Life's Whirlwind Adventures

Oh man holding to this commitment is going to harder than I thought, mostly because it is going to be tough breaking my unmotivating habits.  Television, I am talking to you!! But I'm doing it now, and yes Chicago Fire Is playing on the background, so this five minute post may take longer than the five minutes because the excitement of the show is drawing my attention. So this morning I woke up with only the thought that I had to go into work to get my lessons planned for the next week.  See I'm teaching again and teachers work on weekends.  I try to do it as little and I frequently as possible but it's something that has to happen.   My wonderful husband got up with the kids and had breakfast ready when I rolled out of bed. He can be such a sweetheart sometimes, most of the time.  So after a breakfast of elk sausage and farm eggs I packed up my bag and headed to school. I got right to work at school, Faith Hill Greatest Hits playing on my iPhone.  I worked...

Ok I know we missed a week here, but there was literally nothing to report.  I went through a lazy stage, and I just couldn't shake myself out of my funk.  I even binged on some terrible foods and then almost as soon as it started I was ready for it to be over and we are back in the saddle again. My neighbour may be a huge inspiration to this as well.  In December she got a treadmill (I hate those things, but...) and after her birthday she decided that was it she was going to use the treadmill every day and she has, even if its just for 30 minutes, she gets on that treadmill and gets to work. It's been 11 weeks and you can see a difference already and because she has done it every day it's become a habit for her!! I sat and talked with her this weekend and I was inspired, I need to kick my work outs up a notch and need to get them to become a habit, something I just do every day.  I can't not do them, I have to do a little something everyday, it's the only way thi...

I'm liking up with the DC Trifecta girls, Mar, Courtney and Cynthia once again!! Have you been reading my Friday Fives?  Would you like to join, just head over to here  and read more about, I'd love to have more blogs to read!! Today's topic is Spring, my second most favourite season!! Although sometimes living in Alberta we call it messy winter, but I still love it anyways. Here are my top Five things that I am looking forward to this spring!! 1) My Baby's FIRST birthday!! I am amazed at how fast this year has gone by. I mean he's 10 months already and in two more months he will be a year, a WHOLE year!! It means I am going back to work soon, but my baby will be one and he's such a delightful little guy!! We aren't really planning anything big, but we are doing family pictures and a cake smash for him! He's my baby and my last baby too, so I am relishing these last first milestones!! 2) Running outside, in the morning!! I am a self procl...

I'm still euphoric from running my 10 km last Saturday!! I am so proud of myself and I love talking about it, thinking about, reliving it and planning my next 10km run!! So here's what happened this week! Monday: Headed out for a short run, only 3 km this time after the long run on Saturday I didn't want to stress my muscles or over do it!! It was a quick run and I was able to finish it in 23 minutes not quite a personal best but I had increased my running time to 8:1 to see how I did. It wasn't bad, but by the 7th minute I was dying and that eighth minute was pretty slow.  But I did finish so it was pretty good. Tuesday: This has been the year of sickness!! I don't know what happened but I woke up feeling great, the baby and I were going to go for a walk, but then, I drank some coffee, it was a dark roast which I don't usually drink, and I got sick!! It was not a good sick, not that any are, but this was quick and exhausting!! So my plans for anything wer...

So I've needed to take a little break from everything, I'm not injured or anything, and I'm still totally excited about completing this half marathon, but aside from the running, I'm not loving my workouts.  Fitting them in just wherever and doing them alone BLOWS. Blows like the snow is doing right now and I'm  in the mood to shake it up. I'd love to head out to Poplar Ridge to do their workout classes but they are at 7  and between 5-7 I'm running around my house with supper, baths, bedtime snack, and the rest of the bedtime routine so getting out of town 15 minutes before 7 is next to impossible.  So that means I need a class that's later in the day or before 5.  So I'm looking at Yoga Nation, and things at the Collicut or some of the other gyms in town.  It's much easier for me to commit to working out if I have a class to go to, it's so dumb but there you go that's me.  Live and Learn I guess....  I still enjoy working at home wi...

Well being sick slowed me down for two days last week, but I was determined to make this week amazing!! DETERMINED!!! Monday: I went for a walk in the evening and finished 5 kilometres walking.  I would have run, but the paths are so icy right now with all the warm weather we've been having so running is more like a dance with death then an actual run.  But still got the 5 km done in less than an hour. Tuesday: I decided I needed to get started working out in the morning, so I went for a long walk with the baby. It was 8 kilometres of speed walking, but there was also some wonderful ice dancing as well. I was doing some great stretches because I slipped and pulled some different muscles, but nothing is damaged just needed some extra yoga in today, so that was my cross training for today. Wednesday: Today I did a short run of 3 km and then a long walk of 5 km, we were walking at a pace of 9:30/ km.  So it was a speed walk, I also did a few weight exercises and som...

What a week, started off with the Family Day Holiday and that translated into a holiday from working out and it spilled over onto Tuesday as well.  But I got back at things on Wednesday. Monday: Happy Family day!! We all just hung out as a family,  I meant to do some walking and stuff, but I was feeling a bit of chest cold coming on. So I took it as a rest day! Tuesday: Still not feeling great today, I even went to the doctor because the cough was getting worse.  I think I needed these two days, sometimes I really push myself and I can get burned out and I just don't want that to happen. So sorry not sorry for these two rest days. Wednesday: No more excuses!! I went downstairs and did my weight workout, because no more excuses.  It was a good quick workout and just what I needed to get back into the groove of things. But that's not all I did today, I even got a 5 Km run in and some yoga!! For an active day this gets an A+++, now just to carry this momentum o...

