I took the weekend off from exercise and my body feels much better. This morning's run was so much easier than last week's runs were. Sometimes you just need a break.
This weekend I needed a change of scenery so Jack and I decided to go to Hermann, MO, for the day. We had heard a lot about Hermann and it was billed as "The Most Beautiful Town in Missouri," so off we went for a little day trip. We drove through thunderstorms to get there and were convinced that we would get rained on all day long, but we went anyway. Turns out Hermann is not much of a town, unless you like to visit wineries. Since neither of us were interested in drinking our day away we did not visit the wineries and we just wandered around the town, instead. I dragged Jack up every hill I saw, just so we could see what was on the other side. For the most part the answer was not much, but we did get one pretty view of the Missouri river. We left Hermann at about 1:30, after spending about 2 hours there, and decided to stop at Rocheport on the way home. We had remembered reading about Rocheport on my iPad as we were driving through Missouri on one of our many road trips. What I remembered most about it was that it was supposed to be haunted. We didn't see or hear any ghosts, but Rocheport is a lovely little town. We thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon there, walking through the town, visiting the little shops full of local artists' offerings, and then had a lovely dinner at a very small, yet elegant, restaurant in town. Even though we made healthy choices for our meals - we started with light soups, then had small salads followed by fish entrees (salmon for Jack, trout for me) - I am still a pound heavier today than I was Saturday morning. We did eat a little bread, I wish I hadn't, it wasn't worth it, and had a glass of wine with our dinner, also not worth it, in retrospect.
We got most of our chores done yesterday and I spent several hours cooking enough food to get us through the week. That was the most cooking that I have done in a while. It will be good to have a selection of meals to choose from this week. That should help a lot! No excuses.
What is on my mind does not have much to do with our day trip or with cooking, though they are of ancillary significance. I've been thinking a lot about how different life is becoming and I am seriously wondering how to get from where I was to where ever it is I am going. It's not just me and it's not just our generation, but it seems like the human race has always used food and drink as the centerpiece for socializing. Friday night I got home from work feeling a little restless. I wanted to do something, but what? I did not want to eat or drink, I just wanted to go out. I wasn't in the mood for a movie. I know there are things we could have done and we will get creative and figure it out, but I was frustrated by the number of things we just crossed off the list because if we weren't going to eat or drink anything, the event would be awkward. Not awkward like if we were sober we couldn't enjoy ourselves, but awkward in that we would be taking up space at an establishment that makes money selling food and drink to people and we wouldn't be spending any money buying food or drink. It got me to thinking about how many social events are centered on either food or drink or both. The fact of the matter is I cannot use food or alcohol as a form of entertainment, not on anything close to a regular basis, or I will gain weight. It just can't happen. It won't happen. But when people get together, they want to eat and drink. It's natural, I guess, but it is not part of my life anymore. I realize now that I have to replace that type of socializing with something completely different, but I don't know what that something completely different is. I need to figure that out.
For the year that I was losing weight I did not think about it too much. I was on a mission to lose the weight and that was good enough. I wasn't thinking about the long term implications as much as I was thinking about what I needed to do today to get it done. Then for 8 months my life was ridiculously difficult and busy because of work. I was too tired to think about what I was going to do for rest, relaxation, and socialization. I was working, exercising, kissing my husband good night, and going to bed. But now that work is calming down and I have a little energy left at the end of the day and there is time for more than work and exercise; I realize that we are going to need to figure out ways to play and to socialize that don't involve food and drink.
The other big thing on my mind is my training regimen. I went to my first class at Endura Camp last night. It was a yoga class which was focused on stretches for triathletes, so it was not too difficult and probably very good for me. But I am thinking pretty seriously about switching from working with a personal trainer at Aspen Fitness Center to attending classes regularly at Endura Camp since they focus on training triathletes. It feels like a huge step, though. It feels a little scary. I met with the owner for a few minutes after the yoga class and he suggested that I come to several classes over the next few weeks and then we meet for an hour or so after a month or so of me attending classes. At that point, he will know my skill level and I will have a feel for him and the group of people at Endura Camp. This will be very, very different from going to the gym. This is a community of people focused on the sport that I have chosen. I am hoping to get a couple of things out of this. First, I am hoping to become a better triathlete with more focused training. Second, I am hoping to meet like minded people and to become part of a community.
This short post is all I have time for right now, but it is a lot to think about. Sometimes I feel like I am over thinking it, and other times I realize that I am completely changing how I see myself. This is a big deal. It's not just that I eat less and exercise more, I am transforming my image of myself. That requires a lot of thought.
Monday, September 30, 2013
Friday, September 27, 2013
9/27/2013: Friday Mornings are a Little Rushed
I work out with my trainer from 5:30 - 6:30 on Fridays, so I am not home from the gym until about 6:50, which makes my whole morning a little rushed. It's hard to squeeze in time for a blog post before work.
I did not feel like working out this morning!! I guess it is one of those days that it is a good thing I have a trainer to meet or I would have just stayed in bed. I also think it is an indication that it may be time for me to take two days off in a row. As of this moment my plan is to do a short brick and an upper body workout tomorrow and take Sunday and Monday off. I need to think about that for the rest of the day today, but I think that makes sense.
Yesterday I ate 1,807 calories and 95 grams of protein. I ran two miles, which is another indication that I need two days off. I just couldn't bring myself to run 4 miles. This morning I weighed 154.6 pounds.
I did not feel like working out this morning!! I guess it is one of those days that it is a good thing I have a trainer to meet or I would have just stayed in bed. I also think it is an indication that it may be time for me to take two days off in a row. As of this moment my plan is to do a short brick and an upper body workout tomorrow and take Sunday and Monday off. I need to think about that for the rest of the day today, but I think that makes sense.
Yesterday I ate 1,807 calories and 95 grams of protein. I ran two miles, which is another indication that I need two days off. I just couldn't bring myself to run 4 miles. This morning I weighed 154.6 pounds.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
9/25/13: Improved Time
I did my 6 mile hilly run in 1 hour and 8 minutes this morning. The last time I did the same route it took me 1 hour and 12 minutes, so that is a 4 minute improvement. Not bad.
I weighed 154.6 this morning. Yesterday I ate 1,793 calories and 89 grams of protein.
Yesterday after work I wasn't tired and didn't have anything to do. I should have done something productive like swim, write, or cook, but I didn't. Jack and I ended up playing a game of Parcheesi (I won!!) and watching the Voice. It's been a while since I've come home from work anything but totally worn out and exhausted. Now that work is normalizing, I need to start working on making my evenings more productive. I have a lot I want to accomplish. If I have energy left over at the end of the day I want to use it productively.
I heard back from Ben at Endura Camp and finally got access to the Kansas City Tri website. It will take effort on my part, but somehow I will find a community of people to train with.
Hmmm...not a lot to write about this morning, I guess. Tonight we bowl. Wish us luck!!
I weighed 154.6 this morning. Yesterday I ate 1,793 calories and 89 grams of protein.
Yesterday after work I wasn't tired and didn't have anything to do. I should have done something productive like swim, write, or cook, but I didn't. Jack and I ended up playing a game of Parcheesi (I won!!) and watching the Voice. It's been a while since I've come home from work anything but totally worn out and exhausted. Now that work is normalizing, I need to start working on making my evenings more productive. I have a lot I want to accomplish. If I have energy left over at the end of the day I want to use it productively.
I heard back from Ben at Endura Camp and finally got access to the Kansas City Tri website. It will take effort on my part, but somehow I will find a community of people to train with.
Hmmm...not a lot to write about this morning, I guess. Tonight we bowl. Wish us luck!!
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
9/24/13: No Trouble Sleeping Last Night!!
The good news is that I didn't have any trouble sleeping last night. I woke up once and wondered for a minute where Jack was and then fell right back asleep. This morning when I checked the Royals score from last night and saw that the game against Seattle (in Seattle) went into extra innings, I realized why Jack wasn't yet in bed at midnight last night. The Royals Won! Again! In Extra Innings! Again! Go Royals!! They are statistically still in it, though they are 3 games out with only 6 games left to play. Chances are slim that we will make the playoffs, but it already feels like we're having a post season, just getting to truly enjoy September baseball.
All is well on the training front. Yesterday was my day off and today I did upper body strength training. We have really kicked the strength training up a notch since all of my traveling is over and I can feel it!! I appreciate how toned my arms are getting and I can see the impact of the strength training everywhere. It feels good to be making progress again.
I was told about a program called Enduracamp yesterday and I looked it up. It is run by a 20 time Ironman competitor who has set up training programs specifically geared to triathletes and other endurance sports. The gym is pretty close to home, closer than the gym I am going to now. It costs $110 a month to attend as many training sessions/classes/group runs & rides as you want. They emphasize strength training to improve speed, among other things. You can also pay by the class. I will be done with all of my prepaid personal training sessions at Aspen by the end of October. I am thinking about attending a few classes at Enduracamp between now and then. If I like it, and think it is a good fit for me, I may switch to that program. I feel like it will be good to train with people that are specifically geared to the sport I have chosen. It will also save me about $100/month, which is bonus!! I hope it works out. I haven't checked to see how early in the morning they hold classes, yet. That could be a deal killer.
Yesterday's calories were a little high, 2,018, and protein was 98 grams. I was not tracking my calories throughout the day and just entered everything into my phone this morning. I need to do a better job actually tracking the calories as I go. This morning I weighed 155.0 pounds. I think the little gain was because I ate a a fairly large snack pretty late yesterday evening. If I had done a better job tracking calories through the day, I would have eaten a lighter snack last night.
Today is a new day. I have to go to the dentist this afternoon. I really dislike this dentist, but the good news is I got a hearty recommendation for a new dentist. Today will be the last time I see my old dentist (Jack likes her - I think she is mean. She has no bedside manner at all!) and if I have follow up work that needs to be done, I plan on going to the new dentist. I am glad to have finally received a strong recommendation for a new dentist!!
I guess that's it for now. Have a great day!!
All is well on the training front. Yesterday was my day off and today I did upper body strength training. We have really kicked the strength training up a notch since all of my traveling is over and I can feel it!! I appreciate how toned my arms are getting and I can see the impact of the strength training everywhere. It feels good to be making progress again.
I was told about a program called Enduracamp yesterday and I looked it up. It is run by a 20 time Ironman competitor who has set up training programs specifically geared to triathletes and other endurance sports. The gym is pretty close to home, closer than the gym I am going to now. It costs $110 a month to attend as many training sessions/classes/group runs & rides as you want. They emphasize strength training to improve speed, among other things. You can also pay by the class. I will be done with all of my prepaid personal training sessions at Aspen by the end of October. I am thinking about attending a few classes at Enduracamp between now and then. If I like it, and think it is a good fit for me, I may switch to that program. I feel like it will be good to train with people that are specifically geared to the sport I have chosen. It will also save me about $100/month, which is bonus!! I hope it works out. I haven't checked to see how early in the morning they hold classes, yet. That could be a deal killer.
Yesterday's calories were a little high, 2,018, and protein was 98 grams. I was not tracking my calories throughout the day and just entered everything into my phone this morning. I need to do a better job actually tracking the calories as I go. This morning I weighed 155.0 pounds. I think the little gain was because I ate a a fairly large snack pretty late yesterday evening. If I had done a better job tracking calories through the day, I would have eaten a lighter snack last night.
Today is a new day. I have to go to the dentist this afternoon. I really dislike this dentist, but the good news is I got a hearty recommendation for a new dentist. Today will be the last time I see my old dentist (Jack likes her - I think she is mean. She has no bedside manner at all!) and if I have follow up work that needs to be done, I plan on going to the new dentist. I am glad to have finally received a strong recommendation for a new dentist!!
I guess that's it for now. Have a great day!!
Monday, September 23, 2013
9/23/13: Troubled Sleep
There are things about my job that I really like. The product we make is exceptional, we are on the cutting edge of technology, and I work with some very intelligent people. The flip side? A lot of mistakes have been made in the past, a foreign subsidiary was started with some less than honest partners, and it is all sort of coming to a head. We need to work through a lot of things and I've been thrown into the middle of it. Some of it I am handling well and some of it I am not handling as well. I have made some mistakes. Last night, the mistakes just kept rolling through my brain, one after another after another. I hate making mistakes at work, probably because they impact so many people. Last night, at about 1:30 in the morning, I couldn't get back to sleep because I kept thinking of all of the things I should have done differently.
My rational brain tells me to not be so hard on myself. There is a binder full of reasons why the events of the last year unfolded the way that they did and all of them were set in motion long before I walked in the door. Still, my brain gravitates towards the things I could have done differently. My tossing and turning woke Jack up at about 2:30 and he was able to help calm me down and finally I drifted back off to sleep around 3:00. Nights like that are rough.
Luckily, I had already decided that today was my day off, so I didn't need to get up early. I got plenty of sleep last night in spite of my tossing and turning since we went to bed early and I didn't get out of bed until after 6:00. With any luck at all, tonight will be a better night.
Jack and I had an exceptional afternoon at the K! Did you see that ball game? Score 0 to 0 going into the 10th. Texas was held scoreless in the 10th inning. Then we end up with bases loaded, 2 outs, and a full count with Justin Maxwell hitting against our ex-closer, Soria. Talk about tense! Then Maxwell hits it out of the park. A HUGE WALK OFF GRAND SLAM HOME RUN to win the game, win the series, give us a guaranteed winning season, keep us statistically alive for the wild card slot, and finish our last home game of the season. The crowd erupted!!!! It was by far my most exciting moment at a ball game. What a blast!!
Even before the spectacular 10th evening, we were having a lovely afternoon. The weather was perfect and we were enjoying each others' company. I, in particular, was feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. It's amazing how I feel after a really hard workout like yesterday's brick. For the rest of the day I am filled with a sense of peace and joy. On my ride yesterday I ended up riding with a fellow cyclist for a while and we talked about the difference between training to get faster and just riding for seat time. When I was training for the AIDS Lifecycle ride, it was all about being able to get 100 miles done in a day, and riding long distances 7 days in a row. That is a certain kind of training. You have to pace yourself and really condition your body to spending all day in the saddle. It's kind of fun. You spend all day with friends, stop for coffee and lunch, and see a lot of beautiful scenery. It's extremely time consuming and after a while you realize that your whole life is about cycling, but that's OK because it's fun. Training for speed is completely different. I am not on my bike nearly as long, but the whole time I am on my bike I am pushing it and getting a serious cardio-vascular workout. I'm trying to condition myself to go faster and push harder. My fellow rider and I agreed; riding for speed for 24 miles is not fun, it's work. On the other hand, the residual effect of the workout is completely worth the 90 minutes of hard work. Thinking about this makes me realize that "having fun" and "happiness" don't necessarily go together. I've read about this and thought about this, before. You can do fun things, but you realize that while you feel a momentary sense of glee while you are doing them there is no lasting impact on your level of overall happiness. Yet when I do something very hard, like yesterday's brick, I am not having any fun at all, but for the rest of the day and several days afterwards, I have an underlying sense of happiness. My sister said she discovered this about five years ago, that she has to challenge herself either physically or intellectually almost every day to be happy. I am beginning to understand what she is talking about. Yes, I often have to drag myself onto my bike and into my running shoes, but once I've done it I am always glad I did.
