Vicissitudes of winter

It was such a warm day I was tempted to do a run, but discovered while backpacking Tim to school that the streets were deceptively slippery (jeez, I hate to think which of us would get more injured in THAT accident!)

So, down to the basement:

5 min warm-up row

22 min plyos and air-boxing. Details:
Three rounds. Each round = 2 sets (4 plyo exercises/20 reps each)  + 100 reps jabs/cross-cuts/uppercuts with 2 lb dbs in each hand.

(Plyo exercise is something like jump squats, jump split squats, tuck jumps, jack squats, swing kicks, etc. 12 different moves in total.)

Napped this afternoon.

Also enjoyed an unexpected workout on Wednesday. Beautiful winter day, so Tim and I went for a walk in the woods. I pulled him in the sled twice around a 1.3 km loop, but had to "do" the 100m hill about 6 times. This involved running as fast as I could alongside the sled (half pulling, half guiding it) down the not-quite-steep-enough-for-tobogganning hill, while Tim giggled maniacally (which is better than Eminem for making you go fast). Then haul the sled back to the top to do it again. So, that's about 6 x 100m at a fast run/slow sprint pace, plus pulling the kid back up the hill. :-)

Fresh air and applecheeks, mostly

I finally had a chance to get some outdoors stuff in. On Sunday, I took Tim in the stroller for a great skate on the canal. About 40 minutes of solid skating, with a small poutine break. (Hey, we shared one, and Tim was the boss of the fries.) A little while later, frisbee game.

Monday was gorgeous, so I hiked Tim both ways to school, and went for a 30 minute (easy) run around the neighbourhood. The footing is pretty treacherous, so there's no speediness. Also, it's been about two months since I've jogged - I'd nearly forgotten how! My skin got all itchy from the aerobic bloodflow.

Today, my outdoor adventure was frustratingly shut down by rough conditions on the canal. I drove all the way out, put on my skates, tiptoed to the middle of the canal, then tiptoed back, removed my skates and grumbled all the way home. There was no way I was risking my life on that crap.

So, I rallied, and after wasting so much time travelling, I squeezed the following into my remaining free time:

10 minute moderate row (2+ km)

3 rounds of:
10 deadlifts (115 lbs)
5 push-ups (hands on the barbell, which was on the floor with 35 lb plates).

No warm-up, no stretching.

Walking in a winter wonderland

I'm filing Friday under "active lifestyle", thanks to the snow. To start, I loaded Tim into the backpack and hiked him through the snow to school (this was more efficient than digging the car out). I'm doing it this way from now on this winter - we both loved it! Walking briskly with nearly 40 pounds on your back gets your heart rate up a surprising amount!

But then, the cars did need digging out (Ken woke up with a big cold and worked from home), so I spent the nursery school time shovelling out the driveway. We'd had 24 hours of snow/freezing rain, so it was no small task.

After school, Tim enjoying some tumbling time in the snow, then it was sleigh-ride time: 20 minutes of me slogging through the unplowed streets with Tim in tow in the toboggan. Good ham/calf work!

All that fresh air after the holidays indoors = napping with Tim at naptime. A pretty awesome day.

Oh yes, I did go to yoga last Tuesday. Hot yin yoga. I LOVE IT. I forgot how awesome it is. So completely relaxing. Yin yoga is not a workout in any sense other than a means of facilitating better workouts in the future. But so relaxing that I don't think it's actually safe for me to drive home afterward. But I do.

weekend winter wonderland

spent the weekend in the snow! headed out for a snowshoe on staurday, which quickly turned into a brisk hike instead (tho we were passed by folks who were strapped in, there weren't many spots on the trail that necessitated such equipment). the loop was just over 5k, some ups and downs but no elevation gain.

we played soccer for a friend's bday yesterday and had a blast - it had snowed all night and continued all day! a surprising amount of running (especially since g and i were on opposing teams) and we were both feeling our legs as we unwound by the fire.

today's flow class was rather challenging. and tonight, some competitive christmas shopping. babies and pre-teen girls....

