walkergirl

The birthday girl (I think I'm going to blow this one up!) 








I put this one in to show the differences in sizes of kai who was also in sabella's baby group. Plus it shows the shoes we bought her our last day in kits and my nephew Dakota in the background:) 




I'm ready to go to Toronto :) 

The birthday girl (I think I'm going to blow this one up!)

[img]http://static.flickr.com/61/170038657_820123aeec_o.jpg[/img]

[img]http://static.flickr.com/56/170038661_586a8b1767_o.jpg[/img]

[img]http://static.flickr.com/69/170039357_521e26d94d_o.jpg[/img]

I put this one in to show the differences in sizes of kai who was also in sabella's baby group. Plus it shows the shoes we bought her our last day in kits and my nephew Dakota in the background:)

[img]http://static.flickr.com/68/170039356_257bddfd58_o.jpg[/img]

I'm ready to go to Toronto :)

[img]http://static.flickr.com/68/170038662_32f40d6177_o.jpg[/img]

[img]http://static.flickr.com/75/170038658_8683d4b931_o.jpg[/img]

[img]http://static.flickr.com/69/170038660_b7b2c7340d_o.jpg[/img]

I thought I did but it doesn't look like it:(

First things first, Sabella is even sweeter than I remembered in January:hug: She really is such a gentle child and so active and interested in everything. We took her to the park and she lit up around the other children:) I was so happy to get to do all the little things she does on a daily basis with her. It was wonderful spending so much time with her and watching Karl interact with her:)Smiley She has him wrapped around her finger. But we did a good job taking turns with her;)

Alaska was breathtaking, even more beautiful than I imagined:) We really lucked out in the weather dept, no liquid sunshine. Clear sunny skies everyday. In fact Karl and I actually got sunburnt while dog sleeding.

I am still jet lagged. It's only 4 hours difference but I think the fact that we had something like 20 hours of sunshine per day messed up my sleeping patterns (maybe the naps didn't help either;)

I'll be sure to post pics soon although my pics do not do Alaska justice. I already started talking to Karl about going back;)


Here's a pic of Sabella on our last morning. Notice her pj's from ME LOL


Here's a pic of her and mommy


and one of her and I the first day we arrived. Notice her cute party dress. She was so cute waiting for us at the airport.

There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.
- Deepak Chopra

Often the difference between a successful person and a failure is not one has better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on one's ideas, to take a calculated risk -- and to act.
- Maxwell Maltz

Be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you, opening new channels, not of trade, but of thought.
- Henry David Thoreau

You don't develop courage by being happy in your relationships everyday. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity.
- Barbara De Angelis

Jumping at several small opportunities may get us there more quickly than waiting for one big one to come along.
- Hugh Allen

The person who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore.
- Dale Carnegie

There is in true beauty, as in courage, somewhat which narrow souls cannot dare to admire.
- William Congreve

Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.
- Dale Carnegie

Nothing is so often irretrievably missed as a daily opportunity.
- Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

Taken from Active.com

Eleven major marathon mistakes
By Owen Anderson, Ph.D.
For Active.com
April 17, 2006

It's strange, isn't it? The marathon is clearly the least-forgiving of all popular race distances, and yet runners probably make more mistakes preparing for this event than they do for all other competitions combined.

The majority of runners can prepare for a 5K or 10K without major difficulty, but a variety of problems pop up almost as soon as they begin getting ready for a marathon. These troubles range from feeling tired and performing poorly to being truly overtrained, and they include the possible development of a painful, serious injury which thwarts training or even stops it completely.

Few competitors enter a marathon in optimal physical condition, and many never make it to the starting line because of fatigue, illness or physical breakdown. Those who do manage to hear the starting gun often sabotage their own efforts during the race by doing something really silly.

