Back day

Today I hit the gym after class and before work.

Today was:

-short rowing warmup
-3 x 12 lat pulldowns @ 60lbs
-3 x 12 lat rows
-3 x 12 barbell rows (targeting rhomboids)
-3 x 12 supermans

Then I did some power yoga with my friend and it felt great.

Hopefully I'm less sore by tomorrow. Hamstrings, glutes and chest are all sore.

I think I will focus on weights for a few weeks then decide what's next. Half-marathon or longer tri.

CrossFit and sore hammies

Today was CrossFit Day...

5x5 bench press: 45-55-65-75-85 (only squeaked out one @ 85)
Max reps pullups: 12-9-10 (used black band)

Then 10 minutes of:

9 overhead lunges
12 pushups
45 skips (instead of 15 double unders)

Was a great workout and I managed to do 6 rounds just as the timer went off.

My hamstrings and glutes are sore from yesterday's workout. Not TOO sore but I definitely feel em. Tomorrow morning after class and before work I'm meeting a friend for another workout. Day 3 of the new plan.

New workout plan

Now that the triathlon is over, I'm starting up a new muscle-building training plan. I'm still going to incorporate cardio training into my plan both for health reasons and so that I can take another stab at a try-a-tri later next month but for now I'm going to focus on building muscle.

Here's the overview:

I started it tonight and am feeling good about it. I will need to figure out the weights as I go. Tonight I did:

-bodyweight air squats
-15lb dumbbell sumo squats
-17.5lb (x2, one in each hand) stiff-legged DLs
-50lb machine hamstring curls
-20lb seated calf raises

I will definitely need to add more weight next time, but it's a good start. This plan is a modified version of bodybuilding.com's muscle building plan for females.

Triathlon (day of truth)

Yesterday was finally my Belwood Lake try-a-tri race day. For my first time, I'd say it really went great.

Jer's race was at 8:30am. We didn't end up leaving the house until 7:10am. We should have left earlier, it was partially my fault since I thought we wouldn't need so much time. Anyway he was stressed but we got there and registered, and he had just enough time to get his tires pumped up, lay out his gear and basically run down to the water for the start. He did the sprint and had such a strong race with a really great time.

Luckily for me, I got to watch his race, take the photos, etc. and see how things went before my race at 1:15pm. For my race, the bike and run were at switched around from his but things went smoothly. I thought it would be a lot more stressful trying to figure out where to go but once I got going, I wasn't worried so much about that anymore as just keeping moving.

Before the swim:

The swim was really tough, I think I need lessons. I did almost the entire swim on my back. I can do front crawl but I have a hard time with timing my breathing. Also with the suit on and with 25 people thrashing around you, it brings up the anxiey level. Every time I wanted to swim on my stomach I felt like I couldn't breathe so I just stuck to back crawl and was fine. Jer said I was at the back 1/3 of the pack when I got out.

After the swim, trying to get my suit off:
Suit half off, finally caught my breath from the swim and jogging over to my bike:


Swim to bike transition. Got my suit off, drying off my feet, putting on my shoes and grabbing my bike:
Jer said I managed to make up some time I lost on the swim during my bike. A few guys passed me on the bike portion who must have been behind me in the second heat of the swim but for the most part I held my own and passed about 5 or 6 people.

Finally ready to head out for my 14k bike:
The bike went well and I felt good during it. After the bike, I hopped off, racked it and headed out for the run. This is around the time when I realized my calves were on fire and I was having trouble picking my feet up. It felt like my legs were full of lactic acid. I just kept telling myself, "NO JULIA YOU ARE NOT WALKING!" and so I didn't. Except when I grabbed a sip of water from volunteers.

Heading out for my 3k run:


Finally the finish line was in sight so I picked it up and sprinted through for a not bad finishing time of 1:11. This try-a-tri was slightly longer than others, mine was swim 375, bike 14k, run 3, whereas others have shorter bike and runs. I had a goal of 1:15 so I am certainly happy with my time!

Photo finish:

After the race I felt great. I felt so happy and lucky to have friends there cheering me on and to have Jer there congratulating me when I finished. He was so sweet and proud of me. We had something to eat and headed home.

