Thursday, March 27, 2008

Lazy me...

Today I could have gone for a 4 mile run with Jessica but of course I still haven't recovered from the locker clean up. What do you mean.... well they warned us that they will clean up the locker room at the gym during the week end and they would throw away everything that was there. Of course I completely forgot to retrieve my belongings so when I strolled in on tuesday to change for my run I realized that I didn't have a towel nor deodorant nor soap.... I still ran and took a shower but toweled with the shirt I ran in.

Today we were supposed to go replace 6 of our 8 tires today but of course we need an appointment so that it could be done during lunch time... So here I am no errands and a planned run... But no I didn't feel like toweling with my shirt again and since I didn't have lunch I basically wimped out of my run ;( But then as I was driving back from Rubios with my two steak tacos with chipotle sauce on the side my new favorite I saw Jessica running and felt like a big slob!!!! I will resume my workout next week... Monday tires hehehe Tuesday run Wednesday Yoga Thursday break/run Friday run/break

But before that I will pack a clean towel and all the needed attire to go for a short run tomorrow ; )

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Busy with nothing

I haven't posted anything in the past 10 days but thinking back we haven't done much but yet we are so busy busy.
We just came back from Montana where we spent a few days at my in laws. The kids had fun in the snow and playing with the dogs.
It is something else. Bryan is always mad at me because when I go there or other place like it and I feel like we should live in a place where we could be more in tune with nature. I just love that feeling of peace, but knowing me it would only last so long right. Maybe it just brings back childhood memory when we were camping with my parents.

Besides that nothing really exciting, I haven't exercized much at all no time and I feel it next week I'm starting again and it is going to hurt!

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Yoga & Running

I know I know for those of you who know me I've always said that yoga was too slow for me. Moreover since I'm not really flexible I don't really like stretching.
My friend Jessica who has been a total motivation in the exercise department lately has been dragging me to the yoga classes that we have onsite at work.
I am getting addicted. It is a more strenuous form of yoga and I can see myself getting addicted to power yoga.... Anyways I have been enjoying pushing myself and I hope to be able to continue yoga and get better at it. My goals are to be able to synchronize my breathing better with the movements and to work on the following poses: Crow and headstand ultimately I would like to be able to do a forearm stand and a peacock.... that's just because I would love to solve the problems caused by my scatter brain hehehe.

This week was a slow running week. Maia didn't sleep well the night of monday through tuesday hence we had a really rough night and on tuesday I just didn't feel like running. I went to yoga instead. On wednesday I ran a little over 3 miles on the treadmill at a good 6.1 m/h pace playing with speed a little, thursday I went to yoga again and Friday I slacked off.
Today I didn't really feel like running but I knew I had to so I put my sneakers on and went for a run I didn't feel too bad so I tried a new route and my goal was to run about 4 miles and I DID IT!!!! I have a great 4.7 miles run at a 10 min/mile pace!!!!! I didn't stop to walk I had to wait very little for red lights.
The only thing is that my shoes were probably tied a little tight and my left knee bugged me.... I hope I can solve this by stretching.

Although my mileage this week isn't as good as my previous week it is the first time I run more than 3 miles outdoor and feel great!!!!! and I only ran twice... Next week will also be a slow week since we are going to Montana

However now I feel really tired and I am going to crash! Poor Bryan....

Thoughts on good food.

I love to cook for my family, friends and even myself. I try to cook as much as I can but some weeks I'm just tired and could eat pasta every evening.
This past week we had friends over twice and I have missed having people over for dinner. I find it an occasion to cook a full meal not only the entrees which is what I usually do. We would have with Bryan lasagna his favorite dish but no salad nor dessert.

On thursday we had Jessica and her boyfrien Ryan, I made pork tenderloin with a mustard sauce I found the recipe on Williamsonoma, a salad and lava cakes with poach pears. I feel bad because I usually cook a lot while the guest are here. Luckily my kitchen is really friendly and we can socialize while cooking which I totally love.
Tonight we have a couple of friends that we mainly met at the park with their two kids.... I made lasagna and Bryan made chocolate chip cookies yum!

I really do love food and good meals and I do make an effort to cook most of the time. Bryan left last august for India and even when I'm bymyself I would cook soups from scratch I just like good food.

middle life crisis....

