RunCanadaRun

I broke my golden rule  yesterday, I skipped a long run!  BUT for great reason, we welcomed a healthy baby boy into the world.  Callan David was born yesterday weighing 8 lbs 2 oz and happy and healthy!  Megan was absolutely amazing. It amazes me how much strength and courage she pulls together in the midst of so much pain and uncertainty.

I was in charge of fuelling and coaching for this baby.  For our first baby, we had a rough go in the hospital.  We had to stay for 4 nights because of some minor issues and by the last day we were all a wreck.  Lack of sleep, poor nutrition, substandard sleeping conditions, and a newborn is not a fun combination.  I blamed a major part of these issues on a poor fuelling strategy.

I would never claim to know what delivering a baby feels like but I equate it to running a race.  You have training, a plan, the event, and recovery.  We had a plan and good training but then, like most races once you get into it, everything you’ve planned for goes out the window.  You need to adapt to what your body is telling you and continuous change your tactics to get to your end goal.  In the end your success is measured on your outcome and not how you got there.  Like a race, you need to have an open mind to change your strategy on the fly.  Callan came fast and furious and we really didn’t have much time to think of anything.

We are so happy to have another little man to love and spoil.

Maybe I’ll slip out of the hospital for that run later today, stay posted.

Keep on moving,

JA

Happy New Year!

I’m super pumped for 2014.  A new baby is soon to be here and really looking forward to continuing my new endeavours that I began last year.  I managed to get out for an early morning run today and it was amazing.  This was likely the first time since I was around 16 that I was physically able to exercise after a New Years Eve.  Some might think that I’m getting old and just don’t have anything to do on New Years but this was completely MY doing.  We had a nice quiet night in watching the world ring in the new year.  I loved every minute of it.

2014 means a lot to me.  I made a lot of changes last year but now comes the time that I will make or break them.  The honeymoon is over per say and its time to bare down and carry through on my goals.  I don’t see this being a problem because I’m totally in love with the new me!  I’ve been writing about some improvements that I want to make next year, so here are the rest of them.

Improvement #5:  BECOME A BETTER VEGETARIAN

This goes right along with eating less processed foods but I wanted to give that one it’s own category.  I’ve been eating vegetarian for over six months now and there are a few things nutritionally that I could improve on.  I want to review my supplements and change to more vegan friendly versions.  I currently take a multivitamin, B12, Omega 3-6-9, and Vitamin D.  I also wake up to a Vega One shake and supplement with Vega Sport Protein after runs and workouts.  I was taking the vitamins prior to eating vegetarian so I’m sure I get many of these vitamins and minerals from the increased vegetables that go along with the new diet.  I have always believed that covering all my bases with supplements was wise but I’v been doing some research that suggests it could be causing more work for my body to get rid of the excess.  I’m planning on focusing on my diet and then slowly taking away some of the supplements and see how I react to it.

Improvement #6:  BE MORE POSITIVE EVERYDAY

This one is pretty self explanatory.  I’m a good tempered positive person by nature but there’s times that I dwell on the negative.  I’m going to work on staying positive!!

Improvement #7:  MORE TEA AND LESS COFFEE

Megan and I have started drinking tea in the afternoons that we are off together!  She bought me a tea cup and some tea’s from David’s Tea and I’m hooked.  I like the variety and the fact that I can get some health benefits and a warm cup of goodness without having to over-caffeinate myself to death.  Since I gave up alcohol, I find my go to drink at restaurants is coffee and some days I drink 4-5 cups and find it hard on my system.  From this day forward I’m a Tea drinker (I’ll still having a morning coffee to get the blood flowing though).

Improvement #8: READ 3 BOOKS

I’ve never been a reader.  In high school, I listened to books on tape to write book reports for english…haha.  Last year I picked up a few books about running but didn’t really get into them.  I want to take up reading both for enlightenment and relaxation.  Last night, I ordered two new books to get started on; Chris Hadfields new book and Eat & Run by Scott Jurek. Wish me luck with this one!

So to recap here is my list of improvements in its entirety:

1. Eat less processed foods
2. 10K race in 40mins
3. Half race in 1:35
4. Complete a marathon
5. Become a better vegetarian
6. Be more positive
7. Drink Tea
8. Read 3 books

Now that I have all these fancy improvements written down its time to get down to business.  The key to having a successful year is just to keep on improving, whether its in your work, family life and sporting events, just keep getting better!  And thats my ultimate goal for 2014!

Keep on moving,

JA