The Things You Learn About Yourself

Adam has been traveling these last few weeks to a conference for school, so I have essentially living by myself.

It sucks.  A lot.  I miss him so much.  But! He's on his way home :D I pick him up tomorrow and I can. not. wait. !!!

But that is not what I wanted to write about, although it does factor in.

First, I find it much too easy to slide into unhealthy food choices when I am by myself.  Way too easy.  And I'm not going to lie, I slid down the slippery slope of bad-for-you food.  And I felt awful.  Not because of the guilt, although I am sure that was part of it, but I just felt sick to my stomach for days after I ate that crap.  Nauseous, yucky, uncomfortable. Blech.  Cooking healthy for one is definitely harder, but so worth it.  I never, EVER want to feel that way again.  If I indulge a little, like once in a blue moon, I don't think it will be like that.  I did have a few days pass after I had an indulgence and I felt fine.  It was when I indulged two, no I think it was three, days in a row for a meal each day, that I felt the worst for the next several days.

Blech. Blech. Blech.

But I also made another discovery over the last few months, and have an easy way to remedy the problem.

I like exercise and being active.  I enjoy playing sports and it's really fun to play team sports with friends.  I have many fond memories from my childhood of playing touch football on Saturdays with my family and neighbors.  And we (my Dad, brothers and now my hubby) still sometimes head to the local ballpark complex thing in my hometown to hit the ball around and play catch.  Invariably someone will pull a muscle or something.  But it's a lot of fun.  Family is super important to me and helping them stay healthy and be around as long as possible is a very big thing for me.

So, anyway, my biggest motivator it seems, is having some sort of 'event' breathing down my neck.

Which means I spent today looking up 5Ks in Michigan for me to run through out the winter.  (I don't do winter biking.  I am crazy, but not that crazy.)  I found one a month to run all the way through to the Capital City River Run event next year.  The first one up is the Turkeyman Trot on Thanksgiving morning.

You read that correctly.  I am hosting my first Thanksgiving this year, and I am running a 5K the morning of.  Yes sir/m'am.

Even though my work outs have been erratic since I started working, I want to have that extra push to keep it up.  Training for a 5K only takes 30 minutes, 3 days a week.  Am I tired when I get home from work? Yes.  I have been averaging 10,000 steps per day on days that I work, I'm on my feet, going from my desk to the copier, back to my desk, to the supply room and back, I'm everywhere baby!

But I know that I need to make my workouts more regular.  I have to.  The weight won't continue to come off if I don't get back on the regular exercise horse.

And stay away from the Pizza Rolls.

100 Miles and Pain In The Neck!

We did it!

After two months of training and riding and nutrition and hydration and pain and flat tires plus 8 hours and another flat, Adam and I rode a century on Sunday.  100 miles on a bike!  My first, and Adam's second.

Whew.

It was so much work, but so very much worth it.

I really need to re-paint my nails....

It took us 8 hours, and I earned 43 activity points.

43!

Here is where I would post a picture of Adam and I after we finished, but my phone died and Adam's phone erases pictures.  Fortunately, he tweeted the picture of my odometer so I could get this from the internets.

The first 25 miles were pretty good.  It was a beautiful day for a ride.  Sunny, white puffy clouds and a slight breeze that was a cross wind while we road the Rails to Trails from Reed City to Evart and into Clare County.  We stopped and ate a Clif Bar, then turned around to do the next 25 miles.  The wind changed direction at this point and was giving us a stiff head wind that made me very frustrated.  I hate  head winds.  They make things so much harder than they need to be!  We hit 50 miles when we arrived back at my parents' house for lunch.

We were there for about an hour, re-fueling, recovering and re-hydrating.  Then we set off for Big Rapids to avoid the head wind and get up to at least 75 miles before heading back to Reed City.  We rode on the White Pine Trail to Big Rapids until it ended, turned around and then just tooled around Big Rapids a little until we returned to the White Pine Trail.  We did circles on the North End Park loop (that hill going back up to the WPT is wicked!  It's almost straight up!)

We headed back to Reed City with 77 miles on our odometers.  Stopping at 2 Mile Road, we were 13.25 miles from the end.  Adam crossed 2 Mile first, and I followed.  I heard/felt a whump and then a flump flump flump flump.

I had another freaking flat.

This was like the FIFTH flat that I have had in three weeks.  And I had had enough.

I was tired, in pain and pissed beyond belief.

I may or may not have screamed at the top of my lungs a mixture of curse words and the fact that I had another flat up to Adam.

Adam couldn't believe it either and returned to me.  We started to change the flat and I called my parents to ask them to bring our bike pump so we wouldn't have to waste a CO2 tube.  My baby brother, Zack, came out in our car to bring us our pump.  He saved us.  While we were waiting for him, Adam broke one of my tire levers.  It probably broke from over use over the last few weeks.

With the flat fixed, Adam and I thanked Zack for his road side assistance (Zack thought it was cool because he got to drive "the team car" and save our butts) and hopped back on the bikes.

We rode the final three miles into Reed City, rode the spike up towards Cadillac to collect another mile or so then we set out to ride approximately a 0.8 mile loop in a criterium setting to do the final nine miles.

As we rode the criterium, darker and darker clouds rolled in.  It got to the point that even though we were working hard, we were getting chilly.  I even was wishing I had my thermal jersey and I have much more, erm, insulation than Adam does.  It spit on us a bit, but didn't truly start raining until we pulled into the driveway after our 100 miles were completed.

During our criterium, we passed a number of kids a number of times and they cheered us on every time we passed, it was so cute!

Then, as our odometers turned over 100 miles, we were holding hands and smiling like fools.  We had trained for this, we had worked  for this.  We had become masters of our own pain to ride 100 miles in a day.

We were tired.

We were cold.

We were hungry.

We were so freaking happy.

We had done it, and as the giddiness washed over us, the pain disappeared.  At least for the moment, my neck killed for the next three days!  Still hurts a bit actually...

Anyway!

After we rolled over 100 miles, I jokingly said, "Ok, mountain biking is next."

I only wonder how much I was joking....

Exercising More Than Once

I mentioned a few posts ago that I was changing my routine (again) and running M-W-F instead of just on the low (or no) miles bike days.

