Tag Archives: biking

Lifting move of the week

Happy Cinco de Mayo!  It was a gorgeous day today.  I biked to the gym today for my lifting.

  • Rail squats:  3 sets of 10
  • Dumbbell chest fly:  3 sets of 1o with 15# DBs
  • Chin ups:  4 sets of 1
  • Dumbbell pullover:  3 sets of 10 with 25# DB
  • Pushups:  3 sets of 10
  • Reverse crunches:  3 sets of 10
  • Nosebreaker:  3 sets of 15 with 20# bar
  • Cable biceps curls: 2 sets of 10 with 30#

I am going to try to do more video of me doing a different strength move each week.  Today is me doing the dumbbell incline chest fly.  This is a great move for the chest muscles.  While it looks like your arms are doing the work, it is really the chest.  You want to initiate the move with your pectoral muscles.  You want to feel a stretch across your chest when you open your arms, and a contraction when you bring the weights together.  This can be done either flat or inclined.  You can also vary where your arms are a little.  Mine tend to drift upwards a bit.

John met me at the gym, and we biked to breakfast.  He chose where we went today, and he picked Maude’s!

I love this sign:

I had 2 eggs over medium with home fries and toast.

Yum

I love eggs.  I know you were all expecting a bagel today!  They don’t have them at Maude’s.  Well, they do, but they aren’t made there.

Biked home and got to work after a quick shower.  Somebody got on my lap right away:

Lunch time:

Tuna salad and the extra loud Sun Chips :mrgreen:   Those have to be kept up high, btw.  I snacked on a few out of the bag before putting them on my plate.

I am still having an attack of the snacks today.  Sometimes that just happens.  I don’t feel guilt about eating anymore, but that doesn’t mean I am not disappointed at some of my food choices yesterday and today.  Like the cookie dough:

Which I had more of, too.  Accountability!

I finished up work around dinner time today and made a classic broccoli and chicken stirfry!

Always good.  It was such a nice evening that I did a good amount of work weeding out the side garden bed.  It’s ready for mulch now.  I made the big mistake of skipping the mulch last year and had so many weeds!  I am also going to purchase some astilbes for the side, probably from Bluestone Perennials.  I love their plants.

We then walked down to the ice cream place and I got a small malt made with peanut butter soft serve.  This was so good.

I really need to eat clean tomorrow.  I wanted to lose 3 pounds in May, and this is not a good start LOL!  I need to kick my own butt back in gear.  Come back tomorrow and see my clean eats 😀

Question:  Do you want to see more Move of the Week videos?

April Wrap Up

Hello beautiful Saturday!  Lazyish morning, although I was up too early.  I made some protein waffles.  I haven’t had blueberries all week!

Deeelicious!  I spent a good chunk of the morning reading blogs and catching up.  Then I actually worked for 1-1/2 hours.  So lame…..  While I was working, John was making up pizza dough!  I thought it was bread, but he asked if I wanted pizza for lunch.  Yes!  I was hungry, though – so I nibbled on some cereal while he baked.

I swear, it does not matter what kind of cereal is in the house.  I will snack on it.

The pizza was a complete success!

That’s ground beef on there.  This was his best crust to date.  It’s actually modified from a baked donut recipe.   He changed it by using 1/2 wheat flour, reducing the sugar to 1 tablespoon of sugar (and made 1/2 of the recipe).  It was nice and puffy and chewy.  This would be a perfect dessert pizza crust too, as written.

So, another month has come and gone.  Lots of things happened this month for me!

The good:

The bad:

The good pretty much outweighed the bad, but the injury took up 3/4 of the month!

I learned a few things this month.  I don’t have to rely on exercise to maintain my weight – or even to lose, really.  I also can handle stress pretty well.  I can blow off steam and be laughing later in the day.  Although, I am thinking about making a swear jar for the month of May (to which John replied that we could fund a vacation with it – he is hilarious, I tell you 🙄 ).

I’ll get to May goals in a second, need to take a yogurt break:

Does this not look divine?  It was!  Coconut lime yogurt topped with toasted coconut.  We biked there.  I wore Triscuit outside for the first time this year, with plenty of sunscreen.  Mid 80s today!

