Hiking Cadillac Mountain in Acadia NP

And to finish up the posts that were supposed to have been written in August 2012...

The day after we went biking through Acadia, we went hiking in Acadia. This was our first ever hike, so we tackled something "easy" - Cadillac Mountain. Mind you, I was four days out from a half-ironman distance race! This was turning out to be a super active vacation.

We parked our car at the welcome station and rode the bus to the foot of the Cadillac Mountain trail.

Today, we brought our Camelbacks and nutrition (Honey Stingers and a couple of bars). We REALLY should've brought lunch. Oops... More on that later.

Still in a good mood

There were some pretty steep sections of this, but I think we handled it well. Jon whined a little about how it hurt and I just reminded him that I had raced Sunday, so if I could do it, he could too. Guess he got tired of hearing that because he stopped complaining. Every time we thought we were getting close to the top, we'd realize we weren't. It took us just about 2 hrs to do 2.1 miles (or so). Crazy! We did stop several times to take pictures and just admire the view.

Are we there yet?!

A little steep!

Headed up the rock stairs

Once at the top, we went to the bathroom and looked for the actual summit. We also explored the Summit Loop. It was about this time that we realized 1) we needed to figure out our path back down - we could go the way we came or go down the other trail that leads to the summit and 2) that we really should've brought lunch with us. We ended up going down the same way we came since we didn't know if the bus would pick us up from the trail head on the south side. Turns out, it would've. Oh well!

The North Ridge map (the way we came & went)

View from the Summit Loop

On the Summit Loop

Overall, we had a great hike and I can't wait to get back to Acadia to do another!

Biking through Acadia NP

Wow, this post is WAY overdue.

While we were in Maine back in August, we headed to Bar Harbor 2 days after my 70.3. The day after the race, we explored a local state park that houses Portland Head Lighthouse in order to keep me moving around and get rid of that lactic acid. Absolutely beautiful.

Me with the lighthouse in the distance

The next day, we headed to Freeport (LLBean shopping!) and Bar Harbor. It was a pretty uneventful drive, which is always good. Maine's road signs about moose crack me up. We have a ton of them about deer, but all of theirs were about moose. Now... just to see one!

Wednesday, we rented mountain bikes from Acadia Bike and took off into Acadia National Park. It was about two miles or so into the park, which wasn't too bad. I knew we'd be taking it super easy since I'd just done the 70.3 three days before. We had our Camelbacks, some nutrition (Honey Stingers), and a map of the carriage roads with us.

Let me just say... if we lived near Acadia, Jon would NEVER see me. I'd always be on the carriage roads. They'd be so wonderful for training runs & easy bikes. The crushed gravel/rock roads were originally built for horse carriages and take you through some breathtaking places. It took us about 4 hrs to do about 20 miles - way slow for us, but we were taking our time, stopping & taking pictures, and just enjoying it. I'd do this again in a heartbeat. On our next trip, we plan to bring our hybrid bikes and ride as much (or as little) as we want to.

Checking out the map

Chillin on a rock

Having a great time

Definitely not something we get to see on our normal rides!

Loved how much room we had

Beautiful

Can we stay?

Proof that we were there

Really the only part that was paved

Dec 31, 2012: Ringing in Hope 5k Race Report

Last year, I finished out the year with the Ringing in Hope 10k. This year, I figured the 5k was enough. So, I set out to have a nice, albeit chilly, 5k.

I had the chance to meet a couple of Team Z'ers - which is awesome. I love meeting others on the team who I haven't met before.

When the race started, I felt great. I pulled off a 9:39 mile, a 9:41 mile, and then... a 21:29, the last .1 mile was an 8:17 pace. At first glance, you'd think "what in the world?!" Well, there's a reason.

Sporting the Team Z GREEN!

Ok, so the first two miles were great. I actually FELT great too. I LOVE running in the cold. (I don't love the after effect... which I'll get to later.) I drank a little water at the 2nd water stop just because I knew I needed it. I had just looked at my watch and was thrilled that I was on pace for a sub-30 minute 5k. And then... it happened.

