NSVs!

Oh, I'd say it's time for another round of non-scale victory touting :)  Hang onto your hats!

-I have a ring that fits!!!

I'm special.

I bought this ring a few years ago.  You know, one of those things that will fit once you lose a couple more pounds? lol I found it a couple of months ago and found that it fit my ring finger, holla!  I was wearing it very regularly, but then it got lost in the depths of my purse for a month or two and i just recently found it.

And that other wonderful thing on my hand is the result of a fight with the oven.  The oven won.  You're welcome for the amazing face behind the hand. 

-I had to use the drawstrings on my shorts.  I've had this pair of adidas shorts for a couple of years and I've always just relied on the elastic to do it's job.  Well, before my 5K in Cleveland, I had a feeling that it would be much, much better if I tied the drawstring and I could and my pants stayed up.  :)

-Cycling is getting easier.  Now, when I say easier, it is still HARD, but not as hard as the time before.  Tri Coach Jeff gave me a little more freedom today at the state park and I thought I did well despite being last, again!  Instead of only doing half a loop that we did a couple of weeks ago, I did the entire loop and we then headed to a different loop, much hillier, and did that too.  Boy, was I tired, but happy!

-My vitals/other important numbers have been really pretty good when I have visited the doctor or given blood.  Today I gave blood and my iron was low on the first draw (11.1) but on the second I got 13.3, holla!  They say your iron is lower during TOM, which it was, but I had been eating spinach and/or some red meat every day this past week.  Last time I gave blood, I had to take those awful iron supplements.  I was very excited I got a high iron number w/o having to take those!

-I can cross my legs.  Like really.  Not resting my ankle on my other knee.  Knee on top of knee!

-I spent the long weekend by myself (by choice, and it was amazing!) and did not go crazy with food.  Looking back, I actually surprised myself.  I spent so much time in the kitchen cooking, I didn't even sit down and lounge very much or have time to think about bad for me things.  Compare that to MLK day and me and those cookies did not go over well.  I didn't even think about making cookies even though they were right there in the cupboard.  I made a 7 layer salad and vegetable soup, plus some extra bacon for the week.  Soooo much chopping and peeling!  Plus I screwed up and burnt the first batch of bacon to the cookie sheet...oops!

-I usually wear a tank top under any workout shirt, but this past week I have been brave enough to go w/o.  That is huge because I wear an undershirt 98% of the time!  Today I couldn't find said tank top and thought about throwing a tshirt on vs tech shirt, but that tshirt would have been too dang hot!

What has been a NSV for you this week?

Do you get excited over the little things in life too? 

Getting Back On Track

Since Cleveland, life has been a little nuts.  Last week I skipped swimming in order to spin because I had “tweaked” my shoulder.  Yeah, I was just stupid.  My shoulder was sore and so I kept rotating it while driving home.  Then I felt a sharp stab of pain.  Good one Melissa!  It took a couple of days for it to feel back to normal.  I had yoga last Tuesday where I was one of two people.  I really like the instructor.  Wednesday was a bike ride around State Park that is close to my Y.  It is quite hilly.  I asked Tri Coach Jeff “how much is this going to hurt me?”. Haha I can be a weenie.  So immediately, I was lagging behind the group.  Pedaling felt hard, so I started to play with the gears.  Once we were ¾ of the way through the park, Tri Coach Jeff told me what I was doing wrong.  Haha well thanks.  There is traffic in the park, but it is minimal and drivers know there are a lot of bikers there, so it is really safe.   Then, we got to the other end of the park and went out on the road.  You know, the one that is hilly, with twists and turns, numerous potholes and speeding traffic?  Okay, the speeding traffic is just me because when I’m on the bike, everything is fast!  So everyone else is going ahead and there’s me and ole Tri Coach Jeff approaching (what felt to be) this massive hill.  He’s in front of me, telling me about gears, etc and when it gets too hard to pedal, just come up out of the saddle. 

Oh yes, silly me.  Stand up on the bike, which I am already wobbly on, and pedal, while trying to stay on the side of the road and avoid potholes.  Duh.  

 Basically, what Ty said:  "Going uphill is hard, and going downhill is terrifying. I don't trust the bike to not fall apart if I hit a bump. Or I could go flying over the handlebars and end up with a c-spine injury and quadriplegic."

