Three Things Thursday – Summer Vacay!

1. Well, today is Day 1 of my summer holidays, and I could not be more excited! Sumer school finished yesterday, and although it pays well, missing out on a month of my summer kinda sucked! I’m pretty sure I won’t be doing that again next year, and if I do, I will definitely only be doing it for 2 weeks! So, let the fun begin!! Here’s what we have lined up for the next couple of weeks…

2. We are heading to North Bay for the weekend to have a visit with my parents and hopefully see my Grandma.

August long weekend is always super fun in North Bay. There is a huge Summer in the Park Festival with outdoor concerts (Carly Rae Jepsen, Dragonette, and Metric, to name a few), vendors, a midway and fireworks!

No only that, but there is a ton of fun stuff for the kids – the Heritage Carousel , Mini Train rides, a gorgeous waterfront with a huge park and tons of beautiful beaches.

The weather is supposed to be pretty good, hopefully I will have some great stories and picture to share with you next week!

3. Next week we are going to my sister’s cottage. It’s their annual cottage party week and I’m super pumped for it! It seems like forever since I’ve just relaxed, hung out with friends, ate great food and enjoyed a few drinks. I can’t wait! And the kids are pretty excited too. Most of our friends have young kids and when they all get together they have a blast. I see some swimming, tubing, bike riding, boat rides and a little washer toss in my future! So fun!

I hope to get a few runs in while we are at the cottage and I’m even thinking about bringing my TRX. I’ve actually been eating well and exercising consistently for the last two weeks, hopefully I don’t get all off track next week!

Have an awesome long weekend!

What are your plans?

How to you stay on track with eating well and exercising while on holidays?

Three Things Thursday – Working Out With Jillian!

So, I found out last week that…..

1. I get to work out with JILLIAN MICHAELS!!!

Jillian is this years CanFitPro Conference Keynote Speaker and as a Group Ex Instructor for GoodLife Fitness I get the chance to participate in a BODYShred class led by THE Jillian Michaels!!!

I’m a little nervous of this…

…but I’m super pumped to be coached by Jillian Michaels! I’m thinking this just might be the most intense workout I’ve ever done!

2. If you’ve never seen or heard of BodyShred, it’s a group exercise class offered at GoodLife Fitness here in Canada and Crunch Fitness in the US. Basically, it’s a 30 minute, high intensity, endurance based workout. There are 4 rounds of 3 minutes strength training, 2 minutes cardio and 1 minute of abs. There is no rest between exercises or rounds. Pretty much every exercise works multiple muscles and its an amazing workout that burns fat, builds muscle, and improves your health!

3. This will be my first ever celebrity led workout and I cant wait!! The countdown is on – only 22 days until I workout with Jillian! WooHoo!

Well, that’s my exciting news for today!

Have an awesome weekend everyone!

Have you ever done a workout led by a celebrity trainer? If so, want to hear all about it!

If you haven’t, but could, who would you want to workout with and why?

Three Things Thursday – Late Again!

Hey everyone! It’s the weekend! WooHoo!

1. I’ve been a little MIA lately…things have been crazy busy – with summer school, hubby working out of town and 2 sick kids, I just haven’t been able to find the time to blog 😦 Snuggles with my kids and sleep have overruled! I hope to get back on track soon 🙂

2. As I mentioned 2 weeks ago now, I went to my first official CrossFit workout with my sister and…I loved it – once it was over, that is! No, it was awesome, but OMG, it was tough!

We started with a warm-up, two laps of the building, lunges, burpees, squats and sit-ups and then we had a little lesson how how to do the two moves involved in the WOD – thrusters and knees to elbows. I think I was the only newbie there, but Coach Ryan was a great teacher.

Here are videos of the 2 moves.

Thrusters

Knees to Elbows

It took me a bit to get used to the thrusters – I was totally using my traps and shoulders to support the bar instead of letting it rest on my upper chest, but once I learned to relax my wrists and keep my elbows up, it got a bit easier.

The workout was a partner workout, so my sister and I were a team, which was awesome. She has been doing CrossFit since January and absolutely loves it. She goes 3x a week and has gotten really good at the moves and has really increased her strength and overall fitness!

We did 5 rounds each of 2 minutes AMRAP (as many reps as possible) of 12 thrusters and 8 knees to elbows.

We used the yellow bar for the thrusters (35 lbs) and since I can’t really do knees to elbows, we did the modified “knees to wherever”, which for me was a little higher than waist height. Man, this workout was HARD!

We did 13 rounds in 20 minutes, which I’m think was pretty good. There was absolutely no way I could have worked any harder!!