I've been experimenting with when I got for my run after we get back from our rides.  This is tricky, because I've never trained for two events at once before.  And I am by no means an expert, exact opposite actually.  But these are my experiences/experiments and I am sharing them with you, my imaginary, massive, audience.

First I tried just resting a bit before running, not eating or drinking anything.  That did not work.  I was sluggish and I just didn't feel very good while I was running.  My time sucked and my muscles, though rested a bit, were upset.

Then I tried just coming back from our ride, changing and just shooting right back out the door to run.  Huge flop.  Just BLECH!  I was a mess.  I was slow, joints hurt, muscles ached, I had stitches in my side the entire run.

It made me stop and walk portions when I wasn't supposed to.  It was so bad.  And I had to stop and stretch more because my muscles were seizing up.

Then, I hit upon the perfect plan.  I would come in from our ride, change, drink a glass of chocolate milk, eat some fruit and rest for about an hour, maybe an hour and a half.  Then I would head out and run.

MIRACLE OF MIRACLES!

I felt so great on my run today!  I got a small stitch in my side, but I was able to breathe through it.  My ankle never hurt, I didn't have to stop for anything.  Well, I did stop once because I mis-read the stop watch, but other than that, I was flying!

It was a beautiful day, I felt so good.  And when I got home, I still felt great!  I got a little drowsy after lunch, but I didn't nap.

I am so glad I found something that works!

What about you? How do you handle multiple workouts?

Rest Day for the Crazy

Ah, rest day!

It's a great day.  Until recently, I didn't really have an actual planned rest day, I would do a 5K training run on my century training rest day.  Ah, but genius of genius strokes, made me decide that I should, you know, actually rest from my crazy training schedule.  So now I switched to running Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

Having a whole day off is glorious!

I get up, make breakfast and head out to my weekly Weight Watchers meeting.  I weigh in, eat breakfast and stay for the meeting.  I usually text Adam and let him know how the weigh in went, read the weekly hand out and read my book for a little while before the meeting starts.

After the meeting, I go do laundry, and come home.

Ok, well, it's not really that exciting, but it's nice to not have to be out huffing and puffing my way around the complex to get my 5K training in.

The only thing that I would like to have to do instead is to have to work all that around a job.  (I didn't get the job I interviewed for last week :-(... which is why there are now ads on this site, I earned a whole penny the other day!)

So, aaaaanywaaaay, even though I love the biking and the running and the crazy schedule I have set out for myself, it's nice spending a whole day without giving my sebaceous glands a work out.

A whole day of being dry, and smelling nice. Aaaaaaahhhhhh!

Well, poo.

"Life is disappointing"

We went on our normal century training ride this morning.

"Woe is all I know!"

And my legs were really feeling yesterday's two hour work out.

"That's just how it goes"

And I was just getting into my stride when I felt a rock go under my front tire and then my back tire.

"Strife is never-ending"

And I felt it go, my back tire popped, I was pretty sure.  I asked Adam to look at my tire.  Yep. It's flat.

"Life is but a witch hunt"

We were kind of on a time crunch because Adam had to be back at a certain time to get to campus to go to a meeting.

A ride that promised to be great shot to hell.

So I sent Adam off to go get the car and come back and get me.  I sat in a ditch by the side of the road and played Blast Monkey on my phone.

While I sat there, several more cyclists happened passed.  Only one of them didn't say anything or ask if I was ok. Hmph!  Thanks to those who asked, though, your kindness is greatly appreciated.

One thing that kind of disappointed me was that not a single car stopped to ask if I was ok. Not one. I know that if I saw someone sitting in the ditch by the side of the road, even if they were sitting up, I'd still stop and see if they were ok.

As Stephanie from Full House used to say, "How Rude!"

I was really disappointed that our ride was cut short like that.  It had serious promise to be a rip-roaring good ride.  We were going to go further out on a road we haven't explored fully yet. Tomorrow's a rest day so Friday instead.  Keep on keepin' on!

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The quotes from above are from Story of my Life from Shrek: The Musical, enjoy this video below!  You really should check out the whole recording, I run to the faster songs, and I belt to 'Morning Person' and 'I Know it's Today'

I went and saw this show with Courtney in February and loved it.  I highly recommend it

Yeah, I'm nuts

Remember when I posted a few weeks ago about how I was thinking about running a 5K on top of my Century Training?

Yeah, well I'm pretty sure I also posted that I decided to run it. I can't find it right now.  But I wanted to tell you all that I have confirmation that I'm nuts.

Today, after doing our century training, I waited about an hour.  Ate some watermelon, drank some chocolate milk and watched some M*A*S*H while I waited. Then I got back up and went out to run TWO days worth of training.

That's right. TWO DAYS.  I ran the third day of Week 5, and the first day of Week 6 back to back.  55 minutes.

And I'm going to do it again tomorrow, and finish the last two days of Week 6.

Then I will be caught up and only running 3 days a week.

So maybe I'm only partially whacko.

But the great thing is, is that I felt great.  I rode hard, ran so long and worked my legs to the bone.  But after both, and in between, my legs felt great.  Sure now, my knees are a little swollen and sore, but my muscles feel fine.  Adam is still recovering from our long ride on Sunday, which is crazy! I'm usually the one who is still lagging a day or two after.

This is wonderful!  I hope that this continues and I keep getting stronger and stronger.

WOO!!

Woo-hoo! I won!

One of the problems that any cyclist or runner worth his or her salt runs into is where to keep a form of ID on them while they're out and about.

Sure, if you're a cyclist you can put it in your seat bag if you have one (you should) or if you are going hard core and wearing a cycling jersey, you can put it in one of your pockets.  I guess if you really wanted to, you could also put it in your shoe.  That might be a little smelly, but it's on you.  They'd have to remove your shoes eventually. You could put it in your shoe if you're a runner too, but that has it's own complications.  You could put it in a pocket, or carry it.

These are viable options.  You feel like you are taking care of business.  But for me, generally, my running pants/shorts don't have pockets, and if they do, they are inconspicuous and not easily found by a medic. If you carry it, you could drop it. If you are biking and put it in your jersey or in your bike seat, you have to remember to put your ID back in your wallet.

