LittleMissSunshine's Battle Log of Badassery

[LittleMissSunshine]

I'm going to start this log with some backstory, so y'all can get to know me a little better, and understand where I'm coming from. Weight and fitness has been an issue for me since I graduated from high school many (many, many, many, many) moons ago. Moving from the mountains to the city made me soft, and being medicated for anxiety and depression certainly didn't help - in fact, I ended up gaining a rather large amount of weight. Fast forward a few years - I struggled on and off with dieting and halfhearted gym membership attempts through my early to mid-20s. My weight was mostly stable, but I was also mostly fat. And then, then the kids came along. Pregnancy did me no favours, let me tell you. And two of them? Hoo boy. I hit my highest adult weight of my life after my son was born - 248lbs.

 

And then my mom had a heart attack, at the relatively young age of 51. She lived, thank goodness, but it was a reality check, not just for her, but for me. I realized then that I needed to get my proverbial fitness shit together for my family, but more importantly, for myself. I needed to start shedding that weight before I was the next heart disease statistic. And so it began, in late 2011, my quest to become smaller. The quest quickly became less weight loss and more fitness, as I surrounded myself with the athletic type. I joined a floor hockey team, and then was invited to join a second. I was slow as hell those early seasons, and I knew right away that I wanted to be faster. To be faster, I needed to be fitter.

 

Over the course of late 2011 and all of 2012, I lost close to 75 pounds. I was so close to my goal, I could taste it. I was derailed in early 2013 by minor injury and circumstance, most notably a return to full-time employment and my daughter's 16-day hospitalization and subsequent 6-week PICC line drama. Thankfully, mostly due to my total love of floor hockey, I gained back only 12 of the lost pounds, and maintained happily for the most part. I got back on track in the spring, resuming running and occasional bodyweight training. My ultimate goal was to complete the Spartan Trifecta, which I did with the Calgary Sprint, Red Deer Super, and Sun Peaks Beast in August and September.

 

So here I am, with some tentative goals but nothing firm. And I'm hoping to use my Battle Log of Badassery to motivate me. Writing things down where people can read it keeps me accountable. I need accountability, or this winter will be nothing but eating and sleeping.

 

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And what better time to start than right now? Today was a spectacularly sweaty day. I'm still in recovery mode because the Beast was just on Saturday - mostly taking it easy, but probably not as easy as I should be. I ran ~6k at lunch, missing stats on total distance and time because my watch died around the 2k mark, BOO. Went on to play a crazy insane game of floor hockey in the evening - I am bruised and battered, but feeling particularly badass after making some awesome plays. We lost, but I totally rocked that game so I really don't care about the score!

[Hong WeiLoh]

I'm going to start this log with some backstory, so y'all can get to know me a little better, and understand where I'm coming from. Weight and fitness has been an issue for me since I graduated from high school many (many, many, many, many) moons ago. Moving from the mountains to the city made me soft, and being medicated for anxiety and depression certainly didn't help - in fact, I ended up gaining a rather large amount of weight.

 

 

Weird, I always thought that worked the opposite way: city-life generally contributes to being fat/soft/overworked/stressed-out, and mountain-living leans you out, hardens you up, and generally de-stresses you.

Course that's just my experience, and everybody else I've met who was a city-slicker at one point and moved to mountain-living. ;-) Anecdata ftw.

Anyway, welcome aboard and it seems like you're already well on your way with a good start. :-)

[LittleMissSunshine]

No workout today, dammit. My available lunchtime run-buddy hurt her foot at floor hockey last night, so we went shopping for cute running clothes instead. That counts, right? Ok, it totally doesn't. And then my evening got sidetracked by my Scouts Canada weekly committee meeting, ugggggh. It's at a movie theater, in a party room. At least I managed to resist the temptation of grease-soaked popcorn, even though it smelled deeeeelicious.

Tomorrow is a new day. Lunchtime workout is off the menu because I have a meeting with my team lead, but I will likely go for a run when I get home (provided it isn't snowing). And maybe do an upper body & core circuit, too.

[CactusWren]

I loved floor hockey in school! Unfortunately, out here, way down south, the only stick sport available for all ages is baseball.

 

Anyway, love your energy! I've sub'd and am rooting for you!

[LittleMissSunshine]

Lazy weekend, couldn't seem to find my workout mojo. Spent most of it doing housework and cuddled in bed with the kids reading though, so not a total waste. I did end up playing floor hockey last night, so my legs got some exercise. Came out of it with a few new bruises, nothing out of the ordinary.

 

Question to ponder for today: why is it that when I fall while playing floor hockey in $70+ workout pants I inevitably rip a hole in the knees, but if I fall wearing $20 Costco workout pants, they're fine?

