T - 3 Days

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Oh boy oh boy oh boy...my excitement is building! Can you tell?! In just a few days I'll be dragging my gear and my butt out to the start line for my first Olympic distance triathlon, the Santa Cruz Triathlon. As you might remember, I first made a goal to complete an Olympic distance triathlon back in 2008, when I was sidetracked by pregnancy. I'd registered for the Marin County Triathlon and a week hadn't even gone by when I got the baby news. At first I thought I could do the event, even at 5 months pregnant, but when the 1st trimester exhaustion hit that goal flew out the window. I ultimately relayed the event, doing the run and completing my first 10k run ever.

I registered for that same Olympic last year but mistakenly signed up for a half-marathon only two weeks prior to the triathlon and with all my excitement about running I pretty much failed to train at all. So I switched my registration to the sprint distance and vowed that 2013 would be my year, "Next year I'm a gal with a goal and I will do that Olympic distance." Well, here I am. It's time.

I'm also excited because I was interviewed by the Santa Cruz Sentinel, the local newspaper in Santa Cruz. They interviewed me for a story on people doing the triathlon (rest assured I'll share it here when it comes out). I was talking with the reporter and while describing my path here, it hit me. It was 5 years ago when I first dreamed of doing an Olympic distance triathlon and I hope to finally accomplish that goal this coming Sunday. I wish my kids could be there but Miguel's soccer team has a playoff game and that's just too much for my mom to do on her own.

So I've been eating like crazy carb loading today. I expect to be at the starting line Sunday morning full of energy. My last bit exercise will be a taper run tomorrow after work and then that's it. I'm driving up to Santa Cruz on Saturday and staying the night with a couple other women doing the triathlon. Not your typical girls night, I'm sure we'll be prepping our gear and hitting the sack early. Look for plenty of updates on my Facebook page though, I'll do my best to share the excitement with you!

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I am a licensed psychotherapist with a private practice offering Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) for weight loss and maintenance. I have an office in Marin County, CA and I'm also available via Skype. To learn more please visit my professional website at www.michellefunez.com or email me at funez.michelle@gmail.com

4 More Taper Days...and I paid $25 for what?!

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I've made an executive decision. I get to make those when it comes to the food I put in my body. I will put my evening snacking plan on hiatus until after the triathlon. See, starting tomorrow I'm going to be carb loading. Carb loading for an event at which I will be swimming, biking or running for somewhere around 3 hours straight! I think that warrants a little evening snacking, right? Maybe this is just a lame excuse but if it is, it's certainly a good lame excuse. If you're not with me on this one, well, just hold your tongue until after the tri :)

Ok, so on to today. Yesterday I wrote, "Tomorrow is my day home with the kids. I think I can sneak out for a run while my mom is over. That should perk up my mood some." Aaaand, I was right on both accounts. I was able to sneak out for a run, and it did perk up my mood. I had the morning home with the kids and did some cooking. I baked banana bread with some ailing bananas, put some chili in the slow cooker and prepped corn muffins.

I had some private practice work in the afternoon and when that was done I changed into my running clothes, not unlike Clark Kent, and went for a nice 30 minute run. I'm running and thinking, "why have I avoided this for 2 days? Sure, it's not easy but I already feel so much better about myself." And bam! My grumpy mood was gone.

I was able to make it to the Weight Watchers monthly Lifetimer's meeting tonight. Man that meeting reminds me of 12-step meetings. I've never participated in 12-step meetings but in my line of work I've gone to more than a few and have a good sense of what they're about. I feel like we should start our introduction with, "Hi, I'm Michelle and I'm a food junkie. I've been at goal for 10 months." And then everyone should say, "Hi Michelle." Right? Aaaanyway...

The meeting was great! There's just nothing like the experience of being in a group of people who are in the same place as you. I get the same feeling from the regular WW meetings too, but this one is even more familiar. The issues of maintainers are just slightly different than when you're still losing and moving toward your goal weight. This is the second time I've been able to go to this meeting and I really enjoy it.

Ok, last thing... You might remember that I entered the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon lottery after volunteering at the event last year and that I didn't get selected. So today on Facebook they posted that the lottery is closing on Friday. I can't believe I completely forgot about the regular lottery. But here's a kicker. They are charging $25 just to enter the lottery. If you get selected, they put the money toward your registration fees. But if you don't you lose the money. Lame! I entered this time but if I don't get in, I'm not sure I'll do it again. I think I'll just take my chances with the free volunteer entry.

