May Workouts - Or Lack Thereof

Right at the beginning of the month I wound up hurting myself, so it's been a slow month for exercise. Part way through I started tracking my gardening time in lieu of workouts, just so I'd have some activity to show. I know there were more gardening sessions that happened before I started keeping track. It has taken longer than I expected for my foot to start to feel normal - I'm not sure I'm completely there yet, but hopefully I'm close.

May 31: Sun Salutations Flow #1[20 mins] + 2 hours in the garden.
May 30: Easy Walk[20 mins]
May 28: Yoga For Runners #1[20 mins]
May 26: Sun Salutations Flow #1[20 mins]
May 24: Spring cleaned the master bedroom
May 23: All afternoon in the garden
May 22: 2 hours in the garden
May 20: 90 minutes in the garden
May 16: 90 minutes in the garden
May 13: Easy Walk[45 mins]
May 07: Crunch Pick Your Spot Pilates[40 mins]
May 05: 30 Day Shred - Level 1 + Gentle Hatha Yoga #1[40 mins]
May 03: Treadmill walk[45 mins]
May 02: 30 Day Shred - Level 1[20 mins]
May 01: Treadmill walk[90 mins]

Saturday in the Garden

Saturday was cooler, but still nice; a perfect day for working outdoors actually. In the morning I went grocery shopping and made my second Garden Center run of the season - undoubtedly not my last. Once I got home, got the groceries put away and had a snack, I hit the yard.

First thing: I planted flowers in the garden by the driveway. Knowing me, I will end up adding a few more plants but I feel better now that there is some colour there.



Once I finished with the front, I joined the Fabulous Felines in the fenced in portion of the yard.

I picked up a new container at the garden center and George had to check it out.





And here is Fred getting his catnip fix.





That was it for photos on Saturday. I was a busy bee all afternoon, and into early evening. I was pooped by the time I quit for the day. But also satisfied. I've been waiting to have a day like this, where I could work away and not have to rush off to something else.

Most likely I would have been out there again yesterday, had it not been a damp, dreary day. So I spent the day doing some much needed spring cleaning instead.

Today is sunny, but there is a wild wind out there so I'm taking the evening off.

Happy Friday!

The weather has been getting warmer and warmer all week. Today it felt like summer. So beautiful out! Husband actually had the day off, lucky duck! He and the cats had a very enjoyable day - he told me the cats spent most of the day snoozing in the garden. If we'd both been at work, they would have been stuck in the house.

Shortly after I got home, Husband left. He's off to play computer games with his friends for the evening. So I was left to my own devices.

Table for one!



Some people crack a cold beer on a sunny Friday, I reach for a Coke.

I tried something new for dinner tonight.



Husband was not exactly thrilled when I brought this home from the store, but I figured I could have this while he was having steak (which I'm not crazy about). Or, on a night like tonight when I'm on my own.



We had no fresh produce left in the house. I thought about stopping at the store after work, but I really just wanted to get home. We did have some frozen broccoli in the the freezer, so I threw it in some foil with a sliced onion and topped it with some Lemon Pepper Seasoning and olive oil.

I got a little carried away by the beautful day and was picturing a relaxing dinner sitting out on the deck.

I forgot about the cats.

They had disappeared out into the yard soon after I got home, but eventually George showed up in the kitchen, complaining at being inside while I was out on the deck. So I put him in his harness and brought him out with me.



He spent a lot of time sniffing the air; I think he could smell my trout cooking.

Looks good doesn't it?



Everything got a squeeze of lemon. The trout smelled and tasted very much like my favorite smoked salmon (from Lord's Seafood in the Saint John City Market), so I was happy.

Of course, as soon as I put down my plate, Fred showed up at the patio door and I had to bring him out as well. Both cats got bits of my trout and for a while we were all happy.

However, as soon as Fred decided he'd had enough of my dinner, he got restless...







He does not like being confined to the deck. Sometimes he will give in and enjoy it, but other times he'll roam all around. You have to watch him because he can wiggle out of his harness very quickly. So the rest of my dinner was not so relaxing. Eventually I had to give up and we all went back into the house.

Still, it was a satisfying dinner. Just what I needed. As I headed off to do the dishes I got distracted by dessert...



Not that I needed more sugar after drinking a can of Coke, but it was such a wee little dessert!

Then I did the dishes. And then I went out to work in my gardens. I'm not exactly sure what time I went outside, but I must have been out there for 2 - 2 1/2 hours. It was so lovely out, even the breeze was warm.

Mystery in the garden

As I was walking back and forth, surveying the situation, trying to decide what to tackle, something in the Cat Mint caught my eye. I stopped for a closer look.





Unfortunately, whatever it is (I'd say some kind of moth), I think it must be dead. It's wings look all ragged. Shame, looks like it would have been pretty.

