Goal Review + 2 Runs

I re-read my goals from January and feel kind of disappointed in myself.  I know many were kind of pie in the sky, but many were achievable had I just committed more fully to them.  Nothing that is news to anyone who likes to set the bar high for themselves. 

I sat down and updated my mileage.  I did pass my bike goal (not a big surprise with two century attempts - though I was slightly surprised not to have surpassed it by more).  My swimming and running mileage definitely suffered from all my time on the bike (and some general laziness mixed in).  My non-training goals weren't a lot better. 

I went for a short run Sunday after I dropped my daughter off for basketball practice.  I went around Memorial Park a couple times and then down to my dad's cemetery and back.  I had to cut it short because I needed to use the bathroom.  Nothing major, but better than nothing.  My legs felt pretty heavy - like they did on Thursday.  Not sure if it would've felt better had I gone a little longer.  It was a very pretty day - lots of fall color and a bright blue sky.  Pretty way to pass 2.9 miles.


Bright sunshine, cool fall color

Stacy cajoled me into a late night run in the nice 50° temps last night (Monday).  I really didn't want to go, but I try to say "yes" when I can get in a few miles with a friend.  Wasn't fast - struggled to keep going, but we got 3.5 miles in before bedtime.

Two more months left in 2013.  Cooler temps and less daylight present some challenges, but I know I can get some training in if I put my mind to it.  I am once again participating in the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge with Run to the Finish.  Hope to rack up some points and maybe a prize or two plus keep off the holiday scale creep.  

Also getting ready to go to Phoenix to visit a couple of friends in a few weeks.  I goofed off a bunch yesterday surfing all kinds of web sites for fun places to hike and cool museums to hit.  I'm sure my wish list is longer than I can squeeze in 4.5 days - especially with hopes of hitting Sedona for one day.  It is a total "me" trip - kids staying at home with their dad for opening weekend of deer season.  Still have to completely figure out some logistics of getting them to school, but I think they'll be ok.  Looking forward to the time "off".

Swimming = 10.25 mi
Biking = 1262.2 miles
Running = 227.9 miles

Ride the Rivers Century 2013

I finally did it!  I finished my first bike century!  This last Sunday I participated in Trailnet's Ride the Rivers Century along with 608 other crazy bike folks.  The weather was beautiful even if a little cold at the start and windy all day.

 

I rolled out with a few of the guys from Team TOG, but was dropped in the first few miles.   No worries as I thought I'd see them at a rest stop. They passed me once when they had to relieve the coffee I didn't drink but otherwise I was once again alone a lot.  While I understood their desire to ride faster, I wished for company.  I think finding someone to ride my speed will be key to ever choosing to do this again (if I do it again).

 

I felt pretty good as I rolled into the first rest stop at the history museum.   I grabbed a little food and headed back out pretty quickly.  I had to walk one hill when I got caught at a mid hill stoplight.  I also stopped and caught my breath on one hill but pedaled up the rest of it.

 

I was getting warm from having over dressed.  I enjoyed looking at the old buildings as we rolled through downtown St. Louis.  I wished that I had had more time to stop for pics.   Those prayers backfired and I caught nearly every red light.  Fellow riders even started to joke about it.  Once we got over on the river trail there were a few places where folks seemed to be flatting a lot.  I walked over some gravel to avoid it.  I knew that a flat tire might be the end of my ride - killing my spirit and taking time I knew would be in short supply now that it gets darker much earlier and quicker.

 

But soon I was at the rest stop at the Old Chain of Rocks bridge over the Mississippi River.  Grabbed some more water and hit the portopotty. Knowing the next stop was lunch made it slightly easier to get going again.   The view from the bridge was of downtown St. Louis in the distance, but having just gotten going, I didn't want to stop for a pic.  Too bad as there were a lot of neat Route 66 signs and memorabilia.

42 miles in - ready to cross the Mississippi River

 

The wind was soon at my back, but the pedaling didn't feel that much better.  In fact, I was getting pretty warm in the sun now that the wind wasn't in my face.  Then there were these stupid road crossings that had gates that made you ride down a steep grade, dismount, walk across and then go straight up again (where I mostly hiked).  There was also some construction I didn't feel comfortable riding around in the grass so I walked around.

 

The canopy at the amphitheater at Alton seemed visible for a long time that it didn't seem to be getting closer.   I really wanted off my bike.  I finally got there.  I pulled off my jacket and helmet and laid in the grass.  I wolfed down my turkey sandwich, chips and cookie.  Then I tried to psych myself up to get going again.  I set a deadline and only missed it by a few minutes checking my jacket and refilling my bottles.

