Category Archives: biking

Quiet day and a much better ride.

Sunday and back to work again.  The weather has quieted down.  Since my chain was not working well and we had to go grocery shopping, we just drove to breakfast.  Back to Panera Bread for bagels!  We need more than 2 bagel places around here within an 8-mile radius.

Blueberry with reduced fat cream cheese

and 3 cups of coffee 😀

We then got all nicely stocked up on groceries.  Lots of fruit.  Strawberries, kiwis, bananas, dates, blueberries, apples, pears.  I we eat a lot of fruit during the week.

Work was slow today, so I ended getting more things done than anticipated.  I scrubbed my bike off and degreased and regreased the chain, and did general cleaning around the house.

Lunch break was chicken with laughing cow and some pan sauteed sweet potato slices.  Good that way.

Plus yummy blueberries!  I need to call the local farm and see if it is picking time yet….

With still no work available, I went out for a leisurely bike ride for 1.5 hours.

Much, much better ride than the craptacularness that was yesterday.  See how happy I am after arriving at the yogurt place?

I had some lemon yogurt with raspberry topping.

This combo was good, but I was expecting a more tart lemon, like sorbet.

See all the choices of flavors to choose from?  It’s almost too much.

Nice ride today.  14 miles round trip.  Active recovery day for me!

Still no work in the late afternoon.  We have to keep checking in every couple of hours when there are no files, just to make sure any stat reports get finished.  So, that is annoying because I don’t earn any money….

I decided to take that time and make an Indian dish for dinner called Palak Chole.  It is a spinach, tomato, and chick pea dish that was really easy to make, healthy and turns out to be vegan as well.  I will put a recipe page up with that hopefully tomorrow.

Yum!  I had mine with 1/2 of a Lavash bread.  Nothing like combining cuisines, right?  If someone had said to me 4 years ago that  I would be eating a dish that combined chick peas, spinach, and tomatoes and liking it, I would have said “Ick, no way!!”.  Oh what I have missed.

Got more weeding done tonight.  Doing good on controlling them this year so far.  Tonight’s snack:

Kashi!

And:

Summertime = berry time!  Yay!

Lifting move of the week and lost food.

Good old Wednesday! I was up too early again, but such is life, no? Took a protein hit and then biked to the gym.

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Stiff-leg Deadlift 3 sets of 8 with 65# bar Lower body
Seated Lat Row 3 sets of 12 at 45# Back
Chin ups 2 sets of 2, 3 sets of 1 Upper body
Horizontal Wood Chop 3 sets of 10 (each side) Abs
YTWL 3 sets of 4 (each letter) with 8# DBs Shoulders
Standing leg press 3 sets of 6 at 50# Quads
Dumbbell chest press 3 sets of 12 with 20# DBs (40# total) Chest
Overhead Triceps Ext 3 sets of 15 with 20# DB Triceps
Standing calf raise 3 sets of 15 at 50# Calves

Little extra leg work today.

The lifting move of the week: The YTWL! Named for the shape your arms make when doing the exercise. Kind of like YMCA, but without the catchy tune (although you can hum it if you want). This is a great shoulder exercise because it hits all the different muscles of the shoulder. Start with a very light weight, as it is pretty difficult (and the shoulder is easy to injure).

You can do 4 repetitions of each letter.  I think a lot of women neglect their shoulders, but they really can make the difference in how your top half looks.  Nice rounded shoulder caps help with body symmetry.

John met me at the gym and we biked to our usual addiction bagel.  Nice morning to eat outside!

I was sitting too close to a barberry bush and got poked with a thorn, but it was so pretty I leaned over and took a picture:

It was kind of humid, can you tell? Such a nice morning to bike.  One thing I love about my workday starting at 10 is that I can do all this stuff in the morning like work out and bike to breakfast.

Fairly uneventful at work.  Before I knew it, time for lunch!  I actually found a can of tuna in the pantry.  I thought I had gotten rid of it all, but I guess I didn’t.  So, that was on the menu today.  Maybe it isn’t so bad after all.

