Thursday, November 6, 2014

2 Race Recaps

I have a few minutes to breathe (read: blog) because I have the day off for election day. Did you all vote? I did not register after I moved here, so I'm not going to today :/ I am cosy-ed up on this rainy day with some laundry going, about to cook some soup and watching the third season of Luther.

Well, now that its fall, I might as well recap some of my races from this summer! Sprint Tri - In June I did a Sprint Tri in a super cute picturesque little town. It was my first tri of the year and I needed it under my belt to get my confidence up before my Olympic Tri in August.

 I signed up for the Athena (165+ lbs) category. I was able to run some of the course a few weeks beforehand after my open water swim at a nearby lake (the town is actually nicknamed "lake city" as there are so many in a small area).  I tried to mimic my outfit as closely as possible during that run.  Going into this tri I felt pretty good!   The morning of, the usual nerves set in and I was running late, so I just brought my peanut butter and rice cakes with me (I had a pb and rice cakes phase over the summer!).  I didn't get there early enough to park close, so I hauled all of my stuff the 3/4 mile to transition.  I saw my friend's dad on my way to check in (sidenote:  totally got beat by him!)  and as I am a USAT member this year, I got to skip the long line and pick my things up just by showing id.  It was nice! 

I racked my bike on the far end of my row, which was set up in a parking lot and sat down to eat my pb and rice cakes.  I am shy, but I did end up talking to a guy who put his bike next to mine.  I asked how many triathlons he had done - he had a very nice bike with aero bars and his tri suit looked to be of good quality too.  He told me it was his first ever - which I didn't believe until he asked how he was supposed to pin his bib to his tri top if it was going to get wet during the swim (answer:  don't wear your tri top during the swim or use a race belt and put it on before the run).  There was only a flimsy orange fence in between the transition area and the spectators.  I went to the bathroom and came back to my spot right by the fence.  A rather aloof spectator had his dog with him.  And, of course, that dog had it's head under the fence licking the pb off of the knife i had brought and the jar.  I am NOT an animal person, so I was extremely grossed out.  I actually threw the pb away :)

They called all of our waves to the beach for the start.  I got ready to go, but then I realized that the Athena group was starting with the 60+ women.  One of the last waves - womp, womp!  I probably waited a half hour before I got to start.  I lined up in the water with my group and put my goggles on.  Did I grab the old ones from my bag?  These were awfully foggy.  Oh well, I started off strong when they blew the whistle.  I couldn't really see anything, and something else was wrong - very wrong.  I had on my usual triathlon sports bra with my swimsuit over it.  But....it was the same one as last year.  As in, the same size as last year.  I am not the same size as I was last year!  "The girls" felt like nothing was holding them back and I had to stop swimming so I could make sure I didn't flash anyone, but I can't be 100% sure I didn't!  Near the turnaround point it was getting really congested and not only was I running into/very close to my wave, but also the 60+ male age group that went right before us (sidenote:  hello 60+ males! there are some in shape older dudes!).  One the way back to shore, I could not see a darn thing. I had to stop and tread water a couple of times in order to lift my goggles up and look for the beach.  I had a very bad feeling at this point.  Swimming is my best sport of the three and I was bombing the swim!

Please note the age of this man who came in 1 spot ahead of me...
I am pretty embarrassed at that swim time!  In transition, I got to my bike and the gentleman I had been next to must have accidentally hit my bike while taking his off because my helmet, gloves, shot blocks and sunglasses were on the ground.  Transition took a good chunk of time, but I was off and ready for this 13 mile bike ride.  There is a decent hill on the way out of the small town we were in, then it was country roads until I hit the turn around at the next little town over.  The ride was very interesting.  The smells were definitely not what I smell here while biking on the city trails!  A few people were cheering in their yards.  The kids are always cute, but the lady who was apathetically yelling "better you than me!" was probably my favorite.  The ride felt decently hard on the way out and was a little more comfortable on the way back.  I really wanted to be under an hour on the bike, but I was just barely over.  Probably would have been under, but there were some technical areas on the way back - downhill through a bank parking lot?  Strange!

I got back to transition and the guy next to me was finished - as were plenty of other people.  The majority of the run was what I had done when I visited after the open water swim earlier in the month.  Through the paved trails, into and around a subdivision, back on the trails and a bit through town.  I can't remember exactly how far the run was, but I think it was around 3.5 miles or so.  I was getting closer to the finish and could hear the crowd so I started to kick it in.  Unfortunately, it was a loud crowd and I was going way much faster than was comfortable, haha!  My run time was a minute a mile faster than any of my tris last year.  Very happy with that progress!

A cold washcloth at the finish line was wonderful!  I entered the post race food area and was overwhelmed!  I was asked what kind of pizza I would like - as in from which company.  They had pizzas from 3 different places, and chicken, pasta, cookies, veggies, fruit, drinks, etc.  wow!  I got a plate and talked to some women I had started with in the athena category and had some laughs.  The course is on the edge of a college campus, so I took a stroll afterwards and found a really creepy statue!