I know I know how can you have a middle life crisis at 33!!!! So maybe it is not a middle life crisis maybe I am a bit sad because I'm realizing I'm not so young any more but I still feel very young.
When I look at my son I see a little boy when yesterday he was a toddler what happen to time. He can recognizes songs on the radio not the wiggles but Maroon 5, Travis, Linkin park.
I love my life I have a great life. I have a great family, I have been very happily married for the past 8 years, I have two wonderful kids, a great job.
But for some reasons I do feel like I should make more money, that I haven't reached where I should be for my degrees etc... Why can't I just be happy why do I always have to feel like I have succeeded.
Yeah life took some unexpected turns... I never quite realize that a 3 month internship in the US (I'm french) would mold my future and it isn't always easy to be an immigrant to be far from a very close family.
But hey that's life and that is what makes me ambitious and wanting more out of life always more. I just have to balance wanting more but also take time to appreciate what I have accomplished....

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Running week...

I thought I could jump right into a 10 weeks training for a half marathon after running 2-6 miles a week not even that regularly shows you how much of a fool I am... But hey I thought I can do it! But my body is screaming at me what are you doing to me. I have been passing out on my couch at 9:45pm when I used to be up until 11:30....

So I am taking a step back which isn't easy for me without feeling like I'm failing and decided to actually increase my mileage gradually...

This week I did Tuesday the week 3 interval training which as way easier than I expected. I started by jogging for 9 minutes at 5.6 mph, did the 3*1600 at 6.5mph with 2 min recovery jog at 5.7 then finished with 5 min jog at 5.9mph

On tuesday I went running with Jess at work outdoors for a 4 mile tempo run @6.1mph which wasn't tempo at all (5.9 mpg) and a little shorter 3.9 miles we made a wrong turn. It was a hard run it was warm and I was tired and had to stop a little.
Finally today I did my "long run" which turned into another 3.5 mile loop because after gardening I didn't have the energy. However I tackled Bryan's loop which is hills for the first half the run and then down hill.... this was a good tempo run at 6.2 mph.

So I didn't run a long run again this week end and my tuesday tempo run was a little sluggish so what... it will take me more than 10 weeks to train to be able to run 12 miles but I did increase my mileage this week and did run 3 times... which is what is important for me at this point.
Do I wish that I could breeze through a 6 mile run yes no doubt and yes I'm bummed because I can't but maybe if I continue like that will I be able to do that in a few weeks...

At this time fitting these 3 runs and yoga into my busy schedule isn't easy and trust me this afternoon I wanted to go lay down instead of charging up hill!

Like everything else running long distance is hard takes practice and time. Luckily for me I do enjoy running so I try to keep it enjoyable while pushing my limits a little.

This whole post is an argument with myself to make me realize that it is actually hard to run more than 4 miles and that it will take time!!!!

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Bragging time...

Someone just stopped by my cub and admire my little elephant drawing so I showed off my other water colors and then decided to brag even a little more and post them....
Elephant named pinnochio.... Can't you tell he is lying his trunk is too long!

This is my balding lion, he has a receiding hairline poor old lion ....

Beach scene...

I believe that I was inspired my paintings or pictures... I still have to learn to paint from what I see or actual pictures.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Hmmmm bed

I have been so tired lately... I crash at 10-10:30pm every evening when I used to be able to last until at least 11-11:30pm. The kids are waking up at night again not many times but still. Maybe the running is a little hard on my body and I've been getting a little sick. Nothing major but my throat is a little scratchy and my nose a little stuffy. Any how it is just 10pm and I can barely keep my eyes open....

Today I chickened out and went for an easy 3.4 mile run eventhough it wasn't a 5 miles like I hoped for I increased my mileage compared to last week and 3.4 aren't so bad any longer. I haven't uploaded my run yet but I think I had a good pace.

Anyways before falling asleep on my keyboard I'm going to put away some laundry and crash so I can tackle this week...

Of course we had loads of chores to do such as putting back the curtain to give a little privacy to our guest when they are visiting, cleaning up the guest bathroom, spraying round up on the weeds in the front yard and cleaning up downstairs...
I only managed the cleaning, laundry and grocery shopping....