Friend Makin' Mondays: Feeling Fruity!

Funny how that last post of "I'm going to post everyday for a month!" turned into "I'm not blogging for almost 10 months!"

There have been so many times I've thought about how I could "break back into" blogging after going radio silent. I attended Fitbloggin' a month ago and while I loved seeing my friends and I *wanted* to blog again, I just had so many excuses about why I haven't.

So what better way to make a return then doing a Friend Makin' Monday by Sarah at Losing Weight and Having Fun.

This week’s topic is ‘Feeling Fruity’

1. What is your favorite fruit?
 Bananas! Or maybe Avocados....are those really considered fruit?

2. Is there a fruit that you really really don’t like?
Nope! I love all fruit!

3. If you could only drink one fruit juice for the rest of your life, what flavor would it be?
I don't really like fruit juice, but a splash of Pomegranate juice is nice with sparkling water.

4. Tomatoes – fruit or vegetable?
I want to say fruit, because that's technically what they are, but I view them as a vegetable in my own diet.

5. How many portions of fruit do you eat a day?
I eat a banana nearly everyday so usually 1-3

6. if you were making a smoothie what fruits would you add?
blueberries, strawberries, and/or bananas

7. Are you allergic to any fruits?
No

8. Do you have a favorite fruit recipe? Feel free to share the recipe with us.
Peach Cobbler, Paula Deen style :)

9. Do you have any fruits that are local to your area?
People grow berries, peaches, and melons, but I'm not sure any are native to Tennessee.

10. What is your favorite fruit pie?
Hmm...apple pie is probably my favorite traditional pie.

Want to participate in Friend Makin' Monday? Answer these questions on your blog, then post up the link over at Sarah's Blog Post!

NoBloPoMo: My last blog post was almost 2 months ago...

I'd like to say I've been busy. I guess in some respects I have been. This time of year work is so crazy that the last thing I want to do on evenings and weekends is look at a computer screen.

To get out of this lack-of-blogging funk I decided late last night to participate in NoBloPoMo. Sure, I'm two days late, but better late than never. Right?!

Here is just a short post to kick it off. I have so much on my mind about the weight gain I've allowed happen, but I just want to kick this off with a bit of positivity.

Yesterday, the fall colors motivated me to take a short 30 minute walk (a victory for me since I haven't been working out)

Then the roommate and I enjoyed the weather walking around downtown and checking out the Grand Opening at the new Hatch Show Print location inside the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Hatch Show Print is one of Nashville's staples. It is one of the oldest letterpress print shops in the US. (They celebrated 133 years last year.)

After walking around downtown some more, we found another staple of the city - a location shoot for the ABC TV show "Nashville".

Featuring fake TV's own country stars Rayna James and Juliette Barnes! Yes, they had a whole "music festival" set up just for filming the TV show. I see them filming around town a lot - it's sort of cool to see them out and about and then catch that episode and see how it turned out.

All in all it was a good fall day with lots of walking - exactly what I need right now!

I actually won something...Laughing Cow Cheese!

A few weeks after Fitbloggin, I got a tweet notifying me that I had WON their contest they ran at the Conference:

I have seriously been a fan of Laughing Cow cheese, particularly the light Swiss flavor for years, and years. And I honestly, NEVER win anything, so I was pumped.

A few days later, this arrived on my doorstep.

A nifty Laughing Cow branded lunch box with four packages of Laughing Cow Cheese to try: Garlic & Herb, light Swiss, and two new flavors, White Cheddar and Queso Fresco & Chipotle.

Although I've been a fan of the light Swiss for a long time, I honestly have never branched out and tried other flavors, like the Garlic & Herb. So I was stoked to expand my Laughing Cow Cheese repertoire and try to find inventive ways to use the different flavors.

My standard, go-to recipe is to make a light, low calorie Alfredo sauce with the Swiss flavor. This goes great with pasta - or spaghetti squash for a lower carb version. I saw this recipe on a blog years, and years ago - probably 5 or more. But Laughing Cow also has a version on their website.

Here are the ingredients I used.

 I add red pepper flakes to add a bit of heat, and sometimes I use a sprinkling of flour if I need to thicken it up since I don't usually use dairy milk, thus cutting out the milkfat. The original soymilk from 8th Continent was definitely too sweet, but it did the trick in a pinch for a quick dinner.

I added mine to whole wheat angel hair pasta with broccoli and fresh tomatoes.

 Since I only tried the other flavors at Fitbloggin' with veggies and crispy flatbread, I tried to think of ways to add a little Laughing Cow flair to some of my old, regular, boring meals.

