Renewed!!

Well, that was a pretty successful week. Managed to get in a 45 minute swim (for some reason you practically have to drag me to the pool kicking and screaming), my first outdoor ride, the eight minute test on Trainer Road, a 7km run, two more 4km runs, and then tonight was another hour on the bike. That was about 7 hours of training. Not too bad!! This Ironman training needs to stay consistent now though. No more falling off the band wagon!!

And tomorrow my little guy starts his training. His school is doing a running club, where every day they run a kilometre and then at the end of May they run the last 1.2km on race day, totalling a marathon!! So, he will be completing his second "marathon". Not bad for a kindergartener!!

A bunch of training

Life is moving along nicely, and so too is the training. Last week got out running at least 3 times, biking once and swimming once. So, things are getting back on track. The big events are quickly approaching, so no more excuses, training is simply a must.

The question is, what motivates you to keep training...

An all around amazing run...

So today I went out on a run. My oldest was in school, and I had just dropped off my youngest at preschool, so I had some time on my hands, and some miles to get in. My day started with a little link from CTV Olympics with a montage of some amazing Canadian athletes heading to the 2012 Olympics. It was a great little clip (literally, it was only 30 seconds). And in the background was playing, Invincible by Hedley. It was perfect. It inspired me. Here it is in case you want to check it out:



So, I set out. I was wearing some tights and a shirt from MEC and my favourite running socks from SUGOI. I didn't find my sports buds so only had my phone with me. I ended up just playing this same song on repeat, but it was just perfect. Listening to Invincible, by Hedley, I ran and ran. The scenery was great. I was was running on the University of Calgary pathways, and then soon enough was running past Ronald McDonald House and the Children's Hospital. Of course this always reminds me of the many appointments we've attended there for my little one. And then in the distance, I see the mountains. It's an incredible backdrop. The run was fabulous. Truly. I put in 1 hour and 23 minutes. Didn't really have much more time as I had to be back at the school picking up my son shortly after. And the speed wasn't anything to brag about, but I ran 11.19km. I was consistent. I was happy. My body was happy, and after a few runs last week and another long ride, I feel like I'm where I need to be.

Next up is the Calgary Police Half. It's not very far away now, and really, I could stand to have put in a few more runs, but, we are, where we are, and I will work with what I've done, and what I will do!!

The Harry Potter Birthday Cake

My son just had a birthday and he wanted a Harry Potter cake. So, I set out to make him one. He wanted Harry, Ron and Hermione on it. It was a challenge, but I think I pulled it off, tell me your thoughts...

First it was building the base for the characters. The characters are my favourite part. They started out as rice krispie squares, sort of moulded into the basic shape I wanted for the different characters. Next up was mixing the fondant into the different colours... White for their shirts and eyes, skin colour, yellow and burgundy for the Gryffindor crests and ties, Grey for their sweaters and pants, and black for their shoes.

Next up working hard to create the characters. Covering, cutting, gluing (with water) and piecing together.

The hair was another matter entirely, made with buttercream icing, dyed into the appropriate colours and piped on with a fun tip.
















The castle involved chocolate cake, buttercream icing, some cutting, some stacking, some arranging, a couple ice cream cones and soon enough, it was time to cover it and make it look more Hogwarts like. We used a brick imprinter to make the sides of the castle look stone, used a special tip to add the ivy, and soon enough assembled the whole thing together.

My son loved it. So, for me, that's truly what matters. Happy Birthday my little one!!

SUGOI Brand Champion!!

Earlier this year, I applied to be part of the SUGOI Brand Champion program. I have always loved SUGOI and one of my favourite jackets of all times come from them many years ago. And over the years, I've acquired more and more of their amazing product. So, it seemed only fitting to apply to their program. But then something incredible happened... I actually go picked to be a brand champion. Just plain me.