Marathon challenges

True, part of the problem is the race itself; the marathon presents some unique challenges. First, it's important to complete some very long runs as you prep for a marathon, a practice which isn't necessary for the 10K and 5K. Optimal carbo-loading is essential before a marathon, too, whereas fairly normal eating can get you through the 10K and 5K just fine.

In addition, your muscle-glycogen stores nearly vanish during a marathon, something which doesn't happen in the 10K and 5K (unless you are following a weird, low-carb diet).

You must guzzle sports drink during the marathon, also, but such imbibing is superfluous in the 10K and 5K. If you drink too much water while running a marathon, you might become hyponatremic. On the other hand, if you drink too little you may become dehydrated (the risk of hyponatremia in a 5K or 10K is non-existent, and the chances of dehydration are exceedingly low).

Finally, your efficiency of movement drops during the marathon, making your effort feel much harder; this usually doesn't take place over 5,000 or 10,000 meters. As you can see, the marathon presents a variety of unique obstacles which must be overcome if you want to run your best-possible race.

Avoid the top marathon mistakes

So, what should you do to move through your marathon training program without major mishap? How can you run a PR race on the anointed day? The key is to avoid the 11 most common marathon mistakes. These goof-ups represent the key reasons why marathoners often end up with disappointments rather than personal records.

Fortunately, you can avoid the mistakes rather readily, and doing so will improve your marathon performances dramatically.

Here are 11 mega-marathon mistakes:

1. Most marathoners don't have the right time goal. In August of last year, I was chatting with a very likable fellow who was training for the Chicago Marathon. When I asked about his goal time, he smiled confidently and said, "I'm shooting for seven minutes per mile." However, further discussion revealed that his current 5-K time was 24:48!

With just six weeks left before Chicago, it was very doubtful that he would be able to run a full marathon at a tempo one minute per mile faster than his best, current 5K!

While this example may seem slightly ridiculous, it's simply the outer edge of a very common phenomenon. Marathon entrants need to realize that if they train correctly their marathon pace will be about 48 seconds per mile slower than current 5-K capability, 32 seconds slower than 10-K pacing, and 16 seconds more lethargic per mile than half-marathon clocking. These shorter races can all be used to set a proper, realistic marathon goal speed.



2. Most marathon runners fail to fold goal-pace running into their long runs. As incredible as it seems, many marathoners perform their long runs at a specific, slower-than-goal pace and then expect to complete their marathons at a tempo which is about a minute per mile faster! This is a bit like preparing to build a 747 jetliner by fooling around with Lego® blocks!

Endurance and running ability are always speed-specific; being able to run 26 miles in training at eight-minute pace doesn't increase the likelihood that you'll be able to run the marathon distance at seven-minute tempo -- or at any speed faster than eight minutes per mile.

Such non-specific exertion is "magical" training; an athlete is working hard and then hoping that the gods of running will sprinkle magic dust on him/her at the starting line of the race, allowing new talents to blossom.

Far better than a 20-mile run at slower-than-marathon intensity would be a 20-mile effort, with about 10 of those miles at goal pace. Such a training session would permit a marathon runner to see if goal pace was actually feasible, would improve efficiency at goal tempo, and would optimize endurance at hoped-for speed. Believe it or not, these are all good things -- and none of them are optimized by long runs at slower-than-goal tempo.

3. Too many marathon runners try to carry out a long run every weekend. After all, they rationalize, the marathon is a very long race, and so isn't it necessary to practice running long on a weekly basis? One problem with this is that most of the long runs are conducted at slower-than-goal pace, so they have little positive effect on marathon readiness (see mistake #2).

The key problem, though, is that long runs cast a shadow over subsequent training, making it difficult to carry out high-quality training on Monday through Saturday (the days in between the standard, Sunday, long run). With a long run every weekend, the leg muscles are always trying to recover from the impacts and abuses of Sunday's effort at the same time they're being asked to carry out Tuesday's high-speed interval workout and Thursday's red-hot hill session. That just doesn't work!

