Monday Motivation

So this happened…

So this happened…

I spent a few days afterwards feeling sick to my stomach wondering “what had I done?” But I’m over that now and into week 2 of my 16-week training plan. I’ll post more soon (maybe a vlog post?) but just wanted to check into the world and let you know I’ve picked my sport!

Looking for a sport

Hey!

How are you doing? It has been a minute since I’ve been in this space. I went into serious hibernation mode for the entire winter! But alas, Spring is here and I’m coming up for air and sunshine

Me? I’ve been okay. I had a pretty heavy bout of fatigue (for no diagnosable reason) for most of the winter. Possibly SAD. Possibly CFS. Who knows… I’ve been feeling pretty good since the end of February so that’s a plus. I was already fighting the I-don’t-want-to-go-to-the-gym-or-workout bug before that, but this last instance put me on my butt for weeks on end. I was still walking to catch the bus for work and taking the stairs on occasion, but outside of that I maybe was working out once per week. Shameful. My weight has been floating around 160 lbs all winter as well. Not bad, but not heading toward my goal weight either.

A very smart athlete I know told me at the beginning of my fitness journey to pick a sport. She said that at some point I would get bored with what I was doing and I would need something to train for. As the saying goes – she ain’t nev’a lied. I tweeted the other day that I needed a sport. Another friend (also a very smart athlete) replied, half joking I’m sure, “triathlon!”. What?!

That’s crazy talk, right? Well, I have to admit that at the end of 2011 I had checked out the Pink Power Sprint Triathlon and was intrigued. It appealed to me for many reasons – it’s all women, you don’t have to know how to swim, only male volunteers (!), and the fact that it combines 3 different things – that could keep me interested! I actually started Couch-to-5K training at that time in an effort to see if I could choose Triathlon as my sport. Well, that ended abruptly in May. After a run one day I had hip pain like you wouldn’t believe. When it didn’t resolve itself I went to the doctor to have it checked out. The result? A crooked pelvis. My right hip had dropped AND was tilted forward. The prescription = the end of my running career.

Last week when the triathlon bug was put in my ear, I was back at the Pink Power Sprint site checking it out. Then I quickly went down the rabbit hole of the internet looking for information, tips, stories about others who have gone from just working out regularly to becoming a triathlete.  I can’t swim. I haven’t run since May of 2012. I have a little bike experience (it’s been my equipment of choice for cardio at the gym since 2011). Considering a triathlon would be crazy, right?! Well, I might not be crazy but I’m damn close. Last Thursday I started swim class.  Yesterday was week 1, day 1 of couch-to-5K training again. Friday I have an appointment with my Chiropractor to see if my hip is going to cooperate. My plan is to up my exercise routine through April and see if I completely fall apart. If I don’t, I’m thinking I may commit to tri training. That’s a scary (but exciting) thought!

My workout plan for April:

• Monday – yoga; week 1, day 1 C25K; ab work
• Tuesday – swim class
• Wednesday – strength (full body); week 1, day 2 C25K
• Thursday – swim class
• Friday - strength (full body); week 1, day 3 C25K
• Saturday – REST (normally spin class but I’m being a road-dog for Nicole Lee Designs this week!)
• Sunday – spin class (normally rest day)

I’m open to any and all comments, tips, tricks, thoughts regarding triathlons that you may have. And if anyone wants to join in on the fun of possible training or training, I’m down with that too!

In the interim, I’ve been talked into participating in the GLOWRun 5K on May 11th with a group of co-workers. Have you all heard of this? Basically its a rave with some running thrown in. It looks like a complete and total blast – and you know I’m ALWAYS ready for a good party!

What’s been up with you?

Ironman Triathlon Challenge (say what?!)

Okay, let me explain. First, I am NOT competing in an Ironman Triathlon nor am I training for one. That my friends is way above my pay grade at this point! What I am doing is attempting to complete the Ironman distances. Each semester VCU Recreational Sports hosts several challenges to get gym goers to push their fitness level. The first is the Ironman Triathlon Distance challenge. You are to challenge yourself to complete 26.2 miles running or walking, 112 miles cycling and either 2.4 miles swimming or 15,000 meters rowing over a 9 week period. The challenge runs from September 10th – November 11th with participants self-reporting distances each week. Those that finish the distances once get a Ironman t-shirt. If you complete the distances 2 or more times you get a long sleeve Ironman shirt (fancy!).

Sadly, I’ll be walking and using the elliptical for my 26.2 miles. Sometime in June my right hip really starting hurting when I ran and even for days after. I mean real pain. After getting it evaluated by my Chiropractor, I found that my entire thoracic and lumbar spine were in scoliosis. My right hip has decided to drop AND tilt forward (WTF?!). I’m trying to correct it with adjustments from the Chiro and no high impact exercise (i.e. – no running). We’ll see. Also, a little known fact about me – I don’t know how to swim. I’ll be rowing my heart out starting tomorrow!