Drive home post-race high:

When we got home around 3:30pm, we decided to have a nap which I thought would be 1/2 hour or so but it turned out we were both exhausted and slept for an hour and a half. Thankfully we set an alarm otherwise we both would have probably kept on sleeping for who knows how long.

Race kit:

And last but not least my Belwood Lake 2011 race shirt, which I am proudly wearing today:



All in all this was a great experience. I would love to do another try-a-tri this year and try to beat my time. It was clear that I need to work on the swim and do more brick workouts. For anyone who feels intimidated by the whole thing, I would say go for it. It was a great experience and everyone there was really encouraging and kind. There were all sorts of people from different backgrounds with different body types and really the only person you're racing is yourself.

Can't wait until the next one! And surprisingly even though my legs hurt so much during the race, I'm not in any pain today at all. Awesome.

Rest day

Well, tomorrow is what all of this training has been leading up to. I think today is just going to be a rest day. I am excited about tomorrow and a little nervous. I'm just going to have to remember to BREATHE.

This morning I woke up and went and got some groceries... then I decided to go over to Backpeddling and see what they could rig up for me to hold a water bottle. They did this:

and it should work out great. I'll fill up my water bottle with some BCAAs and maybe a few electrolytes... not sure what I should do about that yet actually. Jer said he's thinking coconut water. Maybe I'll do the same.

I'm still not entirely sure what I'm going to wear yet. I guess my new Nike shorts and a sports bra... with some sort of tank top overtop? I just don't want to overheat or be uncomfortable because i'm all wet. Well, if I make the wrong choice at least I'll know better for next time. Assuming there will be a next time, and that I enjoy this time. Sans barfing. Ha.

Brick

Tonight I went to the gym and did what's called a "brick", which is a bike and a run one after the other. I biked 8km and then hopped right onto the treadmill for a 1.6k run. So, this took me a little under 30 minutes. If I double that and add the swim, let's say 15 mins, I think that 1:15 mins would be a really solid time for me. I'll shoot for that on Sunday and hopefully won't be too far off, as long as I don't die of heat exhaustion or puke everywhere because I'm nervous. I will try and relax and just think of it as "fun" and not run for your life or die.

After I did the brick I also did 3 sets of biceps and 2 sets of triceps. I figure what's the point in doing a triathlon if your guns don't look good? No point. Obviously.

Hot hot hot

This morning I cycled to school, and by the time I got there I was SOAKED in sweat. Seriously, I was a disgusting, sweaty beast-lady. At only 8:00am it was almost 30 degrees out. Anyway I survived, went to class, studied in the wonderful air-conditioned library and eventually made my way home around 4:00pm and when I got in and took the temperature outside, it said it was 40 degrees. Not sure how accurate it was but it really was bloody hot. Definitely too hot for exercising outside. Instead I went to the mall and bought a new pair of shorts since my underarmour compression shorts went missing. So disappointed, I love those shorts. I bought some Nike pro combat ones but I am less impressed with them than I was with the underarmour ones.

After that I went and swam about 500m in the pool. I did my 375 in a little over 10 minutes which is probably the fastest I've done it yet and I wasn't killing myself trying to do it. I did a combination of front crawl and back crawl and didn't take any breaks. I'm feeling more confident about the swimming I just hope I don't look too stupid doing it all on my back. Whatever, as long as I don't die during my first triathlon I'm happy. I met my friend after and we did 20 minutes
of sprints and some weights.

Only three more sleeps!

run/swim

This morning I managed to wake up a little after 7am and get in my 6k before work. It was still really hot out even though the sun was barely up. My pace was pretty sucky (5'30 kms) but at least I did it. You can even check my Nike+ to see!

I worked all day but the people that I work for happen to have a really beautiful pool so instead of hitting the gym after work I just paddled around theirs for a while:

They actually just filled it today so it was pretty chilly. I was only in it for about 10 minutes. Maybe less. I'm too tired to hit the gym now though and have 8:30am class tomorrow. FML.

More training...

