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. :)

Sandy and Week 2

This week has been an interesting one so far. Monday/Tuesday was Hurricane Sandy. We had some very unexpected guests. Thankfully, that lasted about 24 hours and things were back to normal.

I made it to TNT both days this week. It's week 1 of 13 again and body fat checks! 142 lbs, 17.7% to start off this session. Gotta bring down both of those numbers, but it'll get there.

Week 2 of the 14 week challenge is to drink "real" drinks only. The only change we made to this is to allow Soda Stream made sodas. We tend to have it 1-2 times a week and 1 glass at a time, instead of 3 or 4 when we go out for dinner. The idea of this challenge is to make it doable and sustainable, so I'm ok with making minor changes to the challenge so that we're both on board. That being said, so far this week, I've had all water and one glass of tea. I've had almond milk in my cereal, but that's also something I won't give up (I can't do regular milk). So far so good!

Week 1 of the 14 week challenge

As a reminder, I've been doing this challenge this week:

Week 1: Two fruits and/or vegetables per meal – Eat a minimum of two different fruits or vegetables (preferably organic) with every breakfast, lunch, and dinner meal.

It's actually be a super easy change. I will say, I've been less hungry as the week's progressed. Also, the fruits & veggies are helping to regulate certain things. That's been good!

All week, I've also been doing week 2 without really thinking about it. Since Jon's been on travel, I haven't gone out to eat (which is usually when I'd have diet soda). This morning, I had some juice with breakfast. It was awful! It was also a "light" version of a juice.

Week 2: “Real” beverages – Beverages will be limited to coffee, tea, water, and milk (only naturally sweetened with a little honey or 100% pure maple syrup). One cup of juice will be allowed throughout the week, and wine (preferably red) will be allowed in moderation (an average of one drink per day).

I think I'll definitely have some tea next week!


I went for a run today. It was supposed to be a 5 mile run, but it turned into a 3 mile run. It was awful. My left Achilles was bothering me, which it hasn't been lately, so I'm not sure what's going on. I ended up walking a bit more than I would've liked. UGH! So, the run sucked. It is what it is... moving on!

So far this week

I got my insurance this week. Whew! One step completed! I think I'm going to try to write my mom a few week's worth of a plan and see how she does with it now that I'm "official".

I also applied to one of the local clubs. We'll see how that goes. I'm not too worried about it right now. I need to apply to a few other places, potentially in person.

I've also started on a few house projects that I've been putting off for a while. I painted the iron railings on one set of french doors, one more to go. I've completed both photo books for our vacations this year, just need to order them at some point. We decided to have the house painted (finally), so I've been deciding on colors too. I'm also finishing up my card books. It's been a busy week!

In other news, yesterday, I started on this:100 Days of Real Food 14 Week Challenge. I'm on day 2 of week 1, so far, so good. For week 3, I'll likely just limit the number of meat servings for the week. As much as I'd love to do local meats, they're a bit too expensive for our current budget. Also, when I get to week 11, I'm not 100% sure how that'll work. I need to look into the local winter farmer's market. We don't have a huge selection this time of year! There's also a trip to Disney to run a half marathon that'll be happening in this 14 week period (I think...), so I'll just have to make as good of choices as I can.

14 Weeks of “Real Food” Mini-Pledges

• Week 1: Two fruits and/or vegetables per meal – Eat a minimum of two different fruits or vegetables (preferably organic) with every breakfast, lunch, and dinner meal.
• Week 2: “Real” beverages – Beverages will be limited to coffee, tea, water, and milk (only naturally sweetened with a little honey or 100% pure maple syrup). One cup of juice will be allowed throughout the week, and wine (preferably red) will be allowed in moderation (an average of one drink per day).
• 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.
• Week 4: No fast food or deep-fried foods – No fast food or any foods that have been deep-fried in oil.
• Week 5: Try two new whole foods – Try a minimum of two new whole foods that you’ve never had before.
• 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.”
• Week 7: 100% Whole grain – All grains consumed must be 100% whole-grain.
• Week 8: Stop eating when you feel full – Listen to your internal cues and stop eating when you feel full.
• 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.
• Week 10: No refined oils – No refined or hydrogenated oils including (but not limited to): vegetable oil, organic vegetable oil, soybean oil, corn oil, canola oil, organic canola oil, margarine, and grape seed oil.
• Week 11: Eat local foods – Eat at least 1 locally grown or raised food at each meal. This includes, but is not limited to: fruits, vegetables, eggs, grains, nuts, meats, and sweeteners like honey.
• Week 12: No sweeteners – Avoid all added sweeteners including, but not limited to: white sugar, brown sugar, raw sugar, honey, maple syrup, date sugar, maple sugar, sucanat, splenda, stevia, agave, fruit juice concentrate, corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, brown rice syrup, and cane juice.
• Week 13: Nothing artificial – Avoid all artificial ingredients including, but not limited to: sweeteners, flavors and colors.
• Week 14: No more than 5-indredients – Avoid any and all packaged food products that contain more than five ingredients no matter what ingredients

Not Tri Related

I PASSED MY PERSONAL TRAINER CERTIFICATION EXAM!!!!!!!

