Tag Archives: biking

Saturday bike ride and my first bonk

I was a busy bee last night scrubbing the bathroom floor and doing some weeding and driveway cleanup.  My back actually was hurting, so I took a Tylenol PM in the hopes that I would sleep later (plus help my back).  We woke up about 8:30 –  which is really, really late for me!  Cooler weather for sleeping, too – we were in the upper 40s (Last I checked it was still August, right?)  John wanted to bike to breakfast before he went out of town, so I snarfed 2 dates with cashew butter before we left.  I should have had more, as it was a very long time in between those dates and the last thing I ate the night before (by about 15 hours).  The bike ride was 8 miles each way.  Felt fine for the first 7 miles and then  zoomed really fast up a hill.  Smarty me thought it would be a challenge to not change gears and just power up the hill.  Came down on the other side and I felt pretty sweaty, so I unzipped my jacket, but realized that I wasn’t really hot, but starting to feel hypoglycemic.  I thought “Uh, oh, my first bonk.”  Good thing we were pretty much at Panera Bread.  Unfortunately – they didn’t have any samples out like they usually do, and I was starting to get the shakes.  I grabbed my coffee cup and went over to the coffee area to get a bit of milk and coffee in me ASAP.  I started to feel a bit better.  Decided on a white, sweet bagel for the carbs:

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Looks like raisins, but it’s not!  Chocolate chips 😀  After about 1/2 the bagel I felt sooooo much better.  Lesson learned.

For whatever reason, I am super productive when John goes out of town.  I managed to mow the lawn, do laundry, roast coffee, vacuum, sweep and mop, play a computer game 😀

I made lunch and was quite hungry.  This wrap has my favorite curry chicken salad in it.   And yes, that is a liter bottle of seltzer.  It was half empty, and being the bachelorette today, I drank right out of the bottle!  Bwhaaa!

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It was stuffed full, and I tried to close it with toothpicks.  Didn’t work, so I ended up wrapping it in a paper towel after I dropped some on my lap.  Note to self: remove toothpicks before wrapping.

Plus a raspberry pluot.  Juiciest thing ever!  I actually had to stand over the sink to eat it.  It was very good, the skin was very tart and the inside was very sweet – amazing combo.

pluot

Proceeded to get through the above list and walked to the feed store to pick up food for some lazy cat:

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Then put my feet up with a latte!

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And some of these:

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I have a confession to make.  As much as I love to tell everyone to eat real food, I have some secret love for instant potatoes.  I don’t know why, but I like the taste of them for whatever reason.  At the store the other day, these were on clearance, so I got a couple:

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Made for an interesting dinner.

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I probably wouldn’t buy them again (unless there is a sale 🙂  ), but it was fast, easy and pretty tasty.

Because it’s is so gorgeous out, I went out for an easy 2 mile jog post dinner.  Tonight is Netflix movie night and some more relaxing!

Have a great one!

Birthday party and Sunday

Had family over last night to celebrate John’s birthday a few days early (it’s on Tuesday).  We decided on a cheese sampling with crackers, fruit, hummus, salsa, plus cake and ice cream!   We were going to do pizza and cake, but thought it might be fun to do something different and it is what J wanted to do!

The table set up buffet style:

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The 4 cheeses:

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Brie, goat cheese, smoked gouda,Irish cheddar.

Hummus platter with pita points and various crackers.

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Dark chocolate cake with butter cream icing.  Was going to do a nut butter spread in between the layers, but I burned the walnuts…. ooops!

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I proceeded to face plant into all the food.  It was all good, though!  What’s that word again?  Moderation?  Hmmmm… missing yesterday from my vocabulary.

This morning, we decided to bike to bagels to atone for some of yesterday.  Sunday is normally a rest day for me, but I had a rest day on Friday to prep for the race.  16 miles round trip.

Blueberry bagel!

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One of the lovely things about being a landlord.  This is what my rental house looked like:

tenant

The tenants own a St Bernard and decided it was a good idea to tie him to the column on the porch.  Idiots.    The dog ran after another one and yanked the column right out.  After having a come-to-Jesus talk with the tenant today, all should be fixed and paid for in a few days or they have to face the wrath of Lori.  Anyone want to buy a rental property??

We had grapes in the house and grilled chicken, so I made one of my favorite lunches!  Curry chicken salad:

chickensalad

  • 10 grapes (I had black seedless)
  • 1/3 of an apple
  • 3 ounces of chicken breast
  • 1 tablespoon light mayo
  • curry powder.

Chop all ingredients into small bits and mix with the mayo and curry powder.  Enjoy!  It’s so easy when you have cooked chicken in the house (as I love to say).  Served with some leftover pita points from last night.

