Techy Tuesday

Over the past week, I've been setting up a Twitter and Facebook account for my blog.  Yes, it has taken me a week to figure it all out, and I'm still working on it! 

You can come "like" my Facebook Page, and you can follow me on Twitter @GetReadySetRun.

I'm not going to lie, I still don't really get all the #, and @ stuff, but I'll get there!  (Man, I feel old).

Monday's Mindset

This morning I woke up feeling:  Motivated.

What a great start to the week!  Between joining the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge, and the upcoming 30 for 60 challenge, and just being fed up with my own recent laziness, I'm ready for a comeback!

It's a cool morning and we've had a bit of snow, so I bundled up in my tights, headband, mitts, and jacket and wore my trail shoes for a little extra grip on the snow.  After a few runs broken with walk breaks over the last couple of weeks, I felt ready to try 5 K of running, without the walking.  I left the Garmin at home so as not to be frustrated by the slow numbers.  I didn't care about time, I just wanted to run, slow and steady and all the way around the loop.

Mission accomplished! 

To keep this motivation going, I'm going to be working on a flexible plan that lets me slowly build up my mileage to get back into a regular routine.  I'm going to keep running Garmin-free until I've got a few more runs under my belt/the roads are clear (because snow always slows me down anyway).

Have you signed up for a challenge over the holidays?

Canada Games Centre

This week I had the opportunity to work out at the Canada Games Centre in Whitehorse.  Keep in mind that Whitehorse has a population of less than 27 000 people and there are only just over 34 000 people in the entire territory, so it is pretty impressive that they have this awesome facility:

Source

I spent most of my time on the treadmill, but also made my way over to the indoor track, which circles the indoor soccer field and basketball court, before stretching out in the spacious gym.  I didn't make it to the pool, or the fitness class, but when I finished I spent some time watching the figure skaters on one of two ice rinks.

I just wish running on a different treadmill in a new gym had the same effect as running on a new route! 

Aikido

Thanks for the encouraging words on my last post.  I'm looking forward to my next run (tomorrow morning).

Today I had the opportunity to try Aikido, through work.  According to Wikipedia, Aikido is performed by blending with the motion of the attacker and redirecting the force of the attack rather than opposing it head-on. This requires very little physical strength, as the aikidōka (aikido practitioner) "leads" the attacker's momentum using entering and turning movements. The techniques are completed with various throws or joint locks.

We wore all white, because we are not masters!  (Source)

We started with moving our joints, rolling our ankles, crunching the toes, bending the knees and swinging our arms to warm up before doing some gentle stretching.  After my plane ride back from Ontario yesterday, and a day of travel to get to Whitehorse today, this was a great start.  This was followed by practising kneeling, "the Japanese way," which built into standing, then rolling from a seated position, rolling to kneeling, rolling to standing, and rolling from standing.  Each move built on the next and soon we were rolling across the floor, then rolling over obstacles on the ground.  Though they were all moves that anyone could do, I tried to engage my abs to do each roll with control and make it a bit more of a work out.

After some time practising, we got to work in pairs to try some different moves that would allow you to easily bring an attacker to the ground.  This required a little more coordination than I readily possess, but after a few tries I was able to get it. 

I can't say that I have a passion for pursuing this or any other martial art, but it was a great class to try it out.  Almost everyone was a beginner, beginner, and the instructor did a great job of demonstrating and giving feedback and encouragement.

And did I mention that I was working while doing this?!  One of the youth I work with in Whitehorse had the opportunity to try it out recently and loved it so much that he wanted to introduce it to the others.  It was great to see them support his effort in organizing the evening, and his excitement in sharing Aikido with them.

Have you ever tried Aikido or any other martial art?

Day One

Here I am, back at the beginning.

This summer, after a disappointing marathon in the spring, and a crushing, so-close-it-hurts half marathon in June, I was not enjoying my runs.

The last run I went on that I liked, was on my birthday in mid-July.  After that, I was dragging myself out the door, counting down the minutes until it was over, and not feeling any better afterward.  I was either mad at myself for being lazy and not pushing myself or exhausted from working too hard.  That pesky hip injury from last winter started to kick in again, and my knee wasn't feeling great.  When we went to Alaska in August, I was happy for an excuse to take a break, but when we returned, I just didn't start again.

I used my hip as an excuse, but unlike in the past with injury, I was in no hurry to get back out there.  I think I ran twice in September.  In October I worked out a handful of times, and did a bit of yoga, but I was unmotivated to do much else.  I kept up following blogs, but didn't comment and didn't write my own because I didn't feel I had anything to say.  I watched A LOT of tv.  I ate A TON of halloween candy.  Still, the longer I went without running, the more I dreaded that first day out.

I was sure it was going to be hard, and I was going to be slow and out of breath.  Finally, this week, I ran, and here's how I did it:

New Shoes:  There's nothing like new shoes to put a new bounce in your step.  It wasn't quite time to get new shoes, but I will put screws into my last pair for slippery winter days and get a few more miles out of them yet.  Spending the money on new shoes made me feel that I had to use them!