I headed for home and when I walked in the door, my sister asked when I would be ready to go to the lake with our family.  No rest for me!  I dropped off my bike and other triathlon stuff and headed out for the boat to spend the rest of the day with my family.  I really, really liked this tri and will hopefully be back next year.  I have some obvious areas of improvement, but it was a fun race despite my screw ups!

The next week I had a 4.5 mile  race on the 4th of July.  Luckily, this one was close to my house!  Before the race, I had my pb and rice cakes, naturally and hung around the library until it was time to start.  I lined up near the back and we were off!  I don't usually think of my (old) town as hilly, but geez the little bit of rolling hills were not making me happy!

 I started out at a good pace and tried to maintain the run 4 minutes, walk 1 minute ratio I had been doing all summer (in preparation for my Olympic tri).  Soon enough, the crowd thinned out and I was leap frogging people on the main trail in town that is shaded.  My first mile was about 12:30 and my second 13 something.  Miles 3-4 were mainly uphill and I wanted to walk badly, but there was a parade soon after the race so there were a ton of people watching so I had to be accountable!  Plus there were several kids running at my pace, I had to keep up what I had started!

We turned onto the home stretch with a quarter mile left.  My main goal was to finish in under an hour.  I ran that last stretch as hard as a could (this time passing a 70 year old man) and I saw the clock was over an hour, but I knew I hadn't crossed the starting line right away.  I hit my watch as I crossed and there was the answer!


 Yay!  Mission Accomplished.  Post-race, I grabbed as many freebies as I could.  I love keeping a full "snack box" in my car if I need something before/after a workout and races usually keep it updated!  I went home, grabbed my swim stuff and headed to the pool to get a swim in!  Unfortunately, I had misplaced my swim cap and had to swim the entire thing without one, womp womp.  The rest of the fourth of july found me with a carry out salad and a pint of ice cream.  :) 

Later that day, I was looking at the race results online and I saw that one of my good friends who lives HOURS out of town, and whom I had plans with later, had actually run the race with her family and had finished 59 seconds before me, but I NEVER saw her.  How crazy is that?  I guess it's a where's waldo situation when you have 950 running at the same time!




I can't wait to update my blog about my Olympic triathlon - it was quite an experience and I trained really hard for it.  Since then, I have not been as active (let's be honest, the 6-7 workouts a week kind of took over my life!), but still maintaining the same weight as late August. 

My precioussssss :)
Can't take me anywhere
Post-race
Ah, cold wash cloth! 
"running" down this hill verified that I am a weeny - so scary!
Ah, so picturesque.  Oh, an interesting statue...
DON'T BLINK
Post tri treat, yum!

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Different, but the same.

27
29
275lbs
205lbs
Happy
Happy
Walks a mile a couple of times a week
Trains for an Olympic Triathlon
Loves her body
Loves her body
Hasn’t been on a bike in years
Bikes regularly
Thighs rub together
Thighs still rub together

I wanted to write this for a little while, but am just now making the time. I am different than I was 2 years ago, but still very much the same. I feel like a lot of women are down on themselves for what they look like/their size. But you can truly be happy and still want to improve. I think the difference is your goal. My goal has always been to get healthy. Weightloss is a welcomed side effect. If you're not happy now, will you really be happy when you lose weight? We have to love ourselves first! Identify bad habits, then work on the issues that cause them. (Lord knows issues will still be issues if you only treat the symptom of the problem!) I'm currently in the throes (sp?) of training. Next week is a very lovely taper and my BIG tri will be here before I know it! I'm slightly sorry I'm not blogging more, but life is exciting and my computer is slow. Love you all tons!

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Busy June

Wow, this month is crazy!  I'm someone who loves their routine, but also the occasional adventure.  June has had lots of adventures and I'm ready for life to slow down a little bit!

All charts brought to you by Bia Sport!  So happy that I backed their Kickstarter campaign.  This is my first GPS watch, so there may be some user error involved!

Workouts have been really consistent due to my Olympic triathlon training.  My weeks are basically swim, bike, run x 2 for 6 workouts a week.  I missed a ride over Memorial Day weekend, so I tacked it on to the first week in June.  I have been running on a Monday-Sunday training week (aka my "week"starts on Monday)

June 2-8.  Need: 2 swims, 45 min bike x 2, 35 min run x 2. + 60 min bike from previous week.  (this was a scaled back week in training).
Monday: supposed to run w/group.  got rained out.  Put in 30 min on the treadmill, 30 min on stationary bike at YMCA.
Tuesday: AM swim, PM yoga
Wednesday: Morning ride.  Radar showed rain a ways off.  It wasn't raining when I woke up.  I got out the door and it started sprinkling.  I wasn't going to let rain show me up!  However, it was steady enough for me to only go a mile from home and ride some repeats down my favorite street.  Only got 30 minutes in until the lightning/thunder got close and I had to bail!
 Forgot to start my watch until I was halfway through!



Thursday: AM swim with the new coach.  Eh.  I just wanted my coach who knows me and can push me.  It was okay and pretty easy.  PM 40 Min run.  Felt awful.  Legs were heavy, lungs were tight. Decent pace, though!

Friday: Glorious rest.
Saturday: Garage sales :) ha!
Sunday: 90 min bike trainer ride.  I had those two 45 min bike rides to get in, so I just combined them.  I got to space out on the bike trainer and it went pretty fast.  Why didn't I use this more in winter?

