Dates with the Devil

I know I haven't been around here in a while.  Thank you Fran for checking on me. :)

All is pretty good in my world.  Here's a bullet point list of what's going on with me:

* Had one glorious day of warm sunshine in March and took the doggies on a 3 hour walk.  Exhausted them, but we all enjoyed ourselves thoroughly!

* Went away for the weekend to visit my husband's friend for this 70th birthday.  It snowed a couple inches ... April Fools!  This spring has been weird.

* Also went camping for 5 days over the Easter weekend.  Weather was gorgeous and I went out for lots of walks with the dogs.  Despite the typical camping diet, I somehow managed to drop a couple pounds.  This seems to be typical for a while now.  Perhaps something is telling me I need to vacation more????

* Haven't attended as many fitness classes this past month.  Lots of stuff getting in the way and other pressing matters that had to be attended to.

* However ..... have done a couple runs (5K-ish).  A friend convinced me to try out a run club she found.  I've gone once.  The people seem nice, even if it did just end up that my friend and I ran alone.  I'll go to a few more before I decide if the group is for me or not.  But the positive thing is I've done some running!!!

* I'm strongly considering entering a small race.  The above group hosts a little run at a location I've never been to, but always wanted to go.  It's only $10 so I figure why not go and just do it.  I'm not in 10K shape so will be taking it slow and walking as necessary.  You're not even allowed watches for this race as they do a  prize for whoever can guess their time closest.  I will surely be well over an hour.

* The biggest positive .... I have FINALLY gotten myself into the massage therapist!  I've been struggling with significant foot pain for quite a while (a good year).  It's the same issue I've had for a while and if left it just gets worse and worse.  However, funds didn't allow me to go for most of last year so I pushed it aside, and also didn't do any self treatment which was downright stupid.  Recently it's been really bad and I was struggling to get through short walks, runs were excruciating, and had to stretch frequently during fitness classes.  My therapist said I'm developing plantar faciitis. If you look at what causes it, there are many factors that I fall under, including:

- very tight calf muscles
- overpronation
- not wearing supportive footwear at all times (yes I run in good shoes, but my daily shoes are crap)
- overweight (duh, this seems to be a no-brainer)

I've been in for a couple treatments now and have at least a couple more to go, but I'm already seeing significant improvement.  My therapist did use this tool (I'll have to find out what it's called) as he said I have a fair amount of scar tissue in my arch.  Let me tell you ... this thing is the DEVIL, but an Angel at the same time.  The first time he used it I literally bit my arm and held in the biggest cursing spree ever.  It was easily the most pain I have EVER felt.  The 2nd session I was a little more prepared, but it still hurt SO much.  I told him repeatedly how much I hate him.  He smiled :).  But whatever that tool is, it seems to have made a big difference because I'm in way less discomfort already and have minimal to no pain in the morning for the last few days.

I know once I get through this more intensive treatment I will have to go in on a regular basis for maintenance. This shouldn't be a problem from now on.  I have a date with the devil today ... yay! ( <---- sarcasm)

So that's where I'm at right now.  I am still desperately seeking that running spark, but at least the flame is still there.

Heidi

♥♥♥♥♥

1 Great Weekend

We went away for another extended weekend.  This is how it went down on average for the 4 days....

Tracking:  Very, very little and never a full day
Points eaten:  more than 21/21 each day, but I don't think terribly more
Activity Points Earned:  average about 3 or more per day
Hunger level:  never really got a chance to get hungry
Morning Weigh-ins:  Sat - down 0.4, Sun - down 2.0, Mon - up 0.4, Tue - down 0.6
   overall down 2.6 from last week

Culprit for the weight gain, low hunger levels, fatigue and general yuckiness - a quite early TOM

At least there was a reason behind this past week.  It should have been at least another week (I purposely planned my getaways around this).  I should have known really ... all the signs were there, I was just in denial.

Despite that, I still had a great weekend which can be summed up like this:

1 great run

1 great bike ride

1 great night of watching UFC

1 great float down the channel

1 great breakfast with family & friends

1 great game of cards (not including the 2 we lost - haha)

= 1 Great Weekend

I was a little disappointed to only get one run in.  It was a good one though.  I ran 3 miles on the roads near our property which means there was a ton of change in elevation.  After breakfast I felt I still had energy to burn so I went for a ride around the "block".  The "block" being 5 miles, halfway down a steep hill then gut wrenching climb back up the other side.  I definitely look forward to doing that one more often.

Later in the day, despite lots of stretching, if I sat still for any amount of time my hips were super achy and stiff.  My husband "banned" me from doing the 9 mile easy run I had planned for Sunday morning.  Instead we just did some walking up and down those monster hills near home for the next couple days.

With the arrival of TOM, all my little annoyances from the last week went away.  My running tops and bras were no longer cutting off circulation.  My pants fit again.  That darn scale dropped down over 2 lbs.  Ahhh, much better, and improving daily.