The winning shot.

The Queso Fresco & Chipotle went well on a black bean and rice burrito. I took a wedge and microwaved it for 30-60 seconds to melt it a bit. The flavor went quite well with this combination and has a bit of spice, but as someone that LOVES spice, you see that I still added my normal amount of hot sauce. :)

I stuffed the Swiss flavor in some mini peppers I had on-hand and roasted them in the oven. This was good, but it didn't turn out like a "jalapeno popper" like I hoped. I think next time mixing the Laughing Cow with some shredded cheese and green chilies is in order.

The White Cheddar flavor spruced up a boring turkey, spinach, tomato wrap for lunch at work.

Also, not shown, but the Garlic & Herb went great on my daily Egg & Spinach sandwich for breakfast!

Thank you Laughing Cow for sponsoring Fitbloggin'13 and for running the contest I won!


Disclaimer: All products were provided to me at no charge as part of a contest I won. Laughing Cow did not ask me to do this post, and all opinions and ideas are my own.

Where have I been?

Wow....where have I been?

I can't believe my last post was in JULY - July 28th to be exact.

I had just gotten back from a big trip and was gearing up for my last one of the summer. I can honestly say I have not been weighing and have not been tracking. I've been trying to make better choices, but I am not perfect.

Accept the imperfections.

I am sure I am up from my last weigh in, but my scale is broken so I haven't been focusing on it. I did take my measurements at the beginning of this month and I will share the results at the beginning of next month.

Work outs have been dismal, and my goal has been to just walk 20 minutes a day. Some days I get in longer walks (thanks Kate!) and some days I get no walks in. The last 2 days I've done no walking because I sprained my ankle again on Wednesday. Story of my life.

It's not as bad as last time, but I'm going to do some pool/yoga workouts this weekend and then pick the walking back up next week when hopefully it's a bit better.

Also, perhaps it's time I committed to doing those PT exercises to strengthen my hips and ankles?

So what else has been going on?

Honestly, nothing that is too noteworthy. This is the time of year at work I just want to do nothing when I am not AT work. 10-12 hour days of work, directly interacting with people in a very customer centric role leaves me feeling very much like I want nothing to do but eat copious amounts of carbs and be lazy when I'm not at work.

But a few things that have gone on:

- I visited New Orleans for my cousin's 30th birthday with family. I ate and drank to my heart's desire.

- I ran/walked a 5K in August, finishing in my slowest time ever.

- I took a side-by-side comparison of last year to this year. Time to face reality.

- I've been trying to pre-cook good food for the week, so I don't binge/make poor choices. Hopefully this will yield some yummy recipes for the blog.

I know my life seems really boring right now, and I guess it is. I am just trying to survive until Thanksgiving. It's hard to explain, but this time of year is really hard for me work-wise. I'll try and check in more regularly and hopefully get on a scale at the gym soon.

Weekly Weigh-in 3.2

Weight on July 15: 278.6
Today's Weight: 282.6

4 pounds GAINED


I just spent the last 10 days in 4 different cities between work and vacation....Columbus-Indianapolis-Chicago-Minneapolis....whew


Yes I could have traveled and not gained 4 lbs. If I didn't drink so much in Chicago, if I watched what I was eating and how much of it I was eating just a little closer, and I could have gotten out of bed and exercised while I was gone, but it happened and I'm still swinging around on these 5 lbs.


I leave for New Orleans on Friday to celebrate my cousin's 30th birthday, so I don't foresee it getting much better than this next week. I'm not going to torture myself, I'm just going to start back to my normal exercise routine and watch portions this week before I leave.


I'm in no place to make an empty promise that I won't go overboard in NOLA. School starts when I get back and hopefully a normal work routine will benefit me in the healthy living realm.

Go ahead and throw tomatoes - A very special 5k race giveaway!

When I first saw the sponsored post on Facebook about the upcoming Tomato Dodge 5K in Nashville, I was semi skeptical. I've come to be used to seeing a hot new specialty theme race announced every other day - everything from ass kicking mud and obstacle races to paint and glow fests. But one where the participants would be pelted with squishy fruit?

Inspired by the La Tomatina Festival in the Valenician town of Buñol, the Tomato Dodge combines history and fitness into a unique event.

From the La Tomatina Wiki page:

La Tomatina (Spanish pronunciation: [la tomaˈtina]) is a festival that is held in the Valencian town of Buñol, a town located 30 km from the Mediterranean, in which participants throw tomatoes and get involved in this tomato fight purely for fun. It is held on the last Wednesday of August, during the week of festivities of Buñol.

