day 69-71: the journey

28.09.10: day 71

i struggled today.

my energy has been low (sick? weather? sleep?) and all day i felt like crawling back into bed. i finally took myself to the ymca in the evening and did a 30 min jog on the treadmill and 3 sets of 500 meter rowing sprints (crossfit anyone?). my best time on the rowing sprints was 2:04.

i found it really hard to push myself beyond that 'difficult' point. i guess i like to stop when i get too tired or when the activity becomes 'too hard'. i started to question myself. what does this say about how i deal with challenges in my life?

that is one reason why i really enjoy my outdoor rec pursuits. there is often a breaking point. a point where you want to go home. you want to cry. to want to stop. but when you are out in the wilderness with a team depending on you, you are forced to find a way to keep going. and sometimes that means breaking down, showing that vulnerability, and with the support and compassion from your team you do move on. these challenges really show me a deeper level of myself and looking back on these memories, i can see how strong i have become.

but how does this translate into the gym or into my daily workouts? or maybe more importantly, why am i not learning from these similar situations?


i feel worn down. i am so close to finishing this incredible challenge but i'm questioning what i have accomplished. what have i accomplished? what have i proven? what is this really about?


my wise friend JU would say "it's about the journey. it has always been about the journey".







27.09.10: day 70

walking.
no motivation.
feeling overwhelmed by other areas of my life.


26.09.10: day 69

yoga today.
i'm generally really enjoying the sunday yoga class i've been attending but each class definitely challenges me in ways i never thought yoga would.
class today was difficult. we did a lot of forward bends and i find i have tight hamstrings and very little flexibility in these postures. but i did hold a wonderful tree pose for longer than i thought i could. that is a point of pride :)
yogi wisdom: "we do not use our bodies to get into the poses, but the poses to get into our bodies".

day 65: check your ego at the door

25.09.10: day 65

"check your ego at the door"

our crossfit trainer wrote definitions of force and distance on the whiteboard as we sat on giant medicine balls, excited as children. he explained the theories behind the crossfit style using descriptions such as "continuously varied exercise" and "functional movements". then he told us what our workout was going to look like that morning.

500 meter row
40 squats (no weight)
30 sit ups
20 push ups
10 pull ups (with resistance elastic, if needed)

after teaching us all the movements and going through a warm up, we were ready, all lined up on the ergs. i looked over at CI and SB.
"i feel like i'm racing you guys!" i said nervously.
"but you're not", SB assured me. "you are only racing yourself".
i was able to complete the workout in 6 minutes and 44 seconds, which was a good time for a newbie, i was told. i was surprised at what exercise in the workout i found difficult. doing 40 squats after a rowing sprint was really exhausting for me. where as the sit ups didn't seem like too much of a problem. each member at the workout had a different strength and a different weakness; what was easy for some was hard for others and vise versa. i am starting to understand this is part of crossfit.
we are not specialists here, our trainer said. we may never be the best at any one thing but we strive to be pretty darn good at everything. that matches my training philosophy. i don't want to be a specialist in one thing if it compromises my performance too much in another. i want to train for...life in general. all and any adventure that comes my way.

learning to check my ego at the door will be a process, however. i am not necessarily competitive, just insecure about how i perform next to others. i am always comparing myself. it is the same problem i have in yoga.

so i decided to get a crossfit punch card and i am planning on attending one workout a week. i'll continue up dating on how this process is going for me. its something different, something new.
it seems like an incredibly supportive community and that is something i really enjoy.

more information can be found at:
http://crossfitzone.ca/

day 64-67

24.09.10: day 67
5 km run with SB, one of my running partners. beautiful late afternoon jog. feeling good about our pace.

23.09.10: day 66
full body strength
1.5 mile run on treadmill in 13 minutes and 30 seconds.

22.09.10: day 65
walking. "rest day"

21.09.10: day 64
a cardio day!
10 minutes rowing
25 minutes running on the treadmill. i am able to run faster than i used to and this is encouraging to me. my endurance has always been much better than my speed or power and i would like to balance this out somewhat.

20.09.10: day 63
full body strength workout

day 60-62

19.09.10: day 62
So i was back at yoga today and i really tried to embrace the practice with an open mind. the teacher lead us through a lot of postures where we really focused on our breath and i felt like that helped me stay more present, more in the moment, than i had felt last week. i think my practice was better because of it. more relaxed. more enjoyable. less judgemental of what i should achieve.
afterwards, CI and i jogged around thetis lake during a break in the rain. it was absolutely beautiful and i was reminded how much i love running among the trees. the thetis trails are definitely worth checking out if you are looking for somewhere not too far out of the city to explore.

http://www.crd.bc.ca/parks/thetis/index.htm

18.09.10: day 61
25 min jog on treadmill and then a full body strength workout.
trained with my good friend, SB, and we were really able to push each other.
feeling good.

17.09.10: day 60
walking

day 56 - 59

16.09.10: day 59
today i woke up feeling tired. i don't actually mind the rain all that much but sometimes the grey skies just zap my motivation away. all i did was 30 minutes of walking and i don't feel very good about it. i feel lazy and uninspired.

time to shake things up a bit....

15.09.10: day 58
i did another upper body strength workout. it was actually a lot of fun because i had the pleasure of guiding my good friend, CI, through a program! she was able to spot me in some of my exercises and coach me through my last few repititions. having a workout buddy is so inspirational. we're planning on getting together on a somewhat regular basis to go over exercises and motivate each other.