Also found 1/2 a sweet potato in the fridge, which I microwaved and topped with laughing cow. Yum!

Somebody wanted some attention while I worked today, and I just cannot resist this face:

I was hungry, though – so she did have to get up after a while.  Made some cashew butter last night.  Dang I forgot how good that stuff is.  I had some on a date for a snack:

It was so good I had another with the latte:

I think the food processor might be on its last legs.  Like a lot of things in our house LOL!  Who needs to win the lottery? – raise your hand!!

John and I rounded up more leftovers to eat.  Funny how sometimes it just seems like there are a lot in the fridge at one time.  I defrosted some of the lentil/rice dish we made with the pan roasted broccoli!

Good stuff.

Going to spend some time in the garden weeding tonight.  My goal to keep the garden weed free is going well this year (of course, it is only early June).  If anyone wants black-eyed susans, please let me know.  I have a 100 volunteers growing that are in the wrong spot 😀

Happy running day to all!  Look at that, I didn’t even run today.  John ran this evening, but I already had done enough for the day.    I ate strawberries instead……

Question:  Do you ‘lose’ food in the fridge or pantry?

Strength training move of the week and worst fast foods.

Still more hot weather, will it ever end??  It was already pretty warm when I biked to the gym.

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Chin ups 2 set of 2, 3 sets of 1 Upper body
Good mornings 3 sets of 10 with 45# bar Hammies and low back
Incline chest fly 3 sets of 12 with 15# DBs (30# total) Chest
Plank 3 sets of 1-minute holds Core
Cable squat to row 3 sets of 10 at 50# Back and legs
Upright row 3 sets of 12 with 25# bar Shoulders
Cable triceps pulldown 3 sets of 15 at 30# Triceps

Loved the combo moves today to make best use of my time!

Strength training move of the week.

No video today because it is the plank! No need for video, because that would be pretty boring.

(This is the spare bedroom in my house) The plank is a fabulous core exercise, and quite difficult when performed correctly.  You want to keep in as straight a line as possible here.  Don’t let your hips pop up (cause they will want to), and keep your abs pulled in so your middle doesn’t sag.  Work on increasing your hold times.  Before I hurt my back, I was able to do a 2-minute plank, although I think I saw through time near the end of that.  Today, I did 1-minute holds.  The fun part of the plank is being able to feel the loose skin of your thighs and tummy hanging there….  For an added challenge, you can do the plank on your side.

I love how some guy (who has been a bit chatty with me of late) came up today while I was doing the plank and said “So, working your core, huh?”  I didn’t want to be rude, but it is very hard to talk while doing a plank, so I kind of grunted out a ‘yes’.  Not sure if he thought I was practicing to be a coffee table or what. 🙄

John met me at the gym and we biked to Cool Beans today.  The outdoor patio was set up, so we ate outside.  Forgot our travel coffee cups, so I grabbed the big cup.

Now that is what I’m talkin’ about!  It’s even labeled magnum LOL!  Whole wheat bagel with plain cream cheese – so no added sugar there.

Bike ride today was 13 miles.  We were pretty sweaty when we got back and it was only 9:30.  Temps reached 91 today.

It was so hot that the  kitty broke!

(How come she doesn’t herniate her disk??? Not fair.)

Lunch time and I decided to put the rest of that stuffed pepper filling on top of some scrambled eggs.  It was really good!

The carrots, on the other hand, were pretty lame.  On the old side and the end of that bag, thank goodness.

Buzzed right through work today.  Had a latte:

and one of my favorite snackies!

