It's Been Forever!

So...we kind of got off the biking bandwagon after the accident.



BUT 3 weeks after The Accident, I did start my daily workouts again.



I wasn't able to find Cize when I finished Insanity Max 30, however, I did have the 21 Day Fix Extreme, so gave it a go.



As it was only 21 days, I decided not to note every single workout - it kind of takes away from it all.

Autumn Calabrese kind of annoyed me at first, but she grew on me eventually.  She sounds like she's from Minnesota with a Canadian Accent.



And she's a tough cookie.  She brought back the weights, and maintained the squats, lunges, and goddam tricep dips.

I didn't realize how much I missed the weights (Shaun T doesn't generally use weights - only in the Gamma Round of T25).



I didn't do the diet part, as I'm not that hard core.  I'm okay with a long term maintenance plan vs a short term plan.  That's just me though - some people just do the diet part.  I don't need more tupperware, and we generally watch what we eat, with some cheating (wings and beer anyone??).



I didn't really like the app, as the days I didn't workout (there was a wedding in the middle, so I had to remember which day I was on, as the app just assumed you didn't skip a day):

The bridal party

I think my arm looks dented - you can kind of see it in the top left - yeah!

And someone actually commented on how muscular my back looks - sweet!  All my hard work the last 10 months is finally paying off.  Being not-20-years-old, it's a lot more difficult to get rid of those unsightly bulges and bumps.  Husband still says I'm hot no matter what, but it also matters what I think.



I want all the muscles!



And working out also gives me more energy, makes me happy, and fills in that time I used to spend bird toy making for Crystal's Bird Toys.



CBT feels like a lifetime ago since I closed down the store.



Anyhow, back to Apps - I like Apps for my workouts, so I can check it off there.  I'm horrible with paper. Even if it's posted on my fridge.



Like now.



I tried Cize for 2 days, and just missed the weights, squats, and lunges - it's mainly cardio and co-ordination, and a whack load of fun....but I need more than that to meet my targets and not get bored.  Doing the same workout every day for a week is one way for me to just stop doing it.  It's boring and repetitive.



So, I found a schedule that incorporates the 21 Day Fix Extreme WITH Cize.  It's perfect!  3 days of weights, lunges, and squats, 1 Yoga day, and 3 Cize Days a week.



I think I might do this with Body Beast (a program I haven't attempted as I don't want stupid huge muscles, and NEED my cardio to get best results) - a bit of T25 or P90X3 and Body Beast together?


 Yes please!



Cize is basically 30-40 minutes learning a 45 second dance.  My favourite move so far is the row-boat move - it took me about 4 days of Cize to figure it out, but now it's fun.  Again, I trip over my own feet and am not that co-ordinated, so this is a great challenge for me to attempt and succeed at.

I start the new dance (week 3) today, so I'm stalling for time.  New moves in Cize scare me a bit.


 This is good - to challenge yourself to do things you ordinarily wouldn't do.




I also only had one pair of workout shorts that wicked sweat away - my other two were old pant cut offs, and not working for me at all.  I'm a fitness clothing snob. I admit it.  I like my Lululemon. It does exactly what I want, and I shop in the We Made To Much section, so the pricing is actually much better that normal priced fitness clothing, at a quality I have become accustomed to.



So I saw some shorts on sale that might work better than the last pair I got (I need to shrink a tad bit more for those ones to fit - fitness goals!).



They are Amazeballs!

A workout is not complete without a Ridgeback aka Lumpy Fynn

The only problem with shopping in the discount section...you have to wait. And wait. And wait if you want a not-size 2 or 4.  I'm an 8 in tops (which are getting flowy) and 10 in bottoms right now - the 8s don't like my hips, which seem to be holding on for dear life.



A bit of a long winded analysis of the last few months, but I'm still journeying along :)



There are no excuses acceptable (beyond having no limbs) to not putting yourself, your mental & physical health, and overall well being - first.  Do it for your family and do it for yourself.



Keep fit, smile, and remember - if you have 30 minutes a day to watch tv, you have 30 minutes a day to workout in your living room.

My Longest Bike Ride - Ever!

So, the furthest I can remember biking is no more than 20 km in a round trip.  Really, it's all my awesome mountain bike and I could do on road or paved path trails.

When I lived in Port Credit (Mississauga), I would rollerblade once a summer with my friend Shea, from home to Union Station and beyond - about 25km.  But We would Go Train back home.  And there were lots of food carts around so we could fuel up along the way.  Why once a summer?  We forgot each year how achy our bodies felt the next few days thereafter.

Annual rollerblade trip to Union

I think I'm currently stronger than I have ever been thanks to discovering Tony and Shaun T (yes, preaching the Beachbody workouts AGAIN). But as I've mentioned before, my Mountain Bike...made me feel weak peddling away.  The first two weeks of biking, I could NOT catch up to Husband.  I felt so slow and unfit.

Now 4 weeks later, after struggling to barely make it 18 km, we did it.  We made it to the edge of Downtown Ottawa!

