What a change!

We went from 33 C/91 F yesterday to 16 C/61 F today - after big storms rolled through last night and broke the heat.

It is still pretty warm inside most places and my gym was no exception this morning. I did 30 minutes weights followed by 30 minutes on the elliptical and I was just dripping sweat!

Eat to Live is going well so far, luckily for me it is not a huge stretch. The hardest part is limiting bread, I think. Here is a link that explains more about the program.

I did have two glasses of champagne at my son's graduation reception yesterday evening, though! It sure tasted refreshing at the time!

Hot Yoga

Today we are in the tail end of a little heat wave here in Belgium - no biggie for those of you in Texas or Florida, but for us it's pretty warm. And very humid. And I did I mention muggy?

Anyhow, what was supposed to be a running day, turned into a "hot yoga" day! I put my mat down in the coolest part of my house (the living room) and did about 20 minutes before I got too sweaty and gave up. Oh well...

Luckily we are supposed to get big storms in this evening and things will cool off. So tomorrow I can go to the gym, as planned.

I also started with the Eat To Live eating plan this week - a good time of year to do this, as it calls for big salads and lots of raw veggies and fruit. I actually woke up really early and went out in the garden to pick raspberries at 6 am before it got too hot - and then enjoyed them in a smoothie for breakfast! Yum!

Summertime is a great time for change

Those of you who have been reading my blog for the last couple years know that I usually take advantage of the summer months to tackle a big exercise program. Last year I did New Rules of Lifting for Women, the year before Body for Life.

As I am thinking about what my plan will be this year (yes, I have some ideas!) I just read this inspiring quote from Kirsten Armstrong's yoga teacher on her blog:

"We tend to think that summer is about letting go, chilling out, time off, taking a break. And it can be that, but it's also about using the heat to fuel change. Summer is a perfect time to explore your edge. We do this thing, all of us, we get so close to the point of real growth – and then we shrink back. We get to the uncomfortable edge, and we pull back. Always getting close to the change we need, peering at it, but not fully going the distance to make it happen. I want to encourage you to put the Soul back in Solstice, to think this summer about the growth you really want and need in your life and go there, don't shrink back. We have to be willing to stay with the fire, the discomfort, if we want to generate the heat."

Perfect! I have been thinking a lot about what I want to accomplish this summer and I have found the fitness program I plan to do, starting the first Monday of July: the new Matt Roberts book, I Will Make You Fit Fast. This is a 12 week program and I am really enthused about doing it. More on this once I get going. For now I am finishing out the workouts I previously planned for June (only two more gym workouts to go!).

And on the food front, I am committed to doing the Eat To Live program this summer and see how that works out for me. I already eat a vegetarian, mainly vegan diet, but things have gotten sloppy in the past year or so (wine? chocolate? chips?), and I am ready to clean up my diet and aim to lose those last ten pounds I have been struggling with. I will keep you posted!

And while I am working on these two things this summer, I will try to remind myself not to shrink back, and stay with the discomfort, right?

Sopping wet - twice!

Yesterday I did manage to get out and get my run in outside - 42 minutes and 6.5 km. Later in the afternoon I biked to school to pick up my son and just as he came out, it started to pour. In the ten minutes it took us to bike home, we got completely soaked. I might as well have stepped into my shower, fully clothed.

This morning I went to the gym for my "B" workout:

• 25 min biking (to and from gym)
• 35 min weight training
• 20 min treadmill run, easy pace
• 30 min elliptical

As I got on my bike to go home, guess what? It started to rain again! Luckily not as hard as yesterday, but still! By the time I got home, I was soaked - again!

Oh well - I don't mind too much when I am heading home. It sure made my hot shower feel extra good.

We are looking forward to some warmer temperatures and a bit more sunshine this weekend.

Happy Friday, everyone!

Happy Birthday Felix!

Today is Felix's 12th birthday! He's my youngest so it seems like quite a milestone, especially since he is almost done with primary school, and as of next September, I will have all three of my boys in secondary school.

I was busy making cupcakes last night for him to take to school, tomorrow we are going out for dinner at his favorite restaurant (Thai House), Saturday he has friends over, and Sunday my in-laws come to celebrate - so it is going to be quite a few days of partying!

In the midst of all that, I intend to get my runs and workouts in all the same (otherwise I just might go crazy). Today I plan to run 40 minutes but at the moment I am watching the weather to see if it's going to be at the gym or outside...

Rainy rainy day...

Luckily it wasn't raining when I had to walk Felix to school or when I biked to the gym. I knew it was going to rain today so I made sure I went out and picked a bunch of our raspberries before it started and before going to the gym.

I did weights and 30 minutes on the elliptical at the gym. It felt hard today. But I got it done! And then I biked home in the rain. Which wasn't too bad since I had my rain hat with me to keep it out of my eyes. It may look dorky but on days like today I am glad I have it!

And at least we will have some fresh raspberries to munch on this afternoon.

Procrastination

I promised myself I would get moving by 10 am and it's nearly 10:30. Oops! Happens to all of us sometimes, I guess. But it is always so nice to catch up on what everyone is doing...

