My Journey With Health And Fitness – A Good Few days

I am truly not liking this weather. I get that here on the west coast of BC we really haven’t had winter weather this year but I don’t need it to start now. The next few days it is going to be below freezing each day and I am really not liking Friday where it will be particularly chilly first things which of course is when I will be going for a run. Sigh, at least I have appropriate clothing as well as hand warmer packs for my gloves.

The past few days have been pretty good exercise wise. I had planned to start back at it last week but of course the infection in my hand stopped that from happening. However, I am bound and determined to get back to a better weight and get myself more fit than I have ever been. I am doing it relatively caustiously as the last thing I want to do is blow out my ankle again. My overall goal for the next month is to get back to my weekly long run being 14km. I’m not to worried about getting there, I just need my schedule to cooperate.

I started my workouts on Sunday (ok I usually consider Monday the start of the week but for this week it was Sunday). It was a pretty nice day so I thought ok, let’s try a nice easy 5km run. I started off doing a little over a km walk then off on a run. It was actually quite lovely because I got to be down at the beach and the weather was pretty good. And, I ran into many of my fellow early morning walker/runners many of whom I haven’t seen in a few months. I finished off the workout with a 4km walk. Not bad for a Sunday morning.

Yesterday messed me up a bit. Being retired you really don’t think about things like holidays so I had forgotten that it was Family Day. I didn’t realize it until I went to book my early morning fitness class only to find the class wouldn’t be until 9:15am which is way too late for me. So, got up early and did a 1 hour walk. Came home and rested for a bit then headed out for a 1 1/2 hour walk to meet my walking group for coffee. That was followed by an hour walk with them then 1/2 walk home. Yep, clocked 4 hours of walking yesterday and if felt pretty good.

Then there was today. Started with a 1 hour strength class which for the 1st time in nearly 2 months I was using weights more than 10 lbs which is the only ones I have at the condo. The deadlift was a little too easy so I added a few extra pounds. Next I headed off for a 1km warm up walk followed by a 7km run. The only challenge was it was at the freezing mark and so our wooden pier was covered with frost. I only ran on the pier for a minute or so realizing how slippery it was so decided to just do some double backs along the promenade. Finally I was facilitating a support group early in the afternoon so to finish off my workouts I walked (1 hour) to the support group location. Hmm, again not too bad.

I have also started focusing on higher protein, lower carbs for my meals. I am not a fan of eliminating food groups so there is still carbs in my meals, just at a reduced level. For example, today is Shrove Tuesday which means we are supposed to have pancakes for dinner. To make that work I just avoided carbs the rest of the day. Hasn’t been that difficult because I really want those pancakes.

The rest of the week is challenging because I am very busy. Tomorrow will be the most challenging because I have meetings most of the day. I’ll get in my fitness class but am just hoping I get home in time to do at least a 2 hour walk. Thursday I am off on an excursion but am pretty sure I can get in 3 hours of walking. I’ll do a small run on Friday and then Saturday will get in my 10km. All of it is ambitious but I am determined.

And so it’s been a good few days and I hope the rest of the week goes just as well.