[LittleMissSunshine]

Met my lunchtime workout buddies at noon today for an amazing fall-weather workout. We ran the long way to the killer stairs, which involved going across a very long, entirely uphill bridge. For the first time, I ran the whole thing! Next goal: run the rest of the hill. On the bright side, I did manage to pass the speedy guy in our group on the downhill portion - I have mastered the art of downhill speed, so even though he beat me on the way up, I crushed him on the way back down.

 

After the warmup run, I did two sets of stairs (170 steps) up and down, with sets of push ups (real ones! not kneeling ones!), squats, lunges, jump squats, planks, straight-leg tricep dips, wide-leg sit-ups and bench step-ups after each set. It was a good, sweaty day.

 

I was hoping to get an upper body circuit in tonight too, but herding 19 kids at Beavers tonight has sapped my will to do anything but lay in bed and read. Maybe tomorrow.

[Ghostwolf]

Damn girl good stairs routine. And cheap workout clothes are the best I get mine at Ross holla. What are you reading?

[LittleMissSunshine]

Today was a great day. Ran at lunch, a slow 5k with a friend who's just starting to run again after a long hiatus. Then played an awesome floor hockey game tonight, and we won! It was a hard earned victory for Unicorns & Doom, but we pulled it off. I'm gonna sleep well tonight.

Ghostwolf - I'm in the middle of reading Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood. I'm a big dystopian fiction nut, and I loved the previous book in the series, Oryx & Crake. I am loving it so far, I'm really drawn into it.

[Ghostwolf]

I'll have to google it. I am always looking for more good fiction reads. My fav right now is the sandman slim series by Richard Kadrey. that and the song of ice and fire series from George R.R. Martin but it'll probably be a year or more before his next book in the series comes out. hope you have a great day and kick some ass.

[LittleMissSunshine]

No workout today. Well, no official workout. I had to deliver some documents to the 24th floor (from my desk on the 30th), so I did that set of stairs down and back up three times. And then I walked around downtown Calgary for an hour and a half as part of a volunteer event.

 

And then my team lead and I hit a pub for beer afterwards, and I blew it all on 3 Okanagan Pale Ales and half an order of calamari. All in the name of team bonding. Delicious, boozy team bonding.

 

Working on a plan for tomorrow - I think I'm going to hit the 170-stair set again, with some bodyweight sets in between like on Monday.

[Ghostwolf]

Come on sunshine lets see some more badassery. And whats this floor hockey like? I have never heard of it. If you can check people and have friendly brawls like in real hockey I am so in. Hockey where I am at is dying. We never have televised games and even though we have a minor league team, they are lucky to get 200 people to attend. pretty sad. hope your getting at it today.

[LittleMissSunshine]

Badass was reawakened today. 170 stairs x 3 in record time (thanks to music with the perfect beat), with push ups, one-legged tricep dips, lunges, box jumps (onto a park bench), wide legged sit-ups, and front & side planks after each up-and-down the stairs. Found a spot under the stairs when I can do hanging knee raises, but a city crew was cleaning the area with a high-pressure hose so it was unusable today. Next week.

 

Plans for this lovely long weekend include busting out the sandbag for some weighted fun, working on push ups and pull ups (both of which I suck at), and getting in at least two runs - one in the ~8k range, and one either hill intervals, or 400m flat intervals. I need to work on speed. My endurance is getting pretty good, but I'm still slow. I want to be faster.

 

Floor hockey is awesome. It is my true physical love. I play on co-ed teams. We play 4-on-4 or 5-on-5, with a minimum two girls on the floor at all times. One league I play in is "strictly" non-contact - I say that with quotation marks because it's not *really* non-contact, it's just supposed to be. Usually we can get away with some incidental stuff, but nothing major. Another league I play in allows contact but no intentional checking, which basically means I can hit someone, but I can't run at them to hit them. It's my most favourite league, because I'm a bit of a tough chick on the floor. They call me "Sunshine" ironically, I'm best known for not backing down and taking on the most aggressive players, even the guys. And I have the bruises to show for it.    For the most part, games are a lot of fun and not really intense. It's a lot of quick playing - the teams that do the best don't just have sharp shooters, but have a solid passing strategy and good play. It's all recreational and just for fun, no one wins anything but ugly shirts for the league championship!

[LittleMissSunshine]

Catching up... Friday I didn't do an official workout, but I did spend the vast majority of my day (from about 8am to 4pm) on my feet, walking around. I had the day off work, so I loaded up my GPS with coordinates and went geocaching. It was a lot of fun, and I think I got a fair bit of exercise.