A woman (in her 30s/40s) tripped over a cone. She wasn't paying attention to where she was going and tripped straight over it. She went down hard apparently. I got there just after it happened. There were 2 runners with her and I wasn't going to stop, but I did and asked if anyone had let the cop know about it. They said they hadn't. So, I backtracked the .1 miles to the cop and let him know. We went back to her and I stayed, along with 2 other runners, with her until the paramedics got there... 12 minutes later. Seriously... 12 minutes. I was shocked that it took them that long to get there. So, 13:00 of the 21:29 was to help an injured runner.

While we were there with her, she said she was really light headed, had a ringing in her ears, wanted to lie down, and then went to the side yard of someone's house and puked. Fantastic. Guess who has a concussion?! Needless to say, we wouldn't let her lie down. Not on my watch, no way! We handed her over to the paramedics, gave them the quick version of what was going on and left to finish our races.

I knew I only had about .5 miles left to run, so I torn off like a bat out of hell. When I had last looked at my watch, it gave me a mile time of over 26 minutes for the mile. (I have the Garmin 110 and it does average pace for the mile.) I managed to get it back down to 21:29, so you can imagine the running that was going on... lol.

When I got to the top of the hill (oh, I didn't mention that it was mostly uphill for that last .5 miles, did I?!), I saw my husband and a friend and they were like "WHAT IN THE WORLD?!"

Me giving the quick version of why I was 13 min behind schedule...

It's all good though. I would hope that anyone who saw me do something "stupid" or saw me take a tumble (or whatever) would stop and help me out too. The woman kept apologizing for "ruining our races". HA! I can run the course of that race literally every day if I really want to. She kept trying to get us to go and "not worry about her". I wouldn't have felt right.

I know all of those walkers who I was blowing past were probably like "uh...". :)

After the race, we hung out a bit. I waited for the other Z'ers to come in and let them know about Mike (he was the other runner I was chillin with) since he's a friend of theirs. We were waiting for a friend of ours to come in and finish his first 10k. I was SO PROUD of him. He came in at a clock time of 1:13:xx. VERY respectable for his first 10k race. He said he ran it faster on his Thanksgiving day preview, but it was colder today.

Speaking of the cold... while we were outside, I was perfectly fine. When we got home and I started warming up, I started hacking up a lung. Ugh. This is the only part of cold weather runs I'm not a fan of... warming back up. I sit here 2.5 hrs later (or so) and my legs and hands are still a little chilly. The coughing stopped about 20 minutes after it started, so that's good.

Other news

Now, Disney is 12 days away. AH! My current "best" half marathon time is from the Shamrock Half Marathon in 2009. I ran the 8k the day before (and actually had a decent-ish time). I did so well up to mile 8 of this race and then totally bonked. I was still pretty new to running (2 years in) and wasn't so good with my nutrition plan. My plan for Disney? To beat this time below. I've got that, right?!

Place	Athlete Name	City	State	Age	Gender	Finish Time
5094	HEATHER ANDERSON	ASHBURN	VA	28	Female	2:42:08

New Goals for 2013

I recently updated my side menu bar to include my goals for 2013. The ones on there are my "sane" goals.

1) Incorporate yoga & foam rolling into my routine.
2) Track food/calories.
3) Drop back to 130 lbs.
4) Eat healthier for the new medical issues. (Potentially going gluten free, but that's another post.)
5) Take an hour off my 70.3 times (Target time = 6.5 hrs).
6) Get more personal training clients.

Again, all sane things... and things that can be done - within reason. Yes, they'll all take work. They'll all take focus. But, they're "sane".

Now, onto my "doable" but not quite "sane" goals.

1) Run a half marathon in under 2 hrs. I don't care if it's 1:59:59. I just want it under 2 hrs. To date, my "fastest" half marathon was 2:38:xx. Not very fast at all.
2) Run a 5k in under 27 minutes.
3) Complete the bike portion of the 70.3 in under 3:30:00.
4) Completing two 70.3 distance races in one year.

(Can you see where all of my "doable" goals are going?)

And then, there's the "crazy" goals. So far, there's really only one.

1) To swim 100 100s between Christmas 2013 and New Years 2014... in one day... in one swim session. That's a 10k in the pool. Or 6.2 miles. Of swimming. In. A. Pool. Yup, I've lost it.

Maybe there will be other goals. I don't know. I'm hoping to at least do the first 6. The other 5 will be goals to strive for. If they get done, fantastic. If not, I'll keep working on them until they do.

Week 9 Coming Up

Week 8 was pretty easy - eat when you feel full. I think I only went over it once. This next week coming up?

