8/25/13 - China, Camping, and Triathlon, Oh My!!!

It has been a long, long time since I blogged.  In some respects that is because life had gotten boring.  In other respects it's because life got a little too crazy. 

On the boring side, there were not a lot of new things to talk about with regard to my weight loss and fitness goals.  My weight was holding steady between about 153 - 156 pounds.  I was continuing to train for my triathlon which consisted of running a couple times a week, biking once a week, and swimming once a week.  I was also strength training 2 - 3 times a week.

My food was pretty consistent, day-in and day-out.  I was not eating any wheat, I was trying to consistently eat a significant amount of protein, and I was drinking very little alcohol.  In short, I was doing all of the things that I learned how to do during the 11 months that I was losing weight and those things have helped me maintain my weight since I reached goal in January of this year.

On the too crazy side of things, my spring and summer have been absolutely nuts at work.  I went to China for a week in May, then went back for another three weeks in July.  I spent the month of June preparing for our annual audit, which meant a lot of late nights and weekends.  Beginning from about mid-May until the end of July, I don't think I had a weekend off.  I was also working a lot of late nights and going into work early in the mornings.  The very long days and weekends at work, coupled with the 2 trips (totaling 4 weeks) to China from the end of May until the end of July, made for a very hectic and tiring summer.  I tried to stick to my normal training schedule as much as possible, but there was no way I could train as consistently as I wanted to.  But I kept pushing and I kept swimming, biking, and running through it all.

I got back from my last trip to China at midnight on Thursday, July 25th.  I went to work early the next morning, because I only had one day at home before Jack and I were leaving on vacation to spend a week camping in the Colorado Rockies with our 4 grandchildren, ages 4, 6, 7 and 9.  Tent camping, that is. 

The camping trip with our grandchildren was amazing.  Our daughter-in-law, Rebecca, was lucky enough to have the use of her family's mountain house which was about 30 minutes from our campsite.  Rebecca stayed there with her baby, James, and we kept the other four kids at the campsite with us.  Most days we would hook up with Rebecca and James for part of the day for an event like camping or going to the silver mines, so that was really nice.  One or two afternoons we just hung out in the cabin for a couple of hours so we could take showers and sit back and relax.  But for the majority of the time Jack and I wrangled the kids on our own which gave Rebecca a chance to have a vacation of her own and gave us a chance to bond with our grandkids.  All in all, the trip was a great success, but coming on the heals of my 3 week trip to China, it was completely exhausting.

Alas, there was to be no rest for the wicked because 2 weeks after getting home from Colorado I was participating in the 2013 Jackson County Triathlon.  This was my first triathlon and my sister and I were planning on doing the long course together.  The long course is a 1500 meter swim, a 40 kilometer bike ride and a 5 mile run.  It was the most difficult physical feat of my life. 

Ruth and me at the 2013 Jackson County Tri

During my training I had completed an entire tri of the above distances, but there was one big difference; I was swimming in a pool.  Open water swimming is completely different.  The buoys look so far away!  You cannot touch the bottom of the lake.  You can't see anything because the water is so murky.  It's hard to stay on course.  Unfortunately, I ended up having a panic attack in the water.  I wasn't breathing, I couldn't swim, and I started beating myself up, mentally.  I was very lucky to have my sister with me.  She kept a watch out for me and pushed anyone off that was threatening to swim over me.  She kept an eye on me and whenever my lips started turning blue due to a lack of oxygen she slowed me down and had me swim breast stroke.  There was a moment when I couldn't conceive of finishing the entire distance, but we kept swimming and we made it the entire 1500 meters.  This picture is of me and Ruth before we got in the water.  We look happy, don't we? 

Here's the lake we are about to get into:

Well I look even happier in this next picture, where I am getting out of the water!

Yes, I was very, very glad the swim was done.

And here is Ruth getting out of the water:

It was a piece of cake, for her.  I'm in awe.  She is an incredible athlete.

After the swim comes the bike, and here we are getting ready to mount for the bike ride:

You can see that I am still struggling to breathe and regain my composure after the panic attack in the water.  I didn't finally relax until we were at about mile 3 into the run.  It is surprising how much a panic attack takes out of you.  One of the results was that I couldn't eat on the bike.  I just couldn't force anything into my stomach.

Here we are finishing up the bike ride:

I did OK on the bike ride, in spite of my inability to eat anything; but the run came next and that was hell.  I had nothing left in my gas tank, I was still breathing too shallowly from my panic attack, and my legs were tired.  We jogged more than we walked, but I did walk a portion of the 5 miles.  I had a problem with my thighs cramping pretty badly and I started to get migraine type blind spots in my right field of vision.  They had water stops every mile and I started using Gu once the cramps started.  That helped a lot!!  By about the fourth mile of the five mile run, I actually started to feel slightly normal.  Ruth and I had found a very slow and steady jogging pace that I could maintain, and we settled down and finished the last mile at a jog. 

Here we are crossing the finish line:

It was totally Ruth's idea to let me finish in front of her.  We should have probably crossed the finish line with linked arms.  She was my rock through the entire thing.

So, I finished within regulation time.  It took us 3 hours and 42 minutes which is SLOW, but we finished.  I am very proud of the fact that I pushed through the panic attack and the painful cramps and finished anyway.  I did what I set out to do, I finished my first tri.

Ruth and I are planning on doing it again next year, or perhaps a different tri closer to Ruth's home, but of a similar distance.  This year's goal was to finish.  Next year's goal is to finish with a better time.  Our goal for next year is 3 hours and 15 minutes.  This means I have to train!!

