Fat Athlete?

Where to Begin?

2011-11-05T18:29:00.000-05:00

Things haven't gone that well. Once I stopped seeing my personal trainer (because I can't really afford it), I stopped going to they gym. I've also been eating quite a bit. I bet I'm up 5 pounds.

So, I'm restarting. Again. For the thousandth time.

First, I started the Couch to 5K program again. I plan on running a 5k on Valentine's Day or near that time. I'm going to try to run outside as much of that time as I can.

Also, I've decided to do a little diet kick off. Starting tomorrow, I'm going Vegan until Thanksgiving. Then I'll rejoin WeightWatchers when they have free joining.

So, that's the plan.

Test Results

2011-09-11T19:50:00.000-05:00

So, I still haven't had a first personal training session. I had the first meeting with the personal trainer. And the fitness assessment. But, the trainer I was connected with is leaving the YMCA, so I am now trying to meet up with a different trainer so we can have our first meeting and redo part of the fitness test. So, I wait.

But, the fitness test was interesting. It wasn't surprised by anything. I was almost average with my resting heart rate and the resting heart rate I had at the doctor a couple days before would have made me average. I was also almost at average for my cardio heart rate, but that's what we are retesting because I went to fast during the test, so I will likely come out as average when I retest.

But I was below average on all the other tests. I wasn't even on the scale for the half sit up test. I did ZERO sit ups. But I didn't expect that I could do any. I did seven push ups. Sure that was terrible, but last spring I could only do two, so I was happy with that. And my body fat was bad, but that was a given being that I'm about 85 pounds overweight.

The last test, flexibility, was laughable. It is a sit and reach type test and I almost didn't even reach far enough to measure. I knew I had no flexibility, but I think the tester was a bit surprised at how bad my flexibility is.

Waiting Plan

2011-09-06T18:50:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned before, I've got a full month to wait until I can see a dietician. I figure I need to do something in the meanwhile. So, per usual, I've got a plan.

Each day I'm going to track my food, but not worry about the calories. Just by tracking I now I will eat less, as always happens.

But I'm also going to work on my bad habits, which I have a lot of. Each week I'm going to tackle a new bad habit for the next four weeks. Yesterday started Week One.

Week One: No eating after 8:00pm
Week Two: No eating at restaurants/prepared grocery store food/takeout by myself
Week Three: No diet soda or other foods that are mostly chemicals
Week Four: No candy at work

I can do this, no problem. Then I can work on getting my calorie intake under control. I'm using www.myfitnesspal.com to track my calories. So far today, I'm 152 calories over my goal, which is not bad. If I wouldn't have eaten that candy at work, I'd be right on calories

Or I could go do some exercise I suppose, but I got tons of exercise this weekend and want to take a day off. I biked 47 miles this weekend and walked about 4 miles plus at least 3 miles around the State Fair yesterday.

Tomorrow is my fitness test for personal training. We will see how out of shape I really am. I'm pretty excited.

Falling Down

2011-09-04T18:40:00.000-05:00

I fell. It hurt.

I finally took the big step a couple weeks ago and put clipless pedals on my bike. Clipless pedals, if you don't know, are actually pedals that you clip into while wearing special shoes. You need to clip in and out of them and it takes a while to get used to them.

Yesterday, my friend Dana and I biked out to the Minnesota Zoo. It is about 20 miles one way and a really nice ride. But, part of the ride (that I will go around when I do the ride again) is a very steep hill. Very steep. We started up it and I shifted wrong. My bike came to a complete stop. I went to put my foot down and realized I was clipped in.

I said to Dana, "I'm going to fall," and then I did. In slow motion.

And amazingly my feet popped right out of the pedals.

I landed pretty hard on my hip. And it is nicely bruised. I hurt all over actually.

But tomorrow, I'll be back in the saddle. Heading to the State Fair again, hoping to bike off those calories.

Good News Bad News

2011-08-31T18:34:00.000-05:00

The good news is, I meet with my new trainer tomorrow to do a fitness assessment. I'm very excited because she seems very cool. With a blog and a twitter account and everything. This is good stuff.

The bad news is I can't get in to see a dietician until the beginning of October. That's a really long weight. So I'll have to go with what I know until then, I guess.

New Start (Again)

2011-08-30T20:33:00.000-05:00

So, here we go again. A new start. Again.

Yesterday I extended my summer membership to the YMCA to a full membership. Doing this gave me a bunch of cool perks, like a month of towel service and a tank top. But, it also gave me an into deal on personal training. Three sessions for $139. So I took it.

$139 is a lot of money for me right now. I'm still recovering from the Shutdown among some other things. But my friend Shannon had nothing but good things to say about personal training at the Y, so I did it. I need to invest in myself, right?

But I'm not stopping there. I have a meeting with my doctor tomorrow. After talking to my insurance, they will cover a nutritionist if I have a diagnosis of obese. So tomorrow, I get my diagnosis, if it isn't already on file, and a referral to a nutritionist. While I don't have the greatest confidence that a nutritionist will help a whole lot, it is free and worth trying.

I'm considering my weigh in tomorrow morning my start date.

Meanwhile, I'm getting close to my goal of biking 1000 miles this summer. I will make it to the goal by the end of the month without a problem. That's exciting.

*** I didn't know I had comments waiting to be approved. Sorry about that. They have been approved and I've turned on notifications so that won't happen again.

Zumba: Or I Sweat More Vacuuming Today

2011-07-31T20:32:00.000-05:00

I went to Zumba today. Zumba is supposed to a Latin Dance aerobics class.

What Zumba was was a disappointment.

I'm not very good at dancing. I'm not extremely coordinated. I'm also not very good at mimicking others. So, I have a hard time in all aerobics classes. But in general, I get the basic moves after awhile and am able to get a pretty good workout in.

But that was not the case with Zumba.

My cardiovasular health was much better than my coordination today.

First, the instructor didn't have a microphone. She yelled instructions into the wall in front of her, because instead of facing us, she faced the wall of mirrors. I didn't hear a word she said. And I couldn't tell what she was doing with her arms 80% of the time.

Second, the moves don't really repeat themselves. They might for a minute or so, but not for long. Once I got the moves down, they changed. And they never went back to the moves I had learned.

Finally, when I did get a move down, it wasn't all that challenging. I suspect it was because I wasn't doing all the moves correctly all the time, so for the 20 seconds I was doing a move correctly it wasn't that hard.

I doubt my heart rate was near aerobic levels at all during class today. And I barely broke a sweat. But cleaning the upstairs of my house today, I was drenched with sweat.

I guess I could go back to the class and learn the moves. I'm sure if I would have been doing everything the instructor was doing I'm sure I would have gotten a good workout in. But I didn't like how the class didn't flow, which each song having all new moves. I didn't like the music. I didn't like the moves. I really just didn't like the class at all and won't be going back.

I wanted to like Zumba. I really did. But it was just pretty annoying all around.

I'll be going back to TurboKick. That class is challenging and fun. Though I can't say I like the music of that one either. Why can't someone have an aerobics class to New Pornographers, TV on the Radio, Trampled by Turtles and other good bands?

Downward Facing Dog

2011-07-30T22:35:00.000-05:00

I've stuck to my vow to exercise everyday, almost. I'm exercising almost every day. And a lot of it is yoga and yoga like activities.

I think I sweat more trying to get into some of the crazy poses than I do biking 10 miles in 85 degree weather.

And Downward Facing Dog? (I wish I had a picture of my dog doing Downward Dog, he's does it all the time.) Man, I know it is supposed to be pretty fundamental, but I can hold it for about 10 seconds tops. I have no upper arm strength. But that's why I'm doing the yoga, right?

I've also been swimming. I did 500 meters today. Not an olympic performance, but a start. Again, I need more strength in my arms.

Finally, my brother and I are now doing Thursday night treadmill nights while watching Project Runway. That's an hour and a half of treadmill action.

So, I'm doing the exercise. But I know I'm eating more than normal. I'm going to start working on that next week. I'm about to get VERY busy, so I will really struggle to eat well. But luckily this time of year it is so easy to get fresh, tasty veggies.

Shutdown Is Over

2011-07-20T20:44:00.000-05:00

The great MN Government Shutdown of 2011 is over. I survived it, though the financial stress will linger.

While I didn't accomplish even a third of the household projects or half the volunteer projects I had hoped for, I did okay on the exercise front.

First, I biked 280 miles in 20 days. Not bad. Not as many as I'd hoped, but not bad.

Second, I joined the YMCA. I should of joined it day one of the Shutdown, but I'm glad I joined it at all. I've been swimming twice, mostly just a couple quick laps and then soaking in the hot tub. I did a Yoga class once, which kicked my butt. And today I did a BodyFlow class.

BodyFlow is a combo of yoga, pilates and tai chi. A lot less downward facing dog than the actual yoga class, but still pretty difficult for me.

Overall, this month has been pretty good. My eating ranged from excellent and on point, to terrible and way off plan. I ended up gaining one pound, which I'm pretty sad about.

Now that I'm going to be back to a normal schedule, I'm going to refocus. I'm going to try and do some activity every day. Maybe biking to work, maybe yoga, maybe swimming, maybe taking the dog for a walk. With the Ride over, I can focus on changing things up and doing what sounds fun for that day.

I'm just really glad to be going back to work.

I Did It, Mostly

2011-07-17T20:49:00.000-05:00

What a weekend!

Thursday morning, bright and early, I found myself at Mall of America with my bike and 200 strangers about to set out on an adventure called the Red Ribbon Ride.

The ride started out with pep talks and a quick ride over to a trail I've never been on. Then, it quickly became hilly. And windy. And there were some more hills and some more wind. By lunch I was wondering what the hell I got myself into. But leaving lunch, we entered the best part of the ride, the Cannon River trail. It was flat, it was shaded, and it was protected from the wind.

With only 14 miles left to ride for the day, we left Red Wing heading to Lake City. And that's when the wind almost killed me. Not really, but it hurt momentum so badly. I was averaging about 8mph at that point, on downhills. With just 7 miles left, I threw in the towel with my co-conspirator and took a lift from the sweep vehicle to camp.

Day two started out worse than day one. I honestly had never encountered hills like the ones in the first leg of the ride. I swear one was two miles long. In the first leg, after walking up two hills and crying twice, I took the sweep vehicle to the next pitstop. That was dumb, because the hills weren't too bad from there on, but my legs were wiped.

From the pitstop, we took the shortcut route, which bypasses pit two and has one big hill. I had to walk up part of that one too. But the downhills were insane and fun. Once we hit pitstop three, it began to thunder and lightening. We were stuck. All bikes were pulled off the road. We sat, without any permanent buildings for about an hour in the storm. We were then shuttled to the next pitstop, where lunch was and a picnic shelter. We ate lunch, sat there about an hour and a half, when the day was called off. It was still storming. We were shuttled to camp and it continued to rain for hours.

Day three, with rested legs and no fear of taking sweep vehicles, we started out of Rochester to Northfield. Day three was by far the nicest day with no rain and not too bad heat. The roads had much less car traffic. The terrain was rolling hills, which were sort of tough, but looking back, I probably could have done all the miles, but I took the sweep vehicle for about 20 of them. I biked a total of 50 miles.

At a pitstop, with my friends Meagan and Dana:

The biggest issue was that on day three, yesterday, I got some SERIOUS issues with my bottom. Basically diaper rash. Extreme diaper rash. It hurt so much.

Today was hot. It was the shortest route, 45 miles, and I biked about 36 of them, again deciding to take the sweep vehicle for part of the ride. My butt was hurting, even after putting Lidocaine on it. The ride was hilly, but the hills weren't steep, so I could ride up them.