So this will be a short post, so I can go get moving. Yesterday it was very bad weather, so I hit the gym for 60 minutes running on the treadmill. My friend Christine (professional cyclist, so certainly not a slouch herself) asked me how I could run for so long, and I told her, "Very slow and easy!" Which is the truth indeed! Now I just need to ask her how she can bike for so long (and so fast)!

Had a great late lunch with Christine yesterday at our favorite vegan cafe in Leuven: Loving Hut, where I enjoyed their raw spring rolls. It was delicious and I felt very virtuous afterwards! I love the way eating healthy food makes me feel.

10:27 already - gotta go! Have a great day!

Back to the gym

Just a quick post - thanks for all the encouragement on my neck/shoulder - they're doing better but not 100% yet, still working on it. But I felt good enough to get to the gym this morning and get Friday's workout in. It is amazingly quiet there on Sunday mornings if you get there right when they open, which is what I did.

Got my weights done, but modified for my shoulder by doing less reps at a lower weight. Ran on the treadmill and then did the ellipitical for 30 minutes. It was really hard because the battery on my music player died and the gym was playing the most boring music! What a struggle!

But, phew, I got it done, and headed home. Now it's time to shower and then make lunch for my kids, all three of whom are studying hard today - they all have math exams tomorrow.

What a pain!

I got stung by a bee on Wednesday - twice!

The first sting was just a warning prick but the second sting - OW! Unfortunately the bee didn't survive the attack, his stinger was lodged in my leg. Which is still painful and tender today...

I have also been having issues with my neck and shoulder this week - ouch! I have had neck and shoulder pain for years, but seeing my osteopath on a regular basis and taking care about how I sit and move mostly seems to keep it in check these days. However, I often struggle with this when I pick up the amount of weight training I am doing...it's a balancing act trying to figure out how much I can do without paying for it later.

So today the pain is quite present (very aggravating!) and so I will swap my weight training day for a running day. I am just waiting for the ibuprofen to kick in before I head out!

Ladies Run Kortrijk 5K

Early this morning, Karen, Beth and I headed off to Kortrijk to do the Ladies Run Series 5K there. This was where I did my very first 5K ever in 2006, the year I started running. And today was going to be their very first 5K, so I was really excited for them!

Our plan was to stay together, and run at a comfortable pace for everyone. Karen had never run a full 30 minutes before without stopping for a walk break, but she was up for the challenge. I knew Beth could go for at least 45 minutes without stopping since we ran together last week, and I knew the pace that was comfortable for her.

At the start of the race it was hard not to want to go faster, as it felt like we were getting passed by everyone. But the field cleared out and we settled into a comfortable rhythm. Karen and Beth did great! And I kept my eye on my Garmin and made sure we stayed in the right pace.

The course, as so many of the recreational races here in Belgium, was actually shorter than the advertised distance! We ended up crossing the finish line in 34 minutes after just over 4.5 km. But Karen and Beth were really pleased with their performance and were glad we did it. I was proud of both of them!

We were really lucky with the weather - rain was predicted but we only had a couple of drops while we were waiting to start the race, and the sun never really came out in full force, which was a blessing, because if it had, it would have been way too hot. I stopped doing this race two years ago because it was always so beastly hot to run. We still were pretty sweaty when we finished, though!

After a welcome shower and a little snack we headed home, where my husband took a picture of the three of us with our medals:

Yum!!!

BTW - just made the Mark Bittman pasta recipe in this month's Runner's World magazine - YUM!!! Everyone loved it! For those of you who don't get this magazine - here is the link to the recipe. Enjoy!

Proactive

Tomorrow is the Ladies Run 5K in Kortrijk which I am running with two women who have been doing the Start to Run program and for whom this will be their first ever race. Exciting!

Normally I would run about 10 km on a Sunday, but since I am doing 5 K tomorrow and I already did 5 km on Saturday, and I won't be able to get to the gym tomorrow, I decided to do my gym workout today. That's my way of being proactive. I don't usually go to the gym on weekends, but I got there early this morning and it was very quiet. I love it when it's like that!

A few people have asked me to be more specific about what I do, so here is what I did today:

• bike to the gym (10 min, mostly downhill, easy)
• 25 mins weights ( I do a short routine I put together myself based on other programs. My aim is to hit every large muscle group but not feel overwhelmed by the number of exercises I have to do, otherwise I get discouraged and tend to give up. I also try to pick exercises I enjoy! I have two routines I alternate, today was "B": incline dumbbell chest press, reverse stationary lunges, seated dumbbell shoulder press, Romanian deadlift with dumbbell row, French press, Swiss ball crunches, prone jackknife on Swiss ball) today I did 2 sets of each exercise, 10 reps each, and I try to increase my sets/reps/or weights each week)
• 20 minutes easy on treadmill
• coffee break! our gym has a free coffee bar, so if I am planning to be there long, I sometimes stop for a few minutes and have an espresso - it revs me up for the last part of my workout
• 30 min elliptical - I always do one of the interval programs on the machine and I try to work pretty hard
• 10 min bike home (mostly uphill - hard!)

