I am responsible for my life and always maintain the power I need to be positive and have joy

It seems that it's been exactly eight months since I last updated the blog.

I've done a bit of soul-digging in the meantime... I've always suffered from a low esteem when it comes to my weight and appearance, but after confronting some painful childhood memories I think my "healthier life" project might have a more fertile breeding ground (is that an Engish expression?).

However, I will probably continue updating the blog irregularly especially now since I'm off work for the summer and refuse to take extra responsibilities. The blog is written for myself rather than for the general public.

The daily affirmation of today really clicked. It refers to some of the things I've struggled with.. Put simply, it has been difficult for me to realise that I do have control over my life and what I do. That is why I labeled this post the way I did.

ZUMBA

Jos haluat kokeilla tätä Ostos-TV:ssäkin mainostettavaa hauskaa kuntoilutapaa,
siihen voit tutustua myös YouTuben kautta.

Kellogg'sin Zumba-videot ovat helposti seurattavia ja osassa videoita saa harjoittaa myös espanjan kieltä ;)

Tässä lämmittelyvideossa myös enkunkieliset tekstitykset.

Beautiful autumn morning!

My apologies for not updating for a while. I've been swamped with work, the only workout I've gotten for a while has been cycling to work and back (unless if it's been rainy, which it has quite a lot recently). Excuses, excuses...

Sunday was a beautiful and quite a warm day, it being so late in the autumn, so I went for a walk/jog. Not having too much difficulties, I ran 3km of it. Great! It really made a difference not having to run on tarmac.

Again, the sunshine of this morning made me go and try jogging on an empty stomach. Perhaps not the best idea for me, but I enjoyed the scenery so much that it didn't matter that much that the stomach hurt and I felt a bit dizzy at times. Couldn't run very much, or just short distances at a time, but in general I kept a fair pace. I wish it wasn't this dark, this time of year. I can't say I'd like to run in the evenings, in the dark, so I hope to get to jog when it's still light outside. The colours of the autumn are all but gone, but it's spectacular to see the treetops shimmering in the sun. In addition, it's magnificent to see the town (it's not too long a way up on a hill where you can see almost the whole of my home town) in sunlight, no matter what season it is.

By the way, I finally got my Nike+ iPod gear last week, and that's why I'm able to include a graph on the right margin here. Nike+ is a user-friendly site and whenever you plug in your iPod, the data is transferred on your own site. You can choose yourself whether you share your runs with the world or whether you just keep it private. I guess I'm a bit of a nerd, but this site really makes a boost on my motivation to run. I've noticed, though, that Nike+ and PulseSonic calculate the consumption of calories a little differently. When walking, Nike+ says that you have consumed 30kCal more (on average) than PulseSonic. The more you run, the more similar result they give. Not too serious, but still I think it's worth recognising... Ouch, I feel a little headache coming this way, maybe because of the intense sunlight straight into my eyes at times out there(?). Well, I'll manage ;)

On a day off like this, a morning jog is ok if you don't ask yourself to make a running record... With that in mind, go ahead and try yourself!

Syöpöttelyistä.

Olen Kalinka ja olen syöppö. Rakastan napostelua. Iljettävimmät paheeni ovat sipsit. Parasta tietty on, jos mukana on dippikastiketta. Joskus dippaan näkkileipää ihan vain sen dipin ja rouskunan takia. Ja kurkku, kukkakaali, paprika ja porkkana ovat vanhoja tuttuja dipattavia. Nyt olen löytänyt myös muita sipsinkorvikkeita.

Joku päivä sitten jouduin jäämään töihin myöhempään kokoustamaan. Neukkariin oli tuotu jotain naposteltavaa, jotta väsy ei iskisi. Asialla oli tiettävästi ollut joku terveysintoilija, koska tarjolla oli esim. varsiselleriä. Terveellistä elämää kun olen hakemassa, menin ja maistoin (vaikka en ole varmaan koskaan syönyt varsiselleriä sellaisenaan) - myös kevyttä dippiä oli tarjolla. Voilà - se oli hyvää!