We did 15 miles today.  I was actually 1 mph faster today and it felt really good.  I kind of got a little weepy for a second on the path because I was so, so thankful to be able to ride again.  Even if I am not 100%, I am so happy about this.   I am taking tomorrow off, as I do not want to push it.

Came home and made some dinner!  It’s the BBQ salad, only I had it with pork.

No nuts on it because I ate about 1/2 cup of cashews before dinner 😳

I think I like the chicken better.

Now, where was I?  Oh yes – May goals.

  • The return to running.  I hope this happens.  It all depends on when the weakness in my leg is gone and the leg can support itself.
  • Lose 3 pounds.  There – I put a concrete number on the month!  I actually lost almost 5 pounds in April, which is completely shocking to me.  Who knew a herniated disk would actually help me.
  • Go to the dentist.
  • Really, really think about my current job.  It’s fairly stressful, so I have to decide if all the great benefits it has are worth the stress and low pay.
  • Try to make the blog more interesting with recipes and  lifting stuff (or anything else you want to see!).

I am off tonight to my sisters house and work with Storm.  I am doing something with rally or obedience tomorrow, but I don’t remember what LOL!  So, I have to practice.  I’ll have pics of whatever we are doing tomorrow.

Question:  Do you have goals for May?

What’s blooming and biking!

Happy Friday!  I was up fairly early and had my pre-workout protein drink before heading out to the gym.

Why do I look worried in the picture??

I think I may be able to convince some ladies to do free weights!  The Curves in the town closed, so some of those members joined my gym.  There are 3 ladies in their 60s who now work out at the same time I do, and I keep talking to them about the free weights.  😀  I’ll get them over there…

I rode the stationary for 15 minutes to warm up and the lifted:

  • Incline dumbbell bench press:  3 sets of 12 with 20# DBs (40# total)
  • Rail squats:  3 sets of 8 at body weight.  Getting easier.
  • 1/2 chin ups:  3 sets of 3.
  • Reverse crunches:  3 sets of 10 (first time back with these)
  • Alternating bent over dumbbell row: 3 sets of 15 (each arm) with 15# DBs (30# total)
  • Cable triceps pull down:  3 sets of 15 with 30#
  • Arnold press:  3 sets of 12 with 10# DBs (20# total)
  • Cable biceps curl:  3 sets of 10 at 30#

It felt good today.  I notice more of a difference today with leg pain, as I am not limping much.  Yay!

Been thinking about pumpkin lately, so I made pumpkin custard oats topped with toasted pecans and maple butter when I got back.

Yum!  It’s the start of my weekend, although I debated working a little bit to make some extra $$ today.  I will probably do that tonight after this post.

After eating breakfast, I puttered around in the garden a little bit.  It’s about time to bring back the Friday What’s Blooming series.  I have more tulips coming up.  I planted early, mid and late tulips, so there is a nice variety.

Queen of the night.  One of my faves:

I forgot the name of this one.

Purty.  Flowers just make me smile 🙂

Lunch break was some greek yogurt, all bran cereal, strawberries, and honey.  A classic:

Beautiful weather on tap today, so I wanted to test a longer bike ride.  I decided to go to the library, which is about 6 miles each way.  I snacked on a date with nuttzo before leaving.

You know, I still get calluses, even though I wear gloves when lifting and biking.  There go my career aspirations of being a hand model…

The path is greening up nicely:

Feeling pretty good here!

I felt good after I got to the library.  A little stiffness in my leg, but no back pain.  That’s good.  Progress!  I sat and read at the library for a while.  Ended up getting the 2nd Twilight book out, even though I am not all that impressed with the series so far.  I am finding myself annoyed with it.  Isn’t that weird?  I also got a book on cupcakes 😳

I texted John and he agreed to meet me for a snack.  I biked to Baker’s Dream, a tiny bakery, where I got a small coconut cream puff and a cup of coffee:

One of those 3-bite treats.  The owner of this place is an excellent baker.  I almost thought about asking her for a job LOL!

