Motivational Monday

Friday Funny

Thursday Thoughts

1.  We need to start working out again.

2.  Should we run the Santa Shuffle on Dec 6th, 2014?  This is a 5k Fun Run and one of our newbie run buddies wants to sign up.  The only dilemma is weather?  Will it be cold/snowing/raining/slippery, etc.  After conversing the decision is to wait until we can see the forecast for that day.  Also we're hesitating because we technically haven't ran since the BLT 5k Fun Run in October (except for the 10k golf course run).

3.  We are behind on our Operation Peanut Butter Cup, will we catch up? Probably not.  Which people will go without? 

Workout Wedneday

Wednesday, Nov 12^th – Video done by Twin 1 in morning.  Twin 2 - Nadda

Thursday, Nov 13^th – Video done by Twin 1 in morning.  Twin 2 - Nadda

Friday, Nov 14^th – Nothing

Saturday Nov 15^th – Nothing

Sunday Nov 16^th – Regularly scheduled Zumba

Monday, Nov 17^th – Nothing

Tuesday, Nov 18^th - Nothing

Terrible.  Just Terrible

Tip Tuesday

We find that getting the workout done in the morning before the day starts is the best time to work out especially if you are busy in the evenings. Here are a few tips for doing that which we are trying to follow to get this done:

1. Ease into it. If you’ve never exercised in the morning before, don’t sign up for 6AM personal training sessions five days in a row. To start, schedule one morning workout per week. Try choosing a day you have something fun planned for that night. Knowing you can’t put your workout off might give you more incentive to get out of bed and exercise that morning. When you start to feel okay with one day per week, bump it up to 2. Gradually your body (and brain) will get used to sweating before 7 o’clock.

2. Write a workout schedule for the week. This is helpful no matter what time of day you prefer to exercise, but building your day around a morning workout really does give you fewer excuses to skip it. Besides a horrible night’s sleep, there are few things that can get in the way of you and your morning workout. When writing your workout schedule, also consider things like work deadlines, events and travel plans, so you can let your really busy days be rest days!

3. Enlist a morning workout buddy. It’s a lot harder to skip a morning sweat session if you have someone counting on you to show up. No one wants to be that person who bails!

4. Before you go to bed, decide exactly what morning workout you will do. For example, instead of saying, “I will exercise before work tomorrow,” say “I will jog 2 miles and do 30 pushups before work tomorrow.” Workout agendas maximize efficiency by eliminating wasted minutes spent debating which piece of cardio equipment to hop on or which strength move to do next. This allows you to budget just the right amount of time you’ll need to fit in your workout. It also prevents you from dozing back off to sleep while pondering what type of exercise you’ll do.

5. Lay out your exercise clothes the night before. This gesture alone is a sign you’re committed to getting out of bed for exercise in the morning. It takes the guesswork out of dressing for the weather, which can be overly complicated if you’re groggy from a good night’s sleep. Check what the low temperature will be overnight and plan your workout attire accordingly. If your workout is fairly early, chances are the temperature will be at or near the low temperature for the night. Your still-sleeping significant other will appreciate not hearing you fumble around in the dark as you look for your favorite pair of socks.

6. Pack your gym bag before you go to bed if you plan on showering elsewhere. You’re much less likely to forget critical belongings like deodorant and underwear. I’ve done both and it doesn’t make for a great start to the day. Take it one step further and write down a list of essential items such as shampoo & conditioner, towel, deodorant etc… and take a quick peek at it as you’re packing. Eventually, you’ll have it memorized!

7. Get a good night’s sleep. Like we mentioned above, there are few things that can get in the way of you and your morning workout, but sleep deprivation is one of them. It’ll get the best of you almost every time.

8. Think positive thoughts. When your alarm goes off, don’t dwell on how much you’d rather fall back asleep or how tired you are. Instead, focus on what you’re excited to do with your free time after school or work, or how great you’ll feel the rest of the day for sticking to your goal. Remember, the only workouts you regret are the ones you don’t do!

Working out in the morning isn’t for everyone, but if you want to start then it’s entirely possible to make it a healthy habit with enough planning, preparation and positive thinking.

Motivational Monday

Werd!

6k You Say?

Our workout Wednesday recap doesn't consist of much working out *sigh*

Wednesday, Nov 5^th – nothing

Thursday, Nov 6^th – we both did our scheduled workout video

Friday, Nov 7^th – nothing

Saturday, Nov 8^th – Twin 1 took the dogs to Point Pleasant.  Twin 2 did nothing

Sunday, Nov 9^th – We both did some Christmas shopping all afternoon 

Monday, Nov 10^th – We both, along with Sister Wi, had Monday off so we tried to get the rest of our Christmas shopping done.  We think two full days of walking around the stores counts for something right?!