I do need to train and train hard, to reach my goal of 3 hours and 15 minutes a year from now; but I took this last week off, in more ways than one.  After completing the tri a week ago, I spent the rest of Sunday lying on the couch, reading, and watching TV.  I did not want to move a single muscle and I succeeded at that until I got up from the couch and waddled myself to bed.  I woke up Monday morning feeling fine, but I did not feel like exercising, so I didn't.  I already had training sessions scheduled with my trainer for Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, so I kept those appointments and we worked hard all three days.  I did not do any other exercise this past week.  I also ate too much.  I ate whatever I felt like and found more than one opportunity to drink this week.  I kind of decided that for one week, I just was not going to care about what I ate or drank and I was going to "live it up."  It turned out to be a busy week for us, with a ballgame at the K Tuesday night (margaritas, peanuts, ice cream), our first night of league bowling on Wednesday evening (beer and popcorn), another ball game on Friday night (peanuts, only), the grand opening of our friends' winery on Saturday morning (uh...wine - and then lunch at a Mexican restaurant in Higginsville), and our friend's 40th birthday party Saturday night (wine, vodka-gingerale, Chipotle tacos, sushi, sashimi, and birthday cake).  It was a very social week.  I exercised no self control when it came to food or alcohol.  I didn't even try.  I didn't even want to try.

What was the result of all of the debauchery?  It was not good, let me tell you.  As I mentioned earlier in this post, I have easily maintained my weight between 152 - 156 pounds for the last 8 months.  A couple of times it swung higher than that, but I would diet for a couple of days and exercise just a little control and it would be back at 154 - 155, easily.  After 1 week of not watching my food...actually after 6 days...what did I weigh this morning?  163 pounds!!!  Even I couldn't believe it.  I weighed myself Monday morning after the tri and I weighed exactly 155.0 pounds.  This morning I weighed 163 pounds.  8 pounds in six days.  Unreal.  Truly crazy.  This, my friends, is why I will exercise 6 days a week and watch what I eat, consistently, for the rest of my life.  It's just too easy to gain weight.  I enjoyed the week.  It actually felt good not to monitor everything I put in my mouth for a week.  But by Friday I knew that Sunday was the day I would get back at it.  I had a lot of fun Saturday, but all day I was looking forward to Sunday, knowing I was going to be back on my program.  After weighing myself this morning, I had a vivid reminder of why I do what I do.

So, here is my new chart.  Check it out!!!

My goal is to get to 140 pounds by the end of the year.  In order to improve my tri time by 27 minutes I will need to improve my strength to weight ratio.  I will be working closely with my trainer to get to 140 without losing muscle mass.  I want it all to come from fat.

This is going to require me to be very conscientious about my protein intake, as well as calories and exercise.  The bottom section of the chart is where I will record my daily exercise.  My goal is 6 hours of exercise a week with a minimum of at least 3 hours of cardio and two hours of strength training, per week.  A normal week will probably be two runs, one bike or swim, and 3 strength training sessions.  I also have a goal to do one fun activity per month, like a long hike.

The middle section of my chart is where I will record my calories and grams of protein consumed, per day.  The top section is for recording my weight.  You can see that I expect to drop the first 8 pounds quicker than the rest.  I really don't think it will take me 4 weeks to drop the 8 pounds I gained over the last 6 days, but I gave myself a little wiggle room.  After that, I tapered off the line a little, because I know this last 15 pounds will be tough.  Tough, but not impossible.  It will get done.  I will weigh 140 pounds by Christmas.  I will have less fat and more muscle.  I will be well on my way to improving my tri time.

I am going to use the tools that I know work for me.  Of course, the chart is a given.  The other tool that was very effective for me while I was losing weight was this blog.  So yes, it's back up!!  At a minimum I will post my morning weight, calories consumed, protein consumed, and exercise from the previous day.  Of course, I will also talk about the day-to-day trials and tribulations of losing this last bit of weight and becoming a better athlete.  My sister has inspired me.  I know I can do this, I just have to work hard.  Since when have I been afraid of hard work???

I will be talking to you soon!! 

6/15/2013: Get Rid of Those Clothes That Are Too Big!!

OK Guys and Gals, I gotta tell you this.  One of the smartest things I did over the last 16 months is get rid of every single article of clothing that I own that is too big for me.

Everything I own right now fits perfectly.  If it is in my closet it's not too big and it's not too small.  It just fits.  I also didn't buy stretchy clothes, I bought pants, shorts, etc... that fit my body, that don't stretch over it.

Why is this so important?  Well, I can't gain weight because if I do nothing will fit.  I can't go to the next size in my closet.  I can't wear those one or two pairs of "big jeans" that I kept, "just in case."  By getting rid of all my bigger clothes, I told myself that there is no "just in case."  I am just not going to gain weight.

Sometimes I struggle a little bit when I go to China or when I work too many hours.  Then when I get dressed in the morning and look in my closet I am reminded that I am now a size 6 and I need to stay that way.  I love getting dressed in the morning and picking from all of the cute clothes in my closet.  I love slipping on a pair of size 6 pants and having them fit just right.  I like putting on a fitted cute little dress from Old Navy and having it flatter my figure.  I love having a "figure" to flatter!!

I know a lot of people refuse to get rid of clothes as they lose weight.  When I ask them why they say because they can't afford to buy new clothes if they gain the weight back.  When I hear that I think to myself, "Well, there you go.  You are just about guaranteeing that you will gain the weight back because you are preparing yourself for that "inevitable" thing to happen."  Actually, I don't just think that to myself, I say it out loud, as gently as I can.  Of course, the person I am talking to doesn't see it that way, but what other way is there to look at it?  If you're keeping those too big clothes, just in case, you have already predetermined that you are going to need them.

With me, it happened instinctively.  I did not consciously decide to get rid of clothes as they got too big.  It just happened one day.  One day as I was getting dressed in the morning a few of the pants I put on looked terrible because they were too big.  After I tried on a pair and they looked terrible, I hung them back up in the closet.  Then I tried on another pair and hung it back up.  After the third pair I decided this was pretty stupid so I threw them on the floor instead of putting them back in my crowded closet (one of three closets, by the way).  Then I took the first two pairs I tried on and threw them on the floor, too.  I had to get to work, so I went down a size and got dressed for work, but that weekend I tried on everything in my closet that I thought was the right size or bigger and anything that did not look good on me I tossed on the floor.  That pile was pretty big.

Then each time I dropped a size, I purged my closet.  Soon, three closets became two closets and the pile of clothes was huge.  Jack and I made a trip to Goodwill.

I realized then that what I was doing was significant.  I had never done this before.  I always just pushed the too big clothes to the back of the closet.  But not this time.  I wanted them gone.  That is when I knew I was committed to being a smaller person for the rest of my life. 