Then we biked home.  I am still somewhat slower than normal.  I averaged about 10 mph.  I realized that what is missing is my power.  That’s a nerve thing, and only time will bring it back (I hope).  Successful 16 mile bike ride today, and further than I planned.  That means a yogurt bike ride tomorrow is going to happen 😀

By the time we got home, it was dinner time!  John grilled up some pork and I put mine on a sweet potato with laughing cow and more BBQ sauce.

Let’s have a closer look, shall we?

Yum.  John and I eat our potatoes differently.  He does his sweet. I do mine savory.

Other than some work, not much planned for the evening.  I will be  making a pumpkin pie snack later on.  Have a great night!

Question:  Favorite spring time flower?

Return of the biker babe

Sunday heralds the new work week for me, and the requisite bagel!

Today was blueberry.

Then it was time for the other pre work Sunday ritual:

Freshly stocked with produce and dairy!

Work was a little slow today, so I got down to making some soap.  I still have a business that I periodically make soap for, and she contacted me this week.  It’s near cherry blossom time, so I have been making a bunch of cherry soap for her (which I can’t stand, oddly enough).

John had run some errands and brought me a little marshmallow egg with caramel.  Gotta love sale Easter candy LOL.

Then it was lunchtime and I had some carrots:

Plus a green smoothie made with pumpkin, brown rice protein powder, Barlean’s Omega 3 and cinnamon.

Didn’t like this combo very much, I have to say.  At least it was nutritious.

After a little more work, it got slow again 🙄 , so I decided to give the bike a try! I nabbed a date and some nut butter and headed out to test the asphalt.

Look at this happy biker:

I missed it so much in the last 2.5 weeks!! The ride went well.  Not really much pain, but I have real weakness in my left leg.  I cannot go fast.  My brain is telling my leg to push harder and it just won’t go.  It’s like when you run in your dreams and you run really slow, even though you are trying to run fast (does anyone else dream like that?) Hills were a little funny that way because I just kept getting slower and slower as I went up.   There were only a couple small hills, which was the plan.  I actually went to see my folks (unannounced).  My dad wasn’t there, but I was able to visit with my mom.  Then I biked home.  6.5 miles – so  good start to get back on the bike!  Overall very pleased with my injury progress.  Biker babe is back in action!!

Had to make a snack when I got back!

Got a call that the closing on the house is scheduled for Tuesday.  I can’t believe it’s actually happening!  Now I need to decide whether to try to flip another house, start a business, or keep doing what I am doing.  Too many choices.

Dinner time was a constructed BBQ chicken salad since we got new lettuce to replace the produce soup I had to toss on Friday. 😀

I’ll be working late tonight to finish up if there is work to be had, plus more soapmaking, foam rolling, and stretching.  And I need to ponder an evening snack……

Mardis Gras and jam packed day!

We packed a lot of things into today!  Absolutely stunning weather today.  If I hadn’t hurt my back, we would have been biking miles and miles today.  Oh well.  I started off my day with some banana chocolate oats!

Cooked with a mashed banana, 5 grams of dark cocoa powder, and 2 egg whites.  Topped with some nutzzo.  And plenty of cafe au lait!

Then we headed out to do our duty:

We did this for our nieces at the health fair scheduled at the school.  What we do for family, I tell you! 😀

After leaving a pint behind, we hit up the Sports & Fitness Expo in Saratoga.  If I can’t actually be active right now, I can at least look at active stuff 🙂

This was pretty neat!  We talked to a lot of exhibitors about different biking routes in other parts of the county we live in.  We have some new places to scope out!  Lots of cool biking jerseys:

We were hungry at this point, so we ate some gumbo at the Esperanto stand to get prepped for later.

Plus we split this tiny Larabar:

Then popped back into the expo.  I was totally drooling over some of the bikes, and for the second time in about a week, I touched a $10,000 bike!  I’m gonna start wanting one pretty soon…..

I also saw these first hand:

These seem exactly like swim/water shoes, only with each toe housed.  They do not look like they would fit my toes.

There are so many different kinds of races going on this year from 5K to marathons, to triathlons and trail runs.  Too many things!  I totally have the itch to get out there now.

I had forgotten it was Mardi Gras day in Saratoga today (or I would have worn my beads).  So, we decided to stroll downtown.  Or rather walk really, really slow.  I’m still limping a bit, but at least I can walk around.  Yay!  Mardi Gras had some music – check it out, slide guitar!