It's small wonder that weekly long runs increase the risk of injury for marathon trainees; the muscles are simply never given enough chance to recover from the prolonged exertions of the weekend. A far better strategy would be to carry out the long run every other weekend -- or even every three weeks. This would still allow a marathoner to learn how to run long, and it would permit much higher-quality training during the weeks that don't have a muscle-numbing long run on the prior Sunday.

4. Most marathoners fail to use sports drinks properly during the race. Consuming sports drinks shouldn't be "saved" for late stages of the race, when significant fatigue is beginning to set in. At that point, sports-drink consumption actually has little effect on performance, since the carbohydrate in the beverage must make its way past the stomach, into the small intestine, across the wall of the gastrointestinal tract, and through the blood to the muscles, all of which take a lot of time (in fact, so much time that the runner may be across the finish line before the first drops of carbs actually reach the sinews).

The most-important quaffing of sports drink actually takes place 10 minutes before the race begins, when eight to 10 ounces should be consumed. After that, five to six ounces should be imbibed every two miles or so during the race. Incidentally, one ounce is considered to be a normal, regular swallow of fluid. Don't forget to utilize this sports-drink-intake pattern during your long training runs, too.

5. Most marathon runners mix sports drinks with other things during the race. This is very bad. For example, if you consume a sports drink and water during a marathon, you'll end up with a very dilute solution in your gastrointestinal system; this will slow absorption of carbohydrate and leave you short of energy in the late stages of the race.

At the other extreme, if you consume a sports drink and gel during the race, you'll end up with a stomach full of molasses, which will empty into your small intestine slowly, retard absorption of carbohydrate, and increase your chances of ultimately developing a massive case of diarrhea. You should consume a sports drink -- and nothing else -- during the race.

It may be comforting to know that sports drinks can ward off dehydration just as effectively as water does, and that the sports drinks will leave you less likely to become hyponatremic.
Don't save sport drinks for late stages of the race, by then it's too late to have an effect on performance. Drink a five or six ounces every few miles instead.
Al Bello/Getty Images
Don't "save" sport drinks for late stages of the race, by then it's too late to have an effect on performance. Drink a five or six ounces every few miles instead.

6. Many marathoners fail to standardize their pre-race meal. On race day, you don't want anything exotic in your stomach. That means no Szechuan chicken, no sushi, no blackened salmon, and nothing that will create even the slightest cries of protest from your gut.

For your pre-marathon breakfast, you should choose only comfort foods -- eat foods that your system can digest easily. It doesn't matter what these foods are (of course, they shouldn't be laden with fat or grease); it just matters that they add to the carbohydrate stockpiles in your liver, blood and muscles, and that they furnish enough sustenance to fuel your prolonged effort.

Your pre-race meal should also be consumed before your long training runs -- with the same amount of "lead time" you will be using on marathon day.

For example, if your marathon starts at 10 a.m. and you plan to eat at 7 a.m. on race day, make sure you have the identical pre-race breakfast three hours before your long runs during training, too. That way, you'll be sure that you can run the marathon comfortably with the breakfast you've chosen; it will be neither too much nor too little, and it will be so comfortable that you can concentrate completely on the race itself, not on your belly.

7. Too many marathoners try something new on race weekend. Several years ago, a runner I was coaching bought a bottle of medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) at a marathon expo the day before her race. The salesman told her that the MCTs would enhance endurance, and she reasoned that endurance was a good thing for the marathon and subsequently quaffed much of the bottle's contents during the hours leading up to the race.

As a result, even though she was mentally and physically ready to run a PR, her digestive system wouldn't let her. She felt sluggish, bloated, and unable to run at an intense pace -- except when a Port-a-Potty® came into view. The lesson is that the weekend of the marathon isn't a time for experimentation. Meals should be the same, water consumption the same, shoes the same, etc. As mentioned, the marathon is intolerant of even very slight changes in procedure.

