September 9, 2012

That is the date that I have been given by the Muskoka 70.3 Ironman officials.  Registration will be in the next few weeks.

I have a confession to make; I am absolutely terrified.  As in,  just thinking of September 9th gives me the same racing heartbeat and feeling of dread that I get when I watch ghost movies, and that’s saying something.

I’ve taken a look at the course – turns out 90k is an awfully long way to cycle. No ipods are allowed. If I get a flat tire I’ll be expected to do my own repair on the side of the road. My bike will definitely have to be a road bike. I’ll have to buy and not rent a wetsuit, as I’ll be swimming in September water, and I’ll want to start practicing in May to get used to frigid temperatures.  Because I DON’T want to go into hypothermic shock the way I did during the Give it a Tri.

So if you see some nutjob in a wetsuit in Lake Ontario in May 2012, odds are that it’s me.

The sheer mental, physical, nutritional, and financial preparation that is going to have to go into this is HUGE.  Beyond anything that I’ve ever undertaken before. Is it going to be worth it?  HELLS yes. Am I going to kick its ass?  You can bet your bottom dollar YES.

Am I so scared right now that there has been a pit of fear in my stomach ever since I found out the date?  … yes.

So what do I have to do to get ‘er done?

Right now, I’m breaking it down into sections.  I need to reach certain physical and nutritional levels before I even start worrying about equipment or learning how to change tires. I can wait until March or April for purchasing wetsuits, helmets, fuel belts, etc. 

For now, this is my breakdown:

-Currently have out several books on marathons and triathlons, currently reading “The Marathon Method” by Tom Holland.

-Going to try to work the following schedule: Monday Strength Training Tuesday Run for 1hr Wednesday Strength Training Thursday Run for 1hr Friday  Strength Training Saturday Run for 1.5-2hrs Sunday Swim.

-Go as close to full Paleo diet as I can

-Start swimming at least once per week.  The community centre across the street from me has free lane swims, including on the weekends.  I took a look at the pool and it looks to be about 30m. I’ll have to do 60 laps in order to simulate the swim in the lake, which will be in open frigid water.

This is where my jaw dropped

Once spring rolls around, I have two definite things that I need to get done, which are: a) Complete the Goodlife Half Marathon, and b) Go on a long distance cycling trip every other weekend, constituting 100k+.

It’s going to be expensive.  Absolutely.  Getting a wetsuit, training equipment, probably new shoes, staying in a hotel the night of the event, etc. is probably going to set me back about $1000.  However, this is offset by a couple of things. The first is that I’m paying off my car loan in full tomorrow (detailed post to come). The second is that I am investing in my health.  I am adding time onto my lifespan. The third is that pride is priceless.  If I can learn to focus on an event with such determination and grit that I can achieve something completely out of my comfort zone, then it’s worth every penny.

My mom was afraid when I was going on and on about training that I was going to turn wafer thin and instead become extremely unhealthy.  However, when I was home this weekend, she confided that I looked good, and perhaps this wasn’t so loony after all.

The Ironman motto is Pain is Temporary, Pride is Forever.

I can add in, Money will come and go, but the money I invest in accomplishing this feat will live forever as a proud memory.

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September 28, 2011 | Money Rabbit | 6 Comments »

Curse you, Daily Deals

Every morning around 4am, the deals start to roll into my inbox.  There’s WagJag, Groupon, DailyDeals, Teambuy, and LivingSocial. They’ve offered me everything from discounted gas cards, to 50% off of caskets. Every morning I comb through them carefully, and on average, I’ll purchase one once every three or four months.

Lately, they’ve all been so juicy that it’s taken a hefty amount of restraint to turn them down.  In the mornings I feel like Gretel, being lured along a candy-coated path of inexpensive deals towards the gingerbread house of overspending (pardon the gratuitous metaphor).  Yet I receive them by choice.

Seriously, Gretel, this is the best idea ever. Let's glut ourselves with absolutely no consequences! Tra la la!

My first deals were through LivingSocial.  I bought 6 belly dancing classes for $30, and only went 3 times. I then bought two tickets for the Comedy Bar with $26 worth of food for the price of $21.  I have yet to use it, and it expires December 1st. Since those two first deals, I’ve only bought two others: my Fit Factory Fitness Bootcamp voucher, which gives me unlimited classes for 30 Days for $30, and 6 passes to the Dynamic Conditioning Centre for $20 ($120 value).

