If you ever want to lose the rest of it...

Ha! I told everyone I was fat, and yesterday I got proof of it.

John was working on some guy's car, and I walked by, said hello, then left. After I left, the guy apparently told John his wife was attractive and he was a lucky man. So John told him the story of my weight-loss. When I returned later on, the guy was still there. He comes over to me and says, "Can I ask you a personal question?" Wanting to be polite, I said sure. He asked me how many sizes I lost, and I said I went from an 18 to a 6. He said that was amazing, congratulations, blah blah blah. But then: "If you ever want to lose the rest of it..."

!!!

He proceeded to tell me about some spa in California where you get daily colonics and eat only raw food - "it really cleans you out" - but I was only half-listening because I had to run upstairs to my bathroom to puke. Okay, not really. But I did have to run to the bathroom to look in the mirror and see what I looked like - did I look particularly fat? I was dressed a little weirdly for me - jeans with a long-sleeve technical shirt I usually only wear for running outside in cold weather (but I had planned to bike with Gabriel, so I was half-dressed for it). Anyway, I didn't look particularly big, I thought, but boy did my flaws just pop out of the mirror yesterday. More so than usual.

Anyway, it made me rededicate myself to a hard workout today. I did a 40 minute swim, 60 on the bike, then 30 on the treadmill. Yay.

Today's data:
Food:
Pre-workout: Banana and milk in coffee, 110 cals
Workout fuel: 1 GU, 100 cals
Breakfast: English muffin, ham, cheese, milk in coffee: 265 cals (prob should eat more)
Snack: Yogurt, 110 cals
Lunch: 8 oz chicken noodle soup (100), small salad with chicken (200), 1/2 piece bread (50), "fruit snack" thing (45), 395 cals
Snack: Clif "Nectar" bar: 170 cals
Another snack: Turkey and cheese: 120 cals
total so far: 1270 calories
I'm not confessing to the rest. Suffice to say I did my usual - I ate a healthy dinner, but munched on anything in sight. :-(

Exercise:
Swim 40 minutes
Indoor cycling 1 hour
Run 30 minutes
Calories burned: 1000

Cycling 101

I took a class today about riding my bike in a group (paceline) and basic road riding skills. It was in Seattle, so I rode there - the long way. :-) Not all the way from home, because I had planned to ride back alone, but from the Microsoft campus in Issaquah. I figured it would give me 30 miles each way (20 miles on a bike trail, 10 on a road with a good bike lane), and I was right on target.

Matthew rode with me there and we averaged 17 mph, which is pretty good considering what I did yesterday. I got there exactly on time, so I was happy about that, and it only rained a few drops. On the way home, though, it decided to pour. Fortunately my friend Wendy (who I think I met in the Pro Club locker room, ha ha) was in the class too and felt like riding. Originally she planned to ride halfway back with me, then turn around and head back to her car. But then because of the rain and because neither of us had major time pressure today, we decided she would ride with me all the way back to Issaquah, then I would drive her back to Seattle. So that was nice - I had company the whole way back, which really does feel safer. But we got WET - I have never ridden in such rain before! My "waterproof" jacket soaked through. Oh well. That's what you get when you live here! We averaged 14 mph on the way back, but I was pretty happy with that, too.

Let's see, what did I eat today? A whole lot. Fortunately there's not much to snack on in the house, so I was fairly good. No cookies. :-)

Food:
Breakfast: Bagel and cream cheese: 300 cals
Snack: Some new clif bar (nuts and pretzels or something? Pretty yummy): 220 cals
First half of lunch: Turkey and cheese on 1/2 bagel: 250 cals
On the road: GU, 100 cals
Second half of lunch: Turkey and cheese on 1/2 bagel: 250 cals, coffee with half-half: 40 cals
Another lunch when I got home from Seattle: Leftover chinese food, 500 cals; M&Ms, 100 cals
More food because I was hungry: Cheese and crackers, 130 cals; peach, 70 cals
total so far: 1960 calories

Exercise:
Bike 60 miles plus 7 in class: 2400 calories

Total calories burned for the day: 3500 calories (I need to say this, because I'm likely to eat dinner too, and I just have to point out that I've been burning calories outside of the time I was riding/wearing a HR monitor)

The Gambler's Run

Big good workout today! Hard, too. 30 minute swim followed by all-out indoor cycling followed by the Gambler's Run. Here's how it works:

Warm up at a slow jog for 3 minutes - I initially picked 6.0 on the treadmill as my jog speed
With a standard deck of cards, shuffled with two jokers, choose a card every minute for 54 minutes. They mean:
Numbers 2-10: Increase grade by .5 (so 2 is .5, 10 is 4.5)
Joker: Increase speed by .5
Jack: Increase speed by 1.0
Queen: Increase speed by 1.5
King: Increase speed by 2.0

Aces reset everything - grade and speed. The kicker, of course, is that if you're running at 6.0, and you get a 7, you have to start running at 6.0 with a 3% grade. Then if your next card is a King, you increase to 8.0 - but you don't lose the grade!!!

So it was WAY hard, and halfway through I had to drop the base speed to 5.5 so that a King was a 7.5 instead of an 8. My heart rate was in the 170s to 180s the entire time - it was WORK!


Today's data:

Food:
Pre-workout: Banana and coffee with milk: 110 cals
Breakfast: Bagel with cream cheese, 400 cals
Um, I'm finishing this on Saturday, and I forgot the rest. :-(

Exercise:
Swim 30 minutes
Indoor cycling 60 minutes
Run 60 minutes
Total calories burned: 1250

Must Rest and Recover

Okay, this morning I just could not get out of bed. My knee hurts and I'm tired and cranky. I think it's because I didn't take much of a recovery last week, and I should have.

So I bagged on my run and weight lifting, and I don't think I'm going to make it up later. I might not exercise tomorrow if I don't feel a whole lot better. We'll see.

I'm also going to rededicate myself to a good diet. It's not right that I can have discipline around exercising but not eating - what is wrong with me?

So I'm going to properly meal-track and only eat the right things and stick to 1400 to 1600 calories per day.

So here's today:

Food:
Breakfast: Ham and cheese, yogurt and granola (from home), 2% milk in coffee: 450 calories
Snack: Luna bar, 180 cals
Lunch: Thai chicken and vegetables (no rice), 400 calories
total so far: 1030 calories
Um...okay....chinese food for dinner, then eating the wrong things after dinner (chocolate is my downfall).

Oh well, try again tomorrow.

Where am I?

Ugh. Off track as far as food, I can't bear the thought of meal tracking. I need some motivation.

I'm on track for exercise, which sort of makes it worse - why can I be so good at only one part of something so important???

Tomorrow I'm going to try harder.

Half-Iron Swim - no problem!


Today's Data:

Food:
Pre-workout: Larabar and milk in coffee, 150 cals
Breakfast: Granola and cottage cheese, ham and cheese, milk in coffee: 405 cals
Snack: Grapes and string cheese, 120 cals
Lunch: Turkey and broccoli, 200 cals, piece of candy, 40 cals
Snack #1: Creamsicle! 110 cals
Snack: Yogurt and grapes, 170 cals
Total so far: 1095


Exercise:
Swim 1 hour
Run 45 minutes
Calories burned: 800

Catch-Up

I will catch up on the weekend, really - it was just so busy.

In general: I ate a lot, but probably okay.

Exercise: 35-mile ride in the rain Saturday morning; 24 mile ride in the sun Sunday afternoon.

More later, maybe.

One post, two days

I don't know what happened yesterday, I was just too busy to write! I have a new job (same team, different responsibilities) and work is super-busy. On the other hand, I'm super-engaged and excited by the work, so I guess it's a good thing. But it's going to get really hard to balance family, work, and training. We'll see how things go, though.

The back of my knee still hurts, but I was able to run yesterday and I was able to fully participate in indoor cycling today - and Danielle made the class HARD.

So yesterday: let's see, I remember generally what I ate and exercised:

Thursday's Data

Food:
Pre-workout: Larabar, 130 cals
Breakfast: Yogurt and granola, ham and cheese, cream in coffee
Snack: string cheese (I think I ate this)
Lunch: Chicken taco salad
Snack: Candy, I was bad
Dinner: Pizza, I was really bad
Dessert: 3 little strawberry cookies, one chocolate chip cookie, and milk

Exercise:
Run 90 minutes, 650 cals
Circuit training, including 15 more min running: 500 cals
Total calories burned: 1150

Today's Data

Food:
Pre-workout: Banana, milk in coffee: 100 cals
Breakfast: Cottage cheese, strawberries, two hard-boiled eggs, string cheese, milk in coffee: 390 cals

Exercise:
Swim 30 minutes
Indoor cycling 70 minutes
Total calories burned: 800

Sore knees, broken cleat, exercise bulimia

I woke up happy to work out, but some stuff hurts. Like my knees. And then in indoor cycling, one of my cleats broke, so I couldn't do any standing climbs and I had to be really careful about not flying out of the pedal. Then I wanted to run, but I couldn't - so I did 20 minutes of brisk walking, and I think tomorrow I will be able to run again.

Okay, on exercise bulimia: I read an article yesterday that said that bulimia can include people who don't actually throw up. Instead, they:

-- Exercise excessively
-- Punish themselves for overeating by exercising more
-- "Earn" foods by exercising

I totally do all of these things. Am I bad? Am I unhealthy?

I wish I didn't like food. It would make things so much easier.

Today's data:

Food:
Pre-workout: banana and milk in coffee, 110 cals
Breakfast: Fruit, cottage cheese, ham, cheese: 325 cals
Snack: Non-fat sugar-free vanilla latte: 100 cals
Lunch: Soup, Doritos, banana bread (don't ask, I'm evil): 500 calories
Dinner: Steak, bread, green beans
Dessert: Chocolate chip cookie
Total calories: lost count!!!

Exercise:
Swim 30 minutes
Bike 60 minutes
Walk 20 minutes (no running, my knees hurt)
Total calories burned: 825

Sore day #2

I'm still sore from the weekend. I tried running, but it was not a good scene. So I walked briskly for an hour, and I will go back later today to do circuit training (and get a massage! Yum!).

Okay, I did that...but I also ate horrible food. Blah.

Today's data:

Food:
Pre-workout: Banana, 60 cals
Breakfast: Ham and cheese, milk in coffee, a scone (bad me): 545 calories
Snack: String cheese, 60 cals
Lunch: Salad and apple, 380 cals
Snack: Brownie, 300 cals
Dinner: Oh my goodness, pizza. Who knows, 1000 calories?
Total calories consumed: 2345


Exercise:
Walk 1 hour, 300 calories
Circuit training, 1 hour, 425 calories
Total calories burned: 725

Calorie surplus: 1600 (metabolic rate) + 725 (exercise) = 2325 exepnded; 2345 burned. So I guess I'm only over by 20 calories. Still, I could totally eat more and I can't let myself.

Sore!

Walking = hard. Of course, I still want to do it. :-) I swam today, just half an hour, but I had to walk to two meetings so I got a little more exercise in too. Fun!