"Purely for fun" - no further description needed for me, I love fun! With a tomato pit to jump in and ambush zones to race through all while throwing the red bombs at other racers, this race is sure to meet the organizer's objective of "giving people a reason to get outside, get moving, and have a blast."

So my last question was, "won't they hurt?"

A simple answer is no, they "soak and squish these tomatoes so that they're soft on impact." To see more about the action packed race in the Tomato Dodge Presents: Run, Throw, Dodge video.

After seeing me comment on Twitter about the craziness of what they were doing the Tomato Dodge marketing team handed over a free race entry and TWO of my Nashville readers.

So, I've signed up to run this crazy race on August 17th. Do you want to join me? I'm giving away TWO free race entries right now!

All you have to do is comment below by Monday, July 22nd at 11:59 pm CST and I will draw 2 winners at random to be notified on Tuesday morning. the winner will receive a free entry to the race on August 17th in Nashville good for use by 7/24. Travel to Nashville and/or lodging is not included.

Disclosure: The nifty people at Tomato Dodge supplied me with a code for a free race entry for myself and two race entries to give away. All opinions are entirely my own. I’m pumped to do another theme race!

Vegan (and no oil) Pesto Sauce

I'm a huge fan of pesto. And basil in general. There's nothing better than a fresh mozzarella, tomato, basil salad in the summer.

But I digress...

We are here to talk about pesto. The thing where overgrown basil plants are made into a beautifully delicious, cheesy, oily delicacy. Yum.

However, most traditional pesto recipes call for 1/2 cup to 1 1/2 cups of olive oil - yikes! Even with the health benefits of olive oil that is a huge calorie bomb.

Enter a recipe I discovered 3 years ago: Katie's Raw Vegan Pesto Sauce

It's a wonderful take on the pesto flavor without all the calories, fat, and dairy (if you watch that sort of thing). It's delicious on raw veggies, as a flatbread topping and even as a pasta sauce. You can see the original recipe at the link above and here are my changes to a batch I made this week:

• Used 1 tsp dried ginger rather than fresh
• Used 3 oz almonds soaked for 24 hours rather than pine nuts (I would recommend walnuts over almonds if the cost of pine nuts deter you)
• Left out jalapeño, but would recommend it!
• Recommend starting with 2 T of water and adding a tablespoon at a time to get right consistency - mine was a little thick

Made a flatbread out of a whole wheat wrap, grape tomatoes, and Parmesan cheese.

Paired it with roasted cabbage and a simple roasted beet salad for a complete meal!

Have you ever lightened up a traditionally high in calorie recipe? Did it remind you of the original? 

Weekly Weigh-in 2.2

Just a quick post for weigh in this week because I don't want to fall off the wagon.
 
Weight on July 7: 276.2

Today's Weight: 278.6


2.4 pounds GAINED


So it happened again, lose a lot, gain a little. I tend to do good Sat-Tues and then fall off the wagon Wednesday-Friday. I don't sometimes Tuesday blends into Wednesday or Saturday blends into Friday, but generally I'm "on" 3-4 days and then "off" 3-4 days.


Just working on making good decisions one at a time. Alcohol has to go, but that's a post for another day. This week I leave Wednesday night for some combined business/personal travel, which will put me in 4 cities in 10 days....AGAIN.


Summer is almost over.

Fitbloggin' - The People

If you've attended Fitbloggin' before then you know that the #1 draw is THE PEOPLE. If you haven't been, but have read any recap, then you have read about THE PEOPLE. No matter what way you slice it, the Fitbloggin' community is a special one and one I'm so grateful to have discovered it.

There are a few people who made my experience at Fitbloggin' just so very awesome and it wouldn't be fair if I didn't introduce you to them and their respective space on the interweb!

Erin - Living Made Healthy - Erin was my Fitbloggin' roomie and we shared a hotel room Thursday night without even meeting until Friday morning. Now, in normal life this would be completely awkward, but in Fitbloggin' life this is NORMAL. Sharing rooms with complete strangers - or those you only know from the interwebz...totally socially acceptable. I couldn't have been luckier with my roommate choice and gained a new friend from it. And big news - Erin and her husband are expecting their first little one in January!

Kari - My Weighting Place - There are so many great things to say about Kari, but to sum it up, Kari is my long lost soul sister. Case in point: we both ran the Seattle Rock n Roll half marathon a year and 5 days before we met at Fitbloggin'! And we actually met in the bathroom, but didn't officially introduce ourselves until later when a group of us were setting out to dinner. She has lost 165 pounds and is a huge inspiration and cheerleader for me. She encouraged me to run the 5K and stayed with me (along with Erin) at my pace. There is just so much awesomeness that can't be fit into these few sentences, but know she is bursting with amazing!