Week 9: No refined sweeteners – No refined or artificial sweeteners including (but not limited to): white sugar, brown sugar, raw sugar, sucanat, splenda, stevia, agave, corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, brown rice syrup, and cane juice. Foods and beverages can only be sweetened with a moderate amount of honey or maple syrup.

Uh... yea... I'm going to have a MAJOR problem with this one, especially with it being Christmas. Probably shouldn't have started to make those cookies. :) 

We have 18 days until we head to Disney (probably actually 17). With a few things "hitting" me today, I've decided I have to do SOMETHING to kickstart myself. We got an Apple TV yesterday and since then, my husband has been enjoying doing yoga from my YogAmazing podcasts. He usually fights me tooth and nail about doing yoga, but he's liking the fact that it can be streamed from my computer to the tv, so whatever works! Here's my 17 day plan:

1) Do yoga each night with (or without) Jon.
2) Ride my bike at least 30 minutes every day.
3) Eat between 1200-1500 calories (I'll probably break this on Christmas day though) each day.
4) Aim to eat in more often. We had been doing so well, but we've been on a bad streak recently.

Hopefully, I'll find myself down at least 2 lbs from where I am right now. Where's that? 147.0 as of this morning. ARGH!

On another note, we got a new scale today because Jon's not happy with the one we have now. We'll see what this one says as far as weight, body fat, etc. Should be interesting to say the least.

Mid week

This week, I've been the only person in my TNT class both days. While I don't mind this at all, it definitely makes the workout harder! I'm glad we're approaching cardio week. My goal next week - even with the holiday - is to get in 5 days of cardio. I HAVE to get back to my workouts... my first triathlon of the season is May 4 and I need to be ready to BRING IT!

The "quote" of the week this week is something I'm working on. It's not always easy to do this!

Week 8 coming up

Last week was to do 100% whole grains. I'll be the first to admit I didn't worry too much about this one. I know I should be better about it, but we're also trying to clear out our pantry a bit, so I wasn't as good about this one as I should've been.

Here's this week's challenge. I'm pretty good about this usually, so it shouldn't be too hard.

Week 8: Stop eating when you feel full – Listen to your internal cues and stop eating when you feel full.

How I feel today

Today, I'm feeling good about my post on Monday. It's helping with the stress levels of things that are going on. Beyond that, I'm exhausted!

It was "weigh in day" at TNT today. I'm up to 144 (according to his scale) and 18.1% body fat.

Here's my inspiration for today/this week.

Another Monday

The weather's really crappy here today (foggy & rainy... mid-range temperature), so that probably explains why I was the only one in my lifting class. Ah well, I got it done!

I've decided a couple of things.
1) I'm not going to set a target of how many workouts I'm going to get in this week. Whatever happens is going to have to be enough... and I need to stop beating myself up about it. It's not helping, so I'm going to stop doing it.

2) I'm going to continue to weigh myself every day. This works for me, so I need to do it. I have 15 lbs to lose by May. Totally doable, if I get my eating down. I lost 0.8 lbs last week... so I'm ON TRACK! (At least with one thing!)

3) I'm continuing with this mini-pledge challenge. I may not be perfect with it, but I'm going to continue. We have started buying our bread from Great Harvest Bread Company. We don't eat a lot of bread and it's so much better than other breads, so why not? I'm going to try to make my own bread soon. We'll see how it goes!

All of that being said... week 6 of the mini challenges wasn't *too* great. It was to not eat anything "light" or "non-fat". I had a couple of salads with light salad dressings and pieces of toast with light butter. I resolved to not BUY anything that was light or non-fat... and I did manage that (other than the milk). I can't stand the idea of wasting perfectly good food though, so I'll continue on with what's in the house and go from there.

This week's is going to be a bit more difficult, I think. We really prefer white rice over brown. The pasta I currently have isn't whole grain. But, like I said above... I don't want to waste food, so I'll do what I can for the meals I can and I'll go from there.

Week 7: 100% Whole grain – All grains consumed must be 100% whole-grain.

Midweek Reminder

This week, I registered my business. Mouse Fitness is now a reality. When I quit my job in May, I had no idea I'd be a small business owner by the end of the year. I thought I'd take my personal trainer exam, maybe pass it, and then work for a gym for a while. After my interview with a national chain, I decided that being in a gym, working for someone else, selling products I want nothing to do with. I was also presented with an opportunity to work with another start-up in the fitness industry with helping them grow their business. It's been interesting so far!

