gwennefarrell

So this morning it was a strength training class. There weren’t a lot of attendees which is surprising since the 5:30am class is quite popular. However, since there were fewer people the instructor decided to bring out the bar bells. I watched them getting set up and thought, WTH? Sure enough, she encouraged us to do the deadlift exercise using the bar bells. I was going to decline until she said we should challenge ourselves, damn those words! So when it was time to do deadlifts during the circuit I went to a bar bell and dead lifted 100 lbs. The instructor said to me, doesn’t that feel great to which I replied NO. Still I managed to do those deadlifts and was pretty proud of myself.

When I started with this fitness centre for my 6 week challenge they talked to me about how important it was not to get discouraged if the scale was slow to move. They went through the same things I have posted about in the past, if you keep at this the fat in your body starts changing to muscle which in itself makes you more healthy. Moreover, the same mass of muscle weighs more than an equal mass of fat which means the scale might not move but you are still losing fat (I was happy they did not say the phrase that I hate, muscle weighs more than fat which of course it doesn’t because a pound of fat weighs exactly the same as a pound of muscle).

They also did something interesting, on my first day they took pictures of me from several different angles. They explained that in case I was disappointed with my weight result that if I followed the program I would be able to see the change in my body. Well, after the 6 weeks they took new pictures from the same angles and showed them to me comparing side by side what I looked like when I started. Now I already didn’t need confirmation because the scale had moved but there was no questioning the change in my hips, arms and face all of which clearly showed where the weight loss had come from.

As I continue with this program I vow to look at this holistically. I look for the changes such as seeing my collar bones again or starting to feel my hip bones. Those changes are getting more noticeable and just give me more motivation to keep going.

I’m holding off my next weigh in for a couple of weeks but the more I work at this the happier I am with the changes that I am noticing.

Well it happened again, a driver not paying attention nearly took me out in a crosswalk. I was entering a crosswalk and the vehicle to the left of me was stopped and nodded at me. There was a car pulling up to the stop line on the right as I was already in the crosswalk. I watch the driver look left and right but didn’t look straight ahead as they hit the gas (obviously rushing). I was 1/2 way into the crosswalk and was about to jump back when the driver slammed on their brakes apparently having seen me. Then the driver proceeded to hurl profanities at me I assume because I was somehow responsible for this situation. I remind everyone once again, pay attention at all intersections and crosswalks to ensure they are free of pedestrians.

I got up this morning at my normal obscenely early time and hit the road by 5:15am to get in 2 hours of walking before my bootcamp class later this morning. I’ve been working on my 2 min run, 1 min walk interval training this week but I have to say it has not been very challenging. As I have once again gone back to my mantra of no excuses and have worked extremely hard on my fitness for nearly 7 weeks I realized I needed a new challenge to keep pushing myself. I wasn’t very far into my walk when I decided what to do.

After walking far enough to know I was warmed up I decided to start to run. Initially my thought was I would just run continuously for 30 minutes which would be equivalent to the time I had been doing in my interval training. I hit the 30 minute mark and realized I still felt pretty good so kept going. Since part of my normal running route is still closed I had to loop back on the promenade a few times and estimate how far I had run with the goal of doing 6 km. By time I stopped I had run 7 km and to say I felt proud of myself is a huge understatement.

I want to be clear, I still do not get that allusive runner’s high, for me it has always just been that sense of accomplishment. However, I realized that my fitness level is increasing every day helped not just by serious workouts doing either bootcamp classes or intense power classes but also by the fact that I have for weeks been walking about 4 hours everyday (oh, haven’t been able to break that habit so still doing over 20km walking each day). I am getting back to the fitness level I strive for and I am confident it won’t be long before I am again frequently running 10 km.

So here’s to challenging my fitness and having such an awesome result.