 

I had hopes that the long stretch of relatively flat River Road would provide some relief and maybe a tailwind.  While I did feel a bit better having eaten and cooled off, I was in a pretty dark mental place.  I started daydreaming about chucking my bike into the river and calling the Sag.  I caught a woman and sucked myself to her wheel.  It was bad manners, but I just couldn't find the strength to pass her.  I hung on until the Grafton rest stop.

 

My stomach didn't feel like eating, but I snacked a little and refilled my bottles again.  It was nice to hit a real toilet at the visitor center.  I was really hurting, but I had to go on.  Saw a guy sitting on a wheel stop trying to get the nerve to get back on his bike.  I felt the same, but chose to swing my leg over and headed out.

 

Shortly after I left, I hooked up with a guy from O'Fallon that was riding about my speed.   Sharing those miles to the next stop (the first ferry) completely changed my mental outlook.  I could more fully appreciate the beautiful day.  I didn't even hate the hills as much.   There weren't that many, but sharing the pain made them so much easier.  I even started humming a tune that was stuck in my head.

 

We made it to the first ferry.  We got a break from the bike seat as we watched some poor lady blow her transmission trying to offload.  Then we rode across and fought the wind and hills to get to the Golden Eagle ferry.   Another crossing and we were welcomed at the last rest stop by super sweet cheering volunteers.   Still not really hungry, I did have half a sprite.   We took a couple pics and headed out for the final miles.

 

92 miles in - last rest stop

It was mostly flat and only a little into the wind.   I was wanting to push the pace a little but eased up whenever needed to stay with my bike angel.  I just wanted to be done and the sun was starting to drop pretty low in the sky.  Then there was my car and I was so thankful.  We snapped a couple more shots and thanked each other for sticking it out. 

 

Just finished 102 miles!  Yay!!

David from Team TOG called and said they were cleaning up the finish party.  I remembered that I needed to go get my jacket.  I visited with David for just a bit and then loaded up and headed out.  I stopped in Kingdom City for a late dinner and much deserved coke.  

 

Muscles were pretty sore but my butt was very sore.  Hard chairs were not my friend the early part of this week.  I took it super easy on Monday, walked around a job site a little on Tuesday plus took a family walk as part of my daughter's Girl Scout Staying Fit badge, and took it easy again on Wednesday (busy with work). 

 

Thursday dawned very cool again and I met Susan for a shake out run on the greenway.  I wasn't really feeling it, but was kind of grumpy and stiff at the start.  I felt so much better after our 4.1 miles and Starbucks together.  Tonight I took a walk with my husband. 

 

Now I have completed one of my big hairy ass goals for this year.  I'll need to go back and do some adding up of some of my recent mileage, review my goals list and see what my goals for November and December are going to be.  But for now, I am ecstatic with completing 100 miles in one day!

 

 

Self Magazine "Cleanse" - Part 3

A few pics that Susan sent me from our pumpkin run:

Crossing Cedar Creek - about 3ish miles in

Our usual turn around at the river overlook - 4.2 miles in

She told me to stop slouching - at Claysville Store (which wasn't open to tempt us with fried chicken) - starting to not enjoy myself here - probably about 7 miles in



Giving the Hartsburg pumpkins a "thumbs up"! 10.4 miles!

I was definitely feeling our long run.  I skipped a strength workout or two this week.  I know that is something I need to really work on this winter.  Just have to try to find the motivation.  And motivation was definitely waning the further into the week that I got.  I think this was just too radical of a change for me.  I'm not sure what freaks eat this crap, but most of it won't cross my kitchen again. 

I've always wondered if I wasn't giving some of the food items that people talk about or that I see in healthy eating magazines a chance, but I think it just doesn't measure up to my Midwest upbringing.  I made the best of it finishing up this weekend with a couple repeats to just get through (and to use up the insane leftovers - it is tough when you are the only person eating this stuff because there is no way you can buy just the amount you need for one person and try all of these different foods).

Saturday:

Breakfast: strawberry banana smoothie with greek yogurt - close to my "normal" recipe (though I usually use regular yogurt)

Workout: Had promised my daughter we'd do a ride out to the National Guard on our bikes as part of her Girl Scout challenge.  She did pretty good on the way out - kind of fell apart and was in full on tears by the time we were half way up the Wavco hill and had to get off and walk. 