I’m actually thinking of joining a CrossFit box before the end of the month. There is a one that just opened in my area that has a wicked deal on right now…50% off…and even tho I’m not sure how often I will be able to get there, at only $75 a month, if I only get there 2x a week, it’s less than $10 a workout!! Which is ridiculously cheap in the world of CrossFit!

3. I think I might start running again! A friend of mine has asked me to run a half marathon with her in the fall and I’m actually considering it!

I went for a couple of run last week, the first was not too bad, the second – well, I hope it wasn’t a sign from the running gods, cause I got caught in a wicked downpour! My plan was to run 4k, but once I got started I could see the gray skies moving in, but figured I would head out and see what happened. Well, I ended up only doing 3k and I got soaked!

And so did my phone 😦 It guess it only got a bit too wet because everything worked but the microphone, I couldn’t hear a thing – not music, not phone calls, nothing! I popped it into a bag of rice, left it for 24 hours, and it was good as new when I turned it back on 🙂

Oh, and within two minutes of getting home, the rain stopped and it started to clear up.

And 20 minutes later… it was bright an sunny again!

I haven’t been out for a run since, but I hope to get out once this weekend since my training program starts next week! Lets hope I don’t get soaked again!

Do you do CrossFit? Is it worth the $$$?

Are you training for a fall race? If so, which one and when?

Three Things Thursday Friday!

Happy Friday everyone!

I hope you had a great week! Here’s what up with me…

1. School finished last Friday! Which would be totally awesome, except that I’ve committed to teaching summer school for the month of July 😦 Its not all bad tho, the paycheck (when it arrives) is pretty sweet and I’m teaching Careers, which is a pretty easy course to get through. All but one of my 32 students is reaching ahead, so they are super keen and very hard working.

I am however, counting down the days…18 to go!

2. My 30 Day Healthy Lifestyle Challenge was super fun, but a lot more work than I had expected! Blogging for 30 days straight is tough! I hope you enjoyed the challenge, any suggestions for my next one?

3. I’m going to my first real Crossfit workout on Saturday! My sister is taking me to her box as a guest – I’m super excited, but very nervous!

Here’s our WOD:

Partner workout – 3 minutes each round per person followed by 3 minute break while the other partner does the work – 5 rounds total each = 30 minutes total

It will be continous so that the partner will take over where the other one leaves off.

AMRAP of:

12 Thrusters #95/65

8 Knee to Elbow

I will be sure to let you know what I think and how I make out, it’s going to be interesting!

Have a great weekend!

Three Things Thursday – It’s Been a While!

I think I only missed one week, but it feels like forever since I’ve done a Three Things Thursday post! It’s time to get caught up!

1. This past Tuesday was our schools athletic banquet, and since hubby was working, I had to take the kids. They behaved amazingly and all the students loved them! They looked pretty cute too in their Country and Western themed gear…

2. Last Saturday hubby and I got out for a day without the kids – we went to Canada’s Wonderland and out for dinner – it was awesome!

First ride of the day was the Leviathan – it was crazy! If you’ve never heard of it, or rode it before, check it out – its over 300 feet tall, has an 80 degree drop an goes 92 mph! Insane!

Also loved the Behemoth and pretty much every rollercoaster in the park. Still hate the wooden ones- they are way too jerky for me!

Also rode Windseeker – didn’t love it! Though I was going to barf the whole time!

We had a super fun day – rode pretty much every ride in the park, had funnel cake and enjoyed a quiet dinner, just the two of us – so rare!!

3. We are off to Bluewater this weekend to visit my sister Kim and her family. They are embarking on pretty exciting adventure that will be taking them far, far away for at least a year. We are super excited for them, but definitely going to miss them! Our kids had a blast hanging out at their cottage last summer, and with everyone a year older now, things are sure to be even more fun!

Well, that’s it for this week! Have an awesome weekend!

Three Things Thursday – Check out These Recipes!

This weekend I’m hoping to get back on track with my Clean Eating. Here are 3 recipes I’m going to try:

1. These yummy treats…Jamie Eason’s Low Carb Coconut Macaroons

2. Some Kebabs on the BBQ:

3. And for breakfast Sunday morning…

I’m hoping this is the kick start I need to get me doing weekly food prep and quality meal planning!

I hope you have an awesome weekend!

I’d love to hear what Clean recipes you will be trying this weekend!

Three Things Thursday – Short and Sweet!

My kids have just gone to bed, and I’m really looking forward to an early night myself, so this is going to be a super fast post.

I just wanted to share with you 3 awesome things I saw on Facebook this week.

1. This video of an amazing teen and his family. Lessons to be learned. Be forewarned – you’re probably going to cry!

2. Tosca’s Summer RESET Guide posted by The Eat Clean Diet Team. http://www.toscareno.com/2013/05/22/summer-reset-guide/#.UZ6tdny9KK0

And

3. This picture, which after getting some pretty shitty news at work today, is ridiculously appropriate!

So glad tomorrow is Friday!

