Cowboys, Moonshine, Rock-n-Roll and Love

How's that for a title?  It was a jam packed weekend and I will make no attempt to detail it here.  But I'll share pictures and a quick overview (if I can be quick, I'm not so good at that).

We flew out Thursday.  SF to Dallas, check.  Dallas to Aspen...not so fast.  We flew to Aspen but it was too windy to land.  So we flew around in a circles for a bit before returning to Dallas.  It's late, we're tired and we are now traveling with my Aunt, Uncle and two young nieces (the daughter's of my cousin Russ who was getting married).  I made some calls and managed to secure us a car to take us to Aspen.  Four hours and a mountain pass later (with a bit of snow thrown in) we arrived in Basalt in the dead of night.  I was happy to hit the sack.

Friday comes and we decide to go see the Maroon Bells.

Gorgeous, right?

Yep, that's me!

I was planning to go to a local gym after this jaunt but we got back too late.  I had only a half-hour before I had to start getting ready for the Friday night party.  So I threw on my clothes and did the best I could, running the block around the hotel three times, which was probably about a mile, and then doing some shoulder and leg work next to the river.  I found some small boulders to use as weights.  It was fast and fun!  I am a firm believer in something is better than nothing, it was 20 minutes but it was intense.

Next up was the party!  It was at a local tavern and oh boy was it a fun time.  I kept my eating in the sane realm, I think.  I munched on chips and guacamole and other appetizers that were everywhere.  And I had ribs and onion rings for dinner, which I only ate 1/2 of because I was getting too full.  But the bar was open and the drinks flowed.  I ended the night at a local bar listening to cowboy stories.  I've always wanted to go to a rodeo but now I'm really dying to go - wild horse races sound like so much fun!  Ok, here are the only pictures I took that night.

Cutest cowboy of them all!

They played Rocky Mountain High for me!

 

Love the rodeo buckles!

I had hoped to run 11 miles on Saturday morning, or at least run 2 hours and call it close enough.  But after the wild Friday night outing, it didn't happen.  Though I actually felt pretty good when I woke on Saturday morning, good enough to toy with the idea of a short run.  In the end I decided that would be pushing my luck so instead we just went for a BIG country breakfast and relaxed until the wedding, which started at 2pm.

We were shuttled out to a GORGEOUS ranch outside of Aspen.  There was a cover band playing and I had a drink and danced once or twice.  But it was early so I had to pace myself accordingly.  I had some appetizers and walked around checking out the beautiful property and the wedding decor.  I felt a bit queasy and tired after a while, probably leftover from the night before, but I rallied before the wedding got started.  It was a picture perfect affair, with my cousin and his gorgeous and super sweet new wife getting married under an alter of flowers in a beautiful meadow.  We were all sitting on hay bales, taking in the love.

Russ loves Nikki.

After the ceremony and some dinner (of which I again stayed sane with my eating), the moonshine came out for the toast.

Moonshine - "it will change your life forever" - Don Wood.

I had my share of moonshine but I decided if I was going to last the whole night I'd better step it up a notch - so I had vodka and red bull for the rest of the evening.  And I needed it because this was one hell of a party!  After the early-to-bed crowd departed we danced the night away.  There was a DJ for a bit, and then an incredible band, Emphatic, and then a DJ for as long as I can remember.

The only picture fit for publication!

I made it home safely thanks to some gentlemanly cowboys, we managed to fly out of Aspen the next morning - and eventually back home.  It was great to see my babies again and to be back in my own bed.  But after such a fun weekend my normal 9-to-5 life really looks like it needs some sprucing up.  I'm thinking maybe line dancing lessons?  I miss country music.

I got right back into the swing of things with my exercise routine.  On Monday I went out for a run.  I was in a funk so I just told myself to run until I felt like stopping.  Lo and behold, I felt great!  I ran 8 miles and the only reason I stopped was because I was out of time.  I needed that.  On Tuesday I hit the gym and rode the bike followed by legs/shoulders/core work.  Wednesday was a day off and Thursday was a 3 mile run followed by chest/triceps/core work.  I felt fabulous after that workout.

