32 Freaking Miles....and Boy is My Ass Sore :)

OK we did it....we got on our bikes at 9:08 am and rode our little hearts out for 16 miles. We went up a gentle hill, around a lake and down a little hill and then along lots of flat stuff until the end of the Cottage Grove trail. I got off my bike and on wobbly legs wiggle waggles to the picnic bench where I needed to sit, drink water and stretch my sore shoulders and tight hips (the thighs were like jello but didn't hurt). After I had taxed the ability of the two guys (husband and a my old work colleague who got me started on this bike deal in the first place) to sit still we got back on our bikes..then i stopped them again to have them adjust the seat that Henry (work colleague) said was wrong. It made a HUGE difference to have my seat higher and tilted slightly back. I then cranked along for the long haul back to the truck. We rode..and rode and road. About 4 miles from the truck I got that feeling you get when you have been on a plane, train or bus for too long..you know that feeling that makes you feel like that if you have to stay on the vehicle for another few minutes you are going to lose it and tear the door off the hinges just to get out...well I felt that way about the $#$%@## bike. Henry gave me a pep talk for the last miles telling me that it was these last few hard miles that were giving me the most benefit and helping me to grow my endurance. I still wanted off the @#$!#$ bike but...we did it. At 12:20 and 32 miles total we rode back up to our truck and loaded up the bikes. I found out later that David who pulled ahead of us for that last few miles was feeling the same way only his was all butt pain and he figured if he went fast he could get off the bike faster.

in the end I am super pumped that we did it. That we decided that take our 10 year anniversary trip on something that was about being physically active instead of lounging (we seriously debated going to Hawaii and opted for this instead)...it was a load of fun and I am hoping that I will lose a little of weight, and come out much fitter because of it.

Here is a description of the trail and great pictures of the scenery.

Wow-probably the most profound post I have ever read

Go read it....I found it here: . Sandy found it at Jack Sh*t Gettin Fit.

Although my weight has bobbed back to 175 this weekend was a very physically active one. I know that before this weightloss I would not have been able to do any of it. From leading a horse around, shoveling stalls, running library books across the street, delivering newspapers to 54 houses and riding 15 miles on my bike (tomorrow we are pushing the limits to 30 miles). Each and every time I finish these activities I recognize and am thankful for the new me. Now I am not a religious girl but...I send up a thank you band, thank you science, thank you Dr. Wolfe....none of this would be possible without my friendly bandy.

Mid-Range Goal Setting

My weakness has always been mid-range planning. I am compelled to plan in the long term (like where do I want to work, go to school..home remodeling projects) I can do short term decision-making like what do I want to eat right now. How do i plan routes from place to place what do we need to buy etc. It is the mid-range stuff that I have always found difficult if not impossible. How much food should I eat now in order to not eat too much during the day, If I want to get papers finished how do I plan out incremental steps so that I am not working 12 hours or more a day to get them done just before the deadline, or saving money for larger items. This middle ground working away at long term projects is vital to success but I have just never been good at it.

This weakness means that I always struggled with dieting. I was either full on and perfect or off and making minute to minute decisions based on what I wanted or felt I needed in the moment. The band has really slammed mid-range goal setting up in my face. It is more difficult to eat effectively (or keep food down sometimes) If I do not think about what I can and cannot eat. We cannot just go running to a fast food place because I will end up in the bathroom ralphing mid-way through the meal. I cannot skip water between meals because I won't be able to after I eat food. The realization that I was a crappy mid-range planner and the lessons I have learned during this now two year long weight-loss journey has really bled over into other parts of my life.

At the New Year I set some goals for the first time that I am continuing to be mindful of and work on. Now am I perfect?...hell no...I struggle to stop from slipping back into my old habits all the time (take that damnable carrot cake yesterday). As I start really working at my two jobs (plus the on the side math tutoring) I really need to get a handle on mid-range planning and time organization. This morning I took yet another trip out to the store to buy a weekly planner to hang in the kitchen. I also bought a small calendar to carry around and a cool journal-thingy that was touted as a project planner. I am hoping that this time (can you tell I have tried this go buy organizy stuff to prompt real organization before??)..This time I am testing the limits of my changed mid-range planning skills developed in part with the band's help. Now I just have to consistently use the things.

does Carrot Cake Count?

They had a slice of carrot cake at Safeway for 99 cents....that is just a crime against humanity. I have one. I am eating it...3 bites so far. It is good.

I have more to write about but I think the carrot cake thing has some poetry to it don't you? I guess that is why people like twitter. I will save my other thoughts for later.

Not Perfect but Better-

Exercise-I did a good job with exercise today even if my workout choices were odd ones. I went out and weeded and watered my garden for 1 hour and then while Grace was taking her horseback riding lesson I cleaned out 3 horse stalls. The gardening was really not too strenuous but I did manage to work up a sweat because it was hot outside. Cleaning out the horse stalls was more on target with a work out.

The riding teacher owns three horses. While Grace was on one I cleaned out the first stall. Then when grace had finished her lesson she took out the old retired horse for a walk around and brush while I cleaned up his stall. Finally the third horse went out for a lesson and I cleaned out that one. I even have a blister on my hand!! Cleaning out stalls is not back breaking work because after all grassy horse poop is really quite light. There was, however, a lot of it in those three stalls. It took almost two ours of scooping, pulling the cart out to the poop pile, dumping and then reloading with fresh sawdust into the now clean stall.