This morning, one of the deals was for a month’s worth of rock climbing and equipment rentals for $55.  I LOVE rock climbing. However, I just signed up for the Goodlife Gym around the corner from my place, and am paying $18 bi-weekly inclusive of tax. My gym membership ensures that I have everything that I need, fitness wise, within walking distance. I don’t need rock climbing. It’s a want. The rock climbing would be really awesome, but I had to ask myself, would I buy this if it were full price?  Answer: no.  And that’s what keeps me in check whenever visions of me as a parkour climber dance through my head. Want, yes. Need, no. But oh, how I wanted it!!!

Even though I have to exercise a huge amount of willpower to not buy into these deals more often, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to stop receiving them.  So I’ve shifted my strategy; I’m on the hunt now for specific things only, and I dutifully slog through my messages each morning, trying to find them. One deal I’m hoping to score in November is laser hair removal.  I’m on the beach all the time in the summer, and nothing is more annoying to me than waking up early and shaving my legs and underarms.  Luckily, these laser hair removal deals are pretty common, and I’ve seen incredible deals where you can pay $100 for unlimited laser hair removal for the year.  Cheaper than waxing and infinitely less annoying than shaving every other freaking day.  It’s a luxury, but something that would mean a lot to me and to my active lifestyle.

What are your thoughts on Group Buying deals?  Yay or nay?

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September 20, 2011 | Money Rabbit | 11 Comments »

The True Enormity of My Goal – Wham!

I was jogging up a relatively steep hill tonight when it hit me; I really and truly want to run a 20k half marathon, so everything’s going to have to change.

Essentially, my thinking was that I could just keep trucking along with my running as I have been, gradually increasing the length of my runs until six months from now, when I would magically be at the 20k point.

Wham! It hit me. If I really want to attain my crazy 2012 running and fitness goals, everything is going to have to completely change.  I need to become another athletic animal altogether.

If you follow me on twitter, you’ll know that I decided to aim for the 20k half marathon in the spring, followed by a Half Ironman by the end of the summer. A Half Ironman is a 1.9k swim (!), a 90k cycle (!!), and a half marathon thrown in at the end, just for kicks (!!!). Considering that the swim for the Try a Tri nearly KILLED me at a mere 400m in frigid 17 degree Celsius waters, I have a LOT of work to do. That’s without the cycle and run.

I was originally going to try for a 10k in the spring, and a Sprint Triathlon in the summer, but considering that I only get one or two shots a year to compete, I wanted to put myself to compete in the Half Ironman this upcoming year. Otherwise I’d have to wait until 2013, and that’s just not cool. I’m not very patient at all.

I am Iron Man! Da na na na na na na, Iron Man!

The “Wham!” moment was when I realized that I’m really going to have to change my life, from the way I eat, exercise and sleep. For example, tonight I baked two chicken breasts, shredded them, and am going to make a 2 Minute Big Ass Salad from the Paleo Diet for lunch tomorrow. I’m going to sincerely try to go as close to full out Paleo as I can for the next few months.  My biggest downfall is that I LOVE sugar and carbs, whereas the Paleo diet focuses on eating mostly protein and fat.

No more mid-week guilty pleasure McDonald’s trip. I’ve bought instant coffee so that I don’t need to leave my office (costing gas) to pick up a coffee to beat my 3pm slump ($2 from Second Cup). My lunches will all be packed now.

I’m going to need to be at the gym or running every single day, with the exception of a rest day (maybe Sunday?)

Little known fact about me though: I work best on these sorts of things in solitude.  I like training alone. I don’t go easy on myself, if anything, I push myself harder when I’m alone. So I’m going to be spending a lot of time alone, but I’m genuinely okay with that.

This week I’m trying to not buy ANYTHING during my workday.  I’ve been really bad lately about cookies and coffee, as well as lunches.  Even though I mostly pick it up from the grocery store, it still is more expensive than a homemade lunch.

In a month I’ll see changes.  In three months I’ll look very different.  In six months I’ll hopefully look like Angelina Jolie (one can dream). But with a crazy definitive goal and the WHAM! moment over with, I’m ready to rock and roll.

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September 19, 2011 | Money Rabbit | 1 Comment »

Review: Fit Factory Fitness

Upfront disclosure:  I am NOT being paid or compensated in any form by Fit Factory Fitness.  I bought a WagJag deal for 30 days of class with them for $30, and figured I’d work in a review.

Here’s how my past two weeks have been, in my head. Cue epic music.

Ah, vanity.

