Oh hey Lulu!

Alright, so I have been working mostly days this week and while this seems to make more free time for me, it means that Dan is actually around during my free time...  This is awesome, but I have a hard time tearing myself away to go and do some workouts.  The reality of us having worked opposite schedules for so long is that when we do have time, I am still used to treasuring it like it won't happen for another week or so.  So I need to really give myself a kick in the ass next week and delay all our post-work hang time to get my workouts in.  I did, however, go to yoga last Saturday again and I will be going again this Saturday.  The benefit to going to yoga at a studio for me is that I pay for it beforehand, so if I don't go I'm just throwing away my own money - as someone of Scottish heritage, this is a pretty good motivator in and of itself (if you haven't met any Scottish people lately, they typically lean toward the "frugal" side of things).  I also made my first ever personal trip into the overly popular Lululemon.  I have been in before, but never to get anything for myself.  After my first yoga class, I felt a bit out of place with my intense bright coloured running gear, so I thought I would enjoy getting something a little more casual to get me into the yoga "mood".  All that being said, I will make one thing perfectly clear... If anyone ever sees me sporting Lululemon pants out on the town, or out shopping, or even at the grocery store in those pants, I give you full permission to harass me to the extent that you know I would put upon you in the same position.  That being said, I did enjoy my lulu experience - those people really, really care about yoga.  All the sales girls were asking me about where I was taking classes and they all seemed genuinely interested...  plus, they were all very helpful.  Basically it was the polar opposite of the shopping experiences that I usually have when I go to get my other sports gear, particularly at the snowboard and skate shop.  I end up in these stores quite a bit between shopping for snowboard gear and buying clothes for myself and Dan so that we can both continue to deny that we are adults and continue dressing the same way that we did in high school.  Generally your experience goes as follows: you walk into a store that feels more like someone's parent's basement because there are three teenagers sitting on a couch watching a skateboarding or snowboarding video and when you between them and the screen to check out the shoes you feel like you're getting in the way.  From there, you usually end up holding something you want to buy but you need help with a size or you have a question and you hold it out in front of you for like ten minutes putting on your Oscar-winning performance of a confused face.  However, when no one acknowledges you after ten minutes, you'll put it down and walk around looking at other things and finally go back to your original item - rinse and repeat.  Eventually, you take it to the till - please note, this is always where you will find the most useful person in these kinds of stores.  While everyone else is sitting watching that movie or gossipping in the back, this is where you will find the one kid who is actually making an effort to work.  While this has happened to me quite a bit, there are of course always exceptions and when they occur they are really awesome but from my limited experience at lulu this is not the case.  I was actually helped by three different people, a different person for each different product I was looking at and they were all really well-informed.  So I finally have succumbed to the pressure to be "yoga-cool" (yes, I completely just made that up) I now have my very own yoga mat, yoga pants, and a shirt.  You won't be seeing any of them unless you see me in yoga class!

Just a Quickie

This is exactly the kind of quickie I was not referring to -
as for the guy climbing out the window post coital... weird
and impressive.

Now, before you get ahead of yourself, the title simply refers to the briefness that this blog entry will actually take on.  I actually did a workout yesterday but I didn't have time prior to work to blog about it - I didn't leave my workout any longer than I normally would prior to work but thanks to my super cute new haircut, I actually have to do something with my hair before going to work.  Granted, doing something takes significantly less time than it did when my hair was half way down my back, but it still takes more time than throwing it in a bun and running out then door as I do it.  So that's why I was unable to get to this yesterday and as for today I am in between shifts and I'm trying to get a whole bunch of things done that I won't bother boring you with.  I stuck with the slow and steady workout yesterday, setting the machine to its highest possible resistance, thus far I am still finding it too hard to push for more time but I am sure that I'll get there soon enough!  Oh yes, no workouts Sunday or Monday due to my staff party... you know how it is.

Day 4
20:00
30-40rpm
4.3km
+
50 sit-ups

Downward Dog

So instead of my usual workout, today I tried yoga for the very first time.  I have always been a bit resistant to yoga as a form of exercise because I am more accustomed to cardio.  But I went into it with an open mind and I was suprised by how much I actually enjoyed it.  I could really see how yoga can aid people in their day to day lives with the exercises in breathing and relaxation.  I found that I was stretching things that I didn't even know I could stretch, like my feet muscles - I have been an active person for a long time but I don't recall ever having felt the arches of my feet being stretched and exercised.  I thought that was areally cool feeling, it's quite a strange thing to feel a part of your same old body do something totally new.  Luckily it was a class specifically for beginners because I think it would have been very difficult to follow along in a more experienced class.  I was also really impressed with the instructor, this woman was in phenomenal shape.  Watching the grace that she displayed in the movements was amazing - she did these hops from one pose to another that were so silent it was almost eerie!  So that's my goal in yoga, I want to do eerily silent hops... well I will probably aim for more than that, but I really liked the hops!  Thus far my favourite poses are the warrior poses, it's neat to see how far you can stretch out and how each time we did it I felt that I could stretch out a little bit further.  After completing the class I really felt a difference, I genuinely felt incredibly relaxed and renewed.  So it looks as though I have fallen into the yoga trend and I am pretty happy about that, I'll be back again next week!

