Sunday

It was so hot today, no clouds in the sky and the slightest breeze. It was one of those days where everyone and there mother was outside enjoying the gorgeous weather. Where your walking down the street and you can hear people having Sunday BBQ's, but that may of also been because it's Cinco de Mayo. One of those days, where you feel like you NEED to be outside, otherwise you wasted a beautiful day.

I love working out with my boyfriend, so when he asked me to run stairs I jumped at the rare opportunity. He meant the stairs in our building, but I convinced him to run the stairs outside. We took some pre workout, put on the sunscreen and headed out. When we got to the stairs it was so busy. I've never been to them before so I had nothing to compare it to, but for some reason I didn't think it would be so full of people. Clinton decided to run the path beside the stairs instead of running on them, which I thought was an interesting idea.

Clinton was first to take the trek, he bolted! Watching him run up made me think that this could be an awesome workout, away from the crowd and we could go a few times without having to weave in and out of people. That was not the case, at all. Once he made it back to me at the bottom, he told me how he thought he was going to fall on the way back, luckily he didn't. The hill was so steep and full of loose dirt, so there wasn't much to grip onto. Now, it was my turn. I was nervous and unsure if I could do it, too many people, an unfamiliar trail, gah. I sucked it up and went; the first little hill isn't too bad, it's the second hill that's the killer. Again, because it's so steep and has no hard dirt, lumps or bumps to grip onto. I ended up on all fours, laughing at myself looking back at Clinton saying I couldn't do it. Obviously he couldn't hear me so I pushed on through. It was tough, but I made it to the top. Once. Never again. I felt like I died. He managed to make it up twice which is flipping awesome!

We took a breather in the shade and then headed home to work on our abs. Of course we couldn't pass up such a nice day so we headed off to the park to relax.

Did you celebrate Cinco de Mayo today?

How did you spend your Sunday?

April Fitness Recap

I'm done! My first month is complete! Roughly 30 days of fitness and healthy eating has done me well. I've noticed the most growth in my arms, which isn't my favourite, but I'm happy to see progress. I started last month eating nothing but fruits, vegetables, chicken and turkey; had a couple cheat meals, added some granola to my diet for snacking, had a couple more cheat meals and ended with some vegetables. I'm going to have to start shopping for 3-4 weeks because mid-month grocery shopping leads to healthy carb snacks. Which I'd like to avoid. I am a huuuuge carb fan, and I didn't realize it until I started paying attention to what I ate. I would literally make pasta every night for supper. 1 - Because I didn't know how to cook and 2 - I just love pasta, I had no issues eating it everyday. It was so unhealthy, but so good.

As I said in a previous post, here's a progress photo from this afternoon after I had a fasted workout. I ran some stairs and worked on my abs and legs. I'm not going to give myself full credit because the lighting is working in my favour.

On an unrelated note, have any of you watched an episode of Bob's Burgers? I've been watching it a lot lately and I find it hilarious. I feel like it's one of those shows not many people really know about or care to sit through a whole episode. Watch one episode, if you enjoy Family Guy I promise you'll like it!

My First 5KM!...and then some

Hello Readers!

I've made it past my 2 week slump! I've stayed on top of eating healthy, minus a couple days but more on that later, and staying active. I think it's because this time I'm doing it for me. I'm doing it because I want to feel better, look better, and actually be healthier. I've always been active whether it was with Soccer, dance or the odd fitness class (yoga, kickboxing etc.), but I never ate as healthy as I should. Surprisingly, it's not as hard as I thought. Mind over matter. It's really tough when I have cravings for sweets or fried carbs. I don't really have a method on how to over come it, except complain, eat something else or chew gum. It's not the best, but it seems to be working so far haha. BUT, I can't say I've gone all month with no cheat meals. It was my goal to, but I failed. On Sunday I had some fast food, but I didn't go too overboard, and on Tuesday I went out for Taco Tuesday. $1.00 tacos, that's hard to turn down. I made sure to makeup for those cheat meals the following day.

Which brings me to the title of this post. I wasn't too proud of my actions the days before, even though it tasted delicious, so I chose to "torture" my body because of it. I decided running would be my weapon of choice. I've been running stairs every Sunday but only ran outside once. Mainly because it's been snowing and I hate having to run through traffic lights and crosswalks. But I figured since I'm trying to push myself and eventually run a half marathon, or at least the distance of one, I might as well run outside. I walked out the door with the goal of running 5KM. I turned on my Nike+ app, Songza and started the journey. I don't usually run very far in my area, usually 16-20 blocks in total or about 2KM, so this ended up being an adventure. I ran the usual first portion, and ventured on to search for some sort of trail. I saw scenes I've never seen before and it was awesome, I can't wait to do it again in Autumn when the trees begin to change colour. On my way back to my condo, I still had 1KM to go, so I ran the normal course I would normally run. Of course my last kilometre was far from my house and I couldn't give up, so I ran all the way back home, and that ended up in me running a total of 6.2KM which is flipping awesome! I probably could of kept running to be honest, my legs felt like jelly when I was done but I was filled with excitement. The most I've ever ran was maybe 4KM last summer, but I was running more often than I am now. This was only my second run of the season, not including stairs, and I made it over my goal. Ah, just awesome. I'm going to continue working on this run and speeding up my pace.

