Monday

Heading to the gym in two minutes... hoping to get a good sweat going. I'm also avoiding strangers coming in to see our house, ha!

Excited for the rowing machine, some miles on the treadmill and a neat bike ride under clouds. Not necessarily in that order.

How's your Monday going?

Anybody else have a sweat-proof sports bra? :)

Edit: ran 2.85 miles before my right ankle felt a bit weird (I was aiming for 4mi). I bought a new pair of rollerblades a couple of days ago. It's been loads of fun to glide down the riverside trail! It's definitely been a huge adjustment, however, as my 22 year-old self isn't as balanced, fast-moving or confident one on blade as my 10 year-old self was.

I then did 2km on the rowing machine, in 9.20mins. It's loads of fun, but I'm worried my technique isn't perfect - something I've read about that can injure one in time. I might ask a personal trainer to watch me and offer tips? I still have a free hour session that's due to expire August 31st!

And the highlight of my Monday? 15 minutes in the sauna - it was lovely :) I can't wait for cooler, fall weather when the sauna will be what I look forward to while on the treadmill :D

Belle River Bike

My last big cycling post had my longest bike being 36 miles (58km) in almost 3 hours.
I'd like to update that number to 38miles (61km)  in 3h15.
I had a few free hours yesterday and the weather was cloudy, cool, and perfect for a long ride. I gathered up some snacks, packed spare clothes and headed out, telling my room-mates I'd be back in 4 hours.
While it did take 4 hours total, I only rode for 3 of those hours. I meant to bike from Windsor - Belle River (19mi/30km according to Google) but made it to about 6km away before I decided I couldn't make it. I was stuck at a left-hand turn for about 10 minutes, waiting for a break in traffic. I never found one, and looking at the highway, I couldn't even see a safe space to cycle on. So I turned back to a restaurant I'd seen on my way there, and had a huge lovely salad for dinner.
The ride was great, and I managed to pick up some cherries and blueberries at a place off the side of the road to enjoy as a reward for making it back. It did rain the whole first half of the ride, and changing into dry clothes at the restaurant felt great. Everyone there was suitably impressed that I'd biked all the way from Windsor, which was obviously awesome :)

My bum hurts a bit today, but my legs feel great! This is the previous list I had made up of my cycling goals:

• Bike from Windsor-Point Pelee-Windsor, ~150km roundtrip, but I'd like to camp for a night there.
• (Metric) Century Ride, September 29th, 2012.
• Bike from Windsor-London (suburbs), 198km (~10hours)

It looks like I'll be on track to do the Pelee ride soon. I bought a 'back roads' map of Ontario and I'm hoping to have the time and energy! to map out a longer ride soon. The very best thing is that 38ish miles burns close to 2000 calories (according to dailymile), and I can't stop thinking of the awesome snacks I could bring on a ride! And all the awesome things I'll see! I'll leave you with a couple of pictures from my ride yesterday - I managed to find two really gorgeous places.

This is where I had my granola-bar lunch

Those houses must have THE BEST views ever

My bike's view while riding :)

3ish miles

3 miles this morning, on the treadmill at my university gym.

Who knew it could ever be this empty?!

 10:26 (1min warm-up included), 9:36, 13:20 (jog .5 & .5mile cool-down). [33:23]

Ahahha I don't know how people take pictures in the changing room... I was too nervous that someone would walk in and think I was weird.

Planning on cycling to my new gym tonight, and doing another 5k, maybe.

Thursday

Today was a great day. I am trained in Standard CPR, level C!
I was able to hit the gym up after my 9-5 training and run 2.8 miles at 6.0mph and walk another mile at 5.0 incline, 3.5mph. Bringing my daily total to:

• 12.4km biked
• 4miles jogged/walked

(I don't know why it's appropriate to do cycling in km and running in miles. My brain is just dexterous in both measuring systems?)

Friday, the plan:

• wake up late (after 8am!!)
• bike to the gym
• run 5k on the treadmill for the virtual race
• bike back (there's only two fitness classes tomorrow - 'hip & fit' and morning spinning)
• hand out resumes
• evening running with my new running buddy
• celebrating my new work permit (and the weekend) with friends at the house

I think it sounds like a lovely Friday!

No gym Day

Last night, going to bed around 11pm, I was worried that I wouldn't have a great night's rest. I had too much energy all day, I had an annoying, needy, vocal cat staying at my place, as well as room-mates that stay up later than me playing video games.
But it was a restful night, made successful by a pair of beautiful green ear-plugs :)
Once 7:30 rolled around, I was awoken early by the cat and got ready to make breakfast.