There you go! I don't always add the extra 20 minutes on the treadmill - it depends on how much time I have and how motivated I am feeling!

When I get home, I am hungry and have a smoothie. The one thing I am bad about is getting in some stretching afterwards. I should try to do better on this. But like Yoda says , "No try, only do." Right?

Have a happy Sunday and Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, especially two - the father of my kids and my own special dad! I love you both!

Early Riser

I woke up early this morning. I have to take my son to piano lessons at 10 but I figured I could get a run in before and still have plenty of time to wake all the boys up and get my own shower. So I came down, had coffee and a small breakfast, checked emails and blogs and then, unable to put it off any longer, put my running shoes on and headed out.

I only needed to do about a half hour, so I knew the loop I wanted to take. Sometimes it is easier for me to get going if I tell myself I only have to go to a certain point and then I can head home if I like, or do a bit extra if I am feeling good. I nearly always do the extra, but it's nice to have options!

Today I also did the extra and was going along at a good pace - I hit the 5 K mark in 30:53 which is really good for me on a training run all by myself - yay! I let myself go slow and cool down for the last bit. What a great way to start the weekend.

Hope yours is great too!

Hungry!

I was ravenous when I got back from the gym! No, actually I was starving while I was finishing off my last ten minutes of the elliptical. All I could think about was what I was going to eat when I got home (a smoothie) and my legs felt all wobbly. Biking back up the hills to get home felt so hard. I wasn't even sure if I could manage to stop at the vegetable store to pick up a few things I needed on the way home - I was that hungry.

I did manage to stop there but the first thing I did when I got in was make myself a smoothie - soy milk, hemp protein powder, a chopped pear, a tsp of cocoa powder, a drizzle of agave syrup and a romaine lettuce leaf, whipped up as quick as possible and downed in one go! Yum...but I was still hungry and I was craving fruit. So I had a banana and an apple. And now I feel okay.

Funny how the body can be so demanding sometimes. And so specific. I guess I needed some vitamins, minerals and fiber.

At the gym, I did a short weight routine (about 20 min) and then 30 min on the elliptical. I still don't have a specific program I have decided to follow this summer, but in the meantime, my goal is to get into the gym 8 times in the month of June for weight workouts. I have written my own program, with exercises I enjoy and that hit all the major muscle groups. I am still hemming and hawing about July and August.

Have a great day!

Run Run Run

Yesterday I got out for a fast (for me) 5k run around the neighborhood - I had plans to help a friend get ready for a church fair and had to get my run in early. I knew I only had about a half hour to run before I had to get ready to go and ended up stopping my watch at 32 minutes and just over 5 k!

Not having run in a whole week meant my legs were protesting a bit when I first started but by the end it felt good again. Funny how even a little break has consequences!

This morning I met up with one of the ladies who is going to do the Ladies Run 5K with me this weekend. I dropped Felix at school and ran 15 minutes to her house, and then we ran 45 minutes together on her usual route. I am so used to running mainly on my own so it was a nice change to have someone to chat with along the way. By the time I got home, I had a total of about 8 km and a good hour of running in by 10 am! What a great way to start the day!

And a great time was had by all

Just back from dropping Mom and Dad off at the airport. It's always hard to come back to the empty house and have to ease myself back into normal everyday life, because we always have such a nice time having them here. The boys love spending time with Grandma and Grandpa, as you can see!

We ended up having a very busy week after the confirmation party, going out, visiting friends, bowling with the boys, shopping, and of course, eating!

Luckily Mom and I ended up getting at least 5K of mostly walking on five days this week, which we were really happy about - it made us feel a bit less guilty about enjoying our wine and chocolate!

Now it's time for me to think about what I want to accomplish this summer as far as working out goes - I want to do another 12 week strength training program like I did the last two summers. And keep up my running as I have done this spring.

Looking forward to catching up on what everyone has been up to this past week!

M.I.A.

I have been missing out on blogging and keeping up with everyone, but we have been busy (and active!) this past week:

Sunday was a lovely day and Felix had a great party. It was nice to have both sides of the family together.

Mom and I got out to run on Monday, Wednesday and today - I took her to the Finnish track and the trail around the lake. She prefers the lake because of the nice bathrooms and water fountain! Can't say I blame her...

Tuesday I took Mom and Dad to visit Gent, a beautiful Flemish city (pictures above). It was rainy and windy but we didn't mind - we enjoyed ourselves.

Last night we hosted a dinner party with some good friends, tonight we are invited out by some other friends and Saturday my sister-in-law is having us out for chocolate fondue. I think we will take it easy on Sunday!

Other than Tuesday, we have been having beautiful weather, which has been awesome. Feels like the middle of summer here. Definitely tank top running weather...

Hope you all are having a good week - I am hoping for a bit of downtime to catch up on blogs but first I have to make some chocolate chip cookies for the people we will be seeing tonight - they are their son's favorite and I would hate to disappoint him! Have a great weekend!