 

Yesterday was a designated rest day. Mostly because I felt beyond lazy, so I did nothing.

 

Today, one of my running buddies gave me a kick in the ass, and reminded me that if I didn't get some kms in, she'd kick my ass in our October challenge. So, I went for a run. It was a good one, too - I set a 5K PB, 30:38. I'm inching towards that sub-30 goal!

 

Tonight I'm going to sit on my ass and eat - it's Thanksgiving up here in the soon-to-be-frozen north, and I have a big ol' prime rib roast in the oven and a homemade apple pie cooling on the counter. I'll have to do something hard and sweaty tomorrow to make up for this!

[Ghostwolf]

Almost a sub 30 minute 5k is awesome. keep at it. I havent ran a 5k in awhile but my last running of it was like over 36 minutes or so if I recall correctly. Sounds like Youve got some bomb eatings on the way over there. I want pics of said feast. Enjoy your day.

[LittleMissSunshine]

I think that apple pie is going to meet its end tonight, I will try to remember to snap a photo before I devour it.

 

Monday was a wash - I had planned to go for a run and do some speed intervals, but my hip was bitching at me after taking my 6 year old around our block to sell Scouts popcorn, so I opted to stretch and do some yoga instead. Did a few sun salutations with the 'help' of my three year old (who tried to ride me during the cobra-to-downward dog transition). Little monkey.

 

Today, however, was great. The hip was feeling better, so I met a friend and we did the usual stairs + circuit. I did one set of stairs (170), then 10 x squat jumps, 20 x rear alternating lunges, 20 x one-leg, straight-leg tricep dips, 10 push ups (real ones, not kneeling ones), 20 wide-leg sit-ups, 30 seconds front plank and side plank on each side. Twice through the whole thing. And I have floor hockey in two hours - we are defending our second-place slot in the standings against the third-place team, so we need to bring our A-game tonight!

[Ghostwolf]

Good luck tonight sounds like you had a really active day. Kudos to you. Keep us posted on the outcome.

[LittleMissSunshine]

We got our asses handed to us.

[Ghostwolf]

LOL that bad huh. so does that mean no playoffs? just think of it as motivation for the next game.

[LittleMissSunshine]

No, it's only the third game of the season. One loss doesn't knock us out of contention for ugly shirts. We just need to play hard next week and not lose too many more.

 

Did the stairs x 3 today, with planks, push ups and step ups in between. Was feeling kind of lazy, to be perfectly honest. And I have hockey again tonight (different team, but same core group of players). We are surely going to get our asses handed to us again, but I'm allowed to use my body in this league! Which means I can totally ride someone up against the wall. I'm so excited, I can hardly wait.

 

Win on the food front today: it's Cake Day in the office (third Wed of every month is Cake day), and I had only a tiny sliver, and a huge cup of black coffee instead of my usual massive slice and a latte. It was the hard choice, but the right choice.

[LittleMissSunshine]

Well, colour me surprised! We won our game tonight! It was awesome, EPIC if I may call it that! I got an assist and drew my very first penalty in the league... it was awesome. I'm more proud of the penalty than the assist.   There was a girl getting a little pushy on my teammates, including me. So when the play went against the wall, I gave her a little extra shoulder just to prove a point. It was a picture-perfect check. And she stayed a stick-length away from me for the rest of the game. It was exactly the way I wanted my first penalty to go.

[Ghostwolf]

Alright girly. You have better been kicking the stairs ass or playing a hell of a lot of floor hockey to be too busy to keep us up to status. Hope your doing okay. Now get to crushing those goals and have a beer for me later.

[LittleMissSunshine]

I'm back, I'm back. Holy cow, what a total gong show the past few months have been. Long stort, but to make it short:

 

 - I injured myself playing ball hockey, rolled an ankle pretty bad. Had to take a serious break. Better now, but I'm only *just* getting back into things.

 - The Holidays. OMG, from Halloween to NYE, so many obligations!

 - And probably the biggest thing... my husband and I are in the early stages of separating. That alone is the biggest contributor to my lack of motivation. Trying so hard to get back into my routine, but it's so hard.

 

On the bright side, I have ball hockey tonight, so no excuses for not getting some exercise!

[LittleMissSunshine]

Played ball hockey last night, and it was such a rough game. Ran my ass off on defense, spent much of the game frustrated that my usual partner in D was out sick so I ended up paired with someone whose playing style didn't mesh with mine. But it was fun regardless, and I have four new bruises to show for it from blocking slapshots with various parts of my body (not my face, thankfully).

 

Wrecked it all by pulling a stress-induced all-nighter though, and then picking up a fast food breakfast because I was starving. Ugh. Greasy breakfast is better than no breakfast, right?