Food continues to be fine. I don't have my phone in front of me at the moment so I don't know my exact calorie counts for the last couple of days, but they were within my target range. My weight was 154.2 again this morning. I am shooting for being below 153.8 by Sunday morning, to stay below my line.
Fall is here. I'm starting to look for warm cycling gear because I am committed to working out outside on as many weekends as possible through the winter. I'm not looking forward to the cold weather, but I am looking forward to indoor training even less. I'm hoping for a mild winter!!
My rational brain tells me to not be so hard on myself. There is a binder full of reasons why the events of the last year unfolded the way that they did and all of them were set in motion long before I walked in the door. Still, my brain gravitates towards the things I could have done differently. My tossing and turning woke Jack up at about 2:30 and he was able to help calm me down and finally I drifted back off to sleep around 3:00. Nights like that are rough.
Luckily, I had already decided that today was my day off, so I didn't need to get up early. I got plenty of sleep last night in spite of my tossing and turning since we went to bed early and I didn't get out of bed until after 6:00. With any luck at all, tonight will be a better night.
Jack and I had an exceptional afternoon at the K! Did you see that ball game? Score 0 to 0 going into the 10th. Texas was held scoreless in the 10th inning. Then we end up with bases loaded, 2 outs, and a full count with Justin Maxwell hitting against our ex-closer, Soria. Talk about tense! Then Maxwell hits it out of the park. A HUGE WALK OFF GRAND SLAM HOME RUN to win the game, win the series, give us a guaranteed winning season, keep us statistically alive for the wild card slot, and finish our last home game of the season. The crowd erupted!!!! It was by far my most exciting moment at a ball game. What a blast!!
Even before the spectacular 10th evening, we were having a lovely afternoon. The weather was perfect and we were enjoying each others' company. I, in particular, was feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. It's amazing how I feel after a really hard workout like yesterday's brick. For the rest of the day I am filled with a sense of peace and joy. On my ride yesterday I ended up riding with a fellow cyclist for a while and we talked about the difference between training to get faster and just riding for seat time. When I was training for the AIDS Lifecycle ride, it was all about being able to get 100 miles done in a day, and riding long distances 7 days in a row. That is a certain kind of training. You have to pace yourself and really condition your body to spending all day in the saddle. It's kind of fun. You spend all day with friends, stop for coffee and lunch, and see a lot of beautiful scenery. It's extremely time consuming and after a while you realize that your whole life is about cycling, but that's OK because it's fun. Training for speed is completely different. I am not on my bike nearly as long, but the whole time I am on my bike I am pushing it and getting a serious cardio-vascular workout. I'm trying to condition myself to go faster and push harder. My fellow rider and I agreed; riding for speed for 24 miles is not fun, it's work. On the other hand, the residual effect of the workout is completely worth the 90 minutes of hard work. Thinking about this makes me realize that "having fun" and "happiness" don't necessarily go together. I've read about this and thought about this, before. You can do fun things, but you realize that while you feel a momentary sense of glee while you are doing them there is no lasting impact on your level of overall happiness. Yet when I do something very hard, like yesterday's brick, I am not having any fun at all, but for the rest of the day and several days afterwards, I have an underlying sense of happiness. My sister said she discovered this about five years ago, that she has to challenge herself either physically or intellectually almost every day to be happy. I am beginning to understand what she is talking about. Yes, I often have to drag myself onto my bike and into my running shoes, but once I've done it I am always glad I did.
Food continues to be fine. I don't have my phone in front of me at the moment so I don't know my exact calorie counts for the last couple of days, but they were within my target range. My weight was 154.2 again this morning. I am shooting for being below 153.8 by Sunday morning, to stay below my line.
Fall is here. I'm starting to look for warm cycling gear because I am committed to working out outside on as many weekends as possible through the winter. I'm not looking forward to the cold weather, but I am looking forward to indoor training even less. I'm hoping for a mild winter!!
Sunday, September 22, 2013
9/22/13: Just Finished This Week's Brick
I flipped my days around this weekend and yesterday Jack and I went for a 16 mile, untimed, bike ride and today I did my brick which was a 19.9 mile bike ride which I completed in 1 hour 18 minutes and a 4 mile run which took me 44.0 minutes. I didn't set any records, but I got it done!
We are headed to the Royals game this afternoon and I'd like to get to the gym for a lower body workout after that. We'll see if that happens, I think it is kind of iffy, as it will depend on how much time is left in the day after the game.
I'm kind of tired from my brick and I really need a shower before the game, so I guess I'll make this quick and sign off. Go Royals!!
We are headed to the Royals game this afternoon and I'd like to get to the gym for a lower body workout after that. We'll see if that happens, I think it is kind of iffy, as it will depend on how much time is left in the day after the game.
I'm kind of tired from my brick and I really need a shower before the game, so I guess I'll make this quick and sign off. Go Royals!!
Saturday, September 21, 2013
9/21/13: It's So Dark Out!!
The worst part about winter is the short days. I don't like the cold, I don't like the snow and the cold rain, but most of all I don't like the short days. Now that I am training and spending more time running and biking, the short days are even worse. It is 6:19 in the morning and it is pitch black out. I want to get my brick in early this morning so I am home before it gets too late, but I don't like riding in the dark. I'll need to wait a bit longer. It's only going to get worse as we get closer to the solstice so I guess I am going to have to be in the habit of getting up before dawn and getting other things done, so I can use my daylight hours for training. Eventually it will be too cold to train outdoors and then it won't matter. By then I will be desperate for spring to return.
This morning I weighed 154.2!! I know this is not much different than the weight I posted a few days ago, so you may be wondering what the exclamation points are for. The exclamation points are there because I am so pleased with the fact that I am truly into a routine that is producing consistent, predictable results. I got very frustrated with my stops and starts for that first few weeks after the triathlon. Even though I was exercising consistently, my eating was erratic which showed up on the scale. The day my actual weight line hit my goal line and threatened to go over it was the day I decided to get serious about my eating again. That was about a week and a half ago. Ever since that day my weight has been predictably consistent and I have started losing weight again. There are a lot of other good things happening, too, as a result of getting serious about food. I am not thinking about food all the time, anymore. I wake up and eat my breakfast of eggs, veggies, and a banana and then pack the rest of my food for the day to take with me to work. Once I am at work I don't think much about food other than when I glance at the clock and see it is around 11:00am, it's time for my Greek yogurt and berries. My snacks are packed (nuts - a combination of walnuts, almonds and macademia nuts, heavy on the almonds, and an apple), as well as an afternoon meal that generally consists of whatever chicken I cook that week and a vegetable. My last meal of the work day is generally around 3:00 in the afternoon and by then I've consumed about 1600 calories. When I get home from work I eat a light snack consisting of protein (more chicken, most likely) and a complex carb of some sort. The result is I spend very little time and energy thinking about food. I am not having mental wrestling matches, trying to talk myself into eating the right things and not eating the wrong things. Food is just fuel. It fires my engines and gets me through the day.
This plan does not always work, however. Sometimes I get stuck in a meeting that starts before 10 and goes later than noon. If I don't plan correctly and it's one o'clock before I eat my yogurt, the rest of my day is kind of hellish when it comes to food cravings. It doesn't seem to matter that I get caught up and eat what I would normally eat, but just later in the day; my food cravings last until I go to bed that night. The cravings, of course, feel like they are for sugar or something sweet. It's pretty obvious to me that by letting too much time go between meals (6 - 8 hours) I am messing around with my blood chemistry to the point that I have difficulty getting it back on track that day. It's not even that I feel famished at 1:00, I don't even feel very hungry, it's just that I know I need to eat. For the rest of the day, after that late lunch, all I can think about is getting my hands on more food. I don't need to eat every two-three hours as some people suggest, but I do eat my first major snack, if you want to call it that, about 4 hours after breakfast. I eat my late lunch about 4 hours after that. In between I snack on my 2 ounces of nuts (usually I eat most of them at about 10:00 am, but sometimes they are still around and I eat them with my mid-afternoon lunch). It's exceedingly clear to me that when I eat is as important to my success as what I eat. Skipping meals, or pushing them back a few hours, plays all kind of hell with my "will power," which, I am confident, has everything to do with whacky blood chemistry sending all of the wrong messages to my brain.
I want to talk for a couple of minutes about my friend, the scale. I know there are a lot of opinions about whether or not you should weigh yourself every day. I have had people tell me to throw away my scale, others tell me that they can't stay on track without weighing themselves every morning and every night. For me, it works to weigh myself every single day. Sometimes I even weigh myself before I go to bed and try to predict what I will weigh in the morning. The funny thing is, I can just about predict what I will weigh based on what I eat. People (including me) complain about how erratic their weight is, how they will gain two pounds or more in a day, or eight pounds or more in a week. People (including me) sometimes complain that the weight gain (or lack of weight loss) is unpredictable and has nothing to do with what they eat or drink. I can tell you that for me, that simply is not true. What I weigh in the evening before I go to bed or in the morning as soon as I get up, has everything to do with what I ate or drank in the day or two immediately preceeding getting on the scale. If I eat only food I prepared for myself (therefore carefully controlling salt, fat, and other additives), if I eat controlled portions of protein, fruits, veggies and some carbs, if I eat on a schedule, if I don't eat for a few hours before I go to bed, and if I drink plenty of water; I will either stay about the same as the day before or I will lose a few ounces. If any of these things are off, and it could be any one of these things, I could see a weight gain. If I take one of my meals at a restaurant, all of a sudden there is an unknown variable there. I don't know how much butter they put on that piece of fish before they grilled it. I don't have any idea how much salt was in that salad dressing. If everything else is consistent, yet I take a meal at a restaurant and I gain a little weight, I will avoid that meal in the future. I'll make an assumption that there was something I did not know about in that food. I have found a couple of restaurant meals, close to my work, that work well for me. They don't have an impact on my weight. I feel confident when I eat those meals that I am sticking to plan. If it wasn't for the scale, I wouldn't know this. I guess what I am saying is that I like my scale because it tells me how my body is responding to what I am putting in it. I consider it a bad sign if I bloat up and "unexpectedly" gain weight. Something caused that. I want to know what it is. By weighing myself every day, I can isolate the events that caused the changes in weight. Sometimes I forget to drink water, then I will be a little heavier the next day. Sometimes I skip a meal and load all my calories at the end of the day. I'm a little heavier the next day. Sometimes I eat crap. I'm a little heavier the next day. It is amazing to me how consistently my body responds to what I put into it. I need my scale, because it keeps my mind in the game.
There are times, when I am trying to lose weight, that my weight plateaus, even when I do everything right. This is frustrating and I don't really understand how that works or why that happens. I do know that I just need to be patient, though. I know if I consistently do the right thing that the scale will start moving in the right direction again.
I pay attention to my scale and I pay attention to my body. If my scale goes up, I try to figure out why. If my hands swell or my joints hurt, I try to figure out why. I can almost always isolate it to something I ate or water I didn't drink. Our bodies are amazing organisms that respond to the slightest changes in what we put into them. They are maintaining chemical balances in millions of ways, I am sure, one of which is by changing the volume of water it stores in order to keep everything in balance. If I start storing more water, there is a reason. I look at it very simplistically and assume it is because my sodium level has risen and I need more water to balance it out. Maybe it is something else. Maybe my kidneys or liver are excreting some sort of poison as a result of something I ate or drank, and my body has to try to flush it out. I don't know exactly what is going on in there, but I do know that what I eat and drink is reflected, almost immediately, on my scale. Therefore, my scale helps me diagnose what works and doesn't work with regard to my daily diet. I will never throw away my scale. I will always weigh myself daily to keep tabs on what is going on on the inside. It is one of the most important tools in my toolbox.
For now, the sun has come up and I need to run (literally)! Thursday I ate 2,050 calories and 98 grams of protein. Friday I ate 2,046 calories and 116 grams of protein.
Have a great weekend!
This morning I weighed 154.2!! I know this is not much different than the weight I posted a few days ago, so you may be wondering what the exclamation points are for. The exclamation points are there because I am so pleased with the fact that I am truly into a routine that is producing consistent, predictable results. I got very frustrated with my stops and starts for that first few weeks after the triathlon. Even though I was exercising consistently, my eating was erratic which showed up on the scale. The day my actual weight line hit my goal line and threatened to go over it was the day I decided to get serious about my eating again. That was about a week and a half ago. Ever since that day my weight has been predictably consistent and I have started losing weight again. There are a lot of other good things happening, too, as a result of getting serious about food. I am not thinking about food all the time, anymore. I wake up and eat my breakfast of eggs, veggies, and a banana and then pack the rest of my food for the day to take with me to work. Once I am at work I don't think much about food other than when I glance at the clock and see it is around 11:00am, it's time for my Greek yogurt and berries. My snacks are packed (nuts - a combination of walnuts, almonds and macademia nuts, heavy on the almonds, and an apple), as well as an afternoon meal that generally consists of whatever chicken I cook that week and a vegetable. My last meal of the work day is generally around 3:00 in the afternoon and by then I've consumed about 1600 calories. When I get home from work I eat a light snack consisting of protein (more chicken, most likely) and a complex carb of some sort. The result is I spend very little time and energy thinking about food. I am not having mental wrestling matches, trying to talk myself into eating the right things and not eating the wrong things. Food is just fuel. It fires my engines and gets me through the day.
This plan does not always work, however. Sometimes I get stuck in a meeting that starts before 10 and goes later than noon. If I don't plan correctly and it's one o'clock before I eat my yogurt, the rest of my day is kind of hellish when it comes to food cravings. It doesn't seem to matter that I get caught up and eat what I would normally eat, but just later in the day; my food cravings last until I go to bed that night. The cravings, of course, feel like they are for sugar or something sweet. It's pretty obvious to me that by letting too much time go between meals (6 - 8 hours) I am messing around with my blood chemistry to the point that I have difficulty getting it back on track that day. It's not even that I feel famished at 1:00, I don't even feel very hungry, it's just that I know I need to eat. For the rest of the day, after that late lunch, all I can think about is getting my hands on more food. I don't need to eat every two-three hours as some people suggest, but I do eat my first major snack, if you want to call it that, about 4 hours after breakfast. I eat my late lunch about 4 hours after that. In between I snack on my 2 ounces of nuts (usually I eat most of them at about 10:00 am, but sometimes they are still around and I eat them with my mid-afternoon lunch). It's exceedingly clear to me that when I eat is as important to my success as what I eat. Skipping meals, or pushing them back a few hours, plays all kind of hell with my "will power," which, I am confident, has everything to do with whacky blood chemistry sending all of the wrong messages to my brain.