 Oh em gee, it was NOT pretty!  I hadn’t even tried riding “out of the saddle” on flat land with no cars around.  I was not about to try it, so I just kept my legs moving and pedaling along!  Once we got around a few curves and to a side street, we stopped for a breather, I needed one!  We saw my teammates heading back in the other direction and they were going to do 2 full laps on this street, whereas I did ½ a lap!  I was so happy when we got back in the park.  I rode around a little while waiting for everyone else then we headed toward the front entrance.  It had been an hour (our regular time slot), so Tri Coach Jeff suggested we head back.  Everyone else said things like “well, we wanted to get a few more miles in”.  But I was exhausted, so I said “welp, I’m leaving!”.  Being the cycling weakling, he headed back with me.  I feel like I apologized a million times for being slow, but he was very reassuring.  When we got back, I found a slight hill on the far end of the parking lot and rode out of the saddle many times so I could get the feel of it.  When I went home, I practiced there too!  I got 7 miles in at the park and maybe a couple more at home.  Bad news:  I haven’t been on the bike since! 

A friend of mine was in town from Detroit last weekend.  I am close with her family (I call her mom “mom”), so I hung out there from Friday-Sunday.  She is a pretty active person and we love going on walks (to sort out the world’s problems!), so I thought it was weird when everyone (from 11-82 years old!) were just playing on their smartphones/tablets instead of being outside.  The next day, I found out that my friend had just come off a 30 hour on call shift the day before and then had driven straight to her mom’s!  Saturday we went to one of those indoor trampoline places.  I was a wee bit nervous and may have looked for a weight limit on their website!  But we went and everything was fine and I had SO MUCH FUN!  There were regular trampolines, basketball type ones, dodgeball, and an area where you could jump into a foam pit.  I skipped the foam pit because I could tell other adults were having a hard time getting out, but I loved the dodgeball!  We had 60 minutes of jump time and probably used about 45 mins of that actively jumping.  The only times I wasn’t jumping was when I was waiting a 30-45 seconds for a turn at jumping/shooting in basketball.  It was great!  Later that day, my friend and I got our walk on and probably walked 2 miles before it started to rain.  And no, we didn’t get the world’s problems solved L

This week was swimming on Monday, I hadn’t swam since I was in Cleveland!  It started off pretty rough (I was sore/tired during the warm up!), but I rocked the rest!  We did 10 x 50 yards fast w/20 seconds rest in between, trying to maintain the same pace throughout.  Those went down just fine.  We rested for a minute or two and Tri Coach Jeff said we were going to do 5 x 100 yards w/20 seconds rest.  I stepped up to the challenge and was so tired and gasping for breath at every rest, but it felt AMAZING! I could tell on the last 2 or 3 that my heart rate was getting pretty high and my body was reacting in the way it does to the over exertion.  If I was on my own feet, I probably wouldn't have made it.  But I was in the water and there's no where/no how for my knees to lock up or for me to stumble.  In short: I really, really love swimming.  I do, I do I do-ooh.   My teammate K said “ugh, why are you so good at swimming?”  I said “why are you so good at biking?”.  She then said we should do a tri relay and add our teammate K2 as the runner.  I totally would, but I didn’t say any more about it!  

Tuesday I babysat my friend's bay-bay and her friend's bay bay.  6 month old and 3 month old.  Yes, it was as terrible as you think at times.  They are just too funny.  When I got home, I knew I needed to do some activity, but I did not want to run or ride my bike.  Instead, I walked to the store to get some tea (and a bottled water).  1/2 hour of walking complete!  Wednesday was the same with babysitting, but I got home after 10:30, so I just called it a rest day.

I noticed that I have been messing around with the same pound (or 3 if you count Cleveland!) for the past month.  Now while I'm much more into the fitness aspect of this journey, I know it would be a lot easier for me to bike and run, etc if I was lighter.  In comparison, last year during this time, I was losing 5 lbs per month.  Some might call it a plateau, but I call it needing to get my head out of my @$$!  I'm also wondering if it has anything to do with me cutting back on swimming.