Still happy about 2.5 miles in (all downhills and flats)

My last awkward selfie with my phone that did not have a forward camera

Lunch: Asian chicken cups again (using up the leftover fixings) - I didn't love them quite as much the 2nd time, but I will still add it to my overall rotation.

Dinner: We had a super crazy busy day/evening and I didn't get around to dinner until 8 PM.  But I was starving so I had the small leftover piece of salmon plus a little bit of elbow noodles with beef and marinara sauce that I had fixed for my kids that they didn't eat.  I did resist the McDonalds that my son and mother-in-law had.

I barely sat down all day between a half dozen loads of laundry and a ton of errands - Walmart, cemetery, Shoe Carnival, Old Navy, back home, took one kid home from a sleepover at our house and dropped another off for one, back home, back to Old Navy to return one pair of pants, to Best Buy to replace my dying phone, to Gamestop for my boy, to Dicks because I had a gift card (no purchase made), back home, back to pick up mother-in-law from mass, took her and the boy to McDs, drove her back to her assisted living facility, drove back home.  Whew!  So there was no time for another workout - plus I was too pooped!

Sunday:

Went to mass at 8:30 and then husband and my son voted to go back to McDs for breakfast.  ugh!  So I had a fruit and maple oatmeal for 290 calories - not exactly on the "plan", but an overall healthy choice.  By the time we got done, the morning was nearly over.  I headed out to Best Buy to exchange my phone case for a fun pink Otterbox.  I puttered around a little with my new phone.

Lunch: Tried this soybean/dried cherry/barley pilaf that was horrible.  I couldn't choke much down and finally gave up and ate the rest of the elbow noodles with marinara and lean beef. 

Then my daughter came home from her sleepover and I tucked her in for a nap for about 40 min until I had to get her grumpy butt up for basketball practice.  I should have ran while she was at practice, but I didn't get my act in gear to change clothes.  It was a beautiful day.  I could have gone for a  walk, but I watched the girls try to remember plays from last year (without much success - I think the coach may have been reaching a little).  We went shopping for her Halloween costume (she's going to be a pirate) and came on home.

Dinner: Had a lot of hope for the roasted broccoli, baby potatoes and rosemary chicken with yogurt sauce.  Everything tasted fine, but it wasn't anything to write home about.  Plain grilled chicken would have tasted just as good to me.  I did like the veggies (though again - plain would have been fine).  I roasted the broccoli a little too long because I cut my potatoes too large.  Oops.  Oh well - it was still edible.  Mixed up some Crystal Light raspberry lemonade since I was getting sick of water. 

Wasn't looking good for a workout so I texted Stacy and she agreed (fairly late) to go for a run.  We just did the neighborhood for about 3 miles.  Better than nothing even if at 8:30 at night in the dark (though at least the moon helped this time).

So one week on a diet that I probably wouldn't do again - no Coke, no margaritas or wine, more consistent exercise (which I will try again) and foods that must appeal to someone, but just not this meat and potatoes girl.  It was a worthy experiment, but I think I will go back to my previous approach of just trying to focus on getting in more produce, less processed stuff, smaller portions and more exercise.  It was a lot less stressful.

MMNW (last week): 165.0
MMNW (this week): 162.4 - an awful lot of work for such small movement.  I had really expected for it to be closer to 160-161.  I know it isn't all about the number, but I really had hoped for this to be a bigger "reset".  I guess it is better than gaining.  It definitely kept me more mindful of what I was putting in my mouth and more focused on getting some kind of movement in every day which is good since most of the time my job involves a lot of desk jockey time.

Back to regular programming this week though I did have some Bare Naked granola and almond milk this morning for breakfast.

Self Magazine Cleanse Diet - Part 2

My running shoes were getting pretty old and needed to be replaced for a while.  Finally got over to Ultramax (where a $30 credit waited because I've spent $250), and found out that my current model of Asics were discontinued.  I didn't particularly care for the newer version.  I decided to try on a few other kinds of shoes and settled on some Brooks Adrenalines. 

Thursday:
Breakfast: After the fiasco with throwing up a green smoothie during my workout on Wednesday, I just couldn't face another smoothie knowing that I was going to do my longest run in 9 months (and my 2nd longest run ever).  So I defaulted to a standby pre-workout meal - peanut butter and banana sandwich with a small glass of grape juice and some water.