And today is weigh-in Friday.  145.6 pounds.  What??!!  I'm so shocked I have no comment as of now.

Before I close, here's a final picture of my cousin Russ and his new bride Nikki.  Congratulations you two!

FTW

Hot Weather Running and New Jeans

So I'm pretty much not tracking at all.  I wonder if I'm just transitioning out of tracking mode as I get closer to goal.  I switched my tracker to the Simply Filling Technique and I'm supposed to be tracking any foods that don't fall into the SFT list.  But I'm not.  Instead, I'm just eating healthy and hoping the 80/20 rule will work.  80% healthy, 20% not so much.  When I lost weight in my 20's this is essentially how my eating evolved.  The difference this time is that I will continue to monitor my weight and intervene with more monitored eating when needed.  I want to maintain my free status at WW once I'm lifetime so that means at minimum a monthly weight check.  But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself, considering I haven't even gotten to goal yet.

Friday night Miguel and I had our date night.  We tried out a relatively new restaurant, Terrapin Crossroads.  We sat at the bar and had drinks, I had a vodka soda, which was strong enough to keep me to one drink.  The bar is pretty big and we were directly in front of the wood burning stove so we got to watch all sorts of yummy food coming out of the oven.  We got to our table and ordered curried naan with peach chutney for an appetizer.  For our entree I had a "small bites" plate of fried oysters on tiny crepes with spinach - like tiny fish tacos.  There were three of them.  Miguel had a steak that came with Tabasco onion rings.  Fortunately for me he doesn't like onion rings so I got to eat those too.  A very carby meal but super yummy and I was full at the end.  Desert looked good but I didn't want to eat desert on a full stomach, just seemed like a waste.  So we left to play some pool and I figured I'd find something sweet later.  After pool we drove by a local ice cream shop and it was still open!  I had two scoops of ice cream with caramel sauce, minus the couple of bites Miguel had.  And I was full again.  The whole evening was great.

And we had a family filled day Saturday, albeit not very exciting.  We stayed home and organized the kids clothes - which seemed to take half the day.  Myra has grown out of so many of the clothes in her drawers so we organized everything.  Normally I do this on my own so it was nice to have Miguel do it with me.  The kids "helped" too.

I've been re-focusing on dinner.  I am SO tired of figuring out dinner at the last minute.  During the week it's a real time-crunch.  By the time we get home I have 30-45 minutes to get dinner on the table.  If I make a menu for the week I can be sure to have the ingredients on hand and get started on dinner the second I walk in the door instead of staring into the pantry/fridge/freezer for 5-10 minutes while my brain puts together a plan.  So for dinner I made chicken and rice, a one-pot meal tweaked from The Quick Recipe Cookbook by Cook's Illustrated.  I steamed some broccoli and made myself a salad too.  I have meals planned for the rest of the week and did a menu for next week too since I'll be gone this weekend.

Have I mentioned I'm flying to Aspen for my cousin's wedding?  We tried to make it work so Miguel could come with me but it wasn't feasible.  Taking the kids didn't sound like a good plan either so I'm going with my mom and Miguel is staying home with the kids (bless his heart!).  I'm leaving on Thursday and returning on Sunday.  The wedding is on a ranch and everyone is wearing jeans.  Of course I don't have any that fit really well so my mother offered to get me some as a reward for my weight loss achievement.  More on that in a bit.  But first, I want to tell you about my run today.

It was hard.  Really hard.  Miguel had a soccer game in the morning so I had to run in the afternoon.  It got into the 90's today.  Need I say more?  I maintained an average 11:16 pace, which I was thriled with given how I felt and how friggin' hot it was.  Funny thing, 11:16 is the exact same pace for my last 9 mile training run a couple weeks ago.  The difference is that today's route had a little hill.  I managed to run up and over it on the way out but on the way back I was struggling.  I looked at my watch and my heart rate was getting into the 170's.  "Don't be stupid Michelle, you have 2+ miles to go and it's hot as hell out here, just walk."  So I walked up the short but steep hill and started running again as soon as I reached the top.  I hate carrying water so at mile 2 I ran into a Subway and they let me have some tap water.  At mile 4 I passed a school so I found a fountain there, re-passed it at mile 5 and had more water.  Then at mile 7 I went into a Mexican restaurant and got water.  People are nice when you come in sweating (and probably red) panting for water.  In both restaurants I got a cup right away so I didn't have to stand around waiting for water.  It worked out great but if I ever do another long run on a hot day, and that's a big IF because it's just too difficult, I might have to carry water.  I also ate six Clif Shot Bloks along the way, two at mile 3, two at mile 5 and two at mile 7.