Over the past month, I’ve gotten cocky.  I’m a triathlete. I can run faster and farther that I’ve ever been able to before. My muscles have started to become more defined.  Clearly this can only mean one thing; that I am a superhero.  I must only be a class or two away from being a modern day Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Obviously, my physical prowess can be surpassed by few. Maybe CSIS will send me an invite to be their new Canadian superspy.  So when I signed up with the WagJag deal to get 30 days of unlimited bootcamp with Fit Factory Fitness for $30, I anticipated that it would be difficult, but I figured I could take it in stride.

After I stumbled home, my protein shake had the bitter tang of humility.

Stop music. Rewind.

When I arrived at my class this evening, I was greeted by the energetic and charismatic Tony A, who gave me a huge high five and welcomed me to the class.  His T-Shirt read, “Your Workout is My Warm-up.”  We wouldn’t be stopping, he warned me, I’d be pushed to my hardest level.  Ha ha, think I, I’ve already done a triathlon.  Surely this will be a walk in a park.

Within ten minutes I was dying. Windmilling my arms, I didn’t know my body could ache like that.  Tony didn’t relent.  “Get ‘em up! Get ‘em up!  Push! Push!”

Unfortunately, this is when Tony learned my name.

“Marianne!!!  Mar! Ee! Anne!  Lift your arms higher!”

Ouch.  Ow ow ow.

What happened next can only be described as pure hell.  Running. Lunging. Arm raises. Jumping.  Burpees. Kettle bell raises. Non-stop.  When we didn’t run from one station to the next, Tony made us go back to our original exercises, and we repeated. By the time we finished, I was ready to collapse in a pool of pure exhaustion.  Then we got to the “stretching.”  I joined hands with another bootcamper, and we took turns digging into a squat and dragging each other across the floor.

“Mar! Ee! Anne!  This is the stretch!!!  Get your butt down!!”

I got my butt down, my muscles promptly seized up, and I fell smack on my ass.  Classic.

I was completely wiped when we finished, but I’ll be back.  In fact, I highly recommend Fit Factory Fitness for anyone looking to take their workout up to the next level, whatever that may be.  And don’t just take my word for it; check it out for yourself.  The first class is free. The classes run super early in the morning, or in the evenings.  There’s an outdoor class on Saturday mornings at Ashbridge’s Bay, which I definitely am hoping to attend, since I love to exercise outside.

Tony A is a former U.S. Marines Corps Drill Sargeant, and I can genuinely believe that he wants to push his students to reach the same level of fitness as the U.S. Armed Forces. You can tell he is extremely passionate about his work; he took safety very seriously, and repeated all his instructions over again if even just one member of the class was chatting. It felt like I was getting the full-out U.S. Army experience, and let me tell you, those soldiers would be lucky if they had Tony as their drill master.  He is skilled, focused, driven, and forces you out of your comfort zone.  Boy, did he ever.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a newbie or a seasoned fitness veteran, or if you fall towards the n00b end of the spectrum like I do. If you’re a beginner, expect to be pushed, but don’t worry about being judged, everyone there is focused on their own progression. The ones who have been there longer didn’t stop the entire time, and did each movement with an added vigour. The encouragement was palpable, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Verdict:  I highly recommend Fit Factory Fitness.  You will burn calories. You will hurt. Your workout will be vastly more challenging than anything you could put yourself through at the gym. Tony A is made of pure muscle and energy.  He is sensitive to your authentic levels of exertion, but if he thinks you could go even just an ounce further, then gosh darn it he is going to get you there.  If you were to attend regularly, you could pretty much be guaranteed to lose weight, gain muscle, and hit new fitness highs. Fit Factory Fitness gave me the dose of reality that I so desperately needed…that I still have a very long ways to go, but that with some sweating, swearing, and unpleasant grunting, I can get there.

Also: if you’re not in Toronto, I would also highly recommend checking out local bootcamps.  Many will offer the first class for free, so sample a few of them and see if it’s something you can commit to. They’re hard, sweaty, and painful, but you WILL reap the rewards. It’s cause and effect.

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September 14, 2011 | Money Rabbit | No Comments »

Show Arbie and Win Contest – RBC

One of the spiffy-doo things about blogging is that on occasion, I get to advertise a pretty cool contest and get a wee bit of compensation for it.  Since part of my agreement with this contest is disclosure, I’d like to say that I am VERY happy to be receiving a Visa Gift Card from the Social Media Group in exchange for telling you fine folks about this contest.  And believe me, I wouldn’t be telling you about the contest unless I thought it was worth your time.