This week I will continue tracking points as my weight is still higher than it should be.  Plus I'm going to add in a minimum of 10 minutes of weights most days of the week.  That's not much, but it's a start.  I don't like to miss a run for weights (even though I probably should more often), and since I don't always have a ton of time for super sessions, I figure 10 minutes is doable.

Hope everyone had a great weekend & Monday.  Will catch up shortly.

Keep Active!

Heidi

♥♥♥♥♥

Another great mini

I'm back from another great mini-vacation.  4 days in the Okanagan.  Weather was absolutely wonderful - hot with a little breeze.

Managed 3 out of 4 days running.  Saturday we drove up there but before we left I lazed in bed in the morning instead of running.  By the time we got there it was much too hot and I went to bed fairly early after a long day.

Sunday morning I went out and did 5 miles.  Had planned to do 7, but arranged to meet my sister at a time I figured I would be finished my run, as is typical of me, I didn't get out early enough and ran late.  It was SUPER hot by the time I met up with her.  I had water, but really needed a refill.  My sister is just beginning running so we did run/walk intervals.  I was very impressed with her pace. 

Monday morning I chose a different location to run, one that had ALOT more shade, and was also close to a bathroom and my car (which had more water in it).  I also FINALLY discovered the power of my Garmin.  So far I only have used my Garmin to tell me distance, time & pace.  But after playing around, I learned how to set it for intervals.  YAY!  I wouldn't have to glance at my watch constantly.

I had set it for 1 min fast pace, 2 min slow pace x 15 intervals.  I also indicated I wanted to do a warm-up & cool down.  Not knowing how the warm-up worked, I ran ... and ran ... and ran, waiting for it to beep and let me know the warm-up was done.  Figured it would beep at maybe 5 minutes, or 1/2 a mile .... or 10 minutes ... maybe 1 mile?????  Then I questioned if I even set it up properly so ignored it for a while and just ran.  Then a little light went off in my head and I thought ... hmmmm, may I have to press the LAP button when I was done my warm-up and ready to move on.  I had run 1.7 miles before that lightbulb went off.

Having done a much longer warm-up than planned, I figured I wouldn't bother doing all 15 laps of the intervals.  But ... I ended up scooting around town, checking out new things, and before I knew it I had completed 9 of the 15 laps.  I didn't know how to reset the # of laps mid-run, and really wanted to know what happens when you're done.  So, I stopped and refilled my water, then really pushed it through those last 6 laps.  It was hot and I was tired, so some of my slow paced intervals were very slow, even a walk - but I was OK with that.  At the end I did a nice, slow cool down.  What a COOL feature!  If you have a Garmin and haven't yet played around with the workouts you can create, I highly recommend it!

Afterwards I found a nice shady spot on the grass, over-looking Okanagan Lake.  There was a wonderful breeze coming across and it just felt like this was my reward for completing a tough training session.  Pure bliss!

Running schedule this week:

Mon - Rest (did 6.68miles incl. 15 x 1:00 fartlek w/2:00 recovery)
Tues - 3 mile tempo run @ 8:20/mi  (done)
Wed - 4 mile moderate run (2 miles at 8:40 / 2 miles at 7:40)
Thur - 3 mile easy run @ 9:40/mi
Fri  - rest
Sat - 3 mile easy fartleks
Sun - 8 mile @ 9:10-9:20/mi

It sure is nice to incorporate exercise on vacation.  Somehow it just makes you a little more focused on eating healthier ... or at the very least it balances the indulgences a bit.

Keep Active!

Heidi

♥♥♥♥♥

Hello Strangers

Hello Strangers ....... 

I've been majorly MIA lately.

First, we spent 6 days on our new property.  Our very good friends from Washington State came up camping with us.  It was so wonderful to spend so much time with them. 

The weather however was very uncooperative.  Alot of overcast and some drizzle.  Not terribly warm.  We did get one half-warm day, and the day we had to drive home it was nice (figures, right?)

The worst thing was that I came down with a bug - GRRRR!  We left on Jun 30th and by the evening of July 1st I was done.  My throat was absolutely killing me and my head felt like it was filled with rocks.  I had to take some medication which made me fall deep asleep maybe 5 minutes before the Canada Day fireworks started.  I was VERY disappointed.

Of and on for the rest of the trip I was sick.  I had planned to get in lots of running during this trip, and I wasn't able to do even 1 mile.  I did get out for a c ouple of walks, but nothing that really got my heart beating.

We got back home on Monday afternoon, and on Tuesday morning I woke up feeling even sicker.  I did however have to go into work.  But I only made it part way through the day.  By mid-afternoon I was toast and had to drive home.  I had what felt like a migraine and my stomach was tossing and turning.  I mostly slept the remainder of the day, and got sick in the afternoon.

