January 28 - Mid Term Reflection

1) Since the start of this year, I have brought my gym strip, including runners, and had my hair tied up, ready to participate in the activity of the day. I always come with a bright attitude, because I learned that the positive attitude you put out, will affect the way that day will go. I put my best effort into both fitness days and gym days. During choice, I pick an activity that I know I will actually want to do like Capture the Flag, and not just sit out for the majority of the time. On fitness days, I surround my self with people I know will motivate me and won't hold me back from doing my best. I struggle more with choice days, rather than fitness, or the times we have an activity the whole class has to do. I don't enjoy playing sports like basketball, and volleyball, so I always choose to do activities such as handball, and anything you can do outside.

2) I think I haven't contributed as much as I did last year, mostly because I don't know many of the people in my class. I do however, try to always be positive, especially fitness days, because I know  that a lot of people don't enjoy it as much. I recently played Capture the Flag with a couple of people from our class (like 8 people), and that helped me to be more comfortable around them. I will definitely try to get to know more people in our class the next semester, which will be so much easier in the spring, when the we can play as a class. 

3) I love fitness days. I have always enjoyed doing all the activities because it's not like sports where you win or lose. During fitness, if you work hard, you will always win, because you get stronger mentally, and physically. I enjoy doing the community run, because I get to talk to Yulia and Gaby, compared to fitness days like locomotion, where it is almost impossible to talk and breathe at the same time. For the rest of the year, I still don't have a specific goal. But, I want to be able to work hard, each day, and learn to put up with the uncomfortable feeling during fitness, so I have enough self control to do it myself, once I'm not in P.E 10 anymore.

4) To me, leadership means motivating the class to make improvements. For example, a leader doesn't always have to be the one holding the whistle, but can also be the person who listens attentively, making it easier for the class to get things done faster. I don't think there is a specific person in the class who is a leader, but everyone in our class has the potential to be a great leader. 

5) I would like to talk and get to know more people in our class. I am most proud of the things I do outside of gym, like doing insanity, and running.

For these reasons, I think I deserve an A (90%)

January 19 - What is Wrong with my Ankles?

On Monday, Gaby and I went out to run 3 miles, just like we planned. Our route was doing the 2 community runs one after the other. I remember it being so dark while we were running, and it was also very cold, which made it difficult to breathe at times. Here's the result:

On Tuesday, we did 2 miles, with the community run. I noticed that this run was really hard on my legs and my lungs. It could have been the weather, but I'm not sure. Also, at the end of the run, I noticed that my left ankle started to hurt badly. I thought the pain would go away, but it's Monday of the following week, and I still can't put my weight on my left feet so I have to improperly walk on my right side of my foot, or tip toe. I ended up not doing any physical activities for the rest of the week to insure that I won't make my ankle any worse. I feel a bit bad about just leaving Gaby, but I hope to get back into things once my ankle heals. Here's the result:

I also have been thinking about changing the running table, into doing one short and fast run, and one long run, and doing exercises in between the other days for strength and cross training. I don't want to over run and get an injury, or make my knees go bad like I did last summer. I was thinking about doing Kayla Itsines's BBG, which consists of legs, arms, abs, and cardio workouts. I think this way, I can still exercise every day (with 2 rest days) and maintain strong knees, and ankles.

This week, I've been having peanut butter on bread, and Caesar salad for lunch. Here's a picture of one of my lunches. I thought it consisted a balance of all the food groups and I was pretty proud of myself. I put pumpkin seeds, bacon, and mixed veggies in my salad, and Caesar dressing. I had one slice of bread with peanut butter, and a juice box!

January 12 - Week 1 ish

Gaby and I signed up for the Vancouver Sun Run and we decided to train from this week until the second week of April. Here's a picture of our training!

We went running all week, and on Wednesday, we did insanity with my cousin! Since it was raining hard on Thursday, we decided to just do a workout and stretch because of how tired we were from fitness. For fitness, we did this awesome poker game which was so fun to do! Gaby, Yulia, and I were in a team, so we had to do more exercises compared to the team with 4 people. I had so much fun doing fitness and actually having motivation to do all the exercises (we're so competitive lol).

Although we didn't get a good hand on any of the games, it was a blast and I hope to do it again!

Where is Yulia when we're taking these pics????