This group was bluegrass, which is too close to country for me, but they started with a Django Rienhardt tune, which made me so excited!  John called it country fried Django LOL!  Then they got too country, so we went on to some samples.  Many restaurants serve little cajun/creole samplings for $1 and you can vote on what you like.  We went the dessert route today.  First up was a bananas foster bread pudding:

The pudding itself was okay, but the sauce was really good.  I am licking my cup:

Then we needed a drink and I needed a rest, so stopped off for coffee and a bit of reading at Borders:

Then a couple more samples:

This was really good, although a bit eclectic.  The orange creme anglaise was the best part.

Then another sample, which was quite big, so John and I split it:

This brownie had bourbon whipped cream on top. Yummy!  While not really cajun/creole, this was the freshest and best tasting of the 3, so that is what we voted for.

By this time, I had walked way more than I have in 2 weeks, so we decided to go and hit up Kohls so John could get some shoes, and he had success!  I also got a couple things on sale, but I didn’t take a picture, so those will appear this week.

Home time and dinner time by this point!  I roasted up some beets and parsnips along side some pierogies.

Not crazy about the beets, I have to say.  I about fell asleep while eating. I am so wiped out!  I can’t believe how much we crammed into today.  I am also a little full – I ate a lot today LOL.

I also found the perfect cycling jersey for me:

I guess I am going to have to cough up the $75 for this, because I love it!  Suits me pretty well, don’t you think?

Bagels and biking and bread!

Triple B today!  I woke up early today because of pain.  Just a momentary gripe here, but I will be so glad to finally wake up pain free – or just be pain free period.  This is getting really old.  It’s better mind you, a lot better, but not much fun.  Patience…..

We headed out to Panera Bread, where I had a french toast bagel.

I really took the time to slow down and eat, too.  Sometimes I wolf my food down because I am hungry and it tastes good 😀

Then we went grocery shopping, with me on crutches.  I can’t walk long distances without the crutches yet, although I can get around the house and such without them.  After checking in with work and it being slow (as in dead), we packed up some food and headed out to catch the Battenkill pro bikers along their route.  This bike race is 124 miles long.  Lunch in the car for me was some broccoli slaw sauteed in coconut oil, 1/4 cup of rice and 1 egg/2 egg whites scrambled.  With some hot sauce.  This was quite good!

Poor bikers – it was a cold day and rainy.

We had a cup of coffee and I ate my strawberries while waiting for the bikers.  We were excited!

Poor John, I always cut his head off :D. We actually timed it pretty well (or John did, I should say).  It was quite exciting.  I have never seen a live bike race before.  I have been to plenty of running races, but the tempo of this was so fast compared to that!  Here is a video of the main group.

You can hear me start to freak out about how close the bikers came to us and you can hear them hit their brakes around the curve.  It was a hard left curve. We were on the curb and not even in the road and they came so close!  I actually got a little scared 😳

That was a rush.  They were so colorful, too. I can’t believe how close they ride together at that speed.  Average speed is around 25-30 miles an hour on this course.

Then other small clusters came by.

They were also going fast.

Ooops  – missed the biker here :mrgreen:  He just shot right past my camera.

One lonely Trek rider, way behind.

It was all over so fast.  Next year, I want to go to the finish area, but it is another 1/2 hour away, so we couldn’t do that today with my work.  I want to ride so bad!

Also noted were some lovely azaleas!

Had to get back to work, although it would have been nice to hang around and see the bikers come through again (they do a double 62-mile loop).   Got to work and there was some to do, so I got busy.  John made lattes and I had a snack to go with:

Granola nut clusters.  Addictive!

John made up some of the 5-minute healthy bread from the book I bought him:

It was perfection!  I had a slice with my dinner salad:

I am going to have to work some of this into my eating this week.  So good.  John is happy because the recipe worked!  There is more dough in the fridge, so he can bake whenever he wants.

Pear for dessert:

Well, that fun today comes at a price of having to work late tonight, but it was worth it!

Tomorrow I will talk about me being in Shape and more pictures from the photo shoot we did a couple months ago! 😀

I am also going to venture to the gym for the first time in almost 2 weeks to do some light lifting.  I need to get back into some routine again.