I was reading an article today about the worst fast food meals:

The top 10 deadliest fast food meals:

1. Wendy’s Baconator Triple, 1330 calories and 38 grams of saturated fat
2. Sonic’s SuperSonic Cheeseburger, 980 calories and 24 grams of saturated fat
3. Burger King’s BK Quad Stacker, 930 calories and 28 grams of saturated fat
4. Domino’s Bread Bowl Pizza, 670 calories and 22 grams of saturated fat
5. In & Out Burger’s Double Double With Onion, 670 calories and 18 grams of saturated fat
6. Arby’s Large Beef n’ Cheddar, 650 calories and 11 grams of saturated fat
7. Popeye’s Breast-Leg-Biscuit, 640 calories and 15.5 grams of saturated fat
8. Taco Bell’s Chipotle Steak Taco Salad, 900 calories and 11 grams of saturated fat
9. White Castle’s Sack of 4 Cheeseburgers, 680 calories and 16 grams of saturated fat
10. Jack in the Box’s Jumbo Jack With Cheese, 620 calories, 15 grams of fat

Okay.  Let’s get real people.  Is there anyone on earth that would get the baconator and be concerned about calories??   And do you care about fat if you are buying a sack of cheeseburgers?  Don’t give us the info on meals like this.  Make a point to list calories of things we *think* should be good, but aren’t, like fast food salads.  You know, the stuff that sneaks up on you.  Let the people who want to eat their quad stackers eat in peace.

Okay, rant over.  I snacked on some nuts while roasting up some sweet potato for dinner.

Something I need to be careful with this week is the nut snacking.  It’s taking the place of the other nibbles I would have had like ginger chews or cereal or crackers.

Dinner was some lemon pepper shrimp with the roasted sweet potato chips (gotta love toaster ovens in the heat!).

Tonight I have bananas in the fridge to make the banana soft serve.  I’m wanting something sweet today, so need to try that.  I’ll let you know how it comes out!

Question:  Have you tried the plank yet?

The broken glass theory.

Hello blogland!  I had a nice night’s sleep last night and woke up hungry! Still no running for me, and I wanted to wait to bike later, so I made up some brekkie.  I was still on a Cream of Wheat thing today, so I made them pumpkin custard oat style.  Topped with 5 toasted pecans and some jam.

This bowl was so filling and huge, and only about 275 calories for the whole thing!  Love it when life works out like that 😀

I was thinking about it being 5 weeks ago today when I did my last run.  I will be honest and say that I really don’t miss running all that much.  I more miss the idea of running.  I miss the calorie burn and the good workout feeling when finishing.  Of course, I miss being able to actually run, because not doing it means something is still wrong.  So – that’s all in the open now LOL!

Fast and furious and work today.  Lunch break:

Lots o’ fiber in this bowl!

Miz Fit made a comment on my post yesterday about showing that I broke a glass.  I thought a little bit about why I actually put that on the blog.  It was more of an attempt to show that my life is far from perfect and that a lot of little things go wrong.  I get asked if I am really as happy as I seem, and I would say that I am.  Annoyingly so, from John’s perspective, I’m sure  :mrgreen: .  I read a ton of blogs, or at least they are in my reader.  I know that sometimes when I read blogs, I wonder if that is really how their life is.  Sometimes people come across as so (to me) perfect or incredibly lucky.  Sometimes it looks that way on the surface to me, but I sense there is something lying underneath that isn’t right.  That could always just be me seeing that when it isn’t really there, either, but I am pretty intuitive with people. Other times you can really tell a blogger is very real.

It’s also a reminder that blogs are just a snippet of someone’s life.  Obviously unless there is a webcam, one couldn’t possibly put their whole life on the internet, and who would want to, really?? (Or more importantly, who would want to watch??)  So our opinions of someone’s life are just based on what we are allowed to see.

Anyhoo, I finished up work early.  Clap your hands for productivity!!  It was 56 degrees out, so I decided on a bike ride.  I fueled up with a Kind bar.

These seriously are really good.  I wish I did not know that.  This was also my first real ride with the new bike clips!

I did 19.6 miles today with an average pace of 12 mph.  Feeling good!  I like the clips.  It took some getting used to starting and stopping.  Each time I had to stop I kept saying to myself, “Don’t forget your clips!”  Okay, I actually said it out loud, too….. I was totally paranoid that I was going to forget and just fall over.  The hardest part is reclipping into the pedal after getting going again because it spins around (since I have the dual pedal).  On the longer sections of the path, I just practiced clipping and unclipping while riding to get the hang of it.  I do realize now that I moved my legs around a lot before.  Especially my feet.  Now they stay in place and I am more efficient (I think).  Cool.  I need to adjust them a little, though.

