2012... Bring it on!

As 2011 comes to a close I've spent quite a bit of time in deep reflection. This has definitely been a bit of whirlwind year - emotionally, mentally and physically. But I am grateful that I got through 2011 without getting arrested :) Not that I've done anything to break any law in the Criminal Code... well at least nothing punishable by imprisonment! (To my parents... I'm just kidding!!! I'm a law-abiding citizen!!!)


I am ready for 2012 and all it has to bring. To tweak me to become a better me. To hopefully be a better person than I was in 2011. It's going to be a busy year... My schedule is busting at the seams until about mid-July... which is good... because keeping busy means staying out of trouble (again to my parents ... don't worry ... !!!). 


I am extremely grateful for my life. I am grateful for my family, my friends... I am grateful for all the laughs, smiles and even tears that I have experienced. I've come to realize that there are certain things (and people) in my life that I have not yet let go of. And that is something that I resolve to work on in 2012. Letting go is never easy... but it is necessary. 


My resolution for 2012 is to be the best person that I can be... first and foremost to myself. I resolve to be a healthier person in all aspects. 


My wish for 2012 is for my grandmother to fight the best fight that she can fight with the least amount of pain. It's been tough watching her fight this battle. It's been tough watching the people that love her help her fight this battle. My wish for 2012 is to give them all strength. Strength to persevere, strength of positivity, strength to extend it to each other. 


So giddy-up everyone. It's time to prepare ourselves to embrace whatever it is that 2012 has to offer. 


Wishing you all love, joy, happiness, peace, health, sun shine, and prosperity in 2012. Wishing you all limitless moments of laughing until your stomach hurts, meals until your pants are too tight, smiles until your face cramps and just enough rain to appreciate the sun and just enough tears to appreciate the smiles! I love you all and thank you for being a part of my life!


xoxoxox

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays everyone! Wishing you and your loved ones a wonderful holiday season full of love, laughter, peace and merriment!


Only had one more workout done this week.... and now I'm off to Toronto where I'm hoping to get some workouts done with my brother's abandoned equipment. I'm sure it needs some TLC... so I'm going to make it my mission to do a mini-WOD every day. Yoga mat, check. Skip rope, check. Other equipment... TBD :)


The WOD on Tuesday was quite a bit of fun! 


3 rounds for time:
20 push press - 65lbs
30 toes-to-bar (or knee raises in my case)
40 wall balls (7kg)


Total time: 19min 40sec


I was totaled at the end... It was the longest walk to the metro... literally dragged my feet there!


Got home... made an omelette and some toast... which was promptly rejected by my body. Was up all night again...


Not sure what is going on but I just want my body to stop striking!!!


It's going to be torture to not want to eat everything while in T-dot this weekend... but will power will need to be my best friend!


Took a couple of days off from working out hoping that my body will get back to normal... last night was the first night I didn't have to get up every hour.... hopefully it'll stay this way!


Off to pack!


Merry Christmas Everyone!


Much love to you all!

Hello muscles :)

After a full week of eating badly (or not eating at all), of not sleeping, and not working out... I was definitely feeling it. I was restless, fidgety, mildly ADHD... but my body was on strike. 

And now I'm back baby!!! 

Dear muscles, 

You've had a full week to recover since my immune system decided to konk out... but vacay's over :)

Love, 

Me xoxox

First stop... Home away from Home... HappyTree! And what a pleasant surprise... Albert was subbing for Genevieve :) What a great start to my Sunday! After class, my heart was shining to match the big ball of sunshine outside! It was like I never left my mat... I know it's only been a week but it's honestly felt like an eternity. I was itching to get my body moving again! It was awesome!

All in all... an amazing Sunday. Yoga, dim sum with great friends, shopping and dinner with the family. Bliss!

Was frankly a little scared about going back to Crossfit though... especially since I felt a little woozy on my way there. But once I got into the workout... I was on fire!

Today's warmup:

100 singles

40 overhead squats

30 toes-to-bar

20 pushups

5 wall climbs 

Wall climbs are an interesting creature. Start in a pushup position with your feet flat against the wall. Push up and walk your feet up the wall and your hands back towards the wall until you're in a handstand, walk your hands up and walk your feet down until you're back in a push-up position... and repeat. Good times :)

Today's WOD: 1/2 Angie + 1000m row for time

50 pull-ups

50 push-ups

50 sit-ups

50 squats

1000m row

Total time: 14min

I really need to improve my row time... i.e. improve my cardio. 

Overall, I am happy with my time... happy with how I felt throughout the work out. 

Giddy up!

Getting restless....

It's now Day 6 that I haven't worked out or practiced and I'm getting really antsy. I'm also no longer sleeping again... 


Still feeling kind of dizzy and I really need to watch what I eat because definitely not everything agrees with me. 


Going to try to practice tomorrow morning... take it slow and see what happens. I'm just getting very impatient with this whole situation. But don't want to jump the gun and get hurt...


Whatever this bug is... GET OUT.... please... 


On a brighter note, we got our shirts this week!! We got some team shirts printed... Super happy with the way they turned out!