Grab bag

Between going to and from nursery school, the mechanic, and the mall, I had only a tiny bit of free time to squeeze in some heavy stuff. Sum total of the day:

Walking: 5.5 km
Jogging: 2 km
Squats: 5 sets of 5 @ 115#
Pull-up progression: 3 sets of 3 (at the park, neutral grip, feet resting at hip-level)

The pleasant surprise was the weather that was nice enough to let us have one last play at the park. (No winter wonderland for us!) It was the "adalint park" (elephant park). Tim thinks the winding tube slide is like and elephant's trunk.

This American Life

Is the real reason I run on Tuesdays. Also, nursery school is a half hour longer on Tuesdays, giving me a nice chunk of time to go out, relax, and enjoy a good podcast, and get a little exercise. Or, as Tim would say, "a liddy bidda eggagyge".

A little over 8 kms in 48 minutes.

I was going to dips on the benches, but I forgot.

Frost on the pumpkin

But a beautiful day for an easy run. Every time I passed a bench (4x, plus the porch steps at home), I did 20 step-ups. Most of the benches came up to the top of my knee.

7.5 km + 100 step-ups = 48 minutes.

Extra walking today: besides to nursery school, also had to walk to pick up a "sick" Ben from school, and in a while to pick up the car from the shop (about 1.5 kms). Luckily I won't have to walk back from there too.

Today's podcast was Shelagh Rogers' The Next Chapter, which is crap. My wish is for This American Life to air semi-weekly.

early morning

managed to do some qi-qong exercises, a yoga class, and 10 minutes of meditation before waking my fella from his slumber with the smell of coffee. been feeling quite energetic today to boot. good because 400m are tonight, arghh. (someday we will aspire to the even run/rest but certainly not today).

yoga yesterday. and four days last week, with a 5km run on friday (cut short by the IT band but finished with long strided speed walking which felt like stretching with raised heartrate).

Alone time

Wow, I'll just add to the flurry of posts today!

I did a long slow run. 7.4 km in 43 minutes.

And by slow, I mean I made an effort to "jog" and keep my heart rate relatively low. I even slowed down on hills. (Usually when I run a LSD, I go as hard as my lungs will let me, based on the distance.)

It was kinda weird to not push, but really... pleasant.

Your turn, Emma!

A natural

Yesterday we had an inside day, and I was doing some BW exercises while Tim watched TeeWee. He was inspired, and got in on the action.

Pretty good form for his first try, huh? Of course "up and down" consisted of nodding his head forward and back. But dude can count to 10, so there! He showed off this skill by counting my squats.

Anyway, shortly after this he decided that push-ups (and planks) were better "on Mommy bi-bi-bi-big back", which pretty much shut down the operation (I cannot do a single push-up with 30+ extra pounds). We played pillow dight [sic] instead.

Little bit here, little bit there

I almost never work out at nap time. It's right after lunch and also I'm not great at working out inside my house. (Though I think I could probably risk running a mile from my front door while Tim's down. He always sleeps for at least an hour and a half, and even if he woke up and wandered around the house for 5 minutes, the worst that would happen would he'd end up on the piano. And that's par for the course anyway.)

ANYWAY. The stars aligned somehow, and I threw this down today at naptime:

3 rounds, no breaks:
10/arm dumbbell snatch - 25 lb
20 squats - 45 lb
8 shoulder press - 45 lb

I considered doing a few more rounds, but wanted to fold laundry, make supper and watch an episode of True Blood before Tim woke up...

Hours later, an unplanned stroller run (about 4.5 kms), plus about 25 (10, 10, 5) bench push-ups and a head-stand at the park. (Also a somersault. Those are not as easy as I remember them from 27 years ago.)

File under "active lifestyle"

Seriously, I passed on a second consecutive stroller run today in order to take Tim to the Children's museum. Thanks to some miscalculations about the bus routes, I ended up with a great back/shoulders workout: carried Tim on my shoulders from the Market across the bridge to the museum (further than you'd think); then I carried him on my front (without the aid of a carrier - just my arms) while he slept, from the mall to home.

A 2.3 km variation of the farmers' walk. The "mommy walk", I guess.

The black lung is as good as gone, Tim's back to nursery school tomorrow (3x/week as of next week), and I'm back to serious. Squats and miles from now til Thanksgiving...