Photo by bL

Not resolutions. Just looking ahead.

I’m going to lose the last 20 lbs once and and for all. Or decide that I weigh what I weigh, and move on.

Walk two half-marathons – the Chilly Half in March and the Toronto Women’s at the end of May. And then retire from half-marathon walking.

Find another activity to keep me exercising. Or determine that I need to go to the gym and workout regularly.

Read more novels.

Spend less time in the car.

Spend more time with my family.

Make more home-cooked meals.

Try to be in the moment.

Spend less.

Consume less.

Declutter my home.

Focus. Focus on the conversation I’m having. Focus on the task I’m doing. Focus on what I’m reading. Focus on the person I’m with. s.e., be in the moment.

Word for 2011. Focus.

Photo by tamaki

I’m so stuck. I haven’t gone back to the gym to do my conditioning workouts. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that I started the next half-marathon training last night. Me, my sister, and one other woman. And the trainer. Oh, well. At least I’m doing it. Again.

I am hoping that the organized walking will help me get going. Exercise is supposed to help mentally, right?

Gotta find my way out of the mud.

Photo by Action Sports International

More training. More walking. More goals. Staying active.

Now that I’ve figured out how poorly I actually performed relative to how I thought I’d do, I want to improve my time.

This is the goal: to walk a consistent 8 minute 45 second pace over a half-marathon of 21.1km in the Toronto Women’s Half-Marathon on Sunday, May 29, 2011.

This will mean improving my speed of course, but also my strength and stamina. In order to do that I’ll have to make sure that I participate in speed and strength training during the RR clinics, and it means going back to the gym for early morning workouts.

I’ve signed up for three walking events.

1. The 26th Annual Resolution 5K Run/Walk on Sunday, December 26, 2010 at Exhibition Place.
2. The Chilly Half-Marathon & Frosty 5k on Sunday, March 6, 2011 in Burlington.
3. Toronto Women’s Half-Marathon on Sunday, May 29, 2011 in Sunnybrook Park

I’ve also signed up for another RR Clinic. It’ll either begin October 25 or November 2; this depends if the RR nearest to me will have enough participants. If they don’t I’ll start a week later at the same spot as my first clinic.

As for the gym – I’ve just got to give myself a kick and get back on track.

And I’m really pleased that my sister will also be training for the walks. We’ve signed up for all the same training and walks. Yeah!

Scotiabank Waterfront Half-marathon Sep 26 2010

I finished in 3:23:51. My goal was to finish before the course closed at the 3:40 mark.

Through out the training what I really wanted to do was pick up speed. And though I did pick up some speed in the last few months, I wanted to do better.

If I decide to do another half-marathon, I know how I’d train differently.

The experience was interesting. I enjoyed watching people on the course. I enjoyed the interaction amongst the walkers and runners. I enjoyed the people and events at the water stations.

And I was chuffed to find brooke, Doug and Alnoor greeting me at the finish. That felt really good. In addition to the medal, brooke gave me a special one. It’s in the photo, on the yellow shirt.

And I had a celebratory meal with my sister and family finishing off with a yummy chocolate cake.

I recovered reasonably well. My muscles were a bit sore during the day, with the tops of my feet the sorest spots. I admit I’m not inclined to go on a long walk just yet.

My next physical challenge? I haven’t figured it out yet. Any ideas?

Photo by lemonfridge

I’m a counter.

I’m training to walk the half-marathon, and in that process I count lots of different things. Here’s a small sampling:

• how often do I have to train each week
• how far do I have to walk each time I train
• how long does my walk take
• what was my pace
• what pace do I need to complete the half-marathon walk in 3hr 40min

Then if I’m watching what I eat, I count:

• have I had enough protein for today
• how much chicken should I eat
• did I have enough water
• how much milk should I drink
• did I have enough fruit
• how many servings of vegetables did I have
• is that too much rice
• can I fit that cookie in today (editor’s note: the answer to this is almost always yes, and more than one cookie will fit, also)
• did I have enough fibre

On my driving trips, it’s:

• how far is my destination
• when should I start from home to get through the border at a non-peak time
• how much money will I need for gas
• how much money for food

You get the idea. My life seems to be a numbers game. I think it provides comfort, stability, and order.