Fraught with problems!

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

You're riding (or running) along, it's a beautiful day.  The sun is shining, some light puffy clouds are floating through the pale blue sky.  There's a light breeze, but nothing to cause you major issues.  A perfect day.

You, sir or madam, are feeling great.  Those normal ache and pains you need to push through at the start of your work out don't bother you today.  You feel free. The world is your oyster!

You're still reveling in the joy of the weather and how great you feel, you start to hunker down and concentrate.  You don't even hear that new car come up behind you and BLAM!

You're flying in the air over your handle bars, or your feet are no longer pounding the pavement.  You let go of anything in your hands, trying to cover your head and protect yourself, your ID flies away into the bushes.  If it's in your seat bag it's gone, because the bike is in the bushes and is everyone's last thought.

You just got hit by a car and you have no ID. You're Jane/John Doe.  They can't contact your spouse, partner, parents, friends, roommates or any of your emergency contacts.  They don't know your name.  No one you love or cares about you knows where you are when you don't come home.  It could take them too long to find your relatives, by then, it could be too late.

This can be avoided.  I am absolutely terrified of getting hit by a car. TERRIFIED.  I do not ride unless I have someone to go with, 99% of the time it's Adam.  I think I've only ever gone on a longer ride by myself twice.  To help assuage my fears, I wear a RoadID.

It has my name, three emergency contacts (Adam and my parents) and their phone numbers.  I also have an inspirational quote ("Defy Gravity") from one of my favorite musicals and 'NKDA', which means No Known Drug Allergies.

RoadID isn't as known as it should. So I am trying to do my part to help.  If you stop to help someone, look for a colored band on their wrist, ankle, shoe or a dog tag style necklace.  It's a RoadID!  Use their name, if you're an EMT, know to look for it!  If you're a rider, runner or otherwise active, a RoadID is a great, easy way to keep ID on you when you're out and about being all active an healthy.

My apologies for the downer parts of this post, but I really feel that this is something that can save lives, and it has.  You just have to go to their site, www.roadid.com and read the emails they've gotten, or just Google around a bit!

I love my RoadID and I think you all should love your very own!  Go get one! They're not too expensive and it could save your life!

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Disclaimer: I have owned a RoadID for almost 3 years and have been meaning to write this post for awhile.  I was given a kick start when I was randomly drawn in a RoadID giveaway this morning for voting for Levi Leipheimer in the Fans' Choice Rider of the Day yesterday for the USA Pro Cycling Challenge happening right now in Colorado.


These are my opinions of the RoadID Sport ID wrist bracelet, they were not paid for by RoadID or any of its subsidiaries.  Any review you read here will be my opinions and my opinion only.  And Adam might chime in sometimes too, but I will mark it accordingly.

I need to come up with more creative post titles....

Because some exciting things happened this week!

First, I had an interview for a job earlier this week.  Yay!!  I think it went really well and all of the people I interviewed with (there were 5) were really friendly.  The longer it went, the more relaxed I got.  I will know tomorrow, or the beginning of next week if I got it, fingers crossed!

Second, while I was getting ready for said interview, I put on my suit pants and zipped them up aaaaaand - THEY WERE TOO BIG!  Not a lot too big, but when I first got them, I could barely sit in them and now not only can I sit in them, but I can pull them out a good 2-3 inches from my abdomen while I'm standing!  Then I put on the blouse I bought about the same time, which I needed to safety pin closed in places.  It fit.  No safety pins needed!  WOO!!!

So this all happens before I weigh in, but I don't expect a loss this week because I haven't been tracking and I ate the rest of the marshmallows we had (only 6 P+, but still, BAD JENNY). My workout schedule has been all discombobulated too, various appointments and things have been forcing us to work out at night, which, as I emulated yesterday, the days are getting shorter.  And I've had various physical issues that get in the way of my running, so infuriating.  Yesterday I tried to go and do my 5K training run and not even half way through my chest started to hurt, like a band was constricting my lungs.  Not fun, even walking made it worse after the first 5 minute run section.  I felt better after laying flat on the couch for a while.  And eating dinner... mmmm... spaghetti....

Anyway, I go into the meeting today, preparing myself to see a maintained weight (stupid marshmallows), but WAIT! I step on the scale and watch the numbers do their dance. There's no two... Omigosh! It's that a seven?!  197.8!?  WOW! Then the receptionist asks if Amy (my meeting leader) can celebrate my 5 lb loss at the end of the meeting. I MADE MY 5 LBS?! Of course she can celebrate at the end of the meeting!

I am still going to jump back on the tracking train (choooochoooo!!! Hahahahahaha! Well, at least I make myself laugh.... and no, I'm not drunk) because I know tracking works, and I'm going to do my best to work through the physical limitations my body is throwing my way. I know I can do it, I've done it before.  I'd rather avoid a trip to the doctor, but if I have to go to be able to run the best 5K/ride the best century I can, then I will.

I hope to have more good news on the weight loss front next week too!

If you are on a weight loss journey, how was your week?  What will you change next week? If you've completed your journey and are maintaining, what did you do to get there and how did you do maintaining this week?  


Have a good week!

Procrastination Staaaation!

I'm a really great procrastinator.  When I was in college (it's so weird that I can say that now) I was the master at starting out with the best intentions toward a project or paper, then bam! It's the night before it's due, and I'm up til 3 am trying to finish it.

Funnily enough, I seemed to do my best work while up against that wall.  I am a master BS-er apparently.

But the real procrastination that kicks me is when I put off a work out.

Take yesterday afternoon for example.  I was feeling a little sleepy after lunch, in part because we were up early for Adam's appointment.  Even though I knew I should get up and go run, I fell asleep instead. Because I'm LAZY.

I still got my run in last night, but if I had run earlier, maybe I could have avoided the nausea that cut my run short.

Another problem I run up against is that the days are getting shorter, so if I wait to run (because I'm lazy) or we can't do our bike rides in the morning (because of conflicts), we run out of day light.  This is a problem. If you are asking yourself, "Why would this be a problem?"