I was so friggin' happy to get back to my car and stop running.  I had started to get the chills and felt slightly nauseous a few times starting around mile 5.  I decided that if I threw up I'd stop.  Duh, right? But that never happened and the nausea was very mild and went away altogether before too long.  As hot as it was I felt like I was getting a decent amount of water.  I swore I'd never run on a hot day again unless I'm running along the bay and get that cool bay breeze.  I came home and read up on chills while running in the heat.  Not good.  Which I kind of figured was the case.  Chills can be a warning sign of heat exhaustion, which could then escalate to heat stroke.  If I were to stop sweating that would be a very serious sign.  Hopefully I'll never have to worry about this again because running in such heat is not fun and I don't plan on doing it again.  But it's good to know the signs of overheating.

After the run I came home and showered.  Miguel had just put the kids down for their naps so I relaxed for a bit and then decided to go jeans shopping.  I didn't have a lot of time and I'm not the most experienced shopper.  Add to that I am shopping for almost an entirely new body (and Mom was gifting me the jeans!) and I decided to go the The Blue Jeans Bar in Mill Valley with the hopes that they would take one look at me and hand me the perfect pair of jeans for my body.  It wasn't quite that idyllic, but close.  I told the saleswoman I wanted boot cut jeans that help my butt look less flat than it really is.  She had me try on about 5 pair and gave me a good critique of each pair I tried on.  I found some that I really like, DL1961 Milano Boot Cut...and, they were on sale!  Mom would be happy about that part.  I'd never heard of DL1961 jeans, but I've never heard of any of the brands they had in there, too high end for my normal budget.  I think they are a size 27 or 28 but I can't remember now.  The waist measurement just doesn't have the same ring as, say, a size 4.  Anyway, they were super comfortable and I like how they look.  Now I just need to find a suitable shirt and maybe a vest and I'll be set for the ranch wedding!  Man, this post is all high-end sounding - Aspen wedding, fancy jeans...but in reality our budget is more black beans than filet mignon - which is fine by me.  We have everything we need, and sometimes, as in the case of these jeans, then some.

Tomorrow will be a gym day, followed by another on Tuesday.  Wednesday is rest. Thursday is supposed to be a gym day but we're flying to Aspen that day so who knows.  Friday is a gym day so I hope to find some way to exercise.  Saturday is normally rest but I might do my long run in Aspen (If the air isn't too thin for me) since we're flying home on Sunday.  If I don't write again until after the trip, wish me luck with squeezing my exercise into this trip!

Simply Filling Technique

Things are looking up around here, and hopefully for more than just a couple days.  I got some great feedback and support from my readers - thank you.  It was nice to hear that maybe this up/down insanity is part of having two toddlers in addition to what was already a pretty full life.  But I know I can do some things to make it better.  I've been going to bed by 10pm for several nights in a row, taking my vitamins and thinking positive thoughts.

On Tuesday, when I wrote my last post I was clearly in a negative space.  I was in such a bad mood that I ended up skipping my planned run, which just throws fuel on the fire.  As the evening rolled in I started to think it would be good if I could make up my run on Wednesday morning since my mom was over to stay the night.  But I wasn't sure I'd have enough motivation to get up and do it.  But I decided to be optimistic and laid my running clothes out before I went to bed.

