Get Fit Chicks!

For those of you who have been following Get Fit Chicks, you will know that I recently got married. The wedding was a big motivator for me since I, a) wanted to look my best and b) had a specific deadline to accomplish my goals. So, how did I do?

I am proud to report that I feel I accomplished my goals. I got in shape and felt good and strong for the wedding day. It was a nice feeling as I put on my wedding dress

The deadline was also a great motivator because I couldn’t push things off. It added quite a bit of stress since I had so much to do leading up to the wedding that finding time to workout was a challenge. (You may have noticed the drop off in my posts, sorry about that!) One of the “compromises” I did to ensure I got some exercise was that I chose to run for 20-30 minutes instead of taking a little more than an hour to do a workout routine. I found that worked very well for me.

So, now what? I have to say now that the wedding is over I’m trying to find new goals to work towards. One activity I really want to do is learn how to ski. I know, I know, I live in Vancouver, British Columbia with so many mountains surrounding me and I’m not a regular skier? It’s crazy but true. I’m so very lucky to have friends who know how to ski and who have taught skiing (couldn’t have planned it better, right?), one of whom is Stacey. I look forward to a new challenge and adventure this winter!

But, I want more. I can’t leave it at one goal. I’m going to find a few more fun things to do. I’ll keep you posted!

What are your goals for the rest of the summer and into the fall?

Yesterday was my full body workout day with Devin…we started the workout with “jump-ups” usually my favourite but my head kept getting in the way yesterday and it took me FOREVER to get through them. Will have to improve on that next week. The rest of the workout was better..my pull ups were a bit stronger and I’m getting better and doing a full range of motion on the squats. Lots of room to improve but overall it was pretty good.

After the workout was my 50k bike ride (to be done as speed work). I went out on one of my favourite routes – out to UBC and back. Getting there can be frustrating – lots of traffic lights to break up the pace but once I was down in Kits it was great..there is a good hill in the middle and then lots of flats for speed work. On the way back I met up with two guys on road bikes who were challanging each other to a race down the hill…they looked at me and said “we can’t let this girl beat us!” soooo never one to back away from a challenge I flew down the hill. They beat me down but I blew by them on the flats. We met up again at the next stoplight and rode together – sprinting – until they had to turn off. Made my ride MUCH more fun and kept the challenge up. Love meeting up with people on training rides!

Today is a run day – it’s going to be HOT out but should be fun.

but it was a pretty great ride! Today I set out to do the bike ride I was SUPPOSED to do last week – leaving from my house and biking to the top of Cypress Mountain and back.

Last week I let my brain get the better of me and talked myself out of the ride – I just didn’t think I was ready. I was wrong. So this was the week to try it for the first time, and it was great! The total distance was 75km which is my longest ride so far. The first 36 was almost all climbing…small hills and inclines from my house to the base of the mountain and then of course a BIG climb to get to the top. Even still the ride to the base had me nice and warmed up and I ended up getting to the top of the hill one minute faster than I had the last time I rode it.

There were a TON of road bikes riding up which was nice for pace setting and then once we got up there (I was riding with my roommate) the descent felt SO good (and much warmer than the time I did it in the rain!) I was a bit fatigued by the time I got to the last small climb on the way back home but overall I was surprised how good I felt. It was a long ride for sure but I wasn’t tired and my legs were in pretty good shape considering. Now I can’t wait to do it again! Next time it’ll be Seymour. Bring on the climbs!

I was having a conversation with a couple of my favourite workout buddies at the gym the other day and we all agreed that summer is a REALLY tough time to stick to diet plans. Working out – not a problem – the motivation to keep the bikini body combined with beautiful days for running, cycling, climbing, etc. outside keeps us going but it’s the diet that’s the hard part. What is it about summer that seems to bring out tempting food everywhere? BBQs, patio’s, vacations, etc. all combine to mess with our diets. I’ve been guilty of this as well, vacation brain takes over and I’ll have “oh, just one bite of ice cream” or “just one cookie” and before you know it you’re worried your shorts won’t fit anymore! The ridiculous thing is that I really don’t even enjoy these “cheats” I feel MUCH better when I’m eating clean and I enjoy my activities (especailly running) so much more! So that’s it – it’s time to really focus on the diet and making sure it’s on track and supporting my workouts! I’ll keep you posted on how that’s going.