In order to do so, I zeroed in on that hardcore spin class I like.  It was a different instructor (only played 80's "underground" music - her words.  None of us were old enough to know it.  But OMG her shoulders and arms were AMAZING.  I want to be ripped like that!) and she was easier than the prego lady, but still pretty hard.  I was sweating like crazy and very tired, but I still had some gas in the tank so I headed over to the treadmill for a run.  I walked a min, ran 10, walked 2 mins, ran 5, walked 1, ran 5, walked 2 for cooldown.  I definitely was feeling the brick sensation on the first part of the run, but my legs warmed up to the idea!

Post-brick sweaty mess.  I'm not one of those bloggers who takes cute after workout pics! :)

Last week, I felt SOOOO hungry all week.  Maybe it was from eating so much in Cleveland.  But I also needed a break from my frozen breakfast sandwich kick.  I got a free box of cereal from a co-worker (strawberry shredded wheat).  So I started my days with that.  One day, I ate my lunch at 11:15am (it's usually 1pm!) and then next day I was starving again before 10am!  It was ridiculous.  This week, I focused on protein for breakfast and let me tell ya, this week has been delicious!  My meals aren't the most nutritious, but they help me make it through!

2 pieces of bacon, 2 eggs with spinach/red pepper hummus (recipe coming soon?).  I haven't even been hungry for the banana!

Lunch - Milk (leftover from cereal), carrots, veggie straws dipped in hummus, bologna, spinach, mayo on a sandwich thin.

Dessert - 4 Dutch Honey Wafers (they were on clearance)

Do you feel like Ty or myself while biking?  

What meals are delicious and keep you satisfied

 

What's In A Name?

What's in a name?  That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;

Oh Shakespeare, you get me. 

So for a long while now, I've been on this blog as EmDub.  Obviously that's not a full name, nor even one that can give you a solid lead you to what my name actually is.  Just a nickname of sorts.

Did you think my name was Emily?

That's okay, others did too. 

I really like the name Emily, but nope.

About 2 years ago, I was unemployed, sometimes working a couple weeks a month temping, obviously with a lot of time on my hands.  So I got into moderate couponing (I wasn't so extreme).  I would get loads of stuff for little money and I thought it was super awesome. (My favorite was a leather flasked engraved with my initials - from a tobacco company, ha!) I thought "I could start a blog about that" (the couponing, not the flask).  So I opened a blogger account and never started the blog.  15 months ago when I went to start this blog, I signed into blogger and there it was from months previous "EmDub".  So I rolled with it.  I mean, I'm not going to put my first and last name because I like some privacy.  But I know at the time my student loan company was making regular calls to my phone, so remaining so anonymous seemed like a good idea. 

So I just kept it "EmDub".  You see, my family often takes to calling each other by the first letter of their first name.  I get called "Em" or "M" quite a bit.   And some friends call me by my initals.  So MW is "EmDub" (or "EmDubyuh" depending on the accent of said friend!). 

Quite an easy explaination.  I'm slightly sorry if you thought my name was Emily, but eh. 

So here we go:

Hi, my name is Melissa.

This next time or two you read my blog might be like when you get on Facebook and someone got married and changed their last name and you have no idea who they are, but then you look at their profile and you remember (and maybe say "He married HER???").  It could be like that.  Or not remotely at all like that.

If you're thinking "Why now?", well, I've been thinking about it for a while.  But then the last episode of the 7th season of Doctor Who was on this past weekend and it was called "The Name of the Doctor".  Supposedly revealing his name not just "The Doctor".  I'm a nerd, so I thought I would reveal mine too.  Although, the tv show was waaaaaaay more complicated than putting my real name in bold, ugh. 

PS I have no idea how to change my "name" on Blogger.  Any help?

Do you have any nicknames?

Has anyone ever called you the wrong name?  Yes.  Last year when I was a newbie at work, many people thought my name was Michelle.  Well we eventually got that resolved.  Then about 3 weeks ago, one of the spin instructors at the Y called me "Michelle".  In that following week, 3 other people called me Michelle...2 of them were from work!  :) 

A Little Trip to Cleveland

Okay, okay I know what you're thinking.  Cleveland - that Cleveland?  "Kidnap City" as some call it? (btw, my personal feelings on that are that crazy things happen in every city, from drugs to kidnapping, you can't have that stop you from living your life!).

But yes, Cleveland, Ohio!  I had a great time and my only regret is that I didn't pack for the cold front that moved through over the weekend!

