Bootcamp(s) – Week 5 April 25, 2009

This week marked week 5 of the original bootcamp I started, and it also marked week 1 of a new bootcamp. The one I originally started is just on Wednesday nights and the one that started this week is Tues/Thurs. They’re both 6 weeks long so I have 2 weeks of overlap.

That being said, it was a really tough week. The one I started this week is a lot harder and physically demanding. Also, three days in a row isn’t easy…. physically or mentally. On Thursday I had a bit of a mental breakdown. For three days in a row I was pushed harder than I would ever push myself, and at one point I stopped and gave up on myself a bit, I was eventually able to get going again… but I started beating myself up. I feel like I make a lot of excuses about why I can’t do certain things, especially physical things, and I have gotten tired of hearing myself make them. So there was a lot of self realization and crying going on. They’re just as much breakthroughs as they are breakdowns.

I haven’t noticed any body changes yet…. to weight or measurement. But I know with how hard I was working last week that changes can’t be far off.

this girl is a godsend April 13, 2009

I must say, my place + no roommate = awesome. I’m really enjoying this month of being on my own and I’m sad that it’s almost half over. The awesome unit now has 100% more awesome.

That being said, I’m also looking forward to my new roommate moving in. It will have been a year since I’ve lived with someone I know. I think she’ll fit in well and we should have a good time.

Sometimes I think about the decisions we make in our lives and wonder how it impacts our future. In a lot of cases, I have always thought that everyone is on their own track and as long as you follow your heart you’ll always make the decision you’re supposed to make. Basically, the unromantic idea that your life is planned out for you.

But sometimes I wonder how it could be different. For example, I could honestly say that if I never bought my place, there is probably about a 90% chance that I would have moved to Vancouver by now. I’m certainly very happy to own my own place, but I can’t help but wonder how life would be different had I made other choices.

What prompted me to buy my own place? Well, some unplanned dollars as a result of a tragedy that I could only comfortably spend on a long term investment and a relationship gone south. It certainly was the right decision at the time.

And I love it here, I love my place, and I love being close to my family. At the same time, I’ve also grown very tired of this city and my lifestyle here. I yearn for change. And for the ocean.

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In other news:

• It’s been over a week since I’ve had any wine. That’s easiestly the longest period I haven’t had any wine in about a year. Sad? Maybe. Progress? Yes.
• I’m watching Fear and Loathing right now on TV. I forgot how much this movie can mess with you, even when sober.
• I went on 2 semi-runs this weekend. Both were short but had long walks at the end.
• I’m looking forward to BBQ season and inviting myself over to places with BBQs.
• What kind of rat bastard would play that song at that moment?
• This week I’m starting some contract work for a small engineering company. My goal is to get them more business. I’m looking forward to the challenge.
• My day job is going really well. It’s easy to feel smart there but at the same time I wish there were people there I could learn from.
• I’m still planning my next Van trip. I think I’ve narrowed down the dates
• I’m feeling a little thinkie today.

New Photos! More Updates! April 8, 2009

Well, I finally got around to clearing all the pics off my camera and uploaded some pics from last summer to flickr.

Bamfield & Tofino – http://www.flickr.com/photos/10879719@N03/sets/72157616401566317/
Random Summer Stuff (which is just mostly Matt waterskiing at this point) – http://www.flickr.com/photos/10879719@N03/sets/72157616491323734/
Okanagan Winery Tour – http://www.flickr.com/photos/10879719@N03/sets/72157616491282196/

And, on the weekend I went to the roller derby: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10879719@N03/sets/72157616401507461/

The roller derby was awesome and great to watch. Very entertaining, I highly recommend it.

This weeked I’m looking forward to more fun. Probably going to the zoo, grabbing some bumpies, likely a pub night, and family dinner on Sunday. I also hope to get a few more things done around the house. I am certainly enjoying to having a roommate right now… maybe too much.

Bootcamp, Week 3. Operation: LGN April 8, 2009

So I’m in to my third week of bootcamp!

Here’s my review about how my fitness and health have been going over the past few weeks.