My body is on strike!

This seriously sucks....


My body has been rejecting food since Friday.... Nothing. Nada. Niente. 


Did I mention this seriously sucks?!?! I'm weak... dizzy... dehydrated... hungry... all around seriously crappy!


Bahhhhhhhhhhh!!!


I'm so hungry!!!!

Go team!!!

Sadly Crossfit was closed today :(

BUT luckily Char worked at the Gym today... so we had a team workout!! Woohooo! We decided to retry "Paolo's Chipper" from last week. 

The following is what I call "Two Asians, two cameras and one WOD" :)

We both clipped significant time off our WODs! It was awesome! A little different doing the WOD at the gym instead of the box, but a workout nonetheless!

Super early in the AM :)

Warming up on the bikes

This was followed by "Paolo's Chipper":

10 power snatches

20 chest to bars (modified with ring rows)

30 front squats

40 kettleball swings

50 deadlifts

40 wallballs

30 toe to bars (modified with knee raises)

20 ring dips (modified with bench dips)

10 clean & jerks

And here we are... :)

Knee raises... don't let my expression trick you... THIS SUCKED!

Power snatch time!

KB swings... yippee!!!

Love wall balls!!!

 Some stretchy-wetchy time:

All in all... a super fun workout! I can't wait to get in the saddle!!! And can't wait to get on my mat tomorrow for some hot yoga at the Tree!!!

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!

NB: None of these pictures were actually taken during the actual workout... WE'RE BEING TIMED!!! Well except for the stretching... that was real-time :)

OMG!

Super exciting news!!! The RTCC contacted me a few weeks ago and said that they came across my blog and wanted to know if I wanted to share my story. They said that hopefully my story will motivate and inspire others to join the ride! How freakin' awesome is that?!?! Me... inspiring someone else! That would seriously KICK ASS!

So they did a little interview and a couple days ago, they sent me the "rider bio".... I'M STOKED! They also contacted me a couple weeks ago and asked me if I would be interested in becoming a "media rider"... HELL TO THE YEAH! This is CRAZINESS! But seriously... This is really flattering and humbling. I'm just a regular Jane Doe embarking on a personal challenge and it's now become sort of an epic mission. I'm just a regular gal who's using this as the motivation needed to get into shape while supporting a great organization. It's also the only way I know to help my grandmother. Trust me... If I can do this... anyone can. Seriously. 

Well back to tracking my progress of the Crossfit WODs. 

On Monday night, my body was still tired from the Saturday craziness. But I pushed myself to go... because that was a path I didn't want to embark on... you know... the "I'm too tired today" one. So off I went to Crossfit with a bit of an "Eeyore" attitude. But the minute I started the warm-up I perked right up. The energy in that place is ELECTRIC. 

Monday's WOD: AMRAP 15 minutes

- 30 double unders

- 30 ground-to-overhead

Was a great opportunity to practice my double-unders and managed to do 10 in a row a few times. So happy with that! I went with the power snatches for the ground-to-overhead with a 55lbs bar. I was pretty happy with my work out that night. Ended up with 5 complete rounds in 15 minutes and added another 2 rounds by working another 7 minutes. Overall... not bad. But I was beat at the end. I'm very grateful that a fellow Crossfitter gave me a lift to the metro... since I was exhausted and it was POURING RAIN! Merci Marie-Josee!

Come Tuesday, my body officially hated me. I wasn't in pain but just tired. Walking was taking too much energy.. Hell breathing seemed to consume too much energy. And I was STARVING all day!!! I still am! I think it's time for me to see a nutritionist to make sure that I'm eating the right things for the kind of workouts that I'm doing. So instead of going to the Tree for some restorative yoga... I went to mi casa for a reunion with my couch and mindless TLC (as in the channel... and not tender loving care). Watching back-to-back episodes of "What Not to Wear" was exactly what I needed. Because I woke up this morning ITCHING to get back to training. 

Which brings me to tonight's WOD. OUF!

Wednesday's WOD: 6 rounds for time of:

20 wallballs (I used a 5kg ball)

20 squat thrusters (Stand in squat position, put hands down and jump back into pushup position and jump back into a squat and stand up... as Paolo calls it ... a "half-ass burpee")

20 V-ups (lie on back and pike up so hands touch feet)

Total time: 25min 15sec. 

Not bad. I wasn't the first, but wasn't the last :) 2 out of 6. 

I'm still doing the option 3 WODs and I'm not sure when I'm ready to graduate to option 1 and 2. Maybe in the new year! I still have another 13 days of membership with Crossfit after which I will renew with a 6 month membership... LOTS of time!

Life is good... Keep on smilin' :)

Back to the mat tomorrow night... now that's a reason to smile!!! <3

Overdrive!

Motivation is on overdrive... especially yesterday. 


After a day off of training I was ready to hit it HARD.... and I did... possibly a little too much. 


Yesterday was definitely a crazy intense day. Woke up at 7am, went to bed at 1am and didn't stop all day... except for maybe about 20 minutes at HappyTree when I felt like I was melting into the couch!