This morning I biked to school and back, totalling approximately 7km. I swear almost half of it is uphill. Anyway the cycling I'm not really worried about.

Tonight I did go for a swim in the freshly cleaned pool at the gym. I managed to swim my 400m in about 12 minutes. The other day I said to Jer, "I can't figure out what it is about swimming but it just kills me. I feel like one length of the pool and I need to take a break". He said it's because I am struggling to stay afloat and it's likely because I'm scared I'm going to sink. I think he might be onto something. Tonight I focused on just staying afloat and relaxing in the water and things went much more smoothly. I just need to relax. If I can do that, the swim will be a breeze.

The problem is really with my breathing, it's the timing or something. When I do back crawl (is that what it's called when you're on your back but making your arms like propellers?) I have no problems at all because I'm free to breathe whenever I want. For the race I'm going to do a combination of front crawl and back crawl and I should be fine.

I'm hoping to wake up bright and early tomorrow morning to get in 5 or 6k before work, and before it gets TOO HOT.

Pool's closed! & Triathlete appetite

I hit up the gym for an intense 40 minute spin class around noon. I was hoping to swim tonight for 30 mins or so but the pool is still being cleaned. I am disappointed, I was looking forward to getting a good swim in tonight.

Anyway, it opens at 5:00am tomorrow so I'll likely swim and run tomorrow. No CrossFit for me this week due to switching shifts and the tri.

It's coming... 6 days!

I am really happily surprised that I am not sore at all today either. Knee feels fine, feet feel fine, no shin splints, calves fine too. I was expecting at the very least some shin splints from that 8k in my fivefingers but nothing! Amazing!

I have noticed a pretty big increase in my appetite with all of this cardio I have been doing to train for the tri. I am a pretty good eater most of the time anyway, but with all of these extra "kcals" being burned I feel like I could eat almost all day long. I'd like to hear about what others eat when they ramp up their training but I have been eating a lot of "snack foods" but healthy ones, like nuts (macadamia, brazil, almonds), fruit (usually post-training), shakes (vega or whey), and the normal things in my diet like eggs almost every morning for breakfast with extra veggies and toast or flatbread with cashew butter. I feel like I need to snack more in between meals and I usually carry around Kashi bars, Lara bars and fruitsource + veggie bars. After the tri training is finished I would like to carry on with my muscle mass increase plan, by eating small meals every 3 hours or so and ramp up my weight training. I have to admit though I am not hating this cardio stuff, I just like the results of weight training better. :)

Dirty Dash 8k

Today was the 8k mud run in Waterloo, called the Dirty Dash. The day started at 7am with some pre-run shakes, made with 2 scoops chocolate Vega, almond milk and some frozen blueberries all blended up:
Our race kits were picked up by a friend a couple of days ago and consisted of a shirt and some coupons, certificate of completion, etc. (the frisbee we got afterward and we used them as plates for post-race food!):

It was a good run, I had forgotten how difficult trail running can be, and I haven't done a lot of it this year. All in all though it was a good run, I finished in 56 minutes, and got pretty muddy in the process. Jer and I after the race:

Jer, our friend and myself all wore our fivefingers for this run. It was the longest distance I've ever done in mine. The first km was on road and it felt like my shins were burning. After that though things seemed to go OK so we'll see if I'm in pain tomorrow or not. Post-race muddy fivefingers:

I was concerned yesterday that my knee being injured would affect the race but I just took it easy and kept a pretty average pace and it felt fine. Now it still feels alright but I did take some advil after the race. Hopefully I haven't gone and shot myself in the foot for tri training this week. I know how much work I have ahead of me before my try-a-tri.

Great weekend, would recommend this race :)

One of my goals this summer is to complete a 5k race in fivefingers but I think this 8k counts so that's one goal I can strike off my list!

Belwood Lake picnic

Yesterday the company I work for took us all paintballing as a teambuilding event. It was an awesome time, and have some pretty solid bruises to show for it.

Anyway today Jer and I went out to Belwood Conservation area to where our triathlons will be next weekend. I tried out the wetsuit in the lake, and it definitely helped with buoyancy. I will need to get lots more practice in swimming this week but hopefully I will be set for next weekend.

