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FML Moments Can Be Good

Last week, I had an FML-moment and I have no one to blame but myself. I just finished a killer HIIT session on the bike, did some upper-body work and was just starting to do my recovery routine. Then I had this bright idea that came out of nowhere:

I’m going to do 100 burpees!

I sat there fought with myself for a minute because I didn’t want to do it since I was already tired, but I already told myself I was going to. I couldn’t back out now! Well… it’s only about 6 minutes of torture then it’ll all be over. I pressed my timer and just did it.

Hard work is a two-way street. You get back exactly what you put in. This set of burpees was probably the worst mental fitness challenge I’ve faced in a long time (yes, worst than those Glute Lifts). I didn’t have my music on so every time my knees (and crotch) slammed on the floor, the sound seem to elevate the pain. I was tired. I was hungry. By the time I got to 90, I was on the verge of giving up and the yoga teacher who was setting up for her 1pm class left the room because I was awkwardly making dying/wheezing sounds. She probably didn’t want to be responsible if something happened to me. Although this was the worst set of burpees I’ve ever done (went over my PR by 30 seconds), I finished it! Everything that was going through my mind was mental and I just had to overcome it because I knew I could do it. Well, I did finish it and felt great afterwards.

Okay, I lied. I felt like crap and think I swallowed my own puke afterwards. But after lying on the mat for a good 10 minutes and a nice and long recovery routine, I felt awesome!

Try this challenge: When you tell yourself to do something, JUST DO IT. You can’t change your mind. You can’t take it back. Just do it.

My best friend and I do it all the time. We’ll spontaneously come up with exercises to add to our already planned workouts or switch it up with harder variations and once it slips past our lips, it’s finalized. We almost always regret saying it but for some reason, we keep on doing it… maybe because we always finish a workout.

“Let’s add 30 burpees with a jump tuck in between the 20 Wall Balls and 40 kettlebell swings.”

*gives each other a scared look then proceeds to write it down*

“Nooo wait, I’m just kidding. Let’s just do 10 burpees.” *scared look*

“Too bad! You already said it.”

“……………………” *sulk*

Although out workouts makes us want to kill ourselves, we feel amazing afterwards because we know we worked hard and pushed ourselves out of our comfort zone.

101

Love

Healthy Banana-Quinoa Pancakes

This is a guest post from my sister, Louise.

This morning I made ‘whole wheat banana chocolate chip quinoa pancakes with strawberry syrup’ (whew).

I found this recipe online, and it just so happened my sister had all the ingredients in her fridge (including the already cooked quinoa). So if you’re a health nut like her and have all this at home, then throw it together to make these yummy pancakes.

Healthy Banana-Quinoa Pancakes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup cooked quinoa
  • 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
  • 3 large egg whites (about 1/2 cup)
  • 1/3 cup plain greek yogurt
  • 2 tablespoons of milk of your choice (skim, soy, almond, coconut)
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar (you could also use honey or maple syrup)
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 2 large very ripe bananas, pureed
  • Chocolate Chips (optional)

Directions:

1. In bowl, whisk together quinoa, flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt until well combined.

2. In another bowl whisk egg whites, greek yogurt, milk, brown sugar and vanilla extract until smooth.

3. Add the two mixtures together, then add in the pureed bananas until just combined.

4. Coat a skillet with butter or cooking spray over medium heat. Drop however much batter you would want onto the pan (depends how large you want each pancake to be). Cook for about 2-3 mins on each side, until they’re nice and golden brown. I threw some chocolate chips into the the batter so that it’d melt into the pancakes. You can add whatever else you’d like in here (blueberries, nuts, etc).

5. Put pancakes onto plates, top with some sliced bananas (and anything else you’d like) and enjoy!

For homemade strawberry syrup I put some frozen strawberries into a small pot, added some sugar and cornstarch+water (to thicken). Remember to wipe the skillet with paper towel and re-add some butter in order to prevent the pancakes from getting a black crust.

How To Love Exercise

I use to hate exercise. I’d pay $40/month for a gym membership, in which I went like once every couple of months. I would dread every session and try to come up with any excuse not to go. When I started working out regularly, it was very hard to push myself in the beginning because I was unfit, weak and self-conscious. But guess what? I sucked it up and went anyway. Overtime as I persevered, got stronger and saw results, I came to love exercise.

I wrote about getting into the mindset before but let me reiterate it again because it is so important. How you think will dictate how you make choices and if you tell yourself you suck at something, you will suck at it. If you tell yourself you can do it, you will do it.

Don't let what you can't do interfere with what you can do.

Doing 100 kettlebell swings or pumping out 100 burpees sucks but I did 90 last time. Why can’t I do 100 today? It’s only 10 more. In my lifetime, I want to run in a marathon, do the Grand Fondo, complete an Iron Man… I know I can run 5 miles. I know I can ride 150 miles. If I can already do those things, I know I can do even more.

I’m no longer unfit, weak and self-conscious. I persevered. I believe in myself.

I have no fear.

That’s why I love exercise.

People don’t like to do things because they’re either lazy or it scares the shit out of them.

That’s how I was with running. It always caused me pain and I never thought I could run for long so I hated it and I never did it. One of the things I wanted to start doing was to do stuff I suck at (or hated) and this was one of them but I forced myself to do it anyway. Now, I love it.

The other day we were running up a hill and my legs started to burn— and I mean burn, but I remember thinking to myself, “man, this feels good.” Erasing the fear makes you embrace it. And I really meant it when I said it felt good!

These days, I look forward to everything and fear nothing. Sure, the thought of doing hours of climbing uphill on a bike scares the shit out of me because I usually want to kill myself while doing it, but when I sign up, I never think about the journey but only crossing the finish line.

Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever. – Lance Armstrong

So how do you make yourself love exercise?

Let go of the fear that you won’t be able to run those 5 miles… that you won’t be able to bike up that hill. Stop being afraid of what you THINK you can’t do. And just do it.

Getting Old But Staying Fit

Had a nice and short 40km  ride today in the beautiful weather— I love how it rains during the week but is so nice during the weekends! Biked to Richmond, met up with my dad then biked to Burnaby, via Queensborough. My dad use to tell me all about about his races when he was younger, how far he can run, his long rides, how he bikes to the pool to swim every single day… but when we invited him to our White Rock ride, he called me crazy. It’s not like I’m asking him to bike to Whistler!

Sigh, dad, sigh.

Dad

He was actually planning on riding up to Whistler a couple years ago but never got around to doing it and thinks he’s too old now. I hope he comes with us on our upcoming Squamish ride.

You are never too old.

Especially when you’re as fit as my dad!

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