My day started with a serious ass-whooping session at Crossfit. 


Here was the WOD - called "Paolo's Chipper"... I'm pretty sure he was drunk when he made this up (he admitted creating it before he went to bed the night before... alcohol must have been involved)

Unfortunately my chest was going anywhere close to the bar... so ring rows it was :) And on that note, neither were my toes.... so knee raises it was ... Hmmm... now I know why my abs hurt so much today! Duh! My muscles may be getting stronger ... but brain power? Not so much! Oh well - you win some you lose some! :)


Total time: 33:00


It was awesome to be cheered on for my final 3 Clean & Jerks... High fives all around!


From Crossfit I made my way to HappyTree for Yin  Yoga with Albert. What a fabulous combination! I was really hyper when I got to the Tree... jumping around like the crazy person that I am! I said to Albert, "I'm really hyper" and like the cool cucumber that he is he replies, "Just lie down on your mat". I rolled out my mat, laid down and BOOM!... I could almost feel the cells in body chilling right out. Can't explain it... it's one of those things that you need to experience for yourself. Needless to say, the class was amazing. Albert is PHENOMENAL! I wish I had a tape recorder with me during class so I can retain what he says. I always say to myself "I need to remember that..."... and then I don't. It's almost like I'm in a dream. I don't even know how to explain it. Come to his class and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about!

This is what I felt like after Yin...

I then spent the next 20 minutes essentially melting into the couch at the Tree. I wasn't moving. If there was a fire at that exact moment, I'm not sure I would have cared enough to move. I was in full zen-yoga-brain-mode. 

Once I got the energy to move and got up off the couch, the energy came back like FIRE! And I also realized that I was starving! So I went next door to Tutti Frutti for a veggie omelette (with a side order of bacon... heehee!!!). It's all about balance right ;) Yeah yeah yeah.. I know! But I can always rationalize eating bacon. Just like I can always rationalize getting another pair of shoes :)

My next stop was Le Gym at Concordia for a fundraiser for "The Mercy Project" which was co-founded by one of my friends. What a great organization! Check out their website to find out more about this organization and ways on how you can support them! (www.themercyproject.com). 

The "Feel Good! Do Good!" fitness fundraiser had a bunch of awesome classes. The one I really wanted to check out was "Crazy Skipping" with Herby from Hard Knox Gym. Since I'm not the world's best skipper, I had a bit of a hard time. But it was INTENSE! It definitely was crazy skipping. He also incorporated a circuit into it which involved: Kicking, jabs, abs, squats, shuttle run, skipping. I was beat. And really sweaty. And ultimately felt really disgusting! I apologize to everyone that had to ride in the metro with me :( At least it was only one stop!

Got home, showered, got ready and headed off to my work Christmas party. I really really really wanted to bail, but since I helped organize it I couldn't not show up. I was uber-tired through the night, but it was a lot of fun :)

Yesterday was a LOOOOONNNNNNGGGG day! And I felt every minute of it this morning when I woke up. I may have worked myself a bit too hard yesterday, because I had to tape up my wrists this morning in order to get through the yoga class.

My new best friends: Rub A535 and sports tape

No pain no gain right?!?! All I need now is a good nights sleep... So bonne nuit!

Back to Crossfit tomorrow! Woooohoooo!

Keep Smiling!

Ahhhhhh..... TGIF!!! Well almost!!!


My day off from any exercise/training... WOOHOO!!! As much as I love it... sometimes we just need some time apart :) After 3 Crossfits and 4 yoga classes... I think I have earned the next 36 hours off!!! Wooohoooo!!! Although at the same time I'm uber-excited for my Crossfit-Yin Yoga Saturday morning.... Woooohoooo!!!!


Had another awesome practice tonight at the Tree :) Sometimes I think that Sonya can read my mind and knows exactly what I need ... Lots of heart openers tonight. Just what I needed. At one point, we're in downward facing dog and she comes by my mat and moves away my water bottle and towel... so I thought to myself "Ooooo... Wild thing?"... Then she says "Lift your right leg back, bend your knee and open your hip to the purple wall and gently go in Wild Thing"....


WILD THING, YOU MAKE MY HEART SING. 
YOU MAKE EVERYTHING GROOVY, WILD THING. 


I totally started rocking out in my head. I LOVE WILD THING. 


I got an email first thing this morning saying "Hope to see you soon. Keep smiling!"... So here are some things that made me smile today:
- The old man at the mall playing with his grandson
- The pretty yellow scarf with purple polka dots
- WILD THING
- Getting to the bus just in time
- Getting a lift in a really big truck to yoga
- Little girl on the metro blowing kisses to everyone
- Finishing both Sudoku puzzles on the metro
- Reading my horoscope at the end of the day, realizing that I've done the exact opposite and had an AMAZING day!
- This awesome laptop decal

Does it get any better than this? 


I'll leave you with another one of my favorite quotes:


"I'm going to smile my best smile. And I'm gonna laugh like it's going out of style" ~ Garth Brooks