Kari and I with the *THE* Laughing Cow

Sarah - Losing Weight and Having Fun - Sarah and I have been "Twitter friends" for ages. I didn't do a very good job of surveying my followers for Fitbloggin' attendees, but we managed to meet up on Friday in the Clean Eating session. She was my main gal to pal around with - from a lovely walk around downtown Portland, to dinner both nights, and lounging on the hotel's rooftop bar.

Alan - Sweating until Happy - I can't even tell you how long I've been following Alan and interacting on Twitter. Always a positive light, he reminds me daily to persevere and be optimistic about life. Fittingly, Alan was the first person I ran into at the registration table Friday morning when I finally got down there. Big hugs were had and the weekend wouldn't have been the same without his company hanging out in the hotel lounge with friends until the wee hours of the night.

Emmie - Skinny Emmie - Which brings me to Alan's Fitbloggin' partner in crime...I've known Emmie for about 2 years. Emmie's blog was one of the first ones I stumbled on when I was getting ready to set up mine (same first name + google, bless you universe). It's not really necessary to tell you her accolades because you already know and love her,  but I will tell you anyway because she is awesome: lost over 100 pounds, finished a half-marathon in 2011, has persevered through an injury for 2 years and has not given up. She was my wino partner in crime at the good-bye reception and my night owl friend to boot. I owe a lot of this weekend to her.

Me and Erin; Me and Alan: Me and Renee; Me and Alyssa

Alyssa - Double Chin Diary - Another person I met for the first time in Portland that just "got" me. The most hilarious you will ever meet nd just all around fun to be around. Plus, we have the SAME EXACT PANTS! You can't even get them anymore, I have literally been on the hunt for pants like these for YEARS - and Alyssa has a pair and understands my plight. My goal is to get to the West Coast before the end of 2013 to work out with Richard Simmons, frolick on the beach and put my toes in the Pacific Ocean (all probably while Alyssa tells an inappropriate joke and I choke on laughter).

Mel - The Daily Mel - Another veteran "followee" I have been interacting with on Twitter for ages. A Tennessee gal at heart, she now lives in Southern California. We literally went all day Friday without meeting up and I made it my mission to track her down and give her the biggest hug. She is witty, is an awesome Twitter conversationalist, and all-around solid person to call a friend.

Renee - Run, Laugh, Eat Pie - Renee is an expat who has lived in the Netherlands for the past 19 years where she traveled from to attend Fitbloggin'.  Renee and I had a pop-up coffee date when we both headed out of the hotel lobby at the same time. She entertained my obsession with Stumptown Coffee - a Portland favorite. I may have gushed a little too much about my love for coffee and Sbux in general, but that's ok. I'm a coffee fiend and not afraid to admit it. Just by talking to Renee you know that doesn't live her life through excuses and that is totally kick ass.

Stephanie - Athlete at Heart - A Midwestern girl like me, Stephanie is my active living inspiration. From triathlons to half-marathons she is kicking butt in it all! She was kind enough to hang out with me for dinner both nights and join Sarah and I on the rooftop bar Saturday afternoon.

Me and Stephanie at the Goodbye Reception

Kari, me and Erin post-5K

Martinus, Alyssa, and Dre having fun post goodbye reception

The people I've talked about here doesn't even BEGIN to include everyone I met, connected with, was inspired by, or intend on keeping in touch with. It is just a VERY SMALL group of the people I hung out with over the 3 days I was there.

Every session had a Live Blog written about it, so if you are interested in reading more about Fitbloggin' and the content head over to the website.

Weekly Weigh-in v2.0

So this is me starting over. We aren't focusing on the past anymore. Sure, it's still part of my story, but it's not going to determine where I go from here.

I've written so many of these "starting over" posts in the last few months, I can no longer promise this won't be another false start. But I can promise I will try.

New Starting Weight (7/1): 282.0

Today's Weight: 276.2

5.8 pounds LOST

So this is where I'm starting from, although I'm trying to not focus on the past, I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I thought I'd never see these numbers on the scale again and it's a little majorly disappointing. One thing I took away from Fitbloggin' is that I need to release the hold the scale has on me. Yes, I will continue using it as a tool. But the number on the scale does not determine my success or failure. It does not determine my worth, my strength, or my happiness. All it will be from now is ONE of the tools I use weekly to measure if what I am doing is working to become healthier.

Yesterday was also time for firsts

Yesterday I did something I vowed I would never do - ran over 3 miles in the pouring rain.

