Category: Fitness

Lululemon Velocity Gym Bag

A friend and I joke about that Lululemon is a cult. It bases itself on yoga philosophy, and in the beginning, produced all its clothing in Canada. Now, it makes it in China like every other business, but their yoga pants are still like $80. I refuse to to buy their clothing; it’s out of my budget for one thing, and it’s ridiculous how trendy and expensive it is.

But I bought one of their bags today. Namely the Velocity Gym Bag pictured above. For a lot of money. Why? I have a thing for bags. I love handbags. I constantly rotate my bags for the occasion and the “season” as it were. I bought a H&M bag last year for much less to be my book bag, and now this one will replace it. Due the cult of Lululemon, the bag is popular for school, but not as popular as the less expensive Aritzia TNA bag which is of similar size and style.

The bag does look sturdy, and it should last me a few years considering what I paid. The vinyl is waterproof which is a big advantage. My Macbook fits snuggly in with lots of other room. I also do intend to use it as a gym bag. I will use the included wet bag for my running shoes, and the pockets for my H20 and cell. As well as the external straps for a yoga mat. I also love removable straps as I won’t always have to carry this under my arm. It seems to be a great bag for carry-on airplane travel too.

All in all, I can say this is my back to school gift to myself. But I’m just making excuses. Oh why must I adore the bags?

In other news, I am finding it difficult to find a decently priced moisture-wicking tank top that I can wear for running, gym and yoga. The running is great though; I’m back on Week 5 since the illness set me back a few weeks. A few more weeks and I’m going to do my first 5K.

Image from Google Images.

Tomorrow, I will start Week 4 of the Cool Running Plan. Technically I’ve actually been running for two weeks as I skipped the first week. You shouldn’t skip weeks on the plan, but I had stopped running for almost three months. I did not make it Week 3 in May so I’m starting to feel the runner’s high which is good and makes things easier. I follow my running with 20 minutes of relaxation yoga. My hamstrings are still very inflexible, but once I feel ready for it, I’m going to purchase other yoga DVDs. On the days when I do not run (every other day), I do pilates; I’ve only just upgraded from a single 10 minute workout to a 20 minute. I would do more, but it really burns and tires me especially since I am suppose to take it easy on the non-running days this early in the running plan.

My favourite activity of the three changes periodically which changes my focus and long term fitness goals. Yoga has been winning for the last couple of weeks, but pilates is very useful these days now that I’m doing heavier cardio. Strength training for your core is important for all workouts. Back to flexibility and yoga, I don’t necessarily aim for headstands/arm balancing in my future, but I do want more flexibility and toning in my body overall.

Goals are to still lose some inches, tone my body, gain more flexibility, be in better physical condion, and losing a few pounds wouldn’t hurt either.

Knitting: I got my Ravelry invite finally this past weekend which means I’ve been spending my merry time over there. If you’re on it, add me as I am “athenablue”. For knitting, I am still dismayed by the Swallowtail Shawl, but I cast on Shedir this week using Rowan Felted Tweed. I love the yarn. The yarn is quite dark, so I hope the cables show up well. I’m debating about cabling without a cable needle. I’ve lot both of my cable needles at the moment.

Books: Well, I’ve read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows this past weekend. I doubt I will make a blog post for long time. I started Beowulf last week, but have yet to delve more deeply. I also acquired the HP&DH audiobook as you see on the bottom. Chapter 33 is the only one I’ve reread so far.

Movies: Last thursday, I rewatched Roman Holiday with a couple of others who had not seen it. I don’t tend to rewatch movies often, but it was nice to do so. I laughed and found it wonderfully dated. I also watched Kitty Foyle during the weekend, the first new old movie I haven’t seen in a long time. Ginger Rogers was very good in it. She can dance and act it seems.

Fitness: So behind. Did yoga on saturday, intend to run again next month. Will start do pilates again.

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Now playing: Stephen Fry – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Disc 18 – Chapter 33
via FoxyTunes

A fairly productive day for me as I went to the hygienist for a cleaning (must return next week for dental checkup though). I spent a lot of time reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma; it’s good, and I’m almost done. What really made my day was that I actually ran today in the late afternoon. I like running in the early mornings, but I have yet to get up early enough for it. It was a good run though since it was windy which means I worked a little harder due to resistance, and cooling. It makes me want to run again tomorrow, but that’s too soon. So I’ll do pilates as I did that today too. Hopefully, I can really kick this fitness program.

I finally took out a library copy of Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From my home to Yours. It’s beautiful. I want to have a four seasons fling with it and all the recipes. Not only does it have a plethora of essential and tasty looking recipes, but there are loads of tips about baking in general and a nice glossry at the back. It’s definitely going to the top of my big cookbook wishlist. Going with it is is Amy Sedaris’s I like you: Hospitality under the influence. Hilarious, but I haven’t looked through it enough yet.

Back to some reading.

Just finished an hour of pilates and yoga. Legs feel like jelly since it’s been a few weeks. Time for the fitness post though.

Goals: Overall fitness/in shapeness, weight loss, body toning, de-stressing, and through cardio, lower heart rate. I have a pretty fast heart rate due to genetics; I can lower, it’ll probably require a lot of it and a long time.

Stretching (daily): Yoga, Pilates
Strength (daily): Pilates
Cardio (every other day): Running, Pilates, and Dance

Yoga: I love yoga, and this was my first yoga DVD. I’ve been using this for years on and off, but my hamstrings are still quite tight. I use to do the AM workout everyday, but now, I find it a tad too easy and ineffectual for me. I don’t enjoy the PM workout either. The version of this DVD I have includes a Stress Relief workout with Patricia Deason which is the one I use most often now. This DVD does not cut it anymore, and I wouldn’t really like a new one.

Pilates: I just got this a couple months ago, and I love it. It’s five ten minute workouts (abs, buns/tighs, cardo, flexibility, and arms) that you can mix and match. I’ve never done pilates before this, so it’s always tough to get started, but you really feel it. The only one I haven’t tried is the one for arms because I haven’t bought weights yet, and my arms don’t need the workout as my lower body does. I usually do this for 3 sets (30 min), and relax with yoga afterwards. I try to do this everyday.

Running: I did it last summer: The Couch to 5K Running Plan. Sadly, I stopped running in September due to knee problems (hopefully won’t happen again because I bought proper shoes), and I hate going to the gym. I did get to the 3x a week for 30 minute target. The plan gave no trouble as I never got cramps, but I got overheated running in the summer mornings. I’m trying to do it either really early (6AM) or later in the afternoon. I’m addicted to the runner’s high, and when I get started again, I’ll write a whole post on it. My goals are to run every other day for 45 minutes or everyday for 30min in the end.

Dance: This is just me moving around to the dance playlist on iTunes so my heart rate is raised for at least 30 mins.