I realized recently that it was time to change out my runners. When my shoes start to show they are losing tread I know it is time to replace them. For me because I alternate between 2 pair of shoes that happens about every 6 months. I went to a New Balance store (my husband went to the outlet centre in the US before he retired) and picked the model I wanted. Then it was time to pick the colour and I surprised myself at choosing a kind of dusty pink for one of the pairs. Seriously, I don’t normally do pink but I kind of liked those ones.

Now that I have reduced the amount of walking I am doing (I’ll post later about how that is so not true) I still wanted to kick my training up a notch. I don’t know, maybe it is because for the last 6 weeks I have been asked to keep increasing my goals but I know I just want to keep pushing myself. And so I have decided it is time to go back to running. No, I have never really enjoyed it but a year ago it was certainly keeping me fit.

Because I haven’t done much of a run in quite a while I thought I should start slow. I do at least 1 two hour walks each day so decided doing 30 minutes of interval training would be a good start. I also decided to start slow though am willing to build up rather quickly. Yesterday and today I did intervals of 2 minutes running with 1 minute walking. I’m pleased to say that it went quite well so I’m going to do that for 1 more day and then bump it up to 3 and 1’s. Pretty sure it won’t be long before I am easily back to doing 6 km’s. I just need them to repair our promenade because running to the pier and back works out to exactly 6 km.

Right now I just feel the need to stretch myself to do more than just keep to my comfort zone. I am so reinvigorated after doing the 6 week challenge that I want to keep going. I know I can get back to my goal weight and fitness level and I am determined to do so.

Well it was a fun walk down at the beach this morning. I got about 1/2 way along the east beach promenade when a City worker stopped me and advised that I would have to take a detour as part of the promenade was closed. He explained that a backhoe had gone off the promenade and was actually leaning as the ground beneath its weight was sinking. He thought the pier would be open (it was not) and assured me the portion of the promenade west of the pier was still open. Of course after the detour when I got to the pier I had to take pictures. While I prefer to be able to look at the water as I walk, it was still a good walk.

Yesterday was officially the last day of my 6 week challenge. It was actually more than that as it was also the last day I committed to walking at least 20km. I’m going to start by talking about the walking. In the 21 days that I pushed myself there was actually only 1 day that was only 20km, the rest were more like 25+km with the top day being 28km. Overall in those 3 weeks I walked a total of 761,494 steps which was an average of 36,262 per day. This totaled 506km (316 miles) or 24km per day (15 miles). That alone is a massive accomplishment and I am proud at how hard I worked to keep at it.

As for the challenge, this morning was weigh in time and I admit I was nervous. My biggest concern was that I have worked so hard I was worried if the scale hadn’t moved much then I would lose my momentum. Well, the scale moved though maybe I would have been happier with another few pounds, I can definitely say there was a pretty good dip. Moreover, my arms and legs are again getting really buff and you can once again see my collar bones. Overall this challenge has been so good for me and I am so determined to stick with what I have learned.

So what now? Well I am sticking with my daily calorie calculator app because I find that visual has been important for me. I am not going to try and maintain 20km a day simply because this past 3 weeks I have spent 5 hours most days doing bootcamp or walking and that is a bit much. What I have decided to do is start training to run again so that I am getting in some good cardio workouts each week.

I know that if I stick to this plan that I will make my way back to my goal weight and fitness by the end of the year. Once I get there, I plan on staying there.

Yesterday marked the most walking I have ever done in a single day. I did my usual 2 sets of 2 hour walks, walked my dog, walked my senior’s dog and then when I realized where I was at for the day I took a final walk after dinner. The total was 42k steps and 28 km (17.5 miles). I only have 2 more days of walking at least 20 km per day before I scale it back a bit. The problem is I love the fact that I am walking this much so not so sure how successful I will be at scaling it back.

Today I opted not to do the bootcamp course. There were 2 reasons for this, firstly I was in a real time crunch and secondly I was pretty sure what I was about to embark on would make up for it. You see when we were in Mexico in May my husband surprised me for our anniversary by buying me an inflatable paddleboard. The problem was I had no idea how to use it and was concerned that with the bad leg and all, my balance wasn’t good enough. But, I am in the land of no excuses so I had to find a way to be able to successfully paddleboard as part of my ongoing journey.

