Week Two Summary

It is a good thing that I started out with a good week because this past week didn’t see the results I was hoping for. I still did pretty well, but if I keep having weeks like this I won’t hit my goal when I want to.

My workouts and running have been on track, I ran five mornings out of the week. Three of them were shorter runs but I went at a faster pace than I had been going. Just this morning I came very close to hitting my goal of a 5k run in under 30 minutes. Not quite there, but very close. For my evening workouts I put in six, so just the one rest day.

Even for my eating I’ve been making healthy choices. We had a family BBQ this week and instead of the hamburgers and sausages others were eating, I made myself some pork kabobs instead. Last night we had hamburgers here at the house and I made myself a chicken breast instead. The only thing that I figure is I’m still snacking to much. My snacks are now fruit or vegetables but I really if I’m eating to many it’s still to many calories. I didn’t want to get into counting calories this time but maybe I’m going to need to.

Now for the results:

Last week: 209lbs
Now: 206lbs
Lost: 3lbs

Although I’m not overly happy with the weight loss I’ve seen, my running is progressing well and yesterday when we were spending time in the water I was able to wear a pair of swimming shorts we bought last summer. I wasn’t able to fit into them at the beginning of the summer, but now they are good!

running

Watery Fun Kind of Day

The plan for today was to spend a fair amount of time on or around the water. The river which we tube down had the water levels brought back up so it was open again probably for one of the last times this year. We decided we would take advantage of it and get there as soon as the tube rental spot opened at 10:00.

Timing wise everything worked out great, we made it there right on time. The weather was nice but there still weren’t a lot of people around. We had a couple extra kids with us so there was a lot of people and all their things to keep track of so things got a bit stressful. We dropped some of the bigger kids at the top of the river with my sister and the boats to start to pumping them up while we drove one of the vehicles down to the bottom.

My arms and back were really sore this morning from the workouts I’ve been doing. So pumping the boats wasn’t something I was looking forward to doing. But we got them done and started walking down. We quickly realized that one of my sisters boats that we were going to borrow had a hole in it. This freaked some of the kids out because they didn’t want to go in a boat in case it got a hole in it while we were going down. So after discussion and a bit of arguing my sister decided her and her family weren’t going.

We went off anyway. The tube I had rented for myself tied to one of the boats was a lot bigger than usual. I had a hard time reaching my arms down into the water to paddle and steer myself. I felt like a T-Rex trying to do anything. As I was supposed to be the guide for the boat behind me and lead them down this was a bit stressful. Luckily the water levels were quite high so even some of the usually shallow areas weren’t too bad.

After heading home for some lunch we took off again out to Lumsden’s Dam Provincial Park to go for a swim. It’s a beautiful spot and I was able to spend some time doing one of my favourite things, swimming out fairly far and just floating on my back. The water over my ears blocks out most sounds or at least muffles them, the sun shinning down on me, and the slight ripples bobbing me up and down slightly.

Lumsden's DamMe Floating

Will Power

Early on when I started running I found that I must not have the strongest will power. When ever I would run a loop that either took me past my house or past my car multiple times it made it very easy for me to stop earlier than I wanted to. I learned to start making and taking routes that were either out and back or large enough loops that I didn’t go past an escape option many times.

Today I took a break from work to go for a run so I didn’t want to waste time by driving somewhere to do it. Especially when I have basically an exact 1km route right outside my door. My aim was to do 4-5km but after my third loop my legs felt like they were dying so I took my out and quit.

In my head I’m rationalizing it and trying to make excuses. That one hill that you have to go up in this loop just wore you out more. That fast run you did yesterday left your legs more sore than usual. Moving to the next work outs in your series last night took it’s toll on you. It could be the case that all these things added up to why my legs were sore, but when you come right down to it if I had run a different route even if I stopped running I would have still had to walk back.

Even with all the excuses I know why I stopped using the loop past my house, because I gave up to early many times, not just when I had excuses like today. That is certainly I need to work on because this loop is pretty convenient and I shouldn’t let things like that stop me from reaching my real goals.

Defiant Squash

This spaghetti squash has been cut back a number of times because it kept trying to get in with the tomatoes. The other day we came out to find it made it’s way back in with them again. This time it started to produce a squash. The main problem is that it’s way up in the air. Hopefully the tomato cage will hold it up, but some of the other ones, which grew along the ground as they should, are getting quite big. Not sure of the fate of this defiant squash.

Defiant Squash
The ground is your home, don’t you like your home?

Public Outdoor Piano

My little town has setup something pretty interesting recently. It’s been setup for at least a couple weeks now but I just noticed it personally just the other night. In the Centre Square area they’ve setup a public piano that anyone regardless of talent can come play at anytime.

It’s a pretty cool concept. Maybe one of these days when I’m down there again I’ll sit down and play a lovely rendition of twinkle twinkle little star.