I was hungry when I got back, bottom’s up!

Protein drink and helmet hair – awesome combo 😀

Then some good foam rolling and stretching.  I was also pretty chilled at this point.  56 degrees isn’t really cold, but when you get sweaty in that temp, it’s easy to get chilled.  I decided I needed to incorporate hot sauce into dinner somehow to warm up.  :mrgreen:

I sliced a cooked chicken piece in half and heated it up, then spread it with laughing cow and the hot sauce.  This was very good!  I wish the laughing cow melted a bit better, but still tasty.

New visitor at the feeder:

Such impudence!

We are off for some coffee tonight, since neither of us had a latte today.  The day wouldn’t be complete without it!

Question:  Do you use a blog reader or do you just bookmark sites?

What’s bloomin’ and more bikin’

Happy Friday!  Woo Hoo!  I was up sort of early thanks to the trash collection.  Got up and had a quick protein drink before biking to the gym.

Mmmmmmm…. bubbles.

Did a good workout today:

  • Deadlifts: 3 sets of 8 with 45# bar (first time back with these!)
  • Close grip lat pull down:  3 sets of 15 at 40#
  • Chin ups:  5 sets of 1
  • Rope Crunch:  3 sets of 15 at 30#
  • Bench press:  3 sets of 8 with 55# bar
  • Seated dumbbell press:  3 sets of 15 with 10# DBs
  • Cable triceps press down:  3 sets of 15 at 30#
  • Standing calf raises:  3 sets of 15 (body weight)

This routine took about 35 minutes.

Then came home to PB&J oatbran with a banana cooked in!

I did the egg whites in this bowl, but they don’t get creamy and fluffy like regular oats do.

After goofing around for a while (hey, it’s my weekend!) I stopped to pick up some mulch and drool over flowers.  I need to assess and plan before I get a bunch.  I could do serious damage to my wallet with flowers.

Then I worked in the garden getting the mulch down and getting rid of weeds.  I am going to have so few weeds this year… unlike last year!

Here are some things that are blooming right now:

This is the pair to the Queen of the Night.  The Ice Princess.  They opened a little later for whatever reason.  I love this combo!

Lilacs:

A stray columbine (??) that just showed up this year:

Lunch time!

Quick egg sammie with laughing cow and hot sauce on a lavash.

Then it was time to put the pedal to the asphalt!  No biking this weekend likely because of craptacular weather on tap, so I wanted to get in a good one today.  I went part of the way to Lake George and turned around.  Here I am at the top of a hill:

We have different names for parts of the path.  This is called Sprinkles hill because down at the bottom is an ice cream shop (not the one we usually go to, either).  Did a couple big hills today, and I was able to do them!  Yay!  Still a little slow, but I’m happy right now.  After 13 miles – I decided it was time for a treat!

Rum cheese cake yogurt with toasted coconut.  You know you want some….

It was nice to sit and relax by myself for a while.  Then I biked home.  Total ride distance today:

20 miles!  Average speed 11.1 mph.  That’s an improvement of 1 mph, so I am pleased.  Longest ride since I hurt my back, too.

I was snacky when I got home, so I had the last kiwi:

And back outside into the garden again.  John cooked up a yummy dinner tonight (we ate the same thing!).  Stir fry with ginger sauce, sesame oil, hot pepper, and broccoli slaw.

I carefully measured out a 1/4 cup of jasmine rice.  It’s like crack to me.  I helped by cutting up strawberries :mrgreen:   Tasty!

I am pretty wiped out now, as it was a busy day.  We are going to make some lattes at home tonight and just chill.  Very pleased with my eating today.  My weekends can sometimes mean a lot of extra food.  Today was a good day.

Duathlon Recap!