Today was paddleboard lessons at White Rock beach. I bought the lessons for myself and my husband as he said he wouldn’t mind trying it as well. I have to admit I was nervous as I had tried standing on the paddleboard in Mexico and I wasn’t good at it. However, we are getting a second paddleboard for up at the trailer so I knew I had to master this.

The instructor was awesome. He gave us some on land instructions on what we would be doing as well as taught us how to properly set the paddle length. He was aware of my knee issues and said if I couldn’t master standing up on the board we would find a work around. Fortunately all week during classes I had been practicing how to stand up from a kneeling position which I desperately hoped would get me up on the board. He had us kneel as we paddled out to deeper waters and then it was time to prove what I had in me. Using my hands for balance I got one foot and then the other under me and stood up on the board. Ok, first step accomplished now to try and not end up in the cold ocean (this part did not go well for my husband but as I joked to him he has a very obvious different center of gravity).

I’d be lying if I said I felt comfortable at first on the board. As a matter of fact me legs were literally shaking. However, the instructor coached me through it and got me to relax. He then had me do things like squat, twist my torso, move my feet, and rock the board all to give me confidence that I could balance. Then it was off to the open water learning how to do things like paddle and turn the board. Within about 15 minutes I realized I was no longer worried about my balance and was just focusing on the correct way to paddle. Soon after that it was all about looking at the beautiful scenery all around me.

After an hour and a half the bad leg was tired (ok, not helped by the fact that by 10am I had already walked 20 km) and my balance was starting to fail. As I thought I was about to go into the freezing Pacific Ocean I remembered the instructions I had been given, if you feel like you are going to fall try to drop down flat on the board. Much to my amazement that is absolutely what I managed to do! After laying there for a few seconds I went back to a kneeling position and paddle back to shore joining my husband (who had never successfully gotten up on his board).

All in all this was a great experience for me. The board we have ordered will be here before our next trip to the trailer and I plan on getting in as much practice as possible on the lake (where I note the water is much warmer should I fall off the board). I figure by time I get to Mexico in September I will be a pro at this.

Yep, trying new things sometimes works out pretty well.

Today marks 17 days of walking at least 20 km per day. Ok, in reality most days are more than that. For example, today is the least amount of walking I have done so far this week, only 25 km. Yesterday was the best day I have had clocking in at 27.25 km. My goal is to get through 4 more days at these kind of levels so that I will have done 3 weeks of over 20 km per day. I figure that will be quite the accomplishment but I don’t quite know what I am going to do next to ramp things up.

As I wind down my 6 week challenge I realized this has been one of the best gym experiences that I have ever had. Goodbrand Fitness is entirely different from what I have been used to in the past. Unlike other gyms I have tried, this one doesn’t have a bunch of fitness equipment. As a matter of fact what they mainly have is weights and mats. Instead they seem to believe in using the power of your body to keep you fit.

They operate on a system of doing a range of classes. These include everything from bootcamp, power strength, zumba to yoga. There are ones that they describe as a full body workout that I look forward to trying in the near future (though seriously the power strength class this morning definitely covered the full body). They don’t exaggerate when they say the classes are for all levels of fitness as even the the guest instructors are quick to help with modifications to any exercise. I noticed this morning that the board listing what we were going to do had a lot of sets that involved kneeling. I quietly went to the instructor to advise I can’t kneel and she was like, great, let’s go through what you are going to do. I should note, she did not make things easier for me, she just found a way that I could get the same workout without having to kneel.

I guess the other thing I find unique about all of this is the comradery of the 5:30am class. About 1/2 the participants show up every morning, Monday to Friday. I guess we are all just a group of very early risers because we all seem to be ready to go as soon as the class starts. There seems to be a lot of support amongst this group which helps especially on the tough workouts.

Because this has overall been a very positive experience, I’m pretty sure I am going to stick around to finish this leg of the journey. It has really re-invigorated me to get myself back to my peak level of health and fitness.

