I did it!

Never thought I would see the sun rise this morning!  That was a nice bonus to getting up at 6:30. I was in bed at midnight last night (earlier than usual!) but had a very restless sleep, knowing my alarm was set to go off at 6:15. I remember tossing and turning, looking at the clock at 6:08...  My husband can verify that I LOVE my bed in the morning - it takes a LOT for me to decide to crawl out of it on a regular day!  This morning took about 12min of pep talking myself before I left the comfy warmth of my covers. Even though I was over-heating (was wearing winter-weight PJs), I could have easily just gone back to sleep, especially since I was tossing and turning all night. I was really tired!

Now it's 9am - I've done a 30min intense workout, ate breakfast, sent my son and hubby off for the day,  listening to some tunes while catching up on email, twitter and updating my blog. Wow!  I don't think I've ever gotten that much accomplished by 9am!! Once I'm done this post, I'll grab a quick shower and get my youngest son up for the day (he likes to sleep in like his momma).  Talk about feeling ahead of the game!  Love it!

Before and after photos from this morning. (finally - notice the time below the TV - 6:32 and 7:12)

I must remember this great feeling of accomplishment the next time I want to get up early for a workout!


Before signing off, a brief update on this week's activities:
Monday - schedule conflict - I'll go swimming on Wednesday instead
Tuesday - Kathy Smith 30min workout, running 20min with Running Room clinic
Wednesday - swimming 45min followed by soccer 1hr
Thursday - maybe bellyfit 1hr...  I must say, I sweat a TON more during the 30min KS workout this morning that I have in any of the bellyfit classes...
Friday - Kathy Smith in the morning again?  Maybe.... It's my son's birthday - still have to plan his party and now I've got the rest of today to do just that!

I've got a long way to go...

... to get back to my speedy swim times from June! Last night was my second swim lesson and we did time trials - these are supposed to be benchmarks to see how much we improve over the 12 weeks. Unfortunately for me, my times were at least as bad as when I started last September, or at least that's how it felt. Definitely worse than at the end of June. I'm almost too embarrassed to post the new times...

Almost... We did a different trial this time 'round. Instead of 50m, 100m, 200m - we started with 3 separate 100m, followed by 3 x 50m - with a 1min+ rest in between each. I don't remember all the times, so here is what I do remember:

1st 100m - 1:53; 2nd 100m - 1:57; 3rd 100m - 2:03 (just kept getting worse, ugh!)

1st 50m - 0:53 - I think, and I honestly don't remember the last 2. I think I ended up over a minute on the last one...

The 50m were hardest because my thoughts were along the lines of "oh, it's such a short distance, I can just give my all - I survived hard labour, med-free, for 3hrs; I can do ANYTHING for 1 minute!" Yeah, well, even contractions don't last that long before getting a break (except when you don't get the break)... For all three 50m trials, the first 25m up felt amazing, then about 1/2 way back my arms felt like dead-weights and I could barely swing them around for the next stroke. It was an incredibly frustrating feeling. Almost as though my arms had popped out of the socket! Thinking about it now, I can still sense the feeling. Reminds me that I've got a long way to go to get back to my previous, speedy form! Problem is, this time I'm only going once a week. I'll post my end-trial results in about 10 weeks!

Who inspires me?

Two weeks ago I went to visit a good friend. She was housebound, in recovery from a major operation and it had been a while since we got together to chat. As is always the case for us, we talked about business - we're both WAHMs, creating websites for clients from our home studios. But what was different this time - we talked about working out, heart-rate monitors and healthy eating - mainly how does she get her boys to eat the healthy choices she includes in her regular meals?

Michelle at my son's birthday party - 2007

My friend, Michelle, has been a huge inspiration to me from the first time we got together with our babies, over five years ago. Back then, we would steal away once a week to Starbucks, indulge in their high-fat, high-sugar, over-priced treats and teas, and talk about life, websites, clients and mostly, MOTHERHOOD and how much it transformed our lives. We only laughed about what we SHOULD be eating, or SHOULD be doing for exercise, not exactly the picture of health. The thing I admired or was inspired most about Michelle was her keen business sense and her ability to focus on her work, even amidst the ciaos that surrounded her on a daily basis (having twin boys can do that!). I am proud to call her a truly "good" friend!

Michelle NOW!

Recently, my admiration for and inspiration from Michelle has come in a completely new package, literally! She has made a huge lifestyle change in the past 2 years. Michelle is a shadow of her former self and looks absolutely fabulous. I highly recommend reading about her journey on her blog: www.uncoveringme.com. Now, I'm not surprised by her transformation - Michelle is a very determined woman - and when she decided it was time to make some changes in her life, those changes happened! She has a lot of support from her trainers, family and friends of course, and she gives them all props in her blog, but ultimately, MICHELLE was the one that made the decision and did whatever it took. And for that, Michelle, YOU deserve credit and my full admiration!

Now I find myself turning to the inspiration of Michelle for my own fitness goals. If you've been following my blog, you'll know I am quite active. I play soccer year-round, softball in the summer and recently added swimming and running to my routine. I've always been active in team sports - it's my preferred form of exercise. But lately I've noticed a shift in my thinking, and a shift in my fitness needs. Maybe it's because I recently celebrated my 35th birthday? Or maybe its because I know this body is done having babies and now belongs solely to MOI again? Stay tuned for future insights into my fitness shift...

