Aftermath of a mountain climb

Here are a couple of the professional pics taken.  This first one is of my arrival to the Medic hut after you're finished manoeuvring all the steep downhill sections of the mountain.  I was SO relieved to get to this point!!

This second one was when I crossed the finish-line.   I don't care that my time wasn't great, considering there were points where I really wasn't sure I was even going to make the finish line.

Since the race I have been babying my body.  My muscles were pretty sore for the first few days.  After the normal soreness wore off I have recognized that I have some remaining minor injuries that may take a little longer to heal.  My achilles, my knee, and one of my shoulders are still giving me some trouble so I have decided to wait to start the gym again until Tuesday next week.

While I was on my hike I was speaking with Marie (a member of my adopting tribe) who runs marathons, and she gave me some great ideas on how to train for a marathon (or half-marathon in my case) with low-impact exercise.  So once I get going again at the gym, I'd like to start training towards my half marathon in October... Its only about 3 months away!!

I realized while climbing Mount H'Kusam, that I was definitely going to be able to complete my half-marathon in 3 months time.  I climbed a mountain for 7 hours with my heart-rate between 160-180, so running for 3 hours (hopefully less) with my heart-rate between 140-160 is something I CAN do.  I will also be very thankful and happy to be running on mostly flat surface with beautiful views to look at!

Can't wait to be feeling better physically and back on the path to success!!

My weight has gone up again  as well.  I'm sitting at 224lbs right now.  I'm not exactly "proud" of this, but its where I am, and hopefully I will be taking care of that soon!

14k today!

I got up early (on the weekend) to run my 14k.  I headed out the door at about 6:45am!!

Here is the sunrise over the ocean.  

So by around the 5th km I was feeling pretty great.  THEN my water bottle fell and broke open.  All I could do was start repeating "Fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK".  I believe I may have scared another runner with-in ear reach because right then she started to sprint.  

So for the next 3k I was trying to figure out where I could get some water to keep myself hydrated, and also I needed to use some facilities.  So when I found these washrooms at a park on my route, they saved my life!!!!  Seriously I have never been so happy to see a washroom, and one with a running sink at that!

I ran by the marina I used to live in.  Yes I used to live on a boat, in a marina.  It was nice to reminisce. 

I continued on my route to the beautiful spit and checked out the sights towards Quadra Island!

Here I am right after getting to 14k.  Unfortunately, I am now hurting pretty bad.  My hip was tight on my run and I ended up limping all day. 

This was my post-run breakfast!  I had a pulled pork hash from a local restaurant!  

Thoughts from a runner

This is my 3rd day in a row getting up early to workout! Yay me!  I actually ended up going to bed at 9:30 last night because I was so exhausted! This morning I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to go.

So this morning on my run, I got to thinking about how I have heard that "real runners don't listen to music when they run" just them and the pavement... Blah blah blah.

Well I decided to see of I was a real runner. Once I was running ocean-side, I took out my earbuds and let 'er rip just me, the pavement and the waves. It was serene, relaxing, and I felt myself struggling to keep the pace I was going for on my Tempo run. By 3.5k I decided it was nice, but I'd had enough. I put my earbuds in, turned up one of my favorite songs and cranked out the rest of my run upbeat and at a great pace :)

It was like the music drowned out that little voice in my head that told me I was tired, picked me up and drove me forward!  I could probably do one of my easy runs without music, but I really get pumped up with my music on.  I realize there can be safety risks when you run with music, I try to combat that by either running with one ear-bud in or playing my music quieter than I normally would.  Music = good running for Megan.

This brings me to my other thought, "real runners"? Well, here is my definition of a runner. Someone who repeatedly wills themselves to run any distance at any speed. I don't care if you're listening to music, dressed in a track suit from the 80's, wogging, going slow, not running far, whatever. If you run, you are a runner!

I'm pretty bad-ass

Can you tell from the title that I just got back from a run?

I am fighting this week strong!  I have made some bad choices, but I have also been working hard to not let them rule me.

I refuse to give up.  REFUSE!  This whole lifestyle part means that I will be doing this forever.  Sometimes I win, and sometimes I don't, but I get up and get back on track.

This may all seem like a repetitive theme on my blog, however, this is what I am going through, it is all part of the journey for me.  Win, lose, get back up and repeat (hopefully lose better)!

Today I won with my diet, and I also won with my run!  I kept my calories in check, and then I did a 7k speedwork run where I pushed my two kids in their stroller and still ran one mile at a 12min pace and another in just UNDER 12 min!  