Today I'm feeling ever so slightly better, though far from 100%.  My appetite did return with a vengeance after eating next to nothing yesterday. 

So ... I have decided I'm not setting any goals for July.  I haven't run at all for the first week of July and I think it could be a few more days before I'm able to do much physically.  I'm just going to do what I can, when I can.

As for eating & the South Beach diet .... I managed a good 12 days without a stitch of sugar or starchy carbs and I'm very proud of myself.  The next few days I had very limited amounts of those items.  Then I relaxed a little while camping (I had planned this before I went).

Originally I had planned to stick completely to the diet.  But then I thought .... you know what ... I'm not a machine and I want to be normal.  Yes, I want to lose more weight, but I also want to be able to enjoy treats during certain times - like camping.  And while I did indulge .... I didn't go insane crazy.  I enjoyed a couple of cookies each day.  I had two glasses of wine in a one week period.  I ate bread (white bread) and some meaty cheesy lasagna.  Crazy .... huh?  No ... normal.  I still drank my tea without sugar and stayed away from pop entirely.  When we got home I said to my husband that I went a little further than I should have, and he said "No, you ate like a normal person ... or less."  I suppose he's right.  I did gain 1.8 lbs in the week, but I'm totally OK with that.  The key is in taking it right back off and not staying in holiday mode and I feel I will be successful with that.

I think that's the way I want to live my life.  On a daily basis keep the treats & sugar at bay, and limit the starches.  But enjoy myself to a normal level for special occasions. 

I've been trying to catch up on my blogging buddies and will be more active over the next few days.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Keep Active!

Heidi

♥♥♥♥♥

Back from Alberta

Took a little hiatus upon my return from our mini holiday.  We got back Thursday and I took the extended weekend to decompress and lay low.  It was much needed.  This trip was a bit of a whirlwind that involved WAY too much driving and too many late, late nights.  Alberta is 1 hour ahead of us, plus they get daylight until quite late - so going to bed early was a challenge that we failed every night.  I'm almost caught up now.

Thankfully though the weather was beautiful!

This is what faced us as we packed up and left Friday morning.

Thankfully we drove out of that crap and found sunshine.  By the evening we were treated by this amazing view of Mt Robson near the BC/Alberta border.  It's a rare treat to find this view completely unobstructed from clouds.

The wedding was amazing!  It was a gorgeous day, the weather couldn't have been more perfect.  A lovely casual event with an incredible view in the Canadian Rockies.  My husband is the giraffe 2nd groomsman.

This is us after the ceremony.

My son before the ceremony.  You wouldn't know it but he was sick with a cold and after one dose of daytime cold medicine he was ready to drop off to sleep, which he spent the majority of the day doing.

And my daughter posing on the bridge afterwards

The view from our room was breathtaking.  Such a beautiful part of our country.  I ♥ nature!

I have a few more pictures to share but I'll leave that for another day.

The trip was way too short with WAY too much driving.  28 hours of driving time (not including stops) in less than a week.  Didn't leave alot of room for activity, but I did manage to squeeze it in, even if at times it was on the lame side.

I have returned though with a refreshed resolve and a renewed fire!  All those hours in the truck are good for something....

June 1 - 5 mile/8K run
June 2 - 30 Day Shred Level 1
June 3 - 4 x 1 mile treadmill intervals and core
June 4 - 30 Day Shred Level 1
June 5 - 2.5 mile walk and 1.5 mile run
June 6 - 3 Hours heavy clean-up

June 7 - 5 x 10 minute treadmill intervals and some core

June 8 - Shred Level 1

June 9 - 45 min run/walk

June 10 - lifting & walking

June 11 - lifting & walking

June 12 - 30 min run & dancing

June 13 - 30 min hike

June 14 - run & walk

June 15 - 2+ hours walking

June 16 - swimming & stair climbing

June 17 - 7 mile treadmill run

June 18 - walking

June 19 - stairs & walking

June 20 - 8 mile run (pretty fast)

June 21 - 6.2 mile steady run

Keep Active!

Heidi

♥♥♥♥♥

May 2010 Recap

I'm back! 

Hopefully I've made it through the crazy times and things will settle a bit again.  They should.  And I finally have gotten some of those pics I wanted to share from our last long weekend.

 MAY 2010

RUNNING RECAP

# of runs: 9

Distance: .......... 50.6 Miles / 81.4 Kms
Monthly Goals:  80.0 Miles / 128.7 Kms

Time Running:  7 Hours 45 Minues 56 Seconds

Summary: Definitely came up short on my running goal this month.  I had given myself a little leeway this month, reducing my mileage from 100 miles to 80, and I still came up awfully short. 

The whole month was just very sporadic.  The little bug I had that zapped all my energy certainly didn't help, but even putting that aside I got pretty lazy.  I briefly considered racking out the miles in the last week, just to reach my goal, but decided in the end to just suck it up and not injure myself.  I did have a few days of cycling in there as well, which I don't count in my running mileage.