How did you feel when you set a goal and completed or even surpassed it?

Exercise High

My first week is complete! I think I did a pretty good job with eating healthy and working out. I've been making sure I ate clean, or at least more clean than I ate before, and getting my vegetables in! I'd much rather eat fruit than vegetables, I just get sick of them so quickly. I basically never ate vegetables before, so my body is probably thanking me. I've been sticking to chicken or shrimp with vegetables, seasoned with Mrs.Dash. I'm very proud of myself for pushing through, even on the days I didn't want to do anything. I did take one rest day, but it was planned. I've already noticed a teeny tiny difference, and my flexibility is getting better! Hopefully by the end of this week I'll be able to do the splits, I'm almost there!

My boyfriend always talks about having a pump and feeling like your muscles are full and just engorged with blood. I never understood what that feeling felt like until Friday when I worked my arms. I superset with a band working my biceps, shoulders, and triceps doing 3 reps of 20 each. Holy, did my muscles ever feel swollen. I've never felt anything like it, but I loved it. I instantly went to the bathroom when I was done and shamelessly flexed haha. Yesterday my boyfriend and I ran stairs and worked our abs. I find it so much better working out with him because he pushes me to go harder. I don't think I've trained my brain to push as hard as he pushes me. After our workout I felt that swollen feeling in my abs again, excited, I ran into the bathroom to see the damage. My stomach looked more toned and it motivated me to continue in this journey so those abs will stay! Especially without flexing haha.

I'm on such a high right now, I'm so happy, so proud, so motivated, and I can't wait until May 1st to see what 30 days worth of healthy eating and exercising can do. I have a history of giving up after the first week and a half or second week, but I just can't this time. I have to push through!

Why I haven't run outside. It's -6 now and has been snowing the past couple of days.

After my ab workout, there is still lots to improve on.

Arm day!

The weakest part of my body are my arms! I hate lifting weights and I avoid working my arms at any cost. I enjoy the burn in my legs, but I can't stand it in my arms for whatever reason. Despite my hatred, I worked on my arms/shoulders this morning and went for a run. The first official run outside this season!

Today, I didn't use the medicine ball because my upper body is so weak; I'll need to get back into things before adding it into my arm workout.

April 2nd:

3 x 20 Tricep Dips
3 x 15 Push Ups
3 x 26 Shoulder Stabilization
2.30 KM Run

Now, I'm not a fitness expert at all. I literally just Google workouts pertaining to the area I'd like to work on that day. I'm not sure if the "Shoulder Stabilization" is a legitimate thing, but it burned so I'm hoping it is! If you know the actual name for this, if that's not it, let me know. It's when you lay flat on your stomach, with your arms straight in front of your head and palms together. The site I found it on said to make the letters "I, Y, O, W", but I just decided to do the alphabet. I find it easier to keep track of how many reps you do.

I'm painfully sore from yesterday, but still pushed myself to go for a run. My calves, thighs, butt and lower back are causing me to awkwardly waddle around the house like a penguin. For my first run, I didnt want to go too far, I wanted to get my mind and body back in love running. I ran 19 blocks, while weaving in and out of puddles and running on the road to avoid mud and ice patches. I use the Nike+ app on my phone and it logged me at 2.30KM's.

Day 1 - Phew!

Happy Monday/April Fools!

Today marks the official start of my journey. If you noticed the time stamp on my last post, you can assume I stayed up late last night. I actually didn't go to bed until around 3:00AM. Yikes. I prefer to work out early in the morning, especially if I'm going out for a run, but that was not happening today.

I think I did pretty well my first day back in action after a six month winter break, besides dance classes. The weather outside is nice, but I decided to stay indoors and run the stairs in my building. It was pretty tough getting out of bed, so leaving my building would be even harder. 

I'm hoping for more tone and definition. I'll take a progress picture on the 1st of every month. This was taken this morning on an empty stomach before my workout.

The only weight I have available is my boyfriends 3kg medicine ball. So when possible, I will be using that in my exercises. I'll only be doing cardio and body weight exercises.

April 1st:

4 x 20 Lunge Jumps

4 x 20 Squats 

1 Min. per Leg Quadruped Leg Lift 

4 x 12 Stair Cases 

When I run stairs I do it different every time I finish a full set of stairs. The first time going up I touch every stair, the second time I skip every other stair, then I two foot hop (like a bunny), and finally end with running as fast as I can, however I can, which usually ends up with me skipping every other step. Once I'm done a round of 12 stair cases, I wait at the bottom and allow my heart rate to slow down a bit and go again.