We packed a healthy picnic lunch: organic, grain-fed chicken wraps, sliced veggies, bananas, mineral water and our one treat... chocolate croissants :) I really think the key to healthy eating is preparation. A little bit can go a long way. Having these things ready to bring with us in a cooler ensured that we didn't stop and grab fast food or hit a restaurant somewhere.

Me enjoying some post-swim veggie sticks:

Tomorrow is the dirty dash. I injured my knee yesterday during paintball so I'm hoping I'll be ok for the run tomorrow. If not, I'll walk the 4k. Should be a good time either way!

Goggles

Last night I went back to the pool and swam about 400m. I broke it up into two 200m intervals. I started out with front crawl and then when I got tired I did some breast stroke and backstroke just to make sure I could stay afloat. I think if I keep practicing for the next couple weeks, I should be in OK shape by the time the tri rolls around.

Last night I used the black goggles, but the night before I used the orange ones:

Clearly, the orange ones are cooler, but the black ones fit me perfectly and never leak. Something about them helps me not get water up my nose too. Sounds lame, but seems to help.

Am I going to get made fun of for my dorky goggles at the tri!? Goggle fashions. Sigh. As long as they work I guess. Thanks to Jer, for giving me these awesome super-dork goggles. :)

Today I have to head to work, in about 20 mins. Depending on what time I get home I might have time to do some intervals on the bike with a friend. I am having some pain in the top of my left foot, basically right below the ankle, localized to the left side. I hope it passes... I have this 8k trail race on Sunday morning!

CrossFit & wetsuit!

I just got home from CrossFit and had a pretty good workout. We did benchpresses (me: 3x5 @ 65lbs) and then the WOD was:

5 rounds of:
-15 thrusters @15lbs
-400m run

I completed it in 16:20. I would have done a heavier weight had I not been worried about the impending races.

While I was there I was asking one of my fellow Crossfitters if she had any advice about swimming, etc. since I am so terrible at it. She has completed eight Ironman races I believe, and is in absolutely amazing shape for any age, let alone age 65. Anyway she offered for me to borrow her wetsuit, and it fits like a glove!

I am so excited and lucky! I am going to have to take it to the lake over the next few days and tri it out (not bad, eh, ha). My swim is only 375m for the tri but I am most worried about it because it's first and if it kills me... the rest of my race will be hopeless. I'm swimming more tonight before I meet up with my friend who I'm currently training. We'll also be doing some intervals on the treadmill and weightlifting.

Excited!

Swimming and Geocaching

Today I cycled to school and back (~7km) and then went for a swim in the evening (~300m) and did a little weight training:

-500m row
-10 x 70lb lat pulldowns
-10 pushups
-10 40lb thrusters
-10 tricep bench dips
-3 sets x 10 reps @ 50lbs rhomboid rows
-2 x 20lb tricep dumbbell presses, 10 x bench dips
-2 sets of 10 toe touches, 15 v-sits with medicine ball (obliques), 30 second plank

I am getting worried about the swim. Swimming only that distance was so much work. Ugh. I think I need to get a proper pair of goggles and maybe a nose plug. It might help. Less than two weeks until the try a tri! Aaaaah!

Tonight I also had my search and rescue meeting, we meet once a month. We practiced using our GPS's by doing some geocaching. I happened to find one particularly difficult one in a man-made rock fence. I was so happy! Geocaching is great because you find all these cool treasures, you get to hike, hang out with friends be outside. It's really a fun trifecta. Geocaches remind me of time capsules, the type you make in grade school and tuck away and forget about, except these ones you get to open up!

Me being really excited about finding it

Some treasure!

More training tomorrow. Yawn. Night night.

Try-a-tri training

In my efforts to increase my cardio and endurance for the impending try-a-tri I cycled 10km today and ran 2.25km. Later on in the afternoon, my friend helped me adjust my bike seat so that it's in the proper position as well as pump up my tires.

Bike is in good shape, now I have a little less than two weeks to get myself into shape.

I feel like today was a good start. I'm going to keep it up with the daily cardio, hopefully switching between at least two types per workout (swim/run, bike/run, swim/bike).

