The temperature hit 30 degrees Celsius today, with humidex up to 40! Bit crazy considering that it rained for pretty much the last two months and I seem to remember wearing pants and a jacket to work last week.

The husband is still thinking of doing his crazy Spartan race and has been meaning to do some running. He went out last week and borrowed my Garmin – he’s fast. Much faster than me.

I was going for a run today so I dragged him out with me. We left together, but no way were we going to run together. He’s been athletic his whole life, played numerous sports. I found every possible excuse to get out of gym class and mocked things like pep rallies and athletic award banquets in high school. I trekked off on my 25 minutes at my usual slow pace and he did 5K in half an hour. Still, it was nice to be out together.

I puttered around Yorkville which is a swanky shopping district in Toronto. Shops in the area include such stores as Gucci, Prada, Chanel. I skipped those and headed to the Gap and Lululemon. I had a wonderful facial (courtesy of a group buy coupon that I got a few months ago) and took my first trip to Whole Foods – I completely understand now why people refer to it as Whole Paycheck!

Came home and have had another relaxing evening.

Had my 31st birthday!

My parents gave me a fabulous Garmin 405 for my birthday! I love it.

The husband took me on a post-birthday trip to Niagara Falls. We did touristy things, some outlet shopping, lost some money at the casino.

I registered for my first half marathon! Happening October 16th.

I’m starting my training next week.

I went to a fabulous Astanga Yoga class last Monday. Since moving to my condo, I haven’t done much in the way of group classes – I either work out in the condo gym, run or do videos. It was great to be with a group of people and I loved the class! Challenging, but not too much so.

In terms of my running, I decided to go back to basics – Couch to 5K. When I first started running last year, this is what I started with. I got to week 5, gave up after not being able to run 5 minutes straight and started doing my own thing. I did complete three 5K’s just kind of winging it, but between my first 5K last August and my last 5K of the year in October, I didn’t improve at all.

So I started at week 5 (run 5, walk 3) the other week. I just finished week 6 (run 25 minutes with no walking) the other day. This is definitely making a difference – when I go back to run/walk intervals, I don’t loose steam. I’m able to watch my heart rate on my Garmin and slow down when it starts getting too high.

Proof of the training working – ran my 2nd race, first 5K of the year.

• Previous 5K PR – 40:17
• New 5K PR – 39:36

Difference of 40 seconds but I just wanted to get under 40 minutes and I did!

I’ll write a longer 5K recap later.

Bag check closed at 7:40 and as this was a big race with a lot of people, I wanted to get there early.

I completely overestimated how long it would take me to get there – I was at the race by 6:15 (race time = 8 a.m.) They were still setting up.

It was chilly, overcast, still dark so I went to sit in a coffee shop for a bit. I didn’t fully warm up though for the entire day.

This was by far the largest race I’ve participated in (15,000 people). It didn’t seem crowded though on the course as we were running on the street so there was a lot of room.

I was doing alright for the first 6k. Looking at my nike+ after the race, I apparently hit 5:55/km for a bit which is a bit ridiculous for me. Around the 7K mark, I hit a wall. I switched from run/walk intervals of 4m/1m to run 2 minutes/walk 2 minutes.  I was tired, cold, thirsty – there were two water stations on the course which wasn’t enough for me. I hadn’t brought my fuel belt either.

My main goal for my first 10K was just to finish, but I was hoping to finish in 1hour, 20 minutes. I made it in at 1 hr, 20 minutes, 39 seconds so not too far off.

Things I like about this race:

• Few bands along the route.
• Running down Yonge Street.
• Great t-shirt
• Medal!
• Lots of people – so many people running = great energy.

Things I didn’t like about this race:

• Lots of people – was very crowded. Especially at the post race party.
• Post Race Area – crowded. Really spread out so it was hard to find where to pick up my bag. The food selection was lacking (bananas, apples and bagels).
• Lack of water stations – there were 2 along the course. Probably fine for the speedy people, but being out there for over an hour, I needed more water.

My husband came to meet me at the finish line. Unfortunately, he didn’t make it down there until after I had finished. Ah well. He took a picture of me anyways.

Afterwards, I was a bit sore. I didn’t stretch which didn’t help matters and I was still cold! I came home and dove under the covers for a much needed nap.

My next 10K will be at the end of August. I’m hoping to improve my time a bit, finish feeling stronger and I’m going to wear my fuel belt!

Last Week:

Monday: Push Circuit 1 & Ab Burner Done.
Tuesday: Run 5K Was raining and chilly so did Fire 45 instead.
Wednesday: Push Circuit 2 & Ab Burner Done but started Extreme Abs instead of Ab Burner
Thursday: Yoga Ran 5K
Friday: Run 5K My birthday! I did Push Circuit 3 & Extreme abs instead of running (raining – again).
Saturday: Push Circuit 3 & Ab Burner I had to work and forgot I was going to a stag n doe in the evening, so no workout.
Sunday: Run 6K Did 5 instead.