I've been asked a million times since Wednesday what my next steps are.

Step 1: Get insured.
Step 2: Find a job or clients or something. I have no clue really.

For the time being, I'm working on doing some "house projects" that need to get done before I start working again. I've already gone through quite a few things and donated a lot of stuff, but there's a lot more that needs to be gone through. Also, I've been working on doing our Christmas cards, photo presents for our moms, and photo books from our trips this year.

Next week, I'm replacing silicone caulk in our shower and maybe the kitchen sink. I'll also be repainting the iron railing that's on the front of the house as long as the weather cooperates. I think I might also put an end to the snap dragons and get the pots off the back deck so that I can reseal that too (though, it needs to be powerwashed as well).

See... household "stuff" and then I'll worry about getting a job. I'm starting to look for places to work online and kind of look around to see what's out there. Nothing like putting myself back out there after almost 7 years!

Falling off the wagon

So, this past few weeks, my eating has been HORRIBLE. Like, I gained back the 2 lbs I lost horrible. I can officially say, I've fallen off the wagon. Things have been all over the place for pretty much the past two months and along with that, so has my eating.

Today, I start clawing back at the wagon to get back on. The biggest thing is to start measuring food again. The second thing is to stop snacking as much. The third is to track my food. I had been doing really well, but things got in the way and I wasn't being as good.

I'm also slowly starting to get next season's race schedule going. So far here are the possibilities/definites:

Disney Half Marathon (definite) - January 12, 2013
GW Birthday Marathon Relay (possible) - February 2013
St. Charles Running Festival (possible) - April 2013
TriRock Annapolis (possible) - May 2013
Rev3 Half Rev Williamsburg (definite) - June 23, 2013

I'll continue to update the list as it grows :)

I'm Proud of Me

Today, I'm proud of me. I wanted my hubby to help me get my trainer tire onto my tri bike before he left for a business trip for the week, but he ran out of time before he left. So today, I put it on myself. Now, on my road bike, this isn't a huge feat, but on the tri bike it can be! The rear brake was rubbing, so I had to readjust it and I managed to figure it out. Go me!

I did the TrainerRoad 8-minute test today. My FTP is 159 watts, with an average speed of 16.9 mph. Both need to come up a good bit. One of my next season goals it to be able to do a sprint tri keeping at least an 18.x mph pace. Hopefully I'll be able to pull it off!

Monday and a New Week

So, last week was a bust. Life happened and the week got away from us - again. So I start over, again, today.

Here are the workouts I hope to get in this week:

Monday: TNT/30 min run (already did TNT, will be doing the run at 9am with a group)
Tuesday: Spin/swim
Wednesday: TNT/track workout (will likely do on the treadmill)
Thursday: Spin/swim
Friday: REST
Saturday: 4 mi run
Sunday: Spin

The spin workouts are going to be done on my tri bike at home. I may go to a Team Z swim this week, but likely at least one will be done at my gym pool. The runs will be done either on the dreadmill or outside.

This week's focus is literally just to get through the workouts and not to worry about anything else.

Also this week, I am going to finish reading the last chapter of my textbook and start studying the things I don't have down yet. I take my ACE test on Oct 17 at 1pm. So soon!

New week, new goals

Since I did so horribly on my yoga/stretching goals in September, I figure I'll set goals based on the week.

This week is cardio week for TNT. Yay! That being said... I need to REALLY get back into it. This week, I'm planning on doing week 1 of the Trainer Road base builder program. I pay for the program every month, I really need to start using it (even if it is "only" $7/month). I really need to get stronger on my bike - and need to spend the winter doing that.

So, this week - goal is to follow my run training program and to do the 3 bike rides I need to do for week 1 of the base build. Time to get on this!

Another week, another goal

So, I've spent the first half of this week sick. My hubby brought home a cold and shared it. How sweet. I missed pretty much every workout from last Friday up to today.