Let me answer you, kind reader. Adam and I ride road bikes and a majority of the places we ride are on roads and we are averse to getting hit by a car.  We like living, it's a fun activity and we enjoy it.  So we try and ride whilst there is day light.  I also don't really enjoy swallowing bugs, and the likelihood of that happening increases in the dark.

Running after dark is a different story.  My only problem with running after dark is the stupid mosquitos.  I wish they would all die.  Scientists even say they are useless and could be wiped out.  We should do that.  Where was I? Right, running in the dark. I kind of like it.  It's cooler, I feel more confident for some reason.  Or maybe that's my training kicking in.  I don't know.

I need something to kick my butt off the couch when I am feeling procrastinatory. Suggestions?

What do you do to beat off the procrastinating faeries?

Wind Sucks.

While we were camping, we had two of our longer rides for our Century Training, 48 and 53 miles.

We had decided to head north on 23 toward Cheboygan for our first ride, 24 miles out, 24 back.  Sounds simple enough.  Heading up there wasn't too bad, there are some fun downhills on our way to a roadside rest area with a beautiful view of Lake Huron.  The wind was seemingly steady, but on our way back to the campground it was much, much more windy.

First 7 miles Elevation Profile

I don't know about you, but I prefer to do my 'into the wind' stints while I have fresh legs, whether I'm biking or running.

The first ride, all in all, wasn't bad.  Rough at the end of course, but there are two brutal up hill climbs in the last 10 miles back to the park.  One of which has no downhill, which is LAME.  It is the worst of the two by far, it's about three tenths of a mile long, and almost straight up. I had to use my 'sissy' (smallest) chain ring.  I have three, and I was so glad to have that.

You see the giant drop at 10.5 miles?  That is the WORST climb coming back and notice that it's completely flat at the top? Ugh.

If you just reverse the profile, it comes to the total 49 miles we did that day.

By the end of the ride I was exhausted, and a little loopy.  We got back to the camp site and were hanging out in my parents' camper with the fam.  Zack (baby brother) let me have one of his Gatorades, which was a great thing after the long ride, wonderful.  The loopy comes in when I opened the Gatorade and dropped the cap (of the bottle) on T.J. (the black lab nut job my parents have).  I stated that I had dropped the cap on the dog and immediately dissolved into a fit of giggles that quickly became full blown belly laughter that took my breath away.  Because I dropped a cap on the dog, geddit? Geddit?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!

Isn't the lake be-yoo-ti-ful?!

I get rather giggly when I'm tired.  Eventually I stop being able to breath and I am laughing so hard that I'm silently rocking back and forth with my mouth open and tears streaming down my face.  Of course, it causes me to laugh harder, it's a vicious (and fun!) circle - and a great ab work out!  Fortunately I took a nap and that saved my abs from exploding. Can you imagine the mess?!

Our second ride we went the same direction because the elevation profile between the State Park and Alpena is insane.

 Miles 6-8 here, would suck on the way there, but awesome on our way home...

This makes my legs hurt just looking at this. They're screaming "NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!" 

Although we wouldn't have gone all the way into Alpena, the first two profiles would have definitely been on our trek and since Adam isn't supposed to be taxing himself and I am not physically or mentally prepared for a climb like that, as you will see shortly.

We decided to move up our longer ride from Saturday to Wednesday because we didn't want to spend our last day at the Park on the bikes.  Which turned out to be a good decision since it rained the last two days at the Park and we wouldn't have been able to get in our ride anyway.  It also was raining when we got home and on Sunday.  It was a good decision for that reason.  Otherwise, it was a rough trip.

First, as I mentioned earlier, I prefer fresh legs for riding into the wind.  This worked great, until the final 2.5 miles before we turned around at the half way point.  It was *almost* completely open.  We had been battling a vicious, and I mean absolutely brutal, head wind steady at 17-18 mph, with gusts up to 25 mph.  BRUTAL.  Riding the 2.5 miles back to the rest area was great with that kind of tailwind.  I mean AWESOME.  We were maintaining 21-22 mph, piece of cake!

Windy, windy, windy!

Then I almost killed myself getting off my bike, my right shoe wouldn't come un-clipped (I need to tighten my cleats).  At this point, I would like to point out that it was so windy on our way up that I never actually was damp with sweat.  All I had as proof of perspiration was the dried salt on my face.  It felt really weird!

A little red in the face, but not as bad as I could have been with that wind. Yiiiiikes!  I hate how Adam looks like he hasn't done any work.  Damn my dilated face blood vessels! 

We rested for 15 minutes and hopped back on the bikes.  There was a little concern that I had pulled a muscle un-clipping my stubborn right cleat.  But in the end, my butt just hurt a lot.  We stopped so I could stretch some more and we took it a little slower to start out.  My championship husband generously pulled for much of the ride home, which is good, because I had a break down a little less than halfway back.

You see, despite having the wind at our backs, it still liked to gust around and come at us from the lake.  Having not gone on such a long ride before, this was a little demoralizing.  I had chosen to ride into the wind for 26.5 miles so I could have a kick ass ride back, and now I was fighting through pain in my butt, my left knee and anyone who rides long rides will tell you, no matter how seasoned of a rider you are, your neck/shoulders/upper back will start to try and murder you for leaning forward for so long.  The best tenth of a mile of the whole ride where I sat up and stretched out.  It was amazing.  As I have explained previously, I cry when I am over-tired, frustrated, exhausted, overwhelmed etc.  So for approximately a mile or so (or at least it felt like it)  I was crying and riding and just wanted to stop and call my parents to come get us.  The fricken wind was the worst part.  I can deal with the pain, I've pushed through worse, but the wind was taking away my joyful, fun, tail wind speed ride.  The jerk.  The stupid, jerky wind slammed me right up against the wall of my physical limits and I was defeated.

The only way I managed to push through was the support from Adam.  That man is a marvel, he's my rock and my biggest cheerleader.  The entire time I was crying and saying, "I can't, I can't" over and over, he was riding next to me, rubbing my back saying, "Stop saying that, you can do this."  If I had been riding by myself, I would have stopped and called my parents about 5 miles back to the Park, I'm almost certain.  He was pretty sure I hadn't reached the point where I was absolutely serious about quitting.  But if he had, he would have said ok, no problem, even though he could go on.  He's amazing.