This is the first month I have not only come short on achieving my goal, but came up VERY short.  It doesn't feel nice and I'm going to remember this feeling.
YEAR-TO-DATE

YTD Distance:  375 Miles / 604 Kms
YTD Goal: .......415 Miles / 668 Kms

YTD Time Running:  57 Hours 30 Minutes 18 Seconds

As for my other goals ....

♥ 10 strength sessions - I fell woefully short on this one as well.  Not sure where I've been at this month, but it certainly hasn't been very active.  I guess it's a good thing that I've been quite good with my eating.  Now to combine the two - haha.
♥ Plan! Prepare! Organize! - I'm still continuing to do well with this one.  Though I need to hit up the grocery store in the next couple days or I'm going to be in a bad position. 
♥ Races: 

May 9 - 10K Sun Run - did it, nailed it and am still on a high

May 30 - Run for Water Half Marathon - couldn't swing it financially

Now ... for the fun stuff.  Here's a few pictures from our long weekend away.

This is the firepit they built.  All the rocks (seats) are taken from the property.  All around is planted trees, shrubs and ground cover.  We're hoping we didn't plant anything that the deer particularly enjoy!

The campsite up top (obviously not finished)

And the view from the campsite .... sigh!  Wish I was there now.

We did ALOT of riding the quads.  The trails behind the property are endless.

Tomorrow I will post up my June goals.

Happy Memorial Day to any American readers. 

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

And huge congrats to Syl for completing her first Half Marathon!!!!!

Heidi

♥♥♥♥♥

Weekly Weigh In

WEEK IN REVIEW

Points:       counted 3 out of 7 days.  Stayed in range 5 out of 7 days  (not bad for camping)

Activity:     4 out of 7 days

Weigh-in:  147.8 - Down 1.0 lb

Still haven't lost all of my gain from two weeks ago, but going down and I'm not complaining.

Overall results ...

Apr 27 - 149.4

May 4 - 146.8

May 11 - 150.4

May 18 - 148.8
May 25 - 147.8

Overall Down - 1.6 lb.

We went camping on our new property for the long weekend.  It was WONDERFUL!  I'll have some pictures to post, but may not be able to get them up for a couple days.  I have a couple on my camera, but need to see what my daughter and MIL got too.

The weather wasn't 100% perfect, but I still loved every minute up there. 

Didn't do as much exercise as I had planned.  Never got on the bicycle, and I never got out in my running skirt - it was a bit cold for it.  We went out on the ATVs alot though.  Did a ton of exploring of the trails near our property.  I think you can go forever if you wanted to.  I am going to absolutely LOVE living there.  Did alot of walking too.

We did run around the block once - the 4.5 mile/7 Km block!  With an elevation decline & incline of about 350 ft (100 Meters).  Let's just say it was a slow run, but one that once I master it, I will be a much faster & stronger runner for doing it.  It actually wasn't as hard as I thought it would be and I can't wait to do it again.  Great training!

Camping/holidays are always a challenge.  So much food, most of it not exactly healthy.  But I didn't do too bad.  We had burgers one night and I cooked myself a veggie burger.  Had steel cut oats for breakfast one morning while the family had sausages, eggs & pancakes.  We even did a big waffle buffet style breakfast with bacon, eggs, waffles, and a bunch of other stuff and I just took a reasonable portion.  No need to overeat just because I'm on holidays.

Another thing I found helpful was to keep active.  Sitting around doing nothing invariable leads to mindless eating.  Get out, go for a hike, go for a ride, do something!  The worst is sitting around the campfire and someone brings out the munchies.  Not one of us needs it.  I try to bring out fruit and/or veggies, but often get beaten to the punch and someone usually brings out things like nachos, chips, cheesies, cookies.  Guess I need to be a bit more pro-active when out with others, huh??

We have another camping trip coming up next month (that I am so excited for I am almost sleepless!).  I need to take this same attitude into this trip.  It will just be us this time, so I'll have more control over the mindless munchies.  Note to self:  just because you're away from home doesn't mean you need to eat any different!  It should be a pretty active holiday so I'm not worried about that.

Hope everyone had a great weekend! 

And someone ... please send me some sun!!! 

Heidi

♥♥♥♥♥

Unexpected Mini Vacation

My husband's best friend lives in Washington State, about 4 hours drive away.  Due to a variety of reasons, we have only seen him once in the last year, and it's been a year and a half since we last went to his house.  He has recently experienced some potentially serious health issues and my husband decided at the spur of the moment that we were going to drop everything and go for a visit.  You just never know what can happen, and you don't ever want to have regrets because "life" got in the way.

We left Saturday afternoon (after my 13 mile run) and came home very early Monday morning.

Here's us on the ferry on the way over.

These people are absolutely genuine, hearts of gold, good people.  I completely adore them - the whole family.