8. Marathon runners don't taper properly before the race. It takes about four weeks to recover from a long run of 18 to 20 miles or so. This means, obviously, that no runs of 18 miles or longer should be conducted during the month leading up to a marathon.

Unfortunately, many runners try to squeeze in one -- or even two -- long runs during the four weeks before the big race. The emphasis should actually be placed on recovery, not prolonged running, during the 28 days preceding a marathon. Recovery, of course, isn't consistent with high-volume training. Rather, it's fostered by a gradual reduction in training, i. e., a tapering period. Four-week tapers work well for the marathon, and weekly mileage during these four weeks can be 80 percent, 60 percent, 40 percent, and then 25 percent of usual levels.

9. Too many marathoners emphasize volume of training over quality. Come on, people -- when you get ready for a marathon, you're not training to run across the Sahara Desert. Seventy-mile-plus weeks might be great preparation for a multi-day race in which at least 10 miles must be traversed every day, but the idea in the marathon is to cover 26 miles, in a single dose of running, as quickly as possible.

For many runners, a 35-mile week can be far better preparation for the marathon than a 70-mile week, because the former can more effectively foster the completion of higher-quality training.

Contrary to popular belief, a 70-mile week isn't necessarily specific preparation for the marathon; after all, one could run seven miles 10 times during the week, and this would not imply better preparation than 35 miles of higher-quality effort.

Once again, it's what happens on the race course that matters, not the big numbers written in a log book. It's more effective to build up to a 20-mile long run, with about 10 miles at goal pace, than it is to accumulate tons of miles at slower-than-goal speed.

10. Too many marathoners forget that fitness is the ultimate predictor of marathon success. If your VO2max, lactate threshold, economy, running strength, power and marathon-specific preparations are all in order, you'll have your best-possible race. If you don't work on each of these variables during training, you won't have a great race. Preparing for a marathon is all about optimizing these variables; it's not about pounding away with long runs and then hoping for the best.

11. Some marathoners actually think that walking during the race will improve their times. If we suggested to these same people that running more slowly during the event would upgrade their performances, they would laugh in our faces, but somehow they buy the walking concept lock, stock and barrel! No one needs to walk during the marathon; we can all learn to run the entire distance -- our times will not improve if we train to amble slowly during specific portions of the race.
Owen Anderson, Ph.D., is a coach and exercise scientist who edits Running Research News and is the author of three books on running: Great Workouts for Popular Races, Lactate Lift-Off, and Aurora. For more information about Owen's unique training techniques, visit http://www.runningresearchnews.com or e-mail him at owen@runningresearchnews.com.

Hi this is another great thread that all of us should read again about water consuption and what it does to help the body loose all that bad stuff in the begining and thru out this "life change"... good luck to all.

http://forums.prevention.com/thread.jsp?forum=40&thread

April 20, 2006
Feeding Your Spirit
Taking Time For Yourself

Modern life compels us to rush. Because we feel pressured to make the most of our time each day, the activities that sustain us, rejuvenate us, and help us evolve are often the first to be sacrificed when we are in a hurry or faced with a new obligation. It is important we remember that there is more to life than achieving success, making money, and even caring for others. Your spiritual needs should occupy an important spot on your list of priorities. Each task you undertake and each relationship you nurture draws from the wellspring of your spiritual vitality. Taking the time to engage in spiritually fulfilling activities replenishes that well and readies you to face another day. Making time for the activities that contribute to your spiritual growth has little to do with being selfish and everything to do with your well-being. Regularly taking the time to focus on your soul's needs ensures that you are able to nurture yourself, spend time with your thoughts, experience ! tranquility, and expand your spiritual boundaries.