Bike rides and birthdays!

What a wonderful Saturday!  I actually didn’t sleep very well last night.  It was hot and we had changed the flannel sheets off the bed, so not sure if that made me restless or what, but I would like to have slept in some before the ride.  Nevertheless, coffee and breakfast always make things better 😀

Superfoods to fuel up!  After a leisurely breakfast and some housework, we packed up some snacks and were ready to hit the trail.

Biker thighs are ready 😉  I look 4 feet tall in this picture, but I am really 5’2″.  Today was a 40-mile scheduled ride.  The bike path along this route is actually a wide shoulder of a main road for most of the way, so it isn’t quite as nice as the regular path.  We cross over the bridge leaving town here:

To avoid the instate overpass, we detoured around Moreau State Park, and I jumped up and down when I saw these along the side of the road:

Yay!!!  Little pops of color.  Actually, you can just see the faintest shimmer of green in the trees as the buds are starting to pop.  Green is coming!  The ride there is very hilly and challenging, not to mention the headwind.  We stopped half way and had a snack.  Phew!  20 miles from home and we arrived.

Today is my sister’s birthday, so we met her in Saratoga and took her out to lunch at Ravenous:

The crepe place!  Yum.  I had a crepe filled with scrambled eggs (redundant, I guess), cheddar cheese, and broccoli!  Served with pommes frites:

Happy birthday Colleen!!

John and I decided to walk around town after eating and window shop.  Saratoga is really a very cute city.  A little spendy, but cute.  I kind of would like to live here, just for a little more nightlife :mrgreen:

Needed dessert, and a new cupcake shop opened up called Betties Cakes.

It’s very retro.

Yum:

One thing I appreciate about this place is how there are 3 different sizes of cupcakes.  They actually bought this business from Spa City Cupcakes and redesigned everything.  I got the medium size cupcake, which was the perfect size:

The flavor?

Blueberry pancake, which is a blueberry cupcake topped with maple buttercream frosting.  I  had it alongside a cup of coffee.  It was outstanding!  I could have sat there happily with a bowl of this frosting and a spoon. 😳  This just makes me want to open a cupcake shop….

After this, we hit the road back home.  Interestingly, it was much faster coming back than getting there, and we shaved 10 minutes off the time.  I don’t know if it was just the tailwind or if the hills were more up on the way there?  Maybe both.  Or maybe we were powered by cupcake. We cruised home pretty easily, although the last hill to our house is just a killer.  I was kind of tired at that point.

Distance:  40.5 miles

Time:  3 hours, 5 minutes

Average speed:  12.7 mph  (11.9 first half, 13.6 second half)

Top speed:  27.7 mph (Hills – woo hoo!)

I felt great after we got back.  I could go farther, but not sure how much.  It feels so good to have these kind of bike legs in early April!  All that winter work paid off.  I know I can bike 100 miles this summer.

Calorie burn for this ride is probably about 1,000.  I give myself between 20 and 25 calories per mile, depending on how hard the ride is, just to be conservative. Snacks consumed during this ride included a homemade granola bar, some dried pineapple, and an apple.  Then another granola bar after we got home.

Dinner time!  Easy cooking stuff since we are a little tired.  Brussel sprouts, strawberries and Pierogies!

I ate these all the time when I was younger and forgot how good they are.

Company coming over tonight and lots of relaxing in store.  We are having Easter lunch/dinner at my sister’s tomorrow, but I also have to work, as per every Sunday.

Did you have a fabulous day?

Maple Syrup Winner and relaxing.

I am glad to see all of you working out even if you are self – conscious!  What beautiful weather we are having here!  Finally!  I biked to the gym this morning, although it was still a little nippy on the way there.  Short lifting work out today:

  • Chin ups:  3 sets of 2
  • Dumbbell incline chest press:  3 sets of 8 with 20# DBs
  • Seated Row:  3 sets of 6 at 70#
  • Horizontal woodchop:  3 sets of 8
  • Nosebreakers:  3 sets of 10 with 30# bar
  • Barbell chest press:  3 sets of 8 with 60#
  • Dumbbell pull over:  3 sets of 8 with 30# DB
  • Dumbbell shoulder press:  3 sets of 10 with 15# DBs

Notice anything missing?  Leg work!  Since we have a long ride tomorrow, I did not want to work my legs with weights today.  I need them fresh and non sore.   I jogged 1 mile on the treadmill and biked home to a retro breakfast:  Fluffernutter banana oats!