But...what if I do get in?! Scary! But I know I'd just do what I do... train for the event and by the time it comes around I'll be ready to get the job done. Ok, so if you're interested, here's the explanation for the $25 fee...how many ways can they tell you, "No, you are not getting the $25 back." They should have included, "What if I enter the lottery and die before the drawing, can my family have the $25 back?"

Why am I being charged $25 to enter the (Escape from Alcatraz triathlon) lottery? 

In recent years, we have noticed more and more people entering our lottery that are more interested in saying they entered than actually doing the race. For example, last year in 2013, only 60% of those selected in the first round actually accepted their lottery win.  This means that upwards of 600 people were accepted in the first round of the lottery and decided not to accept. We know that special circumstances keep some from being able to accept the lottery win but we feel 40% is a high percentage.  And it hurts those who really want in and are not accepted because 600 people entered for the sake of entering and not to actually participate.

So, we debated and decided charging a small fee would hopefully deter those who do not have a serious interest in participating in this race. Not everyone is going to agree with this new plan and we know we’ll have an inbox full of emails but we’re going to try it out and see if we can get our acceptance ratio up for the lottery.

Please note, we only allow ONE lottery entry per person. Any duplicate lottery entries will be deleted and we will NOT refund the lottery fee for duplicate entries.

If I am not selected in the lottery, does this fee apply to next year?
No, if you are not selected, you lose this money.

If I am selected but decide not to accept the lottery win, can I get my money back or apply it to next year?
No, if you are selected but do not accept the lottery win, you lose this money.

If I am selected but miss the race registration deadline, can I get my money back or apply it to next year?
No, if you are selected and do not register before the deadline, you lose this money.

If I am not selected but get into the race another way (qualify, Escape Academy, charity entry, etc), can I apply this to my registration fees?
No, if you are not selected in the lottery, you lose this money.

Hey, they should waive the $25 for volunteers. I mean, I know we get the special volunteer lottery but still, we shouldn't have to pay. I'm going to suggest they implement that next year. By the way, if you're curious about getting your money back if you die, the answer is No.

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I am a licensed clinical social worker with a private practice offering Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) for weight loss and maintenance. I have an office in Marin County, CA and I'm also available to see people via Skype. To learn more please visit my professional website at www.michellefunez.com or email me at funez.michelle@gmail.com

A Loophole

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Sunday was a big success. I closed out my blog hoping to go to bed instead of snacking and that's just what I did. I had some serious urges to snack but I held them off. I woke still feeling a bit out of sorts on Monday morning but I was at least happy to have not snacked the night before.

Yesterday, Monday, turned out to be a challenging day. Work was stressful and I didn't end up with time to go to the gym because of open house at the kids' preschool. Phooey on missing the gym. So we made the decision to go out to dinner, eating at a local Italian place. I knew I was cranky, and despite going to bed early the night before, I also felt tired and drained. So I made a decision to eat more at dinner as a pre-emptive strike against the temptation to snack later. Huh?

Yep, you read that right. I manipulated the system, found a loophole and exploited it. I had a small steak, vegetables, multiple pieces of foccacia bread with butter and dipped in pesto sauce and a slice of lemon cheesecake for dessert. That meal would have been fine if I were indulging as part of a special night out or celebrating or something. But this was none of that. This was "eat now so you won't want to later." And not just eat, but eat too much. Man, I have a twisted brain sometimes.

That, combined with no exercise and a grumpy mood just makes for a bad day. And today wasn't much different. I had a late meeting and bad traffic and again, no exercise. It's a good thing it's a taper week or I'd be seriously concerned. I sort of overate again this evening. Well, there's no sort of about it, I overate.I think I'm in a bit of a funk. I'd blame the taper but this started before that. It started on Sunday evening for some reason.

Oh well, such is life. I know I don't have to figure out why this is happening in order to do my best to ride it out. I'm looking forward to the triathlon, I have a feeling it's going to be super fun. I'm driving down on Saturday, maybe Friday if Miguel is feeling generous.

Tomorrow is my day home with the kids. I think I can sneak out for a run while my mom is over. That should perk up my mood some. Otherwise, it's another evening of no snacking tonight and planting a seed in my brain that I need to not trade one problem for another by over-eating at dinner.