I want to talk for a couple of minutes about my friend, the scale. I know there are a lot of opinions about whether or not you should weigh yourself every day. I have had people tell me to throw away my scale, others tell me that they can't stay on track without weighing themselves every morning and every night. For me, it works to weigh myself every single day. Sometimes I even weigh myself before I go to bed and try to predict what I will weigh in the morning. The funny thing is, I can just about predict what I will weigh based on what I eat. People (including me) complain about how erratic their weight is, how they will gain two pounds or more in a day, or eight pounds or more in a week. People (including me) sometimes complain that the weight gain (or lack of weight loss) is unpredictable and has nothing to do with what they eat or drink. I can tell you that for me, that simply is not true. What I weigh in the evening before I go to bed or in the morning as soon as I get up, has everything to do with what I ate or drank in the day or two immediately preceeding getting on the scale. If I eat only food I prepared for myself (therefore carefully controlling salt, fat, and other additives), if I eat controlled portions of protein, fruits, veggies and some carbs, if I eat on a schedule, if I don't eat for a few hours before I go to bed, and if I drink plenty of water; I will either stay about the same as the day before or I will lose a few ounces. If any of these things are off, and it could be any one of these things, I could see a weight gain. If I take one of my meals at a restaurant, all of a sudden there is an unknown variable there. I don't know how much butter they put on that piece of fish before they grilled it. I don't have any idea how much salt was in that salad dressing. If everything else is consistent, yet I take a meal at a restaurant and I gain a little weight, I will avoid that meal in the future. I'll make an assumption that there was something I did not know about in that food. I have found a couple of restaurant meals, close to my work, that work well for me. They don't have an impact on my weight. I feel confident when I eat those meals that I am sticking to plan. If it wasn't for the scale, I wouldn't know this. I guess what I am saying is that I like my scale because it tells me how my body is responding to what I am putting in it. I consider it a bad sign if I bloat up and "unexpectedly" gain weight. Something caused that. I want to know what it is. By weighing myself every day, I can isolate the events that caused the changes in weight. Sometimes I forget to drink water, then I will be a little heavier the next day. Sometimes I skip a meal and load all my calories at the end of the day. I'm a little heavier the next day. Sometimes I eat crap. I'm a little heavier the next day. It is amazing to me how consistently my body responds to what I put into it. I need my scale, because it keeps my mind in the game.
There are times, when I am trying to lose weight, that my weight plateaus, even when I do everything right. This is frustrating and I don't really understand how that works or why that happens. I do know that I just need to be patient, though. I know if I consistently do the right thing that the scale will start moving in the right direction again.
I pay attention to my scale and I pay attention to my body. If my scale goes up, I try to figure out why. If my hands swell or my joints hurt, I try to figure out why. I can almost always isolate it to something I ate or water I didn't drink. Our bodies are amazing organisms that respond to the slightest changes in what we put into them. They are maintaining chemical balances in millions of ways, I am sure, one of which is by changing the volume of water it stores in order to keep everything in balance. If I start storing more water, there is a reason. I look at it very simplistically and assume it is because my sodium level has risen and I need more water to balance it out. Maybe it is something else. Maybe my kidneys or liver are excreting some sort of poison as a result of something I ate or drank, and my body has to try to flush it out. I don't know exactly what is going on in there, but I do know that what I eat and drink is reflected, almost immediately, on my scale. Therefore, my scale helps me diagnose what works and doesn't work with regard to my daily diet. I will never throw away my scale. I will always weigh myself daily to keep tabs on what is going on on the inside. It is one of the most important tools in my toolbox.
For now, the sun has come up and I need to run (literally)! Thursday I ate 2,050 calories and 98 grams of protein. Friday I ate 2,046 calories and 116 grams of protein.
Have a great weekend!
Thursday, September 19, 2013
9/19/2013: Another Mentee, I hope I Can Help!
Yesterday I was surprised to find out that I have another mentee that is seeking help to reach his fitness and weight loss goals. He is a banker that I have been keeping in touch with and we had lunch together on Tuesday just to touch base. He asked me about my triathlon and I told him about my experience and I also told him about my 2014 and lifetime goals. He was impressed with all three; 1st, that I finished my first triathlon within regulation time; 2nd, that I am planning to do it again and improve my time by 27 minutes; and 3rd, that I have decided to become a competitive triathlete and have a lifetime goal of winning my age group. We talked a lot about my journey over the last 18 months and I showed him my start photo. He was even more impressed.
He started to tell me about how he used to workout a lot and really enjoyed it and how he wanted to lose 20 or so pounds and we talked about strategies to make that happen. I told him that it was my goal to lose 16 pounds by the end of the year. He made a bet with me that he could lose 17 in the same time frame. What the heck? I'll take him on. First, I know I will lose my 16, but if he loses a pound more than me and wins the bet, then that is a win-win. During our lunch, I thought it was all in fun, but Wednesday morning John called me up and told me his start weight (204, he's just shy of 6 feet tall) and he wanted to know how often he could call me and tell me his weight. He is going to make a chart, we talked about exercise, and I recommended that he read, "Younger Next Year." He's going to mark his chart twice a week and he is going to call and check in with me once a week. Later in the day he emailed me to tell me what he had for lunch!! I am excited that I have inspired another person to achieve fitness!! Other than my own good health and well being, inspiring others is one of the greatest rewards that I get out of this journey.
This morning I am headed to work early to prepare for a 9:00am meeting. I will run tonight.
Yesterday's calories: 1,825
Yesterday's protein: 98 grams
This morning's weight: 155.2
For about a week now I have felt much more in control of my eating. As I told Jack Tuesday evening, I am not eating any "unprescribed" foods. I know the exercise is paying off because I am starting to feel more toned, again. It feels great to be back in the groove.
He started to tell me about how he used to workout a lot and really enjoyed it and how he wanted to lose 20 or so pounds and we talked about strategies to make that happen. I told him that it was my goal to lose 16 pounds by the end of the year. He made a bet with me that he could lose 17 in the same time frame. What the heck? I'll take him on. First, I know I will lose my 16, but if he loses a pound more than me and wins the bet, then that is a win-win. During our lunch, I thought it was all in fun, but Wednesday morning John called me up and told me his start weight (204, he's just shy of 6 feet tall) and he wanted to know how often he could call me and tell me his weight. He is going to make a chart, we talked about exercise, and I recommended that he read, "Younger Next Year." He's going to mark his chart twice a week and he is going to call and check in with me once a week. Later in the day he emailed me to tell me what he had for lunch!! I am excited that I have inspired another person to achieve fitness!! Other than my own good health and well being, inspiring others is one of the greatest rewards that I get out of this journey.
This morning I am headed to work early to prepare for a 9:00am meeting. I will run tonight.
Yesterday's calories: 1,825
Yesterday's protein: 98 grams
This morning's weight: 155.2
For about a week now I have felt much more in control of my eating. As I told Jack Tuesday evening, I am not eating any "unprescribed" foods. I know the exercise is paying off because I am starting to feel more toned, again. It feels great to be back in the groove.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
9/18/13: Just Another Day...
Today is just another day, except for the fact that the Royals blew it last night after their rookie pitcher gave them an incredible almost 6 innings. We stayed until the brutal end of the game so I didn't get to bed until almost 11pm, almost 2 hours past my bedtime!! Getting up this morning to run was rough, so I slept in a little and just put in 4 miles; enough to say I ran, but I didn't set a particularly fast pace nor did I go particularly far. I just got out and put in some miles. Some days that will be good enough.
I haven't updated my blog on calories and protein for a couple of days, so here are the facts:
Monday - calories 1,907; protein 102 grams
Tuesday - calories1,798; protein 107 grams
This morning's weight: 155.4 - I hope to be in the 140s by mid-October.
I'm having trouble sleeping, work has been on my mind a lot lately. I don't see that changing anytime soon. Such is life.
Until tomorrow...
I haven't updated my blog on calories and protein for a couple of days, so here are the facts:
Monday - calories 1,907; protein 102 grams
Tuesday - calories1,798; protein 107 grams
This morning's weight: 155.4 - I hope to be in the 140s by mid-October.
I'm having trouble sleeping, work has been on my mind a lot lately. I don't see that changing anytime soon. Such is life.
Until tomorrow...
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
9/17/13: Is This Making Me Happy?
A strange awareness has been dawning over me lately. I am realizing that my decision to become a competitive triathlete is making me happy. When I made the decision to become competitive in this sport I knew it would take a tremendous amount of time and effort. It has been a little over three weeks since I made this decision and I now realize that I underestimated the impact that the decision would have on my everyday life. This decision impacts everything from what I eat, to how much I sleep, to the time I spend planning workouts, to scheduling (well deserved) rest days, to the actual time and effort spent training. I am just beginning to understand the meaning of being "in-training." Being in-training doesn't mean that I exercise 5 or 6 or 7 or even 8 hours a week. Being in-training means considering how everything I do will influence tomorrow's performance. I have to get enough sleep, I have to eat enough protein, I have to shed the extra fat from my body, and I have to carefully plan my weeks so that I can fit in all of my workouts. None of these things - and there are many I haven't mentioned - are optional if I want to compete in this, or any other, sport. As this realization dawned on me I initially thought I would get overwhelmed by it all. I am finding the exact opposite to be true. As I get more focused and more disciplined, as I structure my workouts better and start to actually measure progress, and as I become more conscientious about how every decision will impact my ability to train effectively; I am becoming more energized and, dare I say, happier. I am surprised by this. I wasn't expecting this feeling of happiness. I was expecting a sense of achievement and, perhaps fulfillment. I expected a sense of satisfaction, but happiness? I have never associated extremely hard exercise and discipline with happiness before. But here I am. Working harder, physically, than I have ever worked in my life and feeling happy. Wow. I know there will be weeks when this will be a slog. I know I will get tired and frustrated when progress is slow. I am prepared for that and I will push through those weeks. I am not naive and I don't expect to be happy every day, but this feeling of happiness is bubbling up from somewhere deep inside me and it is being unlocked because of my commitment to excel as an athlete. I didn't expect this, but I'll take it. I'm surprised and I'm marveling at it, but I'll take it. I am not about to argue with results! Is this making me happy? It sure is!!
Monday, September 16, 2013
9/16/2013: Remarkable?
I went for a bike ride yesterday and the only thing remarkable about that bike ride is that I went on a bike ride. I am fairly certain that yesterday was the first time that I did not take a rest day the day after a big brick, and now I know why!! When I got on my bike my legs did not want to cooperate at all, they were so tired from the 24 mile bike/5 mile run brick on Saturday. It was all I could do yesterday to crank out 12 relatively slow, kind of hilly miles, but crank them out I did. I decided that it probably made me a stronger cyclist to ride for an hour on tired legs. Whether it did or not, that is what I will choose to believe.
I also went to the gym yesterday to do upper body strength training. Jack came with me, which he often does on weekends, but yesterday we did the upper body routine together, which was fun. He has gotten a lot stronger since he has started to go to the gym regularly!! There is no doubt that it is paying off for both of us. I am taking a rest day, today. My body is tired and needs time to recover. I'm beginning to think that it might make sense to make Monday my regular rest day, since my workouts are always longer and more intense on the weekends. I have to give that some thought and think about changing my strength training schedule to accommodate for that.
Yesterday I ate 2024 calories and 102 grams of protein. Total calories were a little more than I normally eat, but the amount of exercise I do on the weekend is more than I do during the week and I think the extra calories were important yesterday, particularly since I couldn't really eat after my brick on Saturday. I didn't do any unintentional eating, yesterday, so that seems fine. This morning I weighed 156.2 pounds which is a slight gain from Sunday morning, but I'm still under my line and I'm OK with that.
My commitment to my eating plan remains strong. In fact, food commercials on TV are really starting to annoy me. Jack had football on TV most of the day yesterday and when I sat in the family room with him I felt like I was being inundated with demands to eat every kind of unhealthy food imaginable. Every commercial featured food that was either fried or loaded with simple carbs, even the milk commercials felt misleading. I wanted to shout at the TV to stop with the horrible food commercials, perhaps I actually did shout at the TV. Yelling at the TV didn't do any good, though I did find that the commercials strengthened my resolve to eat good food, rather than weakened it. When I see advertisements for crappy food I automatically think about how those foods contribute to being overweight and all of the ailments associated with poor diet and being fat and I am relieved that I don't eat that kind of food. On the other hand, I worry about how much crap people, in general, eat, and I wish there was something I could do to stop it. I wish there was a health announcement for every crap food commercial, or at least a surgeon general's warning message at the end of the commercial that said that the dish being advertised contains 1200 calories and almost none of the necessary nutrients needed to maintain good health. I get frustrated by how commonplace crap food is and how seldom you see good food in public spaces. I get frustrated that there is so little attention given to the health risks of eating foods that are high in calories and void in nutrients. I feel like there should be a lot more public discussion about the dangers of crappy food and how crap foods contribute to things like heart disease and diabetes. We are hearing more and more about the "obesity epidemic," which I believe is a real problem, but there still is not a huge public conversation about food that isn't really food at all. *Sigh* Perhaps this is something I need to give some more thought to. Perhaps this is a cause I can put some energy behind and help some people in some meaningful way, rather than just rant about it on my blog. Hmmm...I definitely need to think about this...
In the meantime, I am focused on my health and my husband's health and I feel very good about the progress we are making with our food and our exercise. Training to become a triathlete is time consuming and bleeds into just about every aspect of my life, but I kind of like it. It gives everything focus and clarity in a way that I didn't have before. This is an incredibly gradual process with barely distinguishable progress, but I feel good and that's about 90% of what I am looking for from this. I have no idea what kind of shape I'll be in when the tri rolls around next year, except that I know I will be in better shape than I am today. What more can I ask for?
I also went to the gym yesterday to do upper body strength training. Jack came with me, which he often does on weekends, but yesterday we did the upper body routine together, which was fun. He has gotten a lot stronger since he has started to go to the gym regularly!! There is no doubt that it is paying off for both of us. I am taking a rest day, today. My body is tired and needs time to recover. I'm beginning to think that it might make sense to make Monday my regular rest day, since my workouts are always longer and more intense on the weekends. I have to give that some thought and think about changing my strength training schedule to accommodate for that.
Yesterday I ate 2024 calories and 102 grams of protein. Total calories were a little more than I normally eat, but the amount of exercise I do on the weekend is more than I do during the week and I think the extra calories were important yesterday, particularly since I couldn't really eat after my brick on Saturday. I didn't do any unintentional eating, yesterday, so that seems fine. This morning I weighed 156.2 pounds which is a slight gain from Sunday morning, but I'm still under my line and I'm OK with that.
