Speed Trials

I have such mixed emotions about exercise videos. On the one hand, they’re kind of lame, often gimmicky, with annoying instructors, and I cringe at the thought of someone seeing me doing one. But on the other hand, they are convenient, and usually don’t require a lot of equipment or even space.  And on days where the weather sucks and the prison gym is too unbearable, it’s good to know that I can come home and pop in a DVD to get a little sweat-on after work and before dinner.

When I first decided to lose some weight, I asked practically ALL of my friends what they did to get fit. One friend told me that she did a video by Leslie Sansone. “It’s called Walk Away the Pounds. By the end of the video you’ll hate her, but her videos work.” So with that in mind, I bought the 3-mile Walk Away the Pounds and did it about 4 times a week. (and it’s true, Leslie can get on your nerves, but it’s also true that her videos worked!)

The thing with this video is that, like anything else, the novelty wore off. I tried buying a couple more videos, pretty much at random, but they didn’t appeal to me, and they were left unused. Then I got really disillusioned about the whole exercise video market, and their insane promises of rapid weight loss and “science” based exercise technology. But then one day I found this website: Collage Video. It’s a mega depot for all things exercise video, but their thing is that they show previews of every single video they sell. It’s genius! You can have a quick look at the types of exercises they’ll do, and get a sense of what the instructor is like. I spent a lot of time on that site, and finally found a video by Ellen Barrett.

Ellen is known for her impeccable cuing. She isn’t annoying (to me anyway) and this video has become a staple in my repertoire of workouts.

Today I did the video with 2lb weights. It was a good workout, and I didn’t even feel embarrassed that Angelo was in the apartment. And so I think that over the winter months, when my motivation to get to the gym wanes, I’ll be relying more and more on my DVDs to get me through to spring.

(PS. I can’t believe it’s not even December yet, and I’m already talking about spring. Mega sigh!)

Temperatures have dropped, rain has turned to ice, and green has turned to white. The weather out there is super poopy, as we had freezing rain on Thursday night that turned the entire city into a skating rink. To make matters worse, the rain finally turned to snow in the early hours of the morning, so for our commute to work, we had a fresh blanket of snow covering the dangerous ice beneath.

Last year, my knee injury forced me to take the bus (or walk when I was feeling adventurous) to work, but this year I’m determined to take my bike as much as possible. When I went to unlock my bike on Friday morning, it was coated with ice. I had to break the ice off the saddle and handlebars so my hands and tush wouldn’t freeze on the way to work. Biking the morning after an ice storm is not the funnest thing in the world, but one advantage is that most cars are going more slowly then usual, so I felt safe the whole way to work. Angelo also gave me a good tip: ride in the car’s tire tracks where there is less ice. Also, I think having flashing lights on my bike (even in the daylight) is key. And double mittens. Double mittens are a must!!

My commute was about 20min – which is about 5min slower than on a normal day. But that’s okay, the bike messengers are out there for 8 hours, so I really can’t complain! Here’s a video that Angelo made in the winter of 2007 (when we had record-breaking snow fall). Enjoy!

Today has been a big day. I had my post-op follow-up appointment at the Shirley Greenberg Women’s Health Centre.  I had been anticipating this visit for a long time, because I had a lot of unanswered questions following my surgery. The Women’s Health Centre is a really lovely facility, and the staff there are super nice. The first question I was asked was how I was feeling about everything that had happened. Not what my symptoms were, but how did I feel? It really touched me, and even though I wanted to be all business, I got teary-eyed when I told them that actually, I’m scared and confused, and I REALLY want to be pregnant.

pretty flowers from Angelo.

I went over how I was feeling emotionally and physically, and also asked a lot of questions about what comes next. I was given some good information, and we put together a plan of action to get me pregnant ASAP! By the end of it, I was crying tears of joy, not of fear!

***

Today is also the first time I set foot in the gym since before the surgery. I did 20 minutes on the step machine, followed by three sets of the following (all with 8lbs weights):

12 bicep curls
10 shoulder presses
10 triceps extensions

I rounded it off with 3 sets of 10 crunches (I was really testing my belly’s resilience, and I’m pleased to report that all incisions were fine after the crunches)

He bought them for me on Friday, just because I was having a bad day… swoon.

It was the right amount of exercise for me today, and left me feeling really invigorated and ready for more!  As you know, I haven’t had any motivation for working out lately, and all my best intentions to run or lift weights seem to vanish at go-time.  I’ve done more couch-sitting and TV-watching in this past month than I have all year. Now it might be a coincidence that I actually went to the gym the same day of my appointment, but I have a strong suspicion that the two are more closely linked than that. Subconsciously, I think I was really stuck in a holding pattern, with no information and lots of doubt. I think that it was difficult (nearly impossible) for me to move forward until I had resolved these issues that came about during the ectopic.

And now that I have closure, that I have a plan for moving forward, my subconscious allowed me to move forward with my fitness, too.

On October 31, 2010, I attended my first ever Hallowedding. Our good friends Allen and Crystal finally sealed the deal in an affair that was as fun as it was unique.  They chose the historical Mayfair Theatre as their location for the event, and even had the marquee set up to announce their big day!

The couple have been together for five + years, and have two beautiful daughters together, so this affair was more of a celebratory party than a formal ceremony or right of passage.  They took the opportunity to make the day as fun as possible, and they hit the mark bang on!