Wednesday morning came and I went back and forth in my head about the run.  Good won and I got up and dressed and hit the road.  And I had a great run.  I wanted to run 5 miles but left the door open for 4 in case I was struggling.  I think my pace was in the 10:30 range, which got me to thinking my goal pace for the 1/2 marathon might be 11:00 minute miles, which would mean a time of 2 hours, 24 minutes.  Anyway, back to the present - I was so happy to have a good 5 mile run and came home feeling ready to turn my frown upside down.  Oh, and I was wheezing after the run so I used the inhaler.

Yesterday, Thursday, I had my follow-up doctor appointment in the morning.  The new plan is to try Zyrtec for a week and see if I get any wheezing.  And use the inhaler whenever I'm wheezing.  She said *not* using it when wheezing can, in the long run, lead to scarring.  Scarring = bad.  And she said using it even daily will not lessen its effectiveness.  I started the Zyrtec.

After work I went to the gym and rode the upright bike for 25 minutes.  And O.M.G. I was sweating like crazy!  I soaked almost my whole shirt, which I never even come close to normally.  I wondered if the Zyrtec could be doing this.  My heart rate was normal and I felt mostly normal except for the streams of sweat dripping from my chin.  After the bike I did back/biceps/core for strength training.  And guess what?  I can do two, TWO pull ups!  We're talking the palms facing in, "neutral" grip, which is quite a bit more manageable than the typical pull up.  But I don't care, I did it...twice!!!!!!  And not using a stitch of momentum, I just grabbed the bars and pulled myself all the way up.  Talk about feeling strong.  I loved it.  I'm going to work my way up to three sets of 8.  Might take me a year, but I know I'll get there eventually.

Today I hopped on the scale with a heart full of hope.  Hope that I will be under 150 pounds.  I didn't really go into my weight last week but it was 150.6.  I very much did NOT like seeing that 5 so I really wanted to be in the 149.9 and under range.  Well, lo and behold, 147 pounds.  What the heck?!  Sometimes I think I've got this whole scale/weight thing figured out and then it does something crazy like this.  I guess some of that weight gain last week was water retention?  Yes, Kristy, I know...duh!

So you KNOW that number put a pep in my step.  I have a strong desire to hold on to that weight for this week. I have a strong desire to get. to. friggin'. goal.  This feels like it's been dragging on for.ever.  Well, it has been 5+ years and I know when I try to rush things, well, it just doesn't go well.  But I do plan to try something new this week.

WW has an option called the Simply Filling Technique.  In summary, they give you a list of "power foods" and you can eat those without tracking them.  For anything that's not a power food you track them.  So instead of getting daily points you just get your weekly "extras".  Since my tracking has been abysmal of late and since I do a pretty good job (most times) of eating healthy meals to satisfaction, I figured it makes sense to try it.  But with my Michelle tweaks of course.  I plan to deem my morning cereal a power food, even though it's not on the list.  I also plan to consider all low fat dairy options to be the same as fat free.  I generally don't overeat those things and I believe the fat is helpful with satiation and vitamin absorption.  I will probably make more of my own rules as time goes on and in general, I think that's a good thing.  Gotta make it work for ME.

I had my first SFT lunch today - grilled tilapia (on the foreman grill), quinoa, broccoli and avocado.  The only thing I had to track was the avocado.  If you are a regular reader of this blog with a good memory you might remember my fight with WW over avocados.  For now I'll count them as an "extra" point but I am reserving the right to deem the a power food and be done with it.  As a wise friend once told me, "It's green for goodness sakes & grows on a tree!"

At the gym today I ran three miles on the treadmill and again, I sweat like crazy.  It must be the Zyrtec.  I'm on a trial of it for a week and then she's having me switch to another allergy med for a week to see which is better.  I hope this sweating thing dies down by week's end because I didn't wheeze today at all, which is good.  After the treadmill I did legs/shoulders/core.  I had a great strength training session!  Yippee, the roller coaster is rolling and I'm enjoying the ride!!

Miguel and I are going out for a date night tonight.  I plan to eat something that once lived in water and some healthy grains.  And probably a salad.  If I see a decent desert, something relatively healthy, I might get that too.  Or I might skip it, don't want to mess with my mojo.

p.s.  At my meeting today I got a star for going over 85 pounds lost. A woman on her third week came up after the meeting and admitted she'd been wondering why I was there, "What's up with the skinny chick, what's she doing here?". She congratulated me on my progress so far and so I showed her my "before" picture, "wow, I never would have guessed."  Maintenance, sister, it's all about maintenance.