That said I had a REALLY great weight workout yesterday with Caroline and Devin. It was a full body so we went through bosu lunges with shoulder press, bosu squats with a bar, incline sit-ups holding a plate, cross crunches holding a plate, pull ups, hamstring curls, single leg dead lifts on the bosu, push ups with toes on the bosu (then on the floor), side twists and finally ended the workout with some “jump-ups” (my absolute favourite!) It felt really great. Some biking afterwards to burn out a bit of cardio and that was it.

Today’s workout is a 10k race-pace run and some intervals. It’s nice and sunny out but not TOO hot so it should be great!

Lately quite a few friends of getfitchicks.com have set some fantastic fitness goals and keeping up with them is keeping me motivated too – there is nothing like hearing about someone else’s goals, training program, highs and lows to keep you going in your own training.

First up: AndreaClaire – winner of the “what motivates you?” challenge that we posted up several months ago. Andrea has a bucket list that she has been working towards – most notably to do the Chilkoot trail – but recently to train for the Victoria half marathon! She has agreed to do some guest posts for getfitchicks.com updating us on how her training is going, the challenges and the rewards as she gets ready for the race in October. Watch for posts coming soon! Andrea also blogs about her adventures at Chilkootchubby.

Next up: Sarah – Sarah plays on our “Hit and Miss” ball team with Caroline and I. She’s always been a great motivator and super high energy and now she’s decided to train for the Disney half marathon with her husband Brand and friend. The runners blog about their training at “Piraterunners” – it’s an entertaining and motivating site, well worth checking out!

So now I’d like to know who else out there is training for something special and telling the world about it? Share your stories or your links here – we’d love to see how you’re doing!

Today was my hill training ride…my program has me scheduled to do a three hour ride on Sunday’s including one of the local mountains. For the last few weeks I have been doing a mountain ride every weekend – but JUST the mountain – as in I would drive there, ride the mountain and then drive back. That alone was a tough ride – only an hour and 10 minutes but each of those minutes was hard work.

The new program has me doing the mountain but adding in 2 additional hours of riding. That could take the form of doing the mountain twice, riding to and from the mountain instead of driving or adding some distance before or after (eventually the goal is to do BOTH in one ride and then go for the triple crown).

Unfortunately today my brain got in the way (I HATE that!) I just didn’t know if I had it in me to do the ride out and back as well as up the mountain…so instead I took it down a notch and decided to ride to SFU hill (Burnaby Mountain), up and back. This is a tough ride too – approximately 40kms with 5km being up a mountain (the mountain last weekend was 17km up) but not NEARLY as tough as a real mountain ride would be.

In the end it was a good ride – did it in 1:33 with an average pace of 22.5kms (a few stoplight got in the way taking my speed down but overall not TOO bad). But as soon as I got onto the hill I knew I should have done the mountain ride. I DO have it in me – I underestimated my fitness. The brain is a powerful thing – it can push you through the toughest of workouts or it can hold you back – talking you out of something you KNOW you can do.

Today was I day I let my brain get in the way – I’m going to have to train on mental toughness – but next week I’m going to do that mountain ride and I’m not going to doubt my ability to do it. Lessons learned.

I have been VERY negligent about updating the blog lately! Seems that’s what happens when you go on vacation. I am now back to reality and a new routine though – the reality part isn’t that great but I’m VERY excited about the new program. Devin put a lot of work into balancing the various activities that I love to do and keeping me outside as much as possible.