Today, I got back in the gym and did my TNT class and got on the treadmill for 30 minutes. I was planning on running those 30 minutes as my body could tolerate (given the whole cold thing... which has been in my lungs too, so I know not to push too hard), but a couple of things happened.

1) I ran for about 3 minutes and that was plenty and 2) I was chatting with a fellow TNTer about her experience as a person who has Hashimoto's disease and hypothyroidism.

#2 was more important to me today than running. Given my recent lab results and new found family history, I've been researching like mad. Last week was a horrible week. Now that I have an appointment scheduled with an endocrinologist, I could care less what my primary care says. I'll be searching for a new primary care at some point in the near future, but for now, I just need to get my head straight about the possibility that what's been causing some of these things for YEARS could've been helped if any one of a number of drs had taken me seriously at some point. No matter what the response is, I'll be glad to have things checked out.

This week's goal... kick this cold!

This past weekend...

My hubby shared his cold. How sweet?! This is putting a serious crimp in my workout style!

In other news, we went to the RV show in NJ this weekend. It was a good time. Small show, but nice to walk around for a while. We have definitely ruled out pop-ups and hybrid campers. Now... do we change my car to have the brake control (brand new car, changing the electrical wiring... hmmm) or do we get a dedicated tow vehicle? And if we get a dedicated tow vehicle, what?

Oh and, I should probably start studying again, go pass my test, and get a job to help support this! For now, tent camping it is!

Mid-week

Last night, I went to swim practice for the first time in a while. It was interesting to say the least! Thankfully, pretty much everyone that was there had just finished their big 'A' race, so it was like a chatter session instead of a swim session (though we did get a solid 45-50 minutes of swim in).

This morning, I went to TNT and did a walk/run after class. I ran for 10 minutes and walked 20, but it's all good. It'll all come back :)

We had weigh ins and body fat today. Weight = 141.0, body fat = 18.6%. Not terrible, but it can be better. Working on that.

New Journey

I've talked about it a few times on here, but I'm "over" it. I HAVE to get rid of these 10 lbs I put back on over the past year. Luckily, through my awesome tri team, I've met a few great people. Three of us - Tracy, Jess, and myself - have started an accountability group to work through our workouts and eating. I'm super excited about it. So, starting today, I'm not only tracking my food, but I'm also measuring my food. Something I've had great success with before.

Our "reward" at the end of this is going to be hiking Old Rag Mountain in Shenandoah National Park. I'm really looking forward to that hike! We didn't set a goal date for that quite yet, but we'll get to that at some point.

Also, I'm going to try to do one meatless day for dinner a week starting this week. Tonight, we're having a veggie pizza. In the next few weeks, it'll be something a bit more interesting than that. Jon's been really craving pizza and it's the one we have in the house. I think I'll make a salad to go along with it.

My dr wants me on a low-fat, high-fiber diet, so I'm going to do some research on that and see what I'd be looking at doing. I know I need to add more protein to my diet as well.

I should be getting my weight/body fat done tomorrow, so I'll update this with that. Going to get moving on all of this!

Camping - Take 1

This past weekend, we decided to skip the Hershey Park RV Show (the biggest in the USA) and we went (tent) camping with our friends instead. We headed to Shenandoah National Park (Matthews Arm Campground) for a weekend trip (Friday night - Sunday morning).

The drive up Skyline Drive is absolutely beautiful. We got to the campground, checked in, and got started setting up. We had a few moments of stress setting up the tent, but they were pretty short lived.

Friday night into Saturday morning, I had a small bear encounter (sighting) on my way to the bathroom. I saw it, but it didn't see me, so all was good!

Saturday morning, after breakfast, we did a hike that started on Traces Trail, then went to Matthews Arm Trail, then Tuscorara - Overall Run Trail and headed back. It was a 6 mile hike with a steady downhill on the way out and almost all uphill on the way back to camp. We got to have lunch on rocks overlooking the Shenandoah Valley. It was beyond beautiful.

Saturday night, we enjoyed dinner with our friends & sat around the campfire just enjoying everyone's company. You really can't ask for more or better. It's really what life's all about.

We got up Sunday morning, cooked breakfast, and started packing up to head out. I was a bit sad that the weekend was coming to an end, but was happy to be getting home to a shower and my bed.

I will say, my legs kind of still hurt from the hike, but it was 100% worth it!

Now... to start looking for a SMALL travel trailer to be able to do this a little easier on trips further from home and without having to take a car full of camping stuff with us (though, we'll still do more tent camping too!).