My commitment to my eating plan remains strong. In fact, food commercials on TV are really starting to annoy me. Jack had football on TV most of the day yesterday and when I sat in the family room with him I felt like I was being inundated with demands to eat every kind of unhealthy food imaginable. Every commercial featured food that was either fried or loaded with simple carbs, even the milk commercials felt misleading. I wanted to shout at the TV to stop with the horrible food commercials, perhaps I actually did shout at the TV. Yelling at the TV didn't do any good, though I did find that the commercials strengthened my resolve to eat good food, rather than weakened it. When I see advertisements for crappy food I automatically think about how those foods contribute to being overweight and all of the ailments associated with poor diet and being fat and I am relieved that I don't eat that kind of food. On the other hand, I worry about how much crap people, in general, eat, and I wish there was something I could do to stop it. I wish there was a health announcement for every crap food commercial, or at least a surgeon general's warning message at the end of the commercial that said that the dish being advertised contains 1200 calories and almost none of the necessary nutrients needed to maintain good health. I get frustrated by how commonplace crap food is and how seldom you see good food in public spaces. I get frustrated that there is so little attention given to the health risks of eating foods that are high in calories and void in nutrients. I feel like there should be a lot more public discussion about the dangers of crappy food and how crap foods contribute to things like heart disease and diabetes. We are hearing more and more about the "obesity epidemic," which I believe is a real problem, but there still is not a huge public conversation about food that isn't really food at all. *Sigh* Perhaps this is something I need to give some more thought to. Perhaps this is a cause I can put some energy behind and help some people in some meaningful way, rather than just rant about it on my blog. Hmmm...I definitely need to think about this...
In the meantime, I am focused on my health and my husband's health and I feel very good about the progress we are making with our food and our exercise. Training to become a triathlete is time consuming and bleeds into just about every aspect of my life, but I kind of like it. It gives everything focus and clarity in a way that I didn't have before. This is an incredibly gradual process with barely distinguishable progress, but I feel good and that's about 90% of what I am looking for from this. I have no idea what kind of shape I'll be in when the tri rolls around next year, except that I know I will be in better shape than I am today. What more can I ask for?
Sunday, September 15, 2013
9/15/2013: Big Brick and Back to "Normal" Weight
My relatively short term goal is to complete the Jackson County Triathlon in 3 hours and 15 minutes in 2014 after completing it in 3 hours and 42 minutes in 2013 (my first attempt at a triathlon). The Jackson County tri consists of a 1500 meter swim, a 24 mile bike ride, and a 5 mile run. If you consistently read this blog you probably recall that I had a panic attack in the water and that impacted my entire race. Open water swimming is very, very different from swimming in a pool. Therefore, the first thing I need to do is start practicing open water swimming this spring, as soon as the local lakes open back up to swimmers. It took me almost 48 minutes to complete the swim portion of the tri. In the pool I can complete the same distance in 36 minutes. Theoretically, I should be able to cut 10 minutes off my swim time just by getting comfortable with and conditioned to open water swimming. Assuming I can cut 10 minutes off my swim, I still need to find 17 minutes somewhere else to get to 3 hours and 15 minutes. Yesterday I drove out to the lake to do my bike/run brick on the Jackson County tri course to get a base line for my training, without the swim. I completed the bike ride in 1 hour and 34 minutes (6 minutes better than my race time), and I completed the run in 1 hour and 1 minute (7.5 minutes better than my race time). My transition took 2 and a half minutes, but that included loading my bike in the car. Of course, both the bike ride and the run would be slower if I had done the swim first, because I would have been tired from the swim.
So that's my starting point. My current combined bike/run brick time, with transition, is 2 hours and 37.5 minutes. Assuming I could actually do both of those events that fast after the swim, that leaves me 37.5 minutes for the swim and the transition from swim to bike. During the 2013 tri those two components of the race took me 51 minutes. That's a lot of improvement that needs to happen.
I think we have to assume that my bike/run brick time will be somewhat faster than what I can do after the 1500 meter swim. So for just the bike/run brick, I need to improve my time by something. Since the bike ride is the longest segment of the race, most of my time improvement will come from that segment (according to Ruth). My biggest challenge on the bike is hill climbing. I am slow climbing hills. None of the hills in the race are huge, but there is a significant amount of uphill riding in the first 2/3rds of the loop. I will work on increasing my speed riding uphill. Yesterday I was experimenting with riding in easier gears and pedaling faster vs. grinding out the climbs in higher gears. I think, theoretically, it may make sense to go uphill in the easier gears and pedal faster, but I'm not sure. I will focus a lot of my bike training on hill climbing. It helped yesterday to watch my speed while going uphill. I can get pretty slow on some of the steeper climbs, as slow as 5.5mph. Yesterday I tried to keep my speed above 7.0mph on all climbs. I was not successful at this, but I think it is a good goal to work towards. Overall, I think my speed needs to average 17mph rather than 14.9mph, which was my average speed during the tri. At 17mph I will complete the bike ride in 88 minutes. Yesterday I completed the bike ride in 94 minutes (without the swim happening first). So I need to get at least 6 minutes faster on the bike ride. I want to be able to do the run in under and hour, which is easy if I don't do the bike ride first, and it's doable if I don't push for speed on the bike ride. Yesterday, I rode as hard as I could and the run was very difficult. I have a lot of work to do!!!! I think a reasonable goal is the following:
Swim: 38 minutes
Transition: 2 minutes
Bike ride: 88 minutes
Transition: 2 minutes
Run: 60 minutes
Total: 3 hours and 10 minutes.
This gives me 5 minutes of leeway and I can still finish within my goal of 3 hours and 15 minutes next year. Go, go, go!!! Train, train, train!!! Push, push, push!!!
Now, let's talk about my weight.
Part of my training regimen is to get to a lean weight of 140 pounds. As of this morning I weighed 155.0 pounds. I have finally lost the 8 pounds I gained the week after the triathlon. Thank goodness!!! That "extra" weight felt like an albatross hanging around my neck. I had to get seriously disciplined about my food to lose that 8 pounds. It did not just magically disappear when I stopped being ridiculous about my calorie consumption.
Now I am into the really hard work of losing this last 15, what I consider more permanent, pounds. I don't have any illusions that this weight will just fall off, but I know I can lose it if I combine disciplined eating habits with the amount of training that I am doing. The biggest challenge will be to lose the weight without losing muscle mass. My goal is to be lean, not skinny. My goal is to improve my strength/weight ratio, not to be a smaller person. I want the same amount of muscle (or more) that I have now to have to carry a 15 pound lighter load. Think about it. A gallon of milk weighs 8 pounds. How much harder is it to bike 24 miles or run 5 miles carrying two gallons of milk with you, than not? I would say that it is a lot harder!!! My calorie goal is to hit somewhere around 1800 calories a day and to eat at least 100 grams of protein a day. The protein is important to maintain and build muscle mass. This is a couple hundred more calories a day than I was eating when I was losing weight last year, but I am also exercising more. I believe the extra 200 calories a day will be important to maintaining my strength as I train. My goal is to lose the weight by the end of 2013, so that by the beginning of 2014 I am training for the triathlon at my "fighting" weight, without trying to lose any more weight.
Yesterday I ate 1,845 calories and 102 grams of protein. I wanted to eat more than that because of my big brick, but I had an upset stomach after the brick and couldn't eat much dinner. If that happens again, I'll make a big smoothie and drink that, to get the calories and protein restored after the brick.
That sums up my thoughts for the day. Each week I want to get a little faster, a little stronger, and a little leaner. It felt good to get benchmark times under my belt yesterday. My plan is to do a big brick once a month, to measure my progress. In between the big bricks I will do smaller bricks, once a week. I haven't been in the pool since the race, so I need to add a swim a couple evenings a week. Part of me is waiting for my swim clinic in October, but I know I need to get back in the pool before then. I also need a new suit that fits me better. The one I have is too big for me and I don't like that.
It's a gorgeous day and the chores got done yesterday. I'm looking forward to a little R&R with my husband on this beautiful Sunday.
So that's my starting point. My current combined bike/run brick time, with transition, is 2 hours and 37.5 minutes. Assuming I could actually do both of those events that fast after the swim, that leaves me 37.5 minutes for the swim and the transition from swim to bike. During the 2013 tri those two components of the race took me 51 minutes. That's a lot of improvement that needs to happen.
I think we have to assume that my bike/run brick time will be somewhat faster than what I can do after the 1500 meter swim. So for just the bike/run brick, I need to improve my time by something. Since the bike ride is the longest segment of the race, most of my time improvement will come from that segment (according to Ruth). My biggest challenge on the bike is hill climbing. I am slow climbing hills. None of the hills in the race are huge, but there is a significant amount of uphill riding in the first 2/3rds of the loop. I will work on increasing my speed riding uphill. Yesterday I was experimenting with riding in easier gears and pedaling faster vs. grinding out the climbs in higher gears. I think, theoretically, it may make sense to go uphill in the easier gears and pedal faster, but I'm not sure. I will focus a lot of my bike training on hill climbing. It helped yesterday to watch my speed while going uphill. I can get pretty slow on some of the steeper climbs, as slow as 5.5mph. Yesterday I tried to keep my speed above 7.0mph on all climbs. I was not successful at this, but I think it is a good goal to work towards. Overall, I think my speed needs to average 17mph rather than 14.9mph, which was my average speed during the tri. At 17mph I will complete the bike ride in 88 minutes. Yesterday I completed the bike ride in 94 minutes (without the swim happening first). So I need to get at least 6 minutes faster on the bike ride. I want to be able to do the run in under and hour, which is easy if I don't do the bike ride first, and it's doable if I don't push for speed on the bike ride. Yesterday, I rode as hard as I could and the run was very difficult. I have a lot of work to do!!!! I think a reasonable goal is the following:
Swim: 38 minutes
Transition: 2 minutes
Bike ride: 88 minutes
Transition: 2 minutes
Run: 60 minutes
Total: 3 hours and 10 minutes.
This gives me 5 minutes of leeway and I can still finish within my goal of 3 hours and 15 minutes next year. Go, go, go!!! Train, train, train!!! Push, push, push!!!
Now, let's talk about my weight.
Part of my training regimen is to get to a lean weight of 140 pounds. As of this morning I weighed 155.0 pounds. I have finally lost the 8 pounds I gained the week after the triathlon. Thank goodness!!! That "extra" weight felt like an albatross hanging around my neck. I had to get seriously disciplined about my food to lose that 8 pounds. It did not just magically disappear when I stopped being ridiculous about my calorie consumption.
Now I am into the really hard work of losing this last 15, what I consider more permanent, pounds. I don't have any illusions that this weight will just fall off, but I know I can lose it if I combine disciplined eating habits with the amount of training that I am doing. The biggest challenge will be to lose the weight without losing muscle mass. My goal is to be lean, not skinny. My goal is to improve my strength/weight ratio, not to be a smaller person. I want the same amount of muscle (or more) that I have now to have to carry a 15 pound lighter load. Think about it. A gallon of milk weighs 8 pounds. How much harder is it to bike 24 miles or run 5 miles carrying two gallons of milk with you, than not? I would say that it is a lot harder!!! My calorie goal is to hit somewhere around 1800 calories a day and to eat at least 100 grams of protein a day. The protein is important to maintain and build muscle mass. This is a couple hundred more calories a day than I was eating when I was losing weight last year, but I am also exercising more. I believe the extra 200 calories a day will be important to maintaining my strength as I train. My goal is to lose the weight by the end of 2013, so that by the beginning of 2014 I am training for the triathlon at my "fighting" weight, without trying to lose any more weight.
Yesterday I ate 1,845 calories and 102 grams of protein. I wanted to eat more than that because of my big brick, but I had an upset stomach after the brick and couldn't eat much dinner. If that happens again, I'll make a big smoothie and drink that, to get the calories and protein restored after the brick.
That sums up my thoughts for the day. Each week I want to get a little faster, a little stronger, and a little leaner. It felt good to get benchmark times under my belt yesterday. My plan is to do a big brick once a month, to measure my progress. In between the big bricks I will do smaller bricks, once a week. I haven't been in the pool since the race, so I need to add a swim a couple evenings a week. Part of me is waiting for my swim clinic in October, but I know I need to get back in the pool before then. I also need a new suit that fits me better. The one I have is too big for me and I don't like that.
It's a gorgeous day and the chores got done yesterday. I'm looking forward to a little R&R with my husband on this beautiful Sunday.
Saturday, September 14, 2013
9/14/13: A New Dawn
Ah, Saturday morning. No alarm clock, no place I have to be, a gorgeous day, gloriously in love, and nothing to do but CHORES. :) Seriously, we need to get some household chores done today. When life got really, really hard for me, my chores started to slip. Jack picked up the slack, for the most part (a few things may have been back-burnered), but now as I feel life stabilizing again it is time to get back into the routine of taking care of business around the house. It will feel good to get the house in order this morning and start this weekend with that sense of accomplishment.
Last night's anniversary celebration did not get crazy, and that is probably the understatement of the year! I went into it knowing that I was not going to overeat or drink any alcohol. Unfortunately, Jack was feeling sick yesterday with a headache and upset stomach, therefore he was not at the top of his game. The combination of my discipline and his feeling somewhat subdued due to being under the weather, led to a very quiet evening. We went to dinner at Louie's Wine Dive and didn't have any wine!! I had a bowl of shrimp bisque (I believe it was an 8 ounce serving - at least that is how I counted it) and a grilled salmon salad. Jackie had crab cakes. The shrimp bisque was good and I really liked the salad. This is the second time I had this particular salad and it is perfect for me. They put grilled asparagus on it and use a very light balsamic vinaigrette. After dinner we went over to the Roxy and played darts (we were terrible - it has been way too long since we played) and pool while we waited for the band to start. The band was called The Stolen Winnebagos and they were worse than our dart playing! We stayed for a few songs, but by then it was 10:30 and this early bird was getting tired. If the band had been any good, we may have stayed a little longer and danced a little in spite of Jack not feeling great, but we decided to just come on home and go to bed. There you have it! A woman in training makes for a boring night life. What can I say? It is what it is. We had fun talking about what life was like for both of us, 10 years ago, when we first met. A lot has happened in ten years and we are both better off for it.
Yesterday I ate 1,618 calories and 112 grams of protein. This weekend I will do a brick one day and strength training and a bike ride on the other day. I am not sure which will happen on which day, yet. As I said earlier, we have chores to do today, so that will make a difference. It is not going to get too hot today, though, so I think there is a good chance I will get the brick in this afternoon. I weighed a little more today, 157.4 pounds, but I am confident that is just because I ate later in the evening yesterday than I normally do, and there was probably more salt in my dinner than I normally eat. I am not worried about that. I have to mark my chart tomorrow morning and I am confident that I will be below my line.