I believe this number stuff is true for everybody, I’m just dwelling on it. Probably because I’m in the count-down to the half-marathon walk.

• four more sleeps
• two more short training walks
• one trip to pick up the race day stuff

And then 21.0975 km (or 13.1093787 miles) to the finish line.

other helen with headphones

I use my hours and hours of walking to listen to podcasts and audiobooks. Here’s what I’ve listened to lately.

For technie news I listen to CBC’s Spark with Nora Young. Actually, I subscribe to the Spark Plus podcast. It has the full broadcast of the weekly show. And it has the unedited version of the guest interviews. I’ve followed Nora from Definitely Not the Opera. She’s got a great radio voice, and the topics are current, lively, and thought provoking.

I used to listen to TVO’s Search Engine with Jessie Brown (he used to be on CBC). His interviews are also right-on when it comes to current topics, often with a political bend to them. But, I do not enjoy his strident voice and his manner of speaking. He’s currently not on my playlist, but I do pay attention to what he’s talking about and may listen to him again.

For current topics, I listen to Fresh Air with Terry Gross. This is from WHYY, an NPR station serving the Greater Philadelphia area. It’s obviously got a very USA-focus, and this is especially true when it has political interviews. But their music, book, and entertainment interviews are the best. I’ve bought and read countless books after I’ve listened to the author interviews, watched TV programs and movies after listening to their reviewers, and I’ve listened to music I would not have found on my own after hearing them on Fresh Air. If you’ve got an iPad there’s a great NPR app I also heartily recommend.

For my spiritual hit, I listen to CBC’s Tapestry with Mary Hynes. The topics aren’t always about formal religion – the most recent was on losing one’s faith. Mary is sometimes a bit breathless and over-the-top laudatory, and still manages to conduct a good interview.

I get all my audiobooks from Audible.com. I’ve had a subscription with them for almost eight years. Sometimes I get so caught up in what I’m listening to, that I keep listening even after I’ve finished walking. Or if I’m listening in the car, I’ll sit there at the end of the journey just to listen a bit more. Sometimes I purchase an audiobook because I’ve heard it on Fresh Air, or I’ve read a review of the book in the newspaper. Sometimes, I just go trolling and find something from an author I like, and haven’t read. There was a time where I’d listen to anything read by a particular actor. Right now I’m listening to Seeking Peace: Chronicles of the Worst Buddhist in the World, by Mary Pipher. I heard her interviewed on Tapestry, and enjoyed that interview. I’m liking the audiobook, too.

There’s more, too: Vox Tablet, Spacing Radio, and CBC’s Q with Jian Ghomeshi.

Listening to these podcasts and audiobooks help the minutes and hours melt away when I’m walking.

Do you have any favourites?

What I did appreciate this time more than the other shows was the sheer athleticism of the performers. Now that I’ve done a very little bit of training, I think I’ve gained an appreciation of the HUGE amount of work the Cirque performers must put in to do the work they do many times a week. The shows are physically demanding, and each performer made it look effortless, polished, and beautiful.

And, of course, as this blog is about weight and size. Two stories.

The first is that I fit comfortably in the seat. I know that a little while ago I would have either just barely been able to squeeze into the seat, or at some points in the past not fit at all.

The second story is about the woman seating on my left. She and her partner just barely fit into their seats. She kinda sat on my seat. I then moved towards brooke’s seat, and then brooke moved very slightly to her right. The upshot was, that the woman sitting to brooke’s right got up and moved into the row behind us to be more comfortable. This is exactly the kind of seat shifting shenanigans I would have instigated myself. I’m thankful it wasn’t me this time – and I had a great deal of empathy for the woman who started the musical chairs. I couldn’t tell whether she noticed.

