My Journey With Health And Fitness – Working Hard

This is my favourite time of year but definitely not for the heat we are currently experiencing. Rather, it is because of the awesome fresh fruits and veggies that are available. Trust me, things like BC corn, cherries, strawberries and blueberries fresh from the farm are amazing and I am eating fruit everyday. Our own garden is literally overflowing with lettuce and peas and so we have a salad with dinner pretty much every night. I can’t wait because soon things like peaches will be ready not to mention our own tomatoes and peppers. As well, my herb garden has gone crazy this year so I love using fresh picked herbs for my recipes.

I told you a few weeks ago that I was committing to upping my workouts and boy have I managed to do that. Now I didn’t just suddenly the first week add a bunch of stuff, rather I bumped things up by about 1/3 and then another 1/3 the following week. The end result is that last week I walked 200,000+ steps, walked or ran 136km, climbed the equivalent of 319 floors and burned 17,000+ calories. To say that is the best week I have ever done is quite the understatement.

I currently work out 6 days a week and plan each day as to what I am doing. If I do a really hard workout then the next day I am going to cut back a bit. That doesn’t mean less steps or km’s (the goal is 30,000 steps a day which is about 20km) but rather rebalancing the amount of running vs walking. That is to say, if I do a 10k run and walk 10k in a day well the next day I might only do 5k run and then walk 15k. I had forgotten how much I actually enjoy a good walk though it is a bit more challenging now as I have to really work it to keep my heart rate where I want it to be. Still, I am cognizant of how far I can push my body and I carefully watch my readiness score to ensure I am getting enough lower level activity to recover.

My challenge right now is the heat and trust me I would use it as an excuse if I could. However, I am trying to work around that by hitting the road by 5am each morning and trying to hit all of my goals by 10am. So far I am having success with this as while it is really hot this week it is reasonable early in the morning. Of course I always have the other option of working out on the treadmill in the garage with a fan blowing on me but you know how much I hate working out on the treadmill so I am going to avoid it as long as possible.

A final comment on the heat, please be checking in on those who may be vulnerable to really warm weather. It only takes a few seconds to touch bases with an elderly neighbour to make sure they are not at risk. Today when I did my run I checked in with a local homeless man who tends to sleep down by the promenade. It is pretty evident that he has some mental health issues but because I often see him petting dogs that go by him I felt comfortable approaching him. I just asked if he had enough water to make sure he was hydrated the next few days and he profusely thanked me and told me he was taken care of (I know last year many of the locals would leave bottled water for him but I wanted to be sure). Never hurts to watch out for those that may be in need.