I ducked out of the closing ceremonies and lunch and team pictures. Basically, I didn't want to sit around for hours in wet biking shorts given my butt rash. I think it was a good decision. I actually fell asleep watching TV which I never, never do. I was so tired.

But the whole thing, it was awesome. I clearly had not trained enough. And most of my training was on flat trails, but I still enjoyed it. And I plan to do it again next year. I learned lots of lessons and realize I need to invest in some bike equipment, but I'm ready to ride every single one of those miles next year.

Uhh, it has been a while

2011-07-10T14:35:00.000-05:00

Hello!

Yes, I've been gone a while, but we won't dwell on that....

This week is the Red Ribbon Ride. I've been training, somewhat, for it. I won't be the fittest, fastest, or best person there, but I'm fairly confident I will finish each day. Since April, I've bike 618 miles, which probably isn't nearly enough, but it is a whole lot of miles for me. I'm going to have no problem hitting 1000 miles by the time the snow falls.

And I rejoined the YMCA yesterday. See, I'm a State of Minnesota employee, so I've been laid off in the Great Shutdown of 2011. Since I have no confidence that I'll be back to work after the Red Ribbon Ride, I figured it would give me something to fill my days. Plus, they have a deal where it was $100 from now until Labor Day, and if I'm working then, I can just convert my summer membership into a regular one. AND, I think the hot tub will feel fantastic after I get back from the Red Ribbon Ride.

And that's it. I haven't really lost any weight. I'm still not so good on hills while riding my bike. But I'm having fun, even if I'm unemployed.

Huzzah!

Too Tired to Blog

2011-05-30T18:00:00.000-05:00

I rode 45.4 miles on my bike today. Last Friday, I rode 39.8 miles. I hiked/geocached for a couple hours on Saturday. I went on a short walk yesterday. That's about 90 miles of self-propulsion this weekend. Pretty sweet, but I'm really tired.

I haven't been losing weight as fast as I hoped. I'm down a few pounds. And part of it is that the weather hasn't been cooperating, keeping me off my bike. But, I've been training and moving when I can.

Heartland Trail

2011-04-25T13:54:00.000-05:00

This weekend I went to my parents' cabin, which is near the Heartland Trail. The Heartland trail is one of those rail to trail projects that allow for perfect biking. Not a lot of hills, pretty scenery, and towns every 10 miles or so. Flat, flat trails, which can be so nice.

I rode from Park Rapids to Akeley. 35 miles.

The weather was pretty crappy on Saturday. 43 degrees and on and off rail. Yuck.

The whole thing took me 2 hours and 50 minutes. I was pretty damn exhausted by the end. I think if I would have eaten something at the half way mark I would have been a little better off.

But, I'm pretty proud of myself. I was sore the next day, but it wasn't unbearable. I think averaging 75 miles a day for 4 days is very doable.

Did It!

2011-04-12T21:17:00.001-05:00

Today I rode my bike into work. And it was hard. And I was sweaty.

And then, I rode home. It was easier, but I was still sweaty.

I decided to count how many other people I saw on bikes on my way home. On the 11 mile ride home I saw 274 people on bikes. That's amazing. I bet there are towns in the US that don't have that many people riding bikes in their whole city on a given day.

I'm not riding tomorrow. Possible showers + early morning meeting in a different building + exhaustion = me taking a day off. I'll ride when I get home, something short and easy. I know if I burn myself out, I'll just stop doing it. I may resume on Thursday, but it will depend on the weather. But next week for sure.

I'm pretty proud of myself. But I stepped on the scale tonight and I'm up 3 pounds. That has me worried. If I end up gaining this week, I'm going to have to start tracking my food better. I still really want to win this damn Biggest Loser contest at work.

Bike Commuter

2011-04-11T21:35:00.000-05:00

I'm doing it. Tomorrow I'm riding my bike to and from work. Just over 11 miles each way. And at least one big hill each way.

I've set out the clothes I'm going to wear. Packed my pannier with my laptop and clothes to change into and a small makeup bag. Thought about breakfast and how I'm going to have to eat before I leave.

Bike commuting is going to be a big change for me. If I worked in Downtown Minneapolis, instead of Downtown St. Paul, it wouldn't be that big of change. I could commute in my work clothes, it is a pretty easy ride. I wouldn't have to get up any earlier, bike is faster than bus from my house to downtown. BUT, commuting to St. Paul is going to be a change. I'm going to have to get up an hour earlier, at least at first. I'm going to have to plan out what I'm wearing and packing it because I will have to change when I get to work. I'm going to have to eat before I leave work.

I'm pretty nervous. If it were flat, I wouldn't be. I cranked out 15 miles today in jeans. But they were flat miles. I don't know if I'll be able to get up that huge, multi-block hill. I think I just need to do it a few times, and it will be easy, and fun, but tomorrow will be tough.

And worst case scenario, I've got a bus pass. I can always jump on a bus.

1 Pound Down

2011-04-07T23:39:00.000-05:00

Not so great, but I lost one pound this week. I'll take it.

I also paid for a bike locker at work today, so I'll be able to keep my bike safe any time I'm in downtown St. Paul, but especially at work. Bike commute starts on Tuesday. I'm probably going to start by riding to downtown Minneapolis, about 3 miles, and taking the bus from there to work. Then I can ride home. My legs aren't quiet ready yet for a 22 mile round trip every day.

I rode almost 9 miles again today. To the opera! But the opera was at the University, so it was a bit more casual, so I was able to bike in my jeans. I love riding home at night on the Greenway. It is almost magical. It is near silent. No wind. No traffic. Few stops. It is just beautiful.

Biking!

2011-04-05T22:28:00.000-05:00

Today I could have ridden around the block, then drove to craft night to see my Ladies, but I didn't. I got on my bike and rode there.

It was 4 miles each way. On the way there, I took one of Minneapolis' "Bike Boulevards." They are a great idea. The one I took is East-West on 40th Street South. It is set up to discourage cars from using it and be a great place to bike.

But, the idea is good, but it doesn't make a lot of sense in this particular case. 40th is a VERY hilly street. And there are a lot of stop signs. And some weird intersections. 38th Street, just two blocks north is a wide, fast street. It has no stop signs and it is basically FLAT. I took 38th Street home because I didn't want to deal with the rollercoaster that is 40th.

But I got 8 miles in. So that's what matters. Half hilly, half mostly flat.

(I did miss yesterday. I gave blood and went to Happy Hour. I thought it would be fun to ride with a nice little buzz, but I was just super tired, especially when I continued drinking when I got home. I could feel my slight lack of blood today too, I was just really tired while riding.)

30 Days of Biking and Other Good Stuff

2011-04-03T19:17:00.000-05:00

Well, Happy Spring!

I just want to say, if I haven't been blogging, it is probably because I've been gorging myself with food and laziness. So, yeah. I gained four pounds.

BUT, at work someone started a Biggest Loser Competition. 10 weeks. We all put in $10. Whoever wins gets most of the cash, with small prizes for second and third place. So those four pounds I put on? I took all of them off last week.

Most exciting, 30 Days of Biking started on Friday! Basically, ride your bike everyday for the 30 days of April. Easy, right?

Except Friday was crappy. It was cold. It was windy. And I was being a big baby and not wanting to head out to ride. Then, suddenly, the sun came out and the temp rose around 3:30. It was a glorious ride, until I had some wardrobe issues and some pain, so I cut my ride short, but still got in 5 miles.

Yesterday I only rode around the block. But that was after a 2 hour, very hilly, hike with Jeff at Afton State Park.

Jeff Exploring

Today, my own personal bike gang got together and I rode 22 miles. By the end I was having a very hard time getting up hills and was getting a little whiny, but my legs had pretty much stopped functioning normally. I came home, starving, and after I made some food and ate, I had a hard time walking up the stairs.

This weekend I exercised for 5.5 hours. I'm now totally exhausted. But I'm going to kick butt on that Biggest Loser competition at work. They better look out.

My Ride

2011-02-25T16:59:00.000-06:00

Here's the set up in my basement:

I put 30 minutes on this bike today. And I plan to do that three more times before Wednesday.

And yes, that is a huge hole in the brickwork. It makes my fireplace unusable, which is fun.

Adventure

2011-02-24T21:27:00.000-06:00

I did it people, I signed up for the Red Ribbon Ride.

The Red Ribbon Ride is a 300 mile, 4 day bike ride that raises money for local HIV/AIDS organizations like the Minnesota AIDS Project and the Aliveness Project.

I'm very excited to embark on this journey. The organizations I'm raising money for are so important in my community providing food, housing and supports to people with HIV/AIDS.

This will be a challenge for me physically and mentally. I really do think this is something I can do, but it will take a lot of hard work. Tonight I'm putting together a workout schedule that is really bike heavy that I can follow until I can actually get outside and off my trainer.

It will also be a big challenge for me to raise the money needed to ride the race. But in the last 24 hours, using Facebook and Twitter, I raised $150, which I promised to match. Which means I've raised $300 of my $1500. If I can do it in one day, I can do it.

But, I need to ask for your help too! Please consider donating in support of my ride. Even $5 helps.

Oh, and hey, I knit a new hat:

Rewards

2011-02-13T18:11:00.000-06:00

In 40 pounds, or about 4-5 months, I will weigh 200 pounds. Or that's the plan.

And when I hit 200 pounds, I plan a reward for myself. A reward I've wanted for a very long time: a new tattoo.

I'm going to get a big ol' tattoo on my upper arm. I want it to take up the majority of upper arm. Not really a half sleeve, but close.

I'm working on a design. And saving the money. Both of which are hard. I'm broke as a joke and need/want a lot of things. But I've decided that I need to have a goal and this is good for both weight loss and money saved.

Winter Exercise Blues

2011-02-09T20:12:00.000-06:00

I hate the winter.

That's not true, really. I hate winter when temps are below about 20 degrees. And while I prefer my temps to be at least 50 degrees, I can at least get my butt outside when it is above 20.

I do have my bike trainer, and I use it from time to time, but it is SOOOO boring.

So, I bought myself an exercise DVD. 30 Day Shred.

The basic deal with it is that she has three levels of workout on the tape. You work your way through the three levels as you can, doing the workout every day for 30 days.

It is a circuit training workout. There are three minutes of strength, two minutes of cardio and one minute of abs. You do all three, three times. 20 minutes of work basically.

I did it the first time on Monday and I was super sore the next day. Super sore. Between the pain, and giving blood Monday evening, I decided to skip yesterday. Did it again today and my legs are still shaky.

I like it. I don't intend to do it every day. I need to get more time on my bike on the trainer. I'm planning at least one big event on the bike this summer (details soon), so I need to start putting in time in the saddle.

Birthday Week Disaster (Or Awesome Fun Weekend)

2011-02-06T22:35:00.000-06:00

I weighed in on Wednesday and was down over 2 pounds.

Thursday was great.

Then Friday happened. Lunch with friends at one of my favorite restaurants, Brasa. And I had the day off, so I had two beers.

Pizza Friday that night had some really great pizza. And a lot of beer. And my awesome friends got me a snowball from the best bakery for my birthday.

BUT, even though I had a ride home, I stopped drinking well before I wanted to and I shared my snowball and only ate about 1/3 of its awesomeness.

Saturday was my birthday, and I'm feeling REALLY old. And had great plans.

I started by treating myself to White Castle. OUCH.

Then, headed to another favorite restaurant, with really good beer, The Happy Gnome.