I didn’t get a lot of walking in during this trip. We were away four days and it rained almost nonstop for three days. The rain isn’t an excuse, I know. But that’s what happened.

I am a bit concerned that I haven’t trained enough for the walk that’s four weeks and three days away to ensure I finish in the time I originally hoped. However, I’m still convinced I’ll finish before the course closes. I am still walking – I did 13.5km today, and I’ve planned a bit more than 12km tomorrow. There’s also the usual LSD on Sunday. I’m going to continue to plod away. More like the turtle than the rabbit.

I did a 10.2km walk with my half-marathon training group. I walked with a couple of women with whom I keep the same pace. We each exclaimed that we felt we were walking slowly, and not at our usual speed. Each of the others had done quite a bit of walking yesterday and last week. I had done nothing.

The curious thing was that though we felt we were walking slowly, we actually did quite a good pace and finished in just over an hour and a half. That’s a bit slower pace than I would want for the half-marathon, but not as slow as I felt I was going.

I was most definitely pooped afterwards though, and very stiff. The two weeks of very light walking didn’t keep my fitness level up. Oh, well. I have nine weeks to race day. And I know I’ll be able to improve my speed.

As for the food bit … always the most difficult aspect of my wellness. I could have done a lot better making food choices while I was away, but at the same time I could have done a whole lot worse. The unusual blip for me though, was this – I had an alcoholic beverage, and sometimes two, everyday for two weeks. I have never, ever done that. I didn’t regret it for a moment, and I haven’t had one since I returned. It was just a curiousity for me.

Getting back on my path, and getting back to the gym tomorrow morning. Oy! I can feel the pain already.

I need to figure out how to turn the robot part of me on so that I’ll continue to do my morning workouts, and make the correct food choices. I’m doing the half-marathon walking training partly because there’s a group involved, so I haven’t blown that activity off. I know that it may seem that if I just worked with a trainer again for the morning workouts I’d go, but I don’t think so. At least I’m not ready to find another trainer.

Sometimes the exercise feels like work I don’t like. And sometimes it feels like work I do like. I feel so much better in my body when I incorporate the activity and the correct food choices. Yet, somehow, I can sabotage myself and not do the activities and make the right choices.

Complain, complain.

Let’s look on the bright side … o.k. I’m off on another trip in the next couple of days. Exeter-Yeovil-London-Paris-Barcelona, with most of the time in Yeovil and Barcelona. I’m very much looking forward to it. I’ll be able to continue my walking for sure, and I’ll actually have a good excuse for neglecting the gym workouts.

I know the button to turn on the correct responses is somewhere in me.

The hard part – I’m thinking doing the uphill walking will be hard – begins the week I’m in Barcelona. Darn. I’ll try to do it on my own the weekend after I get back, and then do it with the group from then on. I’m also thinking that even if I missed one of these hard sessions, no biggie. What might be a little difficult while away is any big walks to keep my weekly mileage up. Again, I’ll do what I can, and not stress about it.

The training is given by The Running Room/The Walking Room. There are about 20 people in the group – all women. Some women have already done a half-marathon, or a full marathon. They’re doing the training again, well, for the training I suppose. We meet three times a week, and then are expected to do some walking on our own to make sure we get the mileage in that our coach has outlined for the week.

We were asked to set some goals for ourselves. I have two easy ones – at least easy to think of, that is. The first is to finish the half-marathon in 3 hours. The second is lose 20lbs by the end of the year. Easy to say – hard to do. I’m more confident in finishing the half-marathon in 3 hours, then in the weight loss. Maybe the former will help the latter. I hope so.

I know that I need to keep my activity level up, so committing to the training is important. Exercise seems to be the key for any weight loss for me, even more than the eating.

Got to go put my walking shoes on to begin week 2.