Bring in 2013

Today is December 31^st, 2012. This is the time of year that everyone makes resolutions and usually they break them three months into the year, for that reason I don’t like to make resolutions, rather I like to look back on the year and look at what I did and look towards a new year with new goals.

This time last year I decided that it was time to start feeling better about myself. I challenged myself to do Jeanette Jenkins ab blast workout on the NTC app for the whole month of January; it was rough but totally worth it, for the first time in a very long time I saw changes in my body. Honestly, there were a few times in January that I wanted to give up, but I kept telling myself it is only 15 minutes, you can do anything for 15 minutes. With each week it got easier and easier. I felt my core getting stronger and stronger.

I also said I wanted to run a marathon before my 27^th birthday and I kept putting off looking into running one, until Nike Women contacted me in May and asked me to run the Nike Women’s Marathon. A week before my 27^th birthday I finished my very first marathon. Thanks to the help of Nike Women and Marie Purvis, through Marie's amazing training plan and Nike Women's encouragement I crossed the finish line and at the same time I caught the running bug. Much to my surprise I actually really love running marathons and can't wait to run my next one.

The year brought many wonderful challenges. I saw changes in my body as I learned to push myself beyond limits that I never thought I could push myself beyond. It brought changes to my way of thinking, I no longer thought of myself as weak and unable to push forward I realized I am strong and I can do anything I put my mind to.

As I sit here reflecting on the past year I am so thankful for the opportunities that have come my way, for the wonderful people I have met and for the friendships that I have made, I am esepcially thankful for the friendships I have found in my Sisters In Nike - Karen, Elizabeth, Nerissa and Renisha. Each one of you have taught me to love myself, to believe in myself and to love and challenge my body. I am so happy I have met each of you and I hope to run the Nike Women's Marathon with you each year, until we are old and grey. 

This 2013 I want to #MakeItCount as Nike’s ad campaign states. I will return to San Fran with my Sisters In Nike and run the 2013 Nike Women’s Marathon with my crew, I will also qualify for Boston. I plan on running the BMO marathon in May and I will be running the Calgary Half Marathon.

Don't get my wrong, I don't just have running goals set for myself. I want to be able to do pull-up's and I want to work towards becoming certified as a running coach. I also want to teach myself how to speak french again. 

What are your upcoming goals in 2013? How are you going to make them come true? 

What is on your Christmas Wish List?!!?

Christmas is literally just around the corner and I have a wish list full of everything from Burberry to Nike. Below are a few things from Nike I am hoping is under my tree.

NIKE LUNARGLIDE+4 SHIELD WOMEN'S RUNNING SHOE

If you are a runner and you love getting yourself outside in the cold winter months, these are a much needed shoe. These shoes are made for the wet months. They will keep your feet dry while still looking awesome. I have been eyeing these shoes since they first came out and I am hoping I find them under the tree this year.

NIKE FLYKNIT RACER

The first time I saw the Flyknit racer I fell in love!! Serious love! I have an obsession with minimal shoes and these shoes look beautiful. I have been wanting to try a pair of these forever, but I can't find them in Canada. Maybe Santa's elves can pull something off for me.

NIKE LUNARBASE TR

The first time I put a training shoe on my foot I realized that I would never again train in a running shoe. I love this lunarbase trainer. It is at the top of my wish list because a girl can't have too many training shoes.

Nike Flash

I tried this vest on when I was down in San Fran for Nike Women's Marathon and I still regret not getting this vest. Running early in the morning and at night calls for being safe. It is a lot harder for drivers to see you at night so it is important that you are well reflected. That is why I love this vest. You get the reflection without the bulk. It can fit over any hyperwarm gear and you are ready to take off on your run.

Nike Relay Capri's

I actually have these Capri's in blue and I love them!! I love bright colors and bold prints. They make me happy. I literally want these in ever color I can get my hands on. These are super comfortable and make a statement. 

Nike Pro Oslo Glow Boy Shorts

I love this print. It is so cute. I love training in the Nike Pro's especially when it is warm out or I am at Bikram. I really want these just for the pattern. They are limited edition and are going to fly off the walls this season.

Nike Slouchy Sphere Training Hoodie

I love anything with a cowl neck that double as a hood, enough said for this hoodie. Seriously the cutest item I have ever seen. If you want to get into my good books this is what I want!! It's cute and has thumb holes!!

Nike Muse Training Shirt

This shirt is to die for!! I love it! When I first saw it on the Nike site I wanted it right away. It's super cute and you could put a colored tank under it and wear it to the mall with a pair of jeans. I WANT THIS!

That is my Nike Wish list for Christmas, we shall see what Santa leaves for me on Christmas morning.

Nike Fuel Band Mission

This weekend the Nike Fuel Team announced that they were doing a Nike Fuel Mission. If you know me you know I am addicted to my Fuelband. I love it so much, so to have a Fuel Mission excites me beyond belief.

