Unplanned Skating

After a fabulous social weekend and high plans for what I was going to accomplish this week, I started Monday morning off with a tumble on some ice while walking to work. A ground sprinkler system had gone off at some point during the night. Victoria had been hovering around freezing for a number of days and so the run off created an ice rink effect. My options were: walk on the road and into on-coming traffic, clamber through thigh-high bushes, or walk on the ice.

The ice probably only covered about a 5 meter length of sidewalk but I tumbled twice, once landing on my left knee and once on my right wrist. Neither injury was too bad but my knee did stop me from running on Monday and Tuesday. Instead, I went out for a long walk on Tuesday around the neighbourhood. I picked my time well because I wasn't in the door five minutes when it started to snow.

By Wednesday I was right as rain, as they say, and back to West African Dance class. Today, I headed out for my much delayed run. I didn't drink enough water before I headed out and that became immediately apparent when my calves started to seize up. Still, I pushed on through and completed the run I set out to do. Granted, I wasn't running much faster than I walk by the end of it, but that was because of my calves. My bad. I know better.

Water in general is one of those areas I need to improve on. I'm really good for a few weeks and then I'm really bad for a few weeks. I need to be consistent and I know that. I'm better when I drink enough water; my energy is better so my workouts are better, I eat better because I'm not mindlessly snacking (I'm mindlessly drinking down my H2O), and my skin feels better when I'm hydrated. Three very simple reasons for drinking water and yet I still struggle with it. Guess what my goal is for this week?

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men

My plans for this week went horribly askew when I decided to have an incredibly active social life. Truth be told, I wasn't too upset about this to begin with as I was horribly sore on Thursday and Friday from the workouts earlier in the week. By this evening, however, I was feeling frustrated with my lack of real movement.

One of my social evenings was watching other people be active but I've been told that doesn't count.

Despite the vast amounts of sitting and talking I did, I did make an effort to make good food choices so it wasn't a total slide backwards. It was hard given that most of my socializing involved going out to eat but I'm concentrating on the positives: I stopped when I was satisfied, I opted for the healthier option on most occasions, and I limited my beer intake to only three pints (which is very little seeing as I was at a hockey game one night). I wasn't perfect but I was happy with my choices.

Another social evening was watching an awesome friend sing awesome songs.

My vocal chords got a good workout that night.

Five nights in a row of social engagements plus a day time engagement on both weekend days is not the norm for me so I know that this type of halt to my activity won't happen again for a long time. I also know that I need to figure out how to balance being social with working towards my goal. I can't stop being social just for the sake of making it easier to stay healthy and plan my workouts. After all, I want to listen to my friend play his amazing songs and I want to enjoy a beer while I do it even if it's supposed to be a running night.

PS. I can't link to my favourite song because he doesn't have a video for it--hint, hint, Justin!-- but you can go to his site and listen to it for free. It's called "Oh Susanna".