Something's Gotta Give

Ho hum...things are at a low point around here these days.  And I realized I'm experiencing this up/down cycle on an almost weekly basis.  Since I'm going to rule out Bipolar disorder right off the top, I have to take a look at what else has me on this "I'm doing great!", "I hate life." roller coaster because I really want it to stop.  Here are the possibilities:

1.  My eating.  As someone recently told me, good food = good mood, bad food = bad mood.  I've been eating a lot of "bad" food lately.  And wine.  I had a ton of social things last week and ate/drank more than usual.  Sunday = wine/desert with a friend, Tuesday = wine/munchies/desert at a mom's get together, Wednesday = desert at book club, Friday = wine/lots of food/desert/other junk out to dinner with friends, Saturday = wine/food/desert during wine tasting limo day followed by dinner at a neighbor's house.  All those "off plan" (if you will) meals and all that alcohol combined for not only weight gain but also a crabby mood.  After all, alcohol is a depressant.  I'm considering doing a "clean" eating week in which I would plan out my eating for the week and then stick to that with no flexibility.  No deprivation or anything, just plenty of healthy, whole foods and no alcohol.  Anyway, I'm in the midst of digging myself out of said weight gain and crabby mood, but I'm not there yet. 

2.  Exercise.  Maybe I'm exercising too much.  Truth is, I hate even considering this possibility.  I mean, come on, I exercise 5 days a week for barely more than an hour on most days.  How can that be too much?!  It irritates me to no end that anyone would suggest I'm exercising too much because I already feel like I sacrifice a lot in this area because of lack of time.  But Miguel suggested as much last night and he's at least the third person to bring up this possibility.  I'm considering cutting back to 4 days a week.  But I don't know where to cut.  I'm in 1/2 marathon training so I don't want to cut a run.  I want to keep some biking endurance up so I don't want to drop a bike day.  And I am not going down to less than weight training 3x a week.  Can you hear my defiance?  I'll keep pondering this one for a bit.  I'm not yet ready to cut back on something that brings me so much satisfaction.

3.  Sleep.  I need more of it.  Miguel thinks if I get a full 8 hours sleep for at least three days in a row I'm going to feel revitalized.  In practice I tend to downplay the importance of sleep, all the while talking up (and knowing) how important it is.  I went to bed at 9pm last night.  I'm going to bed no later than 9:30pm tonight and tomorrow night.  I say this kind of thing a lot and then never do it but this time I'm for real.  I need to get my body and mind back into a good place and I know sleep is a big part of that.

4.  The other parts of my life.  I schedule too many activities.  Again, an area where my defenses can get triggered - I like to be active, I like to be involved and social.  I am happy with less downtime because downtime often equals the couch and I don't know about yours but my couch emits bad mood chemicals after about 30 minutes. But while I like to keep busy and active I also acknowledge that keeping too busy leaves me feeling frazzled and forgetting how to be in the moment, enjoying myself.  I guess I'm spread too thin.  I already know of at least one thing I'm going to drop.

5.  Crap, I need a happy point in this list.  Things that are going well and keeping me going are...Family:  I am so grateful for my healthy, happy kids and my very supportive husband.  We all have our moments but if I can slow down on the scheduled activities, get my eating back in line and thereby improve this crappy mood I think we'll have more happy moments than not.  Happy mom = happy family, right?   Vitamins:  I'm taking a multi, a B complex and chondroitin and I think I'm noticing a difference.  Asthma:  This is a mixed bag, I'm peeved that I have to deal with this but hopeful I can figure out a treatment protocol that might help my fitness efforts.  Muscles:  I can see and feel the muscles in my body and I love that.  And my clothes fit pretty well too. 

That's a lot already for one post but I'll just do a quick run-down of my exercise and weight. 

