Lots of bugs

June in Canada is when all the bugs come out. There's flies that come in through open windows, mosquitoes on the porch, may flies that get stuck in noses, and apparently moths that try to kill people as well.

I convinced my boyfriend to go for a relaxed bike ride with me along the riverside last night. I thought we'd be out about a half-hour, but we ran into friends and enjoyed some time catching up. We all decided to head home once everyone had had enough of the mosquitoes (special note: I usually have no problem with them - my blood must be special - and I was NOT bitten last night :) ).

Biking along in the right direction to my house, I suddenly hear Calvin stop talking to me and start coughing. He swerves his bike (we were going side-by-side) and I turn to see if he's okay. But he smashed right into my bike and we both fall over. There were a couple guys behind us (walking) that must have started laughing were worried about us and gave us a hand straightening ourselves up. What had happened was that a moth had flown into Calvin's mouth. He felt it crawl around right before his gag reflex made him swallow it. And while he was being freaked out because this was going on, he forgot to keep steering his bike and he crashed into me.

While the scraped knee I am now a proud owner of is not life-threatening, it was annoying to keep turning in my sleep and touching the sheets - it stung!

It may be a while before Calvin comes with me again, as he is traumatized from being attacked my nature.


In other news, I have a degree! And my mum is visiting me in Canada so I have to show her around and let her clean all my dishes and make all my food. I'm kidding, but it's been great having her here! I'll leave you to a picture before I head off to make more plans for the day.

Have a great Sunday! :)

Sore Throat

... it always happens at the best of times, eh? Once the weather gets nicer, you get sick. When exams start adding pressure and stress to your life, your body gives in and allows a sore throat to take over. I've been known to get stuck in bed with a fever on holiday.

And now my mum's visiting (for my approaching graduation) and I'm feeling a sore throat starting. Actually, it's already started and been there for a couple of days. I'm going to add garlic to everything I eat tomorrow (garlic cereal, anyone?!) and hope for the best. Perhaps I'll squeeze in a nap if my mum's jet-lagged and drink tea after tea.

Maybe the excitement of my mum being here did it. Or the fact that I didn't sleep for a whole two days. Or that I was trapped in a bus/airport with loads of other people and germs. Anyway, time to deal with it.

But we walked in the rain today, saw a rainbow, and made plans to see friends in a couple weeks. Good times ahead!

I've been eating a lot of asparagus

I've turned 22 since the last time I posted. I'm in London this week because it's Calvin's birthday on Friday!
Of course, I've been conducting myself as a proper adult should:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seatbelts, always

We've been having campfires - burning marshmallows, melting chocolate and singing crackers to make s'mores. I had an awesome dinner of grilled asparagus, onions, peppers and broccoli last night. My pee smells funny now.

We haven't wasted the sunshine - I spent yesterday's afternoon at the beach in Port Stanley and got a dollar pressed to remember it. I learned that sunblock is actually very effective and if you don't spread it properly you may end the day finding weird sun-burn patterns on your back. (Haha, sorry no pictures!)

We've also been spending time outdoors between all the TV I watch. We went geocaching a few days ago. We didn't find the two we went after... we were using the free app and it wasn't 100% accurate, and I think the ones we picked were quite old and someone might have removed them.

We really just posed as the rest of our group searched.

We did find a volleyball net in the field - it's a bit off to the right of the picture if I remember well. The future includes a trip to the store to buy a ball and a trip to that net to play a wicked game with friends.


Anyone know why asparagus makes your pee smell? I'll look it up eventually....

Kincardine

Hey everyone!
I'm back from Kincardine and am a little sad about it. It was the polar opposite of my Reading week there a couple months ago. Instead of being shut in the hotel room for 23.75 hours of the day like last time, studying, watching TV and wishing exams would be over, this time I was able to explore the crazy awesome trails,

get lost inside a lovely maze-garden,

read The Hunger Games at the beach

and peak into people's gardens as I walked around enjoying the sunshine :)

It was a lovely, relaxing (and cheap!) week topped off by a friendly poker night with friends on Friday, a viewing of the Hunger Games movie on Saturday, and a surprise visit on Sunday, from both a bunch of cold-inducing germs (I am constantly sneezing now and have a runny nose :( ) and a friendly couchsurfer!

Monday has brought cooler weather, a huge to-do list and a slap back to reality. I wouldn't have it any other way :)

Speed Update

As it's Saturday, it's time for the end-of-the-challenge report. I was able to beat my previous fastest time for the mile.
Nov 27 - 9:07

April 17 - 8:48
April 23 - 8:21
April 24 - 8:17

And just to compare, it would take me roughly 38 mins to swim 1mile, but I have never tried for speed :)

So this challenge was supposed to be for a week. I had to run 1mile as fast as I could (on a treadmill - cheating?!) everyday for five days. I knew it was a silly idea... I mean, running ALL-OUT is hard in itself. If your muscles don't hurt, you're probably doing it wrong. If you don't hurt or feel terrible afterwards you were definitely not going hard enough. And 2 days into the challenge I realised that I was hurting. My knees were definitely feeling the increased pounding and my muscles were tired. I wasn't pushing myself as hard as I could - I finished that last 8:17 knowing I could do more, but not wanting to. The fact that I was able to improve so much over such a short period of time shows that my body CAN do it, but it's my mind that's telling me that it hurts... it's not important... if you stop you'll feel so much better.... why do you even need to go fast?!