Today's food:
Pre-workout: 1/2 slice homemade banana bread, coffee with milk: 200 cals
Breakfast: Cottage cheese, fruit, ham, cheese, coffee with milk: 345 cals
Lunch: 1 slice pizza, small slice birthday cake: 550 cals
total so far: 1095 calories
Snack: Cheese and turkey, 120 cals
Dinner: Braised beef and mushrooms, rice: 375 cals
Bad me: Homemade banana bread: 200 cals
Total calories consumed: 1790

Exercise:
Swim 30 minutes
Walk 60 minutes
Total calories burned: 500

Backwards Duathlon!

Okay, first: um, yeah, meal tracking...what's that again? I always fall down on meal tracking on the weekend. I can say this much:

Friday I was slightly over on calories.
Saturday I was even or under on calories.
Sunday I was under on calories.

I do know how much exercise I did, though. And I want to talk about that, after I list it out.

Friday Exercise:
Swim 40 minutes
Indoor cycling 1 hour
Total calories burned: 750

Saturday Exercise:
Bike outside, 2 hours
Total calories burned: 1200 (because 2 hours was on-the-bike time, not stopping-and-still-having-an-elevated-heart-rate time)

Sunday Exercise:
Bike 45 minutes to Mercer Island
Run 1/2 marathon in 2:06
Bike 1 hour 15 minutes home (yeah, it was a longer route...and much more tired legs!)
Total calories burned: 2400

I felt great Friday and Saturday - Saturday I took on a hill that had haunted my dreams (Lakemont Blvd in Bellevue or Issaquah, I'm not sure which city claims that area) and the rest of my ride was fun - especially a couple miles in Issaquah alongside I-90, where the rollers just let you FLY - I didn't drop below 20 mph at all, and it really is rollers, not up and down. My pace was typically about 20-22 on the uphill parts, 26-28 on the downhills. Fun!!! But that's just for a few miles and wasn't indicative of the rest of the ride - we went at a comfortable pace and stopped to regroup a few times.

I was pretty nervous for Sunday, though. The plan was to bike to the half marathon, run the race for training only (goal time was 2:10 - 10 minute miles), then bike home. A backwards duathlon (since a du is usually run-bike-run, but we were bike-run-bike).

Danielle and I biked at a pretty brisk pace on the way to MI, but it's definitely more downhill than up to get there. We felt great, though, when we arrived. However, we got there too early: we had almost 90 minutes to wait before the race, and after we changed our clothes and locked up our bikes, we were cold. We ended up wandering around a nearby grocery store, reading food labels.

We executed perfectly on the race plan: we didn't start out too fast like I tend to do, we didn't change the plan partway in, and we ran the race in 2:06 despite a potty stop each (so I'm thinking we would have run the race in 2:02 or 2:03 if we didn't have to pee). The course is hilly, but not oppressively so - it's weird. I felt like I was going uphill almost all the time, which makes no sense. It seemed like we had a mile or so of uphill, followed by a brief downhill or flat part, then we went up some more. No hill except for the very last one just past mile 12 was steep though, so we were able to keep a strong, even pace throughout the race.

I started feeling great about mile 4, and that lasted until mile 9 or so. That's when my quads started feeling tired.

At mile 11, Danielle and I were discussing our fueling strategy with Stephanie, a dietician at the club. Both Danielle and Stephanie had already consumed two GUs - I had only had one. I asked Stephanie if she thought it would be worth it for me to have another, since we only had 2 miles to go - would it kick in in time? She said maybe - so I figured I'd try it. Well, it took less than 5 minutes for me to feel like I had a second wind. So that was awesome - then Stephanie told me that's a sign of excellent fitness. If your muscles can immediately start using the glucose you give them, that's very good. I was happy.

When we first got on our bikes after the race (after a stop at Subway for sandwiches), I could feel every single rotation of the pedals. My quads and glutes felt sore and tired - I couldn't feel any pain in my hamstrings. Danielle said it was her hamstrings where she was feeling it. We both suffered on the ride home, and while we didn't take the absolutely easiest way, we did granny-gear nearly all the hills (even though we wouldn't have needed to had we been fresh). However, it felt great to arrive home!

I made a mistake for the second time upon getting home, though: I didn't eat or drink right away. Instead, I made things worse by getting into a hot bath. Not smart - my head started pounding and I thought I was going to pass out. (Not the bath part, but the pass-out feeling part happened a couple of weeks ago when I did that 45-mile ride with Matthew.) So John got me water, and I just sat still in the tub and drank. Then I took a cool shower and felt better - then I ate a big lunch and felt a lot better.

I'm exhausted now. I took the kids swimming this afternoon so I could spend some quality time with them, since I did so much exercise this weekend. It certainly wasn't a heart-rate workout, but it was work! It was also nice, though, to feel weightless. I was debating between riding my hybrid bike slowly with the kids or swimming, and the sporadic rain made me choose the pool, which worked out nicely. But now it's 8:45 p.m. and I'm ready for bed!!!

So here I go, starting my recovery week. Yay! I think I've earned it. I'm only short 15 minutes on this crazy week, and that was abdominal exercises. I could do them now, but I won't - it's just not that important to me and I'd rather get in bed.

25:17 - not bad!

It's Thursday, so it's 5K fun run day. Nancy and I ran 6 miles first on a very hilly route, I ate one GU (Espresso Love, 2x caffeine, yay!). Then I did my 5K in 25:17!

Here's how it's been for the last three weeks:

Mar. 9 - 26:34
Mar. 16 - 25:48
Mar. 23 - 25:17

So that's all goodness. I'm supposed to take next week off of the hard run, but I might do it anyway. This time I did it at 7.3 until the end: there's a 4% hill at the very end and I pushed things up to 7.4 then 7.5, then 8.0 at the end of the hill, then 8.5 then 9.0. Fun.

So here are today's data:

Food:
Pre-workout: Banana, 60 cals (no coffee, boo hoo)
Workout: 1 GU, 90 cals
Breakfast: Banana bread, ham, cheese, milk in coffee: 495 cals
Lunch: Shrimp and veggie stir-fry, 250 cals
Snacks: 2 pieces candy with peanut butter, turkey and cheese: 250 cals
total so far: 1145 calories
I'm not finishing today. Let's just say this: I had a healthy dinner. Then I ate everything in sight.

Exercise:
Run 1.5 hours
Lift weights (mostly upper body - no abs, I'll do that tomorrow since I missed it on Tuesday and did it yesterday instead) 30 minutes
Calories burned: 850

If it doesn't hurt, I didn't do it

Ow. Tight hamstrings.

Today's data:

Food:
Pre-workout: Banana and milk in coffee: 90 cals
Workout fuel: 1 GU, 100 cals
Breakfast: Ham, cheese, banana bread, milk in coffee: 545 cals
Lunch: Indian food (no rice): 500 cals
Bad bad bad: Candy, 100 cals
Snack: Turkey and cheese, pear: 180 cals
Total so far: 1515 cals (wow, I'm hungry today)
Dinner: Scallops, broccoli, peanut-butter pretzels: 550 cals
Dessert: Pear cake, 300 cals
Total consumed today: 2365 calories - ouch!!!

Exercise:
Swim 40 minutes
Indoor cycling 1 hour
Run 30 minutes
Abdominals (left over from yesterday): 15 minutes
Total calories burned: 1100

Busy day, bad dinner

Oh I'm so bad - I was perfect all day so I celebrated with pizza. I even had healthy food to cook, but John and the kids wanted pizza so I went along. Bad bad bad. Now I have a tummyache, too - serves me right!

Today's data:

Food:
Pre-workout: Banana and coffee with milk, 90 cals
Workout fuel: 1 GU, 100 cals
Breakfast: Small piece banana bread, ham and cheese, coffee with milk, 345 cals
Lunch: Salad with turkey, 200 cals
Snack: Pear, bites of weird Japanese candy: 100 cals
Dinner: Pizza, cheese sticks and pretzels: 1000 cals
TOTAL: 1835 calories

Exercise:
Run 1 hour 1o minutes
Bike 1 hour (indoor cycling)
Lift weights 30 minutes
Total calories burned: 1100

Go go go go go!

Today I practically jumped out of bed at 4:30, ready to go! I guess a day of snowboarding really can count as a day of rest. I felt really good. I got a 40-minute swim in before indoor cycling at 6 a.m., although I didn't get to class early enough to get MY bike (okay, it's not really mine, but it's the one I prefer to use). Then I did a half-hour run, which was good as far as heart rate, muscular endurance, etc, but a little bit sucky because one side of my earphones will no longer output sound, so I only had one side to listen to and that was rather annoying.

The title of my post refers to what the indoor cycling instructor likes to say. I hear it in my head all the time. I worked really hard today in that class.

Here are today's data:

Food:
Pre-workout: Small banana, milk in coffee: 90 cals
Workout fuel: 1 GU, 100 cals
Breakfast: Yogurt with a little granola, ham and cheese, milk in coffee: 405 cals
Snack: 1 cookie, 150 cals
Lunch: Chicken noodle soup, crackers: 260 cals
Snacks: Clif "Nectar" bar (yummy), string cheese, strawberries: 260 cals
total so far: 1265 cals
Dinner: Chicken, green beans, peanut-butter pretzels: 650 cals
Because I'm very bad: Cadbury caramel egg, 190 cals
TOTAL: 2105 calories

Exercise:
Swim 40 minutes
Indoor cycling 1 hour
Run 30 minutes
Total calories burned: 1050

Spring snowboarding!

Oh man it was so gorgeous today, totally clear, beautiful, warm. Yum. John and I were teaching a group of kids to snowboard (it was our auction gift for Gabriel's school) and it was actually really fun. The kids were well-behaved and learned quickly, the snow was perfect for learning, and it's so nice to be out in the sun! Of course, my cheeks are now mad (sunburn, yuck). But hey, it was great.

Today's data:
Breakfast: French toast, one egg, coffee with milk: 340 cals
Lunch: Veggies and dip, small yogurt, turkey bacon, grapes: 300 cals
Snack: Caramel frappuccino light, 140 cals; some of G's ice cream, 100 cals
Dinner: Peanut-butter pretzels, 280 cals; pizza, 600 cals
TOTAL: 1760 calories

Exercise:
Snowboarding all day - my HR monitor said 300 cals, reality is likely more though

Metric century! (Almost...)

I had planned a 65-mile ride; it probably would have been more like 68-70, and 62.5 would have been a metric century. But it took so long - not because we rode slowly (though we did maintain a lower pace than I had expected to, but that was okay) but because we stopped and we got three flats between the two of us, so time was sucked up. Also, neither Danielle nor I carried enough food (I was SOOO dumb! I only carried one Luna bar!), so we had to stop a few times to get more food. Anyway, I had somewhere to be late in the afternoon, so about mile 60, John picked me up. I didn't get to finish my ride, which makes me feel like a loser...but oh well, life goes on, and I'll do it all next time.