June 9-15 Needed: Swim x 2, run 50/45 mins, Bike 75 min x 2.
Monday: 45 min run.  Slower pace once I hit trails instead of pavement.

Tuesday:  75 min bike trainer ride.
Wednesday:  Morning swim.  Swam outdoors in a 50meter pool.  Tried the GPS watch for kicks.  I swam "a mile" 1500m (a swimmer's mile).  The time was right and the distance was pretty darn close. (1500m=0.93 miles).  But that GPS map! LOL
I think my flip turns threw it off, because that was when it was under the water.  I swear I just swam down the black line in the middle of the lane!
Thursday: Rest (AKA BOUGHT A CAR!!!)
Friday: Rest.
Saturday:  1 mile open water swimming race!  A few posts ago I said I was doing this one, but could have done a longer one 50 minutes away.  I'm glad I stuck to this one!  It was great!  It was about 2 hours away, but the drive wasn't that bad.  I got to registration and got my stuff. Did the sunscreen thing, and then was hanging out near the beach.  The race isn't huge, but the race director coming over and introducing himself was very nice.  I warmed up and wasn't super confident because everyone looked so fast!  But the water was a perfect temperature and remarkably clear.  We had our pre-race meeting and I was off before I knew it!


Lord knows what I did to make this a "run"on my watch, but at least I got my time and the GPS looked a ton better than Wednesday's swim!!!  I definitely believe I did 1.04 miles - sighting is hard!  I was next to a man the entire time!  In that first part of the triangle, out to the left, he was weaving in front of me and it was very annoying!  So many times I tried to get ahead of him, but I just couldn't.  Around the halfway point, i was in survival mode - soooo tired!

I only got kicked on the last turn.  There were about 4 of us turning at the same time at the buoy and I turned and then did 2 breastroke strokes to make sure I had sight of the buoy at the end.  In that moment, the people behind me kept doing freestyle and my legs were under someone when I tried to kick and I got kicked as well.  It was amusing to me!  We got to the end and I had wanted to make it under 1/2 hour, but I knew i was probably over.  I swam the best pace I could and the race ended on the beach.  I swam till 2 strokes hit the sand, stood up, and jogged over the finish mat.  And wouldn't you know it, that sneaky little bastard that I had been next to and was ahead of at the end SPRINTED out of the water and crossed 2 seconds before me?  Rude.  haha!

I took off my timing chip, handed it to a volunteer and was promptly greeted by a congratulatory handshake from the race director.  What?!?  Small race in small town America - can't beat it!  I felt awful and dehydrated, so I downed a gatorade and hung out near the finish.  The race was supposed to cut off at an hour, but the last person was a few minutes over.  Do you really think this nice race director would pull the oldest competitor out of the water because of the time limit?  No!  When she crossed the finish line, there was as much cheering for her as, I imagine, the winner.  Made me happy!  They got through the awards and door prizes - I didn't win any (I was hoping for a door prize!).  I went to look at the results and found the sheet for women's results.  I look down at the bottom half of the list..um..not there...kept going up and - holy smokes!  I got 5/18!  I was VERY happy with that.  I wasn't anywhere close to the top 3, but was about 45 seconds behind 4th place.  And the kicker - I recognized a girl's name I used to race against in high school...I beat her by a lot! :)

Now, I was TIRED.  And I knew I needed to run.  I didn't see any good routes close to this lake.  And if I got in the car and went to my dad's, I know I definitely wouldn't run.  And I skipped the run today, I wouldn't do it tomorrow.  But, if I did it today, in this town, I could get one of my favorite lunches that we don't have in the city!  A light bulb went off!  The people who did the timing was a running company from that town.  I asked them for suggestions and they suggested a park with plenty of greenways 10 minutes away.  Perfect!

I had a banana, nutrigrain bar, and some water and I was finally feeling a lot better.  My run started by feeling tired, but not impossible.  I had bargained that I would do 4:1 run/walk ratios so that I wouldn't beat myself up if I was too tired to run for a very long time.  The first mile wasn't amazing, the second mile was pretty slow, the third mile, for some reason, I picked the speed up and I was not impossibly tired, and the final 3/4 of a mile, I was determined to be "fast".  Negative split the second half...not too shabby!

Reward meal earned! (Taco  salad, chips & salsa, plus a pop, but the pop was gross)

Sunday: Father's Day.  I had SwimKid and we did the church thing then came home for a nap.  At 6pm, we had to get in a hike (her request), go grocery shopping, do dinner, a bath, and I needed that final bike trainer ride.  All in 4 hours.  Yikes!  Luckily I rushed her along in the hike and when we went grocery shopping she asked if she could pick out a snack.  I was reluctant because we had froyo for lunch, but I said sure.  And wouldn't you know it - that kid picked out a banana as a treat.  Without prompting from me.  Are we even related?  She had eggs, broccoli, and a banana for dinner.  I had leftovers of some pasta and garlic bread. Her meal wins!  I got 10 mins of bike riding in while she was in the bath, then 40 more after she was out.  Then I was exhausted and it was past my bedtime, so I scraped the remaining 25 minutes.  Oh well! :)

