Week in Review

Training Log – Till I Collapse

Monday:   Fight Fit – Training with Terence

Tuesday:  Fight Fit – Training with Terence, 5 km run

Wednesday:  Weight Training – Biceps/Triceps /Abs, 10 km run

Thursday:  Fight Fit – Training with Terence, 5 km run

Friday:  Fight Fit – Training with Terence, Weight Training – Legs/Shoulders/Abs

Saturday:  5 km run, Weight Training – Abs

Sunday:  DAY OFF

This week I ran a total of 25 km…Next week I have to get back up to 30 km.

This is a short clip of the last minute or so of my 15 minute skipping warm-up.

Observations – Ten things that I learnt this week.

10.  At the Hen House (aka Gail and Chris’ home in St. Catharines), Chris is the master of the Oprah impression. As hard as I try, I just can’t nail it.

9.  Till I Collapse by Eminem is my current theme song. It makes me feel invincible; the determination feels like it can barely be contained within me. I shit you not, when I listen to this song, I have the primal urge to roar.

8.  Witnessing moments of pure abandon makes me feel so happy and so in love with the object of my attention. This week, Hannah was swaying happily as she munched on her favourite healthy snack and this innocent act of hers made my heart swell with an overwhelming rush of love for my H-Belles.

Hannah and her snack

7.  Sweat is a sign of hard work. I worked hard this week.

6.  Susan Boyle’s doppelganger lives in the Niagara Region.

5.  Even though it’s been 13 years since I left Bahrain, the concern I’ve been feeling towards the situation that is currently unfolding there reminds me that the ties to my old home are still strong.

4.  Why is it that the thing you need to do the most, is the one thing that is hardest to accomplish? I need to meditate; I know this. All I need to do is carve out a small amount of time each morning to complete this relatively “low hanging fruit” type of activity. Do I? No. I’d rather do just about anything else…What’s wrong with me? What am I afraid? Do I not want to figure out who I really am? Maybe I’m afraid that there’s nothing there.

3.  My jokes about me sweating when I put on my sports bra (seriously, this thing is like a steel fucking trap) are simply not funny. I’ve tried, I’ve failed, and I need to move on.

2.  The “meat sweats” is the least enjoyable type of sweating experience. In the past, I’ve “flirted” with vegetarianism and although I’ve never been able to fully commit, meat is something I rarely eat. On Friday night, the vegetarian in me was sucker punched when I attended at wonderful rustic Italian feast at the 13th Street Winery. Three of the five courses where meat-centric and, by the end of the evening, the meat sweats had taken hold of me. When I sweat, I sweat clean. This unclean experience made me pick up my little black book and give vegetarianism a booty call.

1.  I am trying to figure out how I can best serve others. To help me figure this out, I submitted an application to volunteer at women’s shelter in St. Catharines. I hope I’m considered as I would love the opportunity to support women and their children as they work on their personal transformations.

When I think of serving others, teaching automatically comes to mind, and this week, I’ve thought a lot about returning to my first profession. Sadly, these thoughts have occupied my mind on the same week that a former colleague, a teacher and friend, lost his fight to cancer. Roberto was an inspiration; a teacher who truly loved his vocation. Roberto seamlessly channelled a thirst for learning from within his students in order to guide them towards the acquisition of new knowledge, skills and competencies. Perhaps with a better awareness of self, I too would be the teacher that Roberto was, the teacher I had always hoped to be.

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Vlog: For My Monkey

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Time to Work

This past week I’ve been really tired; a kind of tired that takes over my body and makes it hum with exhaustion. Thankfully, I like this feeling. It reminds that I’ve worked hard. When I’m in this state of being completely spent, so empty that the little energy I have left is vibrating within me, this is when my mind takes over and tells me that tomorrow I will work even harder.

Well, tomorrow is now today and it’s time to work…

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Till I Collapse

‘Cause sometimes you feel tired,
feel weak, and when you feel weak, you feel like you wanna just give up.
But you gotta search within you, you gotta find that inner strength
and just pull that shit out of you and get that motivation to not give up
and not be a quitter, no matter how bad you wanna just fall flat on your face and collapse.

Till I Collapse, Eminem

 

 

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Love

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Week in Review

Training Log – Healthy, Here I Come!