I continue to feel strong and confident about my plan. I have not been tempted by any dead foods (some sort of buttered and grilled bread came with my soup yesterday and I was not the least bit interested in eating it), but more importantly than that I have found it much easier to stop myself from eating unplanned portions of healthy foods. A good example is prunes. I eat a serving of prunes a day. I do consider them a healthy, sweet treat, and they seem to help with certain bodily functions. But they are 100 calories a serving so I only want to eat one serving a day. I usually eat them with breakfast. Yesterday, I ate my prunes before my workout because my trainer likes me to eat something before I strength train and we were out of bananas. I eat breakfast after my workout and shower, and after breakfast, I kind of wanted that little sweetness that I get from my prunes and found myself reaching for them without really thinking about it. Then I went, "Wait, you already had your prunes. One serving is plenty." Yet, I yearned for them and tried to talk myself into it being OK to have a few more. Then I said to myself, "What about not eating more prunes is going to hurt? Really? In what way are you going to be in pain or cause any discomfort in your life if you don't eat those prunes?" The answer, of course, was, "None." I walked right past those silly prunes and didn't even look back. The yearning actually stopped. No cycling through, over and over again, of the tape trying to justify eating something I didn't need. That hard and fast realization that not eating an extra serving of prunes was not going to hurt in any way made the decision to not eat them a no-brainer. Perhaps that seems funny to you, but it worked.
I guess what I am saying is that I am calling bull-crap on the statement I have said many, many times in my life and I have heard others say countless times, which is, "It is hard to eat right." Really? It's hard? What's hard about it? What hurts when you eat food that is good for you? What hurts when you don't eat that candy bar or that bowl of ice cream? You do have to buy different things at the grocery store, but what is hard about that? You are at the grocery store already, anyway. You can buy healthy, prepared foods if you can't or hate to cook. Even if you hate to cook, a couple of hours spent on Sunday afternoon will prep a week's worth of healthy foods for your fridge. Yes you have to plan a little and think a little about what you are going to eat, but does that hurt? I don't think so. You know what's hard? It's hard to be overweight. It's hard on your lungs and your heart. It's hard on your joints and your brain. It's hard on your liver and your kidneys. The more I read about how damaging abdominal fat is to the organs it surrounds the more I am committed to not have any excess abdominal fat. It is going to be hard to be old and out of shape. Walking with a cane or a walker, or worse not walking at all will be hard. Alzheimer's will be hard. Type 2 diabetes will be hard. Eating grilled chicken and asparagus instead of fried chicken and french fries? Not hard at all. Think about it. Next time you reach for that sweet treat, fried food, or beer; ask yourself, "What is going to hurt if I don't eat that?" I already know the answer and so do you.
Jack's up, so I need to run. Time for breakfast. Have an awesome day!!!!!
Last night's anniversary celebration did not get crazy, and that is probably the understatement of the year! I went into it knowing that I was not going to overeat or drink any alcohol. Unfortunately, Jack was feeling sick yesterday with a headache and upset stomach, therefore he was not at the top of his game. The combination of my discipline and his feeling somewhat subdued due to being under the weather, led to a very quiet evening. We went to dinner at Louie's Wine Dive and didn't have any wine!! I had a bowl of shrimp bisque (I believe it was an 8 ounce serving - at least that is how I counted it) and a grilled salmon salad. Jackie had crab cakes. The shrimp bisque was good and I really liked the salad. This is the second time I had this particular salad and it is perfect for me. They put grilled asparagus on it and use a very light balsamic vinaigrette. After dinner we went over to the Roxy and played darts (we were terrible - it has been way too long since we played) and pool while we waited for the band to start. The band was called The Stolen Winnebagos and they were worse than our dart playing! We stayed for a few songs, but by then it was 10:30 and this early bird was getting tired. If the band had been any good, we may have stayed a little longer and danced a little in spite of Jack not feeling great, but we decided to just come on home and go to bed. There you have it! A woman in training makes for a boring night life. What can I say? It is what it is. We had fun talking about what life was like for both of us, 10 years ago, when we first met. A lot has happened in ten years and we are both better off for it.
Yesterday I ate 1,618 calories and 112 grams of protein. This weekend I will do a brick one day and strength training and a bike ride on the other day. I am not sure which will happen on which day, yet. As I said earlier, we have chores to do today, so that will make a difference. It is not going to get too hot today, though, so I think there is a good chance I will get the brick in this afternoon. I weighed a little more today, 157.4 pounds, but I am confident that is just because I ate later in the evening yesterday than I normally do, and there was probably more salt in my dinner than I normally eat. I am not worried about that. I have to mark my chart tomorrow morning and I am confident that I will be below my line.
I continue to feel strong and confident about my plan. I have not been tempted by any dead foods (some sort of buttered and grilled bread came with my soup yesterday and I was not the least bit interested in eating it), but more importantly than that I have found it much easier to stop myself from eating unplanned portions of healthy foods. A good example is prunes. I eat a serving of prunes a day. I do consider them a healthy, sweet treat, and they seem to help with certain bodily functions. But they are 100 calories a serving so I only want to eat one serving a day. I usually eat them with breakfast. Yesterday, I ate my prunes before my workout because my trainer likes me to eat something before I strength train and we were out of bananas. I eat breakfast after my workout and shower, and after breakfast, I kind of wanted that little sweetness that I get from my prunes and found myself reaching for them without really thinking about it. Then I went, "Wait, you already had your prunes. One serving is plenty." Yet, I yearned for them and tried to talk myself into it being OK to have a few more. Then I said to myself, "What about not eating more prunes is going to hurt? Really? In what way are you going to be in pain or cause any discomfort in your life if you don't eat those prunes?" The answer, of course, was, "None." I walked right past those silly prunes and didn't even look back. The yearning actually stopped. No cycling through, over and over again, of the tape trying to justify eating something I didn't need. That hard and fast realization that not eating an extra serving of prunes was not going to hurt in any way made the decision to not eat them a no-brainer. Perhaps that seems funny to you, but it worked.
I guess what I am saying is that I am calling bull-crap on the statement I have said many, many times in my life and I have heard others say countless times, which is, "It is hard to eat right." Really? It's hard? What's hard about it? What hurts when you eat food that is good for you? What hurts when you don't eat that candy bar or that bowl of ice cream? You do have to buy different things at the grocery store, but what is hard about that? You are at the grocery store already, anyway. You can buy healthy, prepared foods if you can't or hate to cook. Even if you hate to cook, a couple of hours spent on Sunday afternoon will prep a week's worth of healthy foods for your fridge. Yes you have to plan a little and think a little about what you are going to eat, but does that hurt? I don't think so. You know what's hard? It's hard to be overweight. It's hard on your lungs and your heart. It's hard on your joints and your brain. It's hard on your liver and your kidneys. The more I read about how damaging abdominal fat is to the organs it surrounds the more I am committed to not have any excess abdominal fat. It is going to be hard to be old and out of shape. Walking with a cane or a walker, or worse not walking at all will be hard. Alzheimer's will be hard. Type 2 diabetes will be hard. Eating grilled chicken and asparagus instead of fried chicken and french fries? Not hard at all. Think about it. Next time you reach for that sweet treat, fried food, or beer; ask yourself, "What is going to hurt if I don't eat that?" I already know the answer and so do you.
Jack's up, so I need to run. Time for breakfast. Have an awesome day!!!!!
Friday, September 13, 2013
9/13/13: Training Update
On yesterday's blog post I got so caught up in talking about the mental battles I've been fighting that I forgot to mention my training for the day. Yesterday I ran my four mile route in 40 minutes and 15 seconds. My goal was 40 minutes, so I felt pretty good about my time, I just need to shave off 15 seconds to reach my first goal. I did have to wait a few seconds at a couple of stop lights, but neither intersection caused me to pause for more than a few seconds.
Next week I want to get the 4 miles in 40 minutes or less. My longer term goal will be to complete my hilly 6 miles in 60 minutes.
Today I went to the gym for strength training. We worked hard on lower body for a solid 60 minutes. The exercises included barbell squats, kettle bell swings, Sumo squats, sprints on the treadmill, hamstring curls, one leg dead-lifts, and a couple of core exercises. Hard work!!
Yesterday was the 10 year anniversary of Jack's and my first kiss!! It has been a crazy and wonderful 10 years. It took half of that time to actually go on a second date, but during that first five years I could never shake the feeling that Jack and I belonged together. In February, we will celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary. Yesterday I received beautiful flowers at work and tonight we are going out to dinner. After dinner we may head over to The Roxy for a little bit, which is the scene of the original crime (that first kiss!). Whatever we do and wherever we go, I already told Jack that I am sticking to my food plan tonight. I am too soon into my clean living regimen to risk introducing anything but good food. Eventually I will allow myself small periods of time (4 hours, or thereabouts) for special celebrations, but not yet. It took me too long to get my head in the game as it is! I am not going to risk it now.
I continue to feel GREAT!! I am so relieved to have found my commitment and resolve again. It makes life so much easier and I am so much more comfortable with myself to know that I am not going to eat and drink things that are not good for me. It's a simple formula, when you get right down to it. There's a lot less to think about if I am not torturing myself with food decisions throughout the day. It's nice to have the decision made and free my mind up for more important tasks.
Yesterday I ate 1,744 calories and 87 grams of protein. This morning I weighed 157.0 pounds (progress...finally!). As I mentioned above, this morning I did strength training. Perhaps tonight, we will get in a little dancing. That would be fun. How about it, Jackie?
Next week I want to get the 4 miles in 40 minutes or less. My longer term goal will be to complete my hilly 6 miles in 60 minutes.
Today I went to the gym for strength training. We worked hard on lower body for a solid 60 minutes. The exercises included barbell squats, kettle bell swings, Sumo squats, sprints on the treadmill, hamstring curls, one leg dead-lifts, and a couple of core exercises. Hard work!!
Yesterday was the 10 year anniversary of Jack's and my first kiss!! It has been a crazy and wonderful 10 years. It took half of that time to actually go on a second date, but during that first five years I could never shake the feeling that Jack and I belonged together. In February, we will celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary. Yesterday I received beautiful flowers at work and tonight we are going out to dinner. After dinner we may head over to The Roxy for a little bit, which is the scene of the original crime (that first kiss!). Whatever we do and wherever we go, I already told Jack that I am sticking to my food plan tonight. I am too soon into my clean living regimen to risk introducing anything but good food. Eventually I will allow myself small periods of time (4 hours, or thereabouts) for special celebrations, but not yet. It took me too long to get my head in the game as it is! I am not going to risk it now.
I continue to feel GREAT!! I am so relieved to have found my commitment and resolve again. It makes life so much easier and I am so much more comfortable with myself to know that I am not going to eat and drink things that are not good for me. It's a simple formula, when you get right down to it. There's a lot less to think about if I am not torturing myself with food decisions throughout the day. It's nice to have the decision made and free my mind up for more important tasks.
Yesterday I ate 1,744 calories and 87 grams of protein. This morning I weighed 157.0 pounds (progress...finally!). As I mentioned above, this morning I did strength training. Perhaps tonight, we will get in a little dancing. That would be fun. How about it, Jackie?
Thursday, September 12, 2013
9/12/13: Never Again!!!
For two days, now, I have had my eating completely under control. By "under control" I mean that I am not eating any unplanned snacks, I am not eating any junk food or sweets, and I am eating only planned meals and snacks that consist of healthy, whole foods. More than anything, this willingness to eat only what is good for me and to avoid dead foods is a mind set. It is all about definitively deciding that this is what I am going to do and then just doing it. It really isn't hard. It's not like it hurts or takes up a lot of time to not eat crap, but there's this crazy mental game that goes on inside my head that somehow justifies eating and drinking garbage that is not good for me. The trick is to turn off that mental signal.
It has taken me every bit of three weeks to get myself back on the mental band wagon after my week of carelessness. I wish I could recall exactly why, for that week after the triathlon, I decided to allow myself to be so careless. Somehow I justified eating and drinking crap, as if I deserved it as some sort of reward for achieving my goal of completing the triathlon. I acted like it was a treat or something. But I find that strange, when I really think about it. Why would I think of consuming things that are bad for me, essentially poisons, as a treat? Why would I treat my body, that worked so hard to complete that triathlon, so poorly? There is no good reason for it. None, that I can think of. I am kind of dumbfounded by it, now as I review the mental decision to allow myself to go to hell for a week. It just doesn't make any sense.
Almost three weeks ago I decided to stop eating crap (including alcohol) and to start working on getting into excellent physical condition so that I can complete the 2014 Jackson County triathlon in 3 hours and 15 minutes. Getting into excellent physical condition included making the decision to get to 140 pounds by year-end, without losing any muscle mass, so that I could improve my strength-to-weight ratio. I want to get faster and being lighter and stronger will get me faster. My ultimate, life-time goal is to win my age group. That is going to mean a lot of intense training for a long time. That is going to mean carrying no extra weight. Every pound must have a purpose, or there is no way I can win my age group, at least not until I am the last one standing!!
When I drew my chart, almost 3 weeks ago, I weighed 163 pounds. This was after gaining 8 pounds in one week of careless eating and drinking. Today I weighed 157.8 pounds. Progress, but not as much as I would like to see. I know I could have taken that 8 pounds off faster than this. After all, that was mostly water. But I have been struggling with food; more specifically, I have been struggling with sweets - mostly in the form of ice cream and candy. I am not eating wheat, so that has kept me away from cookies, cake, and other baked goods. Since I started my new chart I have increased my exercise. In fact, I feel myself thinking of what I am doing much more as "training" than "exercise," and that change in mind set helps me work much harder. I have a specific goal I want to achieve, and if I don't run a little further and a little faster each week, I am not going to reach my goal. It's not about plodding out 4 or 5 miles so I can chalk up the "calories out," it is about training to become a competitive athlete. The latter is a lot more fun.
But the food, man the food!! It's been hard. I have had sugar cravings to beat the band, I have let myself succumb to them, and I have beat myself up afterwards. Why?? I wish I knew. Finally, the day before yesterday, something clicked. I kept reviewing my food choices and I kept thinking about the fact that I was really just poisoning myself with this crap and I kept asking myself, "Why?" And, quite frankly, there was never a good answer. Everything I came up with was stupid. I'm tired. I'm stressed. I don't have time to cook. Yadda yadda yadda. It was just a litany of excuses for being lazy and irresponsible. When it comes down to it, of course I have time to take care of myself, I just have to make it a priority. There is a bonus. When I take care of myself, I am helping Jack take care of himself, too. When there is healthy food in the house to eat, we both eat better, we both feel better, and we both look better. That makes me happy, much happier than I am after eating a silly bowl of ice cream.
So, two days ago, on Tuesday morning, I said, "This is it. Stop being stupid about this and go back to what you know works." One of the motivators was my chart. I could see that by the end of this week I was going to be above my goal line if I didn't start getting serious about losing weight. That was unacceptable. And that was that. I've been fine. I've been more than fine. As I said at the beginning of this blog post, I have not done any unintentional eating for two days and, more importantly, I don't want to. I am so relieved and so happy that I have turned this mental corner.