BUT, we were super late, so I only had one beer. And wings. BUT, I shared the wings and only ate about five of them.

Then we went to the RollerGirls. OMG, the RollerGirls are crazy fun.

And I ended up having some beers and a very dirty martini. And getting nachos. BUT, I shared the nachos with everyone and ate less than half of them.

And I got a black eye, for charity:

A few of us did:

In total, there were 12 of us for dinner and 20 at the RollerGirls. I have SUCH great friends and I'm so glad people could come out. It made me feel good in a time that could have been very sad for me.

Today, my family came by and I made brunch for us. I made something that was very low fat and chocked full of goodness: Eggs in Purgatory. By taking control and saying I was making brunch, instead of going out, I'm on points today, even though I know I haven't been the past few days.

So, the last few days haven't been great. But I shared the bad food. I chose homemade food over going out for brunch. And because I asked my parents to bring fruit for that brunch, I now have a ton of fruit around the house for the next few days.

I assume I'll have a gain on Wednesday. I did drink A LOT of beer and ate some terrible food. But I think it could have been much worse. And I had a great time.

Recipe: Broiled Grapefruit

2011-01-31T18:52:00.000-06:00

Tonight I made broiled mackerel for dinner. It turned out okay, but my broiler really sucks. BUT, I had been wanting to try broiled grapefruit for awhile, and since the broiler was already going, tonight was the night.

So, recipe:

1 Grapefruit, cut in half.
2 teaspoons of honey.

Pre-heat broiler.
Put half a grapefruit in broiler proof bowl.
Put 2 teaspoons of honey on top of grapefruit.
Put in broiler until your smoke detector goes off, like I did, or about 5 minutes.

I've heard it is also good with cinnamon sugar on top and a bit of butter.

This was really tasty, even though it didn't cook perfectly. I will absolutely making this again. It was satisfying and only one WW point.

430 Miles

2011-01-31T14:13:00.000-06:00

On the last day of January, I am sad to report that I drove 430 miles this month. That is WAY OVER my goal, which was 300 miles. To reach my yearly goal of 3000 miles total on my car, I need to average 250 miles a month.

I know that January, Febrary and December are my big driving months. It is cold and it is snowy and it is easier to drive in these months. That's why I gave myself 300 miles as a goal. But to go that far over is really going to push down how many miles I'm going to allow myself in February. Next month, I'm pushing myself to not exceed 250 miles. That means a lot of walks with the dog, instead of the dog park, and making myself take the bus to work.

I Had It All Planned Out

2011-01-30T21:32:00.000-06:00

I had it all planned out.

Friday night I ate some high point food and drank a bunch of super fancy beers. I had the points and knew the rest of the week was going to be easy street for staying on plan.

I woke up late on Saturday morning with a voice mail asking if I wanted to go to the Beer Dabbler.

Why yes, I do want to go. I've wanted to go for awhile. Why wouldn't I want to go hang out outside in 20 degree weather and drink shot glasses full of beer? Dark, delicious, high alcohol and calorie beer.

So I went. And then picked up crappy Chinese food on the way home. And totally blew the whole week out of the water.

I need to remember to plan for the unexpected. I was very good today and I'll get some exercise in this week, but still, I can't just use up all my points. I'm in a place that I can't really turn down fun social activities. Especially ones outside. But I need to have a backup plan points wise.

Weigh In

2011-01-27T20:49:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was my WeightWatchers weigh in. It was the first weigh in since I started. I missed two meeting so it was a three week weigh in.

I lost 3.6 pounds. That's really good. And right on track for my weight loss goal for this year.

I really need to add exercise to my weekly habits. I walk once or twice a week, but it is not nearly enough. I have no trouble getting in exercise in the summer, but the cold and the dark keeps me at home. So I signed up for 2011 Winter Walkoff. Basically, I've pledged to walk every day in February and to talk about it on twitter and facebook. I'm hoping that helps with my weight loss.

And Then I Ate Some Burger King

2011-01-25T18:39:00.000-06:00

After a year of badness, I'm finally seeing some good days in this new year. I can ignore needing 4 new tires, the gas fumes coming from leaky engine things, and the total crap of having to have my ex visit my dog when I have great days like last Thursday. Last Thursday I had a great day at work, got a ton done, and then when to watch The Magic Flute at the Minnesota Orchestra.

Warning: Sort of Graphic Medical Stuff Ahead.

But today was not that day. I've had this crazy growth thing on my back. I sort of noticed a little bump on my back, under a scar, on Thursday. By Saturday night it was getting tender. Sunday night it was hurting and had gotten pretty big. By last night it hurt. A lot. And was pretty dang big. Like three inches by two inches. And a half inch tall.

I didn't get much sleep last night because every every time I moved it hurt. I couldn't get comfortable. At work today was tired, grumpy and in pain.

And today was crazy busy at work. And a meeting I had didn't go as well as I had hoped.

I left early to go to the doctor. My crazy bump thing was basically an ingrown hair gone wild. It had to be drained and packed. It has a wick to keep it draining for the next couple days. Then I get to go back on Friday, probably to have it redrained.

Now I'm in even more pain than I was before I went in. Driving was really hard and just sitting here moving my fingers hurt.

Oh, and on the way home, I was hungry.

That was all I needed. Burger King was purchased and eaten. And now I feel bad.

The only upside was that the scale at the doctor had me down about six pounds, so I'm hoping my WW weigh in tomorrow will be good.

Drive Less

2011-01-08T17:22:00.000-06:00

Well, one way to make myself to drive less is to have a car that I cannot drive.

Last night, leaving Pizza Friday, I made it a few blocks and realized I had a flat tire. I pulled over, and it was a VERY flat tire. I slowly made my way to a nearby gas station, but I couldn't get any air into the tire, which I was hoping to do.

I was lucky that my friend Kevin was nearby and could give me a ride home because it was very cold last night. This morning I bused my way over to the car and my friend Brendan changed the tire for me. I drove it home on the spare and parked it.

It will be parked there all this week.

While it is possible that the tire can be fixed, I sort of doubt it. And I don't want to spend all my savings, so I'm waiting until I'm paid on Friday to get it fixed/replaced. And there is also something else wrong with it, which I fear could be very expensive, so I may wait even longer.

Which is good!

Today I was planning on bringing Jeff to the park. But instead, we went on a 1.5 hour work. I got exercise and he's been sleeping since we got home. It was very cold again, but I dressed right and it was all good.

Driving less equals exercising more for me. It means taking the bus, which always involves some amount of walking. And if I can't bring Jeff to the park, he gets walked, which means I do to.

I can't leave my car parked forever, but it may be good to do for the next few weeks.

Resolution: REVENGE

2010-12-31T16:46:00.000-06:00

As you probably all know, 2010 was by far the worst year of my life. The Worst. I had health problems. My husband had health problems. Just as we got healthy, he left me without any real warning. Divorce stuff. Money problems. Lies. All and all it sucked. A lot.

But somehow, through it all, I ended up losing 22 pounds. While I haven't really lost since the day he told me he was leaving me, I didn't gain, which is downright amazing I think.

But with a new year comes resolutions. And my resolution is simple, I want REVENGE.

I want revenge on the horrible year of 2010. I want all of the badness to be made up with goodness this year. I want to show it that it doesn't have to be like that every year. That I'm in charge of my life, even if I wasn't in charge of 2010.

While one single resolution seems simple, it is really a series of resolutions to make my life the one I want it to be.

So, I give you, Resolution Revenge:

1) Lose 53 pounds. That will bring me to 75 pounds total. And is just over a pound a week which is a healthy, achievable goal. I'd still be technically overweight, but I'd be a hell of a lot healthier and happier.

2) Meet more people with similar interests. I have great friends, but a lot of the things I like to do I don't have friends who also enjoy them. I've already signed up for three meetups in January as a start. It is hard to find people to play long board games with or to go backpacking.

3) Drive less than 3000 miles this year in my car. I need to move more. I need to save money. I need to help the environment. I figure the best way to do this is drive less. The 3000 miles will not count one car road trip I plan on taking.

4) Backpack. I love camping and backpacking. So, I'm going to do it. I found a group backpack trip in Glacier National Park that I really want to take. That's my roadtrip I'm exempting miles for above. And signing up for that will make me hike and camp more as training for it.

5) More music. And this is easy. I bought a Living Social Deal that gives me unlimited Thursday and Friday concerts from the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra from January to June. I plan to use it as often as I can. I plan to hit the Minnesota Orchestra as often as possible too.

6) Eat less meat. It is good for the environment, me and my wallet. I think I'm going to try the Mark Bittman diet, added into WeightWatchers or SparkPeople. Basically, vegan before dinner.

That's it. Pretty simple. I still have my 101 Goals in 1001 Days too, thought that ends this summer and will be about a 50% failure. My priorities have changed a lot and the goals haven't.

And, hey, here's a pic of me in my new hat I just knit:

Tasty Drink and Another Bad Week

2010-12-13T11:29:00.000-06:00

Last week was bad. I didn't weigh myself because I don't even want to know how bad. I'm starting over today and tracking my food. I did get exercise in this weekend, but only because of the snow...

BUT, let me tell you about a drink I make a lot in order to get my daily requirements of water in.

First, I highly recommend, and everyone should get, a home soda water maker!

I have a Sodastream water maker. I never have to go to the store for bubbly water, it doesn't have any waste since the canisters are recycled, and it is fun.

Take two capfulls of Apple Cider Vinegar and put in glass:

Add in bubbly water:

And you have a cool, refreshing drink!

I know, you are thinking, "But it is just vinegar water." And it is. But, it tastes like Kombucha and people love that stuff. And if you don't put in too much vinegar, it has a nice refreshing taste.

People say there are diet benefits to Apple Cider Vinegar. And while I don't believe it, if you want to try it out, here's the way to go. And it really helps me get my water in each day.

I also do this with high quality balsamic vinegars. I have a Cherry Balsamic Vinegar that is reallly, really tasty. But even cheap apple cider vinegar is good.

Woah, It Worked

2010-12-05T20:40:00.000-06:00

I'm down 3 pounds this week. That makes 24 pounds down for 2010, with a few weeks more to go. This sparkpeople.com thing seems to be working, which is great since it is free.

I've got a goal. That's to be 30 pounds down by January 1. Six pounds in 3 weeks and some days. Shouldn't be a problem, even though I've got a bunch of holiday parties and Christmas to deal with.

Part of what is going to make it a little bit easier is the huge ass TV I'm getting tomorrow. Used. For Free. And a second DVD player. That means I can move my small TV to the basement and watch movies while I ride my bike, or do exercise videos. My biggest hurdle right now is days like today, which are really cold, so I'm stuck doing my cardio at home. It is so boring and I'm hoping a TV will help that.

So, six more pounds. I can do it.

Falling Snow

2010-12-03T21:58:00.000-06:00

Wow! People are still reading.

Tonight, my brother and I took Jeff (the dog) on a walk. We are in the middle of a snowstorm and it was quite a workout. Under the 3-4 inches of snow we already have is still some ice from last week. So, slippery ground under powdery, sort of deep snow is hard going. But it was so pretty. And there were very few cars and very few other people, which is ideal dog walking conditions.

My whole body is sore from my first day of the real workout for 200 sit-ups, 200 squats and 100 push-ups. I decided to take two days off from it instead of just one to let me heal a bit. My abs are especially tender and it hurts to laugh.

I'm hoping to blog more in the coming weeks, but wondering what content people would like to see. My workout plans? Pics of food and recipes (I'm a really good cook)? Scenery from the hikes and snowshoe outings I have planned?

I'm also going to change the name of the blog. Thoughts on what that should be?