Slow and Difficult All the Way

So with my last two workouts I have been doing some experimenting due to a rant by Jenna Marbles that I watched the other night.  If you have not seen any of her videos, you're missing out on some hilarity.  While not all her videos are nuggets of comedic gold and can sometimes be a bit brash, when she's on, she's on.  So the one that I watched the other night was a rant about people in the gym (a topic which I can certainly relate to).  Her particular gripe was with the people that are always looking over at your machine to see how long you have been on there or what distance you have gone.  I can understand that for sure, but I think I am a little guilty of it myself.  I definitely take a peak at the machine next to me when people have gotten there before I have, but it's more as a motivational tool - seeing what other people are up to is a way of kicking my competitiveness into high gear allowing me to push myself further.  I get it though, I catch people doing the same to me sometimes and you kind of feel like you're being judged which is not at all what I go to the gym for.  So in this rant, her annoyance was with the fact that people are looking over at her because she is going so slow - this is because she cranks up the difficulty on the elliptical instead of hanging out on a lower setting and going as fast as possible.  So I decided to test this out for myself, yesterday during my workout I stayed at a moderate difficulty but tried during bursts of higher intensity instead of staying at a consistent pace.  With those settings in the same amount of time I went .9km further and burned slightly more calories.  Today, I went all out with the highest possible difficulty setting and stayed at a consistent pace.  I found that in 15 minutes I burned the same amount as I had yesterday at the end of my 20 minute workout.  I also felt that I really felt my workout in my muscles a lot more while I was working out, I could feel the muscles throughout my legs (and even a bit in my arms) working.  So I think I am liking this new approach, if I can get more out of a shorter workout than I definitely think its worth it.  Also, I didn't get to do my sit-ups yesterday because there were two girls performing what can only be referred to as an ADD workout.  These girls were all over the place doing every kind of exercise imaginable.  They were doing burpies, push-ups, lifting weight, jumping jacks... it was like workout stereotypes from various had thrown up on these girls.  They had moved all the smaller equipment out of the way, and jammed them to the back of the workout room making it impossible to actually use any of them.  I don't know if what they were doing was an ideal workout, but even if it was the perfect workout, I just don't think I am interesting into that spattering of workout that reminds of elementary school gym class when you were only allowed ten minutes a station and then you had to move on to something else - I want to get into an activity, not move on to something else before I even really get to derive any pleasure or sense of accomplishment out of what I was just doing.  So I am going to keep on with my boring but consistent workouts.

An Oldie but a Goodie. Warning: A Sappy Blogging Ode to my Dad



Oh and thanks for providing this awesome sleeping spot.

As I get older, I find that I have an increased tendency to look back on myself to better understand who I am and where I have come from. Today, was the birthday of one of the biggest influences of why I am who I am: my dad. Despite the usual ups and downs that can only be explained through teenage years, I have always felt very close to my dad. As the only girl in a flock of boys, I found myself more easily identifying with my own boyish side. Through my years of sports, both my parents were always a driving force and I can particularly remember my Scottish-soccer-loving father standing at the sidelines of my soccer matches either beaming with pride or yelling at me like I am letting an English soldier get to William Wallace. I was definitely one of those little girls who thought that her dad was the biggest, brightest, and "bestest" man in the world - I would size up other girls dads, always ultimately concluding that my dad could kick their asses (probably all at the same time). In light of my blogging premise of working out, I certainly think that my dad is one of the people that I need to thank. Competitiveness is something that I definitely developed as a bi-product of being the only girl, however I think that may be something that can sometimes work against a girl's confidence. Constantly comparing yourself to boys can be a challenge, lets face it, there are some fundamental differences between men and women in general that cannot be overcome with feminist theory. When it came to sports, my dad definitely made sure that I knew that I could be just as successful athletically as my brothers. As a premier league soccer player and someone who played on a women's rugby team when I was still in high school, I know that my dad was right about me. While my hiatus from athletics has been longer than I have ever thought it would have been, I know I will stay motivated so long as I have my dad there. He's a big reason why I quit smoking; that look of disappointment on his face was something that I couldn't just shrug off as some kind of difference between generations, I knew that he was disappointment because I was squandering my own physical potential in addition to compromising my own health. I have to thank him for not overwhelming me in negativity about this, but just being a constant presence that was subtly assuring me that I was better than that. I owe a lot to my dad, but I think one of the things that has always stood out the most in my mind was my dad's constant reassurance of my intelligence. Sure, my dad said it in a kind of joking manner, but he was always saying how I was the smartest. The smartest of what, or compared to who, who knows... the point wasn't that I was actually the smartest of anyone it was that I was smart and that was a good thing. I feel pity for that breed of girl that feels the need to act like she is stupid in order to not threaten guys, or whatever other reason people have come up with to explain why this incredibly ridiculous behaviour continues to occur. I am very thankful that I never had this problem, it was always emphasised to me that intelligence is important and never anything to be ashamed of.
Here's to dad's.
Especially mine, happy birthday Dad!