I knew my eatting wasn't going to be great - okay, not even good, so I made it my mission to get some activity in this trip too.  I started out by going to the JCC.  Techinically, it is in the eastern suburb of Beachwood.  The facilities were VERY nice.  The pool itself was just okay.  It reminded me of YMCA B because there was just one pool and it had lap swim, water aerobics and swim lessons going on that the same time, so the water was much warmer than I would have liked it to be.  I got an hour in at the pool and then indulged in the steam room for a bit before meeting up with my friend for some gossip while getting ready for the rest of our day.  Luckily my friend is a member, so I got a free guest pass!

The rest of that day included some walking and stroller pushing as well as some running - the rain would loom forever and then start to downpour!

It was clear for a little bit in the evening and near sunset, so we decided to see the sunset on the beach.  (Cleveland is on Lake Erie, if you didn't know).  It wasn't tropical, but it was prettier than I expected!  Here are a few pics:

(ugh, Blogger and my pics are not cooperating right now.  I will try to fix it, but post this now!)

I think we were at the Rocky River Reservation, but I am not 100% sure (details marred by margaritas!).  That is a western suburb, so clearly I was allll over town this weekend. 

The next day I was up bright and early for a 5K!  I only signed up a few days beforehand.  I was looking online for a 5K and found 2 options.  One, which was downtown, was a Marine Corps 5K  with obstacles along the way, and the other was on the near west side benefitting a school.  I have enough trouble with a 5K, so I decided to pick the one benefitting the school! 

I think this was the third annual 5K for the montessori school, so it was pretty darn small!  They were SO excited to have 250 participants for their 1 mile fun run and 5K.  It was pretty chilly that morning, 45 degrees when I woke up, probably in the 50s during the race.  But luckily no humidty and no wind made it near perfect conditions!  I only packed shorts and a long sleeve tech tshirt, so that is what I was stuck with.  Luckily, I was able to stay in the gym until 2 minutes beforehand, plus access to the bathrooms, it was great!

The little school choir sang the national anthem and there were only 16 kids in it.  For only being 16 kids and some edging close to puberty, I think they did a fantastic job.  Seriously, children singing the national anthem, it makes me tear up!  We then went to the starting line.  I got nearer to the back, and I heard some guys in front of me saying that they were slow and needed to move back.  So they got behind me.  They promptly passed me in the first 100 feet! haha made me laugh.  Because it was such a small race and I am the turtle of the pack, things spread out pretty much within the first 0.1 miles!  My running wasn't feeling fantastic and I just told myself I had to run the first mile and then I could walk.  I could see where the course turned and was just focused on getting there.  As I approached it, I could see it was the 1/2 mile marker.  I heard some young boys shouting and running behind me.  Then the volunteer told them they were at a half mile and it was time to turn back for the 1 mile fun run.  They responded with "oh, already?".  It was one of those things where I mocked them in my head :)

At this point, there were two people around me.  One lady was walking and whenever I would pass her, she was start running until she passed me.  Ask me how long it took for that to get old!  When we got to the 1 mile marker, the volunteer was calling out the time.  When I passed she said "12:35".  I said "oh, that is fast for me!".  I had gotten into a groove by then and was just enjoying the houses along the course.  The weather was great, it was beautiful albeit overcast, and the birds were chirping.  Very, very soon after I passed the 1 mile marker, I saw the lead runner coming back with the "pace car" (a police car). ha!  I kept trucking on and walked at about 1.3 miles.  I thought "uh, I was feeling fine, why am I walking?".  Oh those mind games thinking I needed a walk!

I had a handheld water bottle with me, so I ran through the water stop that was at half way.  At the turn around, I saw there were really only walkers behind me, but that was okay!  I walked 2 or 3 more times in mile 2.  According to my watch, my second mile was in the 14 minute range.  The pace car had looped back to the end of the 5k-ers.  At about 2.5 I could hear them on their loudspeaker saying "walkers to the sidewalk, we are going to open the street again".  I just kept doing my thing.  A while later I was contemplating another walk when I heard the car, closer.  He said "all walkers must use the sidewalk, and joggers can stay in the street".  #1 I was annoyed at "joggers".  Dude, this is running for me!  #2 There was no way in hell I was moving to the sidewalk!  Mile 3 was allll running.  My hip/IT band was starting to whine.  I saw a cat saunter into the middle of the street and plop down lazily.  I chuckled and told that cat that is what I felt like doing!  Mile 3 was also 14 mins.  I could hear the whooping at the finish line, so I gave it a little kick into the finish.  3rd 5K was done at 41:46!