Anyway, here are today's data:

Food:
Breakfast: Bagel with low-fat cream cheese, banana with peanut butter, egg, coffee with milk: 575 cals
On-the-road food:
1 granola bar - 170 cals
1 Luna bar - 180 cals
Small sandwich from Subway: 210 cals
Oatmeal raisin cookie: 200 cals
1 Samoa: 75 cals
Recovery food: Low-fat turkey sandwich and coffee, bites of Camille's cookie: 410 cals
Dinner: Bread, salad with beef: 450 cals
Dessert: M&Ms, Small Haagen-Dazs (these single-serving things, so cute!): 400 cals
TOTAL: 2670 calories

Exercise:
Ride 60 miles on my bike!
2200 calories burned

Oh man I'm sore

You can tell it's Friday by how I feel. :-) But I got up to 104 RPM while standing on the bike in indoor cycling today! (My quads will pay.)

Here are today's data:

Food:
Pre-workout: Banana and milk in coffee: 110 cals
Breakfast: Yogurt, milk in coffee, ham and cheese: 400 cals
Lunch: Chicken burrito, 700 cals
Total so far: 1210 cals
Snack: Peanut-butter pretzels, 200 cals
Dinner: Chicken wrap, fries: 700 cals
Dessert: Espresso brownie, 400 cals
Total consumed: 2510 calories

Exercise:
Indoor cycling, 75 minutes
Swim, 30 minutes
Calories burned: 750

I beat myself!

Every Thursday I have a challenge scheduled for the non-recovery weeks in my Base 2 and Base 3 training. I have to do the 5K Fun Run profile on the treadmill faster than the week before - and ideally with a lower heart rate. Oh, and I have to do it after running for an hour prior, although last week I did it after swimming half an hour then running half an hour. The point is, I'm not fresh when I do this, and I push the boundaries of speed and heart rate.

Last week was my baseline: I ran it in 26:34, keeping the pace of 7.0 miles per hour until the last 1/3 km, where I pushed it up to 9. My max HR that I saw was 191.

This week I was 46 seconds faster, completing it in 25:48. I ran the first 2K at 7.1, then the rest at 7.2, then for the last 1/3 pushed it up to 9.0. My max HR was 190. So I beat myself quite nicely, although I'm nervous about the next few weeks. My best time ever was 24:40 for this program, so it would rock if I could get faster than that! But we'll see.

Today's data:

Food:
Pre-workout: Banana and milk in coffee: 110 cals
During workout: 1 GU, 100 cals
Breakfast: Mocha (nonfat, but with whip), ham and cheese, strawberries and cottage cheese: 500 cals
Lunch: Shrimp, couscous, veggies: 500 cals
Total so far: 1210 calories
Snack: 1 mini Reeses' peanut butter cup, cheese and turkey: 160 cals
Dinner: Shrimp (yeah again whatever), spinach, tortilla: 400 cals
TOTAL: 1770 calories
Um, dessert: Banana split from Dairy Queen, 510 cals
Real total: 2280 cals (still okay though)

Exercise:
Run 50 minutes outside
Run 1 mile (less than 10 min, then walking)
Run 5K fun run for time (max HR 190)
Swim 20 minutes
Calories burned: 950
Circuit training: 400 cals
Total calories burned: 1350!

Glad it's over today

I enjoyed my workout, but I was really relieved to be done. I miss rest. It's only Wednesday - three more workout days before a day off. But even this Sunday, I'll be snowboarding all day. Hopefully it won't be too hard - I'm teaching three kids, so I don't guess I'll actually be working - but still. I'm tired.

Today's Data:

Food:
Pre-workout: Banana and coffee, 110 cals
Breakfast (a big one!): Ham and cheese (115), granola, strawberries, and cottage cheese (450 cals), coffee with cream (30): 595 cals
Lunch: Shrimp and veggie skewers, veggies, rice: 250 cals
Snack: Carrots and cheese dip: 100 cals
Candy: 2 pieces little candies: 120 cals
Dinner: Grapes, Fish, green beans, mashed potatoes: 360 calories
TOTAL so far: 1535 cals

Exercise:
Swim 40 minutes
Indoor cycling 1 hour
Run 30 minutes
Calories burned: 1050

Back to work

Stuff hurts and I didn't want to swim, but I made myself. Maybe I'll write more later.

Food:
Pre-workout: Banana and coffee with milk: 110 cals
Breakfast: Banana bread, coffee with milk, ham and cheese: 435 cals
Lunch: Steak and beef barley soup: 435 cals
Snack: Turkey and cheese, one little candy: 160 cals
Total so far: 1140 calories
Dinner: Bread, pork chop, broccoli: 450 cals
Total: 1590 calories
Dessert: Strawberries with a little chocolate sauce over them (not bad!): 150 cals
TOTAL: 1740 calories - Yay!

Exercise:
Run 1 hour 10 minutes
Lift weights (upper body and abs only)
Swim 30 minutes
Calories burned: 800

I'm a crabby patty

I didn't feel like getting out of bed this morning, so I didn't go to the gym. And I didn't go to work either. Well, okay, that's not really fair, because I planned to stay home to take John to the doctor, but I'm not going in this afternoon either. I'm going to work from home. I am working from home. I actually can get a lot done this way, because the kids are at school and the house is clean and, frankly, I have interesting work to do.

But I should also blog. I didn't yesterday, but my eating wasn't too bad anyway. I rode my bike 30 miles aiming for keeping the speed above 20 mph - I did manage to do it most of the time, but sometimes I had to draft off my friend to get a little break. Then I felt guilty for drafting.

But today is today, and despite my crabbiness, here are the data:

Food:
Breakfast: Ham, hard-boiled egg, Kashi Go-Lean Crunch cereal with 1% milk, coffee with whole milk: 400 cals
Lunch: Chicken with artichoke hearts and mushrooms (my creation!), chicken noodle soup: 340 cals
During exercise: 1/2 Luna bar, 90 cals
Post exercise snack: 1/2 Luna bar, fruit cup: 160 cals
Total so far: 990 cals
Dinner: Bread, cheese, salad with low-fat dressing, asparagus, steak: 600 cals
Dessert: 1/2 Woopie pie: 200 cals
TOTAL: 1790 calories

Exercise:
Bike 1.5 hours, 24 miles
Run 1 hour (6 miles? I hope at least, though my legs felt like lead)
Calories burned: 1300

Breakfast of Champions

Ah, the banana chocolate chip muffin from Starbucks. Golden brown on top with rich chocolate chips and chunks of real banana. 470 calories of deliciousness...the perfect way to precede a bike ride. Too bad I'm too full to feel like riding now!

Well, it worked out okay - I had enough energy for my ride. We took it easy for most of the way, then I pushed hard and maintained 20+ mph over a couple of rolling miles (slight uphills, slight downhill). That part felt amazing - I've got to remember what being in that zone feels like and figure out how to get there, and stay there.

Today's data:

Food:
Breakfast: Banana chocolate chip muffin, coffee with milk: 500 calories
Lunch: Salmon and trail mix, coffee with milk: 490 cals

Exercise:
Bike 1.5 hours, 865 calories burned

No banana bread this week!

This is a good thing, even though today I wanted it. The cafeteria no longer has it daily, and today wasn't the day. Oh well! It's better for me. Although I did eat yummy Costco granola.

I'm in an excellent mood after a great workout: a 30 minute swim followed by indoor cycling for 1.5 hours followed by a half-hour run. Danielle taught today, and had a cancellation at 7:30 a.m. so she let people stay up until 8 a.m. I wanted to stay the entire hour, but I was talking to the woman next to me and invited her to bike tomorrow, so I only did half an hour to save enough time for a good ride tomorrow.

Today's data:

Food:
Pre-workout: yogurt and coffee with milk: 140 cals
Breakfast: Coffee with milk, yogurt and granola, ham and cheese: 595 cals
Lunch: Salad and chicken breast, 400 calories
Snack: Trail mix, carrots and cheese, apple: 305 cals
Dinner: Pork tenderloin, spinach, orzo: 400 calories
Dessert: 2 Brownie bites and milk: 280 cals
TOTAL: 2120 calories

Exercise:
Swim 30 minutes
Bike 90 minutes
Run 30 minutes
Total calories burned: 1300

Major workout day

It felt great to work out hard this morning...and I'm going back at noon.

Okay, I didn't go back at noon. I was halfway to my car when I realized I was insane. I worked out HARD this morning; why do I need to lift weights today, when I only do it twice a week anyway? I can do it tomorrow or even tonight if I feel better. Right now I have sore quads and a sore shoulder.

Today's data:

Food:
Pre-workout: Banana and coffee with cream: 110 cals
Workout fuel: 1 GU, 1/2 Luna bar: 190 cals
Breakfast: Ham and cheese, cottage cheese and strawberries, coffee with cream: 295 cals
Total so far: 595 cals
Snack: Carrots and cheese dip, yogurt: 195 cals
New total: 790
Lunch: Sashimi and miso soup, 250 cals
Snack: Peanut butter with M&Ms, 100 cals
New new total: 1140 cals
Dinner: Chicken breast, spinach, trail mix (because I'm bad), two brownie bites: 650 cals
TOTAL: 1790 cals

Exercise:
Swim 30 minutes
Run 1 hour - including 5K fun run
Baseline: 26:34 - ran @ 7.0, at end pushed up to 9.0
Indoor cycling 1 hour
Total calories burned: 1350

Jessica = Overly dramatic

It's not fair to say this was the worst morning ever. Although I was thinking, how many wives out there see their husband almost-die on a regular basis? Enough to be calm about it and be able to joke with the 911 operator?

Maybe I'm the psychotic one. Detachment or whatever. And maybe I should stop writing about this now because this is a blog about diet and exercise, not my family issues. I think it's just that it feels good to write and/or talk about it, so I can't help it. But I'm going to go to sleep now. I've got a huge exercise day tomorrow!

Worst. Morning. Ever.

At least I'm not talking about diet or exercise. Well, actually, I guess it would be better if I were.

I woke up at 3:40 a.m. completely and totally alert. Immediately I knew something was wrong: I've got a sixth sense about when John is about to have a seizure. To anyone else, he probably just looked asleep - he wasn't even sweaty or warm - but there was something about him that made me just know. I don't know what it is.

I tried to wake him up. I got a soda from the kitchen and asked him to drink it, but I couldn't get him to respond. So I got out a shot of glucagon - a hormone that causes the liver to release sugar - and gave it to him. He was semi-conscious at this point, but he let me give him the shot. Then he stood up and nearly fell over. I asked him, then yelled at him to sit down on the floor. I knew that if he were going to have a seizure, better it be from the floor than falling to the floor, or on the bed where he would likely fall off anyway.

So he sat down on the floor, then started having a seizure. His seizures are just like an epileptic grand mal seizure, and if you've never seen one, I do think it looks like the Simpsons' episode where they're watching Japanese animation that causes seizures. His whole body stiffens and convulses; he sounds like he's choking; it's very rhythmic and scary. It lasts probably 30 seconds to a minute, but it feels like forever. I called 911 as soon as it was over; during the seizure I was trying to move John's feet, because they were underneath our dresser and I thought they would probably hurt from banging against the wood. However, by putting him on the floor I did avoid the usual head injury he gets from hitting the bedside table as he falls out of bed.

