Very very quickly...

Just a very small post to say that I am busy getting ready for my workshops tomorrow and Thursday but that in spite of all the stress (yesterday was an incredibly stressful day - today was much better) I did go to the gym on Monday and I did get my run in just before lunch today. Yay me! If there is one thing I have learned the past 5 years, it is that exercising is the one thing that can be relied on to reduce my stress level and make me feel 100% better.

Now, back to my "to-do" list! (I'll refrain from choking anyone.) Have a nice week!

Wind, wind, wind!

When I woke up this morning and saw how windy it was outside, I really didn't want to go run. It looked so blustery and cold - ugh! But then I started that mental battle, arguing with myself about it, and finally I figured I would be so annoyed with myself for not going, it would just be better to go and get it done with. It would put me in a much better mood for the rest of the day, too!

Stefaan came with me and when we left the wind was terrible! But we still ended up doing nearly 8 km for just under an hour. I kept telling myself the wind was simply an additional workout challenge for my legs, but at some points it was like pushing through mud. I was so glad to be done when we finally got home - but glad I went!

Isn't running often like that? Hard to get out the door for some reason, but never any regrets once you're done.

Winter is here!

To those of you who celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday, I hope you had a happy day! We don't celebrate it here in Belgium, it's just a regular day in the week.

This morning the weather was decidedly colder, grayer, and very windy! Winter has arrrived, it feels like. So I was too wimpy to ride my bike to the gym and just took the car. Sometimes you gotta do what you have to to get yourself to go!

After a ten minute warm-up on the elliptical and 40 minutes of upper body weights, it was time for Body Balance class. I really enjoy that class. A lot of people leave right before the final relaxation, which is where you lie down on your mat for a few minutes and just rest. I always think they miss the best part of the hour!

Cool giveaway!

Kim, one of my running blogger buddies and a very generous soul, is having a cool giveaway on her blog: you can win running armwarmers! Be sure to check it out!

Particulates

I just looked "fijn stof" up on Wikipedia to make sure I was translating it right to English and turns out this kind of pollution is actually called "particulates" or "particulate matter". These are tiny subdivisions of solid matter suspended in a gas or liquid, in our case, in the air. The funny thing is, you really can't tell it's there - yesterday it was bright and sunny, just the kind of cold day that everyone here calls "healthy weather". Turns out it's not so healthy after all!

Increased levels of fine particles in the air are linked to health hazards such as heart disease, altered lung function and lung cancer. As I discovered yesterday, even though you can't see it, you can really feel its effects in your lungs. That is kind of scary! I feel okay today but even last night when I went to bed I could hear a slight wheeze when I was breathing.

So next time the weather man tells us there is too much fijn stof, I am going to listen to him. And today I am going to the gym. Gotta get my Monday workout in if I am going to reach my goal of 8x before the end of the year!

Fine Dust

My workouts are all flipped around this week due to a busy schedule (including our first workshop on Wednesday morning - topic this time is "Vegetarian Tapas"!) - so today my plan was to get my run in. It's beautiful sunny weather BUT apparently there is too much fine dust and soot in the air - we are way over the safe limits. I wasn't really thinking about this as I headed out at noon, after it had warmed up enough for me...

...but I felt it right away in my lungs. It was difficult and uncomfortable to breathe. I didn't want to poop out on my run, so I did the route I wanted to do (my usual 7 km to the lake, once around and back), and tried to keep my pace easy. It felt great in my legs but not so great in the lungs! Apparently it's not such a great idea to do heavy exercise outdoors when the fine dust levels are too high, but I wasn' t the only one - there were other joggers out at the lake.

I've been kind of coughing all day...hopefully it will go away. And tomorrow I'll be good and do my workout indoors at the gym!

A week in exercise

I missed one of my regular runs this week - I had an appointment with my osteopath on Tuesday morning and I have learned by trial and error that it is better to take a day off after I've seen her, rather than running or working out, and risking undoing all her good work on my body.

Then on Wednesday I went to the yoga class at the new studio...

Yesterday I almost missed another run because I was in town for two hours in the morning getting things done for two big projects I have been working on. I got home right around lunchtime and after I had lunch I decided to go to the gym and get my run in on the treadmill, because it was so cold and gray out. I hardly ever go to the gym in the afternoon, but I was so glad I went and got a good sweat on. I did a 5 minute warm-up (fast walking) and then ran for 35 minutes, alternating the pace up and down. Then a few minutes to cool off and back I got home just before my kids did, which was perfect. I would have felt really guilty if I would have skipped two runs in one week!

This morning I went back to the gym for upper body weights followed by Body Balance class. Luckily it wasn't so cold out this morning, so I was able to take my bike. I really prefer biking over, it's much less hassle with parking and lately driving back is a big pain because there is a road closed and I have to make a big detour. So I was glad!I have the same goal with my Friday workout as I do for my Monday workout - do it 8 times before the end of the year. I start out with a ten minute warm up on the elliptical, followed by 3 sets of 12 reps of the following exercises:

- chest press machine
- upright row machine
- pulldown machine
- upright rows with dumbbells
- Arnold press
- lateral raise
- triceps extension

Then I do two core exercises:
- bicycle crunches 20x each side
- supermans 25x

Then it's time for Body Balance class! I enjoy this class more each time I do it, and I get surprisingly sweaty. I have been noticing that my hip has been feeling better for about the past week, I think it might be this class plus the extra yoga I have been doing that is helping.