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