June 16-22.  Need swim x 2, run 50/55 mins, ride 90 mins, ride 90mins+10 min transition run.
Monday: 90 minute bike trainer ride.  Felt good to have one crossed off the list right off the bat.
Tuesday: AM swims (maps/yards were all over the place), PM yoga.
Wednesday: 55 min run on the indoor track as it was storming out.  Then bowling w/my small group.
Thursday: There was like 1 bolt of lightning at 6am, so they closed the pool.  I decided to do my other run, as I was going to do it after work anyway.  It was a gorgeous morning, albeit humid!
Not awful for having run 12 hours prior.
I was going to do a swim in the evening, but it was storming (again).  So I just went home and will tack it on to the next week.
Friday: Worked a conference.  Childcare burns a lot more calories than sitting at my desk all day. #hungry
Saturday: Same conference.
Sunday: Half day at the conference.  Came home, ate, text people about biking.  No one was in, so I took a hardcore nap.  I did a 90 minute ride later that evening with a 10 minute transition run. SwimKid was with me, so she was running in her pjs and flip flops, so my pace was far from stellar.  At least I got it done!

June 23-29.  Need Swim x 3 (1 makeup from last week), run 55/60 mins, bike 90 mins x 2.
Monday: 90 min bike trainer ride.  Finished Sherlock season 3.  Really, BBC?  Not a fan of that ending.  I'm a huge fan of the books and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have done something like that.
Tuesday:  AM swim.  Very threatening clouds, but no lightning!  Yoga was cancelled due to tornado warnings!
Planned: Wednesday: 60 min run w/small group from church
Thursday: AM swim, PM nails done - yeah!
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Triathlon!  600 yd swim, 14 mile bike, 3.7 mile run.  yeah, I'm counting this as 1 swim, 1 bike, and 1 run.  I may ride a little Wednesday or Thursday because I haven't ridden outside since the beginning of the month!

Whew, just typing all that made me tired.

I am not enjoying tri training as much as I did last year.  This month has been hard because I've had a lot to do and my tri group from the Y has a very different training schedule than last year.  Definitely excuses, but it is annoying.  Last summer I had 1 activity every day and I was training for a sprint tri which meant 1 a day was good enough and whatever the group did was good enough.  This Olympic tri means more training and this summer a lot of it is by myself.  Wahhhhh....

I don't know how people train for Ironman races!

Food has been okay except for this last week.  Let's take today for example.  Breakfast was breakfast sandwich and veggies (decent), lunch was baked chicken and veggies (good!), I came home and had 2 breadsticks + marinara sauce, chips & hummus, half a hershey's bar, and more chips (freaking awful!).  Sigh.  Planning would be a good thing to do!

Sorry for a lack of real pics!  My phone had so many amazing pics for this post, but it died on Sunday and I am not able to recover ANYTHING!!! Boooooo....

A gold star for anyone who actually finished this post.  Let me know where to mail it :)