I have been getting worried because I have been thinking how I am going to motivate myself until the end of January when I start training for my next marathon. However, Nike Fuel has answered my call by giving us a fuel Mission.

They have not released a whole lot of details about this mission but it starts tomorrow and it stars Alyson Felix, Calvin Johnson, Alex Morgan and Neyma Jr.

Are you joining in the Mission, if so make sure you RVSP on facebook and be ready to start racking up the fuel points.

If you would like to add me on Nike Plus my user name is TiaraBeth, I am so ready to compete. From what I understand you are using any device that you can gain fuel points from. So your fuelband, your running app and the Kinect is what I have to compete with.

This Mission came at the perfect time because I am no longer injured and can go full force with my Fuelband.

Game on world!!!

A Constant Struggle

Once upon a time ago someone told me that you never ever really beat an eating disorder. I thought they were wrong or at least I hoped they were wrong. However, I have been finding out that maybe they were right.

This week has been really hard for me. I live to workout. I love the endorphin's that I get in my body when I workout and I love knowing that I am doing something good for my body. Not being able to run or do NTC this week has been really hard for me. I have thought about lifting weights with just my arms however, I am at a loss of what to do in the gym when it comes to just weight lifting and I think going to the gym just to life weights with no cardio is a waste of my time.

When I lifted in the past when I swam I had a trainer coaching me on what to do and helping me with form and this made it easy on me. Now I would be walking into the weights section of the gym and looking like a lost little girl, something I DO NOT want to do. I also struggle with my shoulders and I am scared to injure them again. That is all I need is an injured knee and injured shoulders.

Last night I had a doctor’s appointment and when we left I wasn’t really in the mood to make supper. Meho and I went to Co-op to pick up supper but as I walked around the grocery store looking for something quick and easy I got overwhelmed by all the food in the grocery store and I panicked. All I could think about was how this food was going to affect my body, was it going to turn to fat because I am not working out at the moment. I literally had a break down in the grocery store. Something I haven’t done in a very long time.

When things like this happen I realize that I am not over this issue and I may never be over this. I worry about having too much muscle on me. When I was in high school I built muscle pretty quick and the guys I hung out with would call me Arnold, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, by no means was I that big but hearing it from peers made me very self conscious. Sometimes when I think about how I want to look I think of looking like Allie Crandall rather than Hope Solo even though I know what body type is better I don’t want to be made fun of because I have muscle rather than looking feminine and dainty. Other times I want to strong, it is always such a constant internal struggle with myself.

I can’t wait to get back in the gym and hopefully I will hear a definite date today when I go in to the physio again.

December Accountability

I need to hold my self accountable in the month of December. With lots of holiday parties and yummy food around I need to make sure that I am staying on my target for food and exercise. 

I have come up with a system for myself. It is a calendar of December with the following guidelines. 

• Workout and Eat Clean
• Workout but don’t Eat Clean
• No Workout and No Clean Eating
• Clean Eating No Workout 

This will help me hold myself accountable. Each day I will fill it in and at the end of every week I will post it. Mainly because I can get a picture of if I need to workout more or if I can allow myself a little snack here and there for the holidays. 

I want to continue with my no sugar, however once the holidays roll in I always find it a little hard. If I know I have something to be accountable too I will do much better.

Another Injury Setback

Remember that little injury I blogged about last yesterday?!?! Yeah, it is not the little injury like I thought.

Sunday I went to the gym and did an 8 mile run. Into my run I was starting to feel a pain in my left knee cap, but I thought nothing of it because seriously if I stopped every time I got a little bit of a pain I would always be stopping my workouts. I continued through, but that night I noticed that my knee was still sore and little pains I get from running never really last that long, but my biggest concern came that night when I was having trouble sleeping due to the pain in my knee.

Yesterday I went for a 5 mile run and things felt ok until I stopped running and all of a sudden the pain that was in the top of my knee cap was now on the interior side and bottom, at that point I knew something wasn't right.

I made an appointment with my physio. While sitting on his table I couldn’t get my to lay flat and my the top of my patella was popped up and over on the side of my knee. He iced it with some machine that made my knee vibrate and then he tapped my knee cap into place. It looks like I am back at the physio’s office.

I went home and cried for about 20 minutes after because he told me no running, jumping, lunging, or squatting for at least a week. That is what I do. I lunge, jump, run, squat in all my workouts. I took a moment to be sad and then wiped my tears and thought to myself you can modify your workouts. Instead of running you can elliptical, I would have biked but I am not allowed the motion of it can pop my knee cap. This morning I did NTC and instead of lunging I planked, and if I was supposed to do sumo squats with lateral rise I just did the rise but increased my weight.

Just because I have an injury it doesn’t mean I am going to give up! It just means I am going to have to push harder in different areas.