It’s pretty easy – all you have to do is go to RBC’s Facebook Page and “like” the page.  You then print out a photo of Arbie (the name of their little British-looking mascot dude), take him with you, and take photos of him demonstrating how he could make your student life easier with $1000.  The photo with the most votes is eligible to win the contest, and ultimately, the prize money.  There are ten winning spots up for grabs, the top spot winning $5000, with a second place prize of $3000 and 8 runners-up of $1000.  Pretty sweet; if I were still a student, I’d definitely take ten minutes out of my day to enter this thing.  The contest closes September 30th, 2011.  Plenty of time to get rumbling with your inner photographer.

So heck, go for it.  Why not?  And I took a look at RBC’s Facebook page, and there’s some pretty good content on there with regards to articles on purchasing your first home, actively saving, etc.   They also appear to have some active moderators who are answering customers’ questions as they pop up; kinda handy.

In other news, I signed up for my first bootcamp class tomorrow evening…I have to make up for a full lost week with no exercise due to my migraines, so I’m pumped to get training again.  I’m wondering if it’s beyond my reach to shoot for a half marathon in the spring…I guess I won’t know until I go for it!

So what are you waiting for?  If you’re a student, winning $10 is cause for celebration, let alone adding two zeroes to that.  Do it up, folks.

Possibility of winning several thousand dollars in a contest? Oh, you sassy, Arbie.

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September 12, 2011 | Money Rabbit | 1 Comment »

I have been a bad blogger

Looking at my distinct lack of posts lately tells me two things: that life is going pretty well, and that I have gotten comfortable, potentially too much so.

Writing is, has, and always will be, my escape. I started Money Rabbit when I was miserable at my job and unhappy in my relationship (come to think of it, I wasn’t too pleased about where I was living anymore either). You could tell when I was going through some awful stuff, because the sheer number of posts skyrocketed, I was writing about juicy material such as psycho bosses and couchsurfing, and my blog raced up the Alexa charts (it was close to 500,000 – I think it’s now closer to 1,000,000). The craziness meant that I had to pull some death-defying stunts with my finances, all of which I chronicled in painstaking detail. In truth, most of it was for my own sake, so I could get have the catharsis of expelling the worry out of my chest and into my blog.

I also use Money Rabbit to narrate my life, helping me to continuously reevaluate myself and set additional goals in non-financial areas of my life. For example, I just completed the Give it a Tri on Toronto Island, honestly the most challenging athletic event that I’ve EVER participated in. I used this blog as an accountability tool for the event; writing about the training experience to force me out there every other day to run and cycle.

I write when I’m finding the going getting tough, or when I have something new and exciting that I want to work on. So, lack of posts = a comfort zone, something I haven’t had in awhile. I like my job (my boss has been extremely understanding of my migraines, of which I have had 6 over 4 days), and I’m paid enough to live a comfortable, albeit frugal, lifestyle.  I’m still dating Frenchie, which I also think is going pretty well. My next big sporting event will be in the spring (aiming for the Goodlife half marathon), so I don’t have any pending fitness goals to hit, aside from my Jacked with no Gym challenge.  However, with all my migraines, that has also fallen by the wayside, and I don’t like having a section on my blog strictly devoted to that.  I think I’ll probably get rid of the tab and just do a summary when it’s all over.

If it sounds like I’m unhappy with being in a comfort zone, that’s not the case (even as I’m writing, I’m thinking, “God, woman, what’ll it take to make you happy?!“)  It’s genuinely so wonderful to finally be in a good spot.

But I have to keep pushing myself to new goals and higher levels of development. I still owe $8500 on my car.  I sincerely want to find an extra $1000/mth above and beyond my full time work.  I still have to train for a Half Ironman, which I’ll be doing in either 2012 or 2013, depending on how ambitious I am.  And I REALLY need to pump up my savings plan so that I can buy a house in a couple of years.  Because as great as my job is, I want to get to a point where if I decide to give it all up to become a potter, I can do that.  If I want to go on sabbatical for a year and just travel the world and write, I can do that, and not worry about all my things or loans or any of that nonsense.  

Right now, I have just enough at the end of every month to pay off my visa bill balance, rinse and repeat.  New goal (it’s a small one): do NOT carry a credit card balance into October. Right now, I’ve got about $450 on there.  I want to pay that off entirely, and NOT begin a new balance.  Cash or debit only, baby.