Recommitted

2010-11-29T19:38:00.001-06:00

Yesterday, I recommitted to losing weight. So, I quit WeightWatchers.

I've been paying for WW for a really long time. And I'm broke. And it hasn't been working for me.

I also quit the gym just two weeks ago.

I'm a quitter.

But like I said, I've recommitted.

First, I set up a home gym. Total cost was the same as three months at the YMCA.

For my home gym I bought a Trainer for my bike:

I bought resistance bands and blew up my balance ball. And there you have a home gym.

Yesterday, I restarted SparkPeople.com. Which is a free online weight loss community. It gives you a diet. It will even pick out food for you if you want it too. And it will set up exercise plans for you too.

I weighed in yesterday for the first time in a really long time. I weight in at 248, which is up 4 from earlier this summer, but still down 21 on the year.

Today I exercised. I did initial baselines for the 100 push-ups, 200 squats and 200 sit-ups training programs. Baseline results were 2 push-ups, 21 squats and ZERO sit-ups. I switched to doing the sit-ups on the balance ball and that helped.

I then did a 30 minute resistance band workout and a 20 minute bike workout. I was going for 30 minutes on the bike, but my legs were tired from the stupid squats. Yes, 21 squats made my legs so tired I couldn't really ride. Plus, I need to get a riser for my bike so it isn't at a weird downhill position. That just makes my need for a new seat and shorter stem more obvious.

So, with all this happening, and absolutely no Triathlon training happening, I'm thinking I need to switch to a new URL. Anyone have thoughts on that? Anyone reading at all?

Ugh

2010-10-03T21:59:00.000-05:00

It has been pretty bad around here.

I haven't been on my bike in awhile and didn't complete the 30 Days of Biking challenge. I was all good until the weather got bad, and then that was the end.

I haven't been to the gym in months.

I did do some hiking and started playing disc golf and have been walking places. But that's not near good enough.

I have no idea what I weigh and I'm afraid to weigh in.

But yesterday and today I tracked all my points. I AM going to go to the gym this week. I AM going to ride my bike at least part way to work. I AM going to get my crap together in the month of October, I swear.

My committments for this month:

Only drive to work 3 times. It will be a bus/bike combo the rest of the time.
Only eat 3 meal purchased at work. Means bringing breakfast and lunch almost every day. I always end up eating crappy, fattening food if I eat in the cafeteria or at a restaurant.
Planned meals Monday-Thursday at home all month. Meaning I cook what I planned and no take out or eating out. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays are days I can eat out.
Gym at least three times a week each week.

I can do this. I really want to get back into the pool. Also, the Y is offering a special on personal training that I may take up. I need to stop letting my emotions get the best of me, because that is what is happening.

This divorce is so stressful and work has been especially stressful too. It is really playing a toll on my physical and mental health. I'm noticing the back pain I've had in the past is coming back. Simply, it means I've lost muscle in my core. I need to get it back. Otherwise I end up exercising through great pain and that is the BEST excuse in the world to just not exercise at all.

Day 14 of 30 Days of Biking

2010-09-14T17:35:00.000-05:00

Based on my current pace, I will not hit 200 miles this month biking. I've biked 69 miles as of today.

But, I'VE BIKED 69 MILES THIS MONTH. That's pretty great.

Today I biked almost 8 miles. It was no problem. I jumped on the greenway and kicked out those miles super fast. It was fun and easy.

But for some reason I can't get past the mental barrier of riding to work and back. It is only 10 miles to work. And granted, they are hilly miles. But not as hilly as the 12 miles I did this weekend.

Tomorrow the plan is to bike to Downtown Minneapolis and take the bus to Downtown St. Paul in the morning. Then, in the afternoon, to bike all the way home. That should be a good 14 mile day. If I can do that with consistency, maybe I can come close to 200 miles.

30 Days of Biking: Day 6

2010-09-06T20:27:00.000-05:00

Six days into the 30 Days of Biking Challenge and I've rode 36 miles.

Not bad.

I'd hoped for more since my goal is 200, but I'm hoping to put in some long rides this week.

Today, Mollie and I went out to Elm Creek Park Reserve and rode for 17 miles. It was a very hilly ride, but manageable hills. Rolling hills. And it was very pretty.

I hoped to ride part way into work tomorrow and then bus part way in, but it looks like rain in the morning. I guess I'll have to get my time in tomorrow night.

30 Days of Biking

2010-08-31T21:01:00.000-05:00

The first day of September is tomorrow, which means the first day of 30 Days of Biking. I've pledged to ride my bike at least one full turn of the wheel each day in the month of September.

This is good for me. Having had nothing to do since Saturday I'm starting to feel a little lonely. Or a lot lonely. It is weird to come home to an empty house every night after having lived with CJ for 4 years and having had seen him almost every day for the 2 years before that. I don't have anyone to talk to and it is making me very sad. Not that I want to talk to anyone, I just want to talk to CJ, like I used to.

Anyway, enough with the pity party...

The 30 days of biking will get me out of the house and off my butt, two things I really need. It will force me to exercise. It will get me out of the house earlier in the morning and stop driving to work. It will be good. Plus there will be lots of fun meetups I can participate in, but will probably be too shy/embarrassed/afraid to go to. I'm not so good with crowds, especially when I don't really know anyone. And I'm afraid they will all be faster and better with the bikes.

I REALLY NEED TO GET OVER THAT.

But, it isn't too late for YOU to sign up for 30 Days of Biking. You don't need to be in Minneapolis, or have a nice bike, or be social. You can just head to the website and commit to riding your bike some distance, even around the block or around your living room, each day for September.

Go do it now.

244

2010-08-29T11:41:00.000-05:00

I'm down 3 pounds since the last time I weighed in on the WeightWatchers website. And that's after two days at the fair. Of course, I didn't really eat all I wanted to at the fair, I just wasn't in the mood for it. I'm thinking I may go back one more time and get my corn dog and cheese curds.

Yesterday, I rode my bike to the fair with my brother and sister-in-law. It isn't the longest I've gone by any stretch, but it was a killer. Getting there was fine, but getting home was terrible. It was 89 degrees and we were riding into the wind. By the time I got home I was not feeling well at all. My shoulder hurt. I had saddle sores. I was sunburned. I was very dirty. I would do it again, for sure, but I'd chose a day in the 70s with a light breeze.

Not All Is Lost

2010-08-23T18:25:00.000-05:00

I had a doctor appointment today to get a medication refilled. I had to step on that scale. As I got off the nurse said, "you've lost a lot of weight."

YES! I have lost a lot of weight. And I'm still below 250.

Now that I'm sans a meat eating husband my diet will almost automatically be a lot better. I went to the grocery store today and bought food for the next 4 days. The only meat product was a pound of bacon. Cutting meat from my diet will almost automatically lighten it up. Plus, I'll get to eat all the foods CJ would never eat like greens and other tasty veggies. These are good things.

Today I also signed up for 30 Days of Biking. Basically I've committed to ride my bike every single day in September. My goal mileage is 200 miles. I'm pumped.

Complications, So Many Complications

2010-08-21T21:46:00.000-05:00

This weekend I'm staying in a hotel. My husband is moving out of the house. I'm sad, and mad, and really, really, really stressed out.

And I've had a lot of food issues in the last couple weeks.

First, there is no food in the house. I've tried not to spend much time in the house. I haven't cooked a meal in a couple weeks. I've made sandwiches and quick little things, but nothing real.

Today I've eaten WAY TOO MUCH. But I'm sad and it makes me feel better for a minute or two. It is stupid, I know.

In the next couple weeks I hope to get the house clean and take stock of what I own. That includes the kitchen. I hope to start cooking meals at home again starting Monday night.

I have been riding my bike though. Short distances, but it is better than nothing. I haven't been to the gym at all, but I'm thinking about trying to save up for a personal trainer. I want to get back to swimming, do some Zumba and fun classes, and some weight training.

I need to keep blogging. Keep being accountable. Start tracking my points again.

Emotional Eating

2010-08-08T11:44:00.000-05:00

I just want a hamburger. Scratch that, a bacon cheeseburger with fries and a beer.

I now have the official divorce papers. It makes me very, very sad. The first thing that went through my head when I finished reading them was, "I could really go for a hamburger."

But I'm not hungry. I had a nice breakfast of a banana-green tea-kefir smoothie and an Odwalla bar just a couple hours ago. So why do I want a hamburger so bad?

Of course the answer is that I eat when I'm sad or upset. And when I'm happy or celebrating. And honestly, if I had a car right now, or it wasn't 90 and humid, I'd be eating a hamburger right now. But the weather is crappy and I'm going to have to bike it wherever I go, so luckily there will be no hamburger for me right now.

But the time for hamburger will come. When I'm hungry. And that will be fine. My plan is to go see two Fringe shows, get some dinner, take a nap, then go volunteer for two more shows. I may get a hamburger in that time, but more likely a sandwich with veggies and lean meats.

Down One

2010-08-07T10:16:00.000-05:00

Down a pound this week! While I didn't make the best food choices this week I did stop eating when I was full. That seems to work. Who knew?

Last night I rode my bike home from friends' house after 11:00pm. I was a little nervous, but had seen a ton of people on bikes before I took off. Plus I had just missed the bus. It was a great ride. It is really nice to ride with minimal traffic like that. It was also much cooler than 6:00 in the evening. I did hit some bumps that I didn't see coming, but I avoided all the really big ones. That definitely gave me confidence to do more late night bike riding. And it will really help as the days become shorter.

I also FINALLY hit 100 miles on my bike. It took weeks longer than I hoped, but these last few weeks have been rough on me. I hope to double that number quickly. I know I'm putting at least 10 miles on it today, maybe more if it stops raining. And I intend to start bike commuting at least once a week after Fringe Fest.

Hard Times for Exercise

2010-08-06T14:35:00.000-05:00

Right now I'm having a hard time finding time/energy to exercise. I'm still an emotional wreck, which means I eat a lot and sleep a lot. Except, I haven't been. See, I've kept myself busy, very busy the last few weeks and the coming 10 days will be the busiest days of my whole year. This means minimal sleep. But it also means eating out and drinking alcohol.

The next 10 days has me working 16 shifts at the Minnesota Fringe Festival. The Minnesota Fringe Fest is a huge performing arts festival located throughout Minneapolis (and one place in St. Paul.) With ever shift I do, I get a free pass to see a show. So, I'll also be adding watching 16 shows over the next 10 days, though I did see my first 4 last night.

AND I'll be spending all day next Tuesday as an election judge for the statewide primary. That's a 15 hour shift where somehow I'm going to have to bring food for the whole day.

So, add on that I will be working most days next week (I have Tuesday off for the election judging and a couple hours on Wednesday) I'm not going to have much time for exercise. I'm going to try and ride my bike to as much of the Fringe as I can, but coming home at 11:00 at night by bike from across town isn't my idea of a good time.

So, tomorrow morning, after I weigh in, I'm headed to the grocery store to try and figure out food I can toss in a bag that's filling and tasty and doesn't need refrigeration and can sit in my bike bag. Any thoughts are appreciated.

Growing My Own Food

2010-08-03T21:16:00.002-05:00

I love veggies. I really do. Especially sauteed in olive oil or butter, but I digress...

So I was very excited when I got to pick these babies from my "garden:"

My "garden" consists of three pots. One has lavender, one has chamomile and one has peppers. I've tried growing other veggies in the past and have failed. I'm so excited this year that I'll actually recoup the cost of the plant in peppers. There are at least 5 more peppers on the plant that will be harvested.