I know right now I have to keep my eating tight. I can’t slip at this point as I cannot workout as hard as I was. I am also trying to lower my calories right now. I currently eat 1,700 – 2,000 calories on average. I need to take that down to about 1,400 calories. It is really hard because my body doesn’t want to do that, it is used to eating a certain way, but until I am back in the running game I need to watch my food intake.

Better believe I am going to come back stronger than I was before. I always do.

Pushing to Hit my November Goal.

Last week did not go as planned, at all. The whole week I felt tired and beat up. The only day I actually got out of bed was on Friday morning. I am kind of very disappointed with myself because  I should have been at my NTC goal by now and just working on my running goal and now I am not sure if I am going to make either.

I am sitting at 1,095 NTC minutes for the month of November. Not bad but not the best. I am still 305 minutes short. With 4 days left in the month I need to push big time!! 76 minutes each day for the next 4 days, doable if I can get my butt out of bed. Who wants to hold me accountable?!?!?! I know I can do it, I just need to push myself. I should have gotten out of bed this morning, but I was being a baby because my knee was sore, but I need to suck it up and get out there or I won’t make my goal.

As far as running goes, I am in the same boat as NTC. I have 74.4 miles covered right now but that still leaves me with 25.4 miles to cover in 5 days. So that is 5.08 miles each day. It is 100% doable, but again I have an issue with my knee and I am really worried to push it, but I keep telling myself to get through this month and you can rest for a few days in December. I might have to run twice on Friday to make my goal, since my half hour at lunch only allows me a 4 hour run, but we shall see what happens. Maybe I can make both my goals.

I am doing well with my Nike Kinect. I just finished my first round of my program. I love the Nike kinect system and I am so happy I got it. I was at a TRX class on Saturday and realized why I love Kinect training so much, I can’t cheat. When I am at TRX my form can get lazy, when I do NTC I can skip out on a few reps, nobody is watching I need water it is ok. But with Nike Kinect you can’t do that. Your body is being tracked and the program knows what your personal best are and it is pushing you to hit those personal best and break them. It tells you when your form needs to be corrected. You are always getting better and better. I love this training platform and I don’t think there is anything out there like it. If you haven’t tried it yet you need to because it is honestly the greatest program you can use. Every 4 weeks it has you re-do your fuel print and as you can see I have improved. I can’t wait to see what other improvements will happen in this next round and what changes my body will go through during these next 4 weeks.

The no sugar challenge it a pothole this week, but it was a small one and I am back on track. I had three cookies by George. Nothing serious but I felt kind of guilty. I am back on the no sugar train. I know I said for the month of November but I am bringing this into December. What I am realizing is that I don’t need that refined sugar in my body. I am happy without it. Day 3 was the hardest and after that it just got easier and easier, with the expectation of a friend coming to visit me. Lucky for me this friend only arrives once every 2-3 months.

Holidays are around the corner and the parties start so I am going to need lots of will power to make it through my no sugar challenge, but I am up for it. 

November Challenge is not going the way I would have hoped.

 My challenge isn’t going the way I wanted it to be going. I was hoping I would have racked up way more mileage buy this point and be over 1,000 NTC minutes right now, but sadly I am not.

Right now I am sitting at 870 Nike Training Club minutes. I mean that isn’t horrible and I will still hit my goal if I can do 49 minutes a day but I really wanted to be closing in on 1,000 minutes at this point. I have been putting a lot of focus on the Nike Kinect Training.

Nike Kinect is amazing. I only ever came this close to pushing myself this hard when I swam. The Nike Kinect platform is a platform like no other. You are constantly pushing yourself to be your best. I am in the last week of my Get Lean training plan and I have lost 6.6 pounds and a total of 3 inches off my waist. My torso is my trouble area and weight doesn’t come off easy there. This is making me really happy. I think I might do another 4 weeks of the Get Lean and then try out the Get Toned section of the program. Are you using the Nike Kinect? How do you like it?

Changes that are happening from month to month.

My running is slacking in a big way!!! I am only at 49.4miles. I have been working on my speed rather than my distance as of late. I have been doing a lot of HIIT Training and I have been pushing my pace. Right now I have an average pace of 7’11”/mile as opposed to last month when I had an average pace of 8’04”/mile. If I can keep pushing my pace and doing HIIT I will be happy. I am not in training mode for a marathon or anything right now and I am happy to be working on my speed. I am constantly running intervals whether I am on a treadmill or I am running in the trails. I will start at an comfortably hard pace and at the beginning of a new song I will look for a marker and I will sprint full out until I hit that marker and I will go back to my comfortably hard pace again. If I am on the treadmill I will put the treadmill to an incline of 2 and a pace of 7.5mp, I will run at that pace for 1 minute and a half and then I will put the treadmill up to 10mph for a minute. This gives me a good burn and really goods the blood pumping. I am enjoying doing this and it really helps me get my speed up. What do you do to change up your running?

