Category — Spinning

So, unfortunately the ankle I twisted during Saturday’s trail race is still slightly swollen and may not be fit for running. I can walk on it, but I just feel that the right thing to do is to not run on it for the next week or so.

The only issue with this is that I go completely bananas if I can’t do any form of physical activity. I’m a much nicer person at work because I get the majority of my stress/frustration out during my workouts. So, in an effort to still keep active while the ankle completely heals I have bought a 10 class pack to Spynga. I’m hoping that their spinning classes will do the trick! My first class will be tonight.

As I haven’t been able to workout as much as I like I have had more time to look at one of my other loves – cookbooks! I recently picked up Donna Hays’ Off the Shelf and it really is one of the more practical cookbooks I have bought. all the recipes I have tried so far have been clean, simple and delicious. The other night I made up her country style shrimp dish and it was on the table within 20 minutes.

I chose to serve it with a baguette and green salad. The bread was perfect for dipping into the sauce!

Other things on my radar:

Susheela Willis Nutrition & Wellness

A good friend of mine recently graduated from the Institute of Holistic nutrition and has become a Certified Nutritional Practitioner. Congratulations Susheela! She’s offering a lot of great services – one on one nutritional consulting, grocery store tours, kitchen pantry makeovers and much more. Best part? She’s offering a discount on her services until the end of October. I not only want to hire her to makeover my eating habits but I also want to hire her to makeover my website – her site is beautiful!

Operation Beautiful

I started reading Caitlin’s Healthy Tipping Point blog earlier this year and found out about her Operation Beautiful mission. The idea behind this mission is to post anonymous notes in public places for other woman to find. The main objective of doing this is to remind us all that we are BEAUTIFUL just the way we are. The Operation Beautiful blog has been so successful that it has now been published as a book. I got my copy yesterday and so far am loving it. In fact, I’m loving it so much that I picked up another copy at my local bookstore and want to give this copy away to one of you.

All you need to do to enter is to leave a comment below explaining why you would love to have a copy of this book! I’ll pick someone via a random number generator and announce the winner on August 16!

Flickr credit: takomabibelot

For some reason everything I did this weekend seemed to involve the letter ‘S’, so…

S is for…

• Sweating through a 1 hour mat/reformer Pilates class Friday post-work
• Sushi at Fin Izakaya on Friday night
• Spinning class at Energia Athletics Saturday a.m.
• Sample sale Saturday mid-morning
• Starving Artist Saturday brunch (vegan options available!)
• Shopping for some summer clothes for B
• Watching sports Saturday evening
• Cheering on some Sporting Life runners on Sunday & then doing my own 13km run
• and finally…a snooze Sunday afternoon.

Update:

Today also marks the official end of my two week experiment of being dairy and meat free. After reading The Kind Life I was inspired to give it a try. So, how did I do? I must admit I cheated 3-4 times by having some salmon and eggs. My body just seemed to need it and I now know better than to not listen to my own body. I have missed dairy (particularly feta), but I haven’t missed it terribly. Moving forward I think I am going to go back to including fish in my diet, but am still going to try and cut out dairy and other meats from my life. One of the main reasons why I want to continue this experiment is that I think that it is having a positive influence in how I am feeling.

A while ago I purchased an introductory pass for Energia Athletics on the Danforth. I’ve been wanting to go here for a while now as I have been intrigued by their concept – an interesting mix of yoga, spinning and running offerings. Oh and kettlebell classes!

I tried three different classes during my week there:

• Spin/Core
• Spin/Yoga Journey
• Spin

Of the three the one I enjoyed the most was the Spin/Core combo. They teacher was intense (very Lance Armstrong-esque!), the music appealing and the workout was just the right intensity. The additional draw to this class for me was that I had no excuses to not do any core work which I sometimes very conveniently avoid.

The one thing I’m still a little curious about is their run group. They do have a run club, but I didn’t get the opportunity to try it out yet. I think one of the draws for running out of here is the fact that you can complement your running with yoga and spinning.

The one downside to Energia is their bathroom/change room facilities. If you can change before. Trust me.

Yesterday I received an email that made me happy. I had been wondering if any of Toronto’s fitness facilities would be organizing  anything in support of the recent earthquake that hit Haiti. I’m happy to say that Quad Spinning has organized a special spinning class this Sunday. The three hour cycle will take place at their Quad east location on Queen (3 p.m. start)  and all proceeds will be going Doctors without Borders (applied towards Haiti relief). Great idea.

So, how do you get involved?

Spots are limited so you need to pre-register. The suggested donation is $20 and you can spin for as much or as little time as you like. Even if you can’t make the cycle donations are still welcome. Check out their website for more details.

If anyone has more information on other facilities doing things like this let me know.

Flickr credit: avlxyz

There comes a point in  life when you stop going to clubs on a regular basis. I have reached that point in my life where going to clubs are not a part of my usual weekend plans – not really sure, though when exactly this happened though. The last time I went I felt extremely old and out of place. What I do miss about going to clubs, though, is the music. There is just something about loud music and hearing your favourite song come on.

What do you do then?

Go to one of Micheline’s evening spinning classes at Quad Spinning and you will be able to relive your clubbing days. I went to her Tuesday night “Rihanna theme class” and I really did feel like I was out at a club. Only difference was that I was sweating because of spinning and not dancing. The class was loud, packed with people and full of energy. As an added touch staff came around and refilled your empty water bottles throughout the class/

Never tried spinning before?

They have an introductory class on Saturday mornings where you’ll learn all the ins and outs of spinning – technique and all.

Quad spinning has three locations to choose from. One class was $20 and you can pre-register for classes online.