Tomorrow I'm making a nice healthy veggie and chicken stir fry. And these are going in. Nummy.

+1

2010-07-31T22:43:00.001-05:00

I wasn't really expecting a gain. See, my husband sprung it on me that he was divorcing me on Monday. Until yesterday I hadn't really eaten much, so I thought for sure this week I'd be down, but nope, nothing is going good for me right now.

AND THE DOG PUKED IN THE BEDROOM.

One of two things happened. Either I gained a couple pounds last week, which I didn't weigh in for since I was at my parents' cabin at a Family Reunion type thing having fun with my husband and drinking and such, that I did lose weight this week, but just not enough to counterbalance. OR my body, with the not really eating thing, decided when I finally did put calories into it to hang on to them for dear life.

Plus I'm very, very dehydrated. The crying non-stop does that. Plus the not wanting to get out of bed even to get a glass of water. And the constant diarrhea I've also had since Tuesday morning, my body telling me it is not happy with what my brain is doing/feeling, is also no good for hydration. TMI, I'm sorry.

Tuesday was to be my first bike commute. I didn't even get out of bed until 4 in the afternoon on Tuesday.

I have done a couple short rides this week. Nothing to be proud of, but I did leave the house, so that's good. I'm going on one tomorrow too. I also mowed the lawn today which made me sweat more than any bike ride would.

I'm rambling.

The point is my life really fucking sucks right now. A lot. I'm not too concerned about losing weight or getting in activity. If I can get through the end of September without going over 250, I'll call it a win. Due to that, I have started tracking my points again.

I don't know if I'll keep up this blog, or rename it, or what. I want to stay healthy and keep meeting goals. But I don't need ANY added stress in my life. NONE. And if this becomes stressful, it will go. Along with showering it seems...

24 Miles

2010-07-19T22:22:00.000-05:00

I rode my bike from my house to downtown St. Paul and back yesterday. I then slept for an hour, went to a BBQ, came home and fell asleep at 9:00 and slept soundly through the whole night. I was exhausted.

And I plan to do it again on Wednesday. At least the part of riding to St. Paul. I may take the bus back. And I may do that again on Thursday. Can you believe a "fatty" is doing all that?

But today was a rest day and tomorrow is a non-intentional rest day. I'm doing election judge training tomorrow night so I'll have no time to exercise. I'm okay with that.

Fatty!

2010-07-17T22:38:00.001-05:00

What was going to be a short bike ride for CJ and me on Thursday turned into a 9 mile ride. The weather was decent and the night calm. We rode mostly on bike paths in wooded areas and quiet neighborhoods that made us feel like we were in the suburbs, not the urban core.

The last part of our ride had us going down pretty busy streets back into our not so great neighborhood from another not so great neighborhood. At one point CJ was on one side of a one way rode and me another. A car load of ADULTS drives by and one of the ADULTS in the back seat yells out the window at me, "FATTY!"

WTF?

The woman who yelled was not thin. So maybe, we speculated, she has some self-esteem issues and wanted to build herself up by tearing me down. We all know how well that usually works. Who knows?

I laughed it off. But it really put a blemish on what was a really fun time riding around South Minneapolis.

Someone who was new to exercise, or didn't have a lot of self-esteem, could be crushed into not exercising again by something like that. When I first started running many, many years ago some kids called me fat when I was out running. I didn't run on city streets in the day light again for over 5 years. Even when I was thin I didn't want anyone to see me run.

But now I don't care. Partly because I've come to terms with the fact that I am fat. Partly because I know I was out there doing something about it. Partly because I'm older and wiser. I now just think it is pretty ridiculous.

246!

2010-07-17T10:45:00.002-05:00

I quit the tri, ride my bike everywhere, and I lose three pounds. I'll take it.

So, the Question is "Fat Triathlete?"

2010-07-16T14:11:00.000-05:00

And the answer is no.

I've decided to not do the triathlon.

The training isn't fun. At all. I'm dying with the running. It has been so hot and the running has been so boring.

Since I made this decision I've spent more time exercising, by riding my bike, then I would have if I would have continued on the triathlon path. I've also burned more calories and had more fun.

I'm a quitter. I quit lots of things. It is a bad habit. But I'm not quitting trying to get healthy. I'm not quitting losing weight. I'm not quitting biking, swimming or even running. What I'm quitting is training for that particular triathlon at this particular time.

And I'm not quitting this blog, though I may rename it. I still have a long way to go and I want to document it. The difference is one race on one date. (Well, really two races because I'm also not doing the 10 mile run I signed up for.)

Hot New Ride

2010-07-12T21:30:00.000-05:00

I bought this today:

That's the pic from the parking lot of the store with my iPhone. I really need to get a better one.

It is a Surly Cross Check. I picked this baby up from my local bike shop Freewheel Bike Shop.

What should I name her?

I got one short ride in today on her. I would have went longer, but we planned to go after dinner and then we were all tired and my bro was willing to stop by and put my Power Grips and then it was late and we know how that goes.

But in the short ride I got her up to 19mph, not on a hill, which is fast for me. Very fast for me. I will need some adjustments, but for the most part it is a complete and awesome bike right off the sales floor.

Now I have no excuse for not riding a bike almost anywhere I go. Which is good. And I'm happy.

Good Times

2010-07-05T19:44:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I went on a run with Jeff and almost killed him. It was warm, and humidity was at about 150%. Too hot for the dog. Too hot for me, but Jeff really didn't handle it well. Walking back to the car he laid down twice. Not a good sign. I'm not going to be able to bring him on runs on hot days anymore.

Today Pete and I decided to ride bikes out to a couple sporting good stores in the suburbs. About 7 miles away. After the first hill I was already complaining that my legs were dead from the day before. And they were, but it wasn't horrible.

What was horrible was the torrential downpour we found ourselves in. We waited it out as long as we could, but eventually we had to give in and ride back.

I wear glasses at all times. I don't wear contacts, but have in the past and didn't like them. For the first time in a really long time, I wish I would had them. My sunglasses that I was wearing both fogged up and got rain drops on them, making it nearly impossible to see where I was going. Taking them off wasn't much better. I couldn't see when potholes and the like were coming and kept hitting big ones.

And, I was wearing the most useful piece of clothing when biking in a downpour, a knee length jean skirt. It was just gross to wear. And heavy. And cold.

By the time we got home, it was just sprinkling. Of course it was. We ended up going just over 15 miles of hilly, wet, traffic filled roads. Actual biking time was 1.5 hours. My heart rate monitor was on for over 3 hours, which means we spent a long time in the stores. I burned over 1300 calories, but that include the 1.5 hours in the stores wandering around.

It was actually pretty fun. And I like how a place that sound so far away by bike, actually isn't. Now places in far away suburbs are bike-able, which is good. I'll be really happy when 20 miles away doesn't seem that far.

Up a Teeny Tiny Bit

2010-07-03T09:30:00.000-05:00

I'm up to 250, which is actually only a 0.4 pound gain. Whatevs.

Missed Workouts

2010-07-02T23:47:00.000-05:00

Every week I end up missing one of my workouts. This week I missed two, but made one up by doing both a bike and swim workout today. I think I'm just never going to be a person who can workout 6 days a week. And I'm okay with that. I just need to figure out ways to make sure I'm still making progress.

And in terms of weight loss, who knows what tomorrow will bring? I stayed on track until yesterday. Then a trip to go with CJ to urgent care made for a night eating out that I had originally planned to eat at home and I stopped tracking. Of course, if we wouldn't have gone to urgent care we would have eaten out anyway since after I ate lunch CJ informed me we were going out to dinner with a friend.

And I'm okay with it. I'm going to keep up with tracking and weight watchers, but I'm not going to really focus on weight loss right now. It is just making me crazy. I'm training for a triathlon, that's my focus. I'm doing it for health, and that is my other focus. If weight loss comes, that's fantastic. As long as I don't really gain, I'll be okay.

Tomorrow is weigh in. And I've got an easy week next week, starting with a 35 minute run. Of course it is going to be 90 degrees tomorrow, so unless I get up early, I'll be pushing it until Sunday and pushing my bike to Monday, my normal rest day. And that's the game I keep playing.

Bad Luck!!!

2010-06-28T21:36:00.000-05:00

Maybe it started yesterday. Maybe it started today. But I've had a string of bad luck.

Today I went to meet my friend Sarah for the first time. Internet buddies, we had never met before. She has had some bad luck of her own and seriously broke her leg in a few spots a week ago. She now has multiple pins and rods holding it together, which means she's housebound for the next couple weeks. I stopped by to bring her lunch and keep her company.

When I returned home, I noticed my bike had been stolen. MY BREEZER! I LOVE that bike.

Someone came through our gate, up the stairs on to the porch, cut the cable and took the bike, all the while Jeff was barking.

Of course, I was home this whole time, I think. Jeff went crazy barking twice this morning. Both times I thought it was the mailman, but it wasn't until later when the mail came. I normally work from the living room when I work from home, so I can watch the neighborhood, but today I worked from the bedroom. If I would have been in the living room, I would have saw the whole thing and it wouldn't have happened.

I say my bad luck might have started yesterday, because there is a chance that this theft is retribution. Yesterday I called the police on a drug deal I saw and by pure chance the cops were right around the corner when I called. They caught the two kids who were buying the drugs, a 12 year old and a 13 year old. The kids were picked up for drug possession and the 13 year old had a BB gun too. The 911 dispatcher told me to go outside when the cops drove by, so I did. Of course, the kids saw me, but who knows if they knew it was me who called. If so, they may have stole my bike or found someone to do it for them.

But my bad luck, with bikes, continues. When CJ got home we decided to go for a bike ride anyhow. We were going out to a county park where they have nice trails. CJ was bringing his bike off the porch when he hit my pot of flowers, shattering the terracotta pot.

We got our bikes loaded up. As we were driving to the park in the car, my back wheel exploded! I had just added air and I must have overfilled it. We stopped at a local bike shop on the way back and the guy said that I shouldn't fill it to as much pressure as the tire says to (which I did) because the wheel type I have can't handle the pressure. Makes no sense to me, but it would explain why it exploded.

So now I have no working bike. I've been meaning to learn to change a tire, but haven't got around to it yet. It is on the list for the week though. I'm thinking a 6:00am spinning class tomorrow is in order, but it also sounds horrible. But after last week, I have to do it.

Ugh.

That Weigh In Thing

2010-06-26T16:47:00.000-05:00

So, I didn't weigh in this week. Just not up to looking down and seeing a gain. This week was horrible. I only got in 3 of my 6 workouts. The bright side is that I got in the hard ones. I also ate whatever I wanted and didn't track anything.

I'm back to tracking today. Even though I went to the bar to watch World Cup, which could have put me off of tracking, I ate a very nice and fairly low points Ploughman's Lunch and only had one and a half ciders. And some of CJ's french fries.

Right now I have a terrible headache. I'm afraid it is going to keep me from running today, which I really need to do. I'm hydrating and about to take a nap, so hopefully I recover. The nice thing about this time of year is that as long as the weather stays nice I can go out as late as 8:00 and still have daylight. That gives me lots of time to get rid of this headache still today.

The Swim

2010-06-23T22:05:00.000-05:00

Weeks after promising a post about swimming, here one is, finally.

I love swimming. Have for a long time. But, apparently, how I was taught to swim is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.

See, when you take swim lessons as a kid, which I took a lot of, you learn how to swim to rescue yourself, have fun, and be good enough to dive off the diving boards in the deep end of the pool. You do not learn how to be efficient, fast, or competitive.