When the seizure is over, his breathing is really weird. It's like Fred Flintstone snoring - really loud and through the lips, not the nose. It sounds like his lips are flapping - but weirdly, his mouth is actually closed. And his chest doesn't rise and fall - instead, his belly does. I've had 911 operators tell me to start CPR when they hear that ineffective breathing - I never do, since he most definitely has a pulse (it's racing), but I do worry every time about whether oxygen is actually getting to his brain.

The fire department folks are the first to arrive; the EMTs don't come until probably 10-15 minutes later. They know us by now, which is really sad. Gabriel woke up right after they arrived, and by then, John had begun screaming. The screams are pretty much as loud as you can imagine - and as fearful. It sounds like he's being murdered, like he's begging for his life, and who knows - maybe he is. But from himself, of course. Gabriel completely flipped out and started crying - I let him into our room, because there wasn't a single place in the house (or probably the neighborhood) where he couldn't hear John's screams, so at least he could see that John was being cared for.

When John began speaking again, it was one word: "Please" in a terrified voice, alternating with those crazy screams. He looks through people, not at them - there is no recognition in his eyes that he's even seen you before. The EMTs tested his blood sugar - it was 120, then rose to the 200s - and couldn't understand why he wasn't out of it. They started an IV with a dextrose solution and got his blood sugar up to the 500s. John didn't stop yelling and saying "please." One of them guessed that the seizure triggered some sort of psychiatric thing deep in his brain - a "fight or flight" mechanism - and suggested Haldol to medicate him. As EMTs don't carry Haldol, they settled for Valium.

He calmed down a little with the valium, but he was still fighting and it still took the five of the EMTs to hold him down. I asked one of them why he was still fighting, and she said she didn't know - the amount of valium they'd given him could kill another person. Eventually he calmed down enough so they could bring in the backboard and strap him on for the ride to the emergency room.

I called my next-door-neighbor to come get the kids. It was 4:45 a.m. It's great to have excellent friends nearby. Apparently she had no trouble getting the kids to go back to sleep in their spare bedroom. Thank goodness for that.

The EMTs strapped John to the backboard - by the way, he's completely naked, covered (barely) by a bathrobe - and haul him into the aid car. I follow it to the hospital.

John is awake and knows who I am by the time I arrive at the hospital, but feeling horrible - headache, muscle aches, stomachache, etc. He forces himself to vomit - what did he eat last night? Whatever it was, it looked nasty - and after a few hours, they discharge him. In the hospital is the worst time for me, not that I matter here. Once I know he's going to be okay, I just want to get him home - I sit on a hard metal folding chair in a freezing cold room while John naps, and I end up wishing I were the sick one, or at least that he were admitted so I'd have an armchair to sleep in. But the doctor on duty was one who recognized John from previous visits, so he knew I could handle things as soon as John seemed okay. They gave him a shot for the nausea and sent us home.

So, that's all I feel like saying. No exercise, no meal tracking today. All I want is a nap.

I did look at my schedule and I think I've arranged things so that I can make up the lost time from today...of course, I should probably chalk this day up to extenuating circumstances and just forget about the workout hours, but that's not really in my nature to do...

Yesterday = Not Good. Today = The Real New Start

Okay, so I tried and failed. Microsoft has this tradition that on your anniversary (or at least milestone ones) you bring in one pound of M&Ms for each year you've worked here. Yesterday was my five-year anniversary. Ugh. There were still M&Ms outside my office this morning, and I ate some yesterday every time I walked into or out of my office. Bad bad bad.

So last night I went to the grocery store and spent $40 on healthy foods to stock my in-office fridge. I now have carrots, celery, low-fat cheese sticks, peanut butter, apples, oranges, some kind of low-fat, low-cal dip for the carrots and celery, and turkey breast slices. And other stuff I think. So today I'm going to try to be very very good.

I have to report this: I am exhausted. Both yesterday and today in afternoon meetings, I was close to nodding off. I feel like I could close the blinds to my office and curl up on my futon and go to sleep right now. Tonight I have a massage scheduled - that might be weird. What if I actually do fall asleep? (Does it matter? Wouldn't my muscles receive the same benefit either way?)

Today I was much more successful at sticking to the food plan...not 100%, but at least calorie-wise I'm okay. My calories are too high in the evenings. I need to work on that.

Anyway, here are today's data.

Food:
Pre-workout: Banana (no cream in my coffee...yuck!) 80 cals
Breakfast: Ham and cheese, cottage cheese and strawberries, coffee with lots of cream to make up for the morning: 325 cals
Lunch: Turkey, string cheese, carrots, spreadable cheese, turkey chili: 505 cals
Snack: Yogurt and orange, 170 cals
Dinner: Beef stir-fry, yogurt and granola, a little bit of trail mix: 800 cals
TOTAL TODAY: 1880 calories - not bad given my exercise level!

Exercise:
Run 1 hour (and six minutes)
Lift weights 45 minutes
Swim 30 minutes
Calories burned: 950

New period, new week, new start

Okay, after this weekend's excess, I'm newly committed to eating right. I hope.

I'm starting the first week of Base 2 training. This morning I had my lightest day this week: just a half-hour swim and indoor cycling. It was fun, but I'm a bit sore from the weekend - and one of my knees kind of hurts. I'm hoping it's due to the snowboarding yesterday. I really shouldn't snowboard while I'm training. Maybe next year I won't train for anything and I'll just try to have fun. But that doesn't really fit with my personality.

Here are today's data:

Food:
Pre-workout: Banana and coffee with cream, 110 cals
Breakfast: Ham and cheese, yogurt and granola (not the super calorie Costco kind though), coffee with cream: 400 cals
Snack: Pumpkin bread, 150 cals
Lunch: Chicken in salad, 400 cals
Snack: M&Ms and a Samoa, 225 cals
Dinner: Beef stir-fry, 300 cals
Grazing on things I shouldn't: 200 cals
Thin mint girl scout cookies (these should be part of the above "things I shouldn't graze on" category): 210 cals
Total: 1995 calories

Exercise:
Swim 30 minutes
Indoor cycling 1 hour
700 calories burned

Oh, I'm deliberately not weighing myself for a while. I know I'm in a bad place. I'm going to try to work hard to get back to a better one and then weigh myself and be happy.

Don't Ask About the Rest of Friday, or Saturday, or Sunday...

Suffice to say the banana bread kicked off a rollercoaster of sugar highs followed by crashes that were fixed by more sugar and caffeine...the only saving graces (although I don't think it fully accounts for the damage I did) were the 3 hour, 1800 calorie burn bike ride I did Saturday morning, and the four hours I spent snowboarding today.

Tomorrow's goal is to be very, very good. Wish me luck.

#1 Rule of Weight Loss: Don't Bake

Mmm...homemade banana bread. Yummy. And Gabriel insisted that we add chocolate to it, so it's all the more yummy.

Okay, back to exercise: I swam this morning, then did indoor cycling low-key (zone 2 mostly), then ran 20 minutes at a very low zone 3.

And I want to eat the whole darn loaf of banana bread - all 1700 calories of it. Which makes each slice 170, which makes the two I ate this morning 340. Ha ha.

I also re-did my training plan to accommodate more hours. Yay. It was easy. There are a few days that will be hard, but mostly I just made realistic numbers for how long I'm actually going to be biking on Saturdays and it worked out well.

Here's the rest of today's damage:

Food:
Pre-workout: Coffee with cream, banana: 110 cals
Breakfast: Coffee with cream, ham and cheese, my banana bread: 475 cals

Exercise:
Swim 30 minutes
Indoor cycling 1 hour
Run 20 minutes
Total calories burned: 750

I get to do more!

Danielle ran my training plan by another trainer at the Pro Club, one who is triathlon-certified. He said that despite Joe Friel's book that I used to develop my plan, which says I can train a minimum of 500 hours a year and do a half-iron, I should be doing more. And this is a good thing, because now that I've been through a 14.5 hour week last week (I know, scheduled for 13.5, but I went over), I know I can do it.

So he said I should have 10 hours a week on my recovery weeks; I'm going to work from there to determine what the rest of the weeks should be and re-build my plan. I'm excited!

Today I had a stomachache this morning, so I walked for 20 minutes before running for 40 - in zone 2 again, HR around 135 (lower than yesterday). Then I did 75 minutes of yoga - no calorie burn but lots of stretching. I feel really good now, too.

Oh, and I'm wearing the smallest pair of pants I own. They're the same size (6) as every other pair I have, but I always feel fat in them, and today I feel okay. I haven't weighed myself all week - going a little less obsessive for a while. I'm sure I'll shift back though, I always do.

So, here are today's data:

Food:
Pre-workout: Banana. No coffee really - it was too hot to drink the whole way to the club! - 90 cals
Breakfast: Banana bread (my weekly treat, but it wasn't that good today), ham and cheese, coffee with cream: 535 cals
Lunch: 8 oz chili, 250 cals; chicken breast, 200 cals; cucumber slices, 25 cals - total 475 cals
Total so far today: 1010 calories
Snack: 1/2 Luna bar, 90 cals
Dinner: Shrimp and green beans, 400 cals
Dessert: Banana bread (homemade!) 400 cals
total: 1900 calories

Exercise:
Walk 20 minutes, run 40: 325 calories burned
Yoga, 75 minutes: No additional calories (per the monitor at least), but good for me :-)
Circuit training (weight lifting and, for me, light cardio): 300 calories

Slow and Steady Wins the Pace

Today I had scheduled a zone 2 run - my goal was to run it with a heart rate completely below 140. Well, I did - but it was really hard! I kept having to force myself (mentally) not to speed up and run like I know I could. But frankly, I'm sore from circuit training yesterday (mostly my glutes and hamstrings), and that's not the point of a recovery week. So it's better that I ran 12-minute miles than had I sped up to do 8 or 9. That will be for next week!


Today's data:

Food:
Pre-workout: Coffee and banana, 110 cals
Breakfast: Ham and cheese, 1 cup fruit, coffee with cream: 255 cals
Lunch: Chicken taco salad (only a few bites of the shell): 510 cals
Snack: Chicken breast (um, thermogenesis?): 260 cals
Total so far: 1135 cals
Dinner: Chicken breast, broccoli, bread: 500 cals
Dessert: Yogurt with granola: 300 cals
TOTAL: 1935 calories - a little high

Exercise:
Run 60 minutes at 5 mph!, HR average 138 (solid zone 2), 400 calories burned

Swimming and circuit training

Today I swam an entire hour - which is really much more mental than physical. I did 6 10-minute intervals, like this:

1 - Just swim - 9 laps
2 - Kickboard only, plus two laps of swim to "clear" myself - total 7 laps
3 - Paddles with regular kick, plus two laps of swim - total 9 laps
4 - Pull buoy only, plus two laps of swim - total 8 laps
5 - Fins with kickboard - total 8 laps
6 - Just swim - 9 laps

Total time: 60 minutes. Total distance: 1.5 miles (approx)

I swam in the morning, and returned to the club to take a circuit training class at noon with my old trainer, Billy. That took the place of a weights workout. It was really fun. Also, a cool thing happened in class: some woman was staring at me, and eventually asked my name. I told her, and she asked if I did 20/20. I said yes, and she asked me whether I'd spoken at one of those brown-bags informational meetings they have last January. I don't remember whether it was January or what, but I did, so I said yes - and she said I inspired her to start the program! She remembered that I had done it with kids and a full-time job. So I felt really good that I actually did inspire someone.