I was very proud of myself for giving it my all.  Some of my friends/family were acting like it was weird to run a 5K in a random city, but I was glad to have some time to myself on this vacation.  It was beautiful and I loved it!  The race itself was pretty good with parking and signage.  The very few specatators were all amazing and there were cops at every light along the course (there were lots!) and they were all pleasant to friendly/very encouraging.  Afterwards I grabbed a water, and one each of a orange, banana, and apple segment.  I wasn't going to win any awards with my shiny new PR (btw, PR by 2 mins 17 seconds, nice!) so I packed up and left.  My only regret was not stretching afterwards.  My body is just over being sore!   I got 14 out of 16 in my 20-29 age group and I think something like 167 out of 189 for the 5K :)  I looked at last year's results and my time would have gotten me 3rd place in my AG :)  I guess everyone really had trained from the year before, ha!

Then I did something I did twice in my trip...I went the wrong way on the interstate.  I was trying to go east, but I ended up going west.  I made it to the airport, which I knew was on the western side of the city and then I decided I was definitely going the wrong way! :)

That afternoon I made a stop at CLE Clothing Company on East 4th/Euclid (which is one of the most adorable streets ever).  I wanted a Cleveland specific shirt (they have a lot that are Ohio themed as well.  I don't like all of Ohio, just Cleveland).  I ended up getting a purple v-neck with the shape of Ohio in little grey hearts and there was a bigger red heart by Cleveland.  I was very happy with my purchase. 

Then I made my way over the the West Side Market.  Definitely a must for any Cleveland visit. I got some fresh strawberries, minneolas, and apples.  I went inside and got a jumbo falafel with hummus and sriracha.  I also got a mini cannoli.  I happily wandered around and ate my falafel while taking in the sites.  I love the market atmosphere that is hard to find here in the US.   The parking was hard to find, but luckily there is pretty good public transportation in Cleveland.  A variety of buses go by and there is a rapid stop (light rail) across the street.  Or you could hoof it across the bridge from downtown :)

I met back up with my friend a couple of hours later and we split some small plates and had a couple of drinks at a chain restaurant.  I also had 3 large waters and nearly peed myself before we got back to where we were going!  A cup of coffee to sober up a bit and then we met up with some other friends in the evening for a night out of W. 25th street, right by the West Side Market.  We went to Market Garden Brewery where I had many a Jack and Coke and the best sandwich I have had in my life.  Obviously I had no business being super hungry, but this sandwich so so dang good I ate it all.  It was their Fried Chicken Sandwich.  I had a local whiskey and coke and that whiskey was sooo much better than Jack!  Yum!

We then headed over to ABC Tavern which is more of my kind of place than the brewery.  I was so freaking stuffed that I didn't drink alcohol or water for the first couple hours we were there, ha!  We ended the night near 3am.  The next morning, my body didn't feel the traditional hung over.  My hip/IT band were still hurting, and my shoulder blades felt like they had been boxed in the night!  Probably from me ridgedly holding my arms while running the 5K that morning.

The next day was a chill day where I hung out and shopped a bit before popping in the new Justin Timberlake CD (yes, CD.  I hadn't bought a CD since probably 2006!)  and heading home.

I had a great trip, despite coming back 3 pounds heavier (yes that chicken sandwich was TOTALLY worth it).  Not only did I get some friend time and got to see different parts of the city, I got a new 5K PR! :)  I feel like I touched the tip of the iceberg when I was in Cleveland.  There are so many things to do and see.  I would definitely love to go to the rock n roll hall of fame.  I was there once for 4 hours and it was definitely not enough time!

Just because other people with blogs say things like this, I will too:  No one paid me for talking about Cleveland/going to Cleveland.  It is a really cool city and I'm jealous of those who live there (seriously, I want movies to film in my city!).  Although I would have liked someone to pay for my trip...I did some serious damage to one of the credit cards I had paid off last month!