All things change, and friendships aren't immune. You can always tell good friends from acquaintances - the good ones are still there to chat, even if it's been months or years. I have to admit, I struggle with keeping in touch with my "good" friends, and I hope if you're reading this, you will forgive me and send me an email or call! :-)

SO Excited!!

Tonight was my last swimming class until the fall... I'm not excited about that, BUT I am excited about the progress I made! At the beginning of this 12 week session, our instructor timed us on 50m, 100m and 200m swims for our benchmark to see how we improved by the end. Tonight was our 'timing' night. If I had just posted my initial times, unless you're a swimmer, you likely have no idea if they were slow or fast. But wait until you see my before and after!! (This is almost better than a before and after photo display! Although I'm sure there is some change there too, I didn't think to take photos...)

Distance	10wks AGO	TODAY	IMPROVEMENT
50m	0:51	0:46	5sec!
100m	1:55	1:40	15sec!!
200m	4:17	3:43	34sec!!!

Ahhhh... basking in the glory of having the best improvement in the class. :-)

I set a goal for myself at the beginning that I wanted to be at least as fast as the 20-something, university student/swim instructor in the class by the time we finished. I always felt so slow next to her and tonight we were paired up during our timed laps. I couldn't wait to see if I would be able to keep up. The first set, 50m, we finished exactly the same! She improved on her time by 1sec, so that means I was 1sec faster than her original time! And I would have beat her if I could do the damn flip-turn at the wall too!

Then it was our turn to swim the 100m... I focused on trying to get a faster turn at the wall and it paid off - I BEAT her by 3 seconds!! And then I learned I had beat my previous time by a full 15 seconds!! I was over-the-moon.

Finally our 200m - I didn't win this match up, but I was only 2 or 3 seconds behind and I'm pretty sure I matched her original 200m time, which is all I was looking for anyway. Plus I swam 34 seconds faster than my original time - 34 SECONDS! That's more than half a minute in a sub-4 min distance!! MAJOR improvement!!

It's funny how when I SET A GOAL, a specific, measurable goal, I reach it. I can't think of one goal, one that I REALLY wanted, that meant something to me, that I've set and didn't reach. WOW! That's powerful stuff... Have you set any goals lately?

P.S. I've recently fixed the comment option so name/anonymous posts work now - leave a comment below with your goals!

Running and Soccer and Swimming... OH MY!

Those of you who know me know that I've kept myself active by being involved in team sports nearly my entire adult life. Well, in the last 36hrs I was involved in all three of my current activities...  

RUNNING

Lake Banook - next time I'm going to bring my camera for my own pic, but this is pretty much how it looked

Yesterday morning was a gorgeous spring day - the sun was shining, there was no wind and the air was crisp and fresh.  Jill and I started out on our run at around 9:30am. With pants, T-shirt and light jacket, I felt the coolness of the air just enough to tell my body "get moving legs so we'll warm up!" And warm up we did! It was our best time yet. I forgot to map out a new route with less hills, but it was probably for the best - we know this route, where the hills are and when we can push ourselves. So I timed us while we were running, but forgot to time the walk part - I'll get it right soon enough! (I don't know the total time with walking because I forgot to stop my watch, but it was somewhere between 1:05:00 and 1:15:00) But, I do know we ran a total of 0:26:36  and the last big push was up the hill from the lake to the intersection by the mall. We both felt the burn and our heart-rates were in the 105% range - so it was good. Next week I'll get it right and plan for a 10min run, 1min walk - I think we're ready, right Jill?

SOCCER

Turf fields at Dalhousie U where we play spring soccer

Ahhhh.... spring soccer has begun. As mentioned above, it was a perfect spring day - so UNLIKE the weather we usually have for spring soccer - I'll take it!!  It was definitely cooler by the 6pm start, but a long-sleeve shirt under my jersey was all I needed by the end.  We won this game, 1-0 which is a fantastic way to start the season. I was exhausted by the end, but loved the feeling of being on the turf, playing with the team again. Boy are my abs hurting today though!  I do a lot of the throw-ins from the side and you probably wouldn't think abs are involved, but TRUST ME - they are the hardest working muscle group. My abs always remind me they're still there after our first outdoor game. Already looking forward to next week's game. Go BANSHEES! :-)

SWIMMING

The pool at the Dartmouth Sportsplex where I go swimming twice a week.

Tonight's workout was extra hard on the aforementioned abs - I'll pay for this tomorrow! But I love it. A good friend of mine writes about her training experiences and how she is realizing that she loves to push herself - I couldn't agree more. I have always loved the feeling of muscle pain after I've pushed myself. (a bit sadistic, I know) Even better is when, like in soccer, I do it without even realizing it.  (Although to be honest, I do try to get the ball further into the field with every throw - my teammates can attest to that!) At swimming tonight we practised our streamline - aka lots of dolphin kicking under the water. Before taking these lessons, dolphin kicking to me was from the knees down... As I've learned, it's much more about the ... you guessed it... ABS!  I wonder if I'll be able to get out of bed tomorrow...

Check back to see how I'm feeling later this week! Until then, be sure to sponsor me if you haven't already!  THANKS!

You can help me reach my goal in support of the YMCA Strong Kids by making a secure online donation using your credit card. Click on the link: http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?SID=2103855

Thanks for your support!
Corinna