I’ve coerced gotten several of my co-workers to sign-up for the challenge as well and we even have a friendly competition going with another department at work! I’m not sure how we’ll determine which department will “win”, but I’m sure some type of statistical analysis will be employed (<– research nerd humor)!

Here’s what my workout schedule looks like for this week:

• Sunday – weights (full body, 45 min); interval cardio (cycling, 9.4 miles)
• Monday – yoga (1 hour)
• Tuesday – rowing (1st time so not sure how long or how far)
• Wednesday - weights (full body, 45 min); interval cardio (cycling, 9.4 miles)
• Thursday – rest or more rowing depending on how I feel
• Friday - weights (full body, 45 min); interval cardio (elliptical, 3 miles)
• Saturday – rest

So far this week I’m on track with exercise, not so much with diet but I’ll blog about that later this week. Wish me luck!

What are you doing to challenge your current fitness level?

Public library love

I went a wee bit crazy at the library yesterday. Even the librarian was impressed with my arm load of books! I’m really enjoying The China Study (this was a renewal and I am a researcher by trade so I’m diggin’ the solid science) and hoping to gleam some good recipe and menu ideas from the rest. With my dairy intolerance, egg issue and just generally trying to eat more plants I’m down to one serving of meat a day so I need some ideas!

What are your favorite meat- and dairy-free recipes?

Working it out

It is so easy to fall back to your old ways. After 7+ months of regularly scheduled exercise (3-5 times per week), one would think that a habit. Obviously not so because I really have gotten out of the habit of regular exercise. It’s been over a week this time. Not.good. I’m heading to the gym today and posting my schedule for the week to help keep me accountable.

What does your activity look like this week?

Possibly some answers…even though I don’t like it

I am proud to report that I’m feeling better than I have in a really long time. Since March really. The tiredness that was March through May is seeming to be related to my anemic status. I’ve been downing B12 and iron supplements religiously since May and they seem to be helping. That coupled with the fact that I’m actually eating a normal amount of calories daily. This last IBS flare (if that was what it REALLY was, I’m still not 100% convinced) was brutal. On average I was only getting about 500 – 700 calories in a day for about a 2 week period which is not good. I started feeling better the first week of July and it’s only been uphill since then. One down side to being on a somewhat structured weight management program while having GI issues is that I’m never really sure if I’m experiencing ‘unexplainable weight loss’ which is an indicator to some serious GI issues. I loss 6 lbs in about a 2 week period, but not eating or drinking due to terrible nausea and stomach pain can cause that. Now that I have both hunger and an appetite, I get to eat like a crazy woman to see if I can move the scale back up! Okay, maybe not a crazy woman, but definitely more than my normal 1500 – 1600 calories-a-day to see if I can add 1-2 lbs and to make sure my gut is actually working.

During the tummy craziness, my GI specialist decided to run another blood test to see if I had a wheat gluten allergy. Luckily, I do not. He also ran the RAST test at the same time just to see if anything would show up there re: wheat or gluten. I had the food allergy skin test series done several years back with no positive results so I wasn’t really expecting anything to pan out. Welp, color me SURPRISED when I started to receive calls from the doctor’s office. The first was around 5:30 pm and I hadn’t gotten home from work yet. Then, they called back at around 9:00 am the next morning. In today’s medical environment, I knew this could not be good. Doctor’s office don’t really call you for “normal” results so I knew something was up. I called back and of course the nurse was unavailable until later that afternoon. Once I got her on the phone she let me have it – “stop eating peanuts and eggs. Your food allergy test came back positive for those two items. No eggs. No peanuts.” What.the.fuck? I’ve enjoyed both of these items my entire life with no ill (or so I thought) effects. PLUS those who know me know that I LOVE peanut butter! It’s my chocolate! It’s the I Ching! It is the answer to all that is wrong with the world! Plus, I live with someone who has a serious tree nut allergy and can only have peanuts. And now I can’t have any? Surely the lab was mistaken…

I had already eliminated dairy from my diet (for about 2 weeks) and was really trying to stick to an anti-inflammatory eating plan, so it only took Craig about a day and a half to convinced me to give eliminating those items from my diet a try. It’s only been a week and so far so good. As I said, I was already on the mend from tummy-hell so I’m not sure if it is helping. I did have a Cliff bar on Sunday that had peanuts (on accident, I swear!) and my tummy was not happy Sunday evening. I’m chalking that apparent correlation up to a coincidence.

What do you pay to eat?

Well as quickly as it came on whatever funk my body has been in for the past 7 weeks has started to subside. I have a little energy and am trying to get back on track. I got in 3 cardio workouts and 1 strength training session last week (woot-woot)! The plan is to get back to at least 3 for both each week by the end of the month.