I have found that I have been doing some stress eating the last few days, which is a little unusual for me.  Normally I overeat just out of love for food, but there are those times when multiple stressors happen at the same time and I find myself reaching for the comfort of food.

I’ll post some tips from the Beck Diet book tomorrow on dealing with stress eating, which I am going to try and employ for this week coming up.

Question:  Have any of you thought about being (or are) income property owners?

51 miles, fair food and more FAQ!

Long post coming up, so grab a cup of coffee.  Dang, what a day!  Got up and fueled up for a big bike ride today.  Had banana oats cooked with cinnamon and with some fresh  made peanut butter on top.  Sooo good.

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We decided to bike to the Saratoga County fair today (my BIL gave us free tickets – awesome!!).  Each way is 25.5 miles.  That makes it 51 miles round trip (or 82 km!!  That sounds so much farther).  Of course, we stopped at the fair for a few hours.  My niece was participating in some 4H stuff at the fair.  We were really hungry by the time we got there.  I could have taken a bite of this sandcastle:

sandcastle

Of course, at the fair there is a sea of food:

food

Can you believe we found Indian food?  It was actually not bad, and way better than a greasy fair hamburger or corn dog!

We got chicken tikka and korma with basmati rice:

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Here are some other hungry little ones, too!

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Aren’t they cute?

After a few hours at the fair, we biked back to town to eat before hitting the last 20 miles home.  Wanted a carb hit, so guess what we had??

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Is this the fluffiest bagel you have ever seen?  It looks like a brioche!  It was honey wheat.  Yum.  Uncommon Grounds has the best bagels (and really good coffee – they roast their own).

That was good fuel to go the rest of the way home.  There were some serious hills on this ride.  It’s the farthest I have ever ridden in a day ( a littlemore than 4x the distance for my triathlon last week!).   I am pretty pooped now.

Here is what the GoWear fit shows the day to look like:

gwfThis is the plan for the rest of the evening:

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Watching the tour and blogging!  I have to laugh – that tv is 36 inches and it looks like 12 in this picture!

More answers to the rest of the questions (if you are still reading!)

Did you work with a personal trainer? Nope.  I have read a ton of books and basically have done all this on my own.  There is so much information out there to be had if you dig it up.

Do you have the dreaded “belly flap” – and if so, how bad is the loose skin issue?  Ah, the loose skin issue.  This is the most frequent question asked of me (2nd is how long did it take to lose 100 pounds).  Yes, I have loose skin.  I don’t have the belly flap really, because I have never had kids and my weight was never really carried in my stomach.  The skin on my tummy is loose, but not saggy like my thighs and upper arms are.  You can see in my triathlon pose the loose upper arm skin.   You can see how large my thighs look in the picture in the side bar of me in bike shorts.  A lot of that is loose skin.  I don’t know if I would ever get it removed (if I could afford it), and most times it doesn’t bother me all that much.  Clothed you don’t see it, and it doesn’t bother John.

Where do you find your recipes? And what kind of oats do you use for your morning breakfast? And can you post your recipes again?? I like to read cook books and online recipe sites.  Most recipes are tweaked to make them friendly to my palate or to meet specific nutritional requirements that I want.  Not all are successful LOL!  I use rolled oats all the time.  I am working on getting more of my recipes up here

What is the body weight matrix? It’s a move during the NROLW where you do 24 squats followed by 12 lunges on each leg followed by 12 jumping lunges on each leg followed by 24 jump squats.  Rest for as long as it took you to get through the set and repeat 3x.  It will kill you.

Do you have more goals in mind for youself? I have a few.  Several 5Ks, I want to finish the NROLW.  Possibly a 1/2 marathon, although not sure.  I am really going to enjoy being in good shape right now and do our long rides (like today’s!)

How did you KNOW that this time was THE time you would succeed? What was different from all the other attempts? Okay, funny thing is, I don’t know that the is *the* time or the last time.  I hope it is.  Every time I would try to lose weight I was sure it was the last time.   I can’t even tell you how many people have said the same thing, even big losers who gained it all back thought it would never happen to them.  I have never maintained a weight loss like I have now, so something has changed.  I guess it was me LOL!  The longer I do this, the easier it seems to be. I now really understand much more about nutrition and fitness and how it relates to me and what my body needs.  That is different, instead of trying to force a specific plan or timed weight loss goal or whatever, I let my body tell me what it wants, and how fast it wants to lose, and when to take a break and maintain for a while.  That’s why it has taken me so long. My body and I are friends now instead of battling it out.

Well – you made it to the end – congratulations! 😀

Getting restless.

I wanted to give myself time to get rested up, but maybe my body is telling me that it is okay to get back into the exercise!   I slept for almost 8 hours again last night, felt great!