Yesterday I headed out for my first walk at 7:30am (after already doing a bootcamp class). I got down to the beach and thought hmm, maybe I should have worn pants and not shorts. By time I hit the end of the pier it was now not only cold but it was windy at which point I had tears streaming down my face. Still I kept going even though I certainly wasn’t comfortable but I kept reminding myself that is the last week of my 6 week challenge and I am going to meet this week’s goals.

I think I mentioned that our usual instructor is off on vacation so we have guest instructors all this week. Today was a lovely woman named Kelly who is on the younger side but is quite buff. She had our workout laid out in circuit style so she demonstrated the first set of 5 exercises (all of them with weights) which we had to do 3 times. It was a really back and shoulder focused but I kind of enjoyed it.

Once we were through that first set she demonstrated the 2nd set of 5 exercises one of which involved doing a plank. I like Kelly because she seemed to be very cognizant of the fact most of us are not anywhere near her fitness level so she provided lots of modifications. When she got to the plank she showed the modifications and ultimately said look, even if you can only do it for 10 seconds just do your best. One of the other participants shouted out no, that isn’t acceptable you have to do better.

Now I want to point out that the woman who said that is in her mid 30’s and is quite fit. She has been doing these workouts since the gym was established 3 years ago and great that she has the ability to do a plank for 45 seconds, many of the others in the class can’t. These classes are comprised of women of all ages, sizes and fitness levels. Some, like me, have physical limitations that no amount of exercising is going to change. Some are just starting down their fitness journey and are trying to find their motivation. The bottom line is everyone in that gym at any given time is at a different point in their fitness.

I thought about the comment that was made and while I know she likely made it in jest, I realized she could have done a lot of damage. We have a woman in the class that is only in week 2 of her challenge and is trying really hard but sometimes needs to catch her breath. We have another woman who would aggravate her shoulder injury if she even had to try a plank. There are others in the class that simply are not at a weight level that would allow them to do this type of exercise. I thought, what if that off the cuff comment caused any one of these women to push themselves too far causing them to quit or even worse injure themselves.

It’s important that we all think about our words and be mindful of how they can impact others. If they are not going to do so positively then maybe those words should not be spoken at all.

Today I decided that after 5 weeks it was time for a splurge day. We had found a fish and chips restaurant the last time we were at the trailer and decided to give it a try. I was happy because the menu had a ‘smaller appetites’ section which meant I could order a small piece of fish which came with fewer fries. It was the perfect amount for me and really didn’t blow my calorie intake out of the water. I don’t call this a ‘cheat’ day because I planned ahead and tonight’s dinner will be a salad with grilled, skinless chicken. I’m confident I’ll be in a good range for my overall calorie intake.

Today is our 3rd full day at the lake and we are heading home tomorrow. The past couple years it has gotten pretty easy to come up to the trailer and kind of let everything go. By that I mean eating things I shouldn’t and not doing many (if any) workouts. The last time we were here I vowed to reverse that behaviour and I was pretty successful. This time I did even better.

The past 3 mornings I have logged at least 20km each day along with 30+k in steps. I have managed to walk at least 4 hours each day all of which has been done by noon. I have also been very careful about what I have eaten (not a single potato chip) and it has all been healthy meals with lots of fruits and veg. I think I have even mastered cooking on the charcoal grill given how Thursday’s pork chops and last night’s steaks turned out. Moreover, I have not once eaten just for the sake of it but rather have only eaten at mealtimes.

So why is it so different this year? I think it is because I have gotten back both my motivation and determination. I am working so hard the rest of the time I don’t want to have to ramp things up just to accommodate bad habits at the trailer. For me holding on to consistency on this leg of the journey has been essential.

And so tomorrow I will be up before dawn to get in a 2 hour walk before heading home. A little more than a week before weigh in and I am getting excited.