The workout from one of the days called for a slower longer workout - an hour.  But Susan and I had decided last week to tackle what Susan wants to call "Pumpkin Run 2013" - she wants to make shirts for it and everything - even if just for the 2 of us.  This would take us from the North Jeff City trailhead up the Katy Trail to Hartsburg (well known around here for its annual Pumpkin Festival which happens to be this weekend).

The weather couldn't have been more perfect.  The leaves haven't really started to change except a few trees here and there, but the sun was shining and the air was fairly cool.  Don't think we could have asked for more.  We dropped her van at the end and drove my car back to the North Jeff City trailhead.  The first 4.2 miles took us to our usual turn around point.  We snapped a quick pic and ate a few sport beans.  Apparently my pic didn't save on my phone.  Doh!

About 7 miles in, my knees started to complain loudly.  My hip has been bothering me for a week, but it wasn't really feeling any worse.  My feet were starting to hurt, but the shoes were doing great - no blisters, etc.  Susan had to kind of drag me through those last couple of miles.  I did some counting off of paces in between walking.  We managed to finally get to Hartsburg for a total of 10.4 miles!  I've never been so happy to see all those pumpkins.  We stopped a couple folks getting ready to go on a long bike ride to take our picture.  Then we headed off for more water and to find someplace to eat lunch.

Dottie's Diner looked busy so we stopped in.  When we found out they didn't take credit cards (welcome to small town America), I counted out the cash I had and determined I had us covered.  I had a grilled chicken salad (that was on tap for one of the dinners this week).  I was pleasantly surprised that it had mixed greens (not just iceberg lettuce like a lot of restaurants), big yummy tomatoes and grilled chicken with a little cheese.  I didn't need dressing with all that goodness.  If it had just had some boiled egg, it would have been perfect.  Susan had a chicken wrap and I even had enough money for a tip.  Yay!

I foam rolled my legs and took it pretty easy in the afternoon. 

Snack: cucumber spears and whole wheat pita with lemon-garlic-yogurt dip - relatively tasty though I still wonder how good I would think things were if I weren't so freaking hungry.

Dinner: baked a pork chop, topped it with this cherry chutney and served it with barley and roasted asparagus. Decent enough flavor, but I like pork chops plain too.  Not sure I'd screw with the extra steps for the chutney next time.

Friday:

Breakfast: Cherry-Almond-Vanilla Smoothie - tasted gritty.  Only choked about half of it down. 

Snack: Made this early partly because it made sense to run the oven earlier in the day and some because I knew I'd be hungry with the smoothie fail.  Curry Kale Chips.  They were ok.  Not as good as potato chips.

Lunch: "Veggie Lover" wraps - except I don't eat tempeh (not even sure where to buy it) so I cooked a little super lean ground beef and used it with the sauté of mushrooms and shredded carrot with the balsamic vinegar, chili powder and soy sauce.  I wrapped it up in a whole wheat wrap with romaine and sliced tomato.  It wasn't too bad to eat. Not sure I'd bother to make it again.

Dinner:
I repeated the salmon, barley, kale cooked in water/OJ/soy sauce/ginger from the other night because it was handy while my family and one of my son's friends ate pizza (my favorite kind - spicy chicken - from our favorite place).  I think the salmon steak was a little bigger this time and I didn't eat it all. 

I didn't get a workout in coming off the super long run yesterday so I pried myself out of the recliner and went for a short run tonight - 2.9 miles in the neighborhood by moonlight.  It was still pretty warm so I worked up a good sweat.

Self Magazine "Cleanse" Diet - Part 1

As I mentioned in my last post, I decided to go "all in" and try something new on the diet and exercise front.  I chose a plan from Self Magazine touted as a "cleanse with food you could chew" that was packed full of "power foods" that help you do more than just lose weight - but be healthier overall.

I've had to do some minor modifications (swapping a few ingredients, swapping a few meals around, etc) but have tried to remain pretty true to the intent of the plan.  I wanted to try some new things because I find that I get in a rut with my eating whether it be healthy or not healthy.  What I had been doing (eating slightly less of the crap, but still drinking full octane Coke) wasn't working.  So here is a journal of my adventure on this diet:

Monday:
Breakfast:  Smoothie with frozen peaches, greek yogurt (because I don't eat tofu which is what the recipe called for), unsweetened vanilla almond milk, turmeric and 1.5 tbsp. of almond butter.  Overall, I loved the peach flavor - hated the almond butter flavor with it.  Choked about 3/4 of it down and did not feel satisfied.