We decided to go out for a bike ride tonight.  Probably around 10 miles and it felt pretty good!  I love my bike (I know you are tired of hearing that!!).

I am working on getting used to being back into calorie reduction mode now.  It is easier without all the heavy duty workouts, as I am not totally ravenous now.   This is a more comfortable ‘zone’ for me than the training, since I have spent so long in this place 😀

So, breakfast included my yummy protein pancakes with cafe au lait.

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Got to work early, since I didn’t do a workout.  Amazing how that adds a couple hours of productivity to my morning.  Or other productivity, I should say (exercise is being productive after all).

I wanted a good Super Foods hit for lunch, so I made a pumpkin protein smoothie:

pumpkinFrothy!

  • 1/3 cup canned pumpkin
  • 6 oz 1 % milk
  • 1 scoop (26 g) Natural vanilla protein powder
  • dash of cinnamon
  • 2 tsp almond butter

Plus a side of these babies:

berries

I just love to pop blueberries.

I am really trying to kick the bar habit, but it’s hard when they are so easy! John really likes having them around, so the temptation is always there.  I could ask for these to be moved as well, but you should see the top of the cupboards where I have him put tempting foods.  It’s getting full LOL!  Right now the top of the cupboard is holding coconut M&Ms (evil), dark chocolate chips, and SunChips.

So my snack was the beloved latte and a Special K protein bar.

kbarI haven’t really decided if I like these so much or not.  They are sugary sweet, so part of that is not as appealing.  I want more flavor instead of just sweetness.  And the feel fuller longer?  Not!

Dinner was a hot mess.  I had plans to have a korma stirfry.  I was sauteing some broccoli in coconut oil, had precooked chicken breast cut up and some whole wheat couscous all ready to be thrown in for a stirfry.  Got the jar of korma sauce out of the fridge and it had mold in it!  Ewwww!  So, plan B – I grabbed the bottle of Country Bob‘s sauce and used that instead.  Everyone into the pan!

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Messy looking, but quite good.  I was hankering for the Indian flavor, but enjoyed this.  Dinner disaster averted!

After the bike ride, I had 1/2 of a lowfat chocolate chip bar that John made.  Not sure if he is going to part with the recipe or not.  They aren’t quite what we were looking for.  Not bad, though:

cookie

Tomorrow I am going to start lifting again – Stage 3 of NROLW!  Yay!!  I can’t believe how I am looking forward to hitting the weights tomorrow (I am a nerd!)

Question:  What do you do if troublesome food is in the house, even if it is healthy food?

Biking morning!

Funny how it feels like a holiday, and yet Friday is my normal day off!  I don’t get a 3-day weekend as I work Sundays.  Got up and went to the Y for my final lifting workout before the triathlon next weekend.   No formal workout plan as I finished the NROLW stage 2, so I picked some of my favorites to do today:

  • Barbell squats:  1 x 10  45 pounds, 1 x 10 65 pounds, 2 x 8  85 pounds.
  • Seated rows:  2 x 10  60 pounds
  • 1 point dumbbell rows:  2 x 10  25 pounds
  • Stationary lunges:  2 x 10  25# plate
  • Pushups:  2 x 10
  • Planks:  2 x 60 second holds
  • Cable woodchop:  2 x 50 pounds
  • Step ups:  2 x 10  60 pounds

Hasta la vista weights, I’ll miss you!  Got back home and had some banana oats with some of those cinnamon chips and pb.  Yum!

oats

The sun actually was out; the forecast was not calling for a nice day – apparently they were misinformed, the sun actually showed up today.  So, John and I hopped on the bikes and took a long ride to areas we hadn’t been to before.  We stopped at the beginning of the feeder canal, where they used to do logging from in Glens Falls:

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Me in the Triscuit!!  I can’t tell you how comfy this thing is to wear.  Yesterday it was great for the bike and run, too!  Yay!

John wanted to be in the picture, too (gotta love the self-timer option!)

us1Found a nice park on the path that has open water swimming, so I might try that this week if the weather is warm enough.  Almost went today, but things were a bit murky with all the rain, plus I didn’t have a towel with me.

We were hungry by this point, so bike close to home (in case of rain) and stopped at Arthurs for lunch.  I love this place.  Everything is made fresh and it is inexpensive.

arthurs I got a mini calzone with feta cheese – awwww… it’s cute!

zone

And fabulous, too!  Yum!  Across the street is what might be my new gym.  I only go to the Y because of the pool, which I needed to train for the triathlon.  I won’t need the pool after that (swimming just isn’t my thing), so instead of paying $42 a month with a 15 minute drive each way to work out, I can pay $25 a month and be only a couple miles from home.  They are remodeling this gym and putting in a juice bar (a juice bar in Hudson Falls, who knew??).  Plus – they have nice clean free weights and a squat cage!  I’m all set.  I can bike there, too – or even jog!

