Early Morning Run

Last night, I went to bed telling myself, "wake up early and go for a run!". I contemplated going to bed wearing my workout gear so it would be easier to get up and go, but I don't like wearing tight fitting clothes while sleeping. I set my alarm for 5:30|5:35|5:38AM, knowing me I wouldn't wake up the first time, but I did. I think it's because I only had four and a half hours of sleep. I rolled out of bed, had some diluted orange juice and headed outside. I was hoping to catch the sun rise, but by the time I got out of the house it was too late, maybe next time.

After today, I'd MUCH rather run early in the morning. It's so much better. The weather is cool, the sky is beautiful, barely anyone is outside, which means no stopping at crosswalks; I literally didn't have to stop or slow down once! I even saw a couple runners which was nice. The only downside is that I have to wakeup early, but I'd rather be up all day than sleep it away. I always use my Nike+ app when running to track everything, but my battery was about to die so I didn't listen to any music to make sure it would last during my run. This was a first for me, and I didn't like it. Music helps me zone out, I concentrate on the music more than what I'm actually doing, it's easier to push myself. Once my heavy breathing kicked in, it was all I could hear. Majority of the time it was all I could concentrate on, then my legs wanted to stop but my brain wouldn't allow it. I ran 21 blocks for a total of 3KMs.

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?

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.