AM Workout: Misread the workout - it was supposed to be 1 min intervals with 30 seconds lighter intensity in between.  I did 30/30.  That is about all I can run quickly anyway.  I had a couple times towards the end where my "rest" intervals got a little longer.  I definitely need to run more.  I went out in the neighborhood and ended up going a little longer than the workout called for, but at my slow pace it was only 2.6 miles so I called it good.

Lunch: I was supposed to get a Starbucks Hearty Veggie Salad, but the Starbucks in Columbia didn't carry salads - only pastries and paninis.  So I went to Chipotle and loaded up a salad with a little brown rice, chicken, black beans and a ton of tomato salsa.  I missed the cheese and sour cream, but again - so hungry I didn't care.

Snack: Pear (was supposed to be half and with some almond butter dipping, but after the poor experience with the almond butter in the morning, I chose to just eat the pear).  I could have used the protein, but the pear was delicious and saving a half a pear is a pain in the ass.

Dinner: Shrimp tacos with blueberry avocado salsa on corn tortillas - they were ok. Better since I was crazy hungry.

PM Workout: 8 workout cards; 12-15 reps each x3 w/ no weights; strength work with multiple muscle groups; Many were a struggle.  Don't think I did all of the required reps.

Had massive headaches from going cold turkey on the Coke.  I also have never felt so starved on a diet.  I was not a particularly happy camper. I drank some water, but made note to self to drink more.

Tuesday:
Breakfast: Jamba Juice smoothie was called for, but we don't have that chain so I made my own strawberry banana one that was along the same lines.

AM Workout: Plan was for 45 min of whatever moderate exercise I wanted. I needed to get my butt back on my bike so I headed out around my neighborhood for a couple interchange repeats and on home for a total of almost an hour and 12 miles. 

Lunch: Made Asian chicken cups that were awesome.  I was very hungry and they tasted very good.  Yum!  After 3 days, one of the few recipes I would repeat.

Snack: chickpea, tomato, red onion tossed with balsamic vinegar and a little oil.  It was ok.  Again, when you are starving you are less picky.

Dinner: Steak with mole sauce; supposed to make a corn salad and realized I didn't have corn.  Doh!  So I roasted some asparagus.  I had made some elbow macaroni for my daughter and had a very small bowl of that to stave off the hunger pangs.

PM Workout: Was supposed to do the cards again, but this time with a light weight.  Had a bunch of personal crap to deal with and blew it off. 

Headaches abated by later in the day.  I tried to drink more water.  Had to pee a lot.

Wednesday:
Breakfast: Mega Green Smoothie - spinach, banana, pineapple, nonfat plain yogurt - the taste was ok, but the texture was a bit off.  I choked most of it down.

Workout: 5 x 30 seconds of each of 5 plyometric moves (high knees, burpees, jump squats, butt kicks, and jumping lunges) with 1 min rest between.  Threw up part of my smoothie midway through.  Not fun.

Snack: Called for Kind granola blueberry clusters, but store didn't carry it so I got some Bare Naked granola that looked similar.  I had it with a little bit of vanilla almond milk.  I'm not really a milk drinker (of any kind), but it was nice to have the cool milk with the granola. The dried blueberries in it were a nice touch.

Lunch: "Bento Box" of 2 hard boiled eggs, 4 Wasa whole grain crackers, cup of carrots and cup of cucumbers and some hummus.  Very portable to the office.  I could see using this one another time

Dinner: Salmon and kale cooked in this water, OJ, soy sauce, ginger liquid served with barley.  Didn't love the kale, but mixed it all together and it wasn't awful to eat. 

Spent the evening teaching my daughter's Girl Scout troop (6 gung ho nine and ten year olds) all about Staying Fit - fueling their body, understanding nutrition labels, challenging them to get 30 min of cardio exercise 3x each of the next two weeks, learning about controlling stress, journaling feelings, we did a little yoga, etc.  Great fun, but no real workout.  Hope I passed along some things to think about.  None of our girls are heavy, but several have parents that fight weight issues. 

I think I may have been eating a lot of extra calories that I hadn't realized in the past months - enough to explain putting a few pounds back on.  I thought most of it was in soda, but apparently my serving sizes have crept up too or I wouldn't feel so freaking hungry this week.

It will be nice to knock a few pounds back off and hopefully remain more mindful of the amount of food I'm consuming while making sure to be more consistent with my workouts.  Will be interested to see how this experiment plays out.  I have to admit I'll be pretty freaking pissed if this doesn't come out in my favor on the scale.

Check back in a couple days for another update.