Day 2:
20:00
50-70rpm
7.4km

iPads and Giant Balls

Is this really any different than leaving against the wall?

The suspense is over!  I am pleased to tell you all that I mustered up the energy to head down to the gym today and recommence my workouts.  I must say, it was a bit of a challenge as I seemed to be quite short on breath - I am not sure if this is from my month long vacation from working out or if it's a lingering effect from having been sick...  I am hoping that it's just from being sick and that the shortness of breath will pass in a few days.  That being said, I was definitely not up to the standards that I left off at.  I still did the same amount of sit-ups that I last did, however I felt a bit more of a struggle towards the end of them than I recall having when I was working out in November.  Also, I only did a fraction of the time that I had been doing previously - just a little less than half to be more specific.  I didn't want to push my self too hard right off the bat but I am confident that by mid week I'll be back full strength!  I am also considering an outdoor run this week.  Frankly, I've been avoiding the outdoor running in general just because of the high impact but given how absurdly nice the weather has been in Calgary (wind aside) it seems like something that I should at least attempt.  The trouble is that living downtown I don't find that there are too many places where I would want to run to.  I have seen these people jogging around the downtown, running on the spot at traffic lights every 20 feet... it really just doesn't appeal to me that much.  Perhaps there is some awesome place to run in the downtown area that I am just not aware of because my workout routine has been hibernating in the comfort of the gym, so if you happen to know of a good running route, please fill me in and maybe I will give it a go in the next week.  I don't really have much else to tell you all today; my workout was fairly uneventful.  When I went down there was one woman using those large exercise balls... although she appeared to just be sitting on it and bouncing it slightly - is this a legitimate exercise or just an excuse for adults to utilise something that would otherwise be considered a children's toy?  She left shortly after I got there, but as she was leaving a notice her getting her iPad from the treadmill - what an awesome idea.  If I had an iPad, I could watch whatever I wanted when I worked out instead of being subject to the lackluster offerings of daytime television.  Unfortunately, iPads are wicked expensive so if anyone would like to buy me one that would be really awesome. 

Day 1 (I thought I would start fresh)
20 minutes
50rpm
6.5km
+
50 sit-ups

Blogging in the New Year

Oh Calvin... I agree, you are perfect.

Well, it is time for my holiday hiatus to come to an end!  I know it has been quite a while since I have regaled you all with my glorious stories and mildly uncomfortable glimpses into my psyche but now that December has come and gone it's time to rededicate myself to my blogging and my workouts.  Unfortunately, I don't have a workout to report to you today - I'm coming off the tail end of a sickness that saw me right through the new year and has continued to keep me nearly drink-free in 2012(I managed 2 beers during that heart-wrenching loss in the World Junior semi-final).  I did however, take the stairs twice today, that's right twice.  It doesn't seem to matter how much you exercise or how fit you are, there is something about opting out of the elevator and taking the stairs that consistently makes you feel exponentially healthier than usual.  Some of you may be wondering what the holidays have to do with keeping me so completely preoccupied that I had no time to write or exercise at all.  While I did have time to write, I didn't have the time/energy to get in my workouts due to the hectic nature the holiday season brings to the restaurant world.  So without the guise of my workouts to write under, I felt that my blogging would be exposed for the self-indulgent activity that it is.  Now that I have gone ahead and let that cat out of the bag, I guess from now on I will just blog regardless of whether or not I workout; rest assured I will be working out again soon though.  I'm hopeful that tomorrow I will no longer feel so congested that the idea of mounting my old friend the elliptical seems impossible (erase all gross and inappropriate thoughts from your mind that occurred at the word "mounting").  That's all I have for you tonight, I will leave you filled with suspense as you slip into sleep wondering whether or not I will find the energy and enough well-being to get back into my workout routine!