Woke up in the dark hours of the morning and took a peek outside, expecting to see snowy rain, but it was dry.  Fingers were crossed at this point.  Cold, though!  Showered and put on my layers then came down to the breakfast I had set up and ready to fix:

oats1018

Tried and true race fuel.  Banana oats with protein powder and nut butter (okay, I drizzled a little chocolate sauce on there, too).

I was getting nervous on the way there.  See how early it is?

time

Cold and gray, but no rain.  Starting to have the feeling like “What am I doing???”

omg

Bike racked up and very chilly right here!

prerace1018

There were about 80 competitors.  They all looked quite into it too, and I felt funny with my 10-speed clunky bike with all the speedy road bikes.   I also was wondering if there was a height requirement, since everyone was taller than me 😉

race1018

Ready, set, go!!!

First run went well.  My legs were nice and fresh and the cold didn’t bother me after the first half mile.  One mile in and they called out times – I was at 9:26, which surprised me.  I was thinking I was going to do 10:30, but I guess that’s what fresh legs do for you.  At the 1-mile point the course went uphill for probably a 1/4 mile.  Killer hill and there were a lot of walkers (right at the start!).  I just put my head down and plodded up the hill.  I was falling towards the back, which is what I expected.

Here I am coming in from the run and transitioning to the bike.  2.2 miles done!

I didn’t waste any time, but chugged some water, popped on the helmet and went.  I decided against the fleece jacket because of how hot I felt at that point.  That technical turtleneck is amazing!

About 1/2 a mile in was a really steep hill.  So hard, and a lot of bikers were quite slow on this hill and weaving around.  I thank my Lake George rides for making it up the hills.  The wind started to pick up at this point and it was blowing either into my face or into my side for all but the end of the bike run.  I really pushed it for the ride.  I kept chanting “Go big or go home” and “Leave it all on the race course.”   Good thing no one was very close to me to hear all this LOL!  All the while, I kept thinking of having to run that stupid hill again in the last leg.  I was breathing hard for most of the ride, so I was happy about that because it meant I was working hard.  People had passed me at this point on their speedy bikes and I actually assumed I was in last place.

16 miles done! Again, speedy.  I just left my gloves on, chugged some coconut water, put on my running hat and set out.  I knew I was on the last leg (and my legs felt it!).

Hit the one mile mark and the hill.  I was struggling a bit here and just put my head down and jogged.  My calves were burning!  All of the sudden I noticed that I was just walking really fast up the hill, my pace had slowed down so much.  And then I got a stitch in my right side.  This never happens to me.  I took a few deep breaths and actually had to press my hand into my side, which relieved the stitch while I did that.  Then I started thinking “Is this my appendix bursting?” LOL.  I said to myself I was going to finish no matter what.  Plus I knew there was only a mile to go.  The rest was downhill and I tried to go faster.  Hard to do that while holding your side, but it felt so much better to do that.  As I passed the loop around, I saw a few people just starting the run, so I realized that I wasn’t last at all (although only ahead of about 5 or 6 people).  The stitch left with about 1/2  a mile to go.  Here is as much of a sprint as I could manage – and a big smile cause I was done with the other 2.2 miles!


Note the time – my goal was to be around 2 hours and I finished in 1:55 and change!  Yes!!!

done

Totally wiped out.  This is one of the hardest things I have ever done.  It was harder than the triathlon and I really laid it out.  I am soooo happy and pleased!

GoWear fit shows this –

duathlon

Post race coffee and egg sandwich and a pumpkin scone.

PA180038

PA180036

I am totally wiped out now.  This is my plan for the rest of the day:

PA180054

I am all settled in for the after the race watching football and probably a nap with a special treat for myself.  One of those days where I can get away with 2 bakery items in one day LOL!

PA180048

I’m still trying to digest that I actually did this today 🙂

Bike ride video and be a good egg!

Are you a good egg? Click to pledge that you are and help the hungry!
I Pledge to Eat good. Do good everyday.