Goodnight everyone!

Three Things Thursday!

Happy Thursday!

Hope your week is going well, mine has been crazy busy! Here’s what’s up:

1. I’m running again! Each month I give my classes a fitness related challenge and this months challenge is RUN STREAK – run everyday in May. The timing of this challenge is perfect, its gotten me out and running everyday and I’m loving it! Most days I’m not running very far – averaging about 4k a day, but at least I’m out there!

2. It’s that time of year again! I’m back at Brock University for 3 days helping run the OFSAA Coaching Symposium Conference. It’s a bi-annual conference for high school teacher coaches offering a variety of workshops and active sessions focusing on the technical side of coaching and providing sport-specific skills, drills and strategies.

If you’re a high school Health and Physical Education teacher and looking for some great coaching tips in a variety of sports and activities, check out the link and consider coming to our 2015 conference!

3. As I mentioned before, I was at a subject specific (Health and Physical Education) PD workshop on Monday and it was fantastic! I though I’d share with you one if the CrossFit workouts we did in one of the sessions.

Don’t Drop It!

Objective – in partners/teams- complete the following WOD with fastest time, however reps can only be accumulated while one person is holding a 65/85lb bar overhead, arms and ears in same plane.

50 double unders
30 laps of med ball carries (30 lb med ball)
50 burpee plate jumps
10 Handstands – hold for 10 seconds
30 single unders – 2 people in rope

Teams must complete all reps of one movement before moving on to the next. Any team member can rep out a movement and teammates can change up whenever they want. However, only one person can be working at a time. Reps don’t count when arms are no longer in same plane as ears. Officials must communicate well with each other to make this work – make sure someone LOUD is judging the bar!

Penalties – 5 sec
– dropping/picking up ball before feet get on plate during runs
– every other infraction – NO REP!!

Well, that’s it for today! I’m off to the conference dinner and social! Have a great night!

Three Things Thursday!

One more day until the weekend!!!

Do you have my big plans for the weekend? Here’s what I’m up to:

1. The Big Brother Canada finale is tonight and I’m super excited! First of all I love Big Brother, and can’t wait to find out who wins, but I’m even more excited because it means my hubby will be home again! He has been working on the show pretty much six days a week since February and unfortunately for us, the big shoot days are Thursday, Friday and Saturday, which means he hasn’t been around much on the weekends. I’m definitely looking forward to some family time! The weather is suppose to be fantastic so I’m sure we will be heading to the park, playing chalk, hanging out on the back deck and having an awesome time!

2. The Leafs are in the playoffs! Unfortunately they lost Game 1, but I’m beLEAFing they will take the Bruins in 6! We will be having a little family time in front of the TV Saturday night as we cheer on the Leafs!

3. Im also going to be spending some quality to with my sister Cathy on Saturday! We’re going scrapbooking for the day and I’m super excited! I haven’t done any scrapbooking at all since our weekend away at Selwyn and I am so behind it’s not even funny! Lets hope the creative juices are flowing and I get a lot done!

What are you up to this weekend?

Three Things Thursday!

Happy Thursday everyone! I’ve got a ton of stuff left to do tonight so this one is going to be short and sweet!

1. I’m 11 days into my 30 day Isagenix cleanse and I’m feeling awesome! I have had the occasional slip up, but for the most part, it has been pretty easy to stick to. Yesterday was cleanse day 2 and it was so much easier than my first cleanse day! I’m feeling healthier, fresher, lighter and leaner already! And I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I no longer hate the taste of the Ionix Supreme!

2. Tomorrow I am going to a meeting instead of work 🙂 I’m part of the organizing committee for the OFSAA Coaching Symposium, which is a conference held bi-annually for High School Teacher-Coaches across Ontario. I think this will be my 3rd year on the committee and I’m super excited to see my fellow committee members. I’m most excited to be car pooling with my friend Shannon – we used to work together and hang out quite a bit, but now that we have both switched schools and have young kids, we don’t get to see each other as often.

3. After my meeting tomorrow, I’m off for a weekend hockey tournament with my Corona Crusher girls! I have only played one game of pick-up hockey since going to this tournament last year, which was the first time I had played since having my son Tanner the previous January! Thankfully we don’t go for the hockey! Its all about hanging out, having fun, and getting a little exercise while we’re at it! My magic bullet is pack and ready to make my 2 smoothies a day, I have healthy snacks and hope to at least partially stick to my cleanse. The case of Corona I’ve also packed isn’t going to help with that, but hey, I’m not going to worry about it! Its a weekend away with my besties and I’m going to enjoy it! Here’s a picture of us last year – sweet uni’s eh?

Any plans for the weekend?