We used to see Moodie and Highway 417 as the end of the ride before turning around.  Like the pathway on the other side of Moodie was the Dead Zone full of Zombies and monsters that would slow us down and eat us for dinner.

One of our first goals with new speedy bikes was to make it past Britannia Beach on a weekend.  Now we can do that on a weeknight!

A few weeks ago, we struggled to make it to the Ottawa River Parkway Beach.

So our goal yesterday was unspoken, but one we had spoken about over the last 4 weeks since Speedy Road Bikes came home with us.

We kept riding past our normal turn around points...and it just happened.

We sat down on a bench outside the War Museum, fist pumped our success, had our granola bars and snuggled for a bit before deciding we had to venture back home.

We made it!!

We slowed down when we needed to catch our breath, sped back up when we'd recovered, and just zoned out.

It took us 1 hour and 4 minutes to get there, and only 1 hour and 11 minutes to return home.  Average speed was 22.2 km per hour.

Pretty good considering neither of us has ever biked that far.

The day after...my neck is slightly sore, my trigger thumb for the gears is a bit sore, but the rest of my body does not feel like it biked so far.  Boo-yah!  I must be doing something right.

And I slept the whole night through and even remember dreaming.  Most nights I wake up constantly, don't remember dreaming, and just give up sleeping part way through.

Maybe I'm finally on the road to recovery and finally defeating the CFS beast!

And now having a new goal - beyond 50 km!

Release The Hounds! Adventure on The Pipeline!

I love that I can say, "Release the Hounds!" and we actually release our own hounds!

We are owned by two gorgeous Rhodesian Ridgebacks - Gideon (almost 7) and Fynn (5) - otherwise known as Good Dog and Bad Dog.

Good Dog (Gideon) was lovingly raised by his breeder -  exposed to excess love, cuddles, and positive reinforcement from Day 1. 

He's perfect.  He's the reason we love Ridgebacks.

Bad Dog (Fynn) was rescued via Power of Attorney 2 weeks after the breeder (who had Dementia)'s friend came over and found 10 puppies in the basement kennel with their mom.  We found out we were chosen to be albe to rescue one of these pups on my Birthday - they were born on Husband's Birthday.  It was fate.  They were 14 weeks old by the time we had two to choose from in Ontario, and Fynn chose Gideon at the rescue (Batz, growled at Gideon - Fynn licked Gideon).

We know very little about Fynn's background other than his parents were both first generation Ridgebacks from Africa, and that they were rarely handled during that crucial puppy rearing stage. 

Without going into too much detail, it took Fynn a year to be able to sit in the same room with us. Another two years before he could be trusted outside his kennel while we were at work. Another year to learn that it's okay to ask for pets.  And he's finally full snuggle mode with those he loves and trusts.

If you're afraid of Fynn or give off bad vibes, however, he will NOT be your friend.  He will not like you.  And he looks pretty scary when he's not your friend. 

As our awesome trainer said - he will be hte best dog he can be.  He'll never be perfect.  But he definitely tries so hard.  We work with him every day, and are helping him reach his full potential.

So after being owned by Fynn, any other dog would be a walk in the park!  It's stressful, anxiety ridden, but rewarding and awesome. 

Gideon is a people dog. Fynn is Gideon's dog. Fynn would be lost without Gideon.  And Fynn is also the annoying little brother figure to Gideon. 

So many puppy stories - for more blog posts!

**************

The Pipeline is where we used to bring the dogs once or twice a week when we lived in the Middle of Nowhere. 

It's this awesome Gem of a place which our Breeder introduced us to. There are ATV trails, an empty field, and the dogs absolute LOVE to run there.

I hadn't brought them there in ages.  But had a random Wednesday off (I work an extra 22 minutes a day to get the second Wednesday of each month off). 

It's 7am on my day off, and I wasn't in bed. I was in the car driving with the dogs to the Pipeline.  45 minutes later, we were there.   there weren't any other cars parked, and I couldn't hear any ATV's, so off we went. 

They bolted.

 

They were SO Happy to just be running and chasing each other, and I was so happy to see their Happy Tails wagging!

Because of Fynn's anxiety, we can't free-run them in places strangers (and dogs) might be. 

Their recall is still strong - Fynn recalled like a Pro everytime I called him.

I'm coming Mom!

 

Closer Mom!



Mom is SO proud that I came back!
 

Gideon's tail was wagging during our entire trek.

Mom!  I'M SO EXCITED - Come Chase ME!!

But our journey eventually came to an end :(

Happy Puppy Bums!

So my plan is to see if there are any non-busy ATV trails near Arnprior, Richmond, or Carleton Place so we can take them more often without worry of running into anyone else. 

If all else fails, there is a really big field and small trail nearby that I can bring them to if we go REALLY early on a weekend morning - likely before Husband wakes up.  I'll just bring hot dog bits with me, just to ensure their recall is retained. 

Until our next adventure! 

---Systic