The most common swimming technique out there is called Total Immersion Swimming. For a good explanation of it, click here. To take an official Total Immersion class is $500 for two days. Ummm, yeah, so not going to happen.

But, there is also a Total Immersion book and video, and my library happened to have both.

After reading a bit about it, then watching the video, I was able to cut two minutes off my 500 yard time. In other words, it really works.

Today I had my first Triathlon Water Training class. And we started immediately with what is basically Total Immersion swimming, just not called that. We were doing almost the exact same exercises as the video showed. I'm sure they were just different enough to not be officially Total Immersion.

The class is at the crack of dawn, but other than that, I can tell it will be very helpful. The first couple classes are on technique, then we go into drills. Including drills that will put is really close together so we can simulate open water swimming. And instead of costing $500 for two days, its $40 for eight, plus the cost of my membership. The Y is awesome.

DUDE! Where Have You Been?

2010-06-21T21:06:00.000-05:00

Last weekend, I went to God's Country, aka The Cabin, aka my parents' cabin near Park Rapids, Minnesota.

The beauty of the cabin, aside from the natural beauty, is the closeness to the Heartland Trail. The trail is a rail to trail project meaning they took old railways and transformed them into long, flat paved trails. Perfect for biking and running.

On Saturday, I did my long run. It didn't go so great, I think I psyched myself out. I ended up walking about 10 minutes and running about 26 minutes. I did go just under 3 miles in that time. I had forgot my inhaler and I was with my mom, so I think both those things got into my head. And I was having some trouble breathing, which isn't a head thing.

The next day I got a 12 mile bike ride in. It was pretty awesome. My legs were almost dead by the end, but it was a really fun and fast ride. It is so nice to ride without worrying at all about traffic and not having hundreds of people on the trails, like around here.

Because I was out of town, I didn't weigh in. And I ate/drank too much. And today I went to a banquet, so I ate too much again. But I'm back on track tomorrow with a weigh in coming up this Saturday that I want to rock.

Good Stuff

2010-06-13T15:06:00.000-05:00

Today was my first run with two new things that make me very happy.

First, I went and purchased a Road ID. I didn't feel comfortable running and biking without ID, but I don't have a good place to carry an ID. Jeff wears an ID around his neck, and I now wear an ID on my wrist.

What I have smudged out is my vital info, all engraved on the small metal piece on the cool purple band. It has my full name and year I was born, my full address (I have the shortest address ever, most people won't be able to do theirs), two emergency contact's names and phone numbers and my medication allergies. I think it is pretty sweet. They have other colors and other options too. Check it out.

I also got to wear my very cheap, but pretty sweet bike jersey. REI currently has a couple different plus sized bike jerseys in their outlet area. I got this one for $30, which is super cheap.

I've been having issues with carrying my iPhone while running. At first I was putting it down my bra, but it kept interfering with my heart rate monitor. With this sweet shirt, I now have three pockets in the back to carry things. While it is technically a bike jersey, which I will use it for too, I really bought it for running and carrying things.

Today I ran 2.54 miles in 30 minutes. That's less than a 12 minute mile, which is crazy fast for me. I don't know how one day I can barely keep running for 20 minutes at a 14 minute mile pace then crank out 30 minutes at a two minute faster pace just a couple days later. I'm wondering if how I take my asthma medicine has to do with it. Or that yesterday was a rest day. Or my attitude. Or the weather. Or if it was my kick ass new shirt.

Anyway, I need more days like today. I felt great and it was a fun run. I went to a far away suburb to run somewhere different and get my mind off how much I didn't want to run. And it worked. It was a very cool trail with few people. It was mostly flat except for one big hill that I ran down at the start and back up at the end. I'll never be able to run their regularly, but when I get to the 60 minute runs, I'm sure I'll head back out that way.

And, I think I have a working road bike. My brother spent some time fixing it. More on that tomorrow and the swimming post I promised.

249!!!

2010-06-12T10:20:00.000-05:00

That's right, I'm at 249 FINALLY.

That's 20 down from my highest ever weight, and it only took 7 months. Ugh.

But I'm very happy.

Lazy Triathlon

2010-06-07T21:30:00.000-05:00

While I'm training for the YWCA Womens Tri, I'm also completing another triathlon, the YMCA Lazyman Triathlon. Basically, it is an Ironman distance triathlon (2.5 miles swim, 112 miles bike, 26.2 miles run) spread over 5 weeks. It was free to sign up, and if I finish, I get a free tee shirt.

Right now, I'm on track to finish after 1.5 weeks, though I'll need to step up my biking miles.

I'm Not Actually Quitting

2010-06-07T17:02:00.000-05:00

First, thanks for all the great comments yesterday. Blogger has been crazy and while I was deleting Pete's 10 identical comments it decided to just delete them all. Maybe they will be back.

Pete wrote this open letter to "a friend." That is me of course. He wasn't the only person to urge me to quit if that's what I really want.

I have lots of things to say in response. But won't. What I'll say is this, if I don't set up a goal I will sit on my ass and not get any exercise. And it isn't just exercise. Somewhere between graduate school and now I became super lazy. If I don't set up plans with deadlines, real deadlines, then things don't get done.

And I'll also say this, I LIKE running. Or I did. I've run at different points in my past and have enjoyed it immensely. I'm so slow now and it takes so much out of me now that I sort of hate it. Until I do it, then I like it about 75% of the time. And I always like biking. And I always like swimming, though I hate my neighborhood pool.

So, I'm not quitting. I've got 10 weeks left and can do this.

I Just Want To Quit

2010-06-05T22:34:00.000-05:00

Or at least earlier today that is all I wanted to do. I'm on the fence now.

Yesterday I missed my workout. It was a busy day. My husband had hernia surgery, which is outpatient. I spent all morning in the hospital and got a couple hours of work in. Then brought him home and worked for a couple more hours and ran a bunch of errands. I was stressed. And tired. And so I went and hung out with some friends and ate some pizza and drank some beer. (CJ was 100% okay with me going. I wouldn't have left him if he didn't prefer to be alone when sick. And I checked up on him every hour.)

So, I missed my swim.

Today we slept in. CJ is on a crazy sleep pattern, having been up playing games on his phone until 6am in bed, making my night sleep only okay. It felt really good sleeping in.

By the time I was up and ready to go it was raining. And we had lots of errands to run.

The more I didn't do my 25 minute run, the more I really didn't want to do my 25 minute run. Then the more I didn't want to do my 25 minute run, the more I didn't want to do any run. Or any swim. Or this whole triathlon thing.

I'm not really losing weight. I'm going to come in last place. I'm not even confident I will finish. I keep having dreams about getting hurt biking. My swimming technique is total crap and I think I look like an idiot. It is getting expensive. I'm not enjoying my running because I'm so slow and for some reason have had really labored runs the last few times.

What's the point? Especially since I'm not losing weight. I could do Zumba and Turbokick classes almost every day, with some yoga thrown in, and have more fun and burn more calories.

I threw this tweet out into the twitterverse, basically admitting that I just want to be done. It was a cry for help. And it worked. Within minutes, 5 friends tweeted me back enough goodness to get me out of the house and running.

And I'm glad I ran. It sucked. But about halfway through, totally soaked, my glasses fogged over, and my legs covered in mud, I realized that if I kept dwelling on how much it was sucking it would just get worse. I forced myself to think of something else. And it ended up not being that bad of a run.

But I'm SO SLOW. And it really has me worried.

But, I've got four days until I have to run again. I'm looking forward to my bike tomorrow and I'm trying to teach myself a new swim technique. And I like running, just not recently.

So, I'm not going to quit. But I'm having lots of doubts.

251 for the 3rd Time

2010-06-05T12:06:00.002-05:00

I get it. I lose three pounds then I stay the same for the next two weeks. That's great.

One pound a week into infinity, I guess.

The Bike

2010-06-03T22:26:00.000-05:00

So much excitement. Tonight was the first training ride on the new bike. I was going to ride up to bike polo with my brother and back. We made it about 6 blocks before he had to fix the bike. It is going to need more work. I rode it back home.

But, even in those short blocks, I got a good feel for it. My current bike is a Cadillac and this one is a 1987 Honda Civic. I feel every bump, there is no trunk, but it is efficient. I move much faster on it with just a little effort.

But it is scary too. The position I'm in is much more of a look at the road you are going to die type position. The wheels are thin. The gear shifter is in a weird place for me and it is hard for me to change gears without feeling like I'm going to fall. And with my feet strapped in, I'm afraid I'm going to forget and bite it.

And I already know I need bike gloves and a little bit of padding on the handlebars. Those suckers are hard and I've got a lot of weight leaning on my hands. This leads to me really feeling the bumps in my wrists and hands.

So yeah, some more work needs to be done. I'm glad my brother has offered to help because I'd be lost without him. And we have plenty of time before I need to be training only on the new bike. My current bike works just fine for making my legs strong and getting my heart rate up.

Kicking Butt

2010-06-02T20:45:00.000-05:00

Today was National Running Day. So I ran. But mostly because my schedule said I had to.

Today was also the last day of short 15 minute runs. I sort of loved the 15 minute run because it was only 15 minutes, but it was sort of a waste of time. I only burn 200 calories in that time and once I really get going it is done.

Yesterday was a 15 minute swim. Again, real short. And only 150 calories burned, even though I felt like I was huffing and puffing more than when I run.

Even though this weekend was sort of a disaster as far as food and drink goes, I tracked EVERYTHING and I'm still on track for the week. I was tempted by some tasty curries yesterday, but stuck with my plan and ate dinner at home with my husband. Boring, but I'm hoping to get below 250 this weekend.

So, I'm basically kicking butt. And I've got two good post lined up, which I'll line up with my next two workouts. One about my new bike and one about my new swim style.

Progress

2010-05-31T16:37:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago I rode a 7 mile ride and it took almost a full hour. I did the same ride today in 40 minutes. I feel pretty bad ass about it too.

251 Again

2010-05-29T09:14:00.001-05:00

That's okay, I guess.

And to celebrate my non-loss, I'm eating the best yogurt of all time, Liberte Yogurt. It is a lot of points for yogurt, but it tastes SO GOOD. Like premium ice cream, it is much more dense than normal yogurt, even some Greek yogurts. And it is full fat and uses real sugar. So it is a breakfast treat, not an everyday thing.

And then I'm going running.

Dairy Queen is the New Swim Workout

2010-05-26T21:47:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was my first swim workout under the new program. 15 minutes. Super easy.

I decided that since it was short and the days had been SO HOT I'd head up to a local beach to do the swim. It would give a chance to practice in open water and my husband agreed to come along so I could be safe and have someone watching.

We piled into the car and head south. About 5 minutes into the drive it started raining. Another 2 minutes later it was lightening and thundering. And about 10 minutes later we were in the DQ parking lot eating our ice cream snacks.

BOO!

But I had been craving DQ so I knew I just had to get it out of the way. And I did. And I don't crave ice cream anymore and when I was hungry after dinner I had a small bagel with hummus.

Sooooooo, one of my favorite bloggers and soon to be fellow triathlete is having a kick ass promotional contest on her blog and is giving away some cool stuff to a lucky winner. Check out Tara's Blog 263 and Counting for a great contest, as well as a cool chick who is kicking serious weight loss and triathlon ass.

First Weekend

2010-05-23T18:54:00.000-05:00

My first weekend of planned tri planning went awesomely. Even though it is near 100% humidity the 15 minutes run and 30 minutes (extended to 45 minutes) bike was really easy. And tomorrow is a rest day already!