It is easy to avoid using our free moments for spiritual enrichment. There is always something seemingly more pressing that needs to be done. Many people feel guilty when they use their free time to engage in pursuits where they are focusing on themselves because they feel as if they are neglecting their family or their work. To make time for yourself, it may be necessary to say no to people's requests or refuse to take on extra responsibilities. Scheduling fifteen or thirty minutes of time each day for your spiritual needs can make you feel tranquil, give you more energy and allows you to feel more in touch with the universe. Writing in a journal, meditating, studying the words of wise women and men, and engaging in other spiritual practices can help you make the most of this time.

Making time to nurture your spirit may require that you sacrifice other, less vital activities. The more time you commit to soul-nurturing activities, the happier and more relaxed you will become. The time you devote to enriching your spirit will rejuvenate you and help you create a more restful life.

Today I found out that a friend of mine was diagnosed with MS. She is a strong person with such a big heart and I want to do something to show her that she isn't alone.

I have decided to participate in the Super Cities 10km walk in support of two friends Tanya who was diagnosed with MS in 2003 and for my friend Lisa who was diagnosed last week. Both of these women are young and have their whole lives ahead of them. The money raised from this event with go towards creating a brighter future for Lisa and Tanya and the more than 50,000 Canadaians that have MS.

I think we all have a gift, and it's time like these that we need to use these gifts to help others. I have been blessed with strong legs that allow me to walk for awareness and I've been told that I have the abilty to encourage others to get out and walk while doing something for the community. I am asking you to consider joining us next Sunday while we show Lisa and Tanya that they are not alone.

If you can't walk. Please take a moment to make a donation, you can do so online or to me personally and I will submit it at the walk site next Sunday. As my role model Terry Fox once said, every $1.00 helps.

Thank you for your support,
J
The image on the donations page is a photo of Lisa, myself and our friend Ariana taken a few weekends ago in Collingwood.

Some of you may know that my dream has been to participate in the Disney World Marathon!

This time, my dream might become a reality as I am seriously considering signing up.  I won a flight pass last week so my flight is covered and rooms aren't that expensive.

I am so excited I can't even type:)

Take a look

I uploaded the photos from Sunday's Hike

Take a look
http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkergirl/sets/72057594104939981/

I don't have our team walk photos yet. MY camera is acting up.

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

I've been talking about it for weeks and it finally happened:)

I didn't hit snooze and actually woke up with my alarm and hit the gym!! I feel great!!!

Tonight is yoga and I can't wait!!!

Do something GOOD for YOU today:)

Double Scoop had a great Saturday AM walk complete with birthday cupcakes!!!!

After our walk I came home and Karl had done all the cleaning;) Then we went to MEC and bought some items, for our Cruise, Camping and General Hiking. The biggest ticket item was new jackets.

On Sunday we packed a lunch and hot chocolate (my favourite hiking drink) and we drove to Hilton Falls.

We also purchased a yearly pass for the conservation areas so we have many more adventures ahead:):)

I realized that it is 37 days till our Cruise
and 33 days till we get to see Sabella and my sis in Vancouver !!!

Life is really good:)

In an effort to work on my body as well as my soul.
I've signed up for 2 yoga classes.

You might remember that I was going to Yoga earlier this year and had to cancel as the person I was doing this with turned into someone I couldn't be around for my own well being. I had a credit with parks and rec and found a new class starting soon.

It's on Tuesday night for 12 weeks starting April 4 at Riverdale Farm. My plan is to walk to Riverdale farm after work, browse the farmers martket, go to yoga and then meet Karl for a drive home. Another option is to ride my bike to this class. Do you think Riverdale Farm is a safe place to leave my bike locked up for a few hours?

Then on Thursday nights I have a 8 week course specifically for runners and walkers. Iplan to walk to and home from this class as it's only 3km away.  I really like this instructor. She came in to talk to my walk clinics and was really informative.

I am determined NOT to get injured this year as a result of over training:)

Good News, my friend Mo joined Double Scoop and my SIL just joined crew. Mike there is still time;)

OK nothing is as decadent as a massage in the afternoon on a work day!!!
I just got back from one and I feel like a new person!
I booked another for 2 weeks from now;)