Of course we pushed on and I once again used the 'sissy' chain ring to get myself up the hill at the 10 miles to go mark.  I believe I was going 6 mph when I finally got to the top of the hill.  I didn't go very fast for the remaining time either.  I was in survival mode at this point, just chugging along.  I really wish I had had my ear buds and music, but anything to distract me would have been great.

We got back and I ate and drank and napped and showered.  It was really weird with all of the dried salt on my skin.  I scratched my face and it came off under my finger nails. Bizarre!

Dad, stop reading for a minute. Other males who are squeamish about female monthly cycles also should stop here for a bit.

I must ask a question of other female distance cyclists about riding on your period.  Do you forgo a pad and undies and just wear a tampon?  I went the pad/undies route and I was very sore up front down there.  I'm worried about wearing a tampon for that long, though.  I will take any suggestions, except not riding.  That's not allowed.

Dad it's ok to start reading again.

Century training is not for the faint of heart.  But the changes I am seeing in my body are crazy.  I still have a gut, but my legs are definitely thinner.

And head winds SUCK. Or blow, whatever you prefer.

<3 Bikes!

I have a pretty chart

Remember when you were little and maybe you had a chart where you got a star if you did your chores at home, or in your grade school classroom for when you did something good?

Well, I wanted a visual thing like that for my own progress.

So, I went to the store and bought some of that really thin poster board and stickers and made my own chart!

Isn't it preeeeetty? It hangs out on the back of our front door.  Unfortunately, I made this before I decided - after my post yesterday - to train for a 5K.  So I don't have any space to add in my 5K training.  I'm going to end up printing it out separately, I think.  It'll be equally pretty though.

As you can see, I am tracking my century training, % loss up down to my goal weight, Pounds Lost in 5 pound increments down to goal weight, making sure I walk 5K every day and then I have several rows at the bottom to track my weekly losses.  Of which I suppose I could sacrifice a few rows of to track the 5K training, but my zigzag lines make it hard to write in a new goal to track.  Upon closer inspection though, I can spare a couple lines at the bottom.  The zigzags are the only problem, but one of those new labels that block out stuff behind it would work.  Or just a regular label.  I'll post a new picture if/when I do that.  Rest Day for century training tomorrow, so I start 5K-ing tomorrow.  I'm babbling, sorry.

And these are my pretty stickers :D  And the marker I use to record stuff.

I'll need to pick a new sticker out of the ones not shown... or maybe the blue bee ones will be for my trainings, 5K and Century.

Anyway, what are your goals? How do you keep track of your progress?  How do you reward yourself?

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Thanks to Kat at Living Like the Kings for the thought to ask you all questions at the end of a post!

I am crazy. Absolutely insane.

Recently (3 days ago) I set a goal for myself to walk at least 5K (3.1 miles) every day.  And I am proud to say that I have managed to do that every day since I started.  Yay!  I also am training to ride a century and I go to yoga twice a week.  But, today a new challenge arose when a friend asked me if I was planning on running any 5K races soon.

I told her I wasn't planning on doing more running until after cycling season was over, but if she found a 5K to run together before that, I would start earlier.

This begs the question: what the hell is the matter with me?!

With everything I'm doing otherwise, how can I do 5K training too?

But I am considering it, I even have the Couch to 5K Program page open right now and my calendar to add the training in as a separate calendar so I'd have it for reference on my phone.  And, conveniently enough, the week after we do our century ride in which entrance fees go to breast cancer research and League of Michigan Bicyclists, is the Capitol City River Run Half Marathon and CCRR Cooley Law School 5K for Education.  We have to drive a bit to get to the century ride and the 5K is right here in Lansing, so, I'd like to do it, even though my friend is already signed up to do the half marathon section of the race.

I've participated in the Weight Watchers Walk-it 5K day in the past (twice, this year and last), but I'd like to do an "official" race where I get a number an everything.

Again, what is the matter with me?!  I'm actually thinking about doing a 5K, where I would have to train 3 days a week, on top of the 6 days a week I'm training for the century?  And yoga.  But it certainly would push me to the 5K every day faster.

I am nuts. Crazy. Whacko.

There is a reason professional athletes are professional athletes, training is so time consuming!

And I have a lot of thinking, deciding and planning to do... yeesh.

http://www.healthwriting.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/running.jpg

What is Strong? Century Training Day 1

As I mentioned previously, Adam and I want to ride a century.  Adam already rode one a few months before we got married, but he wants to do longer training this time, instead of the short training he did before.  He told me the other day that he was 80% spent by the time he made the halfway point and did not want to do that again.

So, we started training today.  What better day to start training than the first rest day of the Tour? It was rather short, only 6 miles at an easy pace, but there was an element of excitement in training this morning.  We awoke to a Severe Thunderstorm Warning and the storm front was bearing down on us quickly. We ate and dressed quickly and headed out.  With what it seems 90% of Lansing under construction we had to zig zag a bit to get to the River Trail, but we rode 3 miles out and 3 back.  We rolled in about 2 seconds before the storm hit, whew!  It was a great ride.  I felt so good after.

And since I had a brand spankin' new cycling computer from Meijer it was great fun to watch how fast we were going and our distance.  I also was able to watch my heart rate closely too, since Adam found my heart rate monitor yesterday in a box (we are still not unpacked!).  That was a kick too.  If only we were able to get a cycling computer like the pros have and I would only have to look at one thing instead of three!

This weekend I also tried the iMapMyRide that they've been pushing for the Aquaphor Challenge against Levi Leipheimer.  It's an interesting app.  There are some things I don't like about it.  For example, I can't get it to stop automatically posting my rides/walks to Facebook without revoking it's publishing rights, but if I do that I can't post the rides/walks myself when there are ones I want to post.  Kind of annoying.  And when I try and log in on the website, I can't because I never got a password, I only have a username and they didn't ask for a email when I signed up, so I can't have them send me a password.  ARGH!

Other than that though, it's a pretty app!

Great ride, fun stuff to play with and I can't wait for the actual century!

What is Strong?

