Of Work Outs Working Out

My Friday was cray-cray nonstop. The day before, it was all sunny and mild, so I busted out an unplanned run in the park (and believe me, jumping over snowbanks and frozen puddles is a real workout!) and I ended up coming home late at night, because our rehearsal was (surprise!) 3 hours long instead of 2. So I when I dragged my exhausted ass home, I just collapsed in bed, scared shitless of my super busy Friday.

First up, gym with my lovely friend Vanessa. My desire to chat and socialize only slightly won over my desire to not do anything athletic.

But we ended up chatting and gossiping on the ellipticals, which made the time pass by really quickly. I can't say it was a workout, because I wasn't sweating like a beast (like I usually am after a hard workout), but I definitely had fun. Plus we were those girls - you know the ones who aren't really working super hard, and who are all 'OMG, Greg did WHAT? And how was it?!'. But it was a good start to a Friday.

Following our gym date, I had to do a model-backstage-worthy shower/change of clothes deal before running off to my 3-hour seminar (and that WAS a workout ... putting skinny jeans onto wet legs should be an Olympic sport). The seminar was dull, as expected, which was only exacerbated by my lack of caffeination. Don't worry though - I fixed that problem as soon as was humanly possible. Can't keep me and caffeine apart for longer than a day - we were just meant to be!

That would be my reaction too, Allie. Me too.

Post seminar, I had a lab meeting, but also somehow managed to squeeze in a skype date in between; all I know is that I was VERY hungry by that point, and so my labmates had to deal with me eating my tuna-and-egg-and-onion salad (a very pleasant combination for me, but usually not so much for the people around me) in the middle of describing my research.

And then it was time for another class (ah, darkened lecture rooms, how you make my eyes heavy and prone to closing ... leading to unexpected naps during class). You would think that would be a good end to a busy day, but no! Lo and behold, I had to run home to grab dinner before my friend Jill and I traipsed over to my hot yoga studio for an evening Karma class.

The Karma class is by donation (aka 5$), so it is always uber busy. For our 1.5 hour class, they filled the room to capacity - i.e. 100 PEOPLE! That means basically that it's mat-to-mat, and you get really acquainted with your neighbour's breathing and sweating patterns.

So yes, less than ideal - but it was seriously the best practice I have had ... EVER! The instructor was great and the poses seemed to flow and throughout the whole thing, I just felt really in tune with myself and with the poses. There were some poses where I recognized for the first time just how the parts of me were supposed to fit together and how I was supposed to feel. In any case, it was magical. And I was happy to share it with a friend.

Of course then I came home and collapsed in a pile of exhausted wet-noodle-like limbs. Going out on Friday? Pfsssshh. As if. All the cool kids around in bed and asleep by 10pm.

Of Wild Wind and Manic Photography

I have 2 more days left in mild-weather-land, so I figure, I've got to get in as many runs as possible before I go back to freezing my behind in Montreal. So I got all dressed and out the door without even checking the weather. Because how bad could it be?

Well, technically, it wasn't that bad. If you like running into gale-force winds that is. (Okay fine, they're not technically gale-force, but it sure FELT like it.) Now Richmond is as flat as a pancake (so no hills to hide behind) and I also took the *scenic* route (our version of scenic includes rundown shacks by the dyke, cabbage fields and almost being run off the road by giant trucks) - in any case, this all meant that I was almost running at a standstill for about half the run due to the wind. But then the last half, the wind was at my back and I jolly-ly sprinted home.

 

Okay, there were some pretty parts too.

 

I admit, I totally run faster and look more intense when there's people around. I see a car driving by and I'm all 'Nike-commercial-ready'. And then when it passes, I go back to plodding along. Whatever, haters gonna hate.

I am also crazy jealous of people with awesome running photos. And by that, I mean the quasi-professional photos of them running and looking all happy and fabulous. My race photos are horrendous because the race photographers somehow manage to catch me at the exact time I hit the wall/cough/collapse in a heap (not attractive poses, if you were wondering). And since I have yet to rope someone into being my personal running photographer (job's open if you are willing to be paid in bad jokes and sarcasm!), I have to make do on my own ... badly.

I'm obviously not going to take a clunky camera with me, but with my iPod, I'm never sure if I hit the button or not, so I end up manically punching the device with my fingers and making weird faces. Also, I can never capture more than my head anyway; now it's of course the best looking head ever, but I have WAY too many 'this-is-my-head-running' or 'this-is-my-head-after-a-run' photos. What I need are some epic, moving, 'this-is-me-hauling-my-ass-up-a-giant-hill' photos or 'this-is-me-looking-like-a-supermodel-running-photos' (although we might have to use Photoshop for the last one ...

... A lot.)

This is Actually a Fitness Blog

Back to your regular fitness coverage.

Inspired by the slew of pink workout tops I bought yesterday, I finally dragged my sorry ass to the gym. It was still pouring outside, and I'm a pansy, so to the treadmill I went.

It was ... fine. I wouldn't say that I've lost very much running fitness, but we all know the treadmill isn't the jolliest of places. The only one available (at 9pm, no less) was not facing a TV, so I could only stare at my reflection in the window for the time I was chugging along. And as gorgeous and fascinating as my reflection is, it's not quite as entertaining after the first 10 minutes. So I zoned out for a bit (hmm, I need new sports bra ... and my shirt is riding up ... and that guy behind me looks like Ben Stiller in the Zoolander, complete with the headband ... that was a very funny movie ... he wore a  red leather suits ... men in suits ... I should go clubbing with men in suits ... but I like to sleep ... I want to go to bed right now ... but no, I have to run ... hmm, I need a new sports bra ...). Imagine about 30 minutes worth of that.

• 4.5 miles, 37:58, 8:26 pace

Miles in the bank my friends, miles in the bank. Official training (with a fancy Excel schedule and clean meals in tupperware containers and piles of workout-related laundry) starts next week.