Oatmeal with shredded coconut and cinnamon, yum.

I had looked over the schedule at the gym for Wednesdays and determined that I only had time to catch one class around my 9am-5pm First Aid & CPR training. It was from 06:30-7:30, and I might have time to bike home, shower and be ready in time to be picked up to make the training. But after yesterday's two work-outs I decided to make today a rest day and try again tomorrow.

I'm pleased with my decision, as I was wiped once I got home and needed a nap. Two glorious hours - now I'm studying, making dinner and drinking tea. I still have time to go to the gym NOW, but it's already 9, dark outside, and the gym closes at 11. I'd have just enough time to squeeze in some treadmill time and bike home in the dark. BUT:

• I'm not that motivated
• I'm kinda scared of biking at night (I need to buy a reflective vest)
• I don't care enough to go everyday

I plan on making an attempt to go to a yoga class tomorrow evening after training, but it depends on what time we finish. If I don't make it in time for the class, I'd like to hit up the treadmill (maybe) and catch some TV time. We'll see!

Yoga, not

I've been a member of my new gym for about a day now, and it's pretty awesome! Below is a long-winded and boring group of sentences describing my first impressions, as well as a detailed description of my failed-but-saved evening work-out. Feel free to skip this one, but I want to remember the experience of being brand new to a gym :)


I love gyms that exist for the sole purpose of making fitness/exercise accessible and fun. My new gym has squash courts (one day!), towel service, lots of group classes, 4 different weight rooms (upper body, lower, free weights and heavy, heavy weights), towel service, a steam room and a sauna (in the past any facility had either or, not both), and a cardio THEATRE! including a stair machine. They probably have more, but that's what my short tour to the changing rooms included, haha.


I know this is still a little gym and I don't think it's a franchise, but their sole purpose is to create a space for people to workout. Compared to my university gym, this one's spacious, less crowded, friendly and consumer-focused. It's refreshing for sure :)


In my last post I talked about trying the Rise & Shine circuit class. This evening I was determined to try out Yoga Flow. I made sure to have a snack, fill up my bottle and leave plenty of time to bike the 6km there. I kept forgetting things and I turned around twice. I was caught waiting after a train that seemed to be going backwards and forwards. Against all odds, haha I made it to the gym with 10 minutes to spare and sweatily asked the front desk lady where the class was held. Oh - there's no yoga today. Oops - I must have gotten the schedule wrong. For some reason they already switched their schedule and are operating on the August line-up and now there's an earlier class on Tuesdays.


Saddened, I decided that I was already there, so I might as well make the most of it and try out their cardio theater. I sneaked in a lock in the changing room (I'll pay the $6.50 for locker rental next time) and shoved my bag and helmet into a locker. I dropped some soup on my ipod in the bathroom and I only realised once I felt the gooey-ness heading to the cardio room. I made my way back to the bathroom to wipe it off, leaving my water bottle on the sink counter. My ipod is super clean now and working great, but I obviously forgot my water bottle there.
Skip ahead, because I'm already bored. I did 2 miles @ 6.0 and another .6, walking, at 5.0 incline. I figured out their TV system too late - I'll use it next time. You plug in your headphones to a little receiver thing that connects to the TVs, and you can switch which 'channel' TV you're connected to. It's SO NEAT! No more watching silent news and trying to guess who won which medals from facial expressions again, ha.


Anyway. I biked home. I didn't fall down. No more train waiting. I was sweaty. The end?

Oh - I found a running partner! In real life. We have a running date this Friday, so we'll see how things go. Having a newbie that will keep me accountable and entertained shouldn't be too bad.

Circuit training- 45 mins

Cycling- 24km - ~1h20min

Running/jogging/walking - 30min

Total: ~2.75hours in one day! Excuse me while I take a nap for two days...

Speed

Hi everyone!
I hope your weeks are going well.
My first week back from Reading Week (spring break) is chugging along, we're already more than half-way to the weekend!

My plans for the weekend include:
working on my Social Policy research paper.
going on an outside run if the weather is nice (there is supposed to be warmer temps with rain this weekend!)
Catching up on my reading at Coffee Exchange downtown :)


This week has been great, exercise-wise!
Monday : Ran for close to an hour through icy puddles with my Vibrams
Wednesday: 17mile cycle at the gym in 70 mins.


I am currently #3 on the leaderboard for total weekly mileage!  I am super excited and may do another cycle this week to stay up there, hehe.


I will post something more meaningful this weekend - hopefully some pictures!