Remember how people say squats gives you a nice bum, well I am starting to lose my bum. Maybe I am squatting wrong. I sure hope so because I really liked my bum in October, my November bum is getting too small.

Happy Training!!

My Issue with Calorie Tracking Apps

I am using a calorie tracking app right now to make sure I am eating enough. There is a fine line between eating for fuel and over eating or under eating, both under and over eating can cause you to gain weight. Over eating because your body will store it as fat and under because your body enters into starvation mode and starts to hold onto everything you put into it. I  want to make sure I am not sabotaging my body. Because I generally eat the same thing most days (creature of habit) I know if I do this for a full week I can understand what I am eating.

Yesterday I did Nike Training Club in the morning, 95 minutes worth, at lunch I ran 4 miles and after work I did a quick Nike Kinect training. I ate a total of 2,640 calories!! Yep I apparently ate a lot. It was all clean food. However, My Fitness Pal doesn't account for your Resting Metabolic Rate and it doesn't properly track calories burned.

Last January I had my RMR tested by my dietitian. She came to my house in the morning, I had to fast for 12 hours before I did this and she plugged my nose and had me breath into this machine for 10 minutes. It told me that I have a RMR of 2,300. At rest, if I stayed in bed all day I would burn 2,300 calories doing absolutely nothing. 

Also I did a lot of activity yesterday and needed to refeed my muscles after my workouts therefore needed more food. I looked at the workout tracker on my fitness pal and I feel that is grossly over estimates how much you actually are burning. The only proper way to know exactly what you are burning calorie wise is to get your V02 max tested and wear a heart rate monitor. I refuse to use the workout tracker on there.

At the end of the night I clicked the button to end my day and it told me if I continued to eat like this every day in 5 weeks I would weight 165 pounds. I am lucky that I am at a pretty secure place with myself because if I read that before I would have freaked out and attempted to purge myself. 

People remember these are generalized trackers. They do not understand your body, your RMR or how much you are burning. No calorie tracker can tell you what to eat. Please if you eat over your calories one day, look at what you ate. Is it clean and healthy? Do you feel satisfied? Ignore what it says.

Week 2 of My November Challenge

Last week was week 2 of my November 1400 NTC minute challenge and my 100 miles of Nike Running.

Two weeks into my challenge and I am 510 NTC minutes into my challenge. This makes me happy as usually I am only like 300 minutes into a challenge at this point. NTC is going really great and I have found my love for it once again. I find if a do something too much I get tired of it, but while I was training for my marathon I did very little NTC so now I love it all over again. This makes me happy. Nike Women has created a few more workouts. I am loving the new Alex Morgan workout, it really works me. Also the one that comes in the reward section of 5,500 NTC minutes, if you try it out let me know what you think of it, I love it.

The running side of things isn’t going as well as planned. I am only 32.45 miles into my 100 mile challenge and was really hoping to be at or over the 40 mile mark by this point. However, I still have tons of month left to get myself back on track. It shouldn’t be a problem to make my goal. The only thing holding me back is it has been so dang cold!! Like seriously all weekend was -20 and a wind chill, like what the heck is up with that, it isn’t even December yet.

If you have yet to go out and purchase your Nike Kinect game you are missing out big time. It is seriously awesome. I am heading into week 3 of using the game and I am down 6 pounds and 1 ½ inches in my waist section. This program incorporates cardio with strength skills. It is much like NTC but will give you feedback as you are doing it. So if your body is not in proper form while doing the plank it will tell you this. I really like this feature because it is helping me correct my form and in turn is helping me correct my form in everything I do.

How is your November month coming along?

My Rant About American Politics

Yesterday was voting day for America. I am a duel citizen and love America so I was playing very close attention to the polls and what was going on.

I jumped for joy when I heard that Barack Obama beat out Mitt Romney!!

I am a huge Obama supporter and I LOVE him. I think he is wonderful and Michele and Barack have raised two beautiful girls. When I think how I would want to model a family after I think of them. Michele is huge into health and fitness and I believe this rubs off on her girls and Barack is an adoring father.

Aside from his amazing family I believe the social issues he is bringing to play are important and crucial. I believe that two people should be allowed to get married regardless if they are man and women, women and women or man and man. If you love someone and you want to legally marry them I believe you should be able to do so. I don't think it is fair that only man and women can get married, marriage is for people regardless of their sexual preference. There are people in the world who get married for 72 days and get divorced and there are people who wan to marry their same sex partner, have a family and are happy together; so please tell me who is in violation of the sanctity of marriage if that is what you are worried about. For those people out there who believe that this is an abomination, please, I think marrying and divorcing in 72 days is an abomination.