At this point all of the clothes in my closet are clothes that I have purchased in the last 6 months.  I don't own any bigger clothes.  The ONLY exception to this is t-shirts that I kept for painting and other projects that ruin my clothes, and one KC Royals t-shirt that makes a nice PJ shirt when paired with my KU PJ bottoms. 

Three closets has become one closet, and everything in that closet is the same size,  instead of three closets that range from a size 12 to a size 2X.  Nice.

Now my closet reminds me, every single day, that I am a smaller person and I need to stay that way.  I am much, much happier now that I am at a healthy weight.  I feel better and I look better.  My weight no longer depresses me.  I don't worry about my heart and lungs and knees and hips having to do too much work because I am overweight.  My closet helps me remember my commitment to myself.

I encourage you to throw away your too big clothes.  That way you will never need them again.

Julie posted this on her blog.  I liked it, so I thought I would share it, too.

6/9/2013: Slow Recovery

I left for China on Wednesday, May 29th, at 4:30am (That is the time we left the house - my flight was at 6:30am to San Francisco, through Houston.) and got home on Wednesday, June 5th, at about 7:00pm.  It was a long and hard fought trip.  My typical work day started at around 5:30am and I wouldn't get back to my room until 10:30pm or later.  The early morning hours were spent doing my daily tasks for Castle Creations and responding to emails from our facility in Olathe.  The rest of the day was spent in pretty intense negotiations with our Chinese partners who co-own our Chinese factory.  The work day was never done at the end of the work day, because meetings would go from the conference room to the dinner table to the night club.  It was an absolutely exhausting week.  It didn't help that the last night I was there we ended up going out to a karaoke club called KTV.  Karaoke in  China is not like karaoke in the US.  In China, you rent a private room with your own sound system and karaoke machine.  You order beers by the dozen and they are brought to you in iced down buckets.  The furniture is a U-shaped couch around a coffee table, facing the big screen TV.  Everyone sings, everyone drinks, and everyone gets a little silly.  We also played a Chinese bar game called Liars' Dice.  It's a ton of fun when you have a big group of people.  I need to teach it to my friends here in the States.  Our GM officially resigned on Tuesday, so Tuesday evening at KTV was his going away party.  The night got later and later, as we talked and talked, and before I knew it, it was 3:00am and I had to leave my hotel at 6:15am.  I think I got about 2 hours of sleep Wednesday morning before getting up to take a cab to the ferry, which took me to the Hong Kong Airport.  I flew from Hong Kong to San Francisco (13 hour flight), and from there to Kansas City.   I slept in a little on Thursday morning, but I was at work by 10:30am and worked until 8:00pm, then I put in another 10 hour day Friday.  Needless to say, I spent the weekend recovering.  I even took a nap yesterday.  I never take naps.

I only exercised once during the whole week I was there.  One day we went sight seeing which involved walking about a lot of stairs to get to a Buddhist temple, but it wasn't really exercising.  I just did not have the time.  It felt strange to get home and feel completely out of it.  I ran Friday morning, yesterday Jack and I went for a nice walk, and today we went to the gym and lifted weights.  Today was the start of a new week and I plan on getting all of my exercise in this week.  On one hand I feel bad that I missed so much exercise last week.  On the other hand I feel like a had a nice respite and I am ready to hit it hard again.  I think this break might actually help me prevent burn-out.  I have been exercising very hard and very regularly for about 15 months, now.  It felt good to get back to the gym today.  I'm sure everything will be fine.

I need to count calories for a few weeks.  I gained a couple of pounds while I was in China.  There were meals where I had to choose between beef noodles and fish heads and I have to admit those beef noodles looked pretty darn good.  Normally I don't eat beef or wheat, but I could only eat so many fish heads before I got tired of picking bones out of my teeth.  So beef noodles it was.

One night we did have a great meal.  We went to a wholesale fish market where you pick your live seafood from the tanks.  You then carry your "catch" to the restaurant next door where they prepare it for you.  Here are some photos:

A small portion of the market.  Picture this times about 10

Sand worms, and yes I ate some.

Big fish

Typical shop

This just looked so Chinese...I had to take a picture

Big Shrimp, before

Cooked!

Fish, after.  There is a before video, below.

Shrimp, ready to eat

Shell fish, not sure what kind, but this was my favorite.

The gang.  The man with the child on his lap is Bill, our Chinese partner.  The man in the purple shirt is his friend, Richard.  The man in the red shirt is my boss, Patrick, of course, you know me.  Everyone else is Bill's family.

Just for fun, here is a video of part of our dinner before it was cooked:

And here is Bill, one of our Chinese partners, picking out some shell fish:

And here is the fish that you see cooked, above, going into the bag:

And just to round out this blog post, a few pictures of our sight seeing day to the temple:

Here are some of the steps we climbed

Colorful...

There were a lot of generals at the temple

Buddha

More generals

Me and my boss, Patrick

A park near the temple, this structure had an open air area and a restaurant in it.

The entrance to the park

All in all it was a successful trip.  We made a lot of progress with our partners and we made the decision to keep a Castle Creations manager in China until we get our new GM trained.  It looks like we have a new GM hired and that he will start on June 17th.  We are pleased with the results of this trip, but poor Patrick is still there and will be for a couple more weeks.  We will all be taking turns going to China until our new GM is settled in and fully functional.  We all believe it is the best thing for Castle Holdings and Castle Creations, but it's not going to be an easy few months.  It will be worth it in the long run, though!!

5/26/13: Sunday is blogging day?

Whether it is good or bad, I don't know, but the fact is that I have been incredibly busy lately.  I am trying to meet some deadlines at work, deadlines that to the outside world would seem perfectly reasonable, but with all of the other things that come up every day at work, the deadlines keep slipping from my grasp.  Now, in an effort to get this weight off my back I have started working late every night (until about 8:00) and will work some weekends until I get it done.

The big deadline that is hovering over my head is getting year-end 2012 financials done.  I know, I know.  Year-end?  Shouldn't that have been done months ago.  And, yes, preliminary year-end financial statements were done months ago.  But you have to remember that I am new to this position and getting all of the asset and liability accounts reconciled has been an absolute nightmare.