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Changing things up

**oops!  meant to post this like a week and a half ago....**


In the past week – and even the past 4 days, I have changed/added several things!
I don’t stick to goals a lot and just meander around.  What can I say?  I like doing my own thing!  But I have some goals related to my Olympic tri in early August and my fitness in general that I would like to achieve.  Thus, I have hired a health coach. 
When we met on Monday, I said that one of my goals was to remain injury free.  She asked what I was doing to work toward that goal.  Uh – nothing?  I rarely stretch and although I do attend yoga once a week, I can definitely be more proactive in this area. 
My favorite question she had to ask was definitely about my pooping habits.  That answer/response puts your relationship to the next level! Haha
I have been around 205lbs for quite a while now.  I have always said my fitness comes first and whatever weight I lose is great, but UGH I WANT TO BE UNDER 200 POUNDS.  The high 190s is what I was when I graduated high school/went to college.  It’s been a while!  I took matters into my own hands and ate a breakfast sandwich for…breakfast, delicious salad and an apple for lunch and had my favorite soup for dinner every day last week. No snacks.  Only thing other than tons of water was spark once a day. Where did it get me?  Haha I did not lose weight last week!  Now, there could be several factors involved, of course.  I wrote a whole post out and included what I ate at every meal.  And then to not lose weight was disappointing. This is why I don’t like to focus on weight. 
So, I joined a Diet Bet.  Now, I’m fully expecting not to win.  At this point, 4% would be 8.2lbs and I don’t see that happening.  But it will be nice to have a goal with a time limit and cheer the other betters on. 
If I were strict with my diet and focused on that, I think I might be able to do it.  But I realized last week that my Olympic tri is ONLY 11 weeks (now 10) away!  Uh, training plan anybody?  I had marked one down, but that plan had weird rest days and would more often than not have workouts like “Tuesday:  20 min swim, 40 min bike”.  Which is fine, but that’s a lot of gear to have at once and really – am I going to ONLY swim 20 minutes?  Likely not!  I was perusing Midwest triathlons last week and came across this Olympic tri that had a training plan right on the website.  http://leonstriathlon.com/schedule-olympic-triathlon-training.php   The plan has you training 6 days a week, which I don’t intend to do, but I can definitely get 6 workouts in per week. 
I love the flexibility of my single girl schedule.  Monday I was supposed to run, but had a horrendous headache and was in bed at 8pm after meeting with my health coach and hanging out with my brother a bit.  Tuesday was the normal back to back yoga/swim sessions.  Wednesday I was supposed to bike, but of course it was storming!  I decided I was going to go to the indoor track at the local rec center and get at least my 35 min run in, but aim for the 60 minute run that I had scheduled for Thursday evening.  I wasn’t too excited about running that long on the indoor track!  It was pouring when I got in the car, but when I arrived about 5 minutes later, the rain had ceased.  It wasn’t clear skies, but it was definitely clear for now!  I decided to do a loop around the rec center that I know is a little over a mile.  About 15 seconds into my run, it started raining, but it only lasted about 30 seconds.  It was so amazing to BE OUTSIDE and splish
splashing through little puddles and there were tons of little wildlife critters out.  The first mile is always the worst, or so I say.  About 1/3 of a mile in, I thought my hamstrings were going to give me serious trouble, but they loosened up, thankfully!  As I got back to the rec center, it was still clear, so I decided to hop on the main trail and head south for a half mile.  There are very good quarter mile markers on this trail and the streets intersect it every half mile, so it is very easy to keep track.  I got to the cross street to complete my half mile, but the mile marker was on the far side of the road.  So I crossed and decided to go another quarter mile.  As I turned around, it was soooo gorgeous with it being in the low 60s and a little bit of sun streaming through to the trail where trees cover most of it.  It wasn’t until this point that I saw another runner!  This trail is usually packed! When I saw how beautiful it was, I gasped
“Oh my Jesus!”  Haha, can’t stick to the normal exclamations!
I got back to the rec center at 3 miles and I knew that if I could go another quarter mile out and back, I could match my longest continuous run at 3.5 miles and stop for a rest/drink of water at the rec center.  I had to do a little running in circles around the entrance before my phone said 3.5.  It would have been fine, but there was definitely a high school couple having out with some PDA right there.  Oh well!  I paused my workout on my app and got a drink.  I walked to the other end of the rec center and restarted my running from that exit.  I had 15 more minutes left of running.  I didn’t know if I could run the whole time, but I would try!  When my app said I hit 4 miles, the pace said 10:41.  Now, one thing is for sure – if I’m running a 10:41 mile, I will only be running ONE mile!  My app definitely paused the time, but connected the distance from one side of rec center to the other!  Good thing I was running for time, not distance!

I made it to the hour mark and then walked back to my car.  It felt good to accomplish that on such a beautiful interpass between storms (I may have made that word up!) – it was pouring again not 15  minutes later!  I went home, made dinner, showered, and stretched and foam rolled.  Unfortunately, I’m super sore today.  To be made worse by swim practice this morning.  I’m really tired!  I still have a 50 min bike/35 min run left to get in this week.  I was going to do something else tonight, but I am tired/sore and got asked to babysit, so I just might do an early morning BRICK workout tomorrow.  I thought about it this morning as I was heading to swim practice – it was a perfect morning for a bike ride! 
All of that to say, I need my weekends to be weekends.  I’m getting more involved at the church and would like to have a social life too, and trying to fit in big miles just felt like a ton of pressure.  Again, just so thankful for my single girl schedule where I can do what I want, when I want!  
Also, I stopped going to Dunkin Donuts as my Saturday morning treat.  Their iced coffee was packed full of sugar and after drinking it, I would be hanging out at the church after prayer and feeling so shaky/awful.  Then I would go home and lay down for a few hours to recover.  Definite sugar overdose!  That also hurt my Saturday workouts, obvi. 
Lastly, I have signed up for 2 races this week – a 5 mile race (the 5K option was not timed – duh, I want to have a race timed!) It was only $18 and for a branch of the company that I work for.  A week from Saturday.  It’s a small race, so I’m 99% sure I’ll come in last, but hey I’ll be good as long as they don’t close the course on me!  Definitely going to bring my own water bottle – just in case!
The other I signed up for is a sprint triathlon.  I need to get a sprint in and this one had been on my radar for a long while.  A couple weeks ago, my frenemy Will told me that it was SUPER hilly.  But I’m not trusting him 100%/in denial/going to be a big girl about this.  It is near my hometown and we are having my family reunion that weekend, so it was really a no brainer as long as I get over my aversion of hills.  Note:  go ride more hills! 

As always, here are some pics! :)


Pics of the sky before my run - not too shabby this way
A little bit iffy this way
My favorite part - sorry wasn't going to stop running!
Just me and the empty (blurry) trail!
Went to take a selfie and someone almost backed into me. This is my concerned face.
#rundrunk
How did my biking the next morning go?  Here is a hint...

Monday, May 5, 2014

By Request

This post brought to you by my friend Lindsay!  We were having lunch yesterday after church and she totally segued out of a deep conversation with "...so, I've been reading your blog".  haha!  So here you go Linds!

