And So It Continues ...

My husband John came home from his yearly physical last week with a generally clean bill of health.  Of course there was the usual caveat about the need to lose some weight - this in turn forced me to confront the fact that over the course of the summer, I too had slowly put on a few ... maybe more than a few pounds.  I had been assiduously avoiding the scales since early July when I came within 4 pounds of loosing the thirty pounds that I had originally set out to loose earlier this year.

Let me back track a bit.

I had been quite good about going to the gym, the 5K run that I completed with Julie had been an excellent goal, but my knees were really not taking too well to the continual pounding that I was subjecting them to.  I was constantly popping anti-inflammatory aspirins.  I knew that I was too heavy to be running so much, that a wiser course of action would be to lose the weight and then start running, but I was in such a hurry to lose the weight.  I had such grandiose plans about competing in triathlons ... but you know what they say about best laid plans ...

I fell off the exercise wagon with a whimper not a bang.

I started to play golf more and more.  It's a game I enjoy and something that John, the kids and I could do together.  We generally walk the course and it's a very hilly course.  I thought I was getting enough exercise with the golf and let the gym fall by the wayside.  I was also playing hockey once a week.  I thought I had my bases covered.  I thought wrong!

Walking the course, even in the extreme heat that we had this summer wasn't much of a cardio workout.  Then after we played 18 holes, I'd be tired and we'd order pizza for dinner.  With hockey, we played at 6:45, which meant there was lots of time afterwards for pizza and beer - you can see where this is all leading ...

I put back on 10 pounds this summer, plus the muscle that I had so painfully cultivated in the gym returned to its rather nasty, jiggly state.  I'm not back at square one, but I'm not where I should be.  So it's time to get back in the saddle again. 

I had a great summer, but it's time to head back to the gym.  I've realized that this process is a marathon, not a sprint.  This time, there will be no desperate plan to lose weight, but a return to regular exercise and eating healthily in moderation.  There'll be treats here and there, since let's be honest, life has to be enjoyed too!

So stay tuned, as I continue my weight loss journey.  Maybe as I progress, I'll actually admit how much weight I really have to lose.  Let it suffice to say it's a lot.  The thirty pounds that I initally set out to lose was just the first step ... now I have many steps. 

I will do this.

... I think I can ... well close enough!

Julie & I before the race .... before The Hill

It all seemed so sensible months ago .... ah the best laid plans ....  Goal setting is supposed to be important in your fitness regime in order to keep things fresh and to keep you motivated.  It all sounds great when you're sitting by the fireplace with a glass of wine, while you cruise through the Internet looking for a 5K race to run in.  It sounded even better when my friend Julie and stepdaughter Madie decided that they'd join me in the run - The more the merrier I foolishly thought; plus it was almost two months away and I thought I'd be a paragon of fitness by then.

Well the race was last weekend and to be honest it was a blast!  OK, to be honest there were points during the race when I would not describe things as a 'blast', more like 'near death experience', but now that it's all said and done, I would plan on doing another race ... but maybe only in a month or two from now! 

The race was run in the valley behind the Ontario Science Centre, which made it both scenic, as well as challenging, since we had to run down into the valley to run the paths - as Newton's (I believe it's the 3rd) Law states "for every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction" - so for the run down at the beginning, it meant that we had to run up at the end.  Julie and I ran together, actually let me qualify that, we jogged slowly together; on the other hand, Madie, since she had not trained and had no idea how to pace herself, actually ran the course. 

There's a certain benefit to being as naive as Madie was during the race.  She simply ran as fast and as long as she could.  In the end, she place second, which is amazing and I hope that it kindles a love of running since she obviously has a talent.

On the other hand, Julie and I simply soldiered through the race, by using a combination of training, slow pace, determination and pride (neither one of us wanted to walk or come last).  Unfortunately we were both defeated by the hill at the end.  I tried conjuring up every running inspirational quote that I knew, but somehow trying to evoke The Little Engine That Could, just couldn't help me ... we both walked up the hill.  Julie started sprinting at the top of the hill, which of course inspired me to do the same!  We ran across the finish line with Julie about 10 feet in front of me (considering that she's 23 years younger than I am, that's pretty good for me, of course we won't discuss that she had recently gotten over an extremely badly sprained ankle, I have to take my small victories where I can).

As a goal, the race worked well.  I have to admit there were days where I might have skipped a workout or gone a little easier, but the spectre of the eventual race was always looming over me!

It wasn't easy, it wasn't pretty, but it was fun!

Goal Setting

                                            Let be real, this isn't me, but maybe someday ....

I've been trying to lose weight with varying degrees of success.  What's really been the big success so far, is that I'm finally starting to get into shape.  I've been faithfully going to the gym for the past two and half months and it finally hit me today while I was walking the dog, that I'm actually looking forward to my workouts, instead of dreading them and trying to think up excuses to avoid them.  This is a big step forward!

My weight isn't really moving (and it needs to), but I've stopped obsessively worrying about it.  I'm just concentrating on getting fitter (more fit?) and hope that the weight will start dropping off eventually. 

There were a couple of different reasons for this whole fitness regime, the main reason being the quality of my life.  I'd reached a point that I was the heaviest I've ever been, everything ached and I could no longer really enjoy doing the things I like to do.  Hockey had started to become more of chore, instead of the joy that it originally had been, simply because I was so weak and slow, that I became more of a hindrance to my team rather than the limited help that I wanted to be.

And so I've endured a lot of time at the gym on the treadmill and recently on the bike.  It still isn't easy, I don't think it will ever be easy at my point in life.  Yet I can finally jog continually at a slow pace for 30 minutes.  I know it's not much, but it's a big accomplishment for me, thus I decided to enter a 5K race so I'd keep on track with my fitness goals.  A few clicks of my computer mouse and lo and behold I was registered to run the Walk of Life 5K run at the Science Centre on May 14th.  My friend Julie has decided to register too and last night Madie said she wanted to run also (though I think she was more interested in the free T shirt).

Thus a goal has been set and I know I can work towards it.  I remember a hundred years ago when I started to compete in Triathlons, that I could run a 5K in 25 minutes.  I doubt I'll hit that, but I am hoping for a sub 30 minute time.  Stay tuned to see if I do!

And yes, there has been some crazy talk about doing another triathlon - do stay tuned!