Coming out of my comfort zone I joined an all female high heel dance group called Army of Sass or AOS. I use to dance when I was a child and once I lost weight and started feeling more confident in my body I wanted to start dancing again. I have to say my first class was intimidating. Seeing all these women, and the sexy dance. Having self doubt, fears. But when I was standing in the crowd I was listening in on the conversations the other woman were having and a lot of what they were saying was running through my head. Nervousness, insecurities. It was comforting to know they were feeling what I was feeling and I wasn't alone. The dance instructor then gave a little speech about the studio being a safe space, a fuzzy pink room and no judgement. Once I let loose and embraced what she said it felt amazing to strut across the floor without a care in the world. I am so grateful I took a chance and signed up for this dance group. I have met some really amazing women. I have built friendships with them and we have done activities outside of our dance class. This dance group has given me confidence, it has made me feel sexy, and it's also a great exercise activity. These are some of the woman that I get to dance with on a weekly bases. AOS has 4 - 10 week sessions throughout the year. It's new to Chilliwack but they are located all over the US and Canada. At the end of the 10 week session a show is put on. Our dance group also got the opportunity to perform at a local event here in the city I live in. We were the ring girls for fight night and did such an awesome job we were invited back for next year. This dance group is open to women of all ages, shapes, sizes and no dance experience is required, As we say "we leave no good woman behind!"
If you are interested in joining this group please visit www.armyofsass.com Be classy. Be confident. Be yourself.
0 Comments
This race was called the Chilly Chase and it had different distance options to run. I opted for the 5km as I was pregnant and haven't been training regularly. Dave did the longer distance and I waited for him at the finish line. We got this cute little medal at the end and it was a beautiful scenic run along the water by Science World in Vancouver. This was the 15km Hot Chocolate run in Seattle. I had never run a 15k race, let alone while pregnant and absolutely no training. This was hard for me. I cried about 3/4 of the time I was on the course. I hated almost every minute of it. I was nervous to begin with because I hadn't been training, the length of the course and the risks to my pregnancy. I persevered and finished it. My body ached so bad I didn't think I was going to be able to finish. I ran\walked but kept a steady pace. One good thing about being so miserable and crying..I had my head down with tears wallowing in self pitty and before I knew it the toughest part of the course was behind me. I saw the finish line and even though my body was in so much pain I didn't want to walk across it. I mustered up the last bit of energy I had and ran across that line. The end of race package was pretty sweet, A whole bunch of tasty goodies, a medal and a jacket.
Just a little blurb about a race I did. This was the Foam Glo 5K held in Surrey at the Cloverdale Rodeo grounds. I have to say it was kinda lame. super unorganzied and mapped out at 3.3k. Only 2 foam stations and the foam was soap so it burned the eyes so bad. Dave was 2 days out from Hernia surgery but came along to support me anyways. My friend Sean and his buddy Steve ran the race as well so I found them and we took some photos/danced in the foam.
The YMCA closed in July and it has been terrible. I signed up at a new gym but it just wasn't my scene and I lost all motivation to work out. Honestly I did 3 work outs in 2 months.....I am use to training 6 days a week. Recently a new gym has opened in Yarrow which is a suburb of Chilliwack. Owned by Connor Visagie it caters to power lifting, olympic lifting and strong men. It has a wide variety of equipment, well layed out and also has personal training available. I have been doing some training here and got a pass to the local rec centre which has a way better atmosphere. I have lost a lot of my strength and cardio but I am slowly building it back up. Training @Stable Strength My bestie Jackie is also a great motivation to keep me on track with training.
I had never heard of Rugged Maniac but through some friends.....I decided to sign up and again ran it with my good friend Mardeanna and her daughter. I found it relatively easy. I am terrified of heights and it sure tested me on that aspect. I wanted to give up or by pass some of the stations but I talked myself into it. I'm not going to get better or past my fear if I let it eat me up. It was a short 5k obstacle course in Surrey and I absolutely loved it. I've already signed up for next year and I took the option where I can run the course as many times as I want.
My goal is to run it twice at least....but maybe I will surprise myself and do a round or 2 more. It is similar to Mudderella and Tough Mudder but not as long or intense. With my recent interest in weight training and the bad weather I've let my cardio go quite a bit. I recently have been motivated to start working more on my cardio. Dave and I have started training once a week. I ran my fastest 5k and 10K with him. I ran a 5k in under 30 mins and a 10K in an hour. A 5k usually takes me about 36/38 minutes and a 10K 1:20/1:30. It felt like an amazing accomplishment to do something like that. I look forward to continuing to train with him and pushing myself.
So I'm super stoked that in 1 week I will be in Whistler doing the Tough Mudder Half. I enjoyed Mudderella so much I signed up for the half to see how it goes and next year I plan to do the full. I've also signed up for the Rugged Maniac hosted in Cloverdale on July 15 and a fun Foam Glow Run in August.
My gym is closing for 1 year in July for renovations. This has been pretty devastating to me. My weightloss journey was at the YMCA and it's most deifnitly my 2nd home. I've since signed up at a new gym and it has caused me great anxiety. I've only done 1 work out there and hated it. Left crying and feeling defeated. It's just not home to me. I'm scared to loose motivation with no classes to attend. I've also made so many friends at the Y and enjoy going to classes, meeting up with them and having chats before/after class. I was lucky enough that Dave booked us in for a workout with his personal trainor at Commit 2 Fit. We had an amazing chest work out. Big thanks to him for arranging that. So I started doing some weight training at the end of December just to add to my routine. I have noticed big changes in my body in such a short period of time. I take a general weight training class called "Total Sculpt" its offered at the YMCA and I really enjoy it. It's a full body work out that uses small weights with many reps. Above is a pic of the gear that is required for class. On my own I focus mostly on my arms and chest. I bench around 115lbs comfortably and if I want to push myself I can bench around 130lbs. I have been squatting 150lbs and during my last work out sesh I did 155lbs. I usually do weights about 2-3 times a week. It's hard to fit everything in and my cardio has suffered. I usually only run once a week now but now that the weather is nicer and days are longer I'm hopping to bump it back up to 3 times a week.
Currently I do HIIT training 3 times a week, Yoga 2 times a week, weights 2-3 times a week and sneak in at least 1 run. I still enjoy being active and love so many activities it's hard to find the balance to fit it all in. With a new position it has been a struggle to juggle work out routines and life. I still make exercise a priority. I make sure I'm doing something 5-6 days a week.
There has been some changes as I focused a lot on cardio and running before. Now I have been introduced to strength training. I love seeing the results in my body. The definition of muscle in my arms and legs along with the physical strength is amazing. I've cut my running down to 1-2 times a week with at least 1 -10km run. Yoga is once a week, high intensity interval training 3 times a week, bootcamp once a week and something called Gauntlet once a week. I fit at least 2-3 lifting sessions as well. As of right now today marks day 8 at the gym for me. I still love exercising and find it a huge stress relief. If I miss a gym session I call it "Gymangry" as I find I get bad anxiety if I can't work out or feel like I haven't used my body to it's full potential. My motto is "No Excuses". Health is no 1. If you don't look after yourself how can you look after anyone else? Sadly my gym will be closing down in July for renos for a full year. That also gives me anxiety because it's like my second home and I have built friendships with other patrons. Rob and I are known as the "power couple" which is kinda cool. I signed up for the Insane Inflatable 5K in Surrey at the same location as Colour Me Rad. It was a fun event but most of my team mates dropped out. "Pimp My Slide" was out team name. I bounced through the inflatables and ran the grounds, collecting my metal, t-shirt and granola bar.
|
|