So here are today's data:

Food:
Pre-workout: Coffee with cream and a biscotti (poor planning), 170 cals
Breakfast: Ham and cheese, 1 cup fruit, coffee with cream, 255 cals
Snack: Yogurt, 110 cals
Lunch: Citrus salmon salad, 290 cals
Total so far: 825 cals

Exercise:
Swim 60 minutes, 400 calories
Circuit training, 350 calories
Total: 750 calories burned

Swimming and circuit training

Today I swam an entire hour - which is really much more mental than physical. I did 6 10-minute intervals, like this:

1 - Just swim - 9 laps
2 - Kickboard only, plus two laps of swim to "clear" myself - total 7 laps
3 - Paddles with regular kick, plus two laps of swim - total 9 laps
4 - Pull buoy only, plus two laps of swim - total 8 laps
5 - Fins with kickboard - total 8 laps
6 - Just swim - 9 laps

Total time: 60 minutes. Total distance: 1.5 miles (approx)

I swam in the morning, and returned to the club to take a circuit training class at noon with my old trainer, Billy. That took the place of a weights workout. It was really fun. Also, a cool thing happened in class: some woman was staring at me, and eventually asked my name. I told her, and she asked if I did 20/20. I said yes, and she asked me whether I'd spoken at one of those brown-bags informational meetings they have last January. I don't remember whether it was January or what, but I did, so I said yes - and she said I inspired her to start the program! She remembered that I had done it with kids and a full-time job. So I felt really good that I actually did inspire someone.

So here are today's data:

Food:
Pre-workout: Coffee with cream and a biscotti (poor planning), 170 cals
Breakfast: Ham and cheese, 1 cup fruit, coffee with cream, 255 cals
Snack: Yogurt, 110 cals
Lunch: Citrus salmon salad, 290 cals
Total so far: 825 cals
Snack: Luna bar, 180 cals
Total so far: 1105 cals
Dinner: Roasted filet of basa, spinach: 250 cals
Dessert: Small banana cream pie Dairy Queen blizzard, 460 cals
TOTAL TODAY: 1815 calories

Exercise:
Swim 60 minutes, 400 calories
Circuit training, 350 calories
Total: 750 calories burned

Off Topic: Jimmy Choo Sandals

My two-year-old daughter just pointed to a picture in People magazine and said, "I wish I could have these shoes." Jimmy Choos, worn by Sandra Bullock. Oh my goodness. Considering that her mom wears New Balance fake sneakers or sensible (but cute) black flats every day, where could she possibly get this???

Weight = up, body fat = down

That was the result today from my 20/20 Lifestyles post-program evaluation. The weight being up wasn't a surprise, the body fat being down was something I hoped for, but wasn't sure of. Thank goodness. The weight they have me as is 140. That's tolerable.

Today is day one of my first recovery week, and I don't feel the least bit bad about not working out. I'm tired and I want to relax. So that's really good. Tomorrow I do go back to exercise, but lighter than usual all week.

However, to "celebrate" my weight being up but body fat being down, I ate a delicious donut. :-) Mmm...chocolate covered old-fashioned from Chuck's Donuts. Yum yum yum. Worth every one of the darn 450 calories I'm guessing they cost.

Food:
Breakfast: Donut, coffee with cream, ham and cheese: 600 cals
Lunch: Salad with chicken: 300 cals
Dinner: Chicken breast, green beans, sweet and sour white beans: 400 calories
Total so far: 1300 calories

Exercise: None! And I'm tired, so my body is glad!

Chilly Hilly!

Today was my first official event of 2006! Of course, it wasn't actually a race, but instead an organized bike ride - 33 miles of rolling hills (and a couple of good climbs) around Bainbridge Island. It was supposed to rain all day - amazingly (an answered prayer!), the rain held off until the moment we were storing the bikes back in the van to go home.

I slept really poorly last night, despite going to bed early, not eating or drinking caffeine before bed, etc - it was just like any night before a race, which was weird, because this wasn't a race. We were planning on taking the first ferry over to the island, but if we missed it, there were lots of other ferries we could take. Plus, I knew I was a stronger rider than some in my group, so I didn't have to worry about falling behind. So I'm not sure why I was nervous.

The ride was really fun, though it was hard to ride with John, mostly because his blood sugar kept dropping too low all day. We didn't have enough food and drink to keep him where he needed to be! So there were some scary moments - like when I realized he was low as we climbed a hill together, then he refused to pull over at the top. I had to chase him at 33-35 miles per hour down this long grade, all the while sure he was just going to fall off his bike and die. Nice.

For me, I wasn't psyched that my average pace was around 12 miles per hour (which means with the ride before and after the official start and finish, I rode something like 38 miles, for 3 hours 15 minutes or so). But we were with a group, John was kind of slow, and it was important to me to be with him and enjoy the day together. He's got to get his blood sugar under control and get his pace up, though, to really enjoy the rides we have planned during the rest of this year!

So here's what I ate today:
Breakfast: Bagel and cream cheese, coffee with cream: 360 cals
Snack: Bite of scone, bite of some kind of bread: 50 calories
On the bike: Luna bar, 180 calories
On the bike more: Banana bread, 1/2 banana, brownie: 350 calories
Dinner: Bread, salad, spaghetti with cheese and sauce, chicken breast, spumoni: 1200 calories (?)
Beer! 224 calories (amazingly enough, calorieking.com has Fat Tire right in their database)

TOTAL: 2364 calories

Exercise:
Bike Chilly Hilly, 1900 calories burned

Calorie deficit: 1136 yay! That is, if I don't eat any more tonight

Ah, the trail

There's a 10-mile trail not too far from my house - it's a loop and it's mile-marked, and it's mostly gravel or dirt so it's softer on your feet than pavement. It's been a while since I ran it, but this morning Danielle and I headed out for a brisk 10-mile run. It's amazing how 10 miles sounds so little to me now!

We did it in 1 hour, 40 minutes, which was perfect: 10-minute miles is great, considering we haven't been running that long in a while. The trail is fairly hilly (though only one hill is very steep - but that's right at the end, or the beginning going down if you pick that direction. We picked to go up the hill - gotta do it the hard way if you're gonna do it at all!). I would have been happy with a 2-hour time, but we were talking the entire time and totally running comfortable. My heart rate was good most of the time - on the uphills it definitely climbed higher than I would have liked, but I think that's the effect of being at the end of a long training week. My heart rate was probably elevated when I woke up this morning; tomorrow I'm going to try to remember to check.

I've eaten a lot today, definitely been hungry. Here's how it breaks down:

Food:
Breakfast: Coffee with cream and reduced-fat coffee cake: 380 cals
Lunch #1 (post-workout): Lasagna, 410 cals (yeah, so it was only 10:30 a.m. It had the right carb to protein ratio)
Lunch #2: (hungry later): Chili and chicken nuggets (don't ask) from Wendy's: 440 cals
Snack: Nuts, a cookie, a short marble mocha macchiato: 400 cals
Total so far: 1630 - ugh, this is awful since I haven't even had dinner yet!
Dinner: Chicken tacos - I don't know, 700 calories?
Total: 2330 calories

Exercise:
Run 10 miles, 1 hour 40 minutes: 900 calories

This puts me at a very slight deficit for the day. Blah.

Freaky Friday

This morning I woke up to a husband with extremely low blood sugar: he was not conscious (couldn't wake him). My son had popped into bed with us, so I made him go get John's blood test kit and a soda while I moved furniture in case John had a seizure. (Gabriel is such a good boy in a time of crisis...I can't believe how calm he is, and how helpful!)

John's blood sugar was 35 and I couldn't get him to respond, and by now he was twitching and had opened his eyes, but he was just staring. I got the glucagon shot ready and injected it in his arm - it's a fairly large needle and as I'm not trained at all in giving injections, I'm sure it hurt. He didn't move. Sweat continued to pour down his face.

I waited about five minutes - he still wasn't responsive. So as soon as I called 911, he sat up in bed and started talking (the glucagon had kicked in). I told 911 to cancel the aid car and got John something to eat.

So all that is a very long way to say I was late to the gym - I had to cut my swim short. Then, on the way, the roads were INSANE. Completely iced over, even on the highway. So that was interesting.

Oh, but I figured out how to put playlists in my mp3 player! Until now I was listening to the songs in alphabetical order by title - kind of dumb. I made a 33 minute running mix and it was really effective: today I did the first 16 minutes with two minutes at marathon goal pace, 30 seconds hard (not quite a sprint). Then I moved up every 3 minutes: from 6.6 to 6.8 to 7.0 to 7.3 - then the last three minutes I did 7.5, 7.7, 8.0. Fun fun fun.

So, here are today's data:

Food:
Pre-workout: Banana and 1/2 cup coffee with cream (couldn't drink my coffee with the icy roads - needed two hands on the wheel!) - 95 calories
Breakfast: English muffin with ham and cheese, 1 cup fruit, coffee with cream: 380 calories
Lunch: Chicken breast, broccoli, Hershey's Nugget: 300 cals
Snack: Coffee with cream, chocolate-covered graham cracker: 170 cals
Total so far: 945 cals
Dinner: Peanuts (snack...) 300 cals, roast pork tenderloin, 200 cals, bread with olive oil, 250 cals, green beans, 40 cals - 790 cals
Total: 1735 calories

Exercise:
Swim 15 minutes
Indoor cycling 60 minutes
Run 30 minutes
Calories burned: 950

Too busy to blog!

Yesterday was a little insane at work, so I didn't have time to write. So here's what happened:
I ate reasonably during the day, even through dinner, but totally binged on a cookie, chocolate chips, and brownie bites. I ended up throwing away more than 3/4 of the chocolate chips - right down the garbage disposal, which is better than in my mouth.

So my calories were likely around 2300; I did do the math to get there, but I don't feel like typing it. That said, I burned 750 in exercise, so overall, that's about even for the day. But I felt awful in the evening - how stupid am I?

Workout Key

I'll probably delete this post later, but for now, it's the easiest way to get this info from my house to work.