Mind Games

I have pretty high self-esteem.  Don’t get me wrong, I have my moments of self-doubt, but I generally think I’m a pretty kick ass person inside and out.  Perhaps it is a coping mechanism for life, who knows… Anyway, when it comes to races, it seems I have a bit of a mental block/lapse that I can actually do it.  If you recall, before my first 5K last year, SwimSis and I did the entire course a couple of times in the weeks before.  For me, I needed to know that I could complete it from start to finish or I would doubt myself during the race.  As for triathlons, it’s a little bit iffy.  I just got my bike in working order 8 days ago.  I’ve been doing spin classes with some regularity.  My mind is still very much doubting if I can do 11-12 miles on an actual bike (w/o falling, preferably) and then run a 5K. 

On Monday during our swim, Tri Coach Jeff said we were doing all out sprints.  I’m not a sprinter, never was.  500 yard freestyle was my main event.  But this is what goes through my mind:  What if I go all out on one or two and then I am just exhausted, can’t go fast at all?  Normally I would got 80% of my max and just stay at a comfortable pace for the duration of the set.  Well this set was pretty short with long periods of rest, so it was a lot easier to go all out.  I was very, very tired nonetheless and did sprint each and every one.  My shoulders were SO sore afterwards!  So I got that fear over with and he launches into our “mock tri” that is Wednesday.  I quiz him about every little detail, where we are riding/running, how far, etc.  I keep saying “okay, sounds good”, but my face has a look of terror that is not intentional.

I'm afraid.  I’m afraid I’ll fail.  I’m afraid I’ll embarrass myself.  With a risk, there is always a chance to fail.  I’m taking that chance.  My current plan is to be present in each event, not worrying about the next, and give 100% in the swim and play the rest by ear.  I don’t have to be first, I might be last, but I will be okay.

At least that’s what I’m telling myself!

What are your strategies to get over your fears?

Is it easy for you to give 100%?



PS Here is a random pic of flowers I got for executive assistant's day...secretary's day...administrative assistant's day...administrative professional day...very good at helping day, lol! What ever it is called!

April Showers Bring May Mud

A few posts ago I mentioned that I was going to a triathlon session at a local bike shop.  And I was nervous.  I showed up on time and got my nametag, a seat, and an informational packet. The itinerary was something like

-Food and social interaction
-Presentation by triathlete/triathlon coach
-Shopping
-Door prizes

Let's be honest.  I knew I was going when I saw "door prizes".  I am usually good at winning stuff.

It was a little awkward at first but I had conversations with a couple of people who were also looking into doing their first triathlon.  It feels weird to say, but it was comforting knowing that there were others with the same fears!  


The event was free so I was surprised by the amount of food!  Subway sandwiches, fruit platters, trail mix, cookies, and drinks.  Oh my!  I had already had many (3!) sweets that day, so I had to pass on the cookies even though they looked great.  During this time, we also put our tickets into the prizes baskets for the drawing.  You had one ticket and could enter it for one specific prize (out of about 6 or 7).  There were some cool things, which I knew would get a lot of ticket entries.  I put mine into one for something less exciting...Camelbak Elixir in "lemon lime" flavor.

I believe the presentation was a half hour.  If you're talking about triathlons, specifically training and races and transitions, a half hour isn't a whole lot of time.  The information wasn't anything earth shattering to me, but it did make me nervous!  :)  There's just a lot that goes in to a triathlon.  Something I hadn't thought a lot about before was the amount of training you should invest into each of the three sports.  He said to focus on your weaknesses or if you're pretty even, then train for each sport based on the percentage it takes of the triathlon.

Oh, fart.  That probably means I am swimming too much (is there such a thing?!?) and cycling and running too little.  That is definitely something I did not like, but I started to warm to the idea.

After the presentation was "shopping" where they gave us a discount coupon and set us free in the store.  I talked to a salesman about his triathlon experience and then rummaged through the discount bin (which I later found out was not included w/the coupon, boo!) while chatting with my Trifit teammate, Rob.  Then it was time for the prizes.  My prize was third to be picked and my number was called! Holla!

I chatted with Rob and the organizer of the event for a little bit and then found a new friend named Melody (If you're reading this, HI MELODY!).  I almost  told her about my blog in person, but I was too freaking shy about it.  Story of my life!  Also, I haven't told anyone in real life about my blog :)  But she gave me her email, so in the end, I did let her know!

So all of that gave me a little bit more motivation to kick it in gear this week.  Here's the rundown!