So, a very satisfying day so far, I must say.

Question:  Do you have a 3-day weekend?

Covered bridges and beer!

Had a very nice mini trip.  Couldn’t have asked for nicer weather!  We got to Bennington in the late morning and just checked at our motel to see if we could leave our car there and then check in later.  Well, our room was ready and they let us check in right then, which was great.  We stayed at the Knotty Pine, and the owners were very friendly.  I would recommend this place.  Clean and reasonable.

We then rode into Bennington and around a bit before deciding on lunch, which was at the Bean and Leaf:

blc

Cute little cafe, which is for sale, and that always perks up our ears a little.  John and I split a yummy sandwich that had pesto, mozzarella and tomato on a foccacia.  This was good, but I think it would be sublime done panini-style.

mozz

Then we went on a covered bridges loop around the town.  There were some massive hills, longer than the ones to Lake George.  My thighs were pretty shaky by the time we climbed to the top of them, but I didn’t have to stop!

There are quite a few covered bridges in Vermont, and they are well taken care of:

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Here is John underneath one of the bridges. He recently bought this neon orange shirt, and I think you could probably see him from space while biking.

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Vermont is really a beautiful state.  The views were quite nice up high.

view

We looped back into town and stopped for coffee.  This was one of the best lattes I have had in a long time.latte

Then we wandered around downtown for a while.  They were celebrated the Moose Festival this year, so there were tons of large moose sculptures:

moose

Biked back to the motel and then swam in the outdoor pool.  A very brisk swim!  I am spoiled with the heated indoor pool at the Y, I’ll tell you.

We chose the Madison Brewing Company for dinner, and decided to split a 5 oz beer sampler.  I am not a wine drinker and never have been, but  I love micro brews. However, drinking is extremely rare for me nowadays, as I don’t like to drink my calories (other than in latte form), but  I love samplers like this so you can try several different kinds.

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My favorite:

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With some smoked gouda mac and cheese.  Again, with the big portions!  I only ate part of this:

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Overall, Bennington was a very nice town.  A little college town.  Plus some interesting historical sites:

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I think we biked 20+ miles yesterday all around.  Not too long mile wise, but tiring for hill reasons.  I ate too much this weekend, so this week will be working hard.

Oh, and peonies are in bloom now – they look and smell fabulous!  Wish I could find room in my garden for these.peony

Elvis and Indian Food

On the challenge front today, I would give myself a B. Did much better than last Saturday, but still have room for improvement.

The day turned out glorious, and we biked to Lake George. That is one hilly ride!  Plus it was windy, which really increased the resistance.  Thank you squats for helping me get up those hills. Had fueled up with a good oats breakfast with protein powder, and it did the trick to get me there.

It happened to be Elvis Tribute weekend in Lake George :O So we see this guy as we pull into town:
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Now that it is past Memorial Day, all the restaurants are now open, including one of our favorite Indian ones. We love to eat Indian because vegetarian options are really diverse. It’s very difficult to find restaurants that serve locally produced meats, so we try to avoid that when dining out.

Me waiting for food:

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Note the hat covering up my helmet head! I had some yummy dal mahkni! This was devinely delicious, although probably cream laden by the looks:
dal

It also came with about a pound of jasmine rice.  White rice is a trigger food for me.  I love it to pieces, so I really tried to control myself.  I did have a little to much, but it was less than a cup (which was still less than half the bowl).  I also sampled some of John’s paneer – yum!:

paneer

His dish also came with the same boatload of rice!

The meals were enjoyed with a nice view:

view

We spent the afternoon browsing the stores and viewing more Elvi  (is that the plural??)

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Then we stopped at a new coffee shop to have a treat.  I was sorely disappointed that they only had whole milk available!  I was shocked, to say the least.  I did not want 16 oz of whole milk in my latte, so I just went with a regular cup of coffee with some milk.  What is up with that?  However, they did have some of the delectable 3-bite desserts, which are awesome to have a treat, yet keep it small.

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Then we got ready to go home.   We hit an interesting spot where we could hear 3 different Elvi performing all at once.  It was like a house of mirrors.  Saw one last Elvis on the way out of the village, and he was the most flamboyant one.

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The bike ride home was a little better wind-wise.

Stopped for a peaceful view along the path:

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Crashed on the couch after we got home.  30 miles of hills.  Ate a fairly light dinner and if I can manage to not snack before bed in the next couple hours, I still will have the B grade for Challenge Day 7!

Thank you very much……  Think I will be hearing that in my sleep tonight. 😀