 

Tuesday, Nov 11^th – Remembrance Day.  We got a lot more than we bargained for.

Twin 1 made up a video from Monday and then as it was such a nice day out Twin 1 suggested we run the Brunello Estates Golf Course.  Twin 1 did the math and converted the yards of each hole to kms and informed Twin 2 and Bro-in-law RC that the course was only 6k.  Ok we said, let's do it.  Keep in mind the last time we all ran was about two weeks ago at the BLT 5k Fun Run.  

We started off on hole #16 and wasn't really sure where we were going as the cart path was going every which way.  We then got our bearings and figured the holes out.  What a hilly course but that's ok, it's only 6k, we can do this!  We finally reach 5k and were happy that there was only 1k left until the Bro-in-law brought to our attention that how can it be only 1k left when we still had 9 holes to run?  GREAT question!  Apparently the yardage of each hole is from Tee to Green and the cart path is a lot longer then that…9.77k to be exact.   During the last few holes we walked more than ran because it was a very hard run with all the rolling hills.  The hills are not hills that you can easily run up and down because when you go up the hill the pavement is right in front of your face it's so steep and on the way back down the other side you have to put the brakes on or you'd be rolling head over feet.  We highly recommend this route for a good 10k run or walk for that matter.  We're hoping to make this our regular weekend route until the snow flies, now that we know what to expect. 

  

We are sore today.

Tip Tuesday

Here are some tips on how to keep your poppy in place this Remembrance Day:

1 - Use an eraser tip

Try putting the tip of the pin through a small piece of eraser

2 - Put a new pin in it

Replace the slippery pin with a small Canadian flag pin that comes with a backing. Or use a safety pin

3 - Re-purpose your jewelry

Try sliding on an earring backing to keep the poppy from moving

4 - Use duck tape

Wrap a bit of duck tape around the pin a few times once you've put it through the fabric.  Make sure to also cover the pin' s tip so you don't get jabbed.

5 - Bend and weave the pin.

We've all been bending and weaving our pins for years and this still works - although not as well as some of the other solutions. Try pushing the pin through the red petal before you weave it through the cloth of the lapel.

6 - Buy extras

Not the best of the suggestions but who hasn't picked up a couple of extras as replacements for when you lose the first one.

Motivational Monday

Friday Funny

This is SO us!

It's Beginning to Feel Alot like Christmas

It’s just the beginning of November but Christmas comes fast and we are trying to get an “early” start on it.  We’ve sat down and wrote out our Christmas lists and possible gifts for each person.  We’ve also wrote our Peanut Butter Cup List and have figured how many batches we need to make and how many weeks left to make them.  Turns out we need to make about 2 batches per weekend starting this weekend.

Monday we are taking off work to make an extra long weekend as Remembrance Day is on Tuesday.  Monday we plan on shopping, either in Dartmouth or Moncton depending on weather and hoping to get a lot of our Christmas List marked off.

The Holiday Parade of Lights is Nov 15 and this technically marks the beginning of the Holidays for us.

We are excited. 

The wreaths went up for the parade!!

Workout Wednesday

We have started a new segment called Workout Wednesday where we update you on our workouts for the past week.  This Workout Wednesday won't be too long of a post as we took a week off last week which of course was not planned, it just happened.

We will start with the day after the BLT Fun Run as you’ve seen we partook in.  After our Fun Run that evening we went here:

For one of these:

Sunday, Oct 26 we did our regularly scheduled Zumba.

Monday, Oct 27 we were to start Phase 2 of Body Revolution but as Twin 2 has misplaced hers she is doing Shred instead which she did on this day.  Twin 1 went running with her hubby and her two dogs.  Now as hubby has not run in quite some time we were just going to run 1k.  He hit 1k and decided to keep going.  Twin 1 hoped he would have stopped as she could not breath he was going so fast.  He took off and she ran/walked the 2^nd k.  We then stopped at the lake for a few minutes to let Onyx swim and then started the way back out the trail for 3km.  At this point Twin 1 COULD NOT keep up so she handed the dogs over to him and he took off with them so she was left to run by HERSELF in the TRAIL at DUSK with COYOTES!  She picked up some speed as she was running from freight and this 4k run was the fastest kilometers she has ever done all at once.  She did not run with him again…..as of yet…as he has not either.  The average pace for her was 7:15/km and his was faster.

When Twin 1 arrived at work Monday morning this was on her desk as a THANK YOU for signing CC up for her first 5k and making her do it.   If that’s the thanks she gets, she's signing her up for all runs :)

Tuesday, Oct 28 Twin 2 did her video again.

Wednesday/Thursday neither one of us did anything.