The company I work for was started 15 years ago in the founder's basement.  We make an incredible product and by the sheer force of the product alone, the company now has about $20 million in revenues a year.  Along the way the company has hired some incredible engineers, which is why the product still stands out among the competition.  We've also developed some decent manufacturing practices.  Unfortunately, the books were never a top concern.  They were kept by someone that did not have any accounting background or expertise.  I was hired in August and I have been determined to clean up the books and make sure they are accurately telling the story.  This would be a big enough project without the myriad of other issues that keep getting in the way, projects like the factory in China.  I had no idea that China would take up so much of my time.  In fact, I am probably going back to China for a few days this week.  The relationship between the company I work for and the company in China is incredibly complex and somewhat of an enigma, even though we own 50% of it.  The biggest challenge is the difference in business cultures.  In the US we build business relationships on the basis of trust.  At the end of the day, we believe we can trust our business partners to try to do the right thing.  Yeah, everyone makes mistakes, we know that.  We also know that there are the occasional untrustworthy people out there that will try to steal from their partners, but for the most part business is built on trust.  The same cannot be said for China.  Listen closely to all of the stories coming out of China lately.  You will hear the same theme over and over and over again.  Corruption is rampant and pervasive, throughout the government as well as private industry.  In the attempt to get ahead in a country where the government "controls" everything, bribery and thievery are the ways an individual or a company can get a bigger piece of the pie.  It comes as a shock to the American business person when they realize that their business partner is not a partner at all, but an individual that is bent on getting the biggest piece of your company's pie as he can get.  It's disheartening and terrifying, all at the same time.  If you listen closely to the news you will also hear that many American businesses are pulling their manufacturing out of China.  Why?  I don't think it is because China is more corrupt than it used to be, but perhaps it is.  I think it is because it is no longer worth it to deal with the corruption.  China is no longer the ridiculous bargain it once was.  There was a day, not too long ago, when it was so cheap to manufacture in China that it was worth the risk and the hassle to deal with the corruption and dishonesty.  Not anymore.  With China's wages increasing, it is becoming more expensive to manufacture in China and solutions closer to home are getting more and more attractive.  Less corruption, lower shipping costs, easier logistics, less complex language barriers, fewer cultural barriers, the ability to automate so many more processes; all of these factors are starting to make manufacturing in the US or our close neighbors more attractive.  There are still some things to work out, like supply chain logistics, but keep listening to the news and you will begin to understand what we are up against as we try to keep the company in China running smoothly.  It certainly has been a crash course in international business.

There are also other parts of the business that I am getting involved in, that have nothing to do with finance and accounting, just because they are so in need of intervention that I can't help getting involved.  One of them is improving our employee benefit package.  I was disturbed when I learned that our cheapest health insurance plan was too expensive for some of our employees.  I was also not impressed with the package when I was hired.  I knew it needed to improve and I knew I had the expertise to make it happen.  I started talking about it practically on the first day that I was there.  Of course, talk is cheap and nothing was moving and it became pretty obvious to me that the only way it was going to get better is if I did something about it.  Human resources is often the department that is neglected by small companies, it is often a secondary function of someone that has other, more immediately pressing, responsibilities.  That is certainly the case at the company I work for.  The director that is responsible for human resources, and therefore the benefit package, wears many hats and has no previous experience in human resources.  With my 20+ years of experience working for small companies, I have way more experience working with insurance brokers and designing benefit packages than she does.  Therefore, about three weeks ago, I got the ball rolling on this.  I talked to my CPA who recommended three brokerage firms, we set up initial meetings that were attended by the manager in charge of HR, her assistant, and me.  After the initial meetings we narrowed it down to two brokerage firms, invited the president (who is running a company for the first time and also knows nothing about health insurance, benefit packages, or what you should expect from an insurance broker), and had second meetings with the two finalists.  One was a massive disappointment, the other blew us away.  That made the choice easy.  During our shareholder meeting on Friday we described the process to date and they approved our plan to switch brokerage firms and agreed with the direction we are going in regarding benefits.  Our plan is to offer a high deductible plan of which we will pay 100% of the employee's premium.  That way we will know that all of our employees have health insurance.  We will use that premium amount as the basis for what we will pay for the employee for the richer plans, so the employee will bear the cost of buying up.  We will also offer FSA's at a minimum, and may offer a qualified high deductible combined with an HSA plan, if feasible for a company our size.  I am very, very excited about these changes.  They need to happen.  Yet I am driving this change through someone else's department and it does slow down my progress in getting year-end financials done.  But sometimes I have to weigh the benefits:  Make sure everyone has health insurance vs. making adjusting journal entries to last year so I can tell the bank that the year-end numbers won't change again.  It's hard to choose reconciling a liability account over getting health insurance coverage for our employees.  The good news is we are going in the right direction on both fronts.  It's just that progress in one slows down progress in the other.

What impact has all of this had on my "Get Fit Initiative," you may ask.  None, really.  I get up very early every day and exercise hard, just like I have since February 2012.  I am trying to get to work a little earlier each day and I am working way later every night, so blogging is tough.  It's hard to sit down and put up a blog post when I think about everything I need to do at work.

Also, all of the hours I am putting in at work make maintaining my share of the chores at home just a little more difficult; therefore, I am using my time in the mornings to clean a little and make sure I am picking up at least a little bit of the burden of maintaining a household.  This is not at Jack's request, mind you.  This is something that is important to me.  It makes it easier for me, when I've worked a 12 hour day, to come home to a lack of clutter and to know that Jack has healthy food in the fridge to eat and doesn't have to wash my dishes.  The clutter is mine, by the way, not Jack's.  He is neater than me and puts stuff away as he uses it.  I tend to let stuff pile up on the kitchen and dining room table, or in the corners of the rooms.  He also does many of the chores around the house.  We've done a pretty good job dividing up our responsibilities.  So when I work 12 hours a day, the only time I have to do my part tends to be in the mornings, when I used to blog, and the weekends.  So, being very busy at work has sucked my blogging time away.

