Up Up and AWAY!

Vacation starts at 4:31 today! I am very much looking forward to the much needed break. Going to a concert tonight then heading to Vancouver/Whistler on Sunday to go snowboarding for a couple days. Afterwards, I am meeting up with my childhood friend who lives in Victoria and staying with her for a couple days. I can't wait to see her, it has been 2 years since the last time I say her.

Still training, however I have been doing a deload program this month to give my knees a bit of a break. I did manage to get in with a massage therapist and have another appointment tomorrow. It helped a bit, but I know I need to do more work on my end.

I also signed up for the Sport Chek Mother's Day 10KM Run. I am also thinking of signing up for a half marathon. I think I can do it. After the Mother's Day run, I will have done 1 8km and 2 10km races, I think I could probably tackle the challenge or a half marathon.

Hardcore Monkeys

Life has kept me busy lately. Work was pretty crazy last week, I even managed to work 4 hours of overtime. The last day I trained was Friday. On Saturday, Wes and I took a bus trip to Jasper for a weekend snowboadring. It was a ton of fun. We lucked out and the conditions were the best they have had all year. I am getting better at this snowboarding thing. I still stick to mostly green runs and the odd blue one, but I am just trying to work on my turns and get my confidence up. I would like to go one more time this year, but with only about a month left in the season, we'll have to see how that plays out. I am still working on getting my bindings and stance set up, so that my feet don't cramp up. It is coming. After a day on the hill together, we came back to our hotel and had a jacuzzi bath and a 3 hour nap. Afterwards, we went out for dinner, then checked out 3 different bars and had a few bevies. Sunday, we were back on the hill. It was so nice to spend that time alone together. It has been a while.

Less then two weeks left in the challenge and I need to work on getting more cardio in. I actually did manage to make it to the gym yesterday at lunch and did a HIIT session. Talk about killing my legs. Leg workout Friday, snowboarding Saturday and Sunday, then interval training Monday! My knee has started bothering me again, I know I need to get my act together and do more stretching. I should know better by now.

Diet was totally off plan these past few days and the one thing I am starting to notice is that I think eating crap effects my mood. The last few times I went off plan for more then two days, I noticed a definite decrease in my mood the days following. This is something I will have to monitor a little more.

With that in mind, I decided it was time to try a new recipe. In this month edition of Clean Eating, there is a recipe for Chicken and Vegetable Stew. So, tonight I made a double batch. Kinda hoping it is good, seeing as I made so much! I will let you know the verdict tomorrow.

Workout for Friday

Glute Activation and Hip Mobility work

Front Squats 95/105/115/125/130lbs x 3
Back Extensions 25lbs x 8 x 3
Bulgarian RDL (DB) 20lbs x 12 x 2
Medicine Ball Twist 18 lbs x 10 x 3

Happy Moron

So tired today. I even went to bed early (ok, earlier) last night, but it was still a struggle to drag my butt out of bed. Diet was good yesterday, but I didn't realize the lettuce I had wasn't good anymore, so I didn't bother buying more when I picked up groceries on Saturday. Thankfully, there is a little market/restaurant downtown here that has a salad bar and is rather affordable, so I will get my salad there today. I am so busy at work lately. I was in half an hour early yesterday, worked through my lunch and stayed an extra 1.5 hours after work. So, I didn't get any cardio done, nor did I manage to get any training in. Probably a good thing, since I am still a little sore from this weekends workouts. I will train today though, and I am looking forward to it. I think Wes and I are going snowboarding this weekend, YAY! I have been pushing for this, since I spent all that money on a new board etc, I don't want to lose what I have learned, or have my board collect dust like my old one did. Plus, it will be nice to have some time alone together for a change, it has been a while.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, I have some nice bruises on my buttocks from the wicked massage I had on Saturday. I am not complaining.

Real Doodads

I hate daylight savings. I am tired, exhausted and drained. I wonder if I snored on the bus on the way in to work this morning?

We had a great weekend in Fernie. I actually think I may have gotten a little better at snowboarding. Now if I can only find someone to come with me again maybe I will actually IMPROVE! Wow, novel idea. The conditions were fantastic, it snowed all day on Saturday so falling in the powder was pretty minor. At least until it came time to try to get out, that proves to be a bit of a challenge. We did, however, get to bring Ryan up to the top of the mountain and spread his ashes. It was pretty emotional, but felt good to say goodbye in our own way.

My grandpa passed away this weekend. On Friday morning, Tay and I took a drive out to visit him in the hospital. My mom had called the night before and told me the doctors didn't expect him to make it through the weekend. I am glad I saw him. We didn't come home until Monday evening and he passed away Sunday afternoon. The funeral is on Friday.

I finally made it to the gym after work yesterday. It had been a week since I last trained and I needed it. Training has become somewhat of an addiction for me. I need to train. When I go too long without it, I get very crabby and depressed. It helps me to get rid of anger and frustration and all those bad feelings that brew inside. I will do whatever I can to squeeze some time in at the gym. I suppose there could be worse things to be addicted to, I just hope no one tries to pull an "intervention" on me! Ha ha!