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I am a licensed clinical social worker with a private practice offering Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) for weight loss and maintenance. I have an office in Marin County, CA and I'm also available to see people via Skype. To learn more please visit my professional website at www.michellefunez.com or email me at funez.michelle@gmail.com

Bike, Party, Run

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First off, a report on how my evening snack re-training is going. The answer is, GREAT! I've had zero incidents of the unwanted behavior. Granted, it's only been two evenings so far, but it's always nice to start strong. Knowing I'll be texting Michelle in the morning, knowing I'd have to write a behavior chain analysis if I do start snacking - so far, it's enough to keep me on track. Michelle has been great, texting me every morning as planned.

So last night we went over to our friends Wendy and Victor's house for dinner. Wendy likes to do running events and Victor has dabbled pretty heavily in triathlons. None of us were doing this stuff when we met some 6 or 7 years ago now. I'm hoping to get Wendy on board with a tri - I think she'd love it! Anyway, our evening wasn't about that stuff though, it was about catching up on life and enjoying a fun night together.

Wendy made pesto pasta and salad and she served a lovely loaf of olive bread with olive oil to dip it in. I was all over that dinner and ate quite a bit more than I really needed. Wendy and I managed to polish off a healthy amount of vodka sodas too. At some point the kids got out these mini mint ice cream sandwiches and if memory serves I had three of those, though I suppose it could have been four. I took a bar of chocolate over for after dinner but fortunately I forgot about it. It was nice to unwind and relax with them while sharing plenty of laughs. And when I got home I was so tired I didn't even think about snacking.

Myra making waffles with morning hair

Fortunately, despite all the vodka, I didn't wake up feeling bad. I think I ate enough to balance out the alcohol intake. The morning started with making waffles for the kids. I had a rough idea of wanting to go on a bike ride and a run but wasn't sure how it would play out. We had a mid-morning birthday party and Miguel had an afternoon soccer game. So after breakfast and a bit of chatting we came up with a plan. I'd leave the house early, go on a ride and meet up with the family at the birthday party, which was in a local park. I'd change, so as not to be standing around in spandex, and then enjoy the party. After the party, I'd change into running clothes and go for a run, eventually ending up at home. It's almost like a triathlon! Bike, Party, Run.

Pre-ride smile.

So I left the house a bit later than I'd hoped, only leaving an hour for my ride. I wasn't sure about my route but quickly decided on riding toward this good sized hill that used to scare the bejeezus out of me. The weather was lovely and there were a lot of other folks out running and cycling. That's always nice to see. In the end I rode 12.9 miles, seeking out and finding what is now not even a somewhat scary hill. It's still a challenge, it just doesn't scare me anymore. Besides...

What goes up, must come down and according to my Garmin I hit a max speed of 41.2 mph. To tell you the truth, I find that hard to believe. The fastest I'd ever gone before was around 35/36 mph so 41 is quite a jump.

Check out that max speed?!

Elevation profile. Full Garmin stats here.

One of three skunks I saw (and smelled) during the ride.

At my turn-around point. What a gorgeous day!!

After the ride I joined Miguel and the kids at the birthday party, which happened to be thrown by none other than Michelle. It was a great party with lots of yummy and healthy foods. I had fruit, a half of a mini-chocolate croissant, 2/3 of a mini-cinnamon roll, a slice of sandwich ham and a bite of Myra's cupcake. I think that's all I had but I'm not completely sure. Oh, and some coffee. I figured that couldn't hurt my run.

After the party I changed into my running clothes and bid adieu to Miguel and the kids. I ran on the same road on which I'd biked earlier, of course not making it quite as far. I turned around after a couple miles to head toward home. It had warmed up some and I found myself pleading for shade during the sunny parts of the run. My legs were not thrilled to be out there but they didn't let me down. I had half of an AccelGel around mile 4, really feeling I needed a boost.

Run splits. Full Garmin stats here.

Run elevation profile.

I finished with an average pace of 10:11 minute miles, and I was super happy with that, figuring I'd be more in the 10:30 range. If I could run 10:30 or better during the triathlon I'd be thrilled. Though I'm not setting a goal. I just want to enjoy myself during the event, not push for a certain pace.

After the run I met up with Miguel and the kids at the soccer field. And now we're home, having some quiet time before dinner. It's been a busy day and I'm feeling tired. Let's hope that translates into an early bedtime for me. And the kids are already a bit whiny. Whiny kids + tired Me = high risk for snacking. I will have to be on alert tonight, and GO TO BED instead of staying up and eating.

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I am a licensed clinical social worker with a private practice offering Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) for weight loss and maintenance. I have an office in Marin County, CA and I'm also available to see people via Skype. To learn more please visit my professional website at www.michellefunez.com or email me at funez.michelle@gmail.com