I have a secret to tell you

GetOutAndGoI’ve been keeping a not so secret secret from you. I usually like to tell you guys in order to keep myself accountable. But this time, I’ve let my husband in on it, and we’re in it together. How cheesy does that freakin’ sound?

It might not be majorly exciting to you, but we’ve been running 3-4 miles (5-6km) together up to 3 times a week, and I have been looking forward to the weekends when we can run together. Other days I head out solo — which I find good, you need that every once in a while. But boy the time does not go by fast when I’m running with no music, and no one to chat to. Times like these, I remember my running buddy in Canada, Tanya, or Coach Steve who coached me for a few months a few winters ago. I always like to think of what we’d talk about together, or what they’d say to me when I was having trouble keeping up.

Alfie-runningMy husband has been amping up his mileage and speed, as he is training for the Boston Marathon this April. Where as I have absolutely no interest in running more than an hour. Alfie has been going with us once a week (we don’t like to take him any more than that), here we are about to go for our Valentines Day run and he’s rearin’ to go.

Me and Staples are in on this campaign together called #GetOutAndGo, because as you may or may not know February is American Heart Month. We want to encourage you to get your heart rate up at least for 30 minutes each day! I’m a bit slack on the every day part though. I was given a Garmin and a few other running accessories that I’ve been playing with the past few weeks and although I’ve had a long history of love/hate with regards to running, I can finally know my pace when I run outside.

I do have to tell you that I’m not as fast as I thought I was, especially since I hadn’t been regularly running in 2014. For the first half of our run, I can comfortably maintain anywhere between 8:40-9:40/min mile. Ideally I would love to keep that pace up for the entire run, but then I get winded, and need walking breaks. Hence the average minute mile pace being close to 11:00/min miles.  I’m all self-competitive like that. I also like to play games with my brain, and sprint as fast as I can to stop lights, it’s exciting to see how speedy my legs can be.

308kmI love a clunky watch on my pinner wrists, so I didn’t mind sporting it, however I did watch it like a hawk on my runs. I can see how people become addicted to their pace, wearing one of these. My runs used to be “stop whenever you want“, and “slow it down to speed walking pace.“ Now I’m all “I AM THIS SLOW? Let’s speed’erup man!” Again, self-competitive talk it’s all in my head. I complain a lot on my runs to try and get some empathy from the husband. Which, if you know him — clearly doesn’t work. HAHAHA.

Luckily for us, the weather is perfect this time of year in California to run in the early evenings here. January and now into February, I’ve been tracking the progress and writing down each of my runs in my agenda, to keep me motivated to keep at it. Views like this doesn’t hurt either.

Running-routeOh running. Nobody said it would be easy. But it’s well worth it. Most times I hate it, but that feeling after the run? Euphoric. As I blog about climbing, yoga, running, and The Guy’s Ironman triathlon training, I’m trying to promote a healthy lifestyle and to stay on course. I’m not sure I’ll be blogging about my running adventures all the time, since I’m no pro. But if you want to read some of my favourite Canadian running bloggers who keep me motivated to run on my own when The Guy is at work, check out Krysten, Christina and Jessica.

Hike-with-alfieSo you won’t be seeing me in any races anytime soon. But I’ll continue to join my husband on his shorter training runs or going on hikes with our little Pom! Stay active my friends, and #GetOutAndGo.

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Sit down, and have a chat with me

I hope everyone had a nice weekend! Is everyone ready to start their week? I guess me being on the West Coast, everyone has already been at work for a number of hours already.

White-desk-White-chairMy desk was such a mess this weekend, I decided to finally tackle it. It’s an ongoing battle, I can have it clean for a day or two, then boom papers flying everywhere, products piled up in the corners, water bottles and hair sprays not where they belong. You know how it goes, it’ll be the same again tomorrow.

I’m about to head out to the climbing gym to attend another yoga class and get in a boulder session right after. Last week I went to yin yoga again (it seems for some reason I keep missing that class — either The Guy has my car, or I had other plans). But man, does that class ever pull at your insides. My upper ribs were so sore, I couldn’t sneeze/blow my nose or cough (I don’t have a cold, though it sounds like it when I talk about it like this hey?) without any pain, ha! What a workout.