Monday:  Bike repair workshop with Trifit. Coach Jeff brought his bike in and showed us how to do tire repairs and some other basic things.  Basically, I will pray I never get a flat, but carry the tools with me to fix it!  After that I ran on the treadmill with 0.25 warm up and cool downs and a mile at 4.3 in the middle.  It felt pretty hard, but I stuck it out.  I am having issues with my feet, the arches specifically.  It is nothing I can't workout through, but while cycling or running, about a mile in, my arches cramp up for a while, and then it goes away.  Just annoying, but I wonder if I need new shoes, etc. (I'm hoping I don't need new shoes, I have spent WAAAY too much $ on cycling!).  After that I hit up the beginner spin class.

Tuesday:  Went to Yoga and we had 9 people which is a lot for that class :)  Most of us are beginners and there is one lady who is way more advanced, but it is fun to watch her sometimes.  Then I took my bike into the shop, like I detailed in my last post.

Wednesday:  I had to work at the church, but I wanted to get a run in beforehand, like last month.  It was 80, so it was pretty warm.  Luckily, the nature preserve had blossomed gloriously :) and it was gorgeous.  It was much muddier than I expected.  I guess that record breaking precipitation in April had really gotten the best of the nature preserve.  It made me laugh to think that last summer we had a drought and most of the creek beds and paths were bone dry and the earth was cracked then, but now the creeks were very high, the paths were muddy in spots, and the "swamp" that was not there last year was recognizably swampy today.  My legs felt very tired on this run and I totally doubted any physical fitness I think that I might possess.  However, I remembered in May/June last year, I was ecstatic to run the swamp loop (about 4 minutes) without stopping.  It was quick, about 24 minutes total.  I drove over to my fave froyo place for dinner :) and then hurried on to the church.  I had the 1-2 year olds, and they were a little nuts.  I drove home and I knew I HAD to get my bike out.  It was about 9:30 at this point, but I needed some more practice!  I played around with the gears and was unsuccessful at getting both feet in the pedals, but eh, such is life.  I did tip over but catch myself before falling.  Apparently the gears scratched my leg and I was bleeding a little.  Still felt pretty badass showering off the mud and blood at the end of the day.  Plus, it felt great to be outside so much.  I really missed it over the winter.

Thursday:  I had a choice:  ride my bike outside or go to spin class.  The day, again, was gorgeous.  I knew I wanted a good workout, but would probably make a fool of myself if I rode on the main trail in town.  The last thing I need is trying to watch out for tons of other cyclists, walkers, runners, people and their dogs, and kids.  I chose the spin class.  One at YMCA C was at 6:30 and YMCA B was at 5:45.  I had been getting home so late for the past couple of weeks, I just wanted to be done and get home early (really my room is such a pit!).  So I went to the class at YMCA B.  I hadn't done one here before, but I sucked it up and went.  I walked into the room, which is a multipurpose room, housing a bunch of other things.  The handlebars on the bikes were different than the other YMCA, so that was weird.  The instructor turned off the lights and turned on a strand of rope lights that went around the room.  She pumped up the music and we were off!  I've done one other full hour spin class before, and it was hard, but it wasn't impossible.  This one, it was hard!  Rests between intervals weren't sitting down at a lower resistance, they were out of the saddle aka standing and peddling.  Oh my legs were so tired so quickly!  If it had been my first spin class, I might have walked out crying in the middle!  I worked much harder than I ever had before and close to the end, the sweat was streaming down my arm ( I could feel it drip-dripping off!).  At the end of the class, when the lights were turned back on, I could see all the salt residue where my hands had gripped the handlebars during the class.  Felt hardcore.  Well, until the instructor told us that she wouldn't be there next week because she was pregnant and going for her first sonogram.  LOL that pregnant lady just OWNED me! 