New Route/Location:  I was in Gatineau, Quebec for work this week, so I brought my running gear.  A new route is a good distraction.  I also wasn't able to compare how fast used to run this route or how easy it used to be, because it was brand new.

Running Buddies:  I grabbed a couple of coworkers to run with me.  I warned them both that I was on the comeback trail and they were super supportive and let me call the shots.  They did most of the talking, which was another welcome distraction, and I was able to keep up without getting out of breath.  Every runner has been injured and come back at some point, and so they knew what I was going through.

No Pressure/No Garmin:  I didn't want to know how fast or slow I was going, so I left my Garmin at home.  My friend carried her iPhone and used MapMyRun but didn't tell me the outcome until the end.  I also originally planned to run 5 minutes, walk 1 minute, but ended up just running until I needed a walk break.  With lots of short hills we went about 25 minutes out before we took a 5 minute walk break and then headed for home with a slight short cut.  I was pleasantly surprised that we covered 8K in 50 minutes, including that walk break and about a 1.5K of trail.

It was not nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be, and felt so good to get that first run out of the way.  I'm in Toronto until Monday and then in Whitehorse next week so I am looking forward to following up today's second run with a few more runs with different scenery and no pressure while I get myself back into the groove.

Three Things Thursday

1.  I love my job.  After laughter yoga on Tuesday night, I met another new group of youth on Thursday night.  They're activity of choice for our first meeting?  Cycle Fit at the Y.  I was stoked because I've never done a spinning class, and I've always wanted to try it.  With the limited running I've been doing, it was great to SWEAT for an hour, and even better, no hip or knee pain during or after and my legs felt great today.  AND even better than that, it was so great to see a group of young people so excited to work out and acknowledging their own accomplishment afterwards.  I love it!

2.  Tonight I met yet another group and the activity on tap was exercise for our brain - activities to practice our second language.  3 members organized a game for the whole group where questions were asked in French, and if you answered yes, you moved one space to the right.  If your answer was no, you stayed put.  So, if the person to your right said no and you said yes, you moved and sat on their lap.  Only the person on top of the pile could move in the next round, so at times we had 4 people sitting on top of eachother, but everyone was using their listening skills and helping with translation when needed.  Again, so great to see a group of youth laughing and smiling and enjoying learning.  (It's almost as if they didn't realize that's what they were doing).

3.  I have been dragging at work for a little while now, but a week like this was just what I needed.  It's weeks like this that make the tough ones worth while.  Now I remember why I do what I do.  :)

Laughter Yoga

Sometimes, my job is hard.  Sometimes, I deal with situations that are challenging, difficult, emotional, heart-tugging, anger-inducing, stressful or downright ridiculous.  Last night, my job took me to Laughter Yoga.

We have new groups of young people and last night was my first time meeting one of my groups for dinner and an activity.  Their activity of choice?  Laughter Yoga.

If you've never tried it, you should.  You will feel down right silly, and maybe even a little bit awkward at first, but I guarantee, that especially if you go with a friend, you will end up having a really good, belly laugh.

The idea behind laughter yoga is that when you laugh, you feel good.  There is science behind this, as when we laugh, we release hormones that make us feel better.  Apparently, our endocrine system doesn't know the difference between a real laugh and a fake laugh, so those feel-good chemicals start whirling around even when you let out a false chuckle.

Last night's session started with going around the circle with introductions and a silly laugh.  The only rule was that nobody laughs alone.  Sure enough, the fake giggles had turned into real laughs before we were a quarter of the way around the circle.

We did other activities that included mingling and making eye contact and greeting each other with a little laugh, circling the room with new dance moves, forming an inner and outer circle and turning opposite directions while laughing, forming two lines on opposite sides of the room and approaching each other laughing, and the grounding laugh, where you "ho, ho, ha, ha" in rhythm.  All was interspersed with brief deep breathing exercises, reminicent of the type of yoga you might be more familiar with.  To end, we did a laughter meditation, where everyone lied down, heads toward the centre of the circle, and started laughing.  This went on for several minutes, and as cheesy as it sounds, I found my laughter was uncontrollable, and a full body laugh.

If it sounds silly, that's because it is.  I mean, it's ridiculous really - a room of adults, moving around a room, laughing for no good reason.  But that's the point.  You can't help but laugh!

I've been to laughter yoga a few times, with a few different groups that I've worked with.  My experience has often been the same, one or two minutes of feeling awkward, followed by 45 minutes of hard laughter and a rush of energy afterwards.  I have been and felt that I really needed that laugh, that it had been a long time since I had laughed so hard.  Last night I realized that I have been laughing a lot lately, and that made me feel even better.  :)

If you're interested in learning more or finding laughter yoga near you, check out www.laughteryoga.org

Have you ever tried laughter yoga?  When is the last time you had a really good laugh?