But my blog is important to me and it is important to others, as well.  I received a lovely email from a woman I used to work with at YBCA who told me that she has been reading my blog and that my blog has inspired her to start working with a trainer.  She said she has committed to exercising every day, for the rest of her life, and my blog helped her make that decision because my conversation helped her understand how important it is to her health.  Wow!!  Reading that email helped me understand that this blog helps more than just me, it helps others, too.  So I have committed to keep blogging, even if it is just once a week until my schedule allows me to blog more often.

So here's a quick update on my "Get Fit Initiative:"

• My exercise continues to go well with few changes to my routine.  I am strength training three times a week, meeting twice a week with my trainer and doing it once a week on my own.  I added the second meeting with my trainer for two reasons.  First, I was having a little trouble getting up on Friday mornings and driving to the gym, so I was starting to do makeshift workouts at home.  I was OK with the makeshift workouts, they were hard enough and in some ways the variety was good, but it was really laziness that was causing me to stay in bed for an extra half-hour.  Second, I had sessions that I had paid for and didn't use because of the transition period with Jeremy.  For a couple of months after he was promoted to manager he was still training me, but it was kind of "off the books" so we weren't scheduling the sessions on the system and using up the sessions I already paid for.  Therefore, since I was having trouble making the drive to the gym on Thursdays and I had paid-for sessions to use up, I decided to sign up to meet my trainer two mornings a week.  It has helped a lot.
  
  I do cardio three times a week.  On Mondays I swim, on Wednesdays I run, and on Saturdays I bike and run.  Some Saturdays I split them up, on other Saturdays (like today) I do them as a brick, and on yet other Saturdays (like next week) I add a swim and do a brick with all three.  Today, technically, is a Sunday.  Depending on what Jack and I have going on sometimes I flip my Sunday workout (strength training) with my Saturday workout.
• I am still eating more protein, which has caused me to gain a couple of pounds.  I am struggling to stay under 154 pounds, with my weight bumping up to 155 pounds at least a couple days a week.  On the one hand, I feel a whole lot better now that I am eating more protein; I am getting stronger and faster; and I look healthier.  On the other hand, I am eating some stuff I don't need to be eating (ice cream a couple days a week, candy now and then) and I could do better.  I am not eating any wheat, so that helps a lot.  I drink very little alcohol.  The last time I drank any alcohol was my birthday weekend (May 3rd) and then I didn't drink much.  But even the little I did drink caused me to feel kind of depressed for a few days afterwards.  It is just not worth it.  So the eating, for the most part, is fine.  I feel good about my decision to eat more protein, at least 100 grams a day, and not eat wheat.  Jack and I eat plenty of fruits and veggies.  Practically everything is homemade.  We eat no fried foods.  The only "dead foods" are clearly treats.  I suppose I need to eliminate those.  For some reason, that is hard to do.
• I have done a complete triathlon in training which is a 1500 meter swim, a 24 mile bike ride, and a 5 mile run.  I have run 5 miles in 50 minutes.  Those were two of my big three goals for the year.  The third is to be able to do a pull-up.  I am still a ways from that.  Now Ruth and I are starting to talk about a marathon (or a half-marathon) next year.  Maybe our niece, Elizabeth, will do one with us.  Setting new goals when I have accomplished my established goal is an important aspect of my plan.  Goals keep me motivated.  I'm not sure I could keep doing this every day if I didn't have goals more solid that "be healthy" to work towards.
• It is starting to dawn on me how serious all of the exercise is and how I have to take other aspects of training, like nutrition, seriously, too.  I bought some books on training for tri's to help me.  I find them difficult to read.  It just doesn't sound like they are talking to me.  On the other hand, I am loving the book I bought about total immersion swimming.  I am looking forward to becoming a more efficient swimmer.
• Jack is officially on the program.  He has lost several pounds, looks great, is eating better, and is exercising regularly.  It makes me so happy that he is doing these things.  I know exercise and good nutrition does not guarantee a long and illness free life, but it sure helps.  I want him around for a long, long time and it eases my mind that he is doing the things he can to make that happen.

I guess that's it for now.  It's getting late, I got to get out there before traffic gets ridiculous.

Have a wonderful day!!

Rain Delay, Catching Up, Getting "Serious," Pick your own title to this blog post...

I haven't been blogging much.  At first it was because there was not much new going on regarding my "Get Fit Initiative," not on the field or in my head.  I was getting up every morning, exercising, eating balanced meals without worrying too much about calories, going to work, getting plenty of sleep, blah, blah, blah, boring (you have to say boring in that sing-song sort of way to get the real feel for how I felt about blogging this information on a daily basis), so why blog?  There just was not much to say.

That changed about a week and a half ago.  I learned something substantial that I could have and maybe should have blogged about, but by then I was out of the habit of getting up every morning and blogging before work.  I was no longer relying on my blog to help me make good decisions day-in and day-out.  I had managed to fill that time with other things, like watering my garden (which is not doing well, by the way.  Aphids?  Perhaps.  I am not happy about that.), cleaning the kitchen, going to work a little earlier.  Nothing earth shattering, but all pleasant little things to do in the morning to get my day started on a good note.  In the back of my head I felt like I needed to write a blog post, but for some reason, I wasn't finding the time in the mornings.

This morning I got up early to go for a hard-push 24 mile bike ride.  I wanted to hit the road early so there would be very little traffic and I could get a feel for how long it takes me to ride 24 miles without obstacles.  Half way through breakfast it started pouring down rain.  I was going to ride my 24 miles in the country yesterday.  I picked my route, loaded the car, drove the 45 minutes to the starting point of my route, got my bike out of the car, loaded my snacks, etc... into my bike, locked the car, set the time on my watch, and mounted my bike just to realize that I was wearing my sneakers and I had forgotten to bring my bike shoes.  I have clip-less pedals on my bike, I need my bike shoes, I cannot ride my bike without them.  It was already late enough in the day that going home, getting my shoes, and coming back out was not an option.  I thought about riding close to home but the traffic here is heavy late in the day, so I decided to flip my Saturday and Sunday exercise and lift weights on Saturday and get up early Sunday morning and ride out from home; just to be met with heavy thundershowers this morning.  I checked the weather forecast and it was predicting rain all day.  So I changed plans again and decided to put up a long overdue blog post, clean the bathrooms and kitchen (yes, they need it), and go to the gym with Jack this afternoon.  Now I sit down to blog and guess what?  Blue sky.  *Sigh*  I'm going to finish this blog post and see what the weather looks like.  Perhaps I'll go for a bike ride after all.  The kitchen floor can wait one more week, can't it?

