Day 8 - Scheduling issues

I'm not sue if I've mentioned this before, but I am a Planner. (Notice the capital "p." That's there for a reason.) I thrive on knowing what's coming up and how it's all going to play out. Not that I'm totally inflexible! Although, when my plan goes awry, it does sometimes send me into a tailspin.

(All the mothers reading this are now thinking I should never, ever have children!)

Anyway, today I knew that my workout was going to have to wait until after work, because I had a work event lunch-thing to attend. (A big lobster and seafood feast thrown by the New Brunswick tourism board. Totally a waste for a veggie like me!) I put on my extra fancy professional outfit and went in to work. It wasn't until after 11am that I noticed my Entourage calendar said I was free all day. Free until noon tomorrow.

Sigh. The event is tomorrow. So I suddenly had to revise my game plan and head to the gym at lunch. On one hand - a good thing, because there's a greater likelihood of me not wanting to go after work. On the other hand - a sudden change of scheduling, which required me to quickly get my head in a different game.

But I did it! I got there and I exercised:

5 minute jogging warm-up
25 minutes of weights
5 minutes of abs and stretching

Now I have to figure out how I want tomorrow to go... I'm considering a pre-work workout. It's been a long while since I've dragged myself out of bed before the sunrise to get my sweat on. And I'm even thinking it might be a spinning class, which I know will be ridiculously hard. But one of the side effects of all this exercising - besides feeling strong again - is that I'm inspired to push myself outside of my wimpy workout comfort zone. And that's a good thing!

Meanwhile, I just made my first almost vegan bit of baking. These Carrot Spice Muffins. I say "almost vegan" because we used real yogurt rather than soy yogurt. And guys - they're tasty!!

Oh, also, this is an awesome commercial:

Day 6 and 7- Excellent weekend!

I had a fantastic weekend! It started with my new sewing class on Saturday morning, which had me practically skipping down the street with anticipation. The two hours flew by, but were full of major sewing milestones for me: I threaded a bobbin, I threaded a machine, I pinned fabric together and then sewed it, and I finished seams in three different ways, including on a serger. While I realize that these are only baby-steps to most sewers, to me they felt like awesome accomplishments.

This is my kit of essentials and my projects for the day:


And this is a close-up of my first stitches:


I also learned a whole bunch of things and smiled a lot. Oh, and ate some candy (it's stashed all over the studio) and met some nice women.

All of that positive energy followed me along home and, since I had to pass by the gym anyway, I took the energy right on in and got my workout out of the way:

20 minutes of high-intensity running intervals on the treadmill
20 minutes of intervals on the stair-climber
5 minutes of stretching

Afterwards I had permission from myself to go home and be a little lazy for a while. (It helped that I came home to find that the Husband had spent the morning emptying the dishwasher, cleaning the kitchen, making the bed and folding all the laundry! I heart the Husband!) To me, a lazy February afternoon meant catching up on a couple of shows from earlier in the week while baking some cookies for my outing today, and then doing some reading and a bit of writing. All in loungey pants, of course.

As evening set in, I headed out to meet the husband for dinner and to see Avatar in 3D Imax. I was thoroughly entertained by the film, but severely uncomfortable throughout. Apparently there was something wrong with the heat in the theatre, so it was about a thousand degrees and the 3D gave me a headache and made me a bit nauseous on top of it. So I can't say that I wanted the film to go any longer than it did. But I'm glad I saw it, so I can understand what all the hype is about. (If you've seen it, check out the trivia section on IMDB. So interesting!)

This morning I was so comfy and cozy at home in our sunny apartment that even the thought of venturing into the cold to go to the gym felt cruel. But I managed to drag myself away from the flannel sheets and stack of magazines and just get it done:

30 minutes internals on the cross-trainer
(I didn't even really stretch. I had places to be!)

I ran home for a quick shower and change before the Husband drove me to the east end of the city to meet some girlfriends for a wee road trip to Aurora, to visit another girlfriend who is due to give birth pretty much any time now. We had a great visit over tea and treats (hence the cookie-baking yesterday) and marveled about how the next time we saw our friend, she would have a baby in her arms. Amazing!

Now, Sunday night feeling sets in. It should be an interesting week at work, since there's some construction happening in my office and as of tomorrow afternoon, I will be displaced to work out of our glass-ceilinged atrium. Weird. But different! And I'm all about change being a good thing.

First week of February is done!! And so far, so good. But clearly my cat is finding this month much more taxing. This is how she has looked the whole time I've been writing this post:

Day 5 - Scheduling issues

I was a little worried all week about when I would make it to the gym today. Because I had lunch plans with a friend, so that was out, and then I was heading out after work to join the Husband's farewell party. (He got a new job that starts on the 16th, so he SYTYCDC crew was bidding him adieu.) I toyed with the idea of getting up early and going before work, but I knew that was unlikely, so the only real option was after work before joining the fete.

Now, I had only met a few of the Husband's work peeps, because it seemed like every time there was some sort of event, significant others weren't included, so I obviously wanted to look cute. Meaning that post-workout frizzy hair wasn't an option. So, once again, if I hadn't made this little pact, I for sure would have skipped the gym. Instead, I went in and worked out!