Swim Workouts
E1: Recovery, HR in zone 1 (100-120)
E2: Extensive endurance intervals - intervals of 6-12 minutes, or long and steady in zone 2
E3: Intensive endurance intervals - Intervals of 3-5 minutes, zone 3
F1: Open water
F2: Paddles
F3: Drag sets
S1: Drill sets (Arms, kickboard, etc)
S2: Fin sets
S3: Speed, zones 5b and 5c
M1: Long cruise intervals - zone 4 to 5 a, 6 min or more per interval
M2: Short cruise intervals - zone 4 to 5a, 3 to 5 min per interval
M3: Threshold - swim 12-20 minutes in zones 4 to 5a without stopping

Bike Workouts:
E1: Recovery, zone 1
E2: Extensive endurance - zones 1 and 2 on rolling course or zone 2 for 20 to 90 min
E3: Intensive endurance - rolling course, zones 2 and 3
F1: Moderate hills - 6% grade, 2-5 min to climb
F2: Long hills - up to 8% grade, 6 or more min to climb
F3: Hill repeats, intensity up to zone 5b, cadence of at least 60, steep hill (6-8% grade, 30-60 seconds to climb)
S1: Spin-ups - increase cadence
S2: Isolated leg
S3: Jumps
M1: Tempo - zone 3 for extended time, no recovery
M2: Cruise intervals - 6 to 12 minutes of work building to zone 4 to 5a
M3: Hill cruise intervals - long low grade in aero position or vary between normal and higher gear (lower cadence) every 30 seconds to build strength
M4: Crisscross threshold - 20-40 minutes in zone 4 to 5a low cadence, then back off, then repeat
M5: Threshold - 20-40 min in zones 4-5a, cadence low

Run Workouts:
E1: Recovery, zone 1
E2: Extensive endurance, zones 1 and 2, rolling course
E3: Intensive endurance, rolling course with small hills that take you into zone 3
F1: Moderate hills - hills of 6% that take 2-5 min to run up
F2: Long hills - grades up to 8%, no higher than zone 5a
F3: Hill repeats - 6-8% grade, 30-60 seconds to run up
S1: Strides - 20 seconds in zone 5c four to eight times
S2: Pickups - 20 second accelerations to faster than 5K race pace
M1: Tempo - zone 3, no recovery
M2: Cruise intervals - 3-5 intervals of 6-12 minutes - build to zones 4 and 5a, recovery in zone 1 or 2
M3: Hill cruise intervals - same as M2, only on long, low grade
M4: Crosscross threshold - 15-30 minutes in zone 4 to 5a, then back off, then up again
M5: Threshold: 15-20 minutes in zones 4 to 5a or at pace 30 seconds/mile slower than 10k race pace

Going long

In elapsed time, today's workout was actually shorter than yesterday's - but in feel, it was longer. 3o minutes of running (3.25 miles), then an hour of indoor cycling, then I ran back to the treadmill for another 30 minutes of running. So I was solidly in my aerobic zone for 120 minutes. And I feel good!

I tried an experiment with a Luna bar: instead of my banana in the morning, I had half a Luna bar, then ate the other half in the first few minutes of cycling. It was okay - my stomach sort of felt yucky during my first run, but not enough to slow me down. I think given a little more time between eating and running, a Luna bar would be acceptable fuel.

I'm definitely feeling muscle tiredness. It's weird - in cycling, my heart rate can be completely reasonable (in the mid-140s) but my legs ache. I guess I need to build muscle endurance in cycling, versus just plain heart rate endurance?

Anyway, here are today's data:

Food:
Pre-workout: 1/2 Luna bar, coffee with cream: 120 cals
During workout: 1/2 Luna bar: 90 cals
Breakfast: Bagel with low-fat cream cheese and ham, coffee with cream: 470 cals
Total so far: 680 calories
Lunch: Sandwich (only one piece of bread), turkey, cheese: 350 cals
Snack: Diced peaches, low-fat cheese, small banana and a little bit of peanut butter: 215 cals
Total so far: 1245
Dinner: Chicken breast, broccoli, nuts: 400 cals
Bad bad bad: Cookies and cream in my decaf coffee: 400 cals
Total today: 2045 calories, darn. It could have been a good day if cookies hadn't found their way into my life.

Exercise:
Run 30 minutes, 3.25 miles
Indoor cycling, 60 minutes
Run 30 minutes, 3.25 miles
Total calories burned: 1100

29% done for the week!

Oh my goodness, I shouldn't think of it this way. But I do think this week is such a test for me, so I can't help it. I'm two days in and 29% done. Actually, that's not so bad.

Today I tried having a GU during my workout to see whether it would make a difference...frankly, I didn't notice. I still felt hungry when I was done, and I didn't feel that I had any more or less energy for the long workout than usual. I might try half a Luna bar tomorrow - I will do 2 hours of cardio then.


Food:
Pre-workout: Banana and coffee, 110 cals
During workout: 1 GU (Chocolate Outrage, yum!): 100 cals
Breakfast: Banana bread (gotta do it, once per week), ham and cheese, coffee: 545 cals
Total so far: 755 calories
Lunch: Yogurt, granola, 4 oz turkey: 550 cals
Total so far: 1305 cals (seems like a lot for 1 p.m.)
Dinner: Asian beef stirfry (20/20 approved), peanuts: 500 cals
Total: 1805

Exercise:
Run 1 hour 10 minutes
Lift weights (and abdominal work...enough that tomorrow it will likely hurt to laugh)
Swim 30 minutes
Calories burned: 1000

Weight beginning of day: 140.6 blah

Week three begins: What is 13.5 hours like, anyway?

The third week of every month during base building is the longest: I have 13.5 hours scheduled to do this week. My husband asked me yesterday why 1 hour per day isn't enough, and someone commented on this blog yesterday that they can't imagine working out this much and balancing the kids, the job, and the exercise. So here's how I do it, and here's why.

How:
I wake up at 4:25 a.m. My clothes were laid out the night before (today was my bathing suit under bike shorts and a sweatshirt) and my gym back was fully packed last night with the clothing I'm now wearing at work. I get dressed, brush teeth and hair and am in my car by 4:35 a.m.

I get my first cup of coffee (an americano) from the Starbucks drive-thru on the way to the Pro Club. I get to the club right at 5 when they open.

Today I swam for half an hour, took a quick rinse-off shower, then changed into my cycling clothes for indoor cycling. When I finished, I took a quick shower - brushed my hair but didn't blow-dry it - got dressed, and went to work. Got to work at 7:45 a.m. (No makeup, nothing fancy - I'm just not that kind of girl. I brush my hair constantly though when it's wet so that it dries straighter.) I could have been here earlier, but I chit-chatted in the locker room.

I will work until 4:45 - I'll get lunch, but work right through it catching up on mail, etc. I'm in meetings all day, but I usually have my laptop open so I can get a bit done if parts of the meeting aren't relevant to me.

At 4:45 I'll leave to get my kids - I'll pick them up by 5:15. I'll make dinner, and tonight we'll pick up the house, because the cleaning person comes tomorrow. The kids will be in bed by 8:30 - we'll have played together and usually I'll have helped my son with his homework.

From 8:30 until 10 I'll watch TV with my husband, get back online if I need to for work, and fold and put away laundry (almost every day I have laundry to do...with all my workout clothes plus three other people in the house, it's a lot). I will also make my son's lunch so when my husband gets up in the morning, it's easier on him (he just has to dress and feed the kids). And again, I'll lay out my workout clothes and pack my work clothes so my morning is easy and I don't disturb my husband by rummaging around the bedroom for something to wear.

I'll fall right asleep as soon as the light is out, then I'll wake up and do it all over again (with a slightly different workout, of course).

Why:
-- The time I exercise is time for me: time to think, time to work out personal and professional problems, time to pray;
-- It's also time not to think - meaning, time just to count laps or minutes or cadence - to clear my brain of all the noisy thoughts;
-- I love the high feeling I get when I leave the gym. After a good workout - and when they're focused like they are now, they're nearly always good - the endorphins are amazing;
-- I'm amazed at what I can do. I want to push myself further and see just what the limits are. I don't want to guess - I want to know;
-- I have more energy when I work out for two hours than when I don't. I really do. (That said, some workouts - especially out in the cold - don't give me more energy, like on Saturday when I was so sleepy in the evening after the big bike ride.);
-- It's just for joy. I love it. I'm not doing anything that isn't pleasant. Even when I swim, which I say I don't like as much, when I get into the rhythm, I do feel like I could go forever. When I lift weights, I like thinking about how much stronger I'm getting, how good my arms look, and all the things I can do with a strong body. And running and biking - well, any runner or cyclist knows these sports remind you of being a kid again, and the pure fun in just GOING.

So, all that said, I need to get back to work. Here's today's data:

Food:
Pre-workout: Banana and coffee, 110 cals
Breakfast: Coffee, 1/2 bagel, ham, cheese: 285 cals
Snack: Granola, 300 cals
Lunch: Chicken breast and broccoli, 275 cals
Snack: 2Mini-Luna bars (those little samples): 120 cals
Total so far: 1090 cals
Dinner: Two chicken tacos, beans, a little bit of rice: 500 calories
Total so far: 1590 cals
Must confess: Felt hungry late, ate 1/2 serving lasagna and peanuts, and, um, a Reese's peanut butter heart thing. This is another 500 calories...for a total of:
2090 calories consumed. Ugh.

Exercise:
Swim 30 min
Indoor cycling 1 hour
Calories burned: 700

Weight this morning: 140.8 (thank goodness, despite yesterday's binge)

Sooo hungry!

Today I woke up happy - not exactly sore, I just felt fatigue in my muscles and slight pain - not even pain, but just a feeling - in my right knee. Danielle and I ran for a little more than an hour. It was fun, but the end of the run - up the 10% grade hill - was really really hard. Not because I was tired, but because it was so darn cold that my chest hurt - it hurt to breathe. But it was at the end, so I immediately got recovery.

In general, I'm really hungry today. I pretty much want to eat everything - and I actually feel like I need to (low blood sugar?). On the other hand, I don't feel like I did enough to deserve it...

Okay, can't meal track the rest of the day, mostly because we had a Daytona 500 party in my house and other people brought the food and I basically snacked all day. I'm positive I ate way too much. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

Today's data:
Breakfast: 1/2 bagel with low-fat cream cheese, banana with peanut butter, coffee with cream: 360 cals
After breakfast: Two tiny mini-muffins, fake creamer in coffee: 160 cals
Lunch: Chicken breast and lasagna: 550 cals
Total so far: 1070 calories, I better watch the rest of the day...which will be hard, since we're having a party here.
Total for the day: who knows, too high to count. :-(

Exercise: Run 1 hour, 500 calories

If I never post again, it's because I froze to death

I'm about to go ride my bike somewhere between 40-50 miles - from my house to Seattle, but the very longest way possible, I think (also the safest). It's 21 degrees outside - unbelievably cold for Seattle. But it's clear and the sun is up and hey, if I work hard enough, I'll create my own heat, right? RIGHT???

I'm going on the strength of half a bagel with peanut butter, a banana, and of course coffee with cream. Let's see what happens! Wish I could put coffee in a thermos instead of water in the cage on my bike...

Okay, I survived.


Food:
Breakfast: 1/2 bagel with peanut butter, banana, coffee with cream: 310 cals
On the road: 1 chocolate-covered graham cracker, 1 banana: 210 cals
Lunch: Chicken gyro: 500 cals
"Snacks" (grazing on samples at the Bike Expo): Pieces of Clif Bar, etc, Hershey's Kiss: 100 cals
Dinner: 2 slices pizza, some chocolate and a bite of a cupcake, a nonfat marble mocha macchiato: 970 cals
TOTAL: 1930

Exercise:
Bike 3 hours (4 hours elapsed time, 3 actual moving the pedals): 1600 calories

Calorie deficit: 1930 Yay!