What happened a week and a half ago that was so important that it warranted a blog post, you ask?  I was working out with Joshua and he asked me, again, how much protein I eat.  I answered like I usually do and I said, "Enough."  In my mind, I was eating enough protein.  Through my years and years of reading about healthy diets and through my few years of being a vegan and learning how to get protein from non-meat sources I had come to the conclusion that as long as I eat a wide variety of foods, eat a balanced diet, and have protein with every meal, I am getting enough protein.  In fact, I was being pretty stubborn about that, and not really paying attention to the messages coming at me that were saying that I might want to rethink my theory on the issue.  I am no longer vegan, but one of the things I love about having been vegan for a while is that it completely changed the way I cook and eat.  I cook a much wider variety of food and I get protein from  a lot of different sources.  I eat chicken and fish now.  I also eat eggs and dairy.  I don't eat beef or pork.  I don't eat beef because of the tremendous amount of resources (water, land, grain, etc...) it takes to raise cows for beef and the destruction we are causing our planet (draining US aquifers and cutting down South American rain forests) so that humans can eat their daily hamburgers.  I don't eat pork...I don't know why...I just sort of lump pigs in with cows, I guess.  I try to buy poultry that is raised without antibiotics and other bad stuff that they do to chickens these days.  One of these days I will take it to the next step and find a local, truly free-range poultry farm to buy my chicken from.  Anyway...at this point my protein sources include poultry, eggs, Greek yogurt, aged cheddar, nuts (almonds, walnuts and macadamia nuts), tofu, tempeh, beans of all types, humus (OK - that's a bean), mushrooms, quinoa, etc...  I stopped eating wheat, so I am no longer using wheat gluten as a protein source.

I was confident that when I added poultry, eggs, Greek yogurt, and fish back into my diet I was getting plenty of protein.  I wasn't worried about it even a little bit.  I was just going on about my merry way.  In fact, it did seem pretty merry.  I am exercising so much that I was able to get kind of lazy about my diet and not gain weight, particularly since I stopped eating wheat.  So many of the high-calorie empty foods have wheat in them, that once I stopped eating wheat I could pretty much eat whatever I wanted and maintain my weight.

So when Joshua said, "How much protein do you eat?" and I said, "Enough," I thought that would be the end of that.  You see, in my mind Joshua and I have competing goals, in a way.  He is my personal trainer and with him my goal is to increase my muscle mass/lower my % of body fat.  I am also training for the triathlon in August, which is requiring a lot of endurance training.  Joshua has been concerned that all of the endurance training is sapping the nutrients that I need for the strength training to be effective.  I was ignoring his concerns.  Last Tuesday he wasn't satisfied with, "Enough."  He asked me how much I weighed and I told him 153 pounds and he thought for a second and told me I ought to be eating at least 150 grams of protein a day.  Now, I've never counted grams of protein before and I did not have any idea how many grams I was eating, but I knew that 150 grams was a lot and was way more than I was eating.  I was incredulous.  150 grams a day?  That's a lot!!  How am I going to eat 150 grams of protein a day and not get fat?  Joshua basically said that with the amount of exercising I was doing, my body required that much protein to stay healthy and strong.  No way, I said.

So I left the gym last Tuesday morning on a mission to learn more about protein and how much protein is enough.  I asked people I know that are serious about exercise.  I researched it on the Internet.  I talked it through with my husband.  I have more research to do and I will do it, what I'd like is a  really good book on nutrition, but what I have learned already had floored me.  By George, I think Joshua may be right.  Website after website after website said that people that exercise as much as I do, let's call those people athletes, should eat 1 gram of protein per day for every pound of body weight.  Other website calculate how much protein you should eat per pound of lean body mass.  Even the most conservative of those calculations puts me at 115 grams a day.  I did find websites that supported my actual average daily consumption of protein of about 60 grams a day, for a 150 pound average female that did not exercise at all, that is.  From my research I learned that my balanced diet was perfect for someone living an average life that did not include any vigorous exercise.  I exercise vigorously for an hour 5 days a week and for at least a couple of hours on the 6th day, if not more.  That requires more protein.

I haven't read all I need to read about protein yet, but I read enough to get a better understanding of the roles that all of the amino acids play in repairing muscle tissue, tendons, ligaments, skin cells, etc...  Crap.  I realized that I really am hurting myself by not eating enough protein.

So on day one (it will be two weeks on this coming Tuesday) I added up my projected (and normal) protein intake for the day.  55 - 60 grams was the answer.  I did a quick inventory of the food in the house and changed what I packed for my work day and got it up to 100 grams pretty easily.  Beyond 100 grams required some planning and more cooking.  More cooking of chicken to be specific.  For almost two weeks, now, I have been eating at least 120 - 130 grams of protein a day.  A typical day of protein looks like this:

• 2 whole eggs and 2 egg whites:  18 grams of protein
• 1 ounce cheddar cheese on eggs:  6 grams of protein
• 8 ounces Greek yogurt:  23 grams of protein
• 1/4 cup walnuts: 4 grams of protein
• 1/4 cup almonds:  8 grams of protein
• 1/4 cup macadamia nuts:  3 grams of protein
• 8 ounces of chicken breast:  50 grams of protein
• 2 ounces aged cheddar for snack:  12 grams of protein

For about 123 grams of "intentional protein."  There is also what I'll call "incidental protein" in the grains, mushrooms, veggies, and other foods I eat.  As I learned during my vegan days, there is protein in everything we eat, with the exception of most fruit.

Gone are my lazy, glorious days of eating whatever I want and maintaining my weight.  All of those protein sources have calories in them.  All of a sudden, if I am going to eat that much protein and still get the other essential macro-nutrients my body requires (namely carbs, the fats have themselves covered in the above list, between the nuts, avocados, olive oil, and occasional fish that I eat, I think I am OK on oil), I need to watch what I eat again.  Obviously, I'm not hungry, I'm not starving myself, I'm not trying to lose weight, but I have to make sure I eat the right foods so that I get the protein I need and don't gain weight.

