Another day of soreness

Second day after my first workout in the gym, and I am definitely more sore today than I was yesterday, even so, today was a good day. I managed 10 626 paces, and a full lower body workout, and even ran 4.8kms in 20 min, not quite the 5km that I wanted. At physio today, did more ultrasound and the electric current through my foot. Felt good, until I did that run.

Again made it through the day, with no French Fries and I had breakfast. Had a bowl of Two Scoops for breakfast and a full lunch with sandwich, salad and yogurt, for supper I went out to eat at East Side Mario's, had linguini chicken amatriciana. It was good.

So nothing much else to say right now. Later.

Day one of being sore

While my workout yesterday felt great, I am defiantly pretty sore, and I know tomorrow is going to be worse. Only a few days of this soreness and it will be all good. Today I got fitted for my orthotics and tomorrow I go to physio. My foot has been really hurting the past couple of days, hopefully this will all start helping.

Today, I did 8206 paces, and 50 minutes at the driving range, the soreness from the workout yesterday, really messed with my swing. Really funny thing, I went to my normal driving range, and they were out of balls! So I went to another place just a few kms up the road, the place cost 1$ more per bucket, but it is a nicer range, so I don't know which one I will be using in the future, but its always good to have a few options.

Been having pretty standard meals, and haven't broken my goals yet, although it has been tough, that is by far the hardest part, I love French fries and eating breakfast is tough but I do feel better when I do. So for now, I'll be keeping it up.

Peace out.

Why did I stop working out again?

Today was a good day.

I've forgotten how much I enjoy going to the gym at the end of a long day. Why exactly did I stop going again? I can't really remember. But I know it's been 4 months since I've been to the gym, as my workout journal attested to when I opened it up to record today's workout. Right now, I'm following the Bill Philip's Body for Life workout program, it's one that I know, and that has worked for me in the past, and its fast, each of the 2 workouts only take 40 - 50 minutes to complete. So there isn't very much wasted time in the gym. When I got tot he gym, I was going to do a 5-10 minute warm up on the treadmill, which turned into a 20 minute run, over which I covered 2.3 miles, or 3.6km. Which isn't that bad considering the last time I ran, I could barely muster more than a brisk walk, and I was walking the first 3 minutes to warm up. I fear that my foot is going to rebel tomorrow.... Oh well...It felt good doing it! Anyways, tomorrow, I have my appointment to get some custom orthotics fitted. Even with a 20 minute run in there, my pedometer only read 9233 paces at the end of the day :( I was hoping for more. To offset my terrible weekend.

And in the food category, I'm still doing well, haven't skipped a breakfast yet, and still no French fries!!! Let me tell you, giving up the French fries, I think I'm starting to understand how someone that gives up smoking feels!

I'm starting to put together my goals for the next few weeks, lets see what interesting torture I can come up with.

Death to Allergies

I woke up Saturday morning, with the worst case of allergies ever! Sinus completely blocked, eyes watering, and a migrane. I stayed in bed almost all day, barely ate and didn't move. I just felt like junk all Saturday and Sunday, I got nothing done of any use, and didn't get any activity done. Normal strength Reactine just wasn't cutting it, the extra strength worked better, and the benadryl allergy and sinus, worked a lot better, and let me sleep, and at least open my eyes. The one good thing about the allergies, is that I still ate fairly well, not too much and still no french fries.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll feel good enough to be able to get something productive done.

Staying the course

Well thursday and friday, I was able to stay the cours eof my goals. This isnt as hard as I orignally thought it would be.

Thursday I ate fairly well, breakfast was againa blueberry muffin, lunch was a sandwich, salad (note to self: don't put the salad dressing on the night before), and some blueberries and stawberries, for supper I had some multi-grain rotini and a meat sauce. Friday, again with the muffin, I really need to start mixing it up a bit, especially as the muffins aren't that heathly. Lunch same as the day before, sandwich, this time it was turkey breast, and for supper, went to a restaurant, Moxie's, out in the west end of Ottawa, and I had a lemon-pepper halibut on mashed potatoes. So I managed to make it the work week, and going out for dinner without having french fries. Let me tell you, that's not very easy for me, Friday at work, people were eating poutine and french fries all over the place.... will power sucks.

Thursday I managed to do 10 325 paces, and went to the driving range for 45 minutes. Friday I only managed 9 875 paces, so close but yet so far, and I didnt do any extra exercise, so this is my first day where I failed my activity goal.

Starting next week, I'll need to start with some more higher intensity exercise, I'd like to find a new Yoga studio to go to, since the one I was going to has closed. And I NEED to start running, even though it is one of those activites that I hate!!!! But one step at a time, and at the end of next week, I'll get to set some new 2 week goals, to build n what I've started.

Meh Wednesday

Today was much like yesterday. Nothing spectacular, and nothing terrible, so I guess I can't really complain. In order to keep track of what I've been doing I've decided to ensure I write down a complete meal plan of what I ate that day, to compliment writing down the activities that I participated in.