My husband met his friend about 10 yrs ago at a 4x4 diesel truck show.  They talked on the phone for months and then he came up and stayed with us for the weekend (pitched a tent on our lawn).  After that the kids came up with him for many weekends and eventually we went down to his place and met his ex wife (they have an amazing situation, they're divorced, but share a house and essentially live like a family, but yet there is no "relationship" between them).  It was the strangest thing for me ever to let a complete stranger stay at my home, which he admitted was one of the strangest things he'd ever done too ... but looking back I can't imagine our lives without this family in it and I'm so glad we did this.

The only problem I have staying with them is they are the most amazing hosts!  And food temptations are everywhere.  Not only are there all kinds of nummy treats around (chips, cookies, nuts, pretzels....) but my husband's friend is an incredible cook.  With him there is no such thing as low-fat, fat-free, or reasonable portions.  Everything is done on a grand scale.

Sunday morning we were treated to french toast with nothing spared.  Pork sausage, fruit, syrup, icing sugar, fresh juice.  I managed to stick to two small pieces of toast and some fruit. 

Then, because his son's birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks, they decided to break out the special occassion meal they were planning for that and had it while we were there.

Dinner was rib eye steaks (almost the size of a dinner plate and 1 1/2" thick - 1 per person), the biggest lobster tails I've EVER seen (8" long x 4" wide x 2" thick - again, 1 per person), two loaves of the most delicious homemade garlic bread and a few vegetables (I think mostly to appease me).

I had 1/4 of a steak, half of a lobster tail with lemon (no butter sauce), 1 slice garlic bread and some veggies.  I was COMPLETELY stuffed!  I actually felt guilty because I knew they had gone to alot of trouble (and expense) on this dinner and it was just WAY too much food for me.

I wish I had taken some pics ... but I'm pretty sure I would have gotten some strange looks.  They already don't quite understand our (my) eating habits, and I think they might think I'm a bit obsessed already.  When we left they told me not to lose any more weight - haha.

I think I'm still full from the meal!

We made a quick grocery stop on the way home (the US has so many more options than we have in Canada, plus certains things are WAY cheaper down there).

I picked up two frozen meals for lunches this week.  These were $1.80 down there and for a similar item here (you can't get these particular one's in Canada though) they would be closer to $4.

Yesterday for lunch I had a Lean Cuisine Vegetable Eggroll (310 calories, 5g fat)

Very good!  Really it's all about portion control.  I could probably put together something like this pre-made at home for about the same calories.

Today I had a Smart Ones Chicken Enchiladas Suiza (290 calories, 5gt fat)

I wasn't sure if I'd like this.  I love chicken enchiladas, but I wasn't sure about the sour cream sauce.  I'm not a big fan of sour cream.  But it was VERY good!

Normally I don't like to eat many frozen meals.  They are typically loaded with sodium and all kinds of ingredients that I have no idea how to pronounce.  But they were kind of fun for a little change.  I think if I were single, and lived in the states, I'd probably eat this a lot more often than I should.  So cheap, they taste good, and portion control is done.

I also picked up a few packs of Flat Out Wraps.

Tomorrow I plan to make myself a yummy wrap for lunch.  Lots of veggies.  YUM!  These things are HUGE for 100 calories.

4 more days until my first half marathon race!!!!

Hope you are having a great day!

Heidi

♥♥♥♥♥

Vegas baby???

Thanks everyone!  I'm very excited about my new toy.  Now when I get to use it next ... that's the big question.

I'm making leeway on my bookkeeping, should be done tonight.  But ... I seem to be having more issues with my foot (and a hip).  So, I made an appt for tomorrow to get it looked at and we'll see what Dr Johnny has to say!  The foot has hurt on/off for quite a while now (more off than on) so I'm thinking that's a corrective issue.  But since some time in December I get an achy right hip after a run, sometimes during if it's very cold.  When I lay on that side it quite hurts.  I'm hoping it's in relation to the foot thing and not a completely different injury.  Bah-humbug!!!

I've been resting for a couple days now and the foot is sorer today.  That makes no sense to me, but I'm not exactly an expert.  I put a heat compress on it, which seems to make it feel better.

So last night my husband came home and said he's decided we should head south for spring break.  WHAT?  For quite a few years we went to Arizona in the spring, but the last couple years we couldn't pull it off and a few weeks ago we decided that we weren't going to go this year either.  But he's decided that he really wants to go.  I'm not getting my hopes up yet and I still don't really think we should go .. but we'll see.

The thing it really puts a wrench in is I was planning my first half marathon during the time that we would go.  I really don't want to postpone it until later.  I'm afraid another year will pass me by and I won't do it.  So ... hubby says "why don't you just pick one in Las Vegas and we'll stop there on the way down?".  