As this sat, the fluffernutter got all melty and good.  It was a fun bowl.  I was looking at this picture and it looks like a little ghost laying with his arms out.  Ate him anyway…

Had a nice relaxing morning getting some cleaning done and reading blogs.  I am still way behind on that, though.

Before I forget – the winner of the maple syrup is:

#19 Sandi!

I’ve been an oatmeal breakfast girl since I started the weightloss over two years ago. I’ve been thinking about those protein pancakes you make look so good though. I would definitely make those for a special weekend breakfast for the hubby with that syrup :p

Congratulations Sandi! email me at javaqueen01 (at) yahoo.com with your address and I will get that out to you!

A quick lunch of an egg puff on a tortilla with laughing cow – smothered in hot sauce:

I am craving salty big time.  Not sure why, but the hot sauce hit the spot.

I headed out after lunch for an afternoon of relaxing!  I biked to the library where I read some magazines. Yeah, I’m a dork.

While relaxing in this room:

Sigh…. I love the library!  I decided I needed to lighten up my home reading a bit.  I have been nonfiction for quite a while, so I decided to see what all the fuss is over the Twilight books and got the first one to read.  I will probably cruise through it this weekend.  I am a voracious reader.

I met John on the bike trail at one of our favorite stops!

Don’t you love how this is right on the path??  This place is usually jamming, but not at this particular time (no wait for us!!).  I got some hazelnut cappuccino yogurt.

Yum.  It was good, but not my favorite flavor.  Spent time sitting in the warm and chatting.  Good company 😀  John said we leaped right into summer, and it certainly seems that way.  Then we biked home together.  15 miles today at a nice leisurely pace.  Saving energy for tomorrow!

Pixie was glad to see us when we got home.  She has a funny habit of falling over onto her side when whenever we come home:

She wants someone to rub her tummy 😀

I relaxed and read for a while, then cooked up dinner.

Chicken, sweet potato and broccoli mashup with some BBQ sauce.  Quite tasty, I have to say.  I added an extra carb to store up for tomorrow’s ride.

I have done well for my vow to eat well so far….. there is still tonight to get through, but I asked John to  to say something to me if he saw me snacking on something other than my planned item.  Turning him into the food cop tonight LOL!

Have a super evening, and I’ll have some pics of the long ride tomorrow!  It’s my sister’s birthday tomorrow as well, so we are going to bike down to her area and take her out!

Practice excellence

I wanted to start this day off with a quote for you all:

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” ~ Aristotle

Isn’t that cool?  Practice happy, be happy!  Keep working and become fit.

Got an early start to my workday today, as the weather is nice outside for today warmth wise and I wanted to take advantage of that. Let me tell you, my butt is sore from those walking lunges yesterday. (drop seating, anyone?) Definitely keeping those in rotation. Also my shoulder on top from the military presses. I cannot remember the last time my shoulders were sore.

Made up a yummer breakfast of banana oats topped with the new Naturally Nutty PB!

So good.  There are too many flavors they have that I want to try!  I need to be very careful to keep the spoon out of this jar 😳

Started work early while waiting for it to warm up some. I had a mid morning protein snack of strawberry protein powder and a tsp of nutbutter.

John asked me if I wanted to bike today – of course!! However, just in case it rains earlier than predicted, I went out for a quick 2-mile jog before lunch.  That was to ensure the rain stayed away.

Worked a little more, then lunch time! Something different today:

This was 2 oz of ground beef cooked with 3 egg whites and topped with some 50% reduced fat Cabot cheese (the only low fat brand I like) on top of a corn tortilla. And the requisite hot sauce! Brussels as my lunch veggie today. This was pretty filling, think it was the fat in the meat that did it (80% lean).