It has been hot as Hades here in Richmond lately and yesterday was no exception – a “balmy” 104 degrees. That drove me to the gym in the morning for a run (2.3 miles) and afterwards I decided to be a good friend and help a friend get some retail therapy. By the time I got home, I was beat and sat comatose on the sofa all evening. In between channel surfing between Harry Potter, Star Wars and Tangled (don’t judge) I eeked out a dinner meal plan for the week:

Sunday – Slow Cooker Honey Chicken (trying tofu for me), rice, broccoli
Monday – Turkey/Portabello burgers, strawberry & apple salad
Tuesday – Citrus glazed salmon, couscous, grilled squash
Wednesday – Curry scallops & shrimp, cilantro rice, roasted carrots
Thursday – every person for themselves!
Friday – Beef & Bean Chili Verde, baked potatoes, salad
Saturday – pasta pesto and the 1st tomatoes from my garden!

Since I had a plan before heading to the store this week, I had a firm list that I shopped from. There are only two of us in this house, however I feel as though I spend way too much money on food! I’m sharing what I bought, from where, and how much I spent in the hopes that the 3 of you who read my blog will chime in to share what your weekly (or monthly) food bill looks like. I only got a few items that will carry over for a few weeks (staples like flour, cereal, lemonade, breads) but damn – $128 spent and I still need to purchase 1/2 the salmon I need for the recipe, scallops & shrimp, and more fruit for the week. Easily another $40. I’m pretty firm in my need for organics and sustainable meats. If I’m going to have it or feed it to my family it needs to be as clean as possible. Is that where my money problem is? I’m open to hear what you guys have to share.

Purchases this week:

Martin’s = $45

Canola oil
Cereal (3 boxes, on sale + coupon)
Applesauce
Deli meat (brand name for low sodium content)
Bananas
Scallions (organic only $.30 more than conventional)
Russet potatoes
Vadalia onion
Garlic
Jalapeño pepper
Spinach (large clam shell)
Chicken breast (natural, 1.5 lb)
English muffins
Wheat bread (natural)

Whole Foods = $55

Ground beef (93% lean, 1 lb)
Ground turkey (1.5 lb, enough to freeze half for another week)
Silken tofu
Tomatillo salsa
Spring mix (large clam shell)
Coconut milk x 2
Hamburger rolls (whole wheat)
Squash x 4
Orange (organic)
Sweet potatoes
Lemonade (case for rest of the summer)

Ellwood Thompson’s (local natural food store) = $28

Nutritional yeast (bulk)
Spelt flour (bulk)
Whole wheat pastry flour (bulk)
Granny smith apple
Lilliput cantelope
Curry powder (bulk)
Crystallized ginger (bulk)
Pitted dates (bulk)
Portabellos
Broccoli (organic, this was waaaay to expensive!!)
Kale (organic)

So y’all, help me out here…what do you spend? Is it the “foodie” in me that has the bill so high?

Let’s celebrate some NSVs!

I’ve been away from the scale for about 2 months. Since the first of the year my weight-loss has been pretty non-existent compared to last year. I’ve been hovering around 174 all year. In March I left my favorite gym and the scale I’ve been using for weigh-ins since June 2011. I decided that since I couldn’t be consistent (sticking with the same scale) I would just focus on some non-scale victories for right now. So far my favorites have been buying a size large t-shirt for the first time since early high school and comfortably wearing a size 14 trouser. Woot-woot!

Not wearing the t-shirt, but a top from NY & Co. where I have never been able to shop before

What non-scale victories are you celebrating or are you a slave to the scale?

Let’s have some fun in June!

I need more fun & happiness in my life and on this here blog. Being creative makes me happy so my plan is to find time for that again this month and all summer long. One of my first creative loves was photography. Somewhere around the 5th grade I decided I was going to be a spy and my “cover” would be that of a photo-journalist (this is the root for my still love of all things spy related). Around the 8th or 9th grade my Dad gave me his full camera set – a 35mm camera, several lenses, a well traveled bag, the works. I quickly got to work taking photos, taking classes in school & summer programs. I continued with my hobby until college and then it just fell away. I continue to pick up a camera on occasion, but whatever skills I had gained during my teens have all but vanished.

This month I’m participating in a “little” challenge to get me to pick up a camera (real, iPad, iPhone) everyday. I’m sure they all won’t be pretty or perfect but I’m reminded that that isn’t the point; capturing the moment and documenting life is. I’m doing the photo-a-day challenge hosted by Chantelle over at FatMumSlim.com. I’ll be posting between my Twitter account and this blog. Feel free to join in and post links to your own photos!

I also want to get more creative in the kitchen and get more veggies into my daily diet. One of the healthy living blogs that I follow is Oh She Glows. Now, I’m nobody’s vegan, but I can appreciate that food philosophy and want to cut back on the amount of animal products in my diet. For the month of June Angela is hosting a Salad-a-day challenge. I’m in. At the least, I’ll get in some additional servings of vegetables and have something to photograph each day – that’s a win:win!