This led me down a brand new path, a brand new thought process.  I realized that I needed to get serious about this.  Some people may find this thought somewhat amusing.  I know my trainer did.  When I came back the following Tuesday and told him that I realized I needed to get serious about this, that I needed to transition from being an "accidental athlete" to a "serious athlete" his response was, "You swam 1500 meters, rode your bike 24 miles, and ran 5 miles last weekend.  I couldn't do that.  Most people would call that serious."  Hmmm...yeah....I guess he has a point.

My point was this, I was taking exercise seriously, but I wasn't taking the ramifications of that much exercise seriously.  The fact of the matter is that that much exercise has an impact on every aspect of my life.

This is difficult for me.  For some reason I have a hard time "getting serious" about this.  I have a hard time researching exercise physiology.  I have a hard time treating my body as if it is the body of a serious athlete.  I have a hard time converting my whole way of thinking to how to optimize my body's ability to perform, recover, heal, etc...  I enjoy the anecdotal stories about how people's lives have been transformed by exercise.  I enjoy reading books like "Younger Next Year" that are written for lay-people (non-athletes) and are designed to motivate you to get off your butt and move.  I liked the slightly technical writing in "Younger Next Year," "Thinner This Year," and "Wheat Belly."  I learned a lot from those books.  They helped me make big, basic changes to my lifestyle.  But when I take the next step and start reading books written by and for athletes, I balk.  My head spins.  I dig my heals in.  I get frustrated and bored.  I feel like I am in way over my head.  I think, "This is not me.  They are not talking to me."  Yet, they are...  Oh my...  What a transition.  This is a hard one.

I am now convinced that I was not eating enough protein and my goal, now, is to eat at least 120 grams of protein a day while I am in training, which may just be for the rest of my life.  Since I have started to eat more protein I have noticed some significant improvements. 

• My run time has improved.  I ran 5 miles in 50 minutes last Wednesday.  I was pumped about that!!  That was one of my long-term goals and I reached it on Wednesday.  In fact, I didn't just run it, I ran it and had energy left at the end.  When I passed the four mile mark I had 9 minutes left.  I knew I could do it, so I turned it up and ran the last mile full out.  I was able to run the last mile of a 5 mile run in 9 minutes.  Wow!!  That's huge.  A year ago it took me an hour to jog-walk four miles.  That's improvement.
• I look younger.  Really, I do.  Even Jack has noticed it.  I would say I look about 5 years younger.  I looked in the mirror the other day as I was getting ready for work and was shocked by the face that was looking back at me.  The gaunt, kind of haggard look was gone and my face seemed fuller, my skin seemed tauter, and the dark circles under my eyes were much less pronounced.  I looked much healthier, all of a sudden.
• My elbows, which have been bothering me for a couple of months, are starting to heal.  I knew it was a tendon problem, because it wasn't the joints that were hurting, but the area on the inside of my arms right above and below my elbows.  I've been stretching those areas, avoiding exercises that hurt, etc..., but they weren't getting better.  All of a sudden, things that used to hurt (and they are odd little motions) don't hurt as much anymore.  After reading the role amino acids play in tendon and ligament health, I am not surprised.
• I'm in a better mood. In fact, I have way more energy.  I feel great.

I now realize that I can't concentrate on just part of an equation and get the answer right.  This being an athlete thing is serious business.  I can't be an accidental athlete and maintain it for long.  If I am going to do this thing, I have to do this thing all the way.  I need to get serious about nutrition.  I'm sure there are other things I need to get serious about, too.  But hey, one step at a time.  This seems like a very important step.

Perhaps you noticed in the preceding paragraphs about protein that I sort of mentioned the fact that I have achieved two significant milestones.  I did my first big brick last weekend.  I swam 1500 meters, I rode my bike 24 miles, and I ran 5 miles, back-to-back-to-back.  I did it!!!  I also ran my first 50 minute 5 miles!!  Those were two of my four fitness goals for this year.  My first one was to be able to do 12 push-ups from my toes, with good form.  I knocked that out months ago.  My final one is to be able to do a pull up.   I hope to get there by the end of the year.  But with three of my four goals attained, I feel like I need to set new goals.  The first thing that comes to mind is improving my times on my swim/bike/run legs prior to the August 17th tri.  What comes after that?  I don't really know.

There is a 200 mile bike ride through the Flint Hills of Kansas over the Memorial Day weekend that sounds like a lot of fun.  I think I want to do that next year.  Ruth and I are starting to talk about doing a half marathon next spring and a full marathon next fall.  That does not sound like fun...but it is starting feel doable and like something I may just try to do.  There is a lot to think about. 

The mental transitions from being a non-active person to being a serious athlete is every bit as difficult as the physical transition.  Perhaps it is more difficult, because it is a lot more subtle.  I can do this.  I will do this.  I am doing this!  But sometimes it is not easy.

 

5/7/2013: Challenges of "Maintenance"

I don't really think of what I am doing as maintenance, except for the fact that I am maintaining my weight.  With the exception of my not trying to lose more weight, though, I am still focused on improvement.  It's just hard to articulate that improvement.

Each week I try to run, bike and swim a little faster, I strength train 3 times a week to get a little stronger, I examine my body in the mirror every now and then looking for a more defined muscle; these are the types of improvements I am hoping to see.  It's all so subtle, though.  It's not like getting on the scale and seeing the numbers get smaller each week, it's not like watching that red line on my graph go down, down, down, each week, it's not like taking my photo every Sunday and seeing how much better I look each week as I lose weight.  It's all much more subtle.  The changes are happening on the inside.  I find that I have to remind myself of all the good things that exercise does for me physiologically.  Sooner or later this will be about maintenance.  I won't be getting stronger, faster, or leaner.  Any changes in my fitness levels will be so minute as to not be noticeable.

It's a lot easier to keep up the motivation levels when the changes are visible on a weekly basis, when I have something real and tangible to measure and to gauge my success against.  Now I have to replace those "easy" goals with far less tangible things.  I can do this, I am doing this, but I do struggle with it sometimes.