You can find more information about it and a cute picture here:

http://www.novanewsnow.com/News/Local/2015-08-11/article-4242353/Hidden-talents-revealed-at-Kentville%26rsquo%3Bs-new-Centre-Square-piano/1

Dance Class Parent Participation

Yesterday in the morning I didn’t end up getting out for a run as I had planned. Getting out of bed wasn’t my problem this time. I actually ended up with lots of sleep because I went to be early. 5:30 am didn’t seem so bad at all. Just as I was getting ready to head out the door though one of the kids came down upset because they had a bad dream. So instead I stopped and we cuddled on the couch for a while instead.

Later on in the afternoon was going to go out for a run, or maybe pull my bike out and see if I could go somewhere on it without it falling apart or it break down. When I went outside it was just feeling to warm and I wasn’t in the mood.

It actually turned out to be a good thing because I gained a new found respect for dancers. Not that I didn’t have one before, because I’ve always realized they can do things I can’t do. Since having my kids in dance though and going to their recitals you really see what some of these people are capable of first hand.

This week is parents participation so I went to Ella’s Jazz and Tap tech class. It is a brutal class and those 8-9 years old are so strong. The exercises they had us doing wore me out, I was sweating in no time. They even took it easy on us parents and allowed us just to watch some of what the dancers had learned so far. It impresses me that they can go for the full hour and fifteen minutes and still have energy afterwards.

While I was going I was very happy I hadn’t run and killed my legs in the morning so that I could at least not look like a total flop there. It made my work out in the evening pretty rough as well. It was a lot of fun though getting to be with her though and see all she can do. Having her teach me how to do things for a change was an awesome dynamic. She was so supportive and telling me how good I was even though it was very clear I wasn’t. What a sweet kid I have.

First Sleep Over

Over the weekend Noah went to his first ever sleep over at a friends house. It’s irrational but I always get a little worried when the kids go for a sleep over, especially the first time. I was pretty sure Noah would be fine, but there’s always that chance that they are going to get scared or home sick and want to be picked up.

Caile and Alexandria never had any problems sleeping over anywhere either, but when Ella went for her first, which as at my mother’s house, she couldn’t do it and we needed to go pick up a crying scared little girl šŸ˜¦

Noah was more like the older two. He had no issues at all and had an awesome time playing with his friends. I’m sure it didn’t hurt that it was at our good friends home who we get together with quite often so he knows their parents as well as them. That also made it really good for me too because I had no worries at all that way.

It always makes me feel pretty proud and happy though when I get reports back that my child was very well behaved and polite. It’s so nice that they save their poor behaviour just for us šŸ˜‰

Week One Summary

It always seems easiest to take off weight in the very beginning when you start working I find. This week seems to be no exception. I’ve been working hard and making sure I eat right, except for a couple small lapses, but even those were minor really.

This week I put in five 5k morning runs. I’m finally starting to feel like I can do it again. The majority of these were without taking any walking breaks just going for it. Yesterday morning I did take some walking breaks though as I tried to push it early on and did really good for the first 2.5k but after that IĀ  was pretty much done. The way back was slow and painful. The humidity we’ve been having doesn’t help either. It’s been so warm even first thing in the morning when I go out.

During this week I’ve also done five evening workouts. These are tough and wear me out, but they’re getting better for sure. I’m already feeling stronger and that I can put more into them.

Now for the results:

Last week: 216lbs
Now: 209lbs
Lost: 7lbs

This has me very excited. It’s nice to see results when you were working hard. I know weeks won’t continue like this, but it will give me a little bit of wiggle room over the next few weeks in case there is a time where I don’t hit the 3.8lbs per week that I’ve set out. Hopefully I still do though.

runs

My Sister’s Home

Today has been busy day. We have friend’s down staying with us for the night from New Brunswick with their family so we spent the afternoon and night with them. We took all the kids swimming in the afternoon. It started raining on us for a while but only a bit. They were in the water anyway so getting wet didn’t matter. When the thunder started though we decided it was best to get out.

My sister and her husband are also here for a visit. They flew in late last night and I was able to see them and meet my nephew for the first time! My nephew is Finney and he’s a pretty nice guy. Our cat Zeus doesn’t care for him a whole lot though. It’s so nice to have them home with us for a while. It’s going to be a fun few weeks.

IMG_1559

Dropping Everything

Not sure what’s happening with me lately, but I seem to have become very clumsy or something in the past couple weeks.

Things keep spilling when I touch them make a big mess. It started with me spilling my freshly made large travel mug of coffee all over the counter and floor when I was on my way out the door.

A few days after that I basically did the same thing with my water bottle. I filled it up, set it on the counter for a couple minutes, then picked it up again to go into my office and knocked it over instead and the lid wasn’t on. This time all over the floor, counter and me.

Yesterday morning up at 5:30 am while it is still dark out, I was trying as always to be really quiet so I don’t wake anyone else. Go to the closet to get my running gear down from the top shelf I set them on all ready to go. When I pull them down I also pull down a coffee can that I keep all my change in. Crash! Coins all over the floor.

After apologizing to my forgiving wife I just left the mess until I got back. Luckily the kids didn’t wake up and it was far from full because I don’t use cash very much these days so don’t have much change.

I really hope I get out of this soon as I’m tired of cleaning up my own dumb messes šŸ™‚