July 2, 2013

Happy Canada Day!

I have decided to revitalize my blog this month. It fell off the wagon this year when I fell off the wagon this year. I had nothing inspirational to write, so I didn't. Here's a brief catch up on what I've been doing - like I said, it's not inspirational, but it's true.

Exercise

I was really motivated to train in January but I got quite sick for 3 weeks and then had some back issues that totally derailed me.  Once I recovered, I had a hard time getting my mojo back. I kept on running 2 times a week, but stopped riding the trainer and didn't swim at all.

On Feb 12, I did a fun indoor triathlon in Pentiction - swim laps for 15 minutes, ride the trainer for 30 minutes, run laps including stairs for 20 minutes. Furthest distance wins.  I didn't win anything in my age group but I had a lot of fun!

After March break, the weather was awful - it has been a super wet spring and I was slammed at work.  I came home tired and unmotivated, and could only force myself to run a couple times a week. I tried to keep up my long run to 10km but that was it.

On April 21, Erik, my daughter, and I did the Vancouver Sun Run 10km.  It was a blast. I was slow and took a few walk breaks but I had fun and I enjoyed doing a race with Carly.

From April to now, I've only run once a week. Work got busier and in trying to be a good teacher, I began to be a bad athlete.  I continued to sleep poorly (menopause) and got home from work late, and exhausted. Without a race to motivate me, I couldn't muster up any mojo to train. To be honest, I'm not even sure a race would have motivated me.

My focus has been on planning my trip to Europe (we leave tomorrow) and my hope is that I will get back my mojo and start training again when I get back in 3 weeks.  I want to do a half marathon in the fall.

So that's it - uninspired, full of excuses, not much to write home about.

Eating

I did the paleo thing for quite awhile and liked it but I could never totally give up dairy (plain yogurt and cheese), and I missed eating legumes.

After a lot of reading and testing, I decided that the most important thing is to make healthy choices and eat fresh foods, the less processed the better.  Some research shows that low fat diets work, some show vegetarian diets work, some show high fat low carb diets work.  The thing they all seemed to have in common was lots of fresh vegetables and fruit. Ultimately, I have decided to do just that - eat fruit, veggies, lean meats, legumes/whole grains on occasion, healthy fats, nuts and seeds. I still try to lean towards very little process carbs and only eat bread once a week.

At least that is what I want to do in theory. In reality, with the lack of exercise, I have struggled with my weight and that in turn has caused me to struggle with healthy eating choices. I am now up 5 pounds of my ideal comfortable weight (10 lbs over race weight), and I can really feel it. I feel weak, out of shape, uncomfortable, and down right fat. Ugh.

Although I'll be doing lots of walking (no cycling this time) over the next three weeks, a trip to Europe is not likely going to help me in the weight department, so I have to hit it hard again when I get back. I guess July 25 will be my "New Year's Day" this year.  I feel like if I have a date and a goal in mind, I can focus on the prize.  That being said, I will try to make relatively healthy choices while I'm away and it's true I am much less likely to snack when I am travelling so that will help.

Work

So my focus this year has been on work and I feel really good about all that I have accomplished.  I was being evaluated this year and I decided I wanted to completely change my whole Math program which took a ton of time and planning but I'm really happy with the result.  I also had a student teacher from January - March which took a lot of my time and energy. In addition, I piloted a class set of ipads in my room March-June and had a blast with the kids learning how effective ways to use them. I am now designing inservice for the teachers at my school to train them all in the use for elementary schools. This program has taken a TON of my time but I loved every minute.

I've found that although I have a lot of energy and excitement for all aspects of my life, I can only focus it on one or two pursuits at a time. Apparently, this year it has been school.  When I'm training, I have to let school go on auto-pilot as I leave as early as possible to get my workout in before dinner. That has been impossible this year but I'm not sorry.

So that's it - the first half of 2013 in a nutshell.

I am hoping to do a regular update of my blog over the next 3 weeks while Erik and I travel in Europe. It will have nothing to do with fitness so some people won't be interested in following it. I usually keep a written diary of my trips and thought the blog might be a fun way to do that this time since I'll have my ipad with me. We'll see.

Here's our Intinerary:

July 3 - Leave Kelowna via Vancouver
July 4 - Paris, France
July 5 - Munich, Germany
July 6-9 - Salzburg, Austria
July 9-11 - Vienna, Austria
July 12 - Venice and Pisa, Italy
July 13-15 - Riomaggiore (Cinque Terre) Italy
July 15-20 - L'isle sur la Sorgue, France
July 20-22 - Paris (and finale of the tour de France!)
July 22 - Vancouver
July 23 - Home

Au revoir, auf wiedersehen, arrivederci!!

Here I am tweeting from Apt, France in 2009. :)