At first I thought, yeah right!  But then I let it sink in and started thinking "How COOL!".  So I did a little preliminary search and found the Red Rock Canyon Half Marathon in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Then my little pea brain went into action and I thought, hey, isn't there a fellow blogger doing this race.  And yes, yes there is .... Alicia @ Alicia Runs.

So how cool would that be?  Not only would I run my first half in a different country - in Nevada nonetheless, but I could also have a blogger meet-up!

Like I said, I'm not getting my hopes up too high yet, we'll see how it plays out.  If it does then I've got 37 days!  37 days to not only be half marathon ready (that doesn't concern me too much, I could do it now), but also 37 days to be bikini ready to park my butt in the warm Arizona sun!!!!  Yikes!  I'll need to get bikini shopping as well.....

Hope everyone is having a great day!!!!!

Heidi

♥♥♥♥♥

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy New Year to all my blogging buddies.  Wishing you all the best for 2010!  You guys have been a big part of my life for this past year and I look forward to more of that this year.

I have been completely MIA from blogland for quite some time now.  December ended up being an insanely hectic month for me.  I actually feel like I've been MIA from life for the past month and it's all a bit of a blur.

I finally got my bookkeeping nightmare for our business in order.  I had a deadline to file the GST (taxes) by December 31st and yesterday we drove out to the tax office to drop it off.  From Boxing Day on I spent almost the entire day until late at night everyday to get this done.  This meant no exercising, no real cooking and a lot of mindless snacking.

Earlier in the month (while avoiding facing my bookkeeping nightmare) I went into bakers overload.  This is just a minor portion of what I ended up cooking (and eating).  I made:

• 8 dozen decorated gingerbread cookies
• 14 dozen peanut butter cookies
• 6 dozen almond crescents
• 8 dozen mexican wedding cake cookies
• 1 - 8x13 tray of the MOST DELICIOUS cheesecake cookie squares
• 2 - 4 x 7 trays of sickenly sweet peanut butter fudge
• 1 cookie sheet of almond roca

I don't even want to think about how much of that I ate all by myself.  I know one day I had a "snack" or SIX peanut butter cookies!

Susan posted the other day about waking up in the middle of the night to have Tums and I can totally relate.  That's such a sick feeling to know that you've over eaten, and mostly with unhealthy foods, so much that it wakes you up at night.  Gross!

We also went to a couple of Christmas parties.  I bought this shirt a few weeks ago, a size 6 (though I think a large size 6), and I love the color.  This is my father-in-law, me & my husband.  Unfortunately since that picture was taken I've been eating like crazy and now have a little tire around my waist that isn't very appealing in that shirt.

Then an improtu trip up to the Okanagan that, while wonderful to get away and see family up there, really cut into my time that I needed to be doing other things.

Saw a little wildlife....

and my little girl got to visit with her cousins....

I created this crazy time crunch for myself and got majorly stressed out!  I haven't been sleeping much at all.

Throughout the month of December I did very, very little exercising and really didn't pay any attention to my diet at all.  At the end of November I was sitting at around 145 - 145.6 (that 143.6 was a fleeting moment unfortunately).  Right now I can be anywhere between 147 and 149, though mostly under 148.  I guess considering all that has gone on my gain isn't too bad, but I feel gross.  I'm very soft compared to where I was.  And I know I've lost some fitness.

I can probably count on one hand how many times I ran in December, and most of them were 5K or less and a very slow pace.

On December 30th at 11 PM I finished my bookkeeping, went to bed with the intention of forgetting about it all for a few days ... and didn't sleep all night. Then went out and about all the next day, then celebrated New Years Eve with friends (no alcohol though so that was good) and stayed out until 2 AM. Had to get up at 8 AM this morning. So at the moment I'm running on less than 8 hrs sleep in the last 48 hours. Way too little for me!

But January 1st marks a new start! 

And that .... I shall blog about tomorrow :)

Goodnight all.........

Personal Best!

Yesterday was such an awesome day!

In the morning we went out and got our tree.  Then my son played a wicked soccer game (best of the season).  Then, before it got dark I went out and did that 5K run.  After that we put up our tree, decorated it and had a nice relaxing evening.  Perfect day!

Certainly my run didn't involve any winter storms, crazy snow, insanely cold temperatures, nor santa hats or bells.  But I promised Syl I would be out there running with her.  And that I did.

Here's my cheerleading prior to the run (sorry for the blurriness, but I thought they were still funny):

I was going to go by myself, but my husband asked to come along. 

Here I am on my way out the driveway:

Follow the pink Syl ......

The weather was pretty darn good.  Clear skies, a bit of wind and just above the freezing mark.  The route we took was good for doing a fast 5K.  Straight forward and pretty much no hills.  The only thing we had against us was temperature and a strong head wind going out.  I was certain that I could finish under 27 minutes.  But I did even better than that:

Under 25 minutes!!!!!!

Wooooohooooooooooooooo!   I was thrilled!!!!!