Also Barack believes in the women in the work force, dear Mitt Romney, you lost the majority of  the women vote because women now are in the work force. I know you probably raised your daughters to grow up find a husband who can support them, have them stay home and cook, clean and raise the family but news flash we no longer live in the 1950's. This is 2012 and women are CEO's and Presidents of companies. We no longer live in the shadow of our husbands. We no longer want sexual relations for procreation, we want to have sex and not have a child. So talking about getting rid of birth control is not away to gain the vote. Respect the women in the work force and not just the mother because women does not equal mother. I am a women, but I am not a mother. I have a full time job, I pay taxes, I volunteer. When you spoke at the your rally you only used the word mother. I commend you Mr. Obama for the respect you have for the working women, a mother or not. 

I have respect for Barack and his party for making birth control readily available. It is called Planned Parenthood because parenthood should be planned and this planning should be available for all women, not just the wealthy women. As far as certain Congressman's view on rape, it is just so outdated and preposterous. I read a quote from one State Congressman that said "As long as it is happening you should just lay back and enjoy it" well I hope someone walks up and slaps you across the face because that is downright rude to every women out there including your wife and daughter because I am sure if that happened to one of them your tone would change pretty quickly. Rape is a violation of a human, a living human. If a pregnancy resulted from that rape that women has every right to do what she views is right and no person in this world should be able to tell her that is right or wrong. No President, Prime Minster, King should have any say on a women's body whatsoever. 

Today I woke up scared about the fate of the country, but I woke up to find out that Mr. Barack Obama had won the American election. I can rest easy for the next four years knowing our country is in good hands.

I saw a lot of twitter statuses yesterday that stated "Whatever happens I know, it is God's will" than this morning those same people were saying "God Save Us" If you truly believed it is God's will that Mr. Obama made it into office why would he save you? As for myself I am happy America chose Mr. Obama for a fourth term because remember it took more than 4 years to mess up the state of America it is going to take more than 4 years to put it back together. Obama came into a mess created by Bush, not created by Obama.

My political rant is over, I will go back to blogging about running and fitness.

November Challenge Start

My November challenge began on Thursday and the first week, I must say went pretty well.

Thursday morning I accidently slept in and only had a chance to do Better Butt at lunch, but I also did a 4.35 miles run with an average pace of 7’07”/mile, I am managing to keep me speed up and that is important to me, after my run I did the sculpted arms workout on NTC. When I got home I did my Nike+ Kinect, however, to my sadness I wasn’t using Xbox live and therefore needed to re-do my assessment. I managed to do better this time so I was happy about that.

Friday morning Meho and I rolled out of bed at 4:15am and went to Goodlife and I started my day off with NTC, Endurance Master and Slim Effect. I find when I do a workout in the morning I make better food choices throughout the day. I tend to reach for fruit and veggies rather than salty or sweet snacks, so this also motivates me to get up when my first alarm goes off. At lunch I did a 4.78mile run with an average pace of 7’25”/mile and finished my workout off with Sculpted Arms and Leaner Legs also from NTC. When I got home that night, I did a Nike Kinect cardio workout with Marie. She is killing me and I love it!! Seriously, this game is the best investment I have ever made. Marie pushes you and forces you to want to work harder.

Saturday I had a really hard time getting out of bed, but I was involved in the Twitter Road Race and knew I had to get lace up my running shoes sooner or later or I would spend my day in my cozy bed. I looked at my twitter Nike Running had tweeted me and sent me a picture with a person running in Calgary in the cold, so I knew even though it was cold I couldn’t let it beat me. This pushed me to get out of the door. I started my day off at the gym doing NTC, Worth the Weight and Fighter Fit than I hit the pavement. I ran 6.22 miles in 6’47”.mile finishing my 10km in my best time yet of 42:09. I was so happy about my pace I wanted to cry. Maries training plan for my marathon has really helped me push myself to limits I never knew I had in me. I got home from my run and did my cardio session with Marie. Doing the most burpess I have done yet. If you don’t have this game you need to get it ASAP, believe me you won’t regret getting it, but you will regret not getting it.

To round up week one that was three days I ran 15.3miles with an average pace of 7’04”/mile and did 195 NTC minutes. Leaving me with 84.7 miles left to run in November and 1205 NTC minutes left to get. Totally doable!!

The month is still young so if you would leave to join me in this challenge drop me a tweet or leave me a comment. Hash tags your runs/NTC with #NTC1400Nov and #Run100.

How was your weekend of working out?

October was an Great Month

October was an incredible month!! I mean incredible. I don’t think I could have asked or gotten a better birth month.

First off I boarded a plane to San Fran and I got to spend the weekend with Lydia from Nike Women and meet my twitter besties, Elizabeth and Karen. I seriously love these girls, they are amazing and we had such a fun time hanging out and running the Nike Women’s Marathon.

I ran my first marathon, the Nike Women’s Marathon. It is seriously the best marathon out there. I mean I am biased since it is my first but Nike makes an incredible experience out of it and I was a Nike Ambassador. I didn't finish in the time I wanted to, but I did finish and that is the most important thing. It has made me realize how much I really do love running. I have already started planning my next marathon and it is a Boston Qualifier.