"What is strong?"

The answer is so varied.  What do you think is strong?

"Is it muscle?"

I'm not going to pontificate and try and answer it.

"....Or something more?"

I know that there is always more, more that you can give, 

more that you can do.  A well of determination to dip into.  

I'm trying to keep mine.  I start training for a century ride 

(100 miles) on Monday.  We have eight weeks of training 

before we rock out this ride.

"Is it measured in miles or milliseconds?"

It's going to take us 6 hours, at least, that's what we expect.

I'm nervous, incredibly so.

128.7499 miles.  It seems so insurmountable.

Lansing to Big Rapids.

"Is it your best time or your worst day?"

But training builds you up slowly, which is exactly what I need.

One turn of the cranks at a time.

".....Maybe strong is just what you have left when you've used up all your weak."

What Is Strong? (60 second) from Saucony on Vimeo.

Great commercial by Saucony, a shoe company based in the US and Canada. It is one of the most motivational commercials I have ever seen. I saw it this weekend for the first time while watching the Tour de France. Excellent commercial.

**Authors note: I am not sponsored by Saucony, this post is not, nor is this blog, affiliated in any way with Saucony.  I liked their commercial and decided to write about it. 

Weekly Weigh In - 6/3/11 (Holy Crap! It's June ALREADY?!)

Starting Weight: 199.4 lbs

Ending Weight: 200.4 lbs

Total Change: + 1.0 lbs

Damn it.

Exercise Week

Monday the Fitness Center in our complex is closed.  Adam and I went for a bike ride and I did an upper body circuit.  We also planted our garden and went for a late evening walk.  It was not hard to break a sweat today, it is HOT here. 90 freaking degrees. Whew.

Tuesday was Yoga day, yay!

Wednesday I did not work out today due to the massive amount I had going on with Courtney's Bachelorette Party stuff.  And Bridal Shower.  Also, side note: if you are in the Lansing area, do NOT go down to the Saginaw Highway.  There is a ton of construction.  It is a nightmare.  If you can avoid the area, do it.  If not, take 96 to Lansing Mall to minimize the construction disaster contact.

Thursday was yoga. I love yoga.  And in the two short weeks that I have been going to classes regularly I am seeing improvements in my postures and my practice.  I love it.

Friday I didn't work out really, I jumped rope for a bit, but I was rather melancholy from my weigh in.  So I took a day to do fun work out instead.

Eating Week

Friday I ate my exact daily points.  Got all of my healthy checks in as well.  I'm kind of running out of things to put here on a normal day....

Saturday I went over on points a little, but I still got in my healthy checks.  Even a short walk to give me a one point activity check!  And Adam made his slow cooked bacon for breakfast, yuuuuuuummmmm!  

Sunday was MY BIRTHDAY!!! YAY!  Olive Garden, all around!  Their breadsticks should be against the law, they are so good.  Not that they need to be any more unhealthy (3 points a piece, yikes!) but I think they need a wee bit more garlic butter and more parmesan cheese. Nom nom nom nom!  I had the cheese ravioli for lunch/dinner  I only ate half of what came, which allowed me to eat my exact daily allowance, despite eating out.  And we ate generally later in the day which allowed me to use a majority of my points at Olive Garden.   I also need to let you know here that today starts my week of eating vegetarian on a trial basis.  But even if I make the change permanent, I will be making a new category of vegetarian, Fish, Dairy and Bacon eating vegetarian.  Fortunately, I am making this move for health reasons, not really as a statement to meat vendors or anything which allows me to keep the meat I like.  Which is really just bacon.  And we only have it once a week, on Saturday mornings.  And according to my research on the interwebs, that classifies Adam and I as vegetarian sympathizers.  We eat meat less often than others, much less than we used to and with research into the meat we buy - tend to buy local.

Monday my parents and brothers came to town and we went out to Emil's over on Michigan to celebrate my birthday. Yum yum!  I had the Fettucini Alfredo for lunch/dinner, salad and one piece of bread.  This place is a local eatery, and a great place to go.  Cheesy Alfredo sauce....... mmmmmmm......  cheesy......

Tuesday I tracked everything, went over on points a little, but not bad!

Wednesday was Courtney's Bachelorette Party, baseball and bar hopping, fun times!  I still tracked everything though. :)  I also, without even thinking, broke my week of vegetarianism.  I didn't even realize it until a couple hours later.  :(  Nicole wanted to get a hot dog at the game and I was all, "That sounds yummy!" and I got one. Damn.  I will try again next week. I will, I will, I will.

Thursday I tracked well and had three points left for the day.  I'm not sure I calculated correctly, so I am going to leave those points there.

All in all the week felt like a success, but I gained, so not really.  Huff.

Weekly Weigh In - 5/27/11

Starting Weight: 200.6 lbs
Ending Weight: 199.4 lbs
Total Change: -1.2 lbs

Exercise Week


I haven't explicitly said this during these posts, but in the sense of full disclosure, I do not go to the gym on the weekend.  Any exercise I get is an outdoor activity with my family and/or my hubby.


Monday Adam and I went to the service center of our apartment complex to fill out paperwork to be allowed to use the gym facilities on the premises.  After a long debate which involves the fact that I have to get an MSU affiliate ID to be able to use the gym, I was allowed an exception, this time, to be able to use the gym without an MSU ID.  This place is really getting on my nerves and I will write about the continuing saga that is living here later.

I worked out for an hour, ran for 10 minutes, did every machine, every way possible (there aren't many) and did 3 sets of 10 (3x10) of everything.  I also did some core work and a lower body circuit from the previous work out plan I was following.  And stretching. Stretching is important.  I was jelly by the end, and I will probably be sore on Tuesday. Ouchie.  But Tuesday is YOGA DAY! YAY!!!

Tuesday was yoga day!  At the community center here in our complex, they offer some classes, including YOGA.  YES!  Yoga is offered in the evenings from 7:30-8:30pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  All summer.  For $20. Excellent.  It was amazing!  The teacher is of the same teaching background as the Ombodies Studio in Mount Pleasant.  I love it.  I am so glad I get to spend two hours a week doing this!!  And I fully plan to continue to do it beyond this summer too.  Love it.  When I am in yoga class, I am so focused, everything melts away.  I wish like crazy that I had sought out a class sooner instead of doing the DVDs at home.  Love. It.