After that we got our tree up.  Sure is hard to get a decent picture of a Christmas tree.  I'm not that skilled with my camera.  Believe it or not this is one of the smallest trees we've had in many years.  Normally the angel is shoved up into the ceiling.  But decorating it is still a challenge:

When it was part way decorated we sat back and relaxed a little with some mulled wine.

Ahhh a perfect evening!

I'm the Old Bag & Shred Challenge

BACK FROM MINI VACATION

Yesterday I got back from spending 5 days with my parents and my sister & her family. It was sure nice to be able to see them all. I can't truly blame my Mom's slow computer for my lack of posts. I quite simply just didn't get to it and really wasn't on the computer very much at all.

I didn't get my camera out at all (it's not beach friendly), but my cousin did manage to get this one shot of me laying on a floaty. And my kids catching a few rays too. I didn't request permission to post my sister's pic so I've put a heart over her (cuz I love her - smooch!).

THE FAT OLD BAG

Last night I went to a fitness class at a location I don't usually go to. I like it there because it's a younger class, younger instructor, the music is typically better and the class is pretty upbeat.

But the downside is that I often find myself being one of the oldest people in the class, and yesterday I was also the biggest - obviously not by much, but still. Pretty weird that at only 36 I was one of the oldest. I've never encountered that anywhere but at this one location. And as for being the biggest ... I know I'm not big, but it's amazing how quickly I felt self concious, which I shouldn't have been.

I did manage to push that aside for the most part, and had a really good class. I still really like this location and try to get there as often as I can.

SEPTEMBER - 30 DAY SHRED

My blogging buddy Syl has posted up a little challenge - to do Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred, every day for 30 days, starting September 1st. I spent all day debating on whether or not I should join her. I've done The Shred many times before and I enjoy it. Jillian definitely kicks ass and hits you in all the right spots. But, admittedly, I'm not confident that I can actually stick to doing it every single day for 30 straight days. I'm a bit of a fickle character, I crave variety and get bored easily. I recall when Syl did this before there were days when she seemed to dread doing it, but still did it. I'm not positive that I have it in me to do it on those days (which I know are bound to happen).

Soooo...... after much deliberation, and mostly after looking back at Syl's results, Ash is Fit's results, and a bunch more I found online ..... I have decided to give it a shot, though somewhat modified. I really enjoy going to fitness classes a couple times a week and the one's I take are very focused on weight training and high intensity cardio (much like the Shred). So, I have decided that my pledge will be to either do The Shred OR one of these types of classes every day for the month of September. Of course I will always keep up with my running and some biking as usual.

I'm back...........

Actualy I got back Saturday night but with unpacking the trailer and a bit of a lazy day yesterday I didn't get around to posting. I was also hoping to get my pictures loaded to add into this post but we're having a heat wave this week and by the time I got home from work I just wasn't up to doing anything else.

Our holiday was wonderful! From a weight perspective I can't tell you how good it felt to have reached the goal I had set for myself and to not feel any hang-ups about my weight (even though I'm still not quite at my ideal weight).

We took our 35' 5th wheel RV and travelled with our 2 kids, who each brought a friend. Also my in-laws and one of my nieces travelled with us. Then a few days later friends of ours met up with us with their 15 yr old son (who is also my son's friend). We all had such a great time.


But let me tell you ..... 4 teenagers in one RV and all the crap that they can eat sure can be tempting from time to time.


We ended up leaving over 24 hours later than anticipated. Then with a few long stops to shop for groceries and such we ended up spending the first night in the parking lot of a Cabela's store (hunting/fishing, etc). They make these amazing sugary coated nuts and my husband bought 3 packs of them, plus I think the kids bought some as well. I had a couple of each type then I told them all that they were not to allow me to take anymore.


A long time ago I mentioned on here that once I got past 150 lbs I was going to buy myself a running skirt. So I had it all planned out to find a Running Room in Washington or Oregon and go buy one. Except ... I didn't realize that the Running Room is basically just a Canadian company with only a few US locations. Bummer! But then I saw on someone's blog that they got a running skirt from Target. So I made my husband pull into one on our way down. They didn't have a huge selection, but it was big enough that I had a hard time picking one out. I ended up with two, and a matching tank for the purple one. These things are SO comfy. I wore them quite a bit on the trip. Had a little bit of chafing one day on a particularly hot run, but I think a little Glide would fix that. I would totally wear these for casual wear, or biking.


Our first stay was in McMinnville, Oregon. We stayed at a very nice RV resort type place right next to the Evergreen Aviation Musuem that houses the original Spruce Goose. We've been in the museum before so didn't visit it, but it sure was a nice place to go for a jog. The resort had a pool but I didn't end up going in it.

My husband & I took a run into the nearby town the morning after we arrived. We ran about 8 Km then there was a little craft type festival being set up so we browsed around for a bit. When we went to run again the back of his knee was hurting pretty bad so we had to walk back. In total it was about 15Km, maybe more???