A note on the chin ups, because I have gotten some questions about them. There is a difference between chin ups and pull ups.  With chin ups you grasp the bar with your palms facing you. Pull ups use the overhand grip. Pull ups are much, much harder than chins. It took me months to build up strength to do these, and I started with negative chins, where you start with your chin over the bar (standing on a box or bench, obviously), then bend your legs so you are hanging and slowly lower yourself down. Rinse and repeat. I did those for a while before trying the real thing. Then I started with partially bent arms before going to a full hang.  Practice, practice, practice.  Strength building takes time.  It would be easier if I were lighter, too 😛

Pre ride snack of latte and some chocolate!

We then took the back path around.  We don’t take this one often because we usually have a destination to do, and this loops back behind where we normally go to.  It starts with a big downhill, and then it is up, up, up!  Here is a shot from the top of the hill:

Those mountains way off in the distance? That’s actually Vermont!  The Green Mountains, although they don’t look very green now.  We went out for a little more than 8 miles today.

Came back for some dinner.  I decided to have a different veggie for dinner:

(John even commented about the lack of broccoli). This is a baked crab cake (from frozen).

Done with work for the week. Yay!  :mrgreen:   I decided to hang out in the kitchen tonight and make up some protein cookies for a snack using oat bran and strawberry protein powder.

They came out pretty good.  I topped mine with a couple tsp of cream cheese, as they are pretty sweet.  I’ll post the recipe tomorrow.

Produce challenge:

F: 1 banana, 1 kiwi, strawberries

V: brussel sprouts, carrots

Question: What is your most excellent habit that you practice?

Bring on the froyo!

Happy Saturday!  Another great day today!  Long bike ride on tap for the day.  Fueled up with some protein waffles topped with a mix of ricotta cheese, pumpkin, spice, and 1 tsp of honey (warmed in microwave).  Sprinkled with craisins.

Along side some cafe au lait and this was a yummy breakfast!

Set out for Lake George once it warmed up a bit.  Do you ever get those times where you are just supremely happy?   I was having one of those moments while biking.  The sun was warm, I was feeling great, enjoying the scenery and  just thinking about how happy I was 😀

The ducks are back.  These 2 better get busy and make some ducklings!

Snack time at 9 miles in because my thighs were burning:

About 10 miles in or  so, when we got into the Adirondacks, we hit some icy snowpack on the path 😯

We sort of rode over the patches while straddling the bikes and using our feet (if that makes any sense).  Did fine, except on one spot I took a spill when my bike slipped out from under me.  I banged my elbow, but at least I didn’t rip my pants.  Why I worried more about that is beyond me.  I should have had John take a picture…

Arrival at the Lake!

(John shaved off his beard for the first day of spring.)

Still a little bit of ice on the lake.

A lot of businesses are still closed for the season, but the Bank Cafe is open.  This place is fun.  It’s tiny, but cozy.

We sat by the safe:

I shared a bowl of lobster bisque with John.  It came with the most giant spoon ever!

The bisque was sooo good.

We each ended up getting grilled cheese, too.

Good old American Cheese LOL.   Old school and tasty.

We wandered around town for a while.  Lots of people out and cleaning up stuff.  You can feel the earth stretching and waking up from a winter nap.  Check out this pier – would you want to walk on it?

Then we biked home, being careful on the snowy patches, so no mishaps.  The first part leaving Lake George is the killer.  It’s a 2-mile hill up. Phew!  Quads burning…. burning!  You know what is open now – had to stop and get our frozen yogurt!

This was rum cheesecake flavor with coconut.  ~ 150 calories (plus some coconut).  Gotta love it.

Bike ride done!

Stats:

  • 31 miles
  • 3 hours
  • Average speed:  11.2 mph
  • Top speed: 26.2 mph (hills!)

Bike legs come back fast after a winter off.  I am excited to plan a 100 mile ride this summer.

Today is National Meat-Out day, so we made an effort to eat all veg today.  Dinner tonight was Indian inspired.  Potato sauteed with coconut oil, turmeric, garam masala, a red chili and topped with an egg.  Slapped a cover on to steam the egg, and then I had to add a little cheese.

Unpictured clementines were eaten as well.

Too bad this weather is gone tomorrow.  It has just been so enjoyable!  I am all set for an evening in with some chocolate and tea.

Question:  Did you Meat Out today?