I am currently up at my trailer which as you know always concerns me in terms of working out. However, this morning by 11am I had already done 20km which is 30k steps. I got up at 5am and did a 2 hour walk, came back to rest for an hour and re-hydrate then back out for another 2 hour walk. I am doing this first thing in the morning for 2 reasons. 1) if I delay I know I will find a distraction like watching an eagle soar and the not workout and 2) it is bloody hot here so in order not to die in a pool of sweat then I need to beat the heat. I also then followed the walks up with a quick set of weight training. This is my 10th consecutive day of 30+k steps and I have decided everyday from now until the end of my 6 week challenge I will meet that level of walking.

When I started my challenge at Goodbrand Fitness I was really nervous. While they assured me they catered to all fitness levels and could modify exercises to meet my needs I was still sceptical. And, to be honest I hadn’t been to a gym in about 30 years so I was sure things in fitness classes had changed a lot and they had. I attended my first class and felt completely like an uncoordinated buffoon. However, I quickly realized they could modify the exercise to accommodate my bad knee and back. Moreover, they gave less challenging ways to do the exercises so if you weren’t quite as fit so you could still work out.

Now I admit when I started I would often opt for the less challenging methods. Some justification I was able to use is that well, higher intensity is bad for the knee oh and heavier weights could bother the my spinal stenosis so I better use lighter weights. I did that for the first 2 weeks and then told myself that I can actually do this so time to suck it up.

Over the past few weeks I have continued to push myself more (seriously walking at least 20km a day should be proof enough) and decided I need to try exercises in class at a more intense level. Yesterday during the bootcamp class I realized I am absolutely there. When given the chance to modify and making the exercises easier I am declining and pushing myself. Ok, there are exercises I can’t do but I even push the modifications to the max. And I admit, it is not killing me.

So why the change? Well, I’ve come to realize that I can do this shit. I’ve also given myself permission that it is ok if I am working my ass off on something and need to take a 2 second break, then so be it especially if I am pushing myself. It has meant my confidence has grown 10 fold but then so has my determination to see this through.

I have so got this!

This morning I was out on my long walk which included my 2nd walk up Oxford Hill (the first was on Sunday). As my goal this week was 2 walks up that hill and given the fact I am heading to the trailer tomorrow today was pretty much my last chance to get it done. While I was walking along the pier I noticed a gentleman who I had seen out walking earlier. He was stopping all along the pier picking up garbage that had been left lying around. Now I could do a whole rant on that garbage but instead I am going to reflect on what a nice gesture that man was doing, keeping our pier clean and enjoyable for all of us.

Yesterday I started week number 4 of my 6 week challenge. As our normal early morning instructor is heading off on vacation, she had brought in one of the guest instructors to give leading our bootcamp a try. As this particular instructor normally does one on one training, our usual instructor stuck around to give some feedback. The workout was different from what I was used to as this instructor focused heavily on alternating between weights and then lower body strength exercises. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it and got a decent workout, it just went down a different path.

I’ve gotten into the habit of when we are using weights for upper body strength I tend to face the mirrored wall so that I can watch my stance. Because of my chronic back problems I concentrate on making sure my posture is absolutely correct including engaging my core the entire time I am using the weights. Our regular instructor came over to speak to me (I assumed it was because I was doing something wrong) and commented on the fact she noticed me engaging my core and then said, you look like you have really started losing weight. She then asked if I had been weighing myself and when I explained that I hadn’t simply because if the scale wasn’t moving I didn’t want to lose the momentum and motivation that I currently have. She said she understood and can’t wait until my final check-in.

Later yesterday while out having coffee with my seniors’ walking group one of them also commented that I was losing weight. This of course had my husband groaning because he claims that I constantly ask him if I am skinny (this of course is not true). But you know what? This all just validated how I have been feeling. I know I am not losing all the wait I gained just by doing the 6 week challenge. However, I also know that if it is in fact getting me back into shape and to my goal weight then I am in this for the long run.

So, bring on the next 2 weeks. I can hardly wait to see what I manage to accomplish.