The Good:

• Bootcamp is super fun and the hour goes by really quickly
• All the people are nice and supportive
• I’m not the worst at everything like I thought I would be
• I’m getting noticeably stronger already
• I can feel my cardio slightly improving already
• I haven’t really buggered up my knee yet
• I’ve cut down my drinking by about 75%
• I’m feeling healthier
• I’ve been complimenting bootcamp with other activities like: dodgeball, running, gym, and snowboarding

The not good:

• I’m sore a lot of the time
• I’ve gained 4 pounds in the last 2 weeks despite cutting back on drinking and eating better
• I’m still worried that I am going to bugger up my knee
• I need to see my chiropractor more to keep comfortable

I was really dissapointed when I weighed myself… nothing like thinking you’re doing all awesome to have the scale tell you something different. Jerk! I know that I shouldn’t just focus on the pounds – its all about how you feel and inches, etc. But a weight gain is really defeating feeling.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I’m going to share my stats here. This is mostly for me to keep track, and slightly embarrassing, but whatever. I’ll report weekly on how it changes.

Current Weight – 176
Waist (smallest part) – 33″
Waist (largest part) – 38″
Chest – 39″
Hips – 45″
Neck – 14″
Arm – 11.5″

Settling for 6th Place April 7, 2009

We had our last game of playoffs tonight for dodgeball. It was an epic battle to see who would come away with 5th place. Bragging rights, really.

The first 7 games were brilliant. The Above Average Joes dodged, dipped, ducked, dived, and dodged like we were all born with wrenches being thrown at us. Balls were popped up and caught, teammates were saved, we fought back from 5 man deficits to win.

And then we all fell apart. I’m not sure what ended up happening after that. Less brilliance. Less awesome. In any case, we ended up losing by 2 games.

Sixth place will have to be good enough. There were 12 teams in our league… so sixth is about middle of the pack. No one wants to be mediocre though.

Oh well, there is always next season!

Music Time! April 6, 2009

Tonight is a double update sort of night, but on two different topics.

My band has a show coming up in a week and a half and after tonights rehearsal I am a little bit nervous. We’re working on 6 songs to play and some are still feeling a bit too rough for my liking. Worst of all I don’t quite feel like my section is together and I hate it when I’m part of what’s bringing the group down. I’ll practice a lot on my own this week and me and a few others talked about doing an inpromtu jam on Sat afternoon so hopefully that helps as well. After that, we just have Monday’s regular rehearsal and then the show on Thursday.

This is our second last show of the season. There’s a big band dinner & dance we’ll be playing at in May to wrap up the season for the summer, then in September we will join up again for another year. I’ve really enjoyed playing with this group for the last 8 months, but I might move up a level for next season. Not sure yet. I’m kind of looking forward to having the summer off to figure it out.

Spring Boarding April 6, 2009

Yesterday I headed out to Nakiska for Day #2 of breaking in my new boots.

It was a fantastic beautiful day, spring boarding in the rockies is wonderful. I think it got up to around 10 degrees and the snow was super soft (but not slushy except for around the lodge). I didn’t have to put on my jacket at all throughout the day.

My friend, B, came with me for the day despite the very recent removal of his wisdom teeth. Although he’s a two-planker we managed to cruise the hill quite well together. My new wax job was perfect and made me super slick on the hill and I found myself testing out some new speed limits. I still took it easy on the blacks though and entertained the thought of some double blacks… but my legs were pretty sore from breaking in the new boots and it wasn’t a risk I was ready to take yet. I think next season I will be though.

I did have a few funny tumbles, all on the same run. It was near the end of the day and I was losing my legs. I had a skiier practically cut me off and bail right in front of me, and while I tried to avoid him we both went down and tumbled in a big cloud of snow… then his ski came down after him and attempted to impail me… but all worked out in the end. Then not to long after that my board slipped out beneath me on my tow edge on a steep section. Although I did my edges a bit last week I’m thinking I might need to work on them a bit more.

I accidentally took us through a few flat sections, which ended up being the beginning of the end for my legs. There’s nothing quite like holding a squat while trying to hold your balance for a few minutes. Good exercise though!

I had my camera with me but completely forgot to take pictures… so I have no photos of blue skies, sunshine, and soft snow to share with you – but perhaps next time! I hope to make it out once more before the season ends.