On the food front I ate OK but I need to start doing a better job of eating actual meals. I have fallen into a snacky habit. My meals are after all so small now that grabbing a few crackers and cheese is easy but it does not really pack a protein and vegetable wallop like I need. For dinner I had to go out to a newspaper editorial meeting and again...grabbed for the cheese instead of sitting down to a proper dinner. When I came home David had prepared the most delicious beets on the barbecue (see recipe below)

This recipe was inspired by my aunt Sally who gave me the beets fresh from her garden. She told me to do the following and then put the vegetables in a roasting pan in the oven. David was doing sausages on the barbecue tonight so I adapted it for that:

Peel some beets. Throw the beets on a sheet of aluminum foil. drizzle olive oil and a few cloves of garlic (chopped roughly). close the foil up and put on the barbecue next to whatever you are cooking. The beets are tender and tasty in about 30 minutes. Sally says she does the above with all kinds of vegetables (but roasts them) and it makes them taste extra good. I ate some when I got home from my meeting and they were delicious!

EEK-Lost the Plot?

For some unknown reason my restriction left the building and I have had a very hungry few days and have felt compelled to belly flop into one unhealthy snack after another.

On Sunday Grace and I packed up our bikes and took off to my mom's for a quick weekend before I am landlocked at home again. My work schedule for fall term is on Tuesday's, Thursday's and Saturday's---thus no family weekends or days to take off to visit my parents. This trip culminated my headlong pitch away from exercise and back into food. I do not know what is going on but I have been starving hungry and craving dessert things like a heat seeking missile. While at my moms I got on her scale and thought to myself--well her scale is wrong (way too heavy)...um not ...I got home and it read one pound heavier. I have put on 7 pounds in a week!

Please cross all of your fingers and toes..knock on all things wooden that this is a water thing and not actual fat--even though I have a small spare tire that has appeared back on my waist as of this morning.

I vow to go back on the straight and arrow immediately by getting on my bike daily and focusing on eating when and what I am supposed to. I will also change my two year appointment (haven't done it yet) to another day and perhaps get that little pinch of a fill.

A Bit of a Fun Station Break

So the weightloss has stopped...right before hitting the 170 that I crave but as an entertaining diversion I had a great day at work (meeting with all kinds of fun workshop planning which I love). I gave the term final exam to my math class. Made two year bandiversary appointments for next Thursday at my surgeons office (a bit of a moan about that in a bit). Put the August paper to bed that I write for (volunteer) and finally...attended a coolarific neighborhood luau.

Work-I have finally signed a contract and now on the payroll at our local (and only a 15 minute drive away) university. It is a part time gig planning, collecting data for and doing some research on a grant project the department has gotten. Another part of the job is to assist in program planning and act as an adviser for graduate students. I love good collaboration and we had a program planning meeting on Tuesday that was really inspiring and fun to participate in.

My other job this summer has been to teach a half online half Saturday pre-calculus class at my local community college. Today was the final (Yippeee)..I managed to get all of the papers graded and grades calculated this afternoon and just need ot upload them tomorrow. Next term I am slotted to teach the course again and teach mathematics for elementary school teachers (I love this class so am looking forward to it).

The Doctors Appointment-On Thursday I attempted to make my two year anniversary appointment but failed to penetrate the receptionist force fields of the front desk. Instead of an appointment with my surgeon I got a fill appointment with a nurse practitioner. Instead of pre-arranging another deposit of data for the research study that I thought I was a part of...I got a n0 reply to my phone message and a survey in the mail asking me how my participation and information given by those conducting the study have been. I am not giving them high reviews. I am soo irritated and worked up now that I am going to call on Monday and cancel the appointment and demand to see my proper doctor and not some pass off last minute pinch hitter of a medical person.

The Newspaper-A few months ago I volunteered to write for our neighborhood newspaper. I really don't know what I was thinking as I barely got anything written for my old job but for some reason a good bit of journalism has caused my literary juices to flow and I have cranked out an article on the local July 4th festivities, three articles on the homeowners association arguments and goings on. and one on our neighborhood yearly night-out barbecues. It has been kind of fun to run around the neighborhood meeting people who I have lived near for 10 years and not really talked to before. I get to take pictures for my stories and collaborate with the other volunteer newspaper crew in planning stories, editing etc. Again another fun collaboration. We put our August issue to bed last night and will begin the September issue in a few days.

The Luau-For ten years the neighborhood I live in has offered a variety of fun activities of which I could have taken part...I didn't really. Grace did swim team and I sat and watched last year. For 10 years I showed up at the 4th of July firework show, watched the parade and even judged the floats a time or two but this year I have taken a much more active role in things. I walked the parade with the swim team, spend two hours serving up snow cones at the recreation center festivities, attended a jazz concert and spent many a warm day sitting poolside with my knitting while Grace swam. Tonight they held a luau. For 10 dollars we showed up at the recreation center for pulled pork, sweet and sour meatballs, macaroni salad, cole slaw, fruit preceded by wine (we carried our own) and were entertained by a full troop of Hawaiian dancers and even a fire dancer.

Finally for those of you who have waited with baited breath for someone to notice the weightloss...I had two people say it looked like i had lost weight. Uh..yeah duh just a little :) it is funny but still nice anyway.