It's been raining in Nashville for 3 days - today I finally see the sun! So to say I had a case of cabin fever yesterday - the third day straight of rain - is an understatement.

We did four sets of 90 second run/90 second walk, 3 min run/3 min walk. It was a bit intense on the hills of Nashville, but I survived and ran all the intervals. It's also sort of refreshing and freeing to run in the rain.

No this wasn't me post shower - I was this soaked!

Afterward, I made my traditional post-race breakfast: scrambled eggs and sauteed potatoes. I was out of spinach, so I added grated zucchini to the eggs. It was REALLY good! It will be a new "add veggies to my eggs" rotation for sure!

And iced coffee for sure!

Then yesterday afternoon, I explored a few waterfalls east of Nashville....in the rain. See a theme for yesterday? My quads are killing me this morning, but it feels so good.

When you are training for a race, do you run in the rain if your schedule calls for it?

Upcoming 5K and Joining a Running Group

Since I hadn't posted in almost a month before I attended Fitbloggin' last weekend, I decided that I should probably check in and talk a little about my fitness goals lately.

Yes, I did a sprint tri in May, but I wouldn't say I was anywhere near trained for that race. I was able to complete it just with my everyday fitness level. What can I do if I actually train for the next one?

I don't know if I'll do another tri this season. There's one I have my eye on in August - and in Tennessee the season even goes into October, so there's still time. But I'm traveling for two weeks at the end of this month and then I'm only back for a week before I go to New Orleans for my cousin's 30th birthday.

But I do have a race on my calendar: East Nashville's Tomato Arts 5K on August 10.

This will be my 3rd year running this race. Last year I set my 5K personal record there. It's one of my favorites even though it is in the dead heat of the summer.

I decided back in May that I needed to mix things up a little bit with my workouts. I wasn't finding the motivation to keep a regular gym schedule on my own, so I've reached out to friends to make workout dates and I joined a running group for 5K training.

Let that sink in.

The girl who hates group exercise, joined a running group. Yep.

A local running group - East Nasty - does a C25K training group every year for the Tomato Arts 5K called "Potato 2 Tomato". I enlisted my co-worker to join with me and we signed up.

Credit: http://eastnastyforlife.com/p2t/

We are on week 3 of 3x a week group runs. This week I have felt strong and was able to move towards the front of the large pack we were in Wednesday night. It actually feels good to be back to running regularly again.

Overall I'm still not sure if group running is for me. The survey is still out on that. But it's keeping me motivated to do the training runs and since I would like to beat my PR from last year, doing the training is a serious necessity in my life right now.

Do you prefer to exercise solo or with a workout buddy/group?

Happy Birthday America!

The Fourth of July has long been one of my favorite holidays. For me, it's like Christmas in July - always spent with family at Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri, where I grew up going during the summer. My grandfather on my mom's side built a house there with his own two hands (my dad and uncles helped) in 1987, and it is where I perfected my swimming, diving, paddle boating, and water skiing skills as a kid. Not to mention I got to spend every holiday weekend with my cousins - 17 people in a 2 bedroom, 1 loft, + 2 bathroom house really brings you closer together.

I've only NOT been there over 4th of July twice in my life - once in college when I spent the summer working at a fireworks stand and another time a few years ago when I decided to stay in Nashville for whatever reason.

But in my memory there's always been a reason - work or otherwise.

This year I'm not there and it's killing me. I'm in Nashville. With no reason to be here and I'm alone. Somehow practically everyone I know has made plans to jet out of Nashville for the long holiday weekend, leaving me with a lot of "me" time. Something that I haven't quite been comfortable with over the last several months.

Increasingly, it kills me to be alone. In my earlier years, I used to HOPE to be left alone. Now I can't stand the thought of not having plans for these 4 days off from work I have.

But here I am.

I'm trying so hard to not turn to food to quell my loneliness. History shows me that only makes the feelings worse. Instead, I hope to spend this rainy day catching up on rest, reading, and blog work.

Do you have any holiday traditions? What have you done if you've had to move away from those traditions as you've grown older?

Initial #Fitbloggin 2013 Thoughts

It's taken me way longer than I thought it would to process the last weekend spent in Portland attending my first Fitbloggin conference. And the process of taking it all in is still in full swing. To put it plainly, the weekend exceeded expectations - and was more inspiring, motivating, and uplifting than I could ever have imagined.

I returned to Nashville Sunday night with a huge smile on my face. Despite my late arrival the night before, the next day at work I felt energized. I've been really struggling with how to put the weekend into words, but basically it's what I seriously needed to pull me out of the funk I've felt over the last 6 months.