All in all, a satisfying evening. According to the weather page it is still 19 degrees out there, and I'd believe it. The weather page says the high for today was 26 which is definite summery weather. It is supposed to cool off a bit by tomorrow, but I feel like we've had our first taste of summer. Definitely looking forward to more!

Tuesday & Wednesday

Yesterday was sunny, but breezy. After work Husband went out to light the BBQ and there was a squirrel on the fence giving a good scolding to anyone within earshot. Kept it up for quite a while too. Husband said at one point it was looking right at him, but by that time I was inside.



I had every intention of working out in the yard after supper, but by then the wind was feeling quite chilly, so I confess I could not convince myself to go out.

Today it was much warmer - it was beautiful when we got home from work.

My next round of tulips are blooming. This was taken from the opposite side of the yard, outside the fence.



I went for a walk around the fence and could see the Fabulous Felines were out enjoying the late afternoon sun.



All day long at work I was thinking about the gardens and what task I should tackle this evening. I finally decided I should clean up the flower bed by the driveway and put in the plants I'd picked up at the garden center on Saturday. Of course I had an audience.



Here's a before shot...



Unfortunately, by the time I finished weeding and trimming I didn't have time to put in my transplants, so the after doesn't look all that much different.



I wanted to get a better shot of the tulips, but by the time I got to them it was getting dark and the flash went off. I'll have to try again tomorrow.

Victoria Day Weekend

Forecast for the long weekend was sun on Saturday, rain on Sunday & Monday. I was exhausted last week, not sure why, so I was happy to have a long weekend to look forward to.

Saturday morning I went out for groceries and hit the garden center. Mostly I was after bags of soil, but of course I did pick up a few plants for the flower gardens. We had plans to spend the evening with friends and I confess I was wishing we weren't going out anywhere because I would have liked to spend the only nice day of the weekend working in the gardens. I gave myself an hour and a half in the yard when I got home from shopping, but that was all I had time for.

Sunday I slept in. Then, despite good intentions to clean the house, I spent most of the day sitting on the couch reading.

I felt much better today, so I think I needed the rest. I spent this morning getting a bunch of cooking done. By the time I took a break for lunch my foot was complaining; I had been thinking I might be ready to get back to my exercise routing but it seems I'm not quite there yet.

After lunch I put my sneakers on to support my lame foot and did some housecleaning. Now I'm sitting back and relaxing for what is left of my long weekend. Below are some pictures from Saturday's brief round of gardening.

Found this guy growing in the edge of the lawn; it is now in a little pot on the windowsill until I decide on a permanent home.


Still have thyme and oregano growing here from last year. May be hard to see but I planted garlic a couple of weeks ago and shoots have started to come up.


Saturday I got started on planting a few things. Peas and beans are in, some lettuce and carrot seeds and Thai Cucumber & Thai Eggplant.


Phlox is blooming.


Getting my seedlings used to the great outdoors - tomatoes!


Herbs, peppers, onions.


Some transplants from the garden center that I didn't get to plant.

Still taking it easy

Still not feeling quite back to normal, so taking it easy. Have been doing some yard work though. We've been getting some nice weather and it's good to get outside. That's keeping me busy at the moment; I'll try to have something interesting to talk about soon!

See JavaChick not running...

So now that we've established that many of us equate fitness with ability to run, here's my next question: When will I learn to not be stupid?

I seem to have two modes for exercise: slow and hyperdrive. Once I hit hyperdrive, I have a hard time slowing down. Even when I should.

Last Friday night I did a 90 minute walk on the treadmill. Not the first time I've done this and it felt fine at the time. I don't know if it's the fact that I was wearing different sneakers or if I went a little overboard with the speed and incline changes, but I woke up Saturday morning with some very tender tootsies.

A smart person might have decided to take a rest day. I decided to "take it easy" by trying out Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. Hey! It's only 20 minutes.

Right. Then Sunday I hopped back on the treadmill. I tried running, but after a couple of short intervals I realized that was a bad idea.

A smart person might then have gotten off the treadmill. Not this chick. I kept walking.

I did sorta take Monday off. I did some yard work instead of a formal workout. Tuesday I did the Shred thing again, followed by a short yoga routine.

Finally yesterday I gave in. It's not that I'm in pain, but my left foot just feels wrong. It feels sorta like all the bones in the front of my foot have been mashed down out of place; that's the best way I can describe it. It's uncomfortable and it kinda freaks me out.

I did completely take yesterday off from exercise. Today I did a Pilates mat workout because I figured that should not put any further stress on my foot. I hope my foot gets back to normal soon; I like Pilates but if I'm doing it every single day I'll probably get tired of it before too long.

I can't be the only one who does stuff like this. Anyone else not know when to quit?