14.09.10: day 57
lower body strength training.
my lower body workout changes as well but a typical workout includes:

• warm up
• squats
• step ups
• bent leg dead lifts
• calf raises
• back extensions
• as many abdominal exercises as i can do!
• cardio component
• stretch

13.09.10: day 56
upper body strength training at the downtown YMCA-YWCA.
my upper body workout often changes but might include:

• warm up
• bench press
• seated row
• lat pull down
• shoulder press
• bicep curls
• tricep extensions
• side shoulder raises
• front shoulder raises
• cardio component
• stretching

day 51-55: yoga practice

12.09.10: day 55

yoga for 1.5hrs.



i have a funny relationship with yoga. i absolutely love it. i am a complete advocate of this incredible exercise that incorporates strength, endurance, cardiovascular fitness, balance, and mindfulness among other things. i think it is ideal for beginners and athletes alike and can offer something to everyone, provided you are able to find the yoga style and path that suites you.



my problem with yoga is that i'm not very good at it...and this annoys me. one of the fundamental principles of yoga is being non-judgemental of others, yourself, and where you are in your practice at that moment. but i struggle so much at accepting my lack of skill in yoga. i find it so fascinating how i thoroughly enjoy encouraging others and supporting them but when it comes to myself, i expect so much perfection right away. my expectations are often so high that i disappoint myself if i am not successful at something, even if i am relatively new at it, like yoga. because of this disappointment, my yoga sessions remain few and far between, even though few feelings compare to the after glow of a yoga session.



my yoga practice today remind me of how far i have actually come in my practice. i have noticed little improvements! i also have a really far way to go...but it is a journey, right? achieving ultimate perfection at something would actually be kind of sad, because then you would cease to learn from that activity. there are always going to be ways you can learn from an activity. so how do i conclude this...

by realizing i should continue my yoga practice. i will continue it with love and acceptance for where i am in my practice because yoga is about just that. now inhale deeply....




today i practiced yoga at the downtown victoria ymca-ywca. check out their drop in classes: http://www.victoriay.com/


11.09.10: day 54

walking today.

relaxing fitness. a day to let my legs recover.



10.09.10: day 53

i completed my 10km waterfront run!

i felt amazing today. it is so neat to see how weight training impacts my other areas of sport and recreation. today i felt powerful and strong. i was able to incorporate several sprints and tackle the hills with more confidence. hills are not my speciality!



09.09.10: day 52

walk 30min to the water and back.

i didn't go to the gym this morning. i was feeling tired and sore from my workout yesterday. low energy for some reason.



08.09.10: day 51

upper body gym workout.

rowing hard for 10 min on the erg.

felt really strong today.

day 50: half way mark!

07.08.10: day 50

day 50! this is my half way mark and i feel like i should have something profound to say....

what have i learned?

• the value of setting goals and keeping them SMART (lets think back to school now: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely). with out a frame work for my goals i quickly become lost and fail to achieve them. this is the simplest goal setting framework i have learned but it is so effective!



• the value of asking for support. i am convinced i could not have done this without the support and encouragement i have had from family, friends and even people who i don't know but who have believed in my cause! a long time ago i thought that i would be considered successful in life if i could achieve everything i needed to achieve on my own, without the aid of others. then a very wise friend asked me "what if the secret to success was not accomplishing your goals in isolation, but through using the support, resources, encouragement, and joy of those around you? what if we all shared in the work and we all shared in the success?"



• how much being active truly adds to my life. i don't really even want to go a day with out MOVEment.



• the power of setting priorities and acting with intention. moving for 100 days seems like a huge goal (and it is!!) but when it is broken down into such small daily requirements, it really does become quite manageable. this concept in itself can be applied to all areas of my life.



• the power of a small, committed group of people. so much energy can be, and has been, created through one positive idea. i am amazed everyday.

the past two days i have resumed my weight training workout at the downtown YMCA-YWCA and i am sore and exhilarated! strength training has so many functional benefits and i can't wait to see how it will impact my hiking, trail running and paddling.

so far, my motivation remains fairly constant and i am excited to progress into the second half of my challenge!

what's your MOVE?

day 48: vacation aftermath

05.09.10: day 48


even though i have not blogged recently, i can proudly say i have still been moving everyday. these last 3 weeks i have been involved in 3 weddings with 2 of them taking place in prince edward island. so needless to say it has been a busy month.



i discovered several challenges to being active while on vacation. one of these challenges centered around time. there was at least one day in the last few weeks where i was so busy helping the wedding party run errands around town that my movement consisted of exactly that: walking around town, running errands. on those days i didn't feel particularly thrilled about my style of exercise but i had to remind myself that for today, this was all i could do and it was good enough. i also had to remind myself about my priorities. there were days that i knew i would be busy so in order to get my movement in, i woke up extra early and went for a run. keeping my movement as a true priority for my day allowed me to structure my time to allow for exercise.



another challenge was feeling feeling a little isolated at times. while staying out in the countryside of pei, i was at a loss of what exercise i could do. i wonderful cure for this was enlisting the help of the family members i was staying with. i consider my father to be a role model of active living and i was so grateful for his encouraging spirit these last few weeks. in the evening we would plan out our movement for the next day and set up 'fitness dates'. using a workout partner has tremendous benefits, both psychological and physical. i found that i was more excited and positive about my workouts when i knew my father was going to be with me. we challenged each other to run farther and faster and taught each other new body weight exercises using the equipment we found in near by parks or even our backyard (picnic tables, tiny benches, bleachers). i was also grateful for the enthusiasm of my brother and my pei cousins. together, we swam in the atlantic and played games of beach volleyball and horseshoes, which are things i may not have done on my own. i plan to continue to ask for the support of others when i need help with my own fitness and develop more workout relationships with people around me in victoria.





i thoroughly enjoyed my time on the east coast of canada but i am thankful to be home and looking forward to getting back into a more strict fitness routine. i am also going to look for more ways to try activities i have not tried before. part of the point of this challenge is to try and push my boundaries, just a little, and discover that movement can include a wider variety of activities than i originally thought.



with new inspiration i continue.