I missed the opening events (ice breakers and reception) Thursday night because I took the last flight out of Baltimore - where I was at for work the days leading up to Fitbloggin, but as soon as I walked down to breakfast Friday morning I felt so much love, support, and community on the 6th floor of The Nines Hotel.

I only "knew" (you know - internet knew) about half a dozen people and I had only met 1 person in real life, but as soon as I walked in I met 10 people within about 30 minutes. I walked away from the weekend having talked with AT LEAST a third of the people there and have SO MANY new friendships to show for it. When I wanted to grab dinner - there was a group of people ready to go. When I wanted to check out the rooftop bar, I had someone to join me (and then others join us). When I was on my way to walk and get coffee alone, there would be someone on their way too and they would walk with me. Friends stayed up with me way too late just talking about everything under the sun. These people didn't care that my blog doesn't get 30K hits a month or that I don't have 5,000 followers on Twitter. They just get me.

I'm going to admit something that's so hard for me to write here on a public blog, but it plays into how I was feeling as I sat on the MAX train with tears in my eyes, looking at Mt. Hood in the distance, riding to the airport Sunday after leaving the Hotel. And it's my honest reaction. Recently I started feeling pretty lonely here in Nashville. The friends I made at Fitbloggin just GOT me. They could understand the words that came out of my mouth before I even spoke them. They wanted to hang out with me. They invited me to tag along with them. They weren't worried that I didn't fit in with a preformed group of friends they already had plans with. They were welcoming and the amount of love that everyone showed each and every person they had only just met was so inspiring. And so many have already messaged, texted, and Tweeted at me since leaving Portland. My heart is truly filled with love.

But I don't want to focus on the sadness I felt leaving Fitbloggin'. I want to write more about the fabulous time. I probably won't ever sit down and write a minute by minute recap (let's be honest - there is just too much that went on). But I spent the weekend learning so much more about myself, and positioning myself to be ready to ACCEPT my own love and be VULNERABLE to accept the love of those around me. I attended sessions of subjects that were outside my everyday knowledge (Clean Eating). I spoke in sessions about my struggles, and my successes. I learned more about blogging. I attended a large group yoga class and even when it was out of my comfort zone (flow vs. gentle) I STAYED. And I MODELED IN AN ACTIVE WEAR FASHION SHOW! Yes, me. Up on stage with 300 pairs of eyes on me. Unbelievable.

Of course the swag was awesome. All the rumors are true. Fitbloggin' has the BEST swag around. Shoes, fitness wear, gear, and nutrition were all given away. I hope to incorporate my favorite items in upcoming blog posts.

I know this post it a little "Kum by ya". But I hope to post more about the experience - like pictures - in the upcoming days/weeks. (And post more regularly!)

Have a great holiday weekend! Who's doing a 4th of July race?

I'm here! Fitbloggin' 13

I've made it! I rolled into The Nines hotel around 1:30 AM Portland time and descended upon Fitbloggin' at 8 AM.

I've already met so many friendly and wonderful people, attended a session on Motivating Your Community with Healthy Lifestyles, and been fitted for an amazing Enell sports bra!

I'm a little disoriented from all the travel over the last few days, so I don't know what the rest of my afternoon will entail except modeling in the active wear fashion show at lunch!

I'll check in soon! If you're interested in following my constant updates on Twitter or Instagram, my handle is emtucky for both!

Long awaited Cedars of Lebanon Sprint Triathlon Recap

It's only taken me nearly 3 weeks but here it is...finally...the recap of the sprint triathlon I wasn't even sure I was going to do.

I decided that I couldn't just skip something I had signed up for. For me, that would signify that I'm a quitter. A quitter in many senses of the word. It would have not only been me skipping the race, but me throwing up my hands and saying, "I give up, this period of weight re-gain wins."

So I had to fight.

Surprisingly, I wasn't too nervous on race morning. I just approached it as leisurely as I could. I was just participating and hoping to finish, not "racing" anyone or myself. So it took the pressure off.

My typical race morning routine was off. I had spent the 2 weeks leading up to the race house/dog sitting so I had been out of my element for approximately 11 days. The night before the race was the first night I had spent in my own bed in over a week. My race tradition is I have a whole grain bagel from Brueggers with peanut butter and a banana, but I forgot to get a bagel from Brueggers on Friday. So I stopped at a gas station and got a Peanut Crunch Clif Bar on the way out to the park. I ate that on the way and ended up having my banana around 7:30 once I got settled in transition.