Angelo was one of the groomsmen, along with Patrice (aka B.G.). The men looked very sharp in their dark suits, black shirts, and red ties.

Even though the theatre is large and seats 492, the ceremony felt very cozy and intimate (we all just sat up at the front). Most attendees were close friends of the couple, and there were lots of kids there too!

The bride looked beautiful in a form-fitting black dress, and her bridesmaid had awesome crafted bouquets. Such a crafty lady!  The ceremony was told in a fairytale fashion. When the officiant first started reciting it, I was a little skeptical at how it would come off, but by the end of his ‘sermon’ I was totally won over, and loved the fairytale style. For a full recap from the officiant himself, check out this post: http://weddingchaplain.wordpress.com

A funny part of the ceremony was that at one point Angelo reached into his breast pocket and then a look of sheer terror spread across his face. He said something to BG who just threw his hands up. Angelo started to frantically check every pocket of his suit while the two of them started perspiring. I was killing myself trying not to laugh at these two groomsmen, desperately trying to find the couple’s rings before they would be called up to produce them. Finally, after a few minutes, Angelo found the rings in his back pocket. Silly boy!!

I wore a black skirt and red satin tube top (made that morning) and paired it with some red jewelry. I like it when I match my man!

While the bridal party took off to take pictures, the rest of us got a little wild at the theatre:

we ate some poutine

we played some dice

we got a little silly

Once the bridal party returned, we watched a film, which was great, because at that point everyone was in a major sugar coma induced by an elaborate Candy Table set up by Roller Derby Queen Katie from the Candy Store. Some of us watched the movie, but most of us napped.  It was glorious and so indulgent! After the film, we helped clean up and slowly the guests trickled home for their own Halloween festivities.

One thing that concerned me about this wedding was that there wasn’t going to be any dancing. I was really stuck in that mentality that dancing was necessary to bring people together. But I was proven wrong – the guests were able to mingle and celebrate as they wished. The atmosphere was so warm and so convivial that there was no need for dancing. We had food, drink, candy, and each other, and everyone had a really good time.  I also think that the bride and groom were the perfect hosts. They made everyone feel at-home, and their own laid-back attitude was reflected in the feel of the wedding, and that made the day a resounding success.

Once everything was all wrapped up at the Mayfair, we had about an hour before dinner. The wedding was really a two-part affair: the large ceremony was opened up to all friends and family, and the intimate dinner was reserved for the bridal party and family. Luckily, as the fiancé of one of the groomsmen, I was invited to the dinner! It was held at the Courtyard restaurant, which looked stunning after its renovation (it had a fire earlier this year).

The meal was mostly vegan, and the food was top-notch. We ate so well, and the seating was great. Instead of having a traditional seating arrangement of smaller tables, there was only one LARGE table that sat all of us. It made for such a nice, intimate affair. Each seating card had a love quote on it from a movie, and there was a game where everyone tried to match the quotes to the correct movie. Very nice tie-in to the “movie theme” of the wedding.

The bride and groom arrived by bicycle (of course!):

The speeches were short: in fact, there was only one, from the bride (love it! I am TOTALLY making a speech at my wedding!) Crystal spoke so eloquently and beautifully about her husbands family, and the most touching moment of all was when she was talking about Allen, describing what an amazing husband and father he is. All the while, Allen was listening while mashing a banana and feeding it to their 18 month old daughter. It painted the perfect picture.

The man of the day, with his two groomsmen and oldest daughter:

So while these two made a commitment to each other a LONG time ago, it was wonderful to be able to celebrate that union with them, their beautiful family, and feel the love on Halloween! Congratulations Crystal and Allen!!

Here’s a little factoid about me: I like to do my grocery shopping at 7am on Sunday morning.

There’s nothing I hate more than a crowded grocery store, and since I shop at one of those Superstores that can get Super busy, it’s best that I get there as soon as it opens to avoid the crowds. So this morning I was in my car at 7am, taking in the last few minutes of the sunrise.

My intention was to go for a run as soon as I got back from shopping, but by the time I’d put the food away, I was tired and hungry and just never made it out the door.

Finally I put on some running clothes at around 11am, procrastinated for about 15 minutes, throwing tantrums and “I don’t wanna’s” before heading out.

don’t go, momma!

And now I know why I didn’t wanna: I ran 3.5km, and each kilometer was harder than the next.  This was my second run post-op, and while my first run was all about re-acquainting myself with the joy of running, this one was all about re-acquainting myself with the pain of running. I don’t know what it is about running, but it seems like the first run after a long break is always fine and wonderful, but then the next few runs are especially killer. My muscles felt very tight, while the rest of me felt very jiggly. My lungs burned and my back ached. I had to focus on putting one foot in front of the other, making sure my spine was nice and straight just to stop my mind from convincing me to stop running altogether.

When I got home, I sort of collapsed on the kitchen floor.  I was sweaty, tired, and cramped. But I also felt like I really accomplished something, and the run actually motivated me to get back into my regime. I put together my schedule for the upcoming week, and I’m pretty pumped about it.

I haven’t lifted weights in a looooooong time, and I don’t know how I’ll do with the ab work (my stitches still haven’t come out, and I don’t want to do anything too intense until I get the okay from my doctor) but I CANNOT wait to get on the step machine! Yah buns of steel, here I come!