I did a switcheroo today like I did on Tuesday and worked out later in the day.   So, I started off with a combo I have been thinking of for a while – mocha oats!   Susan and I were on the same wavelength.

coffeeoats

  • 40 grams oats
  • 3/4 cup coffee
  • 1 small banana
  • 4 grams cocoa powder
  • 10 grams chopped toasted pecans

I used the coffee in place of the water.  This was very strong brewed coffee, too.  It was a very unusual flavor, I have to say.  I couldn’t taste the banana at all, just a bit of sweetness.  It was eye opening!

My wonderful husband bought me some memory for my camera!  I was talking about getting some because I can only take so many pictures and very short video with it.  And then he said not to buy any because he got me some.  Early Christmas gift for me!

memory

Isn’t technology amazing? 2 Gigabytes and the size of my fingernail.

Today was my hardest training day before taper week before the duathlon.  I did a 1.5 mile run, then 16 mile bike ride, then 2 mile run.

As promised, here is a little bit of my bike path. It’s like my own Blair Witch Project LOL!  I took so much video today, it was fun.  This is just one piece.

I am such a nerd LOL. I feel like a bit of a goof. I held the camera in one hand while riding. Actually surprisingly steady for that.


It was the most gorgeous day today.  So beautiful.  I kept stopping to take pictures:

fallpath3

sumac-1

Stunning, just stunning. I wish I really could capture this on camera.

After the bike ride and before the 2nd run, I had some of this!

zico

Zico, would you sponsor me, please?? 😀  I love this stuff.  It’s coming with me on duathlon day!

Pink picture of the day:

bands

This is a local laundromat. That color is on purpose LOL!

I felt really good when I finished. I did take more breaks riding that I should have, but I realized that I will be able to finish the duathlon. I know that now, and if I have to take a few breaks, it’s okay! I am getting excited and nervous about it. I can’t wait to see what kind of weather we will get next weekend. Mid October could be anything!

Question: Do you have fall photos to share? List the link, I would love to see!

Tricked out bike and froyo!

I don’t know where the day went.  For not doing a lot I seemed to do a lot LOL!

I was going to go out for a 6 mile run today, but I got back to the house after 3 miles for a drink of water and John said “Are you going to be too tired to bike for yogurt tonight?”  So I decided to only do the 3 miles 😀

It was really humid this morning, too – I was sweating buckets and it was only 68 degrees.

Here’s a picture of my bike.  It’s older and a Schwinn.  I got the back bike rack and bag from John, which he just put on for me.  The front bag came from my folks.  Now I  am a pack mule!  I like these because I don’t have to wear a pack on my back and get all sweaty.  The bags come off, too – so I don’t have to have them on.

bike

The bike picture was taken at the Only8 frozen yogurt place – which is a 13 mile round trip from home, where I got mine flavored as apple strudel.yogurt

Tomorrow shopping at a big art/craft show – I’m looking forward to it!

Going to take it easy tomorrow as John and I are running a 5K Sunday morning, rain or shine!

Morning jog.

So – I managed to only eat a bite of the peach cobbler yesterday. It was quite tasty, but I have to say that I don’t have the desire to eat anymore (at least at this point). So, yay for me on that. I did eat on plan yesterday.

Went for a jog this morning:
Distance: 3 miles
Time: 34:27
Pace: 11:29 per mile.

A wee bit slower for whatever reason. My first mile was faster than the other 2, still trying to figure that one out.

DH wants to bike ride today, so guess I get in some extra cardio! We are biking downtown to see a new art exhibit and then have some coffee. Of course, this will be between football games. Go Broncos!

Oh, and a new look for the blog. Wanted to change things up a bit.

Step away from the cookies!

Ugh. Cookies entered the house. My parents brought cookies with them that were given to them. Home made cookies. I managed to eat 3 of them today. They were good, but not really want I wanted to be eating. Having company can really mess things up, you know?
They are gone now, thank goodness.

Had a nice bike ride today, although John got a flat this time about 3 miles from home. That makes one for each of us! Need to buy one of those emergency flat kits.