Juneathon Day 25 – Sparkle

Hello!!!!!

I will start with saying I am at awe after being on this blog for over two years and you, are still as wonderful as ever. I am still sick but you help me kick it off. You, your support, and undying openness to accept my flaws and downfalls has and continue to make me stronger. Thank you for all of the comments and strength while I have been recovering from some silly sickness.

Today, I cough a lot again. At work, at the grocery store, in bed, in the shower, everywhere. NTC and Juneathon say run so I ran. 5 KMs later, and a bucket load of sweat, here I sit, proud to blog and share with you my success. I had a few coughing fits but nothing I didn’t outrun. I feel like I have never sweat soooo much during a run. I’m sure I have and it’s the recent lack of exercise making it seem like it was pouring down my face. Anyways, I’m happy to cross off a happy face on my workout calendar today.

Today’s special workout feature is sparkle or shine or glow. What I mean by this is, take a moment and enjoy yourself. Take some time to reflect in every workout and all the sweat you’ve burned. Bask in your success and hard work. Enjoy how far you have come and let it soak in. I want this feature to be about you. Your training, your wins, your finish lines, and every extra minute you have added to your life with the good choices you have made.

With this I again step out of my shell for this blog, for you, and share a little photo of me right after my run. I will not continue to beat myself up for being sick and not being able to work as hard. It is part of life. I will continue to push myself and not let myself slip and get into a funk that will be hard to get out of.

This is how you sparkle:

I run for the sweat. It releases endorphins that help me forget anything troublesome. I take pride in the sweat dripping down my face and beading off my body. I’ve worked hard for these sparkles and this, makes my heart ever so happy.

I hope you can spend just a few moments to be proud of yourself, you deserve it!

Happy Sparkling!

rundmach

Juneathon Day 5 – Russian Twist

Hi,

Well here we are, Day 5 of Juneathon. A little more than 8 km done (5 mile) run as per my NTC program requests. Overall, my pace was average but really, it could have been much better. Honestly, I have to vent about today’s run; the first 5 km were the hardest 5k I have ever had to run in my life! Or so that’s how it felt the entire time. Those first 5 kms felt like I was in an airplane! The wind was  so fierce, my music was getting muffled!! It came at me in every direction and no matter which direction I ran, it was against me. This was NOT fun. Each little hill and bump felt 10 times harder than it should have been. Not to mention, I slept about 4-5 hours last night. The entire run was completely MENTAL. The moment I got home my body said no, my legs said no, but really, I’m stubborn and there was no way I was going to miss this run. I’m on my last week of my first NTC Program (it’s only 4 weeks). At least the wind decided to calm itself down after 5 kms and I had a fast & flat last 3 kms. Oh and at least it wasn’t scorching hot. So, I ended today’s Juneathon activities with some Russian Twists with a 6lb medicine ball, side planks, sit ups, weights (bench press, rows, & curls) and a lot of nice stretching.

Since I’d like to feature exercises I enjoy and am doing the same day, let’s talk about Russian Twists. These things are amazing for your core and abs. You spend the entire time focusing on keeping your abs tight and holding your posture up with your core. Hopefully I do enough of these to get rid of my belly.  Also, I feel adding a weighted medicine ball or a weight plate, I’m strengthening my arms too!

Here’s how to Russian Twist with Medicine Ball (or without):

1. Sit on the ground with your knees bent
2. Cross one foot over the other
3. Lift your legs off the ground putting your body at a 45 degree angle
4.1. With your arms slightly bent holding onto a medicine ball (mine is 6lbs), twist from left to right
4.2. If you don’t have a medicine ball and don’t want to hold a weight plate, you can clasp your hands together (interlace fingers) and twist left to right
5. Aim to tap the ball on the ground – this isn’t common but this is what I like to do to add that extra little umph
6. Complete in reps of 20 (10 total for each side) or as many as you can for 30 second intervals (or 1 minute)

Happy Running & Twisting!

rundmach

 

Juneathon day 4 – Hip Lifts

Good Evening Readers,

Today’s Juneathon activities included various workouts as part of the Sweat + Shape workout on NTC. I ended the working with added weights (rows and butterflies). I’m on a mission to get stronger and will not stop until I tone up my arms and can do a pull up.

Although this is my blog, my Juneathon activities are not yet over. I’m hoping to go for a short trot to losses up and get ready for a 5 mile run tomorrow (as per NTC plan). Plus I just feel I need more activity today; sitting at a desk all day can be pretty exhausting.

In today’s workout, there were two one-minute sessions of hip lifts. Another exercise I like doing. It’s only a matter of time before I have to start posting dreaded exercises but until then, let’s keep focussing on the ones I enjoy. Hip lifts help define and strengthen your ups but also your gluten (sexy butt)!!!

How to do Hip Lifts:

Do these as many times as you can for a minute, or do reps of 10.

Happy Hip Lifting!

rundmach

P.S. Just for back from a 3km run with an extremely fast pace. So much for a trot. Haha. I went to a school track to run, I think that’s the key, I ran about 30 seconds faster than my average pace outside. Craziness! I’m so excited for the 8k run tomorrow!!! Time to step it up!!! Woo!!!

5K Liebster Award – 8:3 Success!

Hello World!!