It looks like we are going to sell my scooter this week. This is good because I can pick up some stuff for the tri that I've been wanting. This triathlon stuff is pretty expensive. The second bike plus accessories (which I'm doing very cheaply), workout clothes, the clothes I'm going to wear to the actual triathlon, and more. I need a new swimsuit already because my current one is already too big. I bought more synthetic socks today because my feet get so sweaty.

I also bought the Nike + iPod setup this weekend. It is going to be very handy. I love not having to look at my watch to know when I'm half way or done. Once I start looking at the watch I can't stop. This allows me to just run and let the iPhone figure it out. With music.

251

2010-05-22T08:55:00.000-05:00

Hooray! That's 3 pounds! About time I had a big loss.

And official structured training today starts with a big 15 minute run. I'm going to try and work on speed on these first easy runs so that they aren't too easy.

LOST!

2010-05-18T18:32:00.000-05:00

You know what will make training easier for me? Not having to contend with Lost every Tuesday night. I'm held prisoner by this TV show. I HAVE to watch it live or I'll know what happened by morning through twitter and facebook. And it is so close to being done that I can't stop now. Lost is the only TV show I watch live on TV. Everything else I watch on the internet or get through Netflix. I will be so glad when it is over on Sunday. Forever.

Yesterday I went for what should have been a quick and easy run. 10 minutes out, 10 minutes back.

Except my trail ended about 7 minutes out. I need to stop trying new paths that I don't know where they go. When the trail ended I kept going on the foot path and ended up in the middle of the woods.

I found my way out to find my heart rate monitor wasn't working. I ended up playing with that the rest of the run, stopping a few times to adjust it.

Then Jeff started pooping and just kept on pooping, leaving me standing there for WAY TOO LONG.

It was just a crappy run.

But CJ and I went out to Hyland Lake Park Reserve. I did a fast 3 mile loop then the two of us did a nice 2 mile loop. It was hilly and fun. I am really excited to be able to try out my new road bike because my Breezer just isn't made for climbing hills.

Road Bike

2010-05-16T14:36:00.000-05:00

I got a road bike!!! It is a late 1980s Schwinn. It needs some work, a little more than we originally thought, but it was free. I'll probably end up putting $25 or so in it to make it rideable (fingers crossed, already put in $1) and then get toe clips (or these), brake levers, water holder, computer and maybe a seat. If I don't get a seat, I should be able to walk away with an awesome bike for about $100.

Of course, all this is possible only because my brother is able to fix bikes and knows where to go for good used parts. So, thanks Pete. And Sareen and Brendan for the bike.

Gained A Pound

2010-05-15T11:22:00.001-05:00

And life goes on.

Really unmotivated to run lately, but very motivated to bike and swim. This is also my last week of unstructured training which is making me lazy. I know that starting next weekend I've got planned exercise 6 days a week. Makes me want to read and have fun. And eat too much. And drink beer and martinis.

Back In the Pool

2010-05-13T21:09:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a banner day for health. Not only was I out of the doctors' office even before my appointment was scheduled to start, but I was cleared to get back in the pool and had a clean pathology report.

So today I celebrated by swimming. I just wanted to get a handle on how long it would take me to swim 500 yards if the tri was today. The answer is about 17 minutes. That's not terrible, not good, but not terrible. And I haven't even really started training yet!

Also got my husband to sign up at the gym today and took a nice walk with him and the dog. I'm over points for the week as I drink a nice dirty martini, but I'm still hoping for a loss. Maybe I'll go for a long bike ride Saturday morning before I weigh in...

Nice Run

2010-05-11T21:17:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I ran around Lake Nokomis, which is 2.7 miles. I did it in 35:40, which includes two minutes of walking. I really wish I wouldn't have walked and had kept going.

Then I played racquetball with my brother.

Then we walked laps on the track.

I burned just over 1200 calories yesterday. I'm taking a rest day today. Tomorrow I find out if I can start swimming again.

The Training Plan

2010-05-09T18:27:00.000-05:00

I've chosen a training plan to use. It is basic with the idea of finishing the triathlon and nothing more. That's my goal and so I'm going with the simplest training plan possible. I may throw some small runs in after some of my longer bike rides just to practice transitioning and getting my legs to run after biking, but not much more.

I've put my plan up on my google calendar, found here. And there are still slots open for the triathlon, so if someone wanted to do it with me, that would be awesome. Check out the training plan and think about it. I could really use a buddy, even if it were a virtual buddy. The 12 week training plan does start until the 22 of May, so you have some time to think about...

Didn't bike today like planned, but shot hoops for an hour and a half at the gym. Almost the same.

253

2010-05-08T09:34:00.000-05:00

Down another pound.

Went over points this week and only exercised three days. Thought I would have gone up, but no, down another pound.

All Is Well

2010-05-05T20:49:00.000-05:00

Today, this:

That's on my upper left shoulder. The wound is about 2 inches long.

And around 9:00 this morning, after the numbing medicine wore off, it hurt like a son-of-a-bitch for a few hours. I was also super exhausted due to the couple days of stress, not sleeping well, getting up early, and being all pumped up with adrenaline (literally. It was in the numbing medication). So I crashed and slept for three hours, just after emailing my manager and letting him know I needed a couple more hours off.

Then it just sort of hurt after that, especially when my arm was in a typing position. And I was still tired, so I took the rest of the day off. Around 3:00 it started to feel just sort of throbby and achey.

So, even though I was in pain, and the weather sucks and is super windy, and I'm not allowed to shower until tomorrow, I went for a run. And it sucked. But I finished all 28 minutes and am very glad I did it, though it will be very nice to shower.

It is really starting to ache again.

Stress, It Has Me

2010-05-04T20:11:00.000-05:00

I didn't exercise yesterday. I didn't exercise today. I woke up this morning unable to get out of bed because a bad night sleep and a headache. I was late for work. I had a hard time concentrating while at work.

I'm having a very minor surgery tomorrow. Very minor. But for some stupid reason I'm nervous and stressed about it. Just stupid.

But I haven't eaten and eaten and eaten which is the normal way of dealing with stress. So I'm okay with not exercising. I'm hoping I'll be able to run tomorrow after the surgery, it is that minor.

MAY DAY!!!

2010-05-02T19:37:00.000-05:00

I rode my bike to the May Day parade today.

It was pretty great. It is less than a mile away, but the wind was pretty strong on the way back.

I also ran for 28 minutes. The last 5 were in sand and it was terrible, but I didn't give up and finished.

I'm trying to decide what to do tomorrow. I need to swim, my last swim for a couple weeks, but like to use my day working at home for outdoor things like biking. And I really probably need to run on Tuesday. Which means tomorrow either needs to be a double workout day or Tuesday does and I'm pretty tired.

I keep thinking about this triathlon and thinking I must be crazy. I actually giggle at the ridiculousness of it all when I tell people what I'm doing. But then I realize I do have until the middle of August, which is 3.5 months from now. Is that a long time or basically none?

254

2010-05-01T07:15:00.002-05:00

Just one pound. This is making me insane. I will do better next week, I swear.

First Real Bike Training

2010-04-30T16:22:00.000-05:00

For the last month or so I've been riding my bike places I'm already going: the YMCA, Downtown Minneapolis, Pizza Friday...

Today, I rode on my first real "training ride." In other words, a bike ride that was for the purpose of putting in miles, not going somewhere.

I have an hour lunch break, so I took off and rode out on a local trail for about 25 minutes and then turned around and came back. I worked on keeping my heart rate in the happy zone (the zone where my heart rate monitor didn't beep at me) and keeping my feet moving and not coasting. In total, I rode 7.6 miles in 55 minutes. I probably would have hit 8 miles if there weren't stop lights and such from my house to the trail.

So, 8 miles in 55 minutes. That means it would take me just under 2 hours to do the bike portion of the triathlon at this time. Checking last year's results, some women finished the WHOLE RACE in 1.5 hours or less. Clearly I need to work on this.

I'm having a hard time choosing which training plan to go with. I'd love to just pay a coach, but I could never afford it. Some of the training plans I look at are too easy. Some will never get me up to where I will need to be. Some start off running for 4 miles on day one. Why would I run 4 miles on day one when I only have to run 3 miles for the race?

But, I'm still doing it. If this weekend goes as planned, and it will go as planned, I will have run 3x, swam 2x and biked once (plus other biking around town.) I hope next week to bump that up to biking twice, especially since I'll be out of the pool for two weeks after a minor surgery on Wednesday.

I'll figure this out. I think the most important thing right now is to keep doing it.

Treadmills = Evil

2010-04-29T21:31:00.000-05:00

I didn't exercise yesterday. I called it my day off and moved on. But that meant today I HAD to run. I also had to have a date with my husband because today is Dining Out for Life.

So on my lunch break, I headed down to the YMCA and ran on the treadmill.

Hell! Torture! Extra Sweatiness!

It wasn't pretty. After 25 solid running minutes, I was a total wet mess. And had to go back to work. Not pretty at all.

But I did it. And CJ and I headed to one of my favorite restaurants where I made a really good choice and two really bad choices.

Tomorrow is what I have set up as my biking day. Weather looks bad, so I may hit a spin class. It is what I should have been doing all along. I need to get my speed up considerably.

I Promise I'll Stop

2010-04-24T15:19:00.000-05:00

3rd post of the day, that's too many. But somehow the pictures from yesterday were saved on my phone. Hooray.

Jeff after our run. He's pretty hot.

I was pretty sweaty too. And that headband does me no favors.

I rode my bike downtown today (250 calories burned), went swimming (250 calories burned), had lunch, then rode back home (300 calories burned). I haven't calculated it, but I hope that offsets my Panera lunch.

Why I Didn't Run

2010-04-24T11:23:00.000-05:00

Today was the day. I was to run, and complete, my first 5K in a really, really long time.

Today was the Get In Gear Race.

But I decided a couple days ago, and sealed my decision yesterday, not to run it. And I feel good about that decision.

First, I'm not at the point in my training where I can run it. If I wouldn't have missed two weeks from sickness I would have been, but I missed those two weeks.

I still could have ran/walked it. Or ran my normal weekend run and walked the rest. Or tried to run it. But, the weather called for cold and rain.

Cold and Rain. I don't want to walk in the cold and rain. So, I decided not to go.

When I woke up this morning, before my alarm clock, I realized I was awoken by thunder. It has been raining since 7:00 this morning. And here I am, tucked into bed with my big puppy, having just watched the season finale of Project Runway. I ate a tasty smoothie for breakfast and feel refreshed and happy.

It has been a perfect Saturday morning (except that CJ had to work) and I'm super glad I did not go run and walk in the cold rain.

I'm going swimming in a little bit. Then shopping. I think it will be a great day.

Weigh In Makes Me Sad

2010-04-24T10:06:00.000-05:00

I was so excited about what was going to be a great Saturday weigh in, that I weighed in last night before dinner. 252!!! I couldn't wait to get up this morning for a great weigh in.

We went to our neighbor's house for a nice meal of takeout Indian and I had some Hard Ciders. I had 29.5 points going into last night's meal and I knew I wouldn't use them all.

Weigh in the morning-- 255!

I only lost one pound. I had 25 activity points last week. I worked my butt off. I tracked everything I ate. Why? WHY?

So I'm officially down 1 pound this week. I was hoping to hit the 240s next week, but that seems unlikely. It all makes me sad.

Dang, I Had Pictures

2010-04-23T22:04:00.000-05:00

This blog is in serious need of some pictures. So I took some of Jeff and I after running in the beautiful Fort Snelling State Park. And the transfer from my iPhone to my computer failed and they are lost forever...