Monday:   Fight Fit – Training with Terence

Tuesday:  Fight Fit – Training with Terence, 5 km run

Wednesday:  Weight Training – Biceps/Triceps /Abs, 10 km run

Thursday:  Fight Fit – Training with Terence, Weight Training – Legs/Shoulders/Abs, 3 km run

Friday:  Fight Fit – Training with Terence, 5 km run

Saturday:   DAY OFF

Sunday:   Weight Training – Chest/Back/Abs, 7 km run

This week I ran a total of 30 km!

 

Training Log – OFF THE CHEESE!

On the eve of St. Valentine’s Day, I have come to a very difficult decision; I’m ending my love affair with cheese. For those of you who know me well, you’ve heard this many times before and I’m sure you’re not at all convinced that I’ll be able to finally end this relationship. Trust me, I will. I am officially and permanently “OFF THE CHEESE” and here’s why.

On Saturday night Gail and Chris’s had friends over to the house for an evening of drinks and munchies. It was a lovely time spent chatting, munching and sipping our drinks of choice. Well, it was lovely until I woke up this morning with a food hangover. At first I was confused; why was this happening to me?  What the fuck happened to make me so thirsty and feel so shitty? Then it hit me, it was the cheese – the brie, old cheddar and the Gouda. Oh God, the GOUDA!  

Unfortunately, the food hangover isn’t entirely new to me; however, what is new, is one brought on by a feed-bag-scenario with cheese. In the past, I’ve bounced back from many a food hangover, but this one took a nasty turn when I went for my 7 km run this afternoon. At the 5 km point, something happened, something very bad happened. I began to experience gallbladder-type pains and I my sweat (of which there was a lot) started to smell like cheese, Gouda in fact. I shit you not; I was a fucking cheese platter on the move! It was vile! I was vile! Gouda is vile!

Gouda, it’s over! We’re through!

The only thing that got me through, was replaying in my mind a boxing video that my friend Grant had recently sent me. Thanks Grant, you saved my run!

 

Observations – Get Outta of my Head, Get into Action

This week has been one that I’ve spent thinking far too much. I’ve got to get out of my head and away from such an inward focus.  Actually, it’s been such a week of navel gazing that I can’t even stand writing about it. The only thing I will say is that things are going to change. Get ready for some action!

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Courage

The root of the word courage is cor — the Latin word for heart. In one of its earliest forms, the word courage had a very different definition than it does today. Courage originally meant to speak one’s mind by telling all one’s heart.

Courage is about putting our vulnerability on the line. If we want to live and love with our whole hearts and engage in the world from a place of worthiness, our first step is practicing the courage it takes to own our stories and tell the truth about who we are. It doesn’t get braver than that.

Brené Brown

 I am considering getting a tattoo of the word courage. Like my believe/love tattoo, this one would serve as a constant reminder to be courageous; to speak my mind by telling all of my heart.

For fun, and to test out the poll functionality offered by WordPress.com, I thought I’d poll you to get your take. Here goes…

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Vlog: Lighter Shade of Blue

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Mama Said Knock You Out

Don’t you dare stare, you betta move
Don’t ever compare
Me to the rest that’ll all get sliced and diced
Competition’s payin the price

I’m gonna knock you out (HUUUH!!!)
Mama said knock you out (HUUUH!!!)

Mama Said Knock You Out, LL COOL J

 

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Making Progress

After three weeks of hard work, this morning Terence and I “checked-in” in order to assess my progress. Unfortunately, this meant that I had to step on the dreaded scale for another body composition assessment. Luckily, the scale didn’t print out a report with the title, “You’ve been served, Sissy! You’re still one over-fat bitch!” If it did, I wouldn’t be in Gail and Chris’ basement blogging. I’d be in the local jailhouse for trashing Fight Fit to smithereens.

So the good news is that I’ve managed to: lose 3 lbs overall; reduce my body fat percentage by 3%; lose 6 lbs of body fat; increase my muscle mass and fat-free mass; and, lower my metabolic age by 8 years.

Here is the not-so-good-news; I’m still considered “over-fat”. 

Regardless, I’m still really happy and Terence told me that he too is pleased with my results. As for the “over-fat”, according the metrics that we’re using I’m three percentage points from being “healthy”. Yes, there’s no “just fat” category, it goes from “over-fat” to “healthy”!

I’m confident that it another three weeks time, “over-fat” will be a distant memory and I’ll be solidly positioned in the “healthy” zone.

good results

Filled with happiness, I was hugging everyone!

Then I remembered that I have to be tough...

 

No more fooling around - it's time to harden the fuck up.

Here are some short clips from the brutal workout that followed. Typically, the clips are no longer than a minute.

Thanks Gail so much for coming down today and capturing this all on video!

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