From there we headed out to Newport on the coast. This is a lovely little town. There is a bike shop in town and the owners are super friendly. I did alot of biking & running around the campsite and around town.

While in Newport my husband and I took a LONG run on the beach. It ended up being longer than we anticipated. 14 MILES of running (23 Km). I couldn't believe it - we did just over a half marathon!!!! I won't say it was easy. We ran from our campground to as far as we could go. Heading out was not bad, but coming back we were running into the wind and I hit a wall. I was DONE! We hadn't taken water (stupid!!!) and I was SOOO thirsty. It made me feel so fatigued, even though the distance we'd run at that point was still well within what I typically run. I think just knowing how far I had to go made it difficult. But after a few minutes walk we started up again and the determination in me kept me going to the end. My husband even tried to give me an out as we got closer and could have crossed over into the campground. But I refused and was determined to run the full distance. He said we was proud of me!

I was amazed that the next day I was only very mildly sore and after a day of rest and stretching I felt fine. We then went to Florence where there are some pretty big sand dunes. We took a hike out onto them and let me tell you ... you could make a kick ass boot camp out on those dunes. That steep, soft sand is so hard to climb. It was great.

Next we went to an area near the south end of the Oregon coast, maybe 25-30 miles from the California border. There I had big plans of long bike rides and our annual big hike that usually takes us about 3 hours. Unfortunately I caught a nasty, nasty cold and spent most of the next few days propped up praying for my nose to drain or the world to end. We did get in some walks and a mini version of our hike, but I'm sad to have missed out on the planned activity. We had one pretty hot day there that got me out in my bikini (I'm beyond caring that I don't have a perfect body, it's good enough for now).

Then we headed inland to warm up a bit. I just didn't realize how MUCH we were about to warm up. On the coast the typical temperature was about 55-60°F (13-16°C). When we stopped for groceries inland it was 99°F (37°C), maybe even a bit more.

When we arrived at our next campground at 7:30 at night it was 94°F (34°C). Thank goodness for A/C!


At this spot I got alot of running in, though shorter runs. I was still hacking up a lung from that cold, but I needed to move. It's hard to believe how I crave the exercise now. For the next few days I ran about 5-7Km every morning before it got too hot.

We also went up to visit Crater Lake. It's SO beautiful there and this time we were blessed with perfect weather. Barely a cloud in the bright, blue sky and 77°F (25°C). The first time we went there it was blowing wind like a madman and cold, cold, cold! The 2nd time it was even colder (slightly above freezing). So we were shocked it was so warm. The first time we visited Crater Lake my husband and son climbed up this trail to a place called The Watchman. The trail isn't long - 1 1/2 miles return - but it does climb up 413 feet. I (feeling horribly out of shape and just miserable in general) refused to go up with them and I sat in the truck. This time I was NOT going to miss out on the opportunity. I couldn't believe how easy the climb was for me. I could have run it - seriously!

I did find that as the days went by I was having a harder and harder time resisting all the treats/junk that was in the trailer and I did succumb to more of it than I intended. But I tried to keep myself aware of when I had too much and then I'd reduce something else. I never tracked once, I just tried to listen to my body and make as many smarter choices as I could.


I haven't really been drinking alcohol for quite some time. The last few times it's affected me way too much and it hasn't been worth it. One night I decided I was going to give it a try again and I had one Mike's Hard Lemonade. I tasted SO good going down, but I couldn't believe how quickly I was drunk. Like having a hard time concentrating on the card game drunk. I did stop at one though. All night my stomach churned, I had a blistering headache, heartburn. YUCK! So not worth it. I did try drinking a light beer the next week and had no reaction at all, but I don't really care for beer so I guess I'll just go without. Apparently my body does NOT like something in those types of drinks anymore.


Now ... for the AMAZING news!!!! The last few days of our trip my eating was starting to get a bit out of control. Not truly out of control, but not really in control either. I was beginning to feel a bit of that awful belly bloat. Though I had brought along a pair of shorts that were too tight for wearing, but I could do them up before we left, and at this point I could still do them up so I knew I was OK. But I knew at this point I had to be careful and that I should expect a little gain.


Imagine my suprise when I woke up the next morning to find I LOST weight on this trip. I ACTUALLY LOST WEIGHT ON A HOLIDAY!!!! I nearly fell over. That has never, EVER happened to me. Even when I'm super careful I typically gain 2-3 lbs. I actually lost 1.6 lbs while away on holidays. I still can't quite believe it.

I do realize that I very likely lost some muscle as I didn't do any weight bearing type stuff. So I'm actually looking at this more as a muscle loss/weight maintain thing. But still, I didn't gain and I couldn't be happier.

This week I'm back to tracking as I don't want to let things slide. And I'm back to lifting weights and burning those muscles. Even if it means a little weight gain, I don't want to lose that muscle. Muscle looks good and I love it!