On wine and work… March 29, 2009

My attempt to cut down on my booze calories has so far been successful. It’s been over one week now since I made that decision and have only indulged in one glass of wine. I must say that I am already feeling healthier because of that. I’ve also somewhat stayed on track with my fitness goals, with the exception of snowboarding today. But the way my knee is feeling and the way the roads were this morning made that to be not the best idea. Oh well, I’ll get out there next weekend.

Instead of snowboarding, I spent most of the day working. Not a good trade off if you ask me. I’ve been working on a new web design that will kick up the professionalism of our site a notch and should hold us over until we can afford to get a pro to do it. I like it, it’s simple and looks good. My web dev skills are minimal though and I find myself using some outdated techniques. Oh well. Hopefully that all gets sorted out soon.

I need to go grocery shopping… the cereal I had for dinner is not cutting it.

thinking west… March 28, 2009

It’s no secret that I want the ocean right now.

So I’ve been thinking a lot about my next trip out west a lot lately. It will likely be a 9 day trip, and there is a lot I would like to see and a lot of people to visit while out that way…

Stop 1 – Vancouver (4-5 days)

• Visit with all the fun peoples: J&S, C&D, R&M, D, and the fun people that usually come along with them or I end up tagging along with
• Go to The Frog… Usually when I’m in Vancouver I like to forget I’m from Alberta, but the Frog always feels like home.
• Go on a hike… maybe the Cheif again, or a portion of the B-P
• KAYAK! I’ve wanted to kayak on the coast for easily about 5 years now. It’s about time I make this happen.

Stop 2 – The Island (2-3 days)

• At the very least I’d like to spend a night on the island to visit my aunt and uncle
• Tofino maybe? Or some hiking… so many options
• Victoria less likely

Stop 3 – Okanagan (2 days)

• WINE! There is some wine I’d like to pick up on my way home from the coast. Most importantly:
  • St. Hubertus for their Dry Riesling (The most perfect white wine)
  • Grey Monk for some Kerner Late Harvest (Delicious dessert) and Odyssey III Port (a decent port drink)
  • Blue Mountain for some Pinot Noir (An amazing red) very far south Okanagan though, so less of a priority
  • Therapy Vineyards for some Freudian Sip or Pink Freud (it’s all in a name)
  • Kettle Valley for a King Merlot (another wine to sit on my rack for 5 or so years)
  • Township 7 – I think a nice gamey spicy Syrah is in order (so peppery and yummy to go with some BBQ bison)
  • Lake Breeze for their Delice dessert wine (so delicate and delicious)
  • Elephant Island… I’ve never been and would love to pick up and try some of their orchard wines

As for trip timeline… right now I’m thinking June, but I still need to sort that out. I’m working for a construction company and summer happens to be the busy time so I’d have to work that out with the bosses. That’s the tentitive plan so far. If I want to visit all those places I’ll definitely be driving.

Another option would be to do the west coast and okanagan things separately. Drive out to the okanagan for a weekend in the next month or two to pick up wine, and fly out to the coast when I go.

We’ll see what ends up happening

that may have been a bad idea… March 26, 2009

So being all energetic and motivated and all that crap… even though I was incredibly sore today, I thought it would be a good idea to go to the gym and do a ripped class.

About 5 minutes in to the hour I quickly realized this was a poor idea. I could feel my knee starting to seize up and a few lunges in I knew I was doomed. I decided to stick out the class and just kept all the foot work really light… didn’t do any full lunges (stayed shallow) and instead of using the bench just did everything on the floor. I still enjoyed the class and had a good workout, I just need to be careful not to totally destroy my knee again.

I’ll ice it tonight and get my chiro to work it out tomorrow, then should take it easy for the rest of the week. At least until Sunday when I head out boarding. Hopefully my boots are a little more broken in and it’s easy cruisin’.

I also weighed myself at the gym… since Sunday I’ve gained 1.5lbs… why is the scale such a jerk some times! Since Friday I haven’t had any alcoholic drinks plus have been eating right and working out. I’m hoping that it’s just a difference of the time of day I weighed myself and water, I’ve been drinking water like crazy these last few days. I’ll check again on Sunday for a true reading.

I have a serious chocolate craving today, so I picked up some fat free chocolate pudding mix and am attempting to make it with soy milk. Hopefully it works without regular milk, otherwise I suspect it will end up being some sort of chocolate soy beverage.