I’m loving Push Circuit. I prefer doing one move at a time rather than say bicep curls with squats. I can focus more on the movement. And I love lifting heavier weights. I have a bit of joint damage in my wrists, so I need to be careful but so far, so good.
This week’s plan:

• Monday: Push Circuit 1 & Extreme Abs
• Tuesday: Fire 55 EZ
• Wednesday: Push Circuit 2 & Extreme Abs
• Thursday: Run 5K
• Friday: Push Circuit 3 & Extreme Abs
• Saturday: rest
• Sunday: run 6K

Found out I’m getting a promotion in July. Busiest week of the year at work. Royal Wedding on Friday (loved every moment of it – may have watched it twice on PVR).

Ran my first 10k!!

I’ll write more about this later. My goal was to finish at 1hr20 (8min/km pace) and I finished at 1:20:39! Super close! This was the biggest race I’ve run (15,000 runners). I’m super proud of myself for completing this.

Last Week’s Workouts:

Monday: TF Sculpt 30 & Core 20 Check

Tuesday: Rest Done

Wednesday: Run 5K Did Fire 45 instead

Thursday: Fire 55 EZ Did Tone 30 & Core 20 instead

Friday: TF Tone 30 & Core 20 (this might be skipped though to watch the royal wedding) Actual: Completely skipped for royal wedding watching.

Saturday: Some form of yoga Rested. My joints were a bit flared up so wanted to rest them.

Sunday: My first 10K!!

On tap for this week:

• Voting! (Federal election time in Canada – we seem to do this every 2 years).
• My 31st Birthday! (on Friday)

Workout Plan:

• Monday: Push Circuit 1 & Ab Burner
• Tuesday: Run 5K
• Wednesday: Push Circuit 2 & Ab Burner
• Thursday: Yoga
• Friday: Run 5K
• Saturday: Push Circuit 3 & Ab Burner
• Sunday: Run 6K

I lost two pounds this week so maybe I’ve broken through my plateau. Eating a bit more seems to have helped.

I finished the Burn phase of Chalean Extreme. I’m looking forward to moving onto the Push phase. I might write a bit more about my experience with the Burn phase later.

My 10K is coming up next Sunday so I’m going to take things a bit easy this week. I won’t be starting Push phase until the first week of May as I don’t want to try anything new prior to my race.

Last week:

Monday: Burn Circuit 1 & Ab Burner
Done

Tuesday: Rest
Took the rest day – I was feeling antsy, but rest is good.

Wednesday: Run 10K
Ran 9.5K. So close.

Thursday: Burn Circuit 2 & Ab Burner
Check

Friday: Run 6K
Did 5 instead

Saturday: Burn Circuit 3 & Ab Burner
Check

Sunday: Run 5K
Ran 6 instead.

Next Week’s Plan:
Monday: TF Sculpt 30 & Core 20
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: Run 5K
Thursday: Fire 55 EZ
Friday: TF Tone 30 & Core 20 (this might be skipped though to watch the royal wedding)
Saturday: Some form of yoga
Sunday: My first 10K!!

I set off going at a decent pace, but since this was my first time doing this distance, I slowed down a fair deal and took quite a few walk breaks.

I completed 9.5K in an hour, 25 minutes (I am a turtle). I was going for 10, but my route didn’t work out that way. I had mapped it out on map my run but hadn’t realized that there was a staircase at the end of the trail. Ah well.

I felt pretty good. My legs were a bit achey when I got in but I stretched for 20 minutes which helped.

Hopefully the weather is better next week.

- Attended a yoga show that’s happening here. Nothing too exciting – if I go next year, I’d bring my yoga mat and do some of the included classes. I did pick up a Passport to Prana card which gives me access to a lot of yoga studios for a year. I need more yoga in my life.

- Did Fire 55 EZ today which was such a nice break from long runs.

Last week’s Plan:

Sunday: Fire 30 EZ and Stretch 30
check

Monday: Burn Circuit 1 & Ab Burner
check

Tuesday: Rest?
Actual: 43 minutes of running.

Wednesday: Burn Circuit 2 & Ab Burner
Actual: did Burn Circuit 2 but didn’t have time for Ab Burner. Ran for 43ish minutes after work (calibrating my nike+)

Thursday: Fire 55 EZ
Actual: Rest Day

Friday: Run 10K
Actual: Ran 8K

Saturday: Burn Circuit 3 & Ab Burner
Actual: Burn Circuit 3 & Core 20 to mix things up a bit.

This week’s plan:

Sunday – just finished Fire 55 EZ and a bit of yoga
Monday: Burn Circuit 1 & Ab Burner
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: Run 10K (dependent on weather – it snowed again today so who knows what’ll happen later in the week)
Thursday: Burn Circuit 2 & Ab Burner
Friday: Run 6K
Saturday: Burn Circuit 3 & Ab Burner
Sunday: Run 5K

Yesterday’s run was super slow, but I really need to focus on adding distance rather than my speed. I kept thinking how this time last year, I was running 2 – 3 km so I’ve come a long way.

Today was my weigh in day – I seem to be stuck at 153 pounds. The scale has been hovering between 153 to 153.8 for the past 5 weeks. My food tracking has been good, but I’m thinking that I might not be eating enough. I usually finish the day having ate between 1560 – 1590 calories, but maybe I should aim more for 1600 – 1700. I am exercising 6 days a week, so maybe my body is hanging onto the weight. I’ll increase it a bit next week and see what happens.