After NWM my birthday came around and Meho made it such an amazing event. I had supper with my friends and had the opportunity to spend time with my family and Mike’s family. I think it is important to have that family and friend time. Sometimes our lives get so busy we neglect those that matter most to us and we need to remember to take time out of our lives to spend time with them.

Last weekend we spent some us time in Canmore. With me preparing for my marathon and going to San Fran we haven’t spent as much time together as we normally do. We spent the weekend with just us in an incredible condo in Canmore, seriously this place was bigger than my apartment. It was really nice to be alone with no interruption.

Shortly after getting home from NWM I started running again. I know people say a day more each mile you ran, but I knew I was at my peak performance level and didn't want to disrupt my training. I began running again almost right away. Much to my surprise my pace picked up in a huge way!!! This makes me so happy, I am hoping it isn't a fluke and I am really getting faster.

I also purchased the Nike Kinect game. I had a Kinect when they first came out and I wasn’t impressed. I purchased the Women’s Health game and was like this is kind of dumb. I ended up selling my Kinect and getting more Wii stuff, I have a Mario Kart obsession and Mario Party is an awesome game. I watched the Youtube video for this game and was like I want that, it will help me achieve my goals in a healthy matter. I tried it out last night and I LOVED it!! Seriously it is the best game for health and fitness out there. Marie Purvis kicks your ass in a good way, she will also prompt you when you are not in perfect form, so this is really going to help me perfect my form and get into athlete fit shape. This morning I woke up and I was so sore!! My whole lower body hurts. I can’t wait to get home connect it with my Nike Plus site and start racking up the fuel points. My only advice is don’t do a crazy workout before doing your fitness assessment I think this kind of skewed my results a little bit and made me look less fit than I really am. I know once you get it you will love it.

I have also been running the elements and the first month of it has been great, I likely will not get the chance to run in the heat, but have been doing a lot of cold, wind, snow runs so at least I can try and top those leader boards. I am not doing so bad right now either in 208th place!! Whoo-hoo , but I would like to get out of the 200's and into the 100's!!!

As you can see my October was an incredible month. I really pushed myself and my year is turning out to be a good year. Today is November 1, 2012 and it starts my challenge of 1,400 NTC minutes plus 100 Nike Running Miles along with keeping my training plan with Nike Kinect. I think I might have my abs my Christmas.

Happy Training .

Watch out Canada, Nike Fuelbands are Coming This Week.

Canada are time has finally come, we are about to receive the Nike+Fuelbands!! I am beyond ecstatic for this!! I have had my fuel band since about May and I love it!! I am so happy I got it when I did and now everyone in Canada has the opportunity to get one also.

You might be asking yourself what exactly is a Nike Fuelband, while it looks like a bracelet or a cool watch and you wear it on your wrist and it measures your activity level. It is a great way to stay active and compete with your friends who also have fuelbands and who are your facebook friends, I am hoping that we can soon compete with our twitter friends also.

I also love competing against myself and trying to break my last week record. It has a section that lets you know your longest streak, I am on a 110 day streak right now so it keeps me moving even on my rest days so I don't ruin my streak.

While I was in San Francisco I had he opportunity to see the new Fuelbands that are going to come out, the White Ice and the Black Ice. I instantly fell in love with the White Ice when I saw it. It is like they made it for women. It is a beautiful white color, is really bright and has the prettiest clasp ever. I would recommend this one to any women who wants one. I also had the amazing opportunity to receive the first consumer Nike Fuelband White Ice. I have been wearing it ever since the marathon. I have had so many compliments on it and I have had many people ask when it comes out.

Well Canada on Wednesday October 31^st, 2012 you can purchase your own Nike Fuelband at any Apple Store in Canada. Get out there get your fuelband and get moving. I can’t wait to start racking up the Nike Fuel with you, be sure to let me know when you get yours.

Maybe the Nike Fuel Team will do a little friendly competition, who can earn more fuel Team Canada or Team USA.

My Decision to Cut Sugar Out

My decision to quit sugar was a rather easy decision. I have struggle with my weight for most of my adult life and sugar is one of those unnecessary elements in our food these days.

Seriously, you look around and everything has some type of sugar in it, apple sauce is sweetened with it. What happened to good old fashioned apple sauce? 

I actually went off of sugar before, about 2 years ago. It was sugar and wheat I totally took out of my diet. I went cold turkey on both of it. It lasted about three weeks because I didn't allow my body any type of sugar whatsoever, even the natural sugar we get from wheat. I wore an elastic band around my wrist and every time I had a sugar craving or wanted bread I would flick myself with elastic, inflicting pain upon myself. I associated pain with sugar/wheat cravings.