More on that in a minute…first up I have to take a moment to say a HUGE congratulations to Caroline on her wedding (part of the reason I have been away!) She and her fiance got married in a beautiful outdoor ceremony on the sunshine coast. The views were specatcular, the company was fantastic and the food pretty amazing (all the more reason to get cracking on the new program!) I’m hoping Caroline will share some of the pictures when she has them…she was stunning. Overall it was a great few days on the sunshine coast!

The new program:

Monday: Climb – 30 minutes (laps, up and down), work on projects
Tuesday: Full body weight train, 50km/2 hour bike
Wednesday: 10K run at race pace, intervals (15-20 minutes), climb: campus board workout
Thursday: Triceps/core/shoulder workout
Friday: Hill repeats (bike or run)
Saturday: LSD run (20kish)
Sunday: 3 hour bike including a local mountain

There it is – I’m pretty excited about it!

Changing it up in two ways…

I bought a kick boxing DVD to try. I did a kick boxing boot camp last summer with my sister and I loved it. Since I’m stuck at home at night, I thought I’d try to do something other than yoga.

The DVD I bought has a warm up and cool down and then six or seven intervals that have two sets of four exercises each. I decided I better take it slow and just did the warm up, two sets of intervals and the cool down. Good thing I decided to go slow. My legs were very very sore today! But tonight I’m going to try to do three intervals and the warm up and cool down.

The other change was yoga today. I was really looking forward to it. Because of this, that, and the other thing, I ended up working at home last week so there was no yoga, so it’s been a week and a half since I’d been to a yoga class (which is many times better than a video) and my body wanted yoga. And I was sore.

Our usual Tuesday instructor was away, but the sub was amazing! I’d love to have her all the time and I like the Tuesday instructor. The sub taught a more flow style of yoga and it was challenging in new ways. My arms will be sore tomorrow. I loved her style and her voice and everything about this class. I know it was one of the best yoga classes I’ve been to in a while.

Change is a good thing.

Really!

I have spent the last 10 days on vacation – first in Comox for Canada day, then over to Crescent beach for a week and as I type this I am sitting on a patio on the sunshine coast watching waves crash in on the ocean – it’s pretty stunning!

I’m over on the sunshine coast because Getfitchicks blogger Caroline is getting married here today! whoohoo! The weather is perfect and the scenery stunning so it should be a great day!

Fitness wise I am hoping to get a run in shortly after I finish writing this…I have some duties to attend to starting at approximately 12:30 pm but other than that I have some free time, since there is no gym and my bike isn’t here a run seems like a good choice of activity. Even if it’s just a short one it will be nice to move – especially since last nights dinner can’t be qualified as low-fat!

It’s been a pretty active vacation so far though – running and biking at Crescent beach and biking Mount Washington on the island. I also got a GREAT ride in yesterday before we caught the ferry – probably my best ever, speed was great – all of those mountain climbs are paying off! I have to admit I’m looking forward to getting back into my groove though. Vacations are great but so is “real life”.

Stay tuned for more regular updates now that I’m connected again!

I haven’t been around much this week because I’m on vacation at the beach – and what a perfect week for it! It’s the hottest week we’ve had so far this week and my competing tan lines (from my running shirt, bikini and sundress) tell me that I’ve been getting some sun.

I’ve been a bit relaxed when it’s come to workouts – getting a solid one in every day but not quite the level I would have from home. But everything has been outdoors for the most part which is fantastic! Every morning I ride up a big hill to get the newspaper which is a great wake up then I usually either run or go for a good bike ride that day as well. Tuesday was a training day so I was back in the city for weight training with Devin (and my glutes are STILL sore!) but otherwise it’s all been outside. Today is another weight training day so I’ll pop into the local gym for a short workout but will go for a bike ride for the cardio. It’s a pretty nice way to spend the day!

I have my new workout program which has me doing a lot of climbing, good cardio (especially on the bike) and some speed work while I’m running – but less distance at the moment. I’m pretty excited to be working on that.

Off now to enjoy the sun…a few more days here and then it’s off to go to Caroline’s wedding! Then it will be back to life as normal. (or as normal as life ever is!) Stay tuned!