5 minutes warm-up on cross-trainer
20 minutes weight training
5 minutes of stretching

And then I took my time fluffing post-workout and my hair still looked quite good for the event. It's all possible!

This was also part of my day:


Representatives from SeaWorld came in to promote the park and they brought two penguins and a two-toed sloth. Then penguins waddled all over the office, charming everyone, while the sloth clung to its trainer and looked strangely Alf-like. All in all, a good Friday at work!

Day 4 - Just barely

Okay, so we all know that being a girl allows us to have more wardrobe choices, the ability to multi-task and the permission to cry at sappy television commercials. All good things. But we also know that being a girl comes with some dark, awful territory.

Yep. I woke up with some serious cramps. The kind that occur when the lining of your uterus sloughs off. And the thought of actually getting out of bed, showering, putting on clothes and going to work seemed almost impossible. So you can just imagine how I was feeling about even the concept of exercise.



But, dear readers, I felt a true obligation to all of you and to myself. And at noon I dragged my myself over to the gym, encased myself in spandex-y workout wear, and performed the bare minimum: 30 minutes. I spent 15 minutes on the treadmill running high-intensity intervals (I'm still having trouble believing that I managed that) and then I climbed aboard the cross-trainer and did a much more gentle 15 minutes of intervals there. I didn't even really stretch. I was done. I was released.

They say that the endorphins from exercise can actually help with cramps and I did have a few good hours post-workout. Until about 3:30pm, when the sloughing began again. I could not rush home to the loungey pants fast enough!

Four days down!

Day 3 - Namaste

Today's FFC entry was an hour long yoga class that was suitably challenging and soothing all at once. You know, I used to do at least one yoga class a week, but in the past few years it has fallen off my radar. I figure that if I'm going to change into workout clothes, I want to burn some calories! And yoga just doesn't help in that department.

The thing is, ever since I first started running many years ago, all of my natural flexibility started to go away. My muscles got shorter. And even though I always stretch at the end of my workouts, it's just for a few minutes and it doesn't really cut it. Lately I've been noticing a lot of pain in my body - hip flexor issues and major upper body tension. Pain that I am too young to have!

So I'm going back to yoga! At least once a week. And I will admire the good triceps all of those plank to floor to cobra poses give me.

(I can do this one)


(I cannot do this one)


But there's something else I wanted to share with you guys tonight! In my ongoing effort to make this February fabulous rather than freezing and funk-inducing, I am starting an intro to sewing class on Saturday morning! I'm taking the class at The Sewing Studio and I'm super excited. My mom is an incredible seamstress, but my junior high foray into this crafty endeavour ended in two broken sewing machines and a pair of pants that were reminiscent of the Gorden Gartrelle episode of The Cosby Show. (Anyone remember that one?)

Day 2 - Thank goodness for the FFC

I am not going to lie. Something about the February-ness of this day made me lethargic and, well, blah this morning. If I hadn't publicly challenged myself to the FFC, there's no way I would have made it to the gym. But I dragged myself over at lunch and turned my day around with a little exercise. If that sounds annoying, I do apologize!

Here's what I did:
5 minutes of jogging to warm up
15 minutes of upper body weights
15 minutes of intervals on the bike (while reading the "Sexiest Man Alive" issue of People, which I found in the bin at the gym)
5 minutes of abs and stretching

My afternoon was infinitely better than my morning and I'm choosing to credit the workout for that. Now I don't feel guilty that I'm parked on the couch waiting for "Lost" to start!!

I...ummm... have a thing for Sawyer.



This is very strange for me, because I normally don't experience celebrity lust. And when I do, it's more often for the clean-cut, smart (read: sorta nerdy) guys. But there's something about Sawyer... (And I freely admit that it's the character of Sawyer that makes my heart pitter patter rather than the actor Josh Holloway, about whom I know nothing.)

Who is your celebrity (or fictional) crush?

Day 1 - So far, so good!

I had a triumphant start to the February Fitness Challenge! (Let's call it the FFC from here on in.) I tore myself away from my desk after an interview with Canada's favourite handyman, Mike Holmes, and hit the gym. Here's how I fared:

5 minute jogging warm-up
35 minutes of weights, focused on lower body
5 minutes of high-intensity intervals on the StairMaster
Stretching, so I can walk tomorrow

It's a very good beginning and so far I think February is pretty okay. It helped that my evening included a meeting with my book club to discuss The Old Man and the Sea (which I really enjoyed) and then a viewing of The Lovely Bones (which was passable, although not nearly as good as the book and in need of some serious editing). The movie left me totally creeped out, though. I practically ran home from the subway through my very, very safe neighbourhood.

Oh, by the way! There's been some interest in my FFC. I say, "the more, the merrier," so do join me. Post your own daily results in the comment section and I will root you on! (Pssstt... If you didn't get to it today, there's always tomorrow...)



(This is totally you and I battling it out! But in a supportive, friendly way.)