Wednesday I went to the gym again in the morning.  I'm allowed to do that for the month of June so we have time to find our marriage license which, is in a hidden box somewhere.  Why would I need my marriage license to be allow to use the gym, you might ask? Because our wedding rings, the fact that I am listed on the application for our apartment as his spouse, and the fact that I HAVE HIS LAST NAME aren't enough.  Argh.

Anyway,  I worked out and the longer I went, the better I felt.  And I was wiped by the end of the work out.  Whew. If you want to read about how I structure my work outs go here.

Thursday: yoga day again!  As you can tell from my post last night, yoga was amazing.  I love it.  I am never going without it again, ever, if I can help it.  Wonderful.  Spectacular. Awesome. I love yoga.

Friday I hit the gym in the am again.  Full Body Circuit today along with cardio, all of the machines in the fitness center and abdominal exercises/stretching.  Good work out, tired and felt like jelly by the end!

I'm going to check out a belly dancing class tonight, I'm a little nervous, but excited.  I'll let you know how it goes and if I am going to keep doing it past this week.

Eating Week


Friday, Saturday and Sunday  did not track points.  We went home to celebrate my Dad's and my birthdays.  So points wise it was an expensive weekend.  Cake all around.  Ouch.  I don't want to think about it.  But I did practice moderation, even if I didn't count the points.

Monday I tracked very well.  I am still working on getting all my veggies in every day.  Also, Gomtang noodles: Delicious.

Tuesday I did excellent with the tracking!!  I tracked everything I put in my mouth.  I got my water in, still not all my veggies though.  We really need to go grocery shopping.  Really, really need to go shopping.

Wednesday I tracked right through to the end.  And again, I failed to get all my veggies/fruits in.  But Adam and I went grocery shopping tonight and got celery (and Schuler's cheese, YUM), watermelon and light veggie dip (for carrots that we already have).  They didn't have the Fat Free Marzetti's Ranch Veggie Dip.  I had 18 points left for dinner and we went out to dinner with my momma-in-law (who is in town this week for training) at Sophia's House of Pancakes in Grand Ledge.  Yummy.  I had Apple Cinnamon French Toast.  It was SO GOOD.  If you're ever in the area and want a local eatery to go to, go there. Delicious.

Thursday: I got all of my fruits and veggies in!! YAY!  Since that is all I had for lunch, I got them all in in one meal.  Yuuuuuuuummmmmmm....  I tracked everything I ate, got all of my water in. All food groups and healthy checks here and accounted for. Wondermous!  

All in all the week was a success!  Let's hope that I continue to be successful past this week and FINALLY get out of this damn plateau.  On Wednesday I will be saving a lot of points for later in the day, because it's Courtney's Bachelorette Party, woo!!!  I have several events this week that necessitate saving points, oh dear!  Sunday is my birthday and Adam and I will be celebrating by doing various things, including a trip to Olive Garden (I love the food there, so good...) and Monday my parents and brothers are coming down to celebrate and we're going to BD's Mongolian BBQ.  That place is so amazing......  Make your own stir fry............ ooooooooohhhhh yeeeeeeeeaaaaaahhhh.......  Oh, and before you just die of curiousity, I'll be turning 24 on Sunday, weee!!!  Next year I get a new license and picture!  Which will hopefully be a picture of a fabulous at weight me. :)

----

Side Note: I changed how I explain my weeks.  Here is why: I track exercise Monday-Friday because I want to post this immediately after my workouts on Friday.  Convenience is the only reason I do it that way.  I track my eating habits on here from Friday to Thursday because my weigh in day is on Friday, so my points reset on Fridays and I like continuity.  So now you know. ('Cause it's Miiiiike's super short show!  .........Sorry, couldn't resist.)

Relaxed and Centered

As I've mentioned several times, I recently started taking yoga classes with a real live person instead of a DVD.

It is so wonderful.  I only had ever done a solstice meditation at Joy Tree, and only got one class in at Ombodies Yoga.  But here, I am in a full session.  It is a wonderful experience.  All of the yoga I have done so far is in the Ashtanga Tradition with vinyasa flow.  It is such a calming, dynamic, brilliant experience.  I am so calm and centered after class.  I float out of the building for crying out loud!

This has been such a good thing for me, with all of the crap that has been piling up lately.  My instructor's favorite saying is 'Leave it on the mat.'  And I do.  I am so completely focused on my practice when I am in that room.  Nothing invades my mind, it is blissfully empty of worry and thought.

After every class I wonder what took me so long to seek out a class instead of plowing on with the DVDs. It's a fleeting worry because I am so calm afterwards, but I wonder still.  And I know that I will never go back to DVDs of yoga, never, ever.

It's hard to find the right words to describe how I feel during my practice.  I'm sweating like crazy, my heart is beating like mad, but my breathing is slow, deep and even.  My legs are shaking but I breathe into those muscles; I find the connection between mind and muscle and I can make it through.

Of course, sometimes my knees hurt in the plank position because my muscles are fatigued and I have to adjust.  But I feel my body growing stronger and my connection to myself is growing every class.

I highly recommend taking yoga for anyone.  Especially people who have high stress levels, but anyone who wants a great work out and a place that centers, calms and relaxes them, should definitely go too.  And for all the pregnant ladies out there, a lot of studios have pre-natal yoga as well.

I think that if everyone in the world took yoga, there would be a lot more calm discussion than rash anger.

Namaste.

My New Work Out Plan!

As you know, I have been following the Get Fit by Memorial Day Work Out Plan at RealBeauty.com.  Though I question their idea of real beauty if they have a picture of an obviously unhealthily skinny woman next to an article on bathing suit bodies.  I mean, she has to be anorexic to be that skinny.  I could count her ribs.

Anyway.


This post requires a little back story.

The summer before I started college full time, I got a job at Ferris State University working for the best boss in the world.  This best boss in the world, Debby, allowed me to work from 7:30a-3:30p so I could change and walk over to the Student Recreation Center not far from the office to work out for an hour or so before my Dad got out of work and come pick me up.  (We were carpooling to and from work together.)  I did this five days a week all summer.  I lost 50 lbs.  I loved how I felt, looked and how healthy I was.