For Friday, we ran 3 miles, which was tiring considering that our legs were dying from the day before! My phone decided to not record our run because it hates me. One thing I noticed was that when my legs are in pain from doing something the day before, it goes away while I run, but it returns right afterwards! 

On Saturday, Gaby and I ran 6 miles in about an hour and 10 min! We haven't ran long distances since summer but it was totally fun! At the pace we we're supposed to go at according to the plan, we were able to talk to each other just fine and forget that we were even running! Here's the result from this run:

Also, I've been researching healthy eating for my Planning 10 project, and I started eating more fruits and veggies!

Here are some examples:

This was my breakfast. I had a banana&strawberry smoothie!

After insanity, Aubrey and I were starving and we ate oranges, apples, and melons!

After school, I had kale salad and water as a snack before going out for a run!

My dad noticed how much salad I was eating and decided to buy more!

I don't know if I like this style of blogging where I would sum up my week in one post. I'll be trying it for the next few weeks and if I like it, I guess I'll stick with it!

January 11 - This is #Insanity

My cousin and I planned to go for a run today, but since it was too cold outside, we ended up working out at home. We did a cardio insanity video and stretched for 20min aafterwards. In the video we did, I really hated the power jumps and the frog jumps. But I really enjoyed when the video ended LOL. But anyways, I actually think I did pretty well today because I didn't stop or feel the need to modify any exercises (not counting when I slowed down). Anyways, here's the after workout selfie!

January 9 - I Can't Move

I'm writing this on a Saturday night, still very sore from yesterday! The gym block did Insanity for fitness and I can't believe how intense it was! I remember doing it last year but I didn't think it was that hard.. That means I either worked very hard, or I'm just very out of shape. Either way, I am feeling a lot of pain in my calves, my lower back, and my thighs. What I hated most was the burpie ish exercise where you drop and do 4 push ups, then mountain bikers, then back up again to raise your hand up to the ceiling. Also, I didn't like that jumping thing where you would be in a plank and jump both legs close you your hand, then back into a plank position. Even though I was wearing black, my sweat was visible at the front from wiping my face, and on my back. However, I feel like I became stronger(mentally) because I suffered through the video. Anyways, after school, I ate a salad which was really yummy! Gotta get my healthy eating back after eating junk all throughout winter break!

January 8 - Foggy Day

Today, I went for a run again with Gaby and my cousin. I felt like we were going slowet, but actually, we improved by 10 seconds. I also felt more tired when I started. When I got to the last hill I felt like my body was trying to stop! A great thing about having a partner is that you're always trying to keep up with them so I didn't ever think to stop. Also, I noticed that after my run, my thighs started to hurt or feel kinda weird when we walked. Also, my cousin and I walked Gaby home so that was a great cool down for us. Heres the results from today!

January 7 - Continuation

Yay me! I actually went out to do the community run with Gaby, while my cousin ran at the park like I planned yesterday! It was surprising to see that I was able to keep up a conversation with Gaby while I ran (not up that giant hill, of course). Outside was kinda creepy because of the fog, and I think the cold made it harder for me to breathe at first, but once I picked a breathing pattern, it was alright from there. Here's the result from my Nike Run app!

January 6 - Running with my Cousin

So today after school, I decided to go running with my cousin. I thought it was so much fun because I haven't been running in so long and having a partner made it seem more safe to run in the dark. She doesn't run much so it was difficult for us to be at the same pace so we decided that I would just run ahead, then wait at the corner to make sure she doesn't get lost. I ended up just running up the last hill of the community run, and walked back with her. I really enjoyed running up the hill and I realized how much I missed running. I tracked my bit of running on the Nike Run app and here's the result!

If it doesn't rain tomorrow, she and I are going to go for a run but this time, I will do the community run while she runs around Goldstone and meet up at the park, and walk back home. This way, we can both have a workout at the pace we want to go!

January 4 - Last Day of Winter Break

After the Christmas and New Year's dinner, I decided to try and balance out how much I ate by exercising (yaaaay)! This morning, I woke up and decided to do a light 10 minute workout so start my day. I did feel very tired and zombie like in the first 2 minutes, but after that, I was able to do all the exercises and follow the instructor's speed. I hate the toe touches because it makes my stomach hurt so much! I've noticed that when I try to control/stabilize my breathing, it makes it much easier to execute the harder exercises. Here's an after workout selfie!