It was brilliant to give away all of my bigger clothes.  I don't own any pants that don't fit well.  They are not stretch pants, they are just pants, mostly in a size 6.  If I gain 5 pounds, they won't fit.  If I don't gain any weight but just stop exercising and get flabbier, they won't look good.  Today, they fit great, they are comfortable, and they look good.  But I can't gain any weight or I won't have anything to wear.  That is motivation!!  Every time I slip on a size six pair of pants and they fit like they were made for me I get a little boost in my spirit. 

The triathlon is in August, I know I'll be prepared for that.  It keeps me motivated to run, bike and swim every week.  Working out with my trainer keeps me motivated on the strength training.  Jack is serious about losing weight, so that is keeping me motivated to cook healthy food and keep good meals in the house. 

I'm a little worried about Julie, she hasn't blogged since Saturday.  When I mentioned that to Jack he said, "Well you haven't either."  I responded with, "But I've reached my goal." Still, blogging helps.  I'll reach out to Julie today.  She was concerned about all of the opportunities to eat and drink too much in May, starting with helping her daughter move to Dallas, followed by Cinqo de Mayo celebrations.  I better check in with her and see how her weekend went.

I also haven't seen anything on Elizabeth's blog lately, either.  I'm thinking about her and hoping all is well.  I'll put a comment up on her blog this morning to make she is doing OK.

I've been in a little bit of a funk lately.  I got too tired when we went to Utah last week and perhaps I haven't snapped out of it yet.  Maybe I miss blogging.  Perhaps I miss the goals.  I drank a little over the weekend as part of my birthday celebration, that could very well be it, too.  I'm maintaining my weight very consistently between 150 and 153.  Yeah, I wish I was maintaining between 147 and 150, but I can't seem to bring myself to restrict calories enough to get below 150.  151 - 152ish seems fine, I think.  Maybe I'm not playing enough.  I have to give this some thought.  I told Jack yesterday that I need an attitude adjustment.  I do believe that is true.  I'm going to work on that.
 

5/4/2013: It's Been Awhile

At least you can't accuse me of not giving fair warning.  I know it's been awhile, but as I said in one of my most recent posts, there is just not a lot to write about anymore.  It's all become routine.  My exercise, what I eat, my goal to complete the triathlon in August, it's all just taking care of everyday business.  And as my dad said the other day, "Routine doesn't make very good press, does it?"  So, there hasn't seemed to be much reason to blog and bore you with the day to day of my work-a-day life.  On the other hand, Dad did call the other day, just to make sure I was doing OK, and it made me realize others may be wondering the same thing.  Therefore, I thought I'd write this brief note to let everyone know that all is well.  Well, as well as it can be when it snows on May 2nd and I have to cover my garden and pray that the peppers and tomatoes survive the cold snap.  Snow in May?  No, that part is not OK.  Also, I was going to do my practice tri today; a 1500 meter swim, 24 mile bike ride, and 5 mile run.  It's raining and 36 degrees out right now...yeah...that's not going to happen.  So I will spend an hour on the treadmill at the gym today and postpone the brick until next weekend.  I really thought I was done running on the treadmill, so that sort of bums me out, but aside from the weather, all really is well.

I love being thin, by the way.  Sometimes I will get a pair of pants out of the closet to wear and they will seem so small and I will think there is no way they are going to fit, then I slip them on and they fit perfectly.  I'm still surprised by that.  Yes, it feels good.  Running and swimming is getting easier all the time.  I much prefer running and cycling outside to the treadmill and stationary bike, so now that it is warming up exercise is less of a chore.  My last brick was doable enough that I believe I can add the swim portion and still get it done.  I've shaved a minute of my swim time, by the way.  Last Monday I did my 1500 meters in 34 minutes rather than 35.  I am going to keep working on that.  I am hoping to get to 1500 meters in 30 minutes before August.  I don't know if I can improve that much, but I am going to try.

We went to Utah for five days to celebrate Brianna's graduation.  It was a jam packed 5 days, with a lot going on at work and with all of the kids.  I was waking up early every morning and working remotely, then rushing to get a shower before Jack and I started our day of planned activities with the kids.  The result was NO exercise for several days and I felt very stressed and worn down.  By Monday of this week I started to develop a cold and by Tuesday I felt pretty crappy.  In spite of the cold, I exercised on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, because I didn't get to exercise enough the previous week.  By Thursday I was feeling way too worn down and I knew I needed a break, so I took the day off.  It's amazing how much that helped.  I started to feel like I was on the mend by Thursday evening and I actually felt pretty decent yesterday, which was my birthday!!

It was great to be able to watch Brianna and Kyle graduate.  We are so proud of them and all of our kids.  I kept thinking (and saying), "Wow, six out of six kids have graduated from college, and none of them have any student debt!"  Brianna and Kyle plan to stay in Provo for a year while Kyle applies for PA schools.  Both of their current employers said they can work full time and they have a comfortable place to live, so that makes a lot of sense.  We have our fingers crossed for Kyle that he will be able to get into a good school for the fall of 2014.  It's a competitive field!

My birthday was pretty low key, which was totally fine.  Turning 51 seems a little anticlimactic, after all.  Jack got my car detailed for my birthday, which is awesome!!!  I love getting into my brand-new looking car, now.  No more stains on the upholstery, the windows are spotless, no dust or dirt anywhere...I love it!  We also went to dinner and the movies last night.  We saw 42, a movie worth seeing.  We both agreed that the movie presented a softened and sanitized version of events, but it was a heart warming and inspiring story about a couple of strong and determined men at a pivotal point in US history.  It was a good choice.  Turning 51 hasn't brought about the same epiphanies that 50 brought, but having a birthday does make me reflect a little and helps me stop to celebrate how absolutely wonderful life is.  Yes, it keeps getting better.  I love the 50s!!!  It all seems to be coming together nicely.

Work is going well.  I love my job and the people I am working with.  We seem to have made it through the worst of the crises and now we are plugging away at wrapping up year-end 2012 and planning for the future.  We still have some lean times ahead of us and need to carefully manage everything, but slowly but surely we seem to be working through the critical issues.  I am very happy at Castle Creations.

So, there you go.  Life's life.  Work, marriage and home life, exercise, travel, family...what's there to talk about?

Here's to a great 51!!