How did I do it?!  I cut down on my snacking and followed this work out plan, every day, Monday through Friday:

-Stretch and do my abdominal work and as many push ups as I could muster.
-Run a mile as fast and as hard as I could on an elliptical machine.  My knees aren't the best.
-Do whatever machines fit my fancy that day, but generally, I would do arm machines and a lot of thigh machines, adductors/abductors especially.
-Free Weights working the triceps a lot.
-Walk around the track a few times to cool down.

That worked very well.  Obviously, or I wouldn't have lost that weight.

But then tragedy struck!  I met my future husband, who has the metabolism of a lightening bolt.  I stopped going to the gym after we started getting serious.  I chose to go to class, work, pep band and spend time with Adam, than go work out.  Tsk, tsk, tsk.  Shame on me!

I have decided that because it is summer, it is time to go back to this tried an true work out routine, with a tweak.  And of course, continuing with eating on the Weight Watchers plan.

There are very few machines in the Community Center Fitness Room in our apartment complex, but here is my plan.

Monday, Wednesday and Friday I go in the morning to the gym and follow the plan I followed 6 summers ago.  Except: I do every machine in the room, instead of just the ones I feel like because there are so few.  I also copied and pasted all of the Upper Body and Lower Body Circuit Work Outs from RealBeauty.com and organized them into a chart that I take with me to the gym.  I take the free weight set that I have with me also, because they don't have any free weights there.

I also decided to run for 10 minutes as fast as I can, the elliptical machines here are not calibrated properly.  There is no possible way that I ran a mile in 3 minutes.  Sorry, no.  It also told me I was running 13.1 mph. Um. no.  And the other one tells me that I don't go any faster than 2 mph at any given time no matter how fast or slow I go.

So:
-Walk to the Fitness Center for warm up
-Stretch and abdominal work outs
-10 minutes as fast as I can on the elliptical
-Circuit Work Out.  Upper Body Mondays, Lower Body Wednesdays and Full Body Fridays.
-Every machine in the room.
-Walking back to my apartment for cool down.

Tuesdays and Thursdays I take a yoga class.  Which is amazing.  More about that later.

This week is the first week of this plan.  And so far, I love it.  I sweat like crazy.  Yesterday, I felt like I had just climbed out of a lake.  And the weird thing is, that despite my intense work out, I am not sore at all today.  Not that I want to be sore, but I would expect that when I work that hard, then my muscles would be stiff the next day, or sore when I use them.

You can follow the circuit plan if you would like, I have made the chart sheets available online for you.  It will automatically download when you click on it.  Merry Christmas to you, my followers!

I look forward to doing this all summer, and beyond.  AH!  Keep me updated on your progress too!

And tomorrow night?  I start a belly dancing class: EXCITED!

Weekly Weigh In - 5/20/11

Starting Weight: 200.2 lbs
Ending Weight: 200.6 lbs
Total Change:  +0.4 lbs

Exercise Week

Monday


I did not do my endurance intervals.  I fail.

Tuesday


I did not do my lower body circuit.  I fail.

I did, however, head back to Mount Pleasant with Adam to finish packing and cleaning.  So, I didn't just sit on my ass all day like I did Monday.

Wednesday


I did not do my endurance intervals.  I fail.

I did, however, do the lower body circuit that I failed to do Tuesday.  At 10:30 at night.  I liked it :D  I was pseudo-jump roping in between exercises, but I did it! Woo!  I also walked a considerable distance to the grocery store and back.  In flip flops, because I'm an idiot.

Thursday


I didn't do the full body circuit :(  I am going to try and do it this weekend.

I did apply for a few more jobs though!


Friday


There was nothing on the week for Friday, but I completed a couple things that I will write about shortly.


Eating Week


Monday


I did not track points.  I fail.

Tuesday


I did not track points.  I fail.

Wednesday


I semi tracked points.  I semi-fail.

Thursday


Fail, fail, fail.


Friday


Fail, Fail, Fail.


So all in all, it was a failed week.  But, next week is a new week.  And the classes at the community center of our complex start up next week and I'm really excited about the Yoga, Belly Dancing and Salsa classes!

Also, this will be the only post up today, I'm trying to keep my blogging to during the week...

My First Yoga Class Experience

For my first class of Beginner Vinyasa Yoga, I went to Ombodies Yoga Studio over on Main Street in Mount Pleasant.

I went to a solstice meditation with Adam and my momma-in-law in December at Joy Tree Yoga in Big Rapids, and that was very, very relaxing and a nice introduction into the group yoga sessions.  Prior, I had only ever done yoga at home with a DVD.  And the current work out plan I am following suggested I go to a Vinyasa Yoga class last Friday.  So I did.

I had a wonderful time!

I figured that I would enjoy it, but I had a little nagging voice in the back of my head.  I proved that voice wrong though!

We went through Warrior 1, 2 and 3 with Vinyasa flows in the midst.  I really enjoyed it.  My arms were shaking and my quads were a little weak by the end and I was sweating like crazy.  I LOVED it.  I fully plan to make it a part of my weekly workout routine.  At the very end when we were coming back into our breathing, etc, our yogi came around and put oil (at least, it felt like oil, it made my feet soft!) on the tops of our feet and the middle of the arch of our feet.  It startled me at first, being my first Vinyasa class, but it felt nice and even as I was feeling very tired from the work out, I was very relaxed and centered.

I would highly recommend yoga and my sister-in-law just raves about the Hot Yoga classes she goes to in Grand Rapids.

I asked my Yogi in Mount Pleasant to recommend a studio down in Lansing and she said that if I can get into the classes on campus to do that because they are great (that's a quote) and she recommended another studio that I am going to go to a class later this week.

I'd like to get a multi-class pass, but to do that I need to find a job first.  Another post, another time.

But, regardless of where you are in your fitness, check out yoga, any place you go should have beginners classes, and I am sure that they would be more than willing to talk to you and help you figure out what class, or classes, are for you.

Namaste.