For this Friday Five Link up with  Mar ,  Cynthia  and  Courtney   I'm going to pick my top five races that I'd like to run in 2015, some I'm set to run and some are dreams. I'm pretty brand new to running, or brand new to running in races or marathons or those things. I've been running for years off and on, it's my go to exercise for getting into shape, one of my favourite pastimes and quite frankly runners and swimmers have amazing bodies, long lean muscles, amazing!! So here are my top five races to run in 2015! 1. Seawheeze August 15, 2015.  This is how I'll be spending my anniversary, getting up a the ass crack of dawn to do some pre shopping and then spending a portion of the early morning completing my first 1/2 marathon!! Yeah you might say I'm crazy, but I'm so absurdly excited about completing this that I can't think that this is a bad idea!! It's going to be a great holiday for me and I'm beyond excited to cross som...

For this Friday Five Link up with Mar , Cynthia and Courtney  we are discussing fitness snapshots, I never take pictures when I'm working out but I do have snapshots of my different levels of fitness and they tell my journey to becoming healthy and happy. Fitness Snapshots.... hmmm well since I've never really taken pictures of me working out I think I'll just take you on a blast from the past chronicling my yoyo weight adventure. I am not a petit frame girl, so growing up when Kate Moss was the "It" girl sort of sucked. I didn't have that shape and I had friends that did so I was totally envious.  What teen girl isn't envious of girls who get to be like the "It" cover girl of the day?  I seriously wish I was a fat as when I first thought I was fat back in High School, because obviously, three kids later, I didn't know what fat was hahaha.  I've got an hour glass figure, with great "birthing" hips, yup a doctor has...

Most of you know that I was not born in Canada, for those of you who were not aware of that fact, I was born in California and I hate the cold Winters of the Prairies!! I find them incredibly unmotivating to do anything besides sit in my house and be Peg Bundy, eating bonbons all day!  But I have a half marathon to prepare for and a possible 10k before that so sitting around is not an option!! I've got to get up and get moving so I have to get clothing for running outside!! In the summer I'm all decked out, I've lot's of clothes that are appropriate for running in the summertime, but winter outdoors, nope, nada.  And since I'm very new at all this I decided to go to the experts and get some advice.  I had a basic understanding of layering and all that but I also know I sweat after a little bit of running so I needed something that would breath but would also keep the wind out. I don't need frostbite from running. these are shoes I ordered on line, but they ...

I could sit here and say that I wish that I didn’t gain weight so fast, I wish that I wouldn’t find sitting around watching television so enjoyable, which are true statements, but that’s not going to get me anywhere.   I need to get myself back into shape, not to be skinny (because I don’t care, I love my curves) but to have energy to be able to run with my kids and to enjoy another 60 years with my family.   That’s what I want, I don’t care about the number on the scale anymore, but I do care how many hours a day I can spend chasing after my kids who are bundles of energies and I want to be that grandma that can play with my grandkids in the next 30 years.   So because I’m going to run the Seawheeze in August I have a short term goal (in the grand scheme of things) that   is just for me that will help me gain more energy.   But in order to do this, I have to lose the baby weight (and lazy weight) I’ve put on since I started trying to get pregnant with my P...

I can't believe I'm coming to the end of my six weeks!! It's been great and though I've just been working out and not focusing on diet at all, I've made some significant ground work!! Now I'm not as consistent as I'd like to be, I do get lazy from time to time, but I do push through and get the exercises done, I just have to set a time in my day and always work out at that time, and if I go to work out class then I need to adjust my schedule accordingly.  And that's exactly what I'm going to do, because I need to be in shape for my kids and for running this half Marathon in August.  August will be here before I know it!! No More Excuses!! I did say that there has been significant ground work done and that is the truth. I have not stepped on a scale (ok I didn't step on a scale at the beginning but I have since I just don't know if I've lost any weight and I don't actually care) but I have been measuring 10 areas on my body weekly....

About a month ago my friend Marriann posted that she had just finished a 4 week session of private Yoga lessons with Nicole Schulz .  I really like yoga, but I'm not a yogi and I wasn't clear on my body positions so I didn't know if I was actually doing things correctly or just standing awkwardly in weird positions.  So I thought having some private lessons would be amazing. I emailed Nicole and we got started on our lessons in November. I loved the lessons!! They were amazing and I felt great after each lesson.  I now have a routine to do that helps strengthen and stretch my body so that I can enhance my training for the half marathon in August.  I'm so excited to have this routine and I love practicing it, I've just have to get more consistent in my practice. After the first lesson I felt taller, and I just felt more grounded in my life.  I felt a different relaxation take over me but it was very similar to how I feel after I go for a run, I think that's w...

At the beginning of November I contacted a friend of mine to help me set up a personal training schedule that I could do at home and that would help me train for the Seawheeze in August.  I know that I can do this half marathon, but I need to strengthen my body to be able to complete my goal and goal time.   So I know it will take a lot of work and determination and discipline. So she came over the other weekend and helped me to set up my training schedule.  We are doing 6 days a week, which after a week may be a bit of a lofty goal, but I completed it and I plan to stick with it.  (my only set back being getting strep throat on Sunday so I've had to take two unscheduled days off ) I have two leg and ab days, a day for chests and triceps, biceps and back, a shoulder day and a run day.  So we are working all the major areas, it usually takes me 30-45 minutes to complete minus my little cardio which is a run.  I'm in desperate need of a treadmill now th...