Workout
Band pullaparts 15 x 2
Scap pushups 20 x 2
Behind the neck band pulldowns 15 x 2
Skull Crushers 12.5 lbs x 15 x 2

Bench Press 65/75/85/90/95lbs x 3
Bentover BB Row 85lbs x 6 x 3
DB Shoulder Press 17.5lbs x 12 x 2
Supinated Grip Lat Pulldown 75lbs x 8 x 3
Lateral Raises 12.5lbs x 10 x 3

Apocalyptic Desert

I am hesitant to get excited. The days are getting longer, the mornings are brighter and warmer and it smelled like rain this morning. But it is only the beginning of March, as any Albertan will tell you, you cannot put away the parka until June 1st. But the past couple mornings I have really enjoyed the little walks from the car to the bus, the bus to work. I can't wait to be able to get up early and sit outside and have a coffee. Putts around in my garden, pick a few weeds and enjoy the silence. Back in the day when I used to run, my favorite thing to do was to get up early and go for a long run, then come home and go back to sleep for a couple hours. Maybe someday I can do that again.

This weekend, Wes and I and a bunch of our friends are going to Fernie. My BFF has rented a gorgeous log house for all of us. The place sleeps 17, and I think there will be 11 in the house and 4 staying in town. This weekend, we will bring Ryan up the mountain one last time. Fernie is where Wes and Ryan and the rest of the boys, first fell in love with snowboarding. As such, all of the snowboarding boys and a few others will be in Fernie this weekend for one last run with Ryan. I am really excited about this, especially since I have a new snowboard and all new gear and I have friends that will ride with me, not to mention the gorgeous house we will be staying in. It has a hot tub, games room, 6 master bedrooms.... Insane! On the other hand, I suspect it will also be a bit of an emotional weekend for everyone as well. We are leaving Friday around noon, and coming home Monday evening. That means 4 days and no training and likely eating crap. I will do my bi-weekly measurements on Friday instead of my usual Sunday since I won't be able to while we are away. I doubt there will be a scale there and I don't really feel like packing mine in my suitcase. I am planning on bringing some oatmeal pancakes at the very least, but I am not going to stress about it. Plus, snowboarding is quite a leg workout! I went to the gym Monday and will not be able to go again until Friday. I get off work at 10 AM, then I will go to the gym, then come home and we will head out around noon. I had wanted to do at least 4 cardio sessions this week, to make up for the lack of workouts, but I am already behind on that. I went on Monday, but ended up having to work through my lunch yesterday, so I couldn't make it. I am hoping to get there today and do some HIIT.

Workout for Monday

Glute activation and Hip Mobility stuff

Warm up CDL 95/105lbs x 5
CDL 135lbs x 5 x 3 (I think I am actually ready to bump this up! YAY!!)
Leg Press 230lbs x 12 x 2
Bulgarian Squats (DB) 35lbs x 8 x 3
Saxon Side Bends (DB) 15lbs x 10 x 3

Take Two!

Last night, my two BFs and I went to our first Chix on Stix snowboarding lessons. It was a lot of fun. I used to ride years ago, had my own gear and all, but I sucked. I only went a couple times a year, which was not enough to make any progress. Wes went with his friends fairly often and continued to get better and better, so even when we did go together, we would never ride together. I also did not have any friends who were interested in it either. Once Tay was born, I decided to just sell all my stuff. This past fall my friend approached me about joining Chix on Stix with her, I hesitated, but decided to go for it. What was $25 anyway? Then, I was suprised to find out another friend of mine was interested in learning to snowboard as well. So, the three of us all decided to learn together. It was a lot of fun and both my friends seemed to enjoy it, even though it was their first time with a board on their feet. We also met a couple other girls and will hopefully meet up with them on the hill sometime. So, here is take two of my attempt at snowboarding.

My Luck is Running Out

Damnit, I am catching a head cold!

Note to self: Attempting to buy Valentine's 2 days before Valentines Day is futile. This is my first time at this, Taylor has school every Friday, so I went out last night to buy some Valentines to give to her classmates. Nothing. Not even one! I did not have time to actually MAKE them, so I ended up buying these little valentine boxes and putting a granola bar, hershey's kisses and a few party favors. It is just a pain, because you can't even bring home baked cookies because of allergies and crap. I would have just made heart shaped cookies otherwise.

And I had a bad night last night. I have been craving all the bad carbs like crazy this week. All I want is chocolate and toast. I ended up caving last night and had a mini binge of junk. Just had to get that out of my system I guess.

I also bought new snowboard, boots and bindings. Figured I would give this snowboard thing another shot. I have a couple friends now who are interested in learning and Wes seems to think that if I have better boots (my old ones made my feet cramp up BAD) and a proper board (I had a junior board before), that I may actually be better. I like how he makes excuses for me!

Had a good workout last night. It was my last workout for my deload phase; I will start phase 2 on Sunday.

Workout

Glute Activation and Hip Mobility stuff

RDL 115/125/135 x 5
Leg Press 270 lbs x 10 x 2
Split Squat 75 lbs x 12 x 2
Cable Cross Chop 30 x 10 x 2

Going to go to the gym at lunch today and do some HIIT. Gotta burn off all those carbs I ate yesterday!