I was so excited to get home by 7!  Oh the things I was going to do! Clean, shave my legs, maybe eat sitting down.  It's the little things in life!  SwimSis was at a different YMCA when I got home, and Coach wanted to know if I could watch SwimTot while he met his friends for a beer.  Yeah, that is fine, you know I love my SwimTot.  She wanted to ride her bike outside and I wanted to check out this lake a little ways down the road that I always see when I drive by.  I ate (standing in the kitchen!) while she rode her bike around the kitchen, lol.  We set off and lake was very pretty.  We talked about a lot of things like what happens when you mail a letter, what our favorite colors were, "outside restrooms"aka port o pottys.  haha!  I didn't know exactly when the turn around would be, but the lake doesn't look very big from the road, so we just kept going.  And going.  And going.   By the time we got the far side of the lake, SwimTot was saying she was tired!  And let's be honest, I was too!   I had been running/walking with her on this trip.  After a discussion about "bad words", she tells me "we don't say kill".  Then like 5 minutes later she says the word "murderer".  What?!?  Kid doesn't even know what that means, but I told her and hopefully she doesn't say it again.  She did reprimand me earlier in the evening because I said "that spin class almost killed me!" :)  Long ride short, I had to call SwimSis to come pick us up.  The "small" lake is bigger than I anticipated.  We went 3 miles, which is exactly 2 miles longer than I anticipated!

The accidental route. Can you envision how small it looks from the main road there at the top?

Friday:  Beautiful, glorious rest day.

Saturday:  There was a very large half marathon happening in town, so SwimSis and I were both babysitting for people who were running/their family was running.  I made it to 40 minutes of Pilates class.  In the afternoon, I decided I need more of a ride on my bike that I had been doing around the apartment complex.  I am very, very lucky that my neighborhood has bike lanes on the main roads and the adjacent subdivision is part of a designated "biking greenway", so people are pretty aware of cyclists and vice versa.  That, however, does not mean that it is not terrifying to ride in the bike lane on the main road.  Holy crap I was freaking out inside!  I was thinking "I only have a helmet?!?  I need full armor!".  I was only on the main road for less thatn 1/10th of a mile before I turned into the subdivision :)  The ride in the subdivision was pretty uneventful.  I practiced my hand signals for turning and felt a little silly and uncoordinated.  I was tired, so I called it a short ride at 3-3 1/2 miles.  The only thing was that I had to turn out of the subdivision onto the main road to go back home.  I knew what I had to do in my head.  Right foot at about 3 o'clock, push off with the left, get my rear in the seat, and pedal furiously all the way home.  Well....getting my rear in the seat didn't go as planned.  My rear is pretty flat and sometimes my clothing has extra fabric in that area.  When I went to put my rear on the seat, that fabric got caught underneath, not allowing me to put my rear on the seat at all.  So I fell over.  I couldn't get my right foot out of the toe cage in time, so I put my hands down (thank you Jesus for cycling gloves!) and hit my knee and hip a little.  As I was pretty embarrassed, I said a choice word, picked myself up, took a minute to get my footing and get situated again before trying.  Second time was a success.  I was shaky till I turned into the apt complex, but hey, I embarrass myself on the regular, so this wasn't such a big deal.  First fall on the bike...check!

Do I look like a real cyclist? haha!

New scratch from gears next to old scratch from gears.

Wee bit 'o road rash

Tried out these tri shorts

They feel too small in the stomach

Basically, I would like them to cover my love handles better!

I did go to Dick's Sporting Goods and found 2 pairs of bike shorts that should work.  Should being the key word.  I picked up some other stuff for my bike (water bottle cage, lights). I tried on a couple of clearance pairs of women's athletic shorts.  But they really all had like 3.5 inch inseam.  3.5 inch inseam is a frightening thing!

In other news:  My eating has been a little out of hand on the weekends and it makes my healthy eating, or attempts at it during the week pretty miserable.  I feel like I'm grasping at straws as to healthy things I want to eat.  Blerg.

Weight is still going down, but slowly.  233 this week.

Work is becoming stressful as I'm taking a lil trip to see some friends this next weekend (cramming a week's worth into a couple of days) and one of my coworkers is very pregnant.  I asked her when her last day was.  She said "whenever my water breaks".  Uh, Imma all be acting like a man if that happens at work.  Or everytime I interact with her, I'll feel like walking away slowly as to not disrupt the earth's balance and I will speak in quiet tones.

I went to a service at the church that I work at today and it was about worrying vs being joyful.  Definitely feeling more of the worry than I should :/  Going into another week, gonna make it a good one.  Hope you all do too!

Any embarrassing workout stories from anyone else on the interwebs this week?

Is there anything making you worry this week?

Did anyone realize I haven't swam in over a week?  Maybe that will ease my anxiety :)