I literally lived off of chicken salads and my hair was starting to fall out in clumps after week 2. I am pretty sure my body was going into shock from not getting any nutrients other than greens and chicken. I was substituting any multi-vitamin for the loss of nutrients.

I actually craved one day and broke down crying because I wanted a piece of toast so bad. I was an angry wreck from restricting my body so much.   

This time I am taking myself off of sugar in a different way. I am still eating fruit, one serving a day and I am eating whole grains because I no longer eat white bread. My body right now is craving sugar but I know this will pass. I don’t fear that I am doing this in an unhealthy way because the only thing I am cutting out is sugar; I have no worry that my hair is going to fall out. I do know that I will probably be cranky for a few days while my body starts to realize it has no sugar entering it but in the end I will be healthier for it.

A few people have questioned my motives, is it a good idea, are you sure you can do it, why would you want to do that?  What I have realized is no matter what you do in life people are going to question your motives. It is best to keep a supportive group around you and let the non supportive people go.

I have no intentions of harming myself this time, rather making a choice that will help me be healthier and a better runner, in turn a better me.

Setting New Goals and Starting New Journey's

I can’t believe I have been back in Calgary for a week. It has been a week since I ran my very first marathon in San Francisco. With no goal in mind in the near future my life has seemed a little empty.

Even thought my Journey to the Nike Women’s Marathon is over it doesn't mean that my Running journey is over, I believe it has just started and NWM just made me even more excited to run and fueled my love for the sport.

I actually spent my first two days home sleeping. After a weekend of not getting very good sleep and running a marathon I needed a lot of sleep. My first day home I slept for 9 hours and the next day I slept close to 11 hours, crazy. Even this weekend I ended up getting a lot of sleep. I guess my body is still kind of recovering.

I have finally gotten over the fact that I didn't even come close to making my Boston Qualifying time. For a few days there every time someone asked me how I did I would get really sad.  Now I realize that I accomplished something really great and I am ready to take on a new challenge.

I have decided that I will be running the BMO Vancouver Marathon in May of 2013. It is a Boston Qualifying course and doesn't have the same crazy hills as San Fran. With my first marathon out of the way I can focus more on my speed rather than just on finishing. I honestly think I put too much pressure on myself to qualify during my first marathon. I plan on focusing a lot on hills and speed this time around. Of course I will still have a distance focus and my Saturdays will still be my long run days but my goal is to get through all my long runs without having to take any walk breaks. My only challenge this time is the fact that I will be running through winter and winter in Calgary can get very cold. Hopefully we won’t have a cold winter and I won’t have too many treadmill runs.

For right now I have set some mini goals for myself. In the month of November I plan on running 100 miles and doing 1,440 NTC minutes. That works out to 5 runs at 4 miles each week and 90 minutes of NTC 4 times a week. I am totally game for this challenge. I have also made November a no sugar month and I am starting that today. I am determined to get myself down to 18% body fat by Christmas. I want abs for Christmas. If you want to join me in either these challenges or just one let me know in the comments. We can keep each other motivated.

I just celebrated my 27^th birthday. I really can’t believe it and what a week I had. It kicked off with running the Nike Women’s Marathon and ended with having supper with Meho’s dad and step-mom. I got some amazing gifts one of them being a “Yonana’s” ice cream maker. This thing is cool!! All you put in it is frozen fruit. You stick it in the machine and it makes it into ice cream. It’s super healthy and only requires frozen fruit. I am super excited to use it especially with No Sugar November coming up.

My Race Weekend - Nike Women's Marathon

Thursday morning I woke up to snow in Calgary, but it didn't bother me because I was going to be boarding a flight to San Fran by noon. Meho and I left for the airport and I was full of excitement. When I got the airport I was told that my flight was likely going to be delayed. I sat in the airport and found out that my flight was yes delayed but only by a half hour. We boarded our flight at 12:40 and sat on the tarmac until 2:15pm!!! We finally landed in San Fran at 3:10pm and I had to wait 40 minutes for my luggage!!! 

Me at the Nike Expo in front of the
Fuel Stream looking at me.

I finally got to meet my Sisters In Nike and I was so excited to hang out with them all weekend. Karen and Elizabeth are amazing an so much fun. I felt like I knew the both of them my whole life. Ranisha was so fun and friendly and nice she always had a huge smile on her face, she totally lit up the room. Nerissa spent a lot of time with her boyfriend and sadly we didn't really get the chance to know her.

Alyson Felix at the Expo, she is beautiful.