I have no clue where any of this will take me in the months and years to come, but I'm all in for the journey!

New week :)

So, last week was trying 2 new whole foods. I got in the pear and never got around to the parsnips. I might try to figure out something to do with them for lunch tomorrow.

This week, the challenge will be interesting:

Week 6: No low-fat, lite or nonfat food products – Do not eat any food products that are labeled as “low-fat,” “lite,” “light,” “reduced fat,” or “nonfat.”

Hopefully I'll be able to do this. I know that in order to make a product any of these things, there's a ton of processing that goes into it. The only item that might not be do-able is milk. I don't really drink milk, but even if I did, all we get is skim milk (or almond milk). I am planning on making my own almond milk soon. We'll see how that goes!

Also, we're both starting to track our food this week. I've been tracking it for a while, but Jon hasn't, so we haven't been doing as well as we should with keeping things in line. I've also come to realize that I just need to get back on schedule. I've been in "recovery" mode for FAR too long and am going to take a good beating at my next 70.3 in June if I don't get myself in gear NOW. I also won't fit into my wetsuit if I don't lose this weight. So, the focus is back (I feel like I write this post every few weeks...). Today, my plan is to get on my bike after Jon does whatever cable changes he's doing to the entertainment center.

MId-week update

This post is a little later than it should be. It's been a hectic week with quite a few meetings and/or appointments.

Food wise, I had a red pear (I don't remember the exact kind) as one of my new foods. It was really good! I bought some parsnips that I need to use as well.

I seriously need to get my motivation back with my workouts. It's BAD. I basically haven't been following my plan at all and am lucky to get 3 workouts a week in right now. I just need to set my alarm clock and get up and do the workouts. I think as I get into more of a routine working again, I'll be able to get back into more of a workout routine.

Week 5 fail!

Week 5 was an interesting week in the A. household! The painters came back Tuesday and I started prepping for Thanksgiving on Wednesday. Before I knew it, it was the end of the week! So, week 5 was an epic fail. I didn't even try to get in the 2 new foods... so, instead of dwell on the fact that it's a fail, I'm calling for a "re-do"!

Week 5: Try two new whole foods – Try a minimum of two new whole foods that you’ve never had before.

So this week, when I go to the grocery store, I'll pick up at least 2 new whole foods and figure out a way to prepare them in order to give them a try. I love artichokes, but have never tried to prepare one myself, so I try them in addition to the "new" whole foods.

I also missed the majority of the week of workouts and subbed in "easy" workouts. My goal this week is to follow my plan and get my butt back in gear!

Wednesday Thoughts

This week has been a very exciting week for me. Lots of things to be thankful for! Some day, I hope to look back at this week and think this very thing.

Workouts!

Today, I ran a 5k in 29:57. I was so excited to be sub-30 minutes again.

This past week, I started a 30 day cardio challenge with a few friends. I'm on day 5 and have been able to do *something* each day. I've even run 2 of the 5 days!

This week, I'm planning on running at least 2 more times (if not 3), swim 2 times, and bike 2 times. Back to triathlon training!

Week 4 Review, Week 5 Beginnings

I'm glad week 4 is over! It's one that I needed to do, as I love fried food. I know it's horrible for me, but I just enjoy it. Anyhow, I had one cheat meal. On Friday night, we went to a Mexican restaurant and I indulged in tortilla chips and chicken chimichangas. Every other meal I had had no fried foods. I also didn't go to a single fast food restaurant this week. This was kind of hard given that I had contractors in the house all week and couldn't use my kitchen for the majority of the week!

Week 5's challenge is to try 2 new whole foods. I have to go to the store early in the week this week, so I'll look for 2 whole foods I've never had before and go from there. I'm looking forward to this!

Week 5: Try two new whole foods – Try a minimum of two new whole foods that you’ve never had before.

In other news, we've been chatting a good bit about me starting my own personal training business. I know there are a ton of them around, but it's time to give it a shot! I'm looking forward to this adventure!

Mid-week Inspiration/Reminder

I think I'm going to try to do a mid-week inspiration/reminder (if I remember) for a bit. Here's this week's...