What it means to be fit

Last week an email went out to all employees at our company asking if anyone would be interested in forming a softball team to play in a local tournament. I deleted it. Team sports are definitely not my thing.

My immediate negative reaction started the gears turning in my brain.

I grew up with a negative attitude toward physical fitness and exercise because I associated those things with the misery that was gym class. I was so very bad at all of it - running laps, team sports; I hated every minute of it.

Yet here I am now: a person who makes a point to exercise and even kinda thinks it's fun. But I still don't want to play softball.

Somewhere along the line I decided I wanted to run though. The first yearnings actually had nothing to do with physical fitness or weight loss. The first time that I ever remember thinking that I wanted to run was during my mid-twenties. I was having a bit of an identity crisis and experiencing more than a little bit of depression, though at the time I did not realize what it was. And I wanted to run.

I wanted to run because the idea of running away was so appealing. The idea of physically running seemed attractive; it seemed like it must feel so free. That was the image I had in my mind.

These days I'm pretty happy with my life. I feel fortunate that I was able to get to this place. But I still want to run. Now it's not about running away though.

Part of it is absolutely about weight loss. No matter how many times I tell myself that exercise is not going to do it for me, that I have to figure out how to eat to lose weight, I still find myself wanting exercise to be the answer. Running is so often spoken of as the ultimate calorie burner, so I can't help but hope that if I could actually do it, I might lose some of these pounds.

But part of it is also the idea that if I am a fit person, I should be able to run. I'm not sure why I think that exactly. I have absolutely no problem saying that I am crap at team sports and I have no interest in playing them. That does not enter into my vision of fitness. But I can't shake the idea that I should be able to run.

If someone else were saying this to me, I'd say that maybe not everyone is built to be a runner. There are plenty of other things one can do to be fit. But it seems I can't let myself off the hook.

So my question is: What does it mean to be fit?

How does one know they are fit? How do you measure your physical fitness?

Tulips!

I am so glad I took the time to plant these last fall. It was so worth it to have pretty things blooming this early in the spring.





I have to say, it amazes me how fast things come along once they start. Things are definitely looking alive out there. As you can see in the picture below, I have a bit of repair work to do here. I went out with the intention of fixing it today. Then I decided to "just pull a few weeds first." Of course, once I started I kept right on going. But I'll get to it.



Managed to catch this little guy in my neighbor's bush as I was heading inside around supper time.

April Review/May Plan

During April I got back to a more normal workout routine. Not sure why this winter was so hard, but it seems that I've finally shaken it off.

Workouts:

April 30: Burn & Firm Pilates[45 mins]
April 28: Treadmill wak/jog[45 mins]
April 27: Treadmill walk + Hip Opening Flow #4[75 mins]
April 26: Hard Core Fusion[55 mins]
April 25: Treadmill walk/jog + Gentle Hatha Yoga #3[75 mins]
April 23: Kathy Smith Cardio Fat Burner[30mins]
April22: Hi-Def Sculpt[45 mins]
April 21: Treadmill walk/jog + Detox Yoga #1[65 mins]
April 20: Treadmill walk[45 mins]
April 18: Treadmill walk + Yoga for Runners[70 mins]
April 16: Treadmill walk/jog + Gentle Hatha Yoga #1[65 mins]
April 15: Slim Sculpt[45 mins]
April 14: Treadmill walk[90 mins]
April 13: Burn & Firm Pilates + Treadmill walk[90 mins]
April 12: Yoga Energizer + Treadmill walk/jog + Gentle Hatha Yoga #1[75 mins]
April 10: Cardio Sculpt + Yoga for Runners[55 mins]
April 09: Treadmill walk[60 mins]
April 08: Warrior Workout + Treadmill walk/jog[60 mins]
April 06: Treadmill walk/jog[45 minutes]
April 05: Burn & Firm Pilates[45 mins]
April 04: Treadmill walk + Gentle Hatha Yoga #1[80 mins]
April 03: Treadmill walk/jog[45 mins]
April 01: Fat Burning Pilates + Chest/Back/Shoulders[55 mins]

The plan for May is pretty much more of the same, probably with some gardening thrown in. Edit May 2nd: I finally caved to curiosity and procured a copy of Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. Let's see if 30 days with Jillian will help me drop some of those pesky pounds.

The last day of April was a lovely warm sunny day. I'm glad I took a little time after work to get out and enjoy a wander around the yard because today was rainy, grey and gloomy.

While I was watering my seedlings yesterday, I turned the trays around. This tray is mostly all varieties of basil. It already smells like basil!



The two plants with the big leaves here are Mongkut Cucumber plants, a small Asian cucumber. The plants can be tied to a stake or trellis, which is good for me and my tiny garden. I've never tried growing them before, so it will be interesting to see what happens.



And look what I found out in the yard! My first violas and tulips getting ready to bloom.