three months and three days

My inspiration. Minus the beard.

Three months and three days. That's how long until I take to the start line for my first half-marathon.
That's 95 days.
Or 2280 hours.
Or 8,208,000 seconds.
I like the bigger numbers better. It tricks me into believing I have an infinite amount of time to train.
After toying with the idea for a few weeks, when registrations opened for the "First Half" Half Marathon I was more than tempted. The event is limited to 2000 runners, and entries are usually full in a couple of hours. There's nothing like the threat of missing out to make me jump into action.
I've been running significantly less than I used to - both in frequency and distance. I put it down to having no dog to exercise, and no work-place stress to deal with. When life is just peachy, there's less motivation to exercise.
But that's going to have to change.
Joining VanRun - The Vancouver Running and Jogging Club - has helped my motivation. Usually because there's food on offer after each run. But I'm also surrounded by people who do some pretty amazing things.
Melissa - a gym manager/triathlete. Was nervous about a recent half-marathon because running isn't her strong suit. Even though she keeps the men on their toes on VanRun outings.
Craig - knocked over a 50-mile event on the weekend and has a 100-mile run this weekend. Crazy much?
Alison - a new mum who managed to overtake many an embarrassed competitor at a recent half-marathon. Why were they embarrassed? She was pushing a pram as she did the race.
Post-run talk over sushi or beers is dominated by war stories: "The time I did a triathlon without training." "Remember that marathon in 100-degree heat."
This talk has one of two effects. Either you are completed intimidated by these super-humans who clearly need to learn to relax. Or you start to think that if they can do it, why can't I?
I'm not under the impression this will be easy. I'm the most unfit I have been for years. It's not the best starting point to train for the longest run I've ever done. But I'm also going to need something to keep me going during the winter. It's not the time one wants to be running outside. It's damn cold!
But with a beanie, long tights and gloves, I've got few excuses.
So how did my first post-registration run go? Well I slacked off 20 minutes into a 40-minute evening run. Great start huh?

turning up the heat

"All you need is a yoga mat, a coffee mug and a rain jacket."

My yoga kit

This statement I heard recently sums up Vancouver perfectly. A quick search on Yelp found 48 yoga studios in Vancouver. Another search on vancouveryoga.com's class database found 146 classes offered in gyms, studios, community centres and more. Vancouver was also recently named the third worst-dressed city in the world because everyone wears yoga pants too often. Yoga is up there with riding a bike and recycling in the list of things one must do in Vancouver. Since my time in Vancouver is supposed to be about life experience and trying all the things I never had the opportunity or time to do in Tassie, yoga has been high on my list of things to do. The gym down the road opens on Saturday and that will have yoga all the time, but the other craze that interests me is Bikram Yoga. A new studio has opened up in a not-too-hard to reach location and offering a $49 for the month introductory deal. I'm going to take it, but first I decided to try an free intro class.

This isn't the studio I went to, just a random picture off
the web to give you the idea.

I've done bikram once before in Hobart. The class is 90-minutes, but it took 90 seconds to realise it wasn't going to come easily to me. For those that don't know, bikram is conducted in a room heated to 40C and involves 26 poses and a few breathing exercises. I'm not a fan of the heat, whether it involves sun or not, so this was always going to be a challenge. But learning to stick with things that fall in the too-hard basket is also part of my time here.

 

After my second class I can only compare me doing yoga to a white guy rapping - it just shouldn't be done. I adjusted to the heat a bit better than in my first class last year, but still got quite dizzy on a few poses and needed a quick sit-down. About 15 minutes I was wondering if it would be bad form to leave, but that urge subsided. I also wasn't looking for a clock to find out when it would be over, like last time. I left with a huge headache and feeling exhausted. But by the time I got home I had more energy than I have for ages. The memories of the hardest parts of class are still fresh and almost bad enough to keep me from going again. But I've set myself a challenge and I'm determined to see it through.

when did sweet get so sour?

The fudge brownies look good don't they? Could you resist them if you saw them everyday, and as part of your job were allowed to eat a treat a day? These aren't even the ones I have to look at. The brownies at SGTC are delectable. The ones in the picture barely have any resemblance and I still want to eat one.

The temptation that comes with working in a cafe that sells some of the most delicious food I've ever come across (and I say this after spending a month in France and its patisseries) is immense. At first I indulged in the name of research. I should know what I'm selling right? Then it became hard to resist them because I found out how good they were. But a few weeks in and I noticed my heart was racing sometimes after I had a dessert...or anything with sugar. My skin wasn't looking great. And I was a little pudgy around the edges. It was time to make a call. Less sugar. I was going to be no-more sugar, but I need to keep things realistic.

So a few days ago I started cutting back. Some people prefer a gradual approach but I find that never works because there's too much room for negotiation with ones self. So instead I went in tough. No sugar in my tea, not even a bit of honey in my herbal teas. No more treats at work. No salad dressing. No juice. I even started to watch a documentary about how bad sugar is for the body for motivation.

I'm about five days in. It seems too early notice any radical changes. Today was particularly bad for cravings so a nice fresh piece of corn had to do for some sweetness. I'm not out to achieve anything in particular except to make me more aware of how much sugar I consume. It really is in everything. I considered putting a bit of BBQ sauce with dinner. Nope. 16g per two teaspoons. Even my milk, because it's low fat, is loaded with sugar. I haven't come up with an alternative to that yet and not sure I will.

So far my mission is doing its job. I no longer scoff any of the dessert cut-offs the kitchen staff leave out for the servers. I'm not relying on sweet pick-me-ups to get me through the day either. I shall report back.