Tonight I blog in extreme excitement!! I have much to say so this may get a little long – be warned. 🙂

March 20 Run: 46 minutes, 3.70 miles (6.41 km on Nike+)

First off, WOHOO!! I ran 5 KM straight on the treadmill in 36 minutes and 20 seconds!! Second, I’ve blogged about Nike+ quite a bit and it’s obvious, something is wrong with it, 3.70 miles is really 5.95 km. This is almost half a full km off. That’s a pretty big difference when training for a 10 k! Third, back to the good, I ran 36:20 with the last minute upping from 5 mph to 5.2 and the last 30 seconds going up to 5.5 mph! 5 minutes warm up then a 5 minute cool down. Forth, I still had energy to keep going!! Fifth, I have been insanely ill today. I have a tooth infection and have been on meds for two days now. My head has been killing me (jaw/ear/mouth/temple) to the point I was smashing my head into my desk today when a co-worker walked by and thought I was just overwhelmed with work. Lastly, I didn’t even think I was going to run! After work I went for a half hour walk thinking that would be it since I felt soo sick (by 6 pm I had already taken 6 T2’s today). I came back from the walk with insane energy, head felt good, stomach a bit off still, but all in all, I had this determination to succeed tonight. Boy did I ever rise to the occassion! WOOOOHOOO!

Although Nike+ is wrong in terms of distance, it’s still a good relative comparison over time as it is what I’m using to run on my iPod nano. Today, all of my running KMs averaged BELOW 7 minutes per km!!!! It’s been a long time since I’ve seen those numbers and I’m so excited to be reuinted with these results. COME ON NICE WEATHER!! I can’t wait to run the 5 KM route around my block….TWICE! 😀

Thank you runat49 for nominating me!!! It’s a huge honour to be nominated for this! I love my blog and I love reading everyone else’s blogs that keep inspiring me to blog and run.

What is the Liebster award? Find out at strivebalance – Karen does a pretty great job at keeping it short and sweet.

This is a bit tougher for me as all I seem to blog about is running so let me give this a go and give you 11 random facts about me that I haven’t shared yet.

1. I have been working for the same company for almost 9 years now (since August 2004).
2. I just bought a complete new set of Golf clubs – I’ve never golfed in my life but I will start this summer!
3. My mom made my dad go through the Burger King drive through when she went into labour with me – this must be why I love fast food! (runat49, I thought you’d like this)
4. I am a hopeless romantic; I am not married but can’t wait to be.
5. I have earned honours in my Bachelor of Commerce Degree majoring in Operations with a minor in Human Resource studies.
6. I earned the President’s National Scholarship, at the University I earned that degree, for all 4 years. Only 5 students earn this award each year.
7. I set extremely high expectations for myself and beat myself down too hard too often.
8. As a kid I hated running but loved all other sports (I saw nothing great in running – boy was I wrong!)
9. I have a tattoo on my right wrist that says LIVE ♢ LEARN ♢ GROW
10. I find it easier to do nice things for others and treat others than to do the same for myself.
11. I am super happy for Danni who recently won The Biggest Loser season 13. I have been cheering for her the entire time.

Now, the other part of this is to answer 11 questions that I have been asked.

1. Who most influenced your life and why?
   My mom – she’s a warrior with insane stength: divorced, raised my brothers and me on her own without child support, had the strength to walk away, … I could go on but I think that paints a good picture. She has taught me to be strong, determined, and to never settle.
2. Why did you start blogging?
   To raise awareness for the charities I am running for, and keep myself dedicated and accountable to running.
3. What do you like most about blogging?
   Receiving Likes, followers, and visitors – this stuff means a lot to me. Also, I am able to be completely honest with my feelings, track my progress, and hold myself accountable for not doing it (because if I don’t blog, that means I didn’t run).
4. What is your favorite movie and why?
   FIGHT CLUB – great plot, the movie was extremely well done (better than the book in my opinion) and we all have another side to us that we just don’t know about.
5. What is your favorite book and why?
   The Outsiders – this book taught me a lot as a child…
6. What was your favorite subject in school?
   No, it wasn’t gym… It was Math! I still love problem solving to this day. It’s kind of my job now. 🙂
7. What is your biggest goal for 2013?
   To complete two 10k races and raise money for good charities!
8. Who do you admire most?
   I admire Terry Fox. A man who ran across Canada after losing a leg to cancer to build awareness deserves admiration from the world. I couldn’t be happier to run for the Terry Fox Foundation in September.
9. What do you consider your best quality?
   I’ve been told I am too kind, I wear my heart out on my sleeve and always go above and beyond for others. I think these are pretty awesome qualities to have.
10. Where would you move if you could move anywhere in the world?
    Jasper (the Rocky Mountains) if I didn’t have to work. I’d snowboard all winter long, and run through the mountains and forests all summer.
11. What makes you happy?
    This one’s easy, RUNNING! But also family, food, snowboarding, and sleep also make me happy. 🙂 .

FInally, I nominate these bloggers that have inspired me, check them out:

runrchatts
diannegrey
runat49 (I know you’ve already been nominated but I wanted people to check your story out too)
lesleycarter
running26point2
fitforayear
thestripedstrawberry
run5kaday

That’s all folks! I hope you enjoyed getting to know me a bit better.

Thanks for reading and constantly supporting me 🙂

rundmach

P.S. I forgot to mention, today, it happened!!! I felt my breathe get steadier as I was running! Still tough holding a conversation but I wasn’t panting! Woooohoooo!