This morning I weighed just to "check in" not as an official weigh-in.  I was up by 1lb. Guess what? I am absolutely not stressing about it.  Why? Because I just started the new phase of Chalean, the "Lean Phase" and that means using different muscles and that has water retention written all over it.  Remember last month when I worked my ass of the first week and then lost NOTHING! It was the same thing, I was retaining water, and then the next week when I BOMBED diet and exercise-wise I still lost 2lbs.  This month will be different. I will not bomb next week, I will continue keeping my head in the game and know that regardless what the scale says I am doing the best that I can and that results WILL come!

Speaking of the Lean Phase, WOW, it is intense!  I can see why most people see the best results this month! Hopefully mine are great this month too! The compound moves and number of reps are awesome.  I know I am going to want to repeat Chalean again already!

Starting April off right!

I started off my morning fueling up with some strawberries, oatmeal with peanut butter and an iced coffee with chocolate milk.  Monica from Run Eat Repeat has iced coffee before a lot of her runs so I figured I would try it out today!  

Here I am at the beginning of my 13k journey.

This was the second hill (but most intense) that I tackled. 

The view from the top of the hill is amazing.  I live in a very beautiful (most times) place.

At about 7.5k there was a booster juice so I decided to have my mid-run fuel in the form of a Green Hornet juice.  

My run was pretty hilly.  Definitely a challenge for me.  When I hit the 10k mark I started freaking out about the last hill and trying to think up alternate routes home.  Then I just started repeating (freakishly) "that hill's not so bad, that hill's not so bad, that hill's not so bad".  I got to the intersection where I had to make the decision... and what comes on my iPhone but Ice Cube baby.  "You can do it". I was in, I took on that hill and finished my last 3k like it "ain't no thang".  

Until I stopped and started walking and my legs were not moving normally. I think I have to start looking into compression shorts, ice bathes and so on.  Not super looking forward to it either. 

Overall my run was extremely successful and when I got home I refuelled with greek yogurt, carrot cake granola and a banana!    

Nothing like kicking ass and taking names to put the Pep back in yourstep!

If you didn't get it from the title, I kicked ass today!!

On December 12th, I ran 5k in 38.30 which was a PB for me.  Then I was dealing with my Plantar Fasciitis, and THEN I was dealing with a knee thing that kept me from running for over a month.  So since February I have been back running, and starting to train for my half-marathon.

I went out to do a 5k, and I got the feeling.  I got the feeling that it was going to be a good run day so I decided to push for a PB. Here I am heading out with the new hat my Mommy made for me!!

Thanks to my handy iMapMyRun app, I was able to monitor my pace and step it up when I needed to. Another thanks (or not so much) to my heart-rate monitor for telling me when I had stepped it up TOO much and needed to slow it down.

At the end of my run I tried to push for the "kick" but my heart-rate shot up to 195 so I had to taper back a little bit.  When I heard my app tell me I hit the 5k mark I fist pumped like no one was watching, and stopped the app to see I had done 5.02k in 36.12!!!   Way to go me!!
 

After my run, my handy co-worker ran into town and grabbed us Sushi!! OMG so good, and what a great way to end a workout!

 

Now I'm sitting here in post-workout in my super pumped mode! Ready to take on something else!! 

Apparently I needed that rest day!!

Yesterday, I was absolutely worn out. I had planned on working out but my body was screaming at me to rest! So I decided to call it a snuggle day and spent the day hanging out with my babies, and even enjoyed a nap when they did too!!

Today we had a lazy morning and decided to go out for breakfast.  My Husband works almost every single Saturday so Sundays are our family days, they are very important to us!  

Here are my kiddos out to Breakfast this morning!!

Annalisa decided to read the Menu!

I planned on taking pictures of my food, but it didn't come as ordered and I was PISSED!  I made good choices any ways. I had a mushroom and cheese omelet and planned for 2 pancakes, but only ate one!  

After breakfast we had to pick some things up from Walmart for the week. When we were on our way back out to the car I remembered I forgot something and said "Oh crap"... My son decided to choose that moment to repeat his first "semi-swear".  It was kinda funny, I'm not gonna lie!

We got the kids loaded in the car, I figured this would be the perfect time for my run because Hubby could just drive home and get the kids down for their nap!  

Now, from Walmart home is about 9k.  I figured I would run 5k, and walk the rest. This is me in the Walmart parking lot, ready to head out.  Also I bought a belt to carry my water while I was there, I now understand why people buy those belts with 4 little bottle instead of one big one!

Here are a few of the sights I saw along the way... P.S. Taking pictures while running is NOT as easy as one might think!

As you can see the weather was amazing, after 5k I decided keep going.  I got to 8k, and decided I was going to GO FOR IT! I had to extend my route slightly but I made it, I RAN 10K people!!!!  SO EXCITED!!!  

Lesson learned body, I will listen to you and give you rest when you need so you make make me accomplish great things even when I don't think I can!!