Last 2 weeks in workouts:

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Yoga & Swimming
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: AM swim & 2mi PM run
Friday: AM Hot Yoga & 3mi PM hike
Saturday: 4.5mi run - of which, I ran 3.5 CONTINUOUS MILES.  Holy freaking crap, batman!  I remember writing this post and how excited I was that I had run 6 minutes without stopping.  My progress may be slow compared to others, but it is progress! 
Sunday: Rest

Monday:  Rest? I'm pretty sure I cooked this evening
Tuesday:  Yoga & Swimming
Wednesday: Planned to do weights and some treadmill time, but I ended up moving a lot of water, pop, and ice for a training my department was hosting.  It was at a buiding on our property that some people walk to and some people drive, I walked there a few times to check on things and geez all that heavy lifting!  I felt like my workout duty was accomplished!  No official workout!
Thursday:  AM swim
Friday: 2mi hike at my alma mater.  Frolicked in the lilac groves.  AMAZING!
Saturday:  Serve Day with the small groups at my church.  I'm in 2 small groups, so I did one landscaping project 8-12, church picnic 12-2, cleaning bike lanes 2-4 with my other group.  I then babysat at 6 and played basketball/scooter races with the boy after I put the baby down, which was another hour outside.  I was EXHAUSTED.
Sunday: I wanted a rest day, but my tri group with the Y was having their weekly bike ride and then going to a brewery afterwards to celebrate some birthdays.  I got in 13.5mi in a little under an hour and 15 mins.  I still stick out as the slow one...by several miles per hour!  There is my 21 year old frenemy who was putting out crazy miles - 24 mph!  I was happy to average 12.  Kind of disappointed that I spent $ on my bike trainer but didn't use it a ton over the winter.  Ah, well, time to pick it back up outside!

Today, I am resting because I am very tired!  Plus tomorrow I hope to get a bike ride in and go to yoga.  Oh yeah, I have tomorrow off because this little ole state is having primary elections.  Holla! 

Food:  See my last post!  Honestly, still eating the same things for lunch and dinner. Still delicious.  I am sorely out of breakfast ideas and was being lazy and drinking meal re placement drinks for breakfast, but my shakers are both dirty and I couldn't remember to bring them home and actually place them in the dishwasher.  So I have been eating cashews for breakfast.  LOL and ewwww.  Better than McD's at least?

I love this phrase that I have been seeing on FB and on other blogs:

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/4a/0c/f9/4a0cf99cbaaea98e727e5db9ac6b2b77.jpg

We are each on our own journey and have our own strengths and weaknesses.  Obviously what works for one person won't work for another, or else we would all take that one magic pill.  I am so proud of all my blogging friends who work hard and get results.  Whether it is 8 months to get to a goal weight or 8 years.  Whether you ran for 30 seconds without stopping or you ran a marathon.  I love it all and am so excited for every victory.

That's all for now!  As always, here are some pics!

New nose ring - a flower :)

TeenSwimSis did my makeup for Easter


Today's Cinco De Mayo nachos!  I added cilantro after this pic!
So freaking gorgeous.  Looooove it.
Stopped frolicking to smell the lilacs!
After my run in which I ran 3.5 miles WITHOUT STOPPING!  PS face is the same color as my shirt!
I was outside having lunch for an hour and a half tops and this is what happens! #pasty

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Three Things Thursday

Whew, when I don't blog...I don't blog - yikes.  Only half sorry about that.  Well, as my swim coach would say "sorry, not sorry!".


1.  With this blog, and with running and biking, I have had a mentality of "oh, if I do it at all, I have to do a super long catch up post, or 6 miles running, or 15 miles on my bike".  Then I don't do it at all!  I have to remind myself that even a little bit is enough.  I don't have to clear out an entire hour/hour and a half in my schedule to exercise.  Tonight I did 2 miles - 26 mins and I was done!  Enough to feel accomplished and a wee bit tired.


My exercise has been pretty solid these past 2 weeks.  Working out 5/7 days.  Last Saturday I was going to run/bike and I couldn't figure out which.  So instead I laid in my bed and watched Netflix for a couple hours.  :/  I ended up doing yoga in my backyard and it was perfect.  Sunshine plus "afternoon grounding yoga" was awesome.  I have started doing some you tube yoga workouts at home and I love the price and the convenience.

 
2.  My food has been hit or miss.  Here is a belated "what I ate Wednesday"!


Breakfast (not pictured - duh!):  I had fruit punch Spark and meal re placement shake from my Advo care stash.
Lunch was hummus chicken (again) but w/chicken thighs.  Not joking - 2 stores were out of chicken breasts around here on the day I grocery shopped!  Plus zuchinni basil soup with asiago cheese.  I used a bigger side on the shredder due to laziness and it just isn't the same.  Finely shredded tastes better! (yes it is the same brand of asiago).

 
2 after lunch chocolates from my admin assistant day gift.  One was walnut yuck - super duper sweet.  The other was dark chocolate carmel goodness.  No, I don't know what the acutal names are! :) 

Dinner:

My old stand by for the couple days before giving blood!  Spinach and red meat to get the iron up!  This is taco salad with ground beef, mushrooms, onions, mango habenero cheddar (ugh, too sweet), salsa, ranch, baby carrots and spinach. 