One thing that made me nervous race morning was that it had been raining the day before and morning of, which meant wet and possibly slick roads. I overheard some guys at the swim line-up mention that the first stretch out on the bike was downhill that goes into a sharpe right turn. Took mental note of that one.

Another thing that caused a bit of anxiety was the pool swim. Silly I know. Usually people get nervous about open water swims. Chalk it up to the fact I've been swimming and water skiing in murky water since I was 6 months old, but OWS don't phase me. When contemplating how I was going to tackle the swim, I wasn't sure how it would go - darting under ropes and with so many people in the pool at once. I didn't practice going under the ropes, but I should have.

Source: Team Magic Multisport

 

 

If you click to enlarge the above photo of the swim start, you can see me waiting in the blue swimcap (in the yellow circle).

I was in the middle of the pack on starting time, so my number was 625. I waited a good while and was able to see how the "pros" were tackling it. Touch wall, push off wall underwater, go diagonally into the next lane. Simple?

I should have been further up in the swim time. I passed people, and had trouble passing people I could have passed because of congestion. It was much worse on congestion than the OWS last summer at Wet Dog. I think I estimated my swim time around 6 minutes, and I finished in 4:55.

I walked the whole way to T1. I worked hard on the swim and I knew the bike would be rough so I wanted to save energy. I'm sure I looked silly and it certainly didn't help my T1 time (5:05), but once I got to my bike, I was quick. Baby powder in the socks helped this time!

Bike started out ok. My legs are always cold when I start on the bike in a race. I need to warm them up better - which I intended to do this time - but I didn't have time before they closed transition. The bike course was a two-loop 4.3 mile course. Easy enough right? It had been described as FLAT, which I was silly to even believe because, hello this is Tennessee. It was not flat. A lot of it was flat. But those 3-4 rolling hills (mostly at the end of the loop, back-to-back) killed me. If I was trained better I'm sure it wouldn't have been a big deal. But I wasn't trained so alas a lot of people passed me (some twice, I'm sure). But I didn't have to walk my bike and I finished without any incident. It took me 52:26 though.

I started the run out easy and my legs quickly acclimated and I was able to keep a pretty steady 3/1 run/walk pace. The run course is mentally tricky because you have to go left out of the transition area, go about 0.2 miles and then loop back past the transition area. The run course overall is pretty flat except for one hill at the end right before you run into finish.

My run time was 29:20, which I can't be mad about because the weekend before I ran 2 miles on their own and my time was right around 28. So not bad for swimming 200 yards ad biking 9.6 miles before running 2 miles.

I finished. I was glad I was done and also that I did it. I didn't use any nutrition on the course besides water and a little powerade. So I ate my honey stingers right after finishing in the transition area and packed my stuff up to go home.

Overall time: 1:32:55

Thoughts: I'm just glad I did it and I was able to finish. I would have had a lot of guilt and self-hate if I had decided not to do the race. So it was just good for me mentally to get out there and do it. My original plan for this season was to do an Olympic distance in September, but it's clear that isn't going to happen. My travel schedule at work ruined any focus I would be able to have on training for one. And two, personal travel has ruined my focus on saving for a road bike and I really don't think I can ride 25 miles on my current bike. It's too heavy - about 50 lbs! It certainly isn't a goal I've given up on, it just won't happen this season. I do hope to do one more sprint triathlon in August or September before the season is over. I'm continuing to run (joining a local C25K program) and swim. Biking has been neglected, but the summer is still young!

Have you ever done a race you weren't properly trained for? If so, how did it go? Did you surprise yourself?

100 Most Inspirational Weight Loss Bloggers & the Disappearing Blogger

I signed into Blogger a few days ago and to my surprise realized that I had almost 200 hits on my blog May 28th and several more in the days following last week. Now, I often feel like I am writing in this little space just for myself and my roommate to read (hiiiiiiiii KG). So the sudden burst in traffic was surprising. After a few seconds of searching for the source, I found I was included on this list:

To my surprise, I was listed on Diettogo's list of "100 Most Inspirational Weight Loss Bloggers"! The writers of the article were so kind to include me and write such nice things about me and my little space on the internet. 

So if you've wandered your way over here from the article, I just wanted to say a huge "HELLO" and tell you that I am TRYING to commit to posting more.

When we last left off 2 weeks ago, I was trying to decide whether I should go forward with the Cedars of Lebanon Triathlon. Well, I decided I couldn't just quit and did end up doing the race - and finishing it! I'll have a short recap of the race this week.

I'm traveling 5 out of the next 9 weeks this summer, so life will be hectic and crazy, but I'm going to try and post at least once a week.