So today I started off my day with a Veggie supplement that I take, in the mornings, it's my third day taking this, and mixing it with just water is getting to be a rough, it really doesn't taste that great, which means it's probably really good for me. Once I got to work I had a blueberry muffin. For lunch, one of my co-workers, took me out for lunch, for helping her setup here new PVR. We went to Montana's Cookhouse, and I had the big sky trio, which is a half turkey clubhouse sandwich, a small chicken chili, and a side Cesar salad. I must say, I enjoyed it more than if I had eaten French fries :) When I got home from my Physiotherapy appointment, I had 3 handfuls of Garlic sesame Snaps, there are soooooo good. For supper I had a steak, with a green salad, a whole wheat flat bread, and some veggie chips. While out running errands and going to the driving range, I stopped at the Barley Mow pub to meet up with some friends of mine, while there, I had 1 pint of Creemore Lager. When I got in later on in the evening, I had a handful of unsalted peanuts, and while watching some TV, I had some more of the veggie chips. I know the veggie chips and the sesame snacks aren't that good for me, and that I'm eating WAAAAAYYYYY too many carbs, but taking small steps, and right now, I'm focusing on reducing the fried fatty foods from my diet, so if you've been counting, that's now 2 days eating breakfast and another day of no French fries.

When I got home at the end of the day, my pedometer only read 7134 paces :( not too happy about that, but it's not that bad considering that I did do 45 minutes at the driving range again. For those that don't think golf is really doing physical activity, I challenge you to go out and hit a few bucket of balls, and do it with a sense of urgency, no lolly gagging around, get it done, I know I work up a sweat, and today my arms are killing me from using muscles that I don't normally use. I'm going to have to find some good pre-golf stretching to ensure I don't injure anything with all that twisting. Some may find it weird that I'm going golfing while I'm starting a new health kick, but there are a few reasons to this, first, I bought a new set of clubs early summer, and haven't got to use them much because of the amount that I've been working, and the few times I tried to go play, it decided to rain!!!! Not very lucky. Secondly, and more importantly, there are 2 work related golf tournaments coming up in the near future, one with my day job unit, and the other with my reserve unit's association. So I don't want to embarrass myself too badly.

At physio today, I told the therapist that my foot hasn't been getting any better, and in fact might be getting worse, so she game me some exercises to do, three of them, the first, using a belt, around the ball of my foot, while sitting, pull on the belt to stretch the foot up towards my face, and hold it there for 20 seconds or so, and then repeat. Next, take a towel and place it flat on the ground, while sitting in a chair, use my toes to scrunch up the towel in about 10 moves, and then use the opposite movement to unscrunch the towel, do that twice. Then I have one where I'm standing and putting all my weight on my good foot, I'll attempt to flatten my arch and then bring it up at high as possible, all without bending the toes, and do that 10 times. So I'm supposed to do these exercises everyday. Hopefully I'll get my appointment for the custom orthotics soon and that they will help.


I think that's enough for today.

AND IT STARTS WELL

Well the first day has come and gone of my challenge, and so far so good. Besides not sleeping, which is often a problem for me, it went well. I wore my pedometer, only got 8848 paces, but I got in 30 minutes at the driving range. So I'm considering it a success for the physical activity portion of my goals. The eating breakfast almost didn't happen, since I only fell asleep at 5:20am, I didn't wake up as early as I had hoped, but on my way to work, I stopped at Tim Horton's and picked up an Everything Bagel with light cream cheese and an Orange Juice. Not the ideal breakfast, but better than the nothing that I usually eat. To top the day off I didnt eat any french fries.....WOOHOO.... that's 1 day without french fries.

After work, I went to the Driving Range, and hit a bucket of balls, then hit the grocery store to stock up on healthier snacks, and to do a stock up of food, so I won't have to go out and buy meals, which means less chance of the dreaded french fry.

As long as I can keep my focus, I will make it!

A NEW JOURNEY

Well after a summer of too much working, and too much partying and drinking, it's time to get back on the healthy living bandwagon. They say setting goals is the first step to getting somewhere, so I guess I should set some goals down. Nothing too ambitious, don't want to scare myself before I begin.

Short Term Goals (next 2 weeks, ending 04 Sep 06)

1) eat breakfast, this one doesn't sound hard for most, but I've never been very good at getting up and eating when I wake up. I will eat something before I start my day at work.

2) walk 10 000 paces or a "good" 30 minutes of activity a day. Got a pedometer and two good legs, now all i got to do is walk. I know my average day at work will get me 4 000 paces, so I'll need to up the physical activity. Some days I subsitute other activites for walking, such as biking, cardio machines, yoga or weight training. I will do 10 000 paces or 30 min of activity per day.

3) Cut down on the fried foods. This one is going to be the toughest. I LOVE my french fries, and eating out at work is just too easy. No french fries for 2 weeks.

I think these 3 goals should be enough for the first 2 weeks, if I can make it 2 weeks with this I should be on a good path to increase my training.


Medium Term Goals

1) Pass my annual Physical Fitness Test before the Christmass break.

2) Increase my physical fitness and body look to a point that I am comfortable with.

3) Be ready for my promotion course next summer (may 07)

These aren't too ambitious, I'd like to loose about 20lbs and just re-capture my physical form of 2 years ago, that I lost due to some injuries and laziness.

Long Term Goals

1) Be able to pass selection for the CSOR (Canadian Special Forces Regiment)

2) Participate in an endurance challenge of some sort (adventure race, expedition)

3) Completely remove fast fried foods from my diet

These are 2 year goals, should be no problem if I can keep myself motiveted. Time will tell, and now to find a god system to keep me interested and motivated and that shows results.


Now that i have some goals I'll have to start putting a plan into place to enact these goals. The first part should't be too hard, just need to remember to eat in the morning, to walk more, and to avoid the evil french fry (oh how I love you).

Wish me luck.