 Not pictured, but after this "dinner": a lone strawberry, half a piece of SwimKid's pizza, plus the crust of her first piece.  Ugh, weak moment.


3.  I'm signed up for an open water mile race in the middle of June.  Very excited!  There are literally 2 of these races in my mostly land-locked Midwest state.  One opened up for registration in the middle of last month and the other didn't even have their information updated on the website (like  no race date - just saying when last year's was!).  So I signed up for the open water mile.  This other one is up to a 5k - which would be awesome, so I just checked back last week.  And guess what...THEY'RE ON THE SAME EXACT DAY!!!  Ugh, dagger to the heart!  I haven't checked the start time of each yet, so there is a very small, minute chance that I would be able to do both.
The only other thing I'm signed up for right now is my big race of the year which will be an Olympic distance tri at the beginning of August.  It's downtown, which should be flat (thank you Jesus!).  I signed up to be in the Athena category (women over 165lbs - still over 200 right now...onederland soon?).  I had scoured previous year's results and there seems to be 0-3 women in this category every year, so if/when I finish, I would likely place.  Whereas I would definitely not place in my age group.
Still looking for something to do in July. 


Why are there like a million things to do in June and August, but July has like 3 events, none of which I want to do!  Let's see what other adventures await!  

  Some random pics:


After my first outdoor ride of the year - TERRIBLE winds.  7mph never made me feel so tired.
Obligatory dirty legs after cycling photo
These plus tulips were my gift for secretary's day - my department is so generous!

Monday, April 7, 2014

Losing Steam

Well every since my last post I have been losing my desire to exercise while simultaneously increasing my desire for bad food.  Blahhhhhhhhh.

Last week SwimSis & fam were on vacation in the nice Florida sun, so I had the place to myself.  I went into full out lazy mode!  I had 3 workouts all week - 2 yoga sessions and a 2 mile treadmill run on my lunch.  I sat around sooooo much and had a million excuses for why I wasn't working out, and why I was indulging my food desires.

Even today, I brought my workout clothes to work, so I could go run or lift afterwards.  Did I do either?  Nope, just made a quick stop at Target (for something non-edible, at least!) and came home, had a good dinner, and now I'm blogging.  Sigh.

I think I either need something that I find fun to do or at least something that is motivating.

I don't know what would be new or fun (perhaps this hip hop spin class? at the Y by my work?) or I might just sign up for the tri here in my town on the 26th of this month.  I'll be honest, the cycling part might break me, but I might be motivated to train for the next few weeks if I do have a race coming up.  We'll see!

One thing that I've been eating a lot is Chicken Tortilla Soup.  My friend sent me the recipe years ago and I didn't make it until this year!  I've changed the recipe to suit my tastes.  This time, I was making some for me and a friend who want a veggie packed chicken based soup, here it is:

-2 quarts chicken stock
-1 lb chicken
-1 jar salsa
-1 can of chickpeas
-1 can of black beans
-1 medium onion
-20 baby carrots :)
-10 stalks fresh asparagus
-1 yellow squash
-bay leaf
-cilantro both to add and some to garnish with
-shredded cheese for garnish
-sour cream for garnish
-tortilla chips

Add bay leaf, chicken stock and chopped onion to pot and bring to a boil.  Let simmer for 45 minutes.

Cook chicken and cop into pieces.  Chop rest of veggies up.  Add chicken, veggies, chickpeas, salsa, and cilantro to pot. Simmer for 45 minutes.

Garnish with extra cilantro, shredded cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips as wanted.  Enjoy!

I love this soup because it is delicious and super filling and doesn't leave me with cravings for bad things later in the evening.

I thought the squash soaked up the flavors so well and the asparagus was delicious too.  Glad I added what I had on hand!

Random Story
My brother in law showed me how to use the grill last week, which is in our backyard up against the shed.  The first day they were gone I decided to fire up the grill.  I was going to cook some chicken thighs, which I had never bought before.  I tend to be a worry wart about things so I told myself just to put the chicken on grill, go inside and wait 7 minutes - I was waiting till 8 minutes.  I was just minding my own business, chopping up some lettuce so I could be a good girl and have salad and chicken for dinner.  I heard a popping from outside.  I ran to the back door and I saw...part of the shed ON FIRE!!!  It wasn't a huge part of the shed on fire, but it was definitely ON FIRE.  I ran to the front of the house again and grabbed the fire extinguisher.  As I ran to the back, I pulled the pin and I wondered if I would actually work, so I squeezed the handle, it worked...inside...oops!  Right after that I got to the back door and went to town putting that fire out.

Talk about my heart racing!!!  So, I was like "well, I should grab the chicken off the grill".  I picked up the tongs that had been sitting there the whole time and took the chicken off the grill.  Sadly, those tongs were covered in fire extinguisher chemicals, so I had to go inside and throw it away!  My dinner of salad and chicken quickly took a turn into ice cream and a brownie.  It doesn't look too terribly bad, but when it was on fire...woah!

This was on April 1st, but thankful SwimSis and my friend know that I don't do April Fool's Day and this was real! 

In the daylight later in the week
See the fire extinguisher chemicals there on the bottom piece of chicken?
Right after the fire was out!