Tonight I will finish off with a little weight training. I'd like to just do maintenance over the next two weeks and then once the tri is over really pursue my goal of gaining 5lbs of muscle before the end of the summer.

Sometime tomorrow I'm going to come up with a training plan to stick to for the next couple weeks.

Sunday, July 10

Today's workout was a 4.5k run with Jer through a conservation area. It was really hot and humid out today although it was overcast almost the entire day. We didn't start our run until around 1:00pm and that 4.5k was rough. I'll need to mostly work on cardio this week to prepare for an 8k trail race on Sunday.

Hopefully I can keep up. I used Nike+ to record our run so it should be up there now.

Friday's workout and M licence

Friday's workout was 4km treadmill run and shoulder workout.

10 reps of:
15lb dumbbell shoulder presses
15lb lateral raises
12lb front raises
12lb rear delt raises
x 2 sets

Yesterday I spent the day doing a motorcycle course and completing the requirements to get my full M licence. I passed the test and am really happy to be a fully certified driver.

Here is a photo of our class, with our instructor 2nd from the left:

My bike is the yellow one! :)

Afterward Jer and I had a great BBQ, free-range lamb, asparagus and baby mashed red potatoes. Awesome day. Hopefully the weather holds up for us today to hit a beach somewhere and get swimming. I really need to work on it before the try-a-tri in two weeks. *gulp*

Omnivorism

Yesterday was a rest day for me because my glutes were so sore! After Crossfit on Wednesday, I went to train my friend at the gym and did most of her workout too. It was a pretty long day although I felt good after.

I am doing a try-a-tri in a little over two weeks so I really need to put the weight training on the back burner and focus on cardio.

Anyway to make up for yesterday's post I wanted to talk about my recent decision to start eating meat again after almost 7 years as a strict vegetarian.

This decision was really triggered when I tried to become vegan. I know this sounds odd but it really got me thinking about why I was doing what I was doing. I had become a vegetarian because I didn't like the way that animals were factory farmed. I didn't like how they were treated and I didn't like the idea of being part of that process. However by being vegetarian I really felt like I was being hypocritcal. I was still eating dairy, which was still a major part of the meat industry, and still eating eggs although I tried to buy exclusively the free run type. After trying the vegan thing and failing, this was on my mind. Combined with summer. For the first time in a long time the smell of meat cooking on a barbecue was appealing to me. I thought about it long and hard before finally going to the local butcher. The place I went to has locally-raised, organic, antibiotic-free meats and they focus on animal welfare. If I was going to eat meat, it had to be done with my conscience still intact.

I purchased one chicken breast and kept it in the fridge for days. Finally when my boyfriend came home on the weekend I informed him of my intentions and we cooked it. Eating it felt good. I know it sounds strange but something about it felt right and instinctual and I realized how much I missed it. After that, there was really no going back. This was about two months ago. I started eating small amounts of pork, chicken and even beef. It's very expensive to buy this type of meat but that just means I eat less of it. North Americans have this whacko idea that they need to eat much bigger portions than they actually do, and that they have to eat it every day. This is not true.

I feel good about my decision although it is difficult when going over to people's houses, "Oh sorry, I only eat free-range organic meat"... yeah right. In that case I try to avoid eating it or eat a very small amount. I think whatever we choose to include in our diets, it has to be done with our consciences intacts. And, the burgers I bought from this place, are the most amazing burgers I've ever had. If you've never tried this type of meat and buy that boxed-factory farmed crap, you're missing out.

Crossfit & Hummus

For the past couple of weeks I have been doing the foundations classes for Crossfit and today I had my first real class with the rest of the group. It was a really tough "chipper" workout:

-400m run
-30 push press
-30 box jumps
-30 box dips
-800m run
-30 lunges
-30 pushups
-30 squats
-400m run
-30 kettlebell swings
-30 burpees
-30 tuck jumps

My time was 28:00 but I skipped out on 10 burpees and 12 tuck jumps because I gave blood last night and Chris said I looked "a little white". Anyway it was a pretty wild workout.