I'm not a professional athlete, I am not an age group winner. I am a middle of the packer. Sometimes closer to back of the pack, depends on the day really. In fact, I sometimes struggle to find the motivation to work out. I eat cause I love food, and sometimes that is reflected in my waistline. But I sign up for races, and I finish. I race so my children know that being active should be a part of every day life. I race so friends and family can see me being active, and hopefully inspire them as well. I race simply because I can, there are many people out there who get sidelined by illness and disease so I race in honour of them, making sure that I use my health to raise money for causes that help those who are sidelined. I race for the feeling you get at the finish, hearing my boys cheer and tell me they are proud of their mama.

So, now that I am actually a Brand Champion, I feel the need to represent SUGOI to the best of my abilities. That means following my goals, and sticking to my program. I have a lofty goal this year. As a full-time working mom of two young boys, I am training for my first ever Ironman, this August at Ironman Canada in Penticton. It's a big goal, but I know it can be achieved. I just need to stick to the program. Stop with the excuses, stay focused and stay committed. There are a few other events planned for the year as well. The Ride to Conquer Cancer Alberta edition, please, feel free to donate to this wonderful cause helping the Alberta Cancer Foundation fund cutting edge research (I still have a bit to raise!!). And one of my favourite half marathons, The Calgary Police Half Marathon. We also signed up for the Melissa's 10km Road Race in September (a nice relaxing post ironman race??). So there are lots of things to train for and account for.  Part of that means, I intend to be a bit more regular with my blogging. For some reason, this has been a struggle in the past year. Finding time to sit at the computer isn't always easy with my little guys wanting so much of my time. But I will work at it, even if the entries are just short!! After all, I am sure many of us sometimes go through the same struggles, and better to share those and find support to continue marching on.

I'm excited. I'm inspired. This year is going to be a lot of fun!! So please, follow along... and share your goals for the year... I would love to hear them!!

Here we go again...

I have a little under eight months until Ironman Canada. It's not a lot of time. Yet, it is. But, my first goal is to trim down this body a bit again (sigh!), since I put back on 20 of the 30 pounds I lost last year. So, for the next four months, I will concentrate on that. Building my fitness base and trimming the pounds. After all, if I have 20 less pounds to get up the big hills, it will be that much easier. Then, I have four months to build my endurance and put in the time for the distance stuff.

I know where I strayed. Truly. When I was on track, I was very disciplined. I exercised every single day. Some days were tough runs, others were easy walks. I incorporated weight training, biking, swimming, sometimes the elliptical or stair machine, sometimes a bootcamp style workout. I was willing to do anything to simply keep my body moving, following Newton's law of an object in motion stays in motion. And really, you almost crave exercise after doing it every day.

The other big stray, my eating. When I was on track, I used the Livestrong, MyPlate to track my eating and exercise. It's fantastic. The app on the iPhone is only $2.99 and literally, since my phone is practically an appendage these days, it's never far from me, and so it is easy to track the eating. And, the database of products is so immense that it includes breads from my local bakery even!! And, if something is not in there, you can add it! And you can add your own recipes that you make at home. It really made me accountable for what I was putting in my mouth. I mean, still I would eat things like ice cream or special treats, but I really planned for them, to make sure it worked into my program. And I was successful. I lost 30 pounds. It was pretty great. And then, I slowly stopped tracking, and then I slowly added more and more treats, and then I slowly started putting the weight back on... grrrrrrr... I saw it happening literally, right before my eyes (sigh), I knew it, and yet I did nothing to stop it.

So, here I am again. It's a new year, and my big goal is in August. I want to be successful. I know I can be. I just need to be disciplined again. So, I start again. Today's weighin, starting weight (insert sad faced kicking myself in the pants for this expression) is 192.0. Ugh. Why oh why must I be here again. It's saying I am 40.1% body fat. I am disappointed in myself. However, today is a new starting point. And today I begin again. Today is the first day. Today I can make good decisions. Will I stumble? I'm sure. But will I succeed? Of course. So, back to tracking what I eat. Trying to include more fruits and vegetables and holding myself accountable for what I put in my mouth and for putting my body in motion.