And we can't forget Fitbloggin13 is coming up in just 25 days! I'll be in Portland with bells on. Who else is coming?!

To Tri or Not to Tri on Saturday

Hello, it's me again. Yes, I'm still alive. Yes, I've gained more weight. Yes, I could spend a lot of time making excuses and telling you how busy I've been.

But I won't.

What I came here for today is some advice. Now, of course I write this from a place after I've already discussed it with a few "in real life" friends, but I trust my blogging community so much I'm bringing it to you.

WAAAAAAAAAY back in December I registered for my first race for the 2013 Triathlon season - the Cedars of Lebanon Sprint Tri (200 y swim, 9.6 mi bike, 2 mi run), which is now THIS Saturday.

And although I started out ok, I haven't followed any sort of training schedule for FOUR weeks.

Sure, I've done a run here, swam a little over there, and a bike ride here and there in the last few weeks. But I would say I've been on a bike less than 4 times in the last 4 weeks and I've been in the pool maybe half that.

To say I'm not trained is an understatement.

I wasn't really worried until I hopped on the bike Sunday and it was SO HARD. The lack of training combined with the 40 or so lbs I've gained in the last 8 months had me walking up THREE hills. And they were piddly little hills. Now, I could blame it on the run I did the day before - 2 miles - since I haven't been running much more than 20 minutes a few times a week and my quads felt a little sore, but that's a cop-out.

So what do I do?

I'm really conflicted because I've never NOT completed a race I registered for. For awhile, I was confident the short distances at the race wouldn't be a problem for me, but MAN I've let myself go. After that bike ride on Sunday (during which I had my first bike crash), I just don't know if I CAN.

Which is better?

Do I go forward with my plan to do the triathlon knowing I'm not trained and I'm sorely out of shape, with the chance of either hurting myself or having to quit during the race?

Or do I bow out gracefully, plan some other moderate activity in place of Saturday and re-evaluate my health and fitness goals?


What would you do?

Still here

Just a quick post since I fell off the face of the planet for the last 3 weeks...

In that time, I'm on my second dog sitting "job", went to the beach, and gained about 8 lbs.

But my spirits are high and I'm trying to re-focus quickly to get ready for my first triathlon of the season in 12 days.

So, I'm trying not to focus on the scale too much (but I'll return to weekly weigh ins on Sunday).

There's a busy summer ahead of me starting now (I have 9 trips - both personal and business - planned in the next 3 months).

Hopefully the train doesn't completely derail, because right now it's just going along off track.

Weekly Menu Plan

I've found recently that having a menu plan for the week helps me not only eat healthier because all my meal and snack options are laid out and I don't "forget" what I have only to go get fast food. But it's helped me stay within my grocery budget.
 

Breakfast

Easy Egg Sandwiches

Muesli with apples

Whole Wheat Protein Pancakes


Lunch

Turkey Avocado wraps w/veggies and White Bean Hummus

Red Beans and Rice


Dinner

Homemade Pizza (recipe for best Whole Wheat Crust coming this week)

Mango Salsa Chicken w/broccoli

Chickpea Crockpot Pie (will be made Sunday for lunches next week)

I have several leftovers of the Lentil Soup and Whole Wheat Gnoochi with Sweet Potato Sauce I made last week and there are a couple lunches at work where food is provided, so this week's menu is once again skimpy, but I'm excited to try the Mango Chicken - it's something I haven't made before. And the turkey avocado wraps are the perfect compliment to the hot weather Nashville is experiencing this week - highs in the 80s all week!

Weigh in & A Dark Place

Weight Last Week: 264.6

Weight This Week: 263.4

1.2 pounds LOST this week

Lowest Weight Recorded: 232.2 on 4/22/12

66 pounds lost since June 2010





Sure, a technical loss, but it's been a sh*t pile of a week. Trying CrossFit on Tuesday left me more sore than I have ever being in my life - today is the first day I can *kinda* sit down without wincing in pain.


Is that an excuse? Sure it is. If I would have been out and active - even if my quads, shoulders and abs all wanted to die - I probably would have recovered earlier.


I just feel like I am in a vicious cycle of emotional eating and not wanting to do anything about it.


It's spring, the weather is nice, I should feel refreshed and recharged and instead I have to talk myself into getting myself out of bed in the morning.


I know this post is negative and it's not all "butterflies and puppies" so I'm sorry to those of you who are looking for inspiration. But this is what's real and I know I'm not alone, so I'd love for you to comment if you've experienced this vicious cycle of regaining weight-depression-emotional eating. If so, how did you get out of it?