I just made some amazing, nutritious hummus. Here's the recipe:

-1 can chick peas
-3 heaping teaspoons tahini
-1/2 cup olive oil
-3 cloves garlic
-salt to taste
-lemon to taste

This recipe I got from my friend's mother who does everything "to taste" so this is not exact. Try it out and see how it is. It's high in protein, fibre, healthy fats, and there is even a significant amount of iron. The garlic is heart-healthy too!

Yum!

Today's workout and CBS

This morning I rode my bike to class and home, about a 7km ride. I like when I can incorporate cardio into my day in a way that doesn't take up too much time. This way I kill two birds with one stone, since it takes only 20 minutes to bike to school, and 30+ on the bus.

After that I did some shopping. I bought mostly nuts and dried fruit at the Bulk Barn (including cashew butter which I'm really pumped to try!) and some local organic free-range meats from a butcher. More on nutrition to come!

After that I hit the gym with the following WOD:

-500m row
warmup consisting of: 10 lat pull downs @ 70lbs FAST, 10 pushups FAST, 10 thrusters @ 40lbs FAST, 10 bench dips FAST
-10 pectoral flyes @ 45lbs x 3 sets
-10 anterior delt flyes @ 30lbs, 30lbs, 35lbs (3 sets)
-10 bumbell bench presses @ 20lbs each dumbbell x 3 sets
-10 toe touches, v-sit with 12lb medicine ball side to side x 2 sets

Tonight I'm meeting my friend at Canadian Blood Services for our donation. I'm a big advocate for blood donation and I even set up a programme at the office I work at to try and get people involved. If you've never donated before, it's easy and you can literally save up to 4 lives with one donation. It only takes an hour of your time and there are cookies after! Please consider becoming a regular blood donor if you aren't already.

You can read more here: www.blood.ca

Nike+ and my WOD

I wanted to talk about Nike+, something that I really got hooked on last summer and just started using frequently again at the end of June. Nike+ is a really cool gadget and community that Apple and Nike came up with together.

What you need:

-iPod or iPhone
-Nike shoes (Frees are my favourite)
-Nike+ sensor and chip

How it works:

You use your iPod or iPhone to pre-program your workout. For example, this morning I programmed in a 5k run and hit the trail. As you run, you can listen to music but the sensor (located in your shoe) "talks" to the chip in your iPod and lets you know how far you've gone. Through your iPod, over your music, you are told where you are. You can choose how often to get updates, ie "Half-way point", "Two kilometres to go" etc. You can also press the centre button on your iPod anytime and find out your pace and time.

When I got into outdoor running last summer, this gadget really blew me away and I am continuing to love it. The Nike+ community is also really cool, all of your runs are recorded and graphed for you on the Nike+ website (see "Run with me" under Links to the right of this post). I think this product is great, and super-motivating to keep running. If you're motivated by numbers like I am, check out this really cool product, and friend-me on the Nike+ site!







My well-loved Nike Frees, iPod (with Nike+ sensor inserted in the bottom) and chip that fits inside the left sole:











In addition to my 5k trail run this morning (in 25:04 according to Nike+), my WOD is as follows:

-1000m row warmup (4:40)

-50 air squats
-glute machine 15 each side
-25 air squats
-glute machine 10 each side
-10 preacher curls, prone curls, 90 degree curls, hammer curls @ 17.5 lbs, 20lbs x 2 sets, SLOW
-10 overhead tricep presses @ 17.5lbs, 20lbs , 10 bench dips x 2 sets, SLOW
-10 toe-touches x 2 sets
-1 minute of plank x 2 sets
-15 supermans x 2 sets

Happy Monday.

Welcome

Hello!

This blog is going to be dedicated to my fitness and nutrition goals as well as interesting things that I find that are related to fitness and nutrition online. My hope is that this blog may inspire others out there to strive to achieve their own health-related goals. For more information about me, check out the "About" tab above.

For my first post, this weekend I went rock-climbing with my boyfriend and two of his friends. We had a great time although this was my first time climbing this year and the first time up the cliff-face was pretty rough, both physically and mentally. I did however use one of the photos as the background for this blog though. :)