Varsiselleri on aivan ihana sipsinkorvike - siinä yhdistyy sipsin pyhä kolminaisuus: 1) rouskuu mukavasti (kokouksessa piti silti ajoittaa haukut sellaiseen kohtaan, että rouskuna ei kaikuisi neukkarin täydeltä), 2) on maistuva ja 3) omaa mahtavan muodon dippailuun. Suosittelen! Olisiko muita maistuvia, terveellisiä naksuja out there?

Menkkojen jälkeen oli muuten painokin tullut vajaan kilon alaspäin. Luulisin, että ennen menkkoja ei oltu kyllä näin pienessä painossa. Yuippee :)

Feeling less fabulous.

This evening the running didn't feel good at all, but I really had to struggle to get one foot in front of the other, once I started running. Walking before that was ok. Fortunately, Faithless kept me going.

Also I was happy to notice that I managed to improve the running bit with 300 metres. I don't think the progress is going to keep up this way, but of course it makes you more motivated to exercise when you see quick results like this :D

Moreover, even though the mornings have been kind of cold, I've biked to work and back yesterday and today, not even considered taking the bus, which makes an hour and 10km of cycling a day. I wonder why I've never noticed that before... And it must make at least 300kcal per day. Maybe I should take my PulseSonic to work some time and really see how many calories I burn just 'by mistake'.

Off to shower, now...

Running?

I've never, ever, ever have liked running. Never.

In fact, I even remember my gym class teacher once telling me that I couldn't run. Like that was a hard fact that couldn't be changed. At least after then, I've never even tried jogging.

This autumn I've taken a project to start living at least a little bit healthier. So, as a part of my project, I went walking (speed-walking, you might say) around two weeks ago, for the first time in an extremely long time. I didn't go alone, no, I had my iPod with me to keep me company. And a bottle of filtered water. And, you know what: I actually enjoyed it. I didn't even have trainers on - they were just some old shoes that I had never worn too much - so I got a few blisters on my ankle. Nevertheless, I gave it another go a few days later: Walked and walked, up and down the hills, and - surprisingly - still liked it. The blisters grew bigger and that hurt a bit. So, I decided I might as well buy new trainers because I didn't think that would be the last of my walks.

On Tuesday, which was probably the rainiest day of the autumn, I went to a sports equipment store together with my hubby - he's really suportive of my 'new lifestyle' :) There was a very friendly sales person who let me try on different trainers, understanding that I needed special trainers because of my overly pronated feet. I tried on the Nikes and it was love at first sight. Sure they weren't as attractive as the Brooks, but they were a lot more comfortable! On Wednesday, after a long day at work, I decided to go for a little walk with the new trainers. Not having taken many steps, I intuitively started taking steps a bit faster, jumping just a tad higher - and I was jogging. Wow. Afraid of it at first, I tried not to think about the fact that I was jogging. It felt amazing! And I went on for a kilometre and stopped when I got a cramp. Never mind the cramp, I felt absolutely magnificent! I had never thought I could still go on for that long, jogging!

My muscles really hurt because I didn't stretch properly afterwards. Still, today I decided to have another go. But first, trying to warm up the muscles. I promised myself that I would run / jog longer this time, of course. The whole session took around one hour, walking as fast as I could and then, in the end, I started jogging. I just measured the route - 1,5km. Not bad. I mean, it's not great, of course it isn't. It's not like I'd think I could run a marathon next week. But it's a huge leap for me, because 1) I thought I was anatomically (is that even a word?) unfit for jogging, and because 2) I'm not in a good shape. Far from it!

I had sworn I'd never go jogging, but I'd find any other way to exercise, if I had to. I've always loved cycling, even for fun, but hated - loathed - jogging or running. And I couldn't understand the concept of "flow" in running. But now I do. It feels great. I guess this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Or something like that :P