So through this I've learned a few things:

• I'm faster than my friends, as none of them run!
• I can improve my mile time, but this is not the way to do it.
• Speed - stronger impact - more knee pain. I was smart to back off, so I'm not sorry I stopped the challenge.
• I can absolutely do a sub 8-minute mile, and I WILL!
• It's a fun way to challenge myself and I will try again in the future.

I want to do a real timed mile at the track in May. It will be approx two weeks from now, before my trip. I'll update on here whenever it happens :)
I went for a 20minute Vibram run on Thursday and my legs are just killing me now... I was also dumb enough to sign up for a 5k that is one hour away from my house via bike. So  I will bike 1 hour to get there, run for a 1/2 hour, and bike 1hour back. Then I will round up the day by sitting in a bus for 2 hours, as I'm going to London to visit the boyfriend.

I never claimed to be sensible, or to think things through well :)

This week's (speed) challenge

I was talking to Calvin (the boyfriend) about wanting to get faster at the mile distance. As I excitedly chatted away as his eyes glazed over, I realised he may not be the best person to talk to about miles, treadmills, or anything cardio related.

[He has recently started lifting weights. So we're allowed to talk about weights, muscles, food as fuel, races I've signed up for in order to sync schedules and electrolytes.]

I decided the conversation should be ended right there before he gets completely bored and learns to associate speed and running terms with having a bad time, and then he will NEVER come to my races :( So the conversation will get shifted to this blog.

I have some time off since my last undergraduate semester has ended. I'm still waiting back for one grade, but things are smooth. My room-mates are relaxing, everyone is partying as they say goodbye and go back to their own homes. My days have actually been refreshingly slow and boring. I am still volunteering a little. I am seeing friends when they ask me to hang out (Hi Fadey!!) and I am planning a big trip to BC for my birthday.
But one thing my time off has been lacking is a schedule, and some discipline. I wake up late, do nothing, and then go to bed late. I've been completely missing the morning, and therefor half the work day. I have a few errands to run, so I need to get my act together. I've also stalled on my half marathon training plan and should definitely get back to it!

So here's the plan: In order to keep busy, accountable and motivated, I am going to do a speed/consistency challenge for a week. I am going to run ONE MILE everyday. I am going to try beat my time of 8:48 8:21 and get faster until Friday, when Calvin gets back. I've told him to ask me how fast my fastest mile is, and I'm already able to say that I'm faster than the last time he saw me :)

So Monday's already been a success!
(The second part of this challenge is to also fit in my normal HM training in with this challenge. I would like to get the mile done in the morning as soon as I wake up and then go to the gym 3 evenings this week to do my weekly mileage in. My long run will still be on Sunday, unless the weather suddenly turns beautiful, in which case I will switch around my days)

HM Training, Week 4

This week, there has been 0 running. I missed my first run of the week, and it wasn't a big deal. My knees still felt a bit weird from  my 'long run' the Sunday before, so I thought it'd be best to take it easy. I missed my second weekly run because I had no time due to school work, the radio show, and placement. I figured I would do a 7mile elliptical (equivalent mileage, less impact) on Friday, but the gym was closed due to it being a holiday.
My long run will still happen tonight, there's 5 miles on the plan :)
UPDATE: I ran 5.5km and 3.3km tonight, so 5.5miles in 55mins! (Broke it up in two runs with about a 2-3min break in between to change and check the map.)

I have recently been trying to change my diet: I wanted to cut out sugar, processed foods and general junk that I don't need. I've been trying to be mindful to eat only when I'm hungry, rather than when I am bored. I also want to eat smaller portions. (I have a tendency to drag a meal and over fill my plate, as it's an excuse away from studying.)

So far, all I can say is that it's a goal and I'm continually working towards it. I've made a couple soups this past week that turned out well. After a few days of eating no junk, I experience headaches and an intense craving for candy - symptoms which I attribute to sugar withdrawal. I have always had candy/sugar available around the house, so I usually give in and have a treat. The plan was to eliminate the candy around the house, but since it's Easter, all the room-mates have brought chocolate back! So this is still a work in progress.

I have decided that I will make a smoothie with honey and strawberries every time I get a craving for sweets, as it should do the trick.

Today, I tried Gardien's Chick'n Marsala, which is made of no meat. There were two pieces and each one comes with a packet of sauce. I had it plane, with no sides, and I didn't mind the taste. I thought the texture was great but a little soft, but my boyfriend didn't like it, saying that it tastes too fake. I feel that the 'chicken' would go great as a substitute in a different meal, as I didn't care much for the bland sauce.

I would buy this again, but not every week, as it's quite expensive. I feel that I'd only use it in a stir-fry, as I'm not fancy enough to think of anything else I can cook it with. Firm tofu would be a cheaper equivalent for my needs, so I may just stick with that.