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Marching on!

I might be the corniest person ever.

March has been REALLY hard for me!  I had a mini burn out on my workouts and then just personal stuff that made me want to do something hilarious and irresponsible like drop pumpkins off a tall roof.  (ok, most random person?!?) to relieve the stress.  

I only worked out 3 days last week.  Like whaaaat?  When was the last time that happened?  No clue.  Sadly, I didn't feel more refreshed, but achy and stiff.  Having more time to pour over my personal problems didn't help either.  I feel better when working out consistently - got it!

I want to be running more.  I was really getting into pretty good shape when I was running 3 times a week earlier this year.  But I don't love running.  When I have a run scheduled during the week, it is likely by myself, so I would stay at work waaaay to long and then either skip the run because i felt pressed for time or I would cut the run short.   

This week has been a little chilly but full of sunshine, so here is what I have been up to:

Last week:

Monday: rest

Tuesday: 1 hr yoga, 1 hr swimming

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday:  6am swim. W/frenemy Will.  "If i touch your feel while swimming, it just means you should go faster" uh, no.  also we were supposed to do a really tough set on a certain interval for us (6 x 150 yds (50 build, 50 easy, 50 hard) on 2:30).  I made the first one with a few seconds to spare.  Made the second one right on the money.  And my last one slid all the way to 2:40 or 2:45.  Will has an injury, so he stopped after 2 of those 6, but I had kept on going.  I get out of the pool after practice and he goes "We really should have been making those on 2:30".  WE?!?  did the whole set!  haha what a snot nosed punk!

Friday:  Rest

Saturday:  5 miles with the tri group from church.  I was the only girl again.  And the slowest.  And I got lost because we had talked about going down a certain trail, but I didn't get the memo that we everyone else didn't go down that trail for a little out and back.  I met back up with them in the parking lot.  They said they had been worried.  LOL they must not know I get lost easily!  

Then I picked up SwimKid and we went on a "nature walk".  3 miles split in between pea gravel paths, raised platform paths, plain old dirt paths, and concrete.  She wanted to run and race me a couple of times.  The last time we "raced" was about 0.2 miles and she was faster than me and giggling the whole way.  She was shouting "you're so slow!  you're as slow as a snail!".  She stopped at a bench to rest and I sat down with her.  A few seconds later I asked if she was ready to go and she was not.  Glad I still have the distance over her speed, but her sass is unmatched! 

Sunday:  Rest.
Monday:  46 min walk in the sunshine.  Sooo good!  PS. I hate invisible fences.  I think your dog is running straight for me and then it stops 2 feet from me on the sidewalk.  Ugh.  

Tuesday: Yoga @ work.  Skipped swimming because I jacked up my neck (that bilateral breathing and flip turns don't compliment that injury well!).  Survived 35 mins on the bike trainer after that.

Wednesday: SwimSis' birthday!  I ate desserts and decorated the house with streamers with my trusty sidekick SwimKid (She's been upgraded from SwimTot). 

Thursday:  6am swim.  I was early!  LOL  I'm usually 10 mins late and today I was only 5 mins late!  Still stayed an hour.  My neck issues are still there, but we did a lot of backstroke, which is PERFECT for a neck issue.  I did 2 flip turns the whole practice.  I tried one at the beginning and decided to do touch turns.  Later, I was trying to beat the person swimming next to me (Tri Coach Jeff!) and forgot I wasn't supposed to do a flip turn b/c of my neck...whoops!

Friday: ??? Maybe yoga at a new place, maybe running, but hopefully something in the morning!  I've got dinner plans with a friend and no desire to squeeze in a quick workout before or after that.  

To wrap up my first real post in the longest, here is a weigh in:

204.8

So close to onederland!!!


And of course a million pictures from my phone:





Excited about this workout tank fitting...after having it for 4 years!
After a 6 mile run with friends from church tri group
TeenSwimSis came to visit!
Fruit punch spark
Ooh, sassy face!
Breakfast one day last week...delicious!
Beautiful sunrise after a terribly boring morning run
Hummus chicken and green beans, yum!

I tried this shirt on because it was funny...French bulldog pattern! Was so surprised that it actually fit! Shopped in a "normal"store!

A lazy pizza...leftover taco fillings + veggies and cheese!
Love this building!
New swim suit top!
Second runner up
J
Slippers compliment every dress...no?
So excited to finally fit I this dress!
Nails of the month...pink when warm...
Purple when cold
Hummus chicken (again) and zucchini and basil soup!
People don't know how to park if there are no lines to be seen...see them 3 deep in the back?!?
There was a whole lot of this in the past couple of months!
The best Valentine's Present I saw :)

Borrowing a kitchen while house sitting

Of course I made hummus chicken!
After my first 6 mile run.  That is 6 in sign language...had to have a free hand to take the selfie!
My blues were matching
Sassy,  again

Oops it's upside down! Got an amazingly cute hat from Nanny Jenny! 
It is cheap and adorable...go buy one from her!

Worked out after the babysitting kids went to bed...God bless monitors!
Wasa crackers, tuna, shredded radishes, lettuce = nom nom nom