Friday:  Up nearly two pounds at weigh-in. Ugh.  Went to the gym, 25 minutes on the bike followed by back/biceps/core for strength training. 
Saturday:  Day off from exercise.
Sunday:  Long run, 10 miles.  Silly me ran in the heat of the day, probably didn't have enough water.  The last mile of the run was downright grueling.  Averaged 5.3mph.  But I did it. 
Monday:  Gym, 25 minutes on the bike followed by chest/triceps/core for strength training.  If I could live at the gym for a week or two I probably would.  That place just makes me feel good.

I have to close with a picture that makes me smile.  On Sunday we did a family photo exchange with another family.  I'm so happy with how they all turned out.  I'm saving the family shot for our Holiday cards but I'll share one of my little bear and I.

Just Run

In my last post on Tuesday I wrote about hoping to squeeze in my run before the day was over.  I ended up with a 50 minute window and I ended up wasting 5 of them debating with myself about the run.

"I'm a little tired."
So what?  You're always a little tired after work, you can rest tomorrow.  Just run.

"My legs are sore."
They'll feel fine once you're warmed up.  Just run.

"I don't have enough time to do my full mileage."
Something is better than nothing.  Just run.

"It's hot."
For crying out loud, Michelle, just get on with it!

And so I ran.  And because I was pressed for time I ran pretty fast.  I checked my Garmin and saw I was running a sub-10 minute pace.  I tried to not check my Garmin a lot after that because it just messes with my head.  But I still looked at it a bunch and I maintained that pace.  In the end I ran 4.16 miles and maintained a 9:40 pace!  That's a world record speed right there. Feeling pretty spiffy about that.

But within 10 minutes of the run I noticed I was wheezing.  I took a few puffs of the albuterol and within minutes I wasn't wheezing anymore.  Guess that about ends the uncertainty I had about having asthma.  I've got my follow-up appointment in a week.  A reader commented on my blog that she has mild asthma and has to take albuterol 30 minutes before she exercises.  Maybe something like that can work for me. 

No matter, despite all that I had an amazing run.  And everything I said to talk myself into running was true.  I wasn't too tired, my legs were fine, I even got close to my goal (4.5 miles) because I was so speedy!  SO glad I went for that run.  So glad.

I had a busy week, after dinner on Tuesday I went out for a mom's night.  I had 2 glasses of wine and almost got out of there without eating but ended up munching on a bunch of crap in the last hour or so.  Wednesday was a day off from exercise.  I ate healthy all day but as I was heating up leftover Chinese food for Miguel I decided to just have that myself too instead of making my own dinner.  I had book club after dinner and had a desert there (ice cream and a fried tortilla with caramel sauce - yum!) and then a trip to Target resulted in a Snickers bar.  Oh dear.  The good news is I'd eaten pretty good prior to these less than stellar choices.   And I got right back on the bandwagon today.  Cereal, light lunch, healthy dinner.  Balance, balance, balance.

And I went to the gym today.  I was really looking forward to it, I just had this feeling of pent up energy and knew that probably meant I was in store for a good workout.  I decided to do my run on the treadmill, for some reason outside just didn't sound like a good time.  I ran my 3 miles in 28:50 on a 1% incline.  That's around a 9:40 pace too.  I ran mostly at 6mph but threw in 2 minute intervals at 7mph for a challenge.  It was tough but I enjoyed it.  After the treadmill I did chest/triceps/core for strength training.  Whew!  I'm only strength training 3 days a week now and with my Yosemite trip, I haven't done chest/triceps in weeks.  It was hard, but I managed.

On Tuesday I'd had a small skinny vanilla latte after work, but I only drank half because I didn't want to be up all night.  After my workout I drank the second half.  I have been strongly against afternoon caffeine for years, but now I'm thinking maybe it's a good thing.  I slept fine the other night and I think I'll sleep fine tonight.  And since the Singulair didn't turn out to be my magic fix, maybe caffeine will.  I'll only need it for the next two or three years I think.  Hmph.

I'll close with a picture of the kids.  I've been trying to take them on a post-nap walk whenever I can.  They love it, it burns off some toddler energy and I hope they're learning to get outdoors, even if it's just for a walk around the neighborhood.

My little buddies.