young girl passed me in the first km going quite fast and that silly competative side of me picked up the pace after I felt warmed up, as even tho I could not keep up, I didnt want to look like the plodding turtle that I am, at least not for that moment.  I chuckled as she hit the first (and only) significant hill, and started walking.  :) I love that hill, I motored right up it and made up some distance.  She started running again at the top but as she turned onto the next street with another (insignificant) hill, she walked again! I may be slow but I keep going!  :):):) I passed by her on that street; she did not like that and would not acknowledge my hello LOL.  Around the corner she actually crossed the (busy) road and passed me on the other side, then up ahead crossed back; weird huh?  I did not take up that much space!  I soon lost sight of her in the dark and turtled on. 

After the first 5, the second were a little longer and more work.  I kept to sidewalked, lit streets so there was some crossing over and repeating of streets, but I did get one more good hill in front of the college that I kept a steady pace up :) the rest of the route was rolling hills.  I very seldom walked; Ive been taking some planned walk breaks in my runs but it may be time to cut them shorter again for some real training and endurance.  I did end up going a bit further than planned, thanks to accidently shutting off the Garmin for about 10 minutes (estimate).  close enough. 

there was a point where I felt the temperature change, the wind picked up, I was quite wet, and I kind of regretted going so far when the ice pellets started hitting and the wind went through my coat (not wind breaker material but warm).  It was only for the last maybe 2 km so not so bad.  My belly felt a little squeamy a couple of times when I was running but nothing to stop about.   The roads got a little icey later on so I was glad to go home to the soup when I did :):)

After eating I did feel quite ill and had some quality bathroom time;  I went to bed early and slept off and on while the kids came in and chatted and I answered somewhat coherently.  Feeling a little better this morning but still off and kind of out of it.  Maybe I need a nap.

Today's plan was for 4X800...What Im not sure LOL gotta check the plan!

Missing a few Important posts LOL

Ive been doing the running and just have not had time for the posts about them! Guess it's better to get the runs done than to be posting about not running which would really suck.
Im still enjoying most of the weather being tossed at us but I suspect I will not enjoy the weather tomorrow; from -22 this morning to rain overnight and all day tomorrow. UGH.
I did not get to enjoy a nice snowy run last week; by the time I got out of classes, it was far too snowy to run; it was really safest to just head home. The snow came fast and very hard; bad drive home and it would not have made for very safe running :( I waited until Thursday for that.  The weather was a lot better although there was some snow all day off and on.  Roads were clearer. 
I did not have a lot of time, unfortunately; Taylor had Drama after school and had to be picked up and taken to swimming across town.  I managed 3 km warm up and only 2 300m hill repeats, a fast cool down and then picked her up. 5 km done in a little over half an hour.  I kind of intended to do a little more after I picked her up but by then it was snowing wet snow and misting and i got cold sitting in the car so I just went home.

we had a lot of plans on the weekend involving Taylor's swim meet in the Valley so while the kids were at hockey and 4H I got my weekly long run done Saturday morning after Pick up Hockey.  14 km running through Bible Hill to town and back home again was nice; I do think I am going to have to start cutting up the longer runs tho, as it was not even terribly cold and I got realllllly cold before I got home.  I figure if I need to do 16 km I can do 5, 5, and 6 or something like that?  Will see as weather comes along I guess.
The 14 km was really nice, about 7 hilly km into town, a stop at the McWilsons for a cup of water which took a really long time.....they ignored me forever.  I dont think a cup of water was too much to ask for SIGH.  Likely didnt need the ice; it was cold LOL.  Then the 7 km home which went faster although it didnt really; just felt faster. It was nice and sunny and very pleasant.  My Garmin was dead (concerns about the battery; its not holding a charge long, I hope it is just the cold sapping it) so I ran without a pace which I didnt mind but my mind wandered a lot and I found myself slowing down sometimes; estimate about 1 hour 40 minutes for the 14 km. 
Sunday for swim meet and Monday for horrific long day at work mean no runs but Tuesday morning (today :)) managed to get back out at it, despite doubts when I heard the temp was -22.  I dont mind cold but its a shock when the average has likely been about -3. LOL dressed in layers and went out but forgot the scarf. My face was hurting so much!  My lips were numb as was my chin :(:(:( Ouch.  went up the hill for 3.3 km then came back for a total of 6.5 km in 42:36. No music; the Ipods are not happy with the weather either LOL.  Very nice and sunny again :)  Rain coming tonight and tomorrow; I owe 10 km for tomorrow's run (shorted today and no run yesterday mean I really HAVE to do the 10 SIGH) May do the hill repeats called for on Thursday if the weather is super bad; then do the 10 on Thursday. 

Have a lot of concerns about the trail shoes; I know they arent really meant for pavement which is where I ended up spending most of the time on them. but my ankles and knees were really unhappy with the change; I almost wasnt sure I could finish the little 5 k I did with them; the discomfort was so much. In the snow I ran in, they had awesome grip; like my feet had magnets and were sticky; but Im not sure it's worth the strain they caused; I dont know if I run enough trails and snow. Took 2 days for legs to stop aching. The shoes are stiff and not at all spongey LOL. And might be too big?

Not sure what the rest of the sunny day will hold today :)