Friday, Oct 31 was Halloween so Twin 1 took the afternoon off and took the girls to Long Lake to get the energy out before treat or treaters came so she walked around there for 2 hours.  It was a beautiful fall afternoon.

On the way home Twin 1 thought she better get ONE LAST Pumpkin Spice Latte because once November comes the Christmas drinks would be out and therefore no more PSL’s.  Also, on the way home she decided to stop into the Guardian for some items and left the coffee and dogs in the car…..not even thinking!

She came out and both dogs were thoroughly enjoying her PSL.  She was too mad to take a picture but they were quite happy with themselves.  The cover wasn’t even hardly damaged.  It looked like they picked it up with their teeth and got to the good stuff.

That evening Sister Wi got off early and brought her another PSL when she heard she had to share her's with the dogs.

Saturday, Nov 1st, once again, nothing.

Sunday, Nov 2^nd was once again regularly scheduled Zumba (good thing for Zumba).

Monday, Nov 3 Twin 1 started Phase 2 of Body Revolution and has come to terms with that fact that if she wants to make sure she works out she will have to rise at 5 a.m and get it done first thing which is what she did.  Twin 2 did not work out but made a schedule up for the rest of the month.

Tuesday, Nov 4 we both did our video.

Tip Tuesdsay

Squat jacks build strength from the feet up through the hips for better transfer of power.  To do this exercise, stand in the bottom of a squat position with feet hip-width apart and shoulders stacked over hips, shoot your legs out to the sides and your arms out to shoulder height (like a regular jumping jack) without moving your upper body.  Do 16 to 24 reps.

Motivational Monday

Friday Funny

BLT 5k Fun Run/Walk Recap

The morning started bright and early for a Saturday.  Race kit pick up was 7:30 a.m. – 8:45 a.m. and the run stated at 9:00 a.m.   Twin 1, being the early bird she was, assumed that it would be crowded and there would be no parking that morning so we all decided to meet at 8:00 a.m. (she had some difficult experiences trying to park at the school in the evenings last year running with the TTP due to Xmas concerts and parent teachers, etc on certain nights).  Not so on Saturday morning.

At 7:30 a.m. departure time the pups were in the windowing wishing Twin 1 good luck.  They themselves were waiting for their ride to Point Pleasant so they could do their run.

First stop was to get CC and then RC.  It only took her a few minutes to get to RC’s so she arrived earlier than anticipated but only waited a few minutes and he came out the door.  We then proceeded to go around the corner and pick up Twin 2. 

We arrived with tons of parking spots left and after a 10 minute back up session to get between the lines we were parked.  With the excitement of the parking we didn’t even notice they had a start and finish line like “real” races.  (By “real” we mean ones that aren’t the first year).  The medals were set up, speakers, the race director was there.  We proceeded into the BLT school and got our kits which included some coupons etc. from the local businesses. 

We stood around for about an hour when more and more people showed up.  Not long after we arrived we met up with CF and her family. 

This is the cake that we had to look forward to in the end.

At 8:55 a.m. they called us all to the start line and the Race Director said a few words and then handed it over to our MLA whom looked like he just rolled out of bed.  We had a moment of silence for the slain soldiers and got ready to run.  We started off around the middle to back of the pack as we knew the “fast” ones were all up front.  RC was kind enough to run with us even though he could have been up at the front as well.   It was CC and CF’s first race and we were glad to have them there with us. 

We started on an uphill which lasted the first 2.5 k (if some of you are not familiar with the BLT trail there is a slight incline all the way out that you would not notice until you ran it).   They did a nice job setting up the KM markers and at the turn around point there was a water station which was much appreciated.  The weather was rainy when we woke but by run time it was starting to clear up. 

During the race Twin 2, RC and CF where doing the 10’s and 1’s whereas Twin 1 and CC were running straight through.  We kept passing each other along with some other members of the TTP that we have ran with.  In the end Twin 2, RC and CF beat us but we were all winners for running and finishing.  We are so proud of CC and CF and I know they are proud of themselves.  CC beat her PB by a whopping 6 minutes and CF beat hers by 2 min.  I think they have the running bug as they are all raring to sign up for another race and can’t wait to do it again.  

We received our medals and took some pictures and then went in for some cakes and eats.

Our selfie.  Can you tell we're newbies?

We only stayed a few minutes afterward and then thanked the race director for all her hard work and went on our merry way. 

Tip Tuesday

We are having technical difficulties.  The tip is 'scheduled' to appear.  Let's hope it's today :)

Tip Tuesday

Evening runs mean cooler temperatures and less pollen, but don't head out too late or you could disrupt your sleep.  Your brain will be stimulated and your heart rate and body temperature will be elevated for two hours after your run.

Motivational l Monday