Fort Snelling State Park is one of my favorite places on earth, especially for running. It is a state park in the city. I've seen tons of wildlife there including the biggest turkey I have ever seen today. The fishing is good. The swimming is good. The hiking is good. There is a historical fort. It pretty much rocks.

My favorite place to run is Pike Island, within the park. Right now half of it is still closed due to high water, but enough of it is open to get my run in. I ran Day 2 Week 6 of Couch to 5K. That's a 10 minute run, 3 minute walk, 10 minute run. And it felt great. Pike Island trails are all dirt, and it is pretty flat, so it is easy on my knees and on my stamina. When the whole thing is open, it has three loops that are exactly one mile, two miles and three miles.

I'll be heading back on Sunday for my 23 minute run. I promise to get some pictures then.

(and why I'm not running the Get In Gear 5K tomorrow, tomorrow.)

The Rest Day

2010-04-20T20:04:00.000-05:00

So, yesterday was my rest day. My day off training. I've gone from having 7 rest days to having 4 to just one. And yesterday was my one rest day.

So, I went and played racquetball with my brother. Which was super fun.

But that's not a rest day in my body's mind (which I guess would be my mind.) So today is my rest day. Which puts me one day behind in my 5k training.

Tomorrow I plan to get up early and run. And swim after work.

So, I believe I learned my lesson. One full rest day each week.

20 Minutes!

2010-04-17T19:26:00.000-05:00

I ran for 20 minutes without stopping today! Then I went hula hooping. I'm pretty awesome.

256

2010-04-17T09:08:00.000-05:00

That's exactly where I was before I went on vacation. Not bad. And I did peek at the scale when we got back and I'm down two pounds this week from then.

Hoping for a bigger number next week. I want to get to the 240s pretty bad right now.

The Swim

2010-04-15T22:13:00.000-05:00

So after 4 WEEKS out of the pool, I finally made it back in tonight. And, as expected, I lost a lot of what I had gained. I was able to do only 100 yards without a break. But I took a 10 second break and could crank out another 100 yards, so I'm not too worried.

It took me awhile to realize this, but the swim is only as good as the pool.

For months I went to the YMCA that is less than half a block from my house. And it was a pain in the ass: the hours sucked for lap swim, tons of kids, super chlorinated water, creepy ass group home guys and usually only 2 or 3 lanes open at a time. But that's because the Blaisdell YMCA is clearly a family centered YMCA. They also give out tons of scholarships to creepy ass guys in group homes and the like. It makes it super busy and they give priority to kids and family except early morning and late evening. Which is fine. There needs to be a Y for the kids and families in my neighborhood. I just need a gym that is more for single adults.

Luckily my membership allows me to go to any Y in the system. The Downtown YMCA pool, and facility, is amazing. It is more of what I consider a health club: few kids, the pool is all swim lanes, saunas and steam rooms in the locker rooms, racquetball courts and no super creepy guys staring at you. And the pool is beautiful. It smells much less of chlorine, it is long with wide lanes, and it has tons of windows allowing the sun to shine in. It is a straight up JOY to swim in that pool.

That's why at 8:00 tonight I got in my car, which was parked 4 cars from the Blaisdell Y parking lot and drove down to the Downtown Y. Then I circled around for 15 minutes until I found free meter parking. Ridic I know, but worth it for a free and open lane and at one point, a pool all to myself.

Holy Endorphins

2010-04-14T22:02:00.000-05:00

Week 5, Day 2--- Warmup, Run 8 minutes, Walk 5 minutes, Run 8 minutes, Cool down

It was AWESOME. I felt so good. No pain in either my knees or my back. Of course I chose a very flat trail, but I needed it. Right now I need to get those minutes up, I'll worry about hills once I can run 45 minutes in a row without stopping.

And it was hard. I wear a heart rate monitor which I use primarily to track calories burned (387). I looked at it as I was finishing the first 8 minute run and it was 180 beats per minute. That's super high, but I felt fine, so I go with it.

So I haven't biked this week, or swam, but I have stayed on track with food the last three days. I plan to bike to Downtown Minneapolis tomorrow and swim at lunch and bike home.

And in terms of energy, I've got it. I've now felt good for the last three days and it is sort of bizarre how much energy I have. I go to bed later than I normally would, like 10:30, and by 6:00am I'm in bed wide awake. It is sort of crazy. I've never naturally woke up that early unless I'm camping. And I don't know what to do with myself. I just lie in bed and wait for my alarm to go off.

So, I'm thinking maybe working out in the morning is something I could do. I never thought it was an option for me considering how bad mornings have been for the last three years. But now I think it may be possible. And I'd love to get boring exercise out of the way in the morning so I could do more fun stuff after work. I think I'll try it next week.

So Friday is Day 3 of the 5th week of Couch to 5K. It is the biggest day in my mind. It is run 20 minutes without stopping day. Eeek. Wish me luck.

Let's Do This

2010-04-11T21:53:00.000-05:00

I'm officially back from vacation. Which means, starting now, I'm officially in this 100%.

I feel good for the first time in 3 full weeks. I figured out all my new symptoms were from the St. John's Wart I was taking. I seem to have energy too, which is crazy. I'm a whole new me.

I have no excuses about vacations or illness or anything

And the weather is BEAUTIFUL here.

THE PLAN

Follow my WeightWatchers plan using minimal amounts of my activity points
Ride my bike at least 5 days a week
Run three days a week
Swim three days a week

Sounds good, right? Right now I'm hydrating the best I can. I limited what I drank for the last two days since we spent more time in the car than not. Tomorrow is running and grocery shopping. I'm hoping to be able to start over AGAIN week 4 of the Couch to 5K program and be able to finish it. Fingers crossed on that one.

It has been a crazy week

2010-04-09T22:30:00.001-05:00

Ten o'clock at night, on basically our last night of vacation, I'm in my hotel room in bed watching cable TV. I should be out with CJ and my friends seeing The Howdies in Downtown Lafayette.

But, just like every other night on this vacation, I feel crappy. I won't get into details, but one...

I'M NOT HUNGRY!!!

I'm thinking (hoping, praying) that it is a result of getting off the medication.

For instance, for lunch today (remember I'm officially off the diet) I had some chips and salsa, ceviche and a salad. Except for those chips, that's diet food AND I didn't finish it. Not even close. And I hadn't had breakfast.

WTF?

After having a very small lunch, we went out to dinner. Dinner that I was super excited for and that tasted FAN-TAS-TIC. It was this dinner:

Three pounds crawfish and some sausage.

It was amazing.

I ate about 2/3rds of it. And about half the sausage.

That's not how I eat. I eat it all when put in front of me. Especially when it is that good.

So, once I get home, I'm hoping this sticks with me. I'd love to eat less naturally.

What I hope to not follow when I get home is my exercise regime. I have not exercised even once since I left home, aside from wandering around the French Quarter and tourist sites.

I have a 5K and 2 weeks. I'll be walk/running it. I soooo wanted to run it, but I won't be ready in two weeks, especially with this now 17 days of constant sickness.

More when I get home.

Vay-Cay-Shun

2010-04-02T15:38:00.000-05:00

I'm on vacation for the next 9 days. It feels GREAT!!! We are heading down to New Orleans and plan to eat and drink and be merry.

Yes, I said EAT and DRINK and be merry.

I'm going to New Orleans. And I'm probably going to come back a bit heavier. And I don't care.

But I am going to keep up the exercising. Aside from the tours and the walking we will be doing, I'm going to do my three weekly runs (four if I don't make it out today.) I'm going to bring my swimsuit for some swimming at the hotel pool, which probably won't amount to real exercise. Also, Baton Rouge has some very nice YMCAs with pools and I should be able to workout at them for free.

And due to all this, I'm a little worried about my running partner. While I'm doing week 5 of the couch to 5K program, the week where we go from 5 mintue runs max to a 20 minute run, Jeff will be back here in Minneapolis with the dog sitter. The dog sitter won't be running with him, so I'm afriad he will be in for a bit of a jolt when I get back and suddenly we are running for 20 minutes straight. I'm afraid I'm going to kill him.

Anyway, I'll try to blog on vacation, but it is unlikely.

A Good Day

2010-03-31T20:56:00.000-05:00

Well, actually it was a sort of crappy day. By the end of the day of work I was obscenely dizzy and felt like little lightening bolts were going off in my brain.

But, it all started off great. I got up this morning and rode my bike into Downtown Minneapolis. Its about a 3 mile ride and felt great this morning. I hopped on my bus and took that over to St. Paul where I was actually early for work.

Then, my day happened. And it sucked. The overhead lights just compound my dizziness and headaches. I was very worried about getting home when I left work.

But after waiting 15 minutes for the bus, I felt great. The sun was shining, the temp was in the 70s, it was a perfect spring day.

I got back to Minneapolis, jumped on my bike, and headed home.

The ride to work is much easier than the ride home. The ride home tends to be into the wind. It is mostly uphill (very gradual) and there is much more traffic. Because of these things, I burn about 50 calories more on my ride home than my ride in and it takes me about 5 minutes longer. But it is still faster than the bus.

That's right! My slow biking (around 10mph) gets me the 3 miles home from work faster than the bus does.

By the time I got home, I just wanted to jump into bed. But after relaxing for a little bit I WANTED to go running. And it just happened to be a day I was suppose to go running.

But there was an issue. (There's always an issue, isn't there?)

CJ needed the car. And I HATE running in my neighborhood. 1) People are regularly jumped in my neighborhood. 2) People don't always leash their dogs. 3) People do stuff like bark at my dog, which gets him riled up. 4) Running on sidewalks sucks.

But I sucked it up and ran toward the nicer part of the 'hood.

And I didn't get jumped.

But I will always choose to run somewhere with paved trails and lots of people around over my neighborhood when I can.

First Day Back In the Office

2010-03-30T18:54:00.000-05:00

Today was my first day back in the office since the 18th.

The plan was to ride my bike to Minneapolis this morning, then catch my bus over to St. Paul where I work. At the end of the day, I catch the bus back, go to my swimming lesson, and bike home.

None of this happened.

When I woke up this morning, CJ was in the bathroom. I tend to work on a very tight schedule. He had five minutes to get out, or I wouldn't be riding my bike in. I heard the shower start up and reset my alarm clock and fell back to sleep. I knew I would be driving in.

Good thing too. By the end of the day it felt like lightening bolts were shooting threw my skull. I was super dizzy and so ready to be home in bed.

And that's where I am. I'm missing what would be my last swim lesson. I'm pretty sure I'm just going to resign up for the same swim classes next term. I really liked them, but things just didn't work out for me.

So the withdrawal from Lexapro strikes again. I may even miss LOST tonight, and I never miss LOST. I just want to go to sleep and try this bike riding thing all over again tomorrow.

I Ran

2010-03-29T20:54:00.002-05:00

And it was really hard.

I'm still dizzy, but only for short periods of time and not fall down dizzy anymore. And I've had some headaches, but they come and go.

But after a week off of running, and everything else, it was HARD to run today. By my last 5 minutes I wasn't running faster than I walk. But I did it. And when I finished my cool down, I felt good.

I probably should have smiled.

And you can see here another goofy outfit of a super colorful sports bra, a too big shirt, and black and rainbow arm warmers. I am seriously the most styling girl out there.

You can also see that I cut off all my hair. It is a little out of control right now. Here's a cuter, but weirdly warped pic of my hair.

256.6

2010-03-27T10:25:00.001-05:00

That's a loss! Totally unsure how it happened, but it did and I'm taking it. It gives me something to build on for next week when I will be able to exercise, and go to work, and do normal things.