Friday morning started with a stretching session with Nike's very own Master Trainer Marie Purvis. She is so friendly and helpful. It was great to finally meet her after tweeting her and following her training plan for months. Our stretching session was down down on Fisherman's Wharf in view of the bay bridge, it was a breathtaking view minus all of the birds that were down there. I am pretty sure Robby ( @TarHellRob ) who works with the Nike Fuel digital team, had to chase birds away from myself and Elizabeth before we had a panic attack from the books. It was a great stretching session and got out all of the kinks in my body from the flight over. After doing a few photo's of stretching and with the Nike Fuel team we met up with Robyn from Team Epiphany to do some more Nike Women's shots. This was a lot of fun, we walked the streets of downtown San Fran and really got to see this beautiful city. I can totally see myself moving there. After the shoot we went to the Expo to pick up our race packets and take in some of the expo. I got to see myself on the Nike Fuel Stream. I was pretty stoked about that. 

On the way back from the race we ran into Joan Benoit Samuelsons
he is awesomeand beautiful, such an awesome inspiration.

Saturday was another great day. Karen and myself went over to the Expo early in the morning so we could check out the Yurbuds and the bra bar. The bra bar was pretty cool, they measured you and fitted you with a bra. They also had a place where they styled you in Nike's new cold weather gear and gave you the names of the clothes you liked. They also had places you could get a makeover and Nuun was there with all the different types of Nuun they had. They had one that had a little bit of caffeine in it. It is beautifully amazing and taste awesome and doesn't have a salty taste. We met back at the hotel for 10am and we met Marie again for a shake out run. We went down to pier 49 where we could see the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. We were right by the ocean and a little piece of me felt at home. Afterwards we came back to the hotel and I stayed in my hotel room for the rest of the day hydrating and resting for the big day the next day. 

Race Day

My new Moto.

Sunday morning I was up before my alarm went off. It was 4:40 in the morning when my eyes shot open and I felt sick, at first I thought it was nerves but than I knew I was about to get sick, everything I ate started to come up and I knew this was going to have a negative effect on my run. I was so nervous for my race because the last 5 months came down to this exact moment. I began getting ready for my race because I had be in the lobby for 6:30am and I knew that I wasn't going to be able to get back to sleep anytime soon. 6:30 we all met in the lobby and made our way to the start line, but before we left the Nike Fuel team got a pictures of all of us and I must say it is the best picture of the whole weekend. I can't wait to frame this picture. 

Race Start

Me with my new white ice fuel band and the Tiffany's necklace

The race start was crazy. We were not very far back from the start line but it went super far back. I heard that it took them 45 minutes to get everyone over the start line, for us it took us 2 minutes. The day was a little chilly and super foggy outside with a light mist, this is what I was hoping for because this is my perfect racing conditions. When we started out I knew I was going to fast, but I got caught up in the moment an kept pushing myself. When I started to pull back I just ended up pushing harder. My lungs felt so great and I wanted to keep going at this pace because I knew I would make my Boston goal if I kept that pace up. All of a sudden I was at the 3 mile mark and had no idea where the race was going I felt like it was flying by. Than we hit the dreaded hill. I knew I was going to have to pull back big time on the hills because I needed my legs for the last 13 miles of the race, so I took the hills nice and slow not allowing myself to tire out on them. When I got to the top I let myself enjoy the downhill run and maybe ran them a little faster than I should have but it made up for lost time. It was so great to have community support from the members of San Fran especially when we got into the residential areas. I was feeling great into the 11th mile and was running an average pace of 8'34"/mile and was on track to make my Boston goal. Sadly at around mile 12 my body got really hot and my legs felt like jelly, things around me started going black and I passed out. I was out for only a few seconds I think, but when I came to there were people standing around me. I yelled out "Don't touch me" I wanted nothing more than to finish my race. I got up and sprint/staggered off than walked until I found the next Shot Block station, lucky for me it wasn't far away. Once I got shot blocks in me I felt so much butter, honestly shot blocks are the best thing my body absorbs them rather quickly and got me back on my feet rather quickly. Sadly, around mile 16 I had to start using the bathroom every outhouse I saw because the water was causing my body to freak out. Around mile 24 I wanted to give up, my feet hurt, my legs hurt and I was into my own head thinking I couldn't do this, lucky for me I have an amazing friend in Elizabeth, she met me at mile 25 and ran the rest of the race with me getting me into the shoot and over the finish line. I really don't know if I would have finished without her. I finally finished my race and received coveted Tiffany's necklace. My time was 4hours and 39 minutes. Not what I was aiming for but at least I finished. I was short of my goal for Boston by a big time but I am not going to let that destroy me as I have already planned my next Boston qualifier race, this time it will be in Ottawa.

On the bright side Nike Fuel had a contest that none of us were aware of. We were competing to see who got the most fuel and I won by a hair. I was presented with the new WHITE ICE NIKE FUEL BAND. Kamauri and Robby presented it to me and I was over the moon. Until the end of the month I am the only person who has the WHITE ICE NIKE FUEL. I was so excited about it and I love it. It really topped off my weekend and made me feel better about not qualifying for Boston. 

Honestly, the Nike Women's Marathon is an amazing race and I think everyone should do it. The experience is amazing and the course is breathtaking. I will for sure be back next year.