This has nothing to do with diet or exercise or triathlons

But I want to tell the world, my two-year-old daughter pooped on the potty. Thank goodness!!!

It's my weight loss anniversary!

Exactly two years ago today, I started the 20/20 Lifestyles program at the Pro Sports Club. I was 189 pounds and miserable. I was terrified I wouldn't be able to do the diet, the exercise, and that it would just be a very expensive failure, and I was embarrassed just to be in shorts at the gym. I didn't even have appropriate sneakers or gym clothes (how horrifying it is now to think about wearing cotton t-shirts and shorts!). Here's the picture of me they took on day 1.

Well, obviously that wasn't the case, and I'm so thankful that I took the plunge and had the family, friends, and club support to do it and stick with it. It's made a huge difference in my life - in every aspect. At work, I'm more self-confident. At home, I'm happier and more able to do fun things with the family. And for myself, I'm constantly setting new goals, meeting new challenges, and pushing myself harder - and it's both about literally what I can do and metaphorically what I can do. And today I celebrated by wearing horizontal stripes. :-)

So, here's literally what I did today!

Food:
Pre-workout: Banana and coffee - imagine that! 110 cals
Breakfast: Ham and cheese, coffee with cream, yogurt with granola: 545 cals
Lunch: Salad with turkey: 250 cals
Snack: Grapes and half a Clif bar, 185 cals
Total so far: 1090 calories
Dinner: Chicken breast, mashed potato, green beans: 425 cals
Garbage: Small brownie, big bite of cake: 300 cals
TOTAL: 1815 calories

Exercise:
Swim 30 min
Indoor cycling 1 hour
Run 30 minutes
Total calories burned: 1000

Weight beginning of day: 140.2

Calorie deficit: about 800

I can tell it's towards the end of the week

Definitely feeling some muscle soreness today! It was really, really cold this morning, so my running partner preferred to stay indoors. I decided to do my swim first, so I could get it over with and not have to share a lane (not too many people in the pool at 5:15 a.m.!), then I ran 60 minutes - mostly at 6.0, but with 8.6 and above 30-second speed pushes, then I did my weights. I kept it light on the abdominals because, although I wasn't feeling sore before I started, as soon as I did the first curl I felt pretty bad.

By 3 p.m., my left shoulder hurt. I think it was a combination of really focusing on a good, strong, long pull during my swim with doing an exercise with a stretchy band that Danielle showed me - it might have been too much. Ouch. I might need some ibuprofen, even. We'll see. It hurts enough that it sort of radiates down my arm.

I'm in a really foul mood. I'm not sure how to fix it. I'm just totally annoyed about work-related things. And, of course, I would either take it out on the family, or, as I am doing, avoid them. And avoiding them induces guilt. :-) Great cycle!

I'm going to get offline and see if playing with a kid or two will improve my mood. But seriously, I'm feeling annoyed enough that I would think I was about to get my period, but it just ended!

Today's data:

Food:
Pre-workout: Banana and coffee with cream, 110 cals
Breakfast: Oooh, I was bad. Banana bread, ham and cheese, coffee with cream: 535 cals
Lunch: Turkey sandwich on wheat (no time...wanted something lower-cal, but needed something easy and portable): 440 cals
Snack: Veggies and some nuts: 100 cals
Dinner: Chili-marinated shrimp, green beans, 1/2 slice bread, 1 small brownie: 450 cals
Total: 1635 calories

Exercise:
Swim 30 minutes
Run 60 minutes
Lift weights 45 minutes
Total calories burned: 960

Weight this morning: 140.4 <-- improving, I think...

A joyful workout

I had a fabulous workout this morning! I felt high. It was so awesome. First I ran just for 10 minutes - 1.25 miles - listening to really up, fast music (mostly three songs: Ready, Steady, Go!, The Distance, and Unwritten.

Then I did indoor cycling, which was okay - music was only so-so. I might have to take Monday's class more often...I prefer the instructor on Wednesday, but the music on Monday. And the music helps keep me going!

Then I ran 20 more minutes, same songs plus others from my usual routine. I pushed the speed up high - up to 9.0 at times, but mostly at 7.0, and I did 4 and a half minutes at 8.0. My heart rate was in the low 180s (I think the max I saw was 183). So a bit much for Base 1 training, but it was so much fun and I felt so great that I just had to do it. Tomorrow's run will be a zone 2 (heart rate 120-140).

Here are today's data:

Food:
Pre-workout: Banana and coffee with cream, 110 cals
Breakfast: Ham and cheese, a scone (a Valentine's present from a friend), coffee with cream: 545
Lunch: Salad with turkey, no dressing: 250 cals
Snack: Apple, cheese: 90 calories
Dinner: Basa (a white fish) and broccoli, chocolate: 400 calories
Total so far: 1395 calories
After dinner: Small slice cake from yesterday, 1 cookie: 500 calories (estimate)
TOTAL CONSUMED: 1895 calories, not so bad

Exercise:
Run 30 minutes, 3.65 miles
Indoor cycling, 1 hour
Calories burned: 900

Calorie deficit: About 600

My weight tonight was 142. Not too bad for end of day, especially when too many of my calories were consumed at night.

Snow!

It was really cold (well, for Seattle) today (well, at 5:15 a.m.) when I went out running. It was pretty much snowing! It wasn't sticking to the ground, but some of the ground was a little slippery. But it was a good run, heart rate zones 2 to 3 with speed pickups in zone 4.

Then I lifted weights and swam half an hour. I should have swum longer, but I didn't bring any food for during exercise, and I really was feeling like I needed it. So half an hour seemed like enough.

I stopped weighing myself daily. I probably will go back to it, but right now I feel really fat (time o' the month) so I just can't do it without getting sad. I'll weigh myself next week or so and see where I am. This morning my jeans felt tight, but I think this pair always does.

Today's data, so far:

Food
Pre-workout: Banana and coffee with cream: 110 cals
Breakfast: Yogurt with granola, ham and cheese, coffee with cream: 545 calories
Lunch: Turkey sandwich with mustard, lettuce, tomato on whole wheat; 1 cup fruit; 1 Hershey's Nugget: 545 calories
Total so far: 1200 calories
Snack: Grapes, 60 cals
Dinner: Shrimp cocktail, 100 cals; lasagna (homemade by me, not as bad as most), 410 cals; bread, 120 cals; salad, 100 cals; 1 glass wine, 80 cals; slice of cake, 400 cals. (This was my Valentine's Dinner - the whole family helped cook. It was really sweet.) 1210 cals total
Total consumed today: 2470 calories


Exercise
Run E2-E3 with S2 (speed pickups), 65 minutes, 500 calories
Lift weights, 45 minutes, 200 calories
Swim E1, E2, S1, S2, 300 calories
Total: 1000 calories burned

So today is a total wash...but given the huge dinner, it could have been worse. And it was a holiday, even if it's a Hallmark holiday.

I love this

Here's a guy who has just started the weight-loss program I did. I'm way into reading about his progress.

Bill's 20/20 Lifestyle Program

Today I talked to about 20 people who are interested in the program - the program people asked me to come talk to help explain the program. I'd say "sell" the program, but seriously I do believe in it so much that I think it sells itself, and my job is just to encourage people who are thinking about starting and confirm that it really is the best present they'll ever give themselves...if the follow the guidelines and make the necessary lifestyle changes.

Yesterday...not good. Today, new start! (Maybe)

I don't even want to admit to what I ate yesterday. Oh well. But here it is:

Food:
Breakfast: Sourdough Breakfast Jack from Jack in the Box: 420 cals, coffee with cream, 30 cals, some of Camille's french toast sticks, 150 cals: 600 calories
Snack: Grapes, 60 cals, granola from Costco, yum yum yum, 600 cals: 660 total
Lunch: Chicken breast: 200 cals
Dinner: Dinner at book club - chinese food. Potstickers, fried shrimp things, salad, mango mousse cake: no idea on the calories. But the fact is, the granola really did me in.
Total calories consumed: Somewhere around a million. Okay, not a million, but way too many.

Exercise:
Bike 70 minutes, 500 calories
-----
Monday

Okay, so today I'm going to try to do better. But already I can tell I ate too much for breakfast. I just love granola so much!!!

Today I don't think I'm going to work out. I'm tired and I want to rest. However, that means I need to get my swim in later on in the week - I originally had planned to swim for one hour, so now I'll have to swim probably two more days for half an hour each time.

But that's okay. Rest is important. Plus, I have to clean my house and play with my kids. :-)

So I thought of a new strategy to handle my granola desire. This afternoon, I had pretty much decided to throw it all away. But when I got home, I had an epiphany: I portioned it all out into ziploc baggies, half-cup servings - which is probably 300 calories (it doesn't have nutrition info, so I have to estimate). Now, I won't touch the baggies, because if I eat a little, it will mess up my calories for when I eat the rest of the baggie, and I won't eat a whole baggie because that's not grazing. It's deliberate, and I want to graze so I can pretend I didn't really eat whatever I ate.

I was thinking that I should just stop buying grazing foods - peanuts, raisins, dried cranberries, etc. And if I have to graze, graze on baby carrots or grapes. Unfortunately, these are better as theories than reality.

So, here's what I ate today. Note the dried cranberries. That was a total graze. The bag has been open and around for weeks, I threw the rest away today. I wonder how much food I've thrown away to avoid eating it in the past two years?

Breakfast: Ham and cheese, yogurt, granola, coffee with cream: 545 calories and I AM FULL!
Lunch: 4 oz tuna with 1/2 tbsp mayo, salad: 300 calories
Snack: 1/2 cup grapes, 60 cals
Total so far: 905 calories
Dinner: Chicken marsala (20/20 approved), carrots, cheese and whole-wheat crackers: 500 calories
After-dinner: dried cherries, 120 calories
Total: 1525 calories

No extra calories burned, since no extra exercise (although I did walk about a mile briskly in bad shoes and definitely had an elevated heart rate). But tomorrow will be a big day for exercise - and I bet it will be a good one if I get to bed on time tonight.

A day full of exercise - and fun!

Not much time to comment, but it was an absolutely beautiful day and I ran and biked and had a fabulous time. At night, though, I was EXHAUSTED. I completely conked out on my bed, with both kids watching Star Wars and I think jumping up and down, but I was kind of too tired to notice. As long as we're all together, right?

But seriously, we had a great bike ride. We rode 24 miles around a gorgeous lake - decent bike trail/shoulder the entire way - and at a reasonable pace. No significant hills. The best part for me was that John did it with me - I really enjoy biking, but I'm focusing more on it this year so that John can enjoy exercise with me. I'm not sure he did, but I was really glad he was there.