When I was home in Newfoundland, my Mom mucked up a nice meal one of the days, but there was one addition to my plate I’ve never seen or heard her make before. It was a cauliflower puff, of sorts. I couldn’t get enough of it when she made it, so clearly I asked for the recipe. I ended up making a large dinner for The Guy and I, all based around this puff. It doesn’t look like much, but it was freakin’ delicious. Now tell me I don’t know how to feed my husband well, after a nonchalant 30km run!Supper-with-Cauliflower-puf

By the way, I can’t believe how many people entered into the $145 Starbucks gift card giveaway (now over) over five thousand people. Crikey. I contacted the person who won, and it’s already addressed and in the mail to her.

Fitmark-Bags-headerI saw Fitmark Bags on Instagram and noticed Camille LeBlanc (Canadian CrossFitter) had one, and tons of other famous athletes. I totally wanted to see why everyone was so into them, so I asked if I could review one of their bags. They agreed and asked me to pick one out. I couldn’t decide between the Agility Tote or the Sport Tote, so I let them surprise me between that, and the colour choice.Feet-and-Tote

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Agility-Tote

Fitmark-Bag-side-viewYou can tell in one of the photos it has a zip on the backside that fits my yoga mat, it’s cool. Fitmark Bags have tons of other bags to choose from, and especially for those on a special meal plan where they like to bring their food wherever they go. I was like that once, when I was on Paleo for 30 days.

I’m enjoying the Agility Tote so far. I’ve been using it both as a purse and a gym bag to bring to the climbing gym, since it’s not too small or too big for either. Fits my harness, climbing shoes and chalk along with my yoga mat, with two side pouches for water bottles or keys. Or I can utilize it as a purse and I can flick my wallet in there and head out.

Alfie-in-ToteAlfie seems to be enjoying himself.

Sometimes I ask The Guy to take photos of me, and during those photoshoots there’s bound to be some bloopers and out takes. I never thought about posting mine until I noticed that Kelly posted her’s last week. I got a kick out of them, so I decided to put together a bunch from this session.out-takes

You’ll notice I use the Fitmark Bag, and my other pink bag on the regular. Do you switch out your gym bags? Mine don’t get too dirty, unless the chalk bag falls out, but that’s secured in its own ziplock baggie.

What kind of bag do you bring to the gym with you?

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Pro Compression socks review

Pro-Compression-headerThe Guy got a pair of pro compression socks to review, and he’s had them for a little over 3 weeks. As I’ve stated many times he’s a marathon runner, and a 5x Ironman triathlete, so he’s no stranger to compression socks.

Pro-Compression-MarathonHe went for the subtle black Marathon sock in L/XL, there’s a sizing chart on their website so if you’d like a tighter fit than the already difficult sock to get on, get a smaller size. I can’t imagine how much harder those would be to get on your legs. The Guy tells me that these have more compression than the other few pairs he owns. He said they’d be great to put on during a long flight or long car ride especially after a run. Knowing him, he’d pump out a good long run right before we get on a ten hour plane ride to visit our family in Canada.

Every Sunday afternoon he heads out for a 20+ km run and comes back looking for a belly full of food. He’ll be wearing them when he gets back from his 30km run this afternoon — no big deal right? He only uses the compression socks for recovery, not during activity. Although some people use them for both, he simply doesn’t like the look of almost knee high socks on him. These pictures are totally posed for the review, and normally wears pants when he puts on a pair of compression socks.

He was acting so hilarious one day when I asked him to put them on to see how they compare to the other brands he’s used. He asked me (the person who hates feet, or even touching them) to put them on him. Oh the things we do out of love. They were so tight, even I couldn’t get them on. I had his legs smooshed in between mine as if I was the one putting them on my own feet. I didn’t realize how difficult they’d be to put on. Since, I’ve never did anything longer than a 10k distance on a run before, nor do I stand up for hours on end working. But he was saying stuff that made me laugh until I cried and snorted. You know I’m laughing hard, when. This guy, I tell ya — he’s a funny one. And while it it had nothing to do with the review, I thought I had to tell you all about it.

Pro-Compression-socksI’ve also lucked into giving away a free pair for one lucky reader. You must be a US resident.  And for those who want a pair now, feel free to use the discount code BLG14 for 40% off Marathon Socks and Sleeves.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

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