This week, I'm really struggling with the 10 lbs I've put on since June. I can FEEL it. Workouts are getting harder because of it, I'm feeling pain where I haven't in a while, and all that jazz. I just really need to remember, my weight does NOT change who I am and I love who I am, so why should that change when I look in the mirror and notice the extra weight?

Monday & Tuesday's staying within the calories didn't go so well. I'm happy to say that Wednesday went much better. Hopefully today will as well.

I started a 30 day challenge with a group of friends to do some kind of exercise every day for the next 30 days. I need to figure out today. I should've gone to the gym this morning, but the painters were supposed to be here at 7:30... wellllll, they didn't show until 8. Annoying for sure, but I'll get over it. It just means I HAVE to do something tonight. Maybe I'll head over to the gym after my PT session with my client. We'll see how that all goes.

Week 3 review and Week 4 beginning

Week 3 SUCKED. There, I said it. It wasn't an easy challenge... and I actually did OK with it until Wednesday, when I had chicken for lunch and dinner. After that... all bets were off. Even then, I did ok and didn't make meat the "star" of any meal, but I wasn't keeping it to one a day. I'll have to try that one again at some point.

Week 4 is this:

Week 4: No fast food or deep-fried foods – No fast food or any foods that have been deep-fried in oil.

I'm hoping this one goes a little easier for me. The biggest challenge will be while Jon's gone on business and not going somewhere "quick" to grab dinner, or if I do to make it a smart choice.

Things I need to get out in the open:

1) I've been slacking on my cardio. I'm planning to resolve that this week. Today, I think I'm going to play a Wii game that involves me moving just to make it something different. Tomorrow, I'm planning on swimming and running.

2) My weight is currently on the rise and it's bothering the crap out of me. I'm back up to 146 lbs and I'm able to feel the effects of it. So, this week starts not only the no fast food/deep-fried foods challenge, but also a challenge to keep between 1200-1500 calories per day. It's harder to do than it should be.

3) I felt so good during week 1 and have let the fruit/veggie consumption slide. I'll be working to get that back up to help with problem number 2 on this list.

4) I'm starting to take on a personal training client (other than my mom). I'm hoping this will be a positive experience for us both!

Half Way Through Week 3

Week 3 is proving to be the hardest thus far and we're not even doing it "by the challenge"! I don't think I realized how much I do have meat at lunch time.

On Monday, I did a 30 minute bike ride and my 45 minutes of lifting. Yesterday, I ran to my polling location (1.2 miles each way) for a total of just under 24 minutes. Today, I lifted for 45 minutes. I might play a dance video game later for my cardio.

I really needed to see this today. I've got to stop snacking! It's definitely a weakness of mine. So, starting today, I'm going to try to stay within my caloric allowance on myfitnesspal.com. I have no idea why this is so difficult for me, but it is. It's definitely my biggest struggle of this whole staying fit & healthy thing!

Week 2 Moving into Week 3

Week 2 was a success for me, not so much for my husband. I had 1 glass of "homemade" diet coke from our Soda Stream machine, even with going out and going to a birthday party for my 3 yr old nephew. I will say that Jon seems to be "hooked" onto other beverages much more than I am. I like the occasional soda, but it's not my first choice. I also have to include an "alternative" milk in my drink list. Though, it's normally used on cereal and not so much as a drink for me.

On to the next challenge:

Week 3: Meat – All meat consumed this week will be locally raised (within 100-miles of your hometown). Meat consumption will also be limited to 3 – 4 servings this week, and when it is eaten meat will not be presented as the “focal point” of the meal. Instead meat will be treated as a side item or simply used to help flavor a dish.

We've decided that we're limiting meat consumption to 1 meal a day, to make this a bit more realistic for us. The 100 mile rule is ideal, but given that we missed this week's farmer's market, I'm not going to worry as much about that one.

I have a feeling that this one's going to be a bit more difficult, as we normally have meat at lunch and dinner.

I didn't do as well in week 2 about keeping up with my fruits & veggies. I was still adding more than I have in the past, but it wasn't necessarily 2 at each meal. So, I'll be making sure that I keep that up this week too.

I have been HORRIBLE at keeping up with my workouts recently. I'm not even sure why. This week is a "recovery" week, so it's the perfect week to get back on the horse. I think the mental drain of this past season is as good as over. :)