Food:
Pre-workout: 1/2 Luna bar, 90 calories
Breakfast: 2 donuts, yum, and coffee with cream: 730 cals (these donuts were small)
Lunch: 1/2 Luna bar, coffee with cream, chicken breast, vegetable soup: 550 cals
Snack: 1/2 York Peppermint Pattie, cheese and crackers: 250 cals
Total so far: 1620 calories
Dinner: Chicken sausage lasagna, pear, 1 piece candy (small), low-cal popcorn: 500 cals
Snack: Dried cranberries, yum (high cal though): 200 calories
TOTAL calories consumed: 2320

Exercise:
Run 8 miles - 700 calories
Bike with Gabriel - 175 calories
Bike with John and Matthew - 700 calories
Total so far: 1575 calories burned
Run with Barbara: 250 calories
TOTAL: 1825 calories burned, woo!

Fun in indoor cycling!

I have to admit, usually I dislike indoor cycling and I watch the clock and divide time to tell myself how much longer (1/4 of the way through, 3/4 to go...etc). But today things were just in sync. Danielle had fun music, the room felt energetic, and one benefit of swimming before I do cycling is that I don't get as hot (but sweat still just pours off of me). So that rocked. It was hard to keep my heart rate low. I sort of felt like I sometimes feel around food: like I'm drunk and I just don't care, so I'll eat whatever I please. Well, I felt high and I'll let my heart rate go wherever I please!

But I brought myself back down by reminding myself that later on in my training, when I have to maintain a higher heart rate, I'm going to long for these days of zone 2/zone 3 training.

Here are today's data.

Food:
Pre-workout: the usual, banana and coffee, 110 cals
Breakfast: 1 pear, english muffin with ham and cheese, coffee with cream, 315 cals
Lunch: Chicken breast and broccoli, 310 cals
Treat: Cheesecake parfait, 300 cals
Total so far: 1035 cals - better watch it the rest of the day!
Dinner: Steak (20/20 approved), green beans, steamed red potato, slice bread: 500 cals
Total so far: 1535 cals
Another treat: Cold Stone Creamery ice cream, 325 cals (yes, really: sinless sweet cream! small! but with yummy mix-ins. However, I only ate half but I counted all 325 cals. So it might have been less)
TOTAL CALORIES: 1860

Exercise:
Swim 15 minutes - 100 calories
Bike 1 hour - 500 calories
Total: 600 calories burned

I waste too much time

I arrived at the gym at 5:15. I left at 7:55. I only did 2 hours of exercise. That's 40 minutes of...oh wait, that's not so bad. Showering, changing, and talking to my friends. Okay, never mind.

It's just that it feels like I got there at 5 and left at 8 and didn't do three hours of exercise. But obviously that's logical, I just have to deal with it.

My run was good - we did the same route as Tuesday only the other direction. It made the steep hills up and the shallow hills down. There are few streets around here that are well-lit enough to run on at 5 a.m., when it's still very, very dark, so we have to make do with mixing up the few we can run on.

Today's Data:

Food:
Pre-workout: Banana and coffee with cream, 110 cals
Breakfast: Ham and cheese, coffee with cream, pear, 4 oz oatmeal, 305 cals
Lunch: Salmon, low-fat minestrone soup, Hershey's Nugget: 465 cals
Snack: String cheese, 60 cals
Dinner: Chicken breast, corn: 380 cals
Couldn't help it: Chocolate and peanuts: 360 cals
Total: 1680

Exercise:
Run 70 minutes - 500 calories
Lift weights 45 minutes - 200 calories

Weight beginning of day: 142.4 yuck
Weight end of day: 144.4

Love to run, hate to binge on cookies

This morning I was sore from yesterday's workout - mostly in my chest and arms. So I definitely felt it during my swim. And couple that with the fact that when I swim, I might as well not have legs, it was some work this morning in the pool. I spent 15 of my 45 minutes on legs only - with and without fins. My goal is to get to the point where I have a strong kick naturally, instead of letting my legs drag naturally. I don't want to put huge effort into the kick since I'll have a bike and a run right after, but right now they're not doing anything useful and they should be.

I'm also working on a good S pull with my arms. My left arm crosses the midline all the time, it's like it's not even part of my body. But I tell it to move on over to where it should be. Unfortunately, at this point it takes focus, and since my legs do too, swimming is definitely hard.

So my run. I ran for 30 minutes on the treadmill after my swim, doing speed pickups (base at 6.0 for two minutes - up to 8.0 for one minute - back to 6.0). I really enjoyed this workout - the one-minute intervals were long enough to make me feel like I was working, but not long enough to suck my strength. In fact, when I finished the 30 minutes, I felt stronger and more powerful than when I started. Gotta love that!

On eating, I've decided that once a week I get to eat banana bread for breakfast. If I don't, I will likely end up eating something worse anyway. I meant to also eat my ham to get the protein, but I forgot - and now, at 3 p.m., I'm paying for that in that I'm hungry.

---
It's later. It's 9 p.m. My tummy hurts. I totally binged on cookies. I probably ate...a dozen? Maybe only 8 or so. They weren't very big - but even at 100 calories each, that's 800!!! And my tummy hurts! Why did I do that? It was totally mindless eating. Yummy, but not deliberate. Ugh. I hope I puke - it will serve me right. I don't even want to weigh myself tonight. But I will...can't improve if I can't tell the truth.


Food:
Pre-workout: Banana and coffee with cream, 110 cals
Breakfast: Banana bread and coffee with cream, 430 cals
Lunch: Chicken taco salad (no rice, no beans, no taco shell), 350 cals
Snack: 1 slice ham, low-fat cheese: 70 cals
Dinner: 20/20 "Designed Dinners" olive tapenade crusted salmon, asparagus: 450 cals
After-dinner binge: Coffee with cream, cookies: Who knows. Hundreds? Thousands?

Total without the binge: 1410 calories
Total with: 2400 calories?

Exercise:
45 minute swim - E1, E2, E3, S1, S2
30 minute run - mostly in zone 3 with speed pickups (S2)
Total calories burned: 800

Weight beginning of day: 141.8 (yuck)
End of day: 144.8 (at least 2 lbs of cookies)

It's hard to keep a low heart rate!

My goal for this morning's run was to keep my heart rate below 140 to remain in zone 2, most of the time. There were a couple of hills on which I allowed myself to enter zone 3 and go up to 160. I was okay for a while, but towards the very end of the run, I found it much harder to keep my heart rate low - and hard to want to. I understand the principle - that keeping it low will help make the chemical processes happening in my body to be more efficient and allow me to go longer - but for someone whose goal has been "go faster and harder to burn more calories quickly" it's a little hard to stomach. But I did it, and Nancy, my running partner, said she felt great, and I did too, so it will probably be quite beneficial.

Data for the day:

Food:
Pre-workout: Banana and coffee with cream: 110 cals
Breakfast: English muffin with ham and cheese, 1 cup fruit, coffee with cream: 375 cals
Lunch: Yogurt with strawberries and granola; lentil soup: 500 cals
Snack: Apple, string cheese, nuts, Hershey's Nugget: 325 cals (yeah, hungry)
Dinner: Leftover chicken parmagiana (too much, too late), dark chocolate: 640 cals
Total so far: 1950 cals


Exercise:
Run 70 minutes - zones 2-3 (mostly 2)
Lift weights 45 min - upper and lower body, abs
Total calories burned: 800

Beginning of day weight: 142.4 (weird that it's so high. must be about to get my period or something)
End of day weight: 142.4 (double weird. I've never before been the same as the beginning of the day. this morning must have been off)

Healthy!

Oh my goodness, I am so happy to be better. I know I didn't blog all weekend - I actually felt better during the weekend, even Friday night, but I didn't exercise and I pretty much ate what I wanted, which didn't include anything healthy, so I didn't feel like copping to it.

But now I'm back on track, and 141.4 pounds this morning. And I have a new plan! I got "The Triathlete's Training Bible" and worked on my plan from now until July.

So today I begin "Base 1" training - the standard plan is just perfect given the timing of my major event. However, I sort of didn't follow the plan today because since I didn't exercise in the last week, my normal Monday - just a swim - didn't make sense. And I'm glad I didn't do it because I did a much longer, harder workout and felt awesome. But, I did keep my heart rate in the appropriate zones, which did mean slowing down at some points both in the swim and on the bike, and I will modify a workout later this week so that I stick to the appropriate number of hours.

Okay, I have a confession now: I ate fairly well all day....and then binged at night when I got home from work, in a way I haven't done in a while. I'm not sure how much I ate, exactly...I know there were crackers, and a brownie, and two little cheesecake bites, and bread, and I made unhealthy food for dinner (chicken parmagiana and spaghetti - although I did only eat a tiny bit of the spaghetti). But I can't adequately meal-track what I ate since I'm not totally sure, plus there could have been more...I suck.

Yeah, so here are the data for the day:

Food:
Pre-workout: Less than 1/3 of a Pria Bar (bad idea, yucky): 50 cals
Breakfast: English muffin with ham and low-fat cheese, 1 cup fruit, coffee with cream: 375 cals
Lunch: Salad with turkey, Hershey's Nugget: 280 cals
Snack: String cheese and yogurt: 170 cals
Total so far: 870 calories
Binge at night...who knows. Most likely, 1200 more?

Exercise:
Swim 30 minutes - E1 (slow to focus on skills), E2 (zones 2-3), S1 (drills), S2 (fins)
Indoor cycling - endurance and speed
Run 1 mile - tempo (6.5 on treadmill)
Total calories burned: 900

Weight beginning of day: 141.4
Weight end of day: 144.4 (yuck)

Still still sick!

Nothing new to add to what I've said before. Although it is nice to reiterate that being sick SUCKS!

Oh, and my weight was down to 136.6. Isn't that cute? I'm sure it's impossible to stay there, but it would be really cool.

Still sick

Ugh. I had to stay home from work again - bad stomach pain and diarrhea, couldn't stray from the bathroom. It got better in the late afternoon, but started up again in the evening. I should just write off this entire week of training and dieting.

So today, I ate a random assortment of things:

- A pear (60 calories)
- Half of a chicken sandwich (chicken breast and bread) (150 calories)
- Some french fries (John's) (135 calories)
- Two boiled red potatoes (120 calories)
- Two brownies (the kids asked me to make them, and I was feeling good at the time) (400 cals)
- Three Wendy's chicken nuggets (130 cals)
- Some bread (150 cals)

Let's see...that comes out to: 1145 calories

Oh, my heart's been racing all day. And I'm out of breath coming up the stairs. Blah!

So sleepy!

Stomach flu or whatever takes a lot out of you! When I feel like this, I eat what seems appetizing. So I've had the most bizarre set of food today. It started out okay, but rapidly went downhill.

However, I know if I were to deny myself french fries when I desperately wanted them, I would just eat more later. And a small order is enough to satisfy.


Food:
Breakfast: 1 bagel: 25o calories
Snack: 1 apple and some nuts: 200 calories
Lunch: Chicken noodle soup: 180 calories
Snack: 1 brownie from the cafeteria - no idea how many calories. Going with 250 based on calorieking.com estimates
Dinner: Jack in the box. Chicken fajita pita and small curly fries: 530 calories
Total so far: 1410 calories


Exercise:
None yet; hoping to be able to wake up tomorrow refreshed and do a regular workout

Beginning of day weight: 137.8 (I know, dehydration...but I wish it were true)