Never again will I allow myself a multiple-day period of excessive eating and drinking. I believe I conditioned my body to eating crap again and all my body wanted after that week was a quick fix. Give me that sugar!! Give me sugar!!! GIVE ME SUGAR!!!! It was like my body (or perhaps it was just my brain) was screaming for it. It was so hard to say no. That week was a mistake that will not happen again. Maybe I needed that reminder of how easy it is to start poisoning myself again. Maybe I needed to go through this rather crappy few weeks in order to firmly convince myself that this is a lifestyle, with an emphasis on the word LIFE! I don't know why I did what I did, but I promise myself this, I will not do it again. I know what works for me, and that is clean living, day-in and day-out. There will be exceptions to this rule. There will be a celebration here and there. There will be moments of extreme stress or moments where I am nowhere near good food when it is time to eat and I won't eat perfectly. But I will not let those moments stretch into a whole day, or worse yet, multiple days. I'll allow a four hour (or so) window here and there for celebrations. I'll accept the fact that I might not always be able to make excellent food choices for every meal, but I will not allow myself back down the slippery path that I headed down 4 weeks ago. I like eating well. I like the way I feel, mentally and physically, when I make good food choices. I like being on solid footing. This is the way to live!!
It has taken me every bit of three weeks to get myself back on the mental band wagon after my week of carelessness. I wish I could recall exactly why, for that week after the triathlon, I decided to allow myself to be so careless. Somehow I justified eating and drinking crap, as if I deserved it as some sort of reward for achieving my goal of completing the triathlon. I acted like it was a treat or something. But I find that strange, when I really think about it. Why would I think of consuming things that are bad for me, essentially poisons, as a treat? Why would I treat my body, that worked so hard to complete that triathlon, so poorly? There is no good reason for it. None, that I can think of. I am kind of dumbfounded by it, now as I review the mental decision to allow myself to go to hell for a week. It just doesn't make any sense.
Almost three weeks ago I decided to stop eating crap (including alcohol) and to start working on getting into excellent physical condition so that I can complete the 2014 Jackson County triathlon in 3 hours and 15 minutes. Getting into excellent physical condition included making the decision to get to 140 pounds by year-end, without losing any muscle mass, so that I could improve my strength-to-weight ratio. I want to get faster and being lighter and stronger will get me faster. My ultimate, life-time goal is to win my age group. That is going to mean a lot of intense training for a long time. That is going to mean carrying no extra weight. Every pound must have a purpose, or there is no way I can win my age group, at least not until I am the last one standing!!
When I drew my chart, almost 3 weeks ago, I weighed 163 pounds. This was after gaining 8 pounds in one week of careless eating and drinking. Today I weighed 157.8 pounds. Progress, but not as much as I would like to see. I know I could have taken that 8 pounds off faster than this. After all, that was mostly water. But I have been struggling with food; more specifically, I have been struggling with sweets - mostly in the form of ice cream and candy. I am not eating wheat, so that has kept me away from cookies, cake, and other baked goods. Since I started my new chart I have increased my exercise. In fact, I feel myself thinking of what I am doing much more as "training" than "exercise," and that change in mind set helps me work much harder. I have a specific goal I want to achieve, and if I don't run a little further and a little faster each week, I am not going to reach my goal. It's not about plodding out 4 or 5 miles so I can chalk up the "calories out," it is about training to become a competitive athlete. The latter is a lot more fun.
But the food, man the food!! It's been hard. I have had sugar cravings to beat the band, I have let myself succumb to them, and I have beat myself up afterwards. Why?? I wish I knew. Finally, the day before yesterday, something clicked. I kept reviewing my food choices and I kept thinking about the fact that I was really just poisoning myself with this crap and I kept asking myself, "Why?" And, quite frankly, there was never a good answer. Everything I came up with was stupid. I'm tired. I'm stressed. I don't have time to cook. Yadda yadda yadda. It was just a litany of excuses for being lazy and irresponsible. When it comes down to it, of course I have time to take care of myself, I just have to make it a priority. There is a bonus. When I take care of myself, I am helping Jack take care of himself, too. When there is healthy food in the house to eat, we both eat better, we both feel better, and we both look better. That makes me happy, much happier than I am after eating a silly bowl of ice cream.
So, two days ago, on Tuesday morning, I said, "This is it. Stop being stupid about this and go back to what you know works." One of the motivators was my chart. I could see that by the end of this week I was going to be above my goal line if I didn't start getting serious about losing weight. That was unacceptable. And that was that. I've been fine. I've been more than fine. As I said at the beginning of this blog post, I have not done any unintentional eating for two days and, more importantly, I don't want to. I am so relieved and so happy that I have turned this mental corner.
Never again will I allow myself a multiple-day period of excessive eating and drinking. I believe I conditioned my body to eating crap again and all my body wanted after that week was a quick fix. Give me that sugar!! Give me sugar!!! GIVE ME SUGAR!!!! It was like my body (or perhaps it was just my brain) was screaming for it. It was so hard to say no. That week was a mistake that will not happen again. Maybe I needed that reminder of how easy it is to start poisoning myself again. Maybe I needed to go through this rather crappy few weeks in order to firmly convince myself that this is a lifestyle, with an emphasis on the word LIFE! I don't know why I did what I did, but I promise myself this, I will not do it again. I know what works for me, and that is clean living, day-in and day-out. There will be exceptions to this rule. There will be a celebration here and there. There will be moments of extreme stress or moments where I am nowhere near good food when it is time to eat and I won't eat perfectly. But I will not let those moments stretch into a whole day, or worse yet, multiple days. I'll allow a four hour (or so) window here and there for celebrations. I'll accept the fact that I might not always be able to make excellent food choices for every meal, but I will not allow myself back down the slippery path that I headed down 4 weeks ago. I like eating well. I like the way I feel, mentally and physically, when I make good food choices. I like being on solid footing. This is the way to live!!
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
9/11/13: Feeling a Little More Grounded
Today is a better day, emotionally.
Perhaps the walk yesterday evening helped. Or perhaps the fact that we had prepped dinner on Monday night and I was able to just come home, spend 15 minutes cooking, and we had a nice, hot, delicious home cooked meal for dinner last night made me feel better. Maybe I feel less stressed because I was able to express my concerns at work and the rest of the management team seemed to take me seriously. I don't know what has changed, exactly, but I do feel better today.
Yesterday I did a much better job with food. I ate a total of 1,875 calories and 95 grams of protein. I didn't do any unplanned snacking, at all, so that was very good. I was a little more conscientious about water, but I probably still did not drink enough of it. I need to start keeping track of my water at work. It's not that I don't like water, it's just that I forget to drink it. I marked my chart today and I am right on my line at 158.4 pounds!!! I will not allow my weight to go over my goal line, so the motivation of the chart is kicking in. Perhaps I should not have allowed myself so much time (on my chart) to lose the weight that I gained the week after my triathlon. I certainly took advantage of the four weeks I gave myself to lose the weight that I gained in one week of not moderating my food or drink. But now that my actual weight line is hitting my goal line (I have been under it for 3 weeks) my motivation to get serious about losing weight is kicking in. My meds are still making me retain water and I find that very frustrating. There is not much I can do about the water retention, though, other than eat right, drink plenty of water, exercise a lot, and get plenty of sleep. I am doing all of those things.
Yesterday I lifted weights in the morning and went for about a 2.5 mile walk with Jack in the evening. It was a beautiful, warm, summer-like, fall evening. I love this warm weather!!! I decided to take today as a rest day. We were up a little late watching the Royals beat the Indians and the final 12 on America's Got Talent. AGT is the one TV show I really like. I love watching all of the different acts. Some of the performers are incredibly talented and inspirational. My last rest day was last Wednesday and I have exercised hard all week, so when my alarm went off this morning and my body said, "Ugh, I'm really tired!" I knew it was a good day to take a rest. The scheduled exercise for today was a 4 mile run, and I was going to take a rest day tomorrow, so I am just swapping the two. I am resting today and I will run tomorrow. I feel good about that.
I am starting to feel the results of the stepped up training regimen. It's a subtle change, but my body feels more in tune with itself, I guess. I can't really put a finger on what feels different, but physically, I am feeling strong. I'll be glad when I am done with the antibiotic that I am taking so that I can get completely back to normal. It's interesting to notice how taking one drug can alter so much. Since I typically don't take any drugs at all and my diet is so consistent, it's relatively easy to notice the impact of the one drug I am taking. It definitely causes me to retain water, which I can feel mostly in my hands and face. I have one week left in the original prescription with a 2 week refill. I think I am going to go ahead and do the 2 week refill. I don't have the test results back yet, but I am pretty convinced at this point that I was exposed to Lyme disease and the recommended antibiotic therapy is 4 weeks. Lyme disease is not something to mess with. If properly treated early, it causes no long term damage, but not treated (and I am assuming, improperly treated) it can cause a life-time of various problems. I don't want to take any chances. So as much as I hate the bloated feeling in my fingers, the possible consequences of not continuing the antibiotic for the full four weeks is just to great ignore. I'll put up with the swollen hands for a few more weeks.
Julie has taken on my 30 day chicken challenge and is preparing chicken a different way, each week day, for 4 weeks. I appreciate her willingness to take this on. I needed some new ways to prepare this lean source of protein. I am going to start trying some of her recipes. I am also going to send her some of mine. If you have a tasty, healthy, and perhaps, easy to prepare, chicken recipe, please share it!!!!! If you want to see what Julie comes up with over the next 4 weeks, her blog is here: http://theweightofmyweight.com. She and I have been supporting each other on our weight loss journeys. She is just about 5 or 6 pounds to goal, which she is trying to reach by the end of this month, and no later than her birthday in November. She will get there!! I am confident of that. Just as I will reach 140 by the end of the year.
Gotta run...work calls...*Sigh* Sometimes, it just seems sad that work is part of daily life, doesn't it? Other times, I don't mind at all.
Perhaps the walk yesterday evening helped. Or perhaps the fact that we had prepped dinner on Monday night and I was able to just come home, spend 15 minutes cooking, and we had a nice, hot, delicious home cooked meal for dinner last night made me feel better. Maybe I feel less stressed because I was able to express my concerns at work and the rest of the management team seemed to take me seriously. I don't know what has changed, exactly, but I do feel better today.
Yesterday I did a much better job with food. I ate a total of 1,875 calories and 95 grams of protein. I didn't do any unplanned snacking, at all, so that was very good. I was a little more conscientious about water, but I probably still did not drink enough of it. I need to start keeping track of my water at work. It's not that I don't like water, it's just that I forget to drink it. I marked my chart today and I am right on my line at 158.4 pounds!!! I will not allow my weight to go over my goal line, so the motivation of the chart is kicking in. Perhaps I should not have allowed myself so much time (on my chart) to lose the weight that I gained the week after my triathlon. I certainly took advantage of the four weeks I gave myself to lose the weight that I gained in one week of not moderating my food or drink. But now that my actual weight line is hitting my goal line (I have been under it for 3 weeks) my motivation to get serious about losing weight is kicking in. My meds are still making me retain water and I find that very frustrating. There is not much I can do about the water retention, though, other than eat right, drink plenty of water, exercise a lot, and get plenty of sleep. I am doing all of those things.
Yesterday I lifted weights in the morning and went for about a 2.5 mile walk with Jack in the evening. It was a beautiful, warm, summer-like, fall evening. I love this warm weather!!! I decided to take today as a rest day. We were up a little late watching the Royals beat the Indians and the final 12 on America's Got Talent. AGT is the one TV show I really like. I love watching all of the different acts. Some of the performers are incredibly talented and inspirational. My last rest day was last Wednesday and I have exercised hard all week, so when my alarm went off this morning and my body said, "Ugh, I'm really tired!" I knew it was a good day to take a rest. The scheduled exercise for today was a 4 mile run, and I was going to take a rest day tomorrow, so I am just swapping the two. I am resting today and I will run tomorrow. I feel good about that.
I am starting to feel the results of the stepped up training regimen. It's a subtle change, but my body feels more in tune with itself, I guess. I can't really put a finger on what feels different, but physically, I am feeling strong. I'll be glad when I am done with the antibiotic that I am taking so that I can get completely back to normal. It's interesting to notice how taking one drug can alter so much. Since I typically don't take any drugs at all and my diet is so consistent, it's relatively easy to notice the impact of the one drug I am taking. It definitely causes me to retain water, which I can feel mostly in my hands and face. I have one week left in the original prescription with a 2 week refill. I think I am going to go ahead and do the 2 week refill. I don't have the test results back yet, but I am pretty convinced at this point that I was exposed to Lyme disease and the recommended antibiotic therapy is 4 weeks. Lyme disease is not something to mess with. If properly treated early, it causes no long term damage, but not treated (and I am assuming, improperly treated) it can cause a life-time of various problems. I don't want to take any chances. So as much as I hate the bloated feeling in my fingers, the possible consequences of not continuing the antibiotic for the full four weeks is just to great ignore. I'll put up with the swollen hands for a few more weeks.
Julie has taken on my 30 day chicken challenge and is preparing chicken a different way, each week day, for 4 weeks. I appreciate her willingness to take this on. I needed some new ways to prepare this lean source of protein. I am going to start trying some of her recipes. I am also going to send her some of mine. If you have a tasty, healthy, and perhaps, easy to prepare, chicken recipe, please share it!!!!! If you want to see what Julie comes up with over the next 4 weeks, her blog is here: http://theweightofmyweight.com. She and I have been supporting each other on our weight loss journeys. She is just about 5 or 6 pounds to goal, which she is trying to reach by the end of this month, and no later than her birthday in November. She will get there!! I am confident of that. Just as I will reach 140 by the end of the year.
Gotta run...work calls...*Sigh* Sometimes, it just seems sad that work is part of daily life, doesn't it? Other times, I don't mind at all.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
9/10/13: Gotta Get My Head In The Game!!
Come on, Roberta, get your head in the game!
I feel depressed right now and it is all about work. I know I have made many a vague reference to the goings on at work over the last year, but things took a turn for the worse a couple of weeks ago and now I can't shake this sense of unease and impending doom. Wow, that sounds harsh when I write it, but that is exactly how I feel. We have a meeting today, so I am hoping there is some clearer direction and some good news of which I am presently unaware. Other options for my future keep rolling through my mind, and as unbidden as those thoughts are, they are probably a signal that my "survivor instinct" is kicking in.
I am incredibly thankful that I made the decision to excel at triathlons a couple of weeks ago. In the past, when I get depressed like this, I would sit on the couch, watch tv and eat ice cream. I can't say I didn't sit on the couch for a little while last night and watch a little tv with Jack (I didn't eat any ice cream); but I didn't sit on the couch all night. I managed to rouse myself up long enough to prep tonight's dinner, with Jack's help at the cutting board. Also, I am exercising every day. This morning I did upper body strength training. I want to add back some evening exercise, as well. Either a 30 minute walk or a swim on strength training days, and maybe some push-ups and ab work on cardio days. I have a lot of work to do to get to the physical condition I want to be in, and I am not going to get there by sitting on the couch!! So, even though I am depressed about work, I am focused on my training goals and that gives me something to feel positive about, every single day.
