Fitness Lately

As many of you know, I have taken the fall off of marathon training to attempt to build muscle and gain some short-distance PR’s. Also to give my brain a little break from mega-long runs.
I have been working extra hard to develop muscles, and get faster!:) (I sound like a little boy who wants to be superman right now…) Here’s what I had on the go last week:

Monday: 15 minute warm up on the stationary bike + 20 minutes strength training (It was thanksgiving and the gym was closing early)
Tuesday: REST DAY

Wednesday: 5.1 km easy run with Cora

Thursday: 1 hr Hot Yoga Class with Chantel & Jayme + 5.4 km slightly quick but easy run with Steph

Friday: 1 hr Physique Class with Chantel (Strength training) + 11.2 km SLOW, DIFFICULT run with Becky (Physique kicked my hiney)

Saturday: WORK, REST DAY (Muscles utterly exhausted)

Sunday: WORK, Intended to run 45 minutes after work but felt quite tight still and ate a huge meal of indian late at work, took a REST DAY instead.

So all in all, I nearly hit my goal: 4 runs, 3 days at the gym. I was just short one run. Here’s the plan for this upcoming week, which is a busy one!

Monday: 1.5 hour Hot Yoga Class
Tuesday: 4.8km easy run
Wednesday: 40 minute tempo run + 30 minute Spin Class
Thursday: 4.8km easy run + 1 hour Group Active class (strength)

Friday: REST DAY!

Saturday: 1 hr 15 minute Hot Yoga Class

Sunday: 10km quick run

I am taking a course, and then some training for work this week, so I will have some busy 8-hour days to attempt to fit in double-work-outs but I am definitely excited to keep building muscle!:) Weighed in this morning and the results were fabulous from last week-I won’t share them for a few weeks, need to make sure I can maintain it first!:) I hope if nothing else, me sharing my goals for the week will inspire YOU to GET ACTIVE in any way you can!:)

Living In The Light, Lovin’ Lately

Well friends, I have been quite neglectful on the blogging front lately. Not because I have nothing to say, I have just been feeling quite unmotivated writing-wise and have been keeping busy in my real life. =) This past two months I have been working only DAY shifts thanks to some amazing colleagues who helped me with trades to give a little break from night-shifts.

Lets just say, since coming back from Vancouver, I have felt revived, alive and FULL OF LIFE. I just love my life, and almost every aspect of it. I have been running 4-6x/week (with the exception of a small set back, allergic reaction), I have joined a gym which has amazing classes (and even better showers!!!), ‘Things’ have been oddly great with the hubbie (they weren’t bad…just have been exceptional lately), and I even enjoy going to work most days! Also, I am SOOO close to reaching my fall goal of running a 5km in 30 minutes. My current best during training has been 33 minutes. Extending my training by a month to help me reach this amazing goal. It almost feels surreal….like any moment something is going to come crashing down. I will ride the ‘amazing-wave’ as long as it lasts though!=)

I had no real reason for the sudden happiness and love of life, and then I realized I haven’t worked any night shifts-no wonder I have been in such a great mood! So, In celebration of my recent zest for life, a few things I have been LOVING lately!

1. Gilligan & Omalley Lingerie @ Target

As a bigger-busted gal, I have a hard time finding ‘cheap’ bras that actually do their job. These bras have matching panties and come in a plethora of ‘larger’ sizes. Not only that, but they are MEGA cute and MEGA inexpensive (read: $16ish dollars for a bra, $5 for panties) and fit MEGA well! Yay Yay Yay! I’d show you a picture…but I can’t seem to steal a picture off the Tar-jay website. Seriously, who doesn’t love a really cute matching pair of under-garments, I truly believe the first step in feeling beautiful is great lingerie!

2. Hot Yoga!

Yoga….tropical vacation heat……is there anything more wonderful? I wish I could go every single day now! Thankfully my new gym has a ton of classes. 🙂

3. Fresh Flowers. I always love fresh flowers, but I went to Blossoms in Saskatoon before thanksgiving and have been thoroughly enjoying this beautiful bouquet for an entire week now. A few flowers are starting to look a little sad, but most are still standing up! Love the purple kale especially!

4. Photography + Fall. Had an opportunity to go out with some friends and do a little photo-taking lately….I am so excited about this art-form and hope to just keep practicing and learning more skills. So grateful for great, talented, patient friends to teach me what they know!

5. Shellac Manicures. I had my nails done exactly one week ago, and my polish has yet to chip![and I am EXTREMELY HARD on my nails] Yay! I got a tinted clear colour and my nails trimmed very short so it would be work-appropriate, but there is something so happy about just looking at my wedding rings with beautiful, always-nice looking nails!

6. Travel Samples. I got a little Marc Anthony Moroccan Argan Oil Hairspray travel sample for my gym bag and wowzas this stuff is amazing! And it smells so good! I also got a hemp hand cream travel-size from The Body Shop and it works wonderfully for my nurse-hands. Love trying new things without the commitment of an entire bottle.

7. Sunrises! One of the perks of working so early in the morning, is that I have been seeing TONS of gorgeous fall sunrises lately. This one was just as I was walking through an alley….no editing or filters. Beautiful. I would say I have been at least 3 gorgeous sunrises each week.

8. Flu Shots! I am so grateful to be in a country that I can get free flu shots-seriously, a tiny prick to prevent an entire season of terrible illness. Go get one!!!!

Have a great week friends! I hope you are all loving life as much as me lately!

“The secret of being happy is accepting where you are in life and making the most out of everyday.”