Next Goal: I just purchased this week’s Toronto WagJag, which is 30 days of unlimited bootcamp for $30.  I know I’m not supposed to be at the gym or doing any fitness stuff aside from home exercises, but this was too good to pass up, and I want to use it before it gets too cold outside. My goal is to do at LEAST two classes of bootcamp per week for the next 30 days.  Bootcamp is tough; I imagine my first class (this Saturday morning) will leave me very sore.  But I want a new challenge, because I WILL become a full Ironman triathlete. Why? Because it brings me joy to be fit, and to accomplish goals that were seemingly out of reach.

So even though I’ve been a bad blogger, and my alexa ratings and writing quality have suffered accordingly, I’m still around and ramping  myself up for the new challenges that lie ahead. Once I get my first bonus cheques I’ll be starting to manipulate my money in interesting new configurations, investing, etc.  It’s something I’m very excited to do.  I also want to get my car loan under $7000 by December 31, 2011.  I think it’s entirely feasible.

Hope y’all have had a great summer, I look forward to writing up a storm in the fall :)

P.S.  This photo has nothing to do with my post, but I found it HILARIOUS.  If you get the joke, you are officially awesome.

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September 8, 2011 | Money Rabbit | 1 Comment »

Jacked with No Gym – Day 1

Last night I did my first trial at-home workout.  I loaded up my favourite heart-pumping hits (Memories by David Guetta, They by Jem, Pjanoo by Eric Prydz) and went to work.

Confession time:  I already miss the gym. 

I’ve always been an upper body/core kind of gal.  I don’t like working my legs and butt, simply because I hate feeling sore the next day; and since my legs are quite large (I’m nearly 6 feet tall), that’s an awful lot of soreness to be feeling.  When my arms are sore, I can still do basic things like write or cook.  When my legs are sore, I can barely sit down to pee. 

But with it being cycling season and all, that’s changed. My legs have finally gotten the attention that they’ve deserved after being neglected for so long, and I’ve whipped them into shape through running and cycling.

Why does that make me miss the gym?  Well, now that my body is fairly even in terms of overall strength, I miss the weights that I used to use for my arms and shoulders.  In my former life as a gym rat, you could find me amidst the muscleheads who hog the freeweights.  I’d lay out my towel, turn on my Britney, grab the set of 15lbs, and do my best to ignore the lingering scent of testosterone. 

Did you buy your tickets to the gun show?

In terms of exercise, it’s pretty easy to do lower body exercises when not at the gym.  I can squat in my living room just as well as I can squat at the gym.  Same with core; I’ve been doing the plank once a day, often at work so I don’t forget.  I’ll do the front plant for 60 seconds, and the side plank for as long as I can (usually 30-40 seconds, I hate the strain on my wrist).  I also do air bicycles and a series of other core exercises, and I’m pleased to say that you can now see some definition.

Unfortunately, my upper body is out to lunch, and the best thing I can do are tricep dips on a chair, and push ups.  At this point, I can do about 15 dude-style push ups, or 20-25 lady push ups.  To mix it up, I’ve started to do the walking version of this: I start in a full plank, do a push up, put my left hand next to my right, and move my right over a couple feet, then lower into another push up.  I walk back, pushup.  Walk to the left, pushup.  It engaged both my shoulders, arms, and core.  They’re so challenging that I can really only do three on each side, if I’m lucky.

What many sites have recommended is installing a pull-up bar above a door frame.  I reject this for two reasons; one, it costs money.  Two, it doesn’t go with my decor.  That’s right, I said it.  My apartment is so girly that a massive door pull-up would just look atrocious.  I may change my mind eventually, especially since I want to train for a Sprint triathlon, then a Half Ironman, but for now, it SO does not match the coasters. 

So right now, I have but one solution; hit the playground.  Doing body weight exercises ain’t gonna cut it, so it’s time to go back to school. I’ll be hitting the monkey bars with the vengeance of a 23 year old longing to redeem herself from a past filled with monkey bar misadventures.  This time, I’ll walk away the victor.

Only problem: my neighbourhood is filled with families, and children actually use the playgrounds.  I don’t want to show up, game face on, and start grunting like a warthog as I try to do chin-ups, while horrified children and parents look on.  Neither do I fancy a midnight trip to the playground, especially with the recent shooting in my neighbourhood (what can I say, it keeps my rent down, and if you haven’t been shot at in Toronto, you must be a tourist!  Just kidding, mom…) 

So I think I may do a run-by scouting of the local playground; if it’s covered with children actually using the equipment (heaven forbid!) I’ll come back another time.  If it’s free, I’ll do a quick set of pull ups and chin ups and walk away like nothing happened. 

Does anyone have any ideas for other exercises to do to target my biceps?  My goal is Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2.

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September 2, 2011 | Money Rabbit | 4 Comments »

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