This darn medication is messing with my weight. I am retaining a lot of water and I hate getting on the scale in the mornings. I have also been hungrier than normal so I am having trouble not eating too much. The hunger is probably the result of the increased exercise and the depression. I can't even imagine how depressed I would be right now if I was not exercising every day. I don't even want to think about that!! I'm just going to keep up the training and not let set-backs at work derail my plans for finishing the 2014 Jackson County Triathlon in less than 3 hours and 15 minutes and eventually winning my age group. The second goal will take years to accomplish, but I will get there.
I need to cut back my calories to under 1800. I ate about 2,100 calories yesterday and that is just too much. I did consume 147 grams of protein, so I guess if I am going to eat too much it's a good thing that I am feeding my muscles, but I think 147 grams of protein is excessive. 100 grams should be fine. In some respects, I feel great about my progress, in other respects, I am disappointed in myself. I need to be fully engaged in my training, which includes food. I am determined to reach 140 pounds by year end, and I am not going to get there without some serious discipline. I find it interesting that accepting the exercising discipline has been much easier for me than accepting the food discipline, but it is going to take both. Not just one or the other. Come on, Roberta!! Get it done!! Get in the zone!! Mentally and Physically!! There is only one person that can get this done and that person is me. Go! Go! Go!!
I feel depressed right now and it is all about work. I know I have made many a vague reference to the goings on at work over the last year, but things took a turn for the worse a couple of weeks ago and now I can't shake this sense of unease and impending doom. Wow, that sounds harsh when I write it, but that is exactly how I feel. We have a meeting today, so I am hoping there is some clearer direction and some good news of which I am presently unaware. Other options for my future keep rolling through my mind, and as unbidden as those thoughts are, they are probably a signal that my "survivor instinct" is kicking in.
I am incredibly thankful that I made the decision to excel at triathlons a couple of weeks ago. In the past, when I get depressed like this, I would sit on the couch, watch tv and eat ice cream. I can't say I didn't sit on the couch for a little while last night and watch a little tv with Jack (I didn't eat any ice cream); but I didn't sit on the couch all night. I managed to rouse myself up long enough to prep tonight's dinner, with Jack's help at the cutting board. Also, I am exercising every day. This morning I did upper body strength training. I want to add back some evening exercise, as well. Either a 30 minute walk or a swim on strength training days, and maybe some push-ups and ab work on cardio days. I have a lot of work to do to get to the physical condition I want to be in, and I am not going to get there by sitting on the couch!! So, even though I am depressed about work, I am focused on my training goals and that gives me something to feel positive about, every single day.
This darn medication is messing with my weight. I am retaining a lot of water and I hate getting on the scale in the mornings. I have also been hungrier than normal so I am having trouble not eating too much. The hunger is probably the result of the increased exercise and the depression. I can't even imagine how depressed I would be right now if I was not exercising every day. I don't even want to think about that!! I'm just going to keep up the training and not let set-backs at work derail my plans for finishing the 2014 Jackson County Triathlon in less than 3 hours and 15 minutes and eventually winning my age group. The second goal will take years to accomplish, but I will get there.
I need to cut back my calories to under 1800. I ate about 2,100 calories yesterday and that is just too much. I did consume 147 grams of protein, so I guess if I am going to eat too much it's a good thing that I am feeding my muscles, but I think 147 grams of protein is excessive. 100 grams should be fine. In some respects, I feel great about my progress, in other respects, I am disappointed in myself. I need to be fully engaged in my training, which includes food. I am determined to reach 140 pounds by year end, and I am not going to get there without some serious discipline. I find it interesting that accepting the exercising discipline has been much easier for me than accepting the food discipline, but it is going to take both. Not just one or the other. Come on, Roberta!! Get it done!! Get in the zone!! Mentally and Physically!! There is only one person that can get this done and that person is me. Go! Go! Go!!
Monday, September 9, 2013
9/9/2013: 6 Hilly Miles; 1 Hour and 12 Minutes
I've coasted along on 4 mile runs for the last few weeks, using the excuse that it is dark in the mornings now (it really is) and I don't feel safe on my normal 5 mile route in the dark (I really don't). But I finally decided I needed to do something about it and Jack and I scouted out a 6 mile route, yesterday. I picked this route because it is well lit, there is a sidewalk the entire way, there is a safe place to park on one end of the route, and it is in a very nice neighborhood (it includes passing the Leewood Police Station and Fire Station). The only down side is the hills, and boy, is it hilly!
The first half mile or so is relatively flat and since the course is an out-an-back, the last half mile is also pretty flat. There is also one other flattish stretch about halfway into the run. Other than that, the course is pretty hilly, with some long slow climbs and some shorter, steeper climbs. The hills are tough and they slow me down a lot, but they are a great workout. It took me an hour and 12 minutes to run the entire 6 miles today (I jogged/ran the whole thing, I did not walk at all). My goal will be to run the entire 6 miles in an hour. I don't know how long it will take me to improve my time by that much. I know I can run 10 minute miles, but the hills make a big difference. My plan is to run this course once a week, run my regular 4 mile course once a week (the 4 mile run has some hills, but not as many as the 6 mile run), and run once on the weekends as part of my weekly brick (if I do this at the lake, it is very flat). The length of the weekend run will vary, depending on the size of my brick that weekend.
In addition to the running, I will ride my bike twice a week, once a week it will be just a bike ride and once a week it will be part of a brick.
I am strength training three times a week. Now I need to add back in the swimming.
After doing a little research we have determined that the closest Total Immersion Swim clinic is in Minneapolis, which is about 6 hours from here. I am going to sign up for the October 19th and 20th weekend clinic. Jack said he would go with me (no, he is not going to swim), so we are going to make a weekend out of it. I will swim once a week before the clinic, but will get serious about my swim training after I have completed the clinic.
Last week I did well with my exercise and worked out for a total of about 8 hours. I got a brick in on Saturday, in spite of the heat, and yesterday I went for a bike ride in the morning and then Jack and I went to the gym in the afternoon for strength training and a little racquetball. For my brick on Saturday, I rode around the lake once with Jack (about 11 miles), then did a flat 4.75 miles on my own before starting my run. For the last 4.75 miles I pushed hard and averaged over 17 miles an hour. That took a lot out of me and made the run difficult. I ended up walking a portion of the approximately 2.5 mile run, though I forced myself to run the first mile and a half or so, to get through the bike/run transition. Yesterday's bike ride wasn't far, I was meeting a friend at the park so I rode there and back, but I pushed it on the way there, too. I only averaged about 15.5 mph, but there were enough stop lights and stop signs that the forced slow downs impacted my average speed. I am spending some time, every time I get on my bike, riding fast so that I can improve my ride speed.
Last week was not so great with the food. I did not keep track of my calories over the weekend...just laziness...no other excuses. I do find myself getting very hungry and craving snacks. Jack and I found some healthy snacks at the store yesterday (kale chips, anyone?) and I am hoping they will help, though I still need to keep an eye on calories. The medication I am taking has caused me to swell up a little, and that is impacting the scale, so I am not happy about that and don't even want to write about it (okay, I was 158.4 this morning - though still below the line on my chart).
I have already put my breakfast calories into my phone this morning and I will be more disciplined about counting every calorie. I am looking forward to being done with the drug regimen so the swelling will go down. I must stay away from sweet snacks, completely. They are my weakness at the moment.
I guess that's it for this Monday morning. Until tomorrow...
The first half mile or so is relatively flat and since the course is an out-an-back, the last half mile is also pretty flat. There is also one other flattish stretch about halfway into the run. Other than that, the course is pretty hilly, with some long slow climbs and some shorter, steeper climbs. The hills are tough and they slow me down a lot, but they are a great workout. It took me an hour and 12 minutes to run the entire 6 miles today (I jogged/ran the whole thing, I did not walk at all). My goal will be to run the entire 6 miles in an hour. I don't know how long it will take me to improve my time by that much. I know I can run 10 minute miles, but the hills make a big difference. My plan is to run this course once a week, run my regular 4 mile course once a week (the 4 mile run has some hills, but not as many as the 6 mile run), and run once on the weekends as part of my weekly brick (if I do this at the lake, it is very flat). The length of the weekend run will vary, depending on the size of my brick that weekend.
In addition to the running, I will ride my bike twice a week, once a week it will be just a bike ride and once a week it will be part of a brick.
I am strength training three times a week. Now I need to add back in the swimming.
After doing a little research we have determined that the closest Total Immersion Swim clinic is in Minneapolis, which is about 6 hours from here. I am going to sign up for the October 19th and 20th weekend clinic. Jack said he would go with me (no, he is not going to swim), so we are going to make a weekend out of it. I will swim once a week before the clinic, but will get serious about my swim training after I have completed the clinic.
Last week I did well with my exercise and worked out for a total of about 8 hours. I got a brick in on Saturday, in spite of the heat, and yesterday I went for a bike ride in the morning and then Jack and I went to the gym in the afternoon for strength training and a little racquetball. For my brick on Saturday, I rode around the lake once with Jack (about 11 miles), then did a flat 4.75 miles on my own before starting my run. For the last 4.75 miles I pushed hard and averaged over 17 miles an hour. That took a lot out of me and made the run difficult. I ended up walking a portion of the approximately 2.5 mile run, though I forced myself to run the first mile and a half or so, to get through the bike/run transition. Yesterday's bike ride wasn't far, I was meeting a friend at the park so I rode there and back, but I pushed it on the way there, too. I only averaged about 15.5 mph, but there were enough stop lights and stop signs that the forced slow downs impacted my average speed. I am spending some time, every time I get on my bike, riding fast so that I can improve my ride speed.
Last week was not so great with the food. I did not keep track of my calories over the weekend...just laziness...no other excuses. I do find myself getting very hungry and craving snacks. Jack and I found some healthy snacks at the store yesterday (kale chips, anyone?) and I am hoping they will help, though I still need to keep an eye on calories. The medication I am taking has caused me to swell up a little, and that is impacting the scale, so I am not happy about that and don't even want to write about it (okay, I was 158.4 this morning - though still below the line on my chart).
I have already put my breakfast calories into my phone this morning and I will be more disciplined about counting every calorie. I am looking forward to being done with the drug regimen so the swelling will go down. I must stay away from sweet snacks, completely. They are my weakness at the moment.
I guess that's it for this Monday morning. Until tomorrow...
Friday, September 6, 2013
9/6/2013: Lyme Disease?
Perhaps.
It's a good thing Ruth is observant. After I posted about not feeling well Tuesday evening Ruth texted me and asked if I had swollen joints, a symptom of Lyme Disease. All three of us, Ruth, Jack and I, pulled ticks off of ourselves after hiking in the woods the Saturday before our tri. I told her that I didn't have swollen joints and I had chalked my nausea up to eating some tainted yogurt. I also looked up the reported # of cases of Lyme Disease in Kansas. In 2011, the last year for which results were posted, there were 17 confirmed cases. It seemed like the chances of us getting Lyme disease from our silly trek in the woods was very, very low.
The very next morning (yesterday) I noticed that I had trouble lifting as much weight as I normally lift at the gym. My muscles felt much weaker than normal. I thought that was odd, but wanted to chalk it up to staying up late the night before. I also woke up Thursday morning with tenderness in my upper back and shoulders and my nausea was back. Oh yeah, and I was running a low grade fever. So I looked up the symptoms of Lyme disease and my symptoms fit perfectly with the symptoms that normally appear 2 - 3 weeks after exposure. Crap! I did not have a bulls-eye rash, nor did I have swollen joints, but the flue-like symptoms, achy muscles, and low-grade fever were spot on. So I went to do the doctor yesterday and he agreed that the symptoms were persuasive enough to start me on an antibiotic. I am taking 100mg of doxycycline monohydrate twice a day. They also drew blood to do some lab work, but the tests are not very reliable. I should have the results back next week. *Sigh* If it's not one thing, it's another.
I feel like an idiot for not using bug spray on our hike. We had been on this trail before and it was never that overgrown. Also, Jack and I have hiked many trails in Kansas and Missouri over the last five years and never gotten a tick, so we had gotten lazy about using bug repellent. Not anymore. I am always going to use it from now on.
Statistically, the chances of Lyme Disease causing long term problems if it is treated early are very, very slim. Lyme Disease is serious if it is not treated early, but it really should not be a problem since we caught it early. Thank goodness Ruth is observant. If it was not for her, I would probably have blown off these flu-like symptoms once I started feeling better. Jack, so far, has not had any symptoms at all; but we are going to keep an eye on him.
I feel a little better today, a good night's sleep helped a lot. With any luck I will be feeling completely back to normal after a couple of days on the antibiotic. I went for my run this morning but I didn't really push it. More than anything, I wanted to run because that is what I do in the morning. I didn't feel like I needed to be setting any records while I was still not feeling great. I plan on doing my weekly brick tomorrow morning.
Ruth wants me to do two training rides a week and a brick every week. I am assuming that one of the rides can be part of my brick, and the other ride will be just a ride. I guess that means that I will have to ride on Saturday and Sunday, because it is too dark to ride in the mornings, already. Evening rides are an option for a bit longer, but the traffic around here in the evening is pretty awful. I'd have to drive out to the lake, and by then it would be getting close to dusk. I hate that the days are getting so short, already. I am already dreading winter. It's pretty easy to plan a lot of exercise when the sun is out and it is nice and warm, but it's pretty disheartening to think about the upcoming days when it will be cold, wet, and dark out. Sadness starts to set in when I think about it. I guess the solution to that problem is to not think about it. I made it through last winter, I will make it through this one, too.
I find myself feeling very relieved that life is starting to feel routine again. I need to kick the training up a couple of notches. So far, with the exception of my brick last weekend, I feel like I have just been maintaining the status quo, and I want to do much more than maintain. On the other hand, when I think about the ridiculousness of my schedule and my stress level for the last couple of months, I feel pretty good about not only maintaining, but making the very big decision to excel at triathlons. I'm not going to beat myself up, but I do need to psych myself up for a bump-up in my training routine.
Yesterday's calories: 1,942
Yesterday's protein: 74 grams
This morning's weight: 157.2
This morning's exercise: 4 mile run
Next week I need to focus on: Decreasing calories, increasing protein, and increasing exercise.
It's a good thing Ruth is observant. After I posted about not feeling well Tuesday evening Ruth texted me and asked if I had swollen joints, a symptom of Lyme Disease. All three of us, Ruth, Jack and I, pulled ticks off of ourselves after hiking in the woods the Saturday before our tri. I told her that I didn't have swollen joints and I had chalked my nausea up to eating some tainted yogurt. I also looked up the reported # of cases of Lyme Disease in Kansas. In 2011, the last year for which results were posted, there were 17 confirmed cases. It seemed like the chances of us getting Lyme disease from our silly trek in the woods was very, very low.
The very next morning (yesterday) I noticed that I had trouble lifting as much weight as I normally lift at the gym. My muscles felt much weaker than normal. I thought that was odd, but wanted to chalk it up to staying up late the night before. I also woke up Thursday morning with tenderness in my upper back and shoulders and my nausea was back. Oh yeah, and I was running a low grade fever. So I looked up the symptoms of Lyme disease and my symptoms fit perfectly with the symptoms that normally appear 2 - 3 weeks after exposure. Crap! I did not have a bulls-eye rash, nor did I have swollen joints, but the flue-like symptoms, achy muscles, and low-grade fever were spot on. So I went to do the doctor yesterday and he agreed that the symptoms were persuasive enough to start me on an antibiotic. I am taking 100mg of doxycycline monohydrate twice a day. They also drew blood to do some lab work, but the tests are not very reliable. I should have the results back next week. *Sigh* If it's not one thing, it's another.
I feel like an idiot for not using bug spray on our hike. We had been on this trail before and it was never that overgrown. Also, Jack and I have hiked many trails in Kansas and Missouri over the last five years and never gotten a tick, so we had gotten lazy about using bug repellent. Not anymore. I am always going to use it from now on.
Statistically, the chances of Lyme Disease causing long term problems if it is treated early are very, very slim. Lyme Disease is serious if it is not treated early, but it really should not be a problem since we caught it early. Thank goodness Ruth is observant. If it was not for her, I would probably have blown off these flu-like symptoms once I started feeling better. Jack, so far, has not had any symptoms at all; but we are going to keep an eye on him.
I feel a little better today, a good night's sleep helped a lot. With any luck I will be feeling completely back to normal after a couple of days on the antibiotic. I went for my run this morning but I didn't really push it. More than anything, I wanted to run because that is what I do in the morning. I didn't feel like I needed to be setting any records while I was still not feeling great. I plan on doing my weekly brick tomorrow morning.
Ruth wants me to do two training rides a week and a brick every week. I am assuming that one of the rides can be part of my brick, and the other ride will be just a ride. I guess that means that I will have to ride on Saturday and Sunday, because it is too dark to ride in the mornings, already. Evening rides are an option for a bit longer, but the traffic around here in the evening is pretty awful. I'd have to drive out to the lake, and by then it would be getting close to dusk. I hate that the days are getting so short, already. I am already dreading winter. It's pretty easy to plan a lot of exercise when the sun is out and it is nice and warm, but it's pretty disheartening to think about the upcoming days when it will be cold, wet, and dark out. Sadness starts to set in when I think about it. I guess the solution to that problem is to not think about it. I made it through last winter, I will make it through this one, too.
I find myself feeling very relieved that life is starting to feel routine again. I need to kick the training up a couple of notches. So far, with the exception of my brick last weekend, I feel like I have just been maintaining the status quo, and I want to do much more than maintain. On the other hand, when I think about the ridiculousness of my schedule and my stress level for the last couple of months, I feel pretty good about not only maintaining, but making the very big decision to excel at triathlons. I'm not going to beat myself up, but I do need to psych myself up for a bump-up in my training routine.
Yesterday's calories: 1,942
Yesterday's protein: 74 grams
This morning's weight: 157.2
This morning's exercise: 4 mile run
Next week I need to focus on: Decreasing calories, increasing protein, and increasing exercise.
Thursday, September 5, 2013
9/5/2013: Starting to Feel Like My Life is "Normal"
The last couple of months have been ridiculous in many ways. Traveling to China for three weeks was not the worst of it. Even harder than that was having three members of our management team in China, working deals on the ground there, while I and the rest of the management team were here providing support at all hours of the day and night - more often night than day. Every day there were early morning and late evening Skype meetings. There was one post-midnight run to the office. There were text messages that needed to be responded to at 3:00am and 4:00am. Plus, don't forget our regular nine-to-five jobs. It was exhausting.
Everyone got back to the states late last week, the phone did not ring or buzz or beep over the weekend, there were no Skype meetings, and slowly I started to recover. I had a bit of a set-back Tuesday when I left the office early with nasty stomach pains and a low grade fever, but I felt much, much better yesterday. Finally, a week later, I am beginning to feel like my life is getting back to normal. I look forward to being able to go to work and feel motivated again. So far this week, my performance at work has been a little lackadaisical because I just have not had the mental energy to jump into another project. Each day gets a little better, though, and I am confident that today will be a better day, yet.
I missed two days of exercise this week due to my little illness, but I was back at the gym today, feeling a little weak from not getting enough sleep last night (bowling night), but it felt good to be back at it. I think I will get a swim in tonight and tomorrow I will go for a run.
Yesterday's calories: 2034
Yesterday's protein: 111 grams
This morning's weight: 157.0
Today's exercise: Strength Training
Everyone got back to the states late last week, the phone did not ring or buzz or beep over the weekend, there were no Skype meetings, and slowly I started to recover. I had a bit of a set-back Tuesday when I left the office early with nasty stomach pains and a low grade fever, but I felt much, much better yesterday. Finally, a week later, I am beginning to feel like my life is getting back to normal. I look forward to being able to go to work and feel motivated again. So far this week, my performance at work has been a little lackadaisical because I just have not had the mental energy to jump into another project. Each day gets a little better, though, and I am confident that today will be a better day, yet.
I missed two days of exercise this week due to my little illness, but I was back at the gym today, feeling a little weak from not getting enough sleep last night (bowling night), but it felt good to be back at it. I think I will get a swim in tonight and tomorrow I will go for a run.
Yesterday's calories: 2034
Yesterday's protein: 111 grams
This morning's weight: 157.0
Today's exercise: Strength Training
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
9/4/2013: Recovering
Yesterday I was sick. I felt sluggish and unmotivated at work and left early to come home. I thought I was just tired, but by the time I got home I knew I was ill. My stomach was killing me and I had a low grade fever. I just needed to lay down, so that is what I did. Jack got home around 6:30 after stopping at the grocery store and I didn't even get up to help him unload the car. After about a half hour more of trying to get comfortable on the couch, I went to bed and slept through until 6 this morning. I feel better today, but I took the day off from exercise.
Yesterday's calories: 1704
Yesterday's protein: 92 grams
This morning's weight: 157.2
Today's exercise: rest - recovering from illness
Yesterday's calories: 1704
Yesterday's protein: 92 grams
This morning's weight: 157.2
Today's exercise: rest - recovering from illness
Monday, September 2, 2013
9/2/2013: BRutal Bike/Run BRick
These Bike/Run bricks are hard. There is something that feels so wrong about running after riding a bike for an hour. I feel so slow and awkward, as if I weigh 300 pounds and my legs just don't want to hold me up.
Today I did my first Bike/Run brick of my 2013/2014 training season. :)
15.5 mile bike ride: 1 hour 4 minutes (there were a few red lights in there)
2 minutes transition
4 mile run: 42 minutes 40 seconds (with maybe about a minute of that waiting at lights)
I've decided my short term training goal is to to a 16 mile bike ride in 1 hour and a 4 mile run in 40 minutes. I will try to reach that goal before it gets too cold to ride and run outdoors.
Yesterday's calories: 2,125
Yesterday's protein: 101 grams
This morning's weight: 157.2
This morning's exercise: Bike/Run Brick
My husband just got home from the gym and we have the day ahead of us. I'm going to sign off for now.
Today I did my first Bike/Run brick of my 2013/2014 training season. :)
15.5 mile bike ride: 1 hour 4 minutes (there were a few red lights in there)
2 minutes transition
4 mile run: 42 minutes 40 seconds (with maybe about a minute of that waiting at lights)
I've decided my short term training goal is to to a 16 mile bike ride in 1 hour and a 4 mile run in 40 minutes. I will try to reach that goal before it gets too cold to ride and run outdoors.
Yesterday's calories: 2,125
Yesterday's protein: 101 grams
This morning's weight: 157.2
This morning's exercise: Bike/Run Brick
My husband just got home from the gym and we have the day ahead of us. I'm going to sign off for now.
Sunday, September 1, 2013
9/1/13: Are You Ready Now?
Let's get started!!
My plan was to get up and do a bike/run brick this morning. It's been hot and dry around here, so I was going to go first thing this morning, before it got too hot. As I was laying in my bed this morning giving myself a pep talk to get myself out of bed I heard a noise outside. Was it rain? No, it couldn't be. So I drifted off for a second, woke back up, and picked up the pep talk where I had left off. Then...more noises from outside. Rain? Could it be? Finally, I roused myself enough to look out the window (not hard, considering the bed is right under the window) and sure enough, it was raining. I sighed. I kind of wanted to get that brick in today, but there is no reason I can't do it tomorrow. I'll go to the gym and lift weights today, instead.
Yesterday's calories: 1,858
Yesterday's protein: 93 grams
Yesterday's exercise: None - I got distracted by Steve. He got home from Lawrence earlier than I thought he would and we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening talking.
This morning's weight: 157.6 (I'm sure Julie just got a chuckle out of that one)
Friday was a pretty bad food evening. Steve left for Lawrence around 5:00 in the evening, Jack was in Utah, and I was home alone. Alone. Completely alone. The phone wasn't ringing, there were no text messages from my boss in China (he was on his way home), no emergency Skype meetings. Just quiet. Alone. Free. Oh my God. I was in heaven. I couldn't remember the last moment that I was completely alone with nothing to do. I read all evening and had a big bowl of ice cream. Don't ask me why, but it was kind of heavenly to be all curled up on the couch with my book and my ice cream and my peace and quiet. I paid for it of course, with a little bump in my weight (it was a pretty good size bowl of ice cream). Ah well.
I was hoping to spend some time yesterday working on my training plan and perhaps going to a bike shop or two, but Steve got back from Lawrence earlier than I thought he would and we ended up having a very nice day and evening talking. We went out to dinner and went for a drive out in the country. We had a lovely afternoon. It's nice to get caught up with my son.
I am excited about my decision to excel at triathlons. I'm a little scared, too. This is going to take a lot of hard work and commitment. I cannot half-ass this thing and reach my goals. I am going to need to work and work hard, consistently, day-in and day-out. I've always thought of myself as slow and cumbersome. I have never tried to be anything else. This is going to require a completely different mind-set. We visited my brother-in-law at the hospital and I mentioned to him that I had made a decision to become a strong athlete. He said, "Well, it's a little too late for that," as if it was a fact. Well, pooh on that!! It's not as if I plan to compete with 20 year olds. I plan to compete against other women my age. Ruth says this will be fun. I think that might be an overstatement. I don't think "fun" when I think about doing a brick every weekend for the foreseeable future, but I do think "fit," and "strong," and "happy." Not exactly fun...but I guess it's getting close.
I started to look for open water swimming opportunities yesterday. All of the organized programs that I found in the KC area go through labor day, as in tomorrow. I guess I was a day late and a dollar short on that one. They start up again on May 1st. I'll keep looking, perhaps I'll find someone to swim with outdoors before the lakes get cold. Otherwise I'll be swimming indoors until spring. I must get comfortable with the open water swimming. I am going to go to the next Full Immersion Swim Clinic that comes to Kansas City and I will probably join a masters swim group. I've already signed up for the local tri club, but I'm not sure what that is going to entail. I am waiting for the webmaster to give me full access to the site so I can access the calendar of events, etc... I hope to meet people I can swim and train with. I know they do a bike/run brick every week. That might be fun.
All-in-all I am feeling pretty good about all this. I know this is going to be a huge challenge. In fact, I think it will change my entire life. I'm training for a sport now, not just exercising. That's a whole new ball game. The implications are still settling in.
My plan was to get up and do a bike/run brick this morning. It's been hot and dry around here, so I was going to go first thing this morning, before it got too hot. As I was laying in my bed this morning giving myself a pep talk to get myself out of bed I heard a noise outside. Was it rain? No, it couldn't be. So I drifted off for a second, woke back up, and picked up the pep talk where I had left off. Then...more noises from outside. Rain? Could it be? Finally, I roused myself enough to look out the window (not hard, considering the bed is right under the window) and sure enough, it was raining. I sighed. I kind of wanted to get that brick in today, but there is no reason I can't do it tomorrow. I'll go to the gym and lift weights today, instead.
Yesterday's calories: 1,858
Yesterday's protein: 93 grams
Yesterday's exercise: None - I got distracted by Steve. He got home from Lawrence earlier than I thought he would and we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening talking.
This morning's weight: 157.6 (I'm sure Julie just got a chuckle out of that one)
Friday was a pretty bad food evening. Steve left for Lawrence around 5:00 in the evening, Jack was in Utah, and I was home alone. Alone. Completely alone. The phone wasn't ringing, there were no text messages from my boss in China (he was on his way home), no emergency Skype meetings. Just quiet. Alone. Free. Oh my God. I was in heaven. I couldn't remember the last moment that I was completely alone with nothing to do. I read all evening and had a big bowl of ice cream. Don't ask me why, but it was kind of heavenly to be all curled up on the couch with my book and my ice cream and my peace and quiet. I paid for it of course, with a little bump in my weight (it was a pretty good size bowl of ice cream). Ah well.
I was hoping to spend some time yesterday working on my training plan and perhaps going to a bike shop or two, but Steve got back from Lawrence earlier than I thought he would and we ended up having a very nice day and evening talking. We went out to dinner and went for a drive out in the country. We had a lovely afternoon. It's nice to get caught up with my son.
I am excited about my decision to excel at triathlons. I'm a little scared, too. This is going to take a lot of hard work and commitment. I cannot half-ass this thing and reach my goals. I am going to need to work and work hard, consistently, day-in and day-out. I've always thought of myself as slow and cumbersome. I have never tried to be anything else. This is going to require a completely different mind-set. We visited my brother-in-law at the hospital and I mentioned to him that I had made a decision to become a strong athlete. He said, "Well, it's a little too late for that," as if it was a fact. Well, pooh on that!! It's not as if I plan to compete with 20 year olds. I plan to compete against other women my age. Ruth says this will be fun. I think that might be an overstatement. I don't think "fun" when I think about doing a brick every weekend for the foreseeable future, but I do think "fit," and "strong," and "happy." Not exactly fun...but I guess it's getting close.
I started to look for open water swimming opportunities yesterday. All of the organized programs that I found in the KC area go through labor day, as in tomorrow. I guess I was a day late and a dollar short on that one. They start up again on May 1st. I'll keep looking, perhaps I'll find someone to swim with outdoors before the lakes get cold. Otherwise I'll be swimming indoors until spring. I must get comfortable with the open water swimming. I am going to go to the next Full Immersion Swim Clinic that comes to Kansas City and I will probably join a masters swim group. I've already signed up for the local tri club, but I'm not sure what that is going to entail. I am waiting for the webmaster to give me full access to the site so I can access the calendar of events, etc... I hope to meet people I can swim and train with. I know they do a bike/run brick every week. That might be fun.
All-in-all I am feeling pretty good about all this. I know this is going to be a huge challenge. In fact, I think it will change my entire life. I'm training for a sport now, not just exercising. That's a whole new ball game. The implications are still settling in.
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