Still here (kinda)

It's been a month since my last post.  Who knows if anyone is still out there who cares.  But I'm still crazy busy with work stuff (even taking on some extra work for a friend that owns a firm in another state).  Still busy keeping up with the usual mom stuff (plus a little extra as my friend that we share kid pickup with has been in training the last several weeks adding to the days I have to be at school by 3 PM).  Still kind of struggling with getting my ass on my bike or out the door at all.  Add to that my evil MMNW last week (166.6 - think all those sixes were some kind of warning?) - and I'm just still kinda here. 

But because I like to keep track of the minimal work I have put in, here is the lowdown of the rest of my September and into the first of October:

9/12/13: Ran 3.1 miles marking the course for the 5K my school's wellness committee (under chair of my running pal Susan) put on.

9/14/13: Ran 3.1 miles during the "Run with the Angels 5K".  Got schooled by 4th graders left and right - including the one that won overall female with a 26 min 5K!  She is a beast!  My daughter tied with her friend Kelsey for 3rd in the 9-12 year old females since the overall winner was taken out.  I was like 8th or 9th in my age group.  Darn speedy moms!

Worked a lot the following week. 

9/21/13: Ran 3.0 miles - ran to the bank to make a deposit.

9/24/13: Ran 3.0 miles with Stacy - neither of us were feeling it; skipped the ab workout we'd talked about doing.

9/26/13: Ran 5.4 miles with Susan on Katy Trail before scooting off to get some work done.

9/29/13: Finally got my ass back on the bike.  Rode over some of the chip and seal near my house without incident though I worry about it a lot.  Had a minor watch issue at the beginning, but managed to knock out 21.4 miles (with 3 repeats of the interchange hill and 2 repeats of the Wavco hill).  Not a bad workout for never being far from home.  Have been quite paranoid about flats the last few months.

10/3/13: Long run with Susan on Katy Trail.  We made it back to the river overlook.  8.4 miles - though I came back with some kind of tweak in my right hip/buttock that I've been trying to roll out.

10/4/13: Needed to pick up my husband's car at the shop after getting it serviced and inspected the day before so I invited Susan to run the 2.6 miles with me from my house after dropoff.  It was the perfect distance to shake out some of the niggles from the day before.

Spent Saturday moving furniture, etc.  We had to put my mother-in-law into an assisted living facility.  We'll see how it all goes.  I still have to go over to the duplex she had been living in and sort through what is left.  Sunday was pretty chill.  I had planned on riding my bike, but it was cold in the morning and I lost interest in the afternoon.

Worried that I'm not going to be able to finish the Ride the Rivers Century in 2 weeks.  Praying that the bike miles I banked earlier this year pay off.  Praying that I'll have at least one person willing to ride at the back with me.  Praying I don't get a flat because that really sucked the life out of me at the Tour de Cure.  Praying that the weather isn't too windy, cold, hot, wet, etc.  Though truthfully, I found at the Tour de Cure that rain was more tolerable than I had imagined it would be - conversely, I found that the wind was a bigger nightmare than I had ever imagined. 

I've been moving, but not enough.  I haven't been eating healthy much at all and having way too much soda.  Time to dial it in and try to really get something out of these last couple of weeks before attempting another century. 

Along those lines, I am trying a "cleanse" diet from Self Magazine.  The breakfasts are various smoothie recipes (first one had peaches, almond butter, almond milk, and nonfat plain greek yogurt - didn't like the almond butter flavor).  One morning called for a Jamba Juice smoothie, but we don't have that chain so I just made my usual strawberry banana smoothie with nonfat yogurt, banana, frozen strawberries and a splash of milk - no whipped cream.  I'm a little afraid to try some of the green ones though. The lunches are salads and wraps with the dinners usually a lean protein and whole grain with veggies.  My lunch today was really good - Asian chicken lettuce cup things.  I skipped the "dipping sauce" that had the almond butter.  It wasn't needed.  So far it is the only recipe I've tried that I'll make again.  Hope to find at least one or two more that will expand my options for healthier eating.

Had to improvise the salad yesterday because it was supposed to be a specific one from Starbucks, but our location doesn't have salads.  I went to Chipotle and loaded up all veggies with a small scoop of brown rice and black beans and no cheese or sour cream or guac.  Probably close in nutritional value to what I was supposed to have.  Overall it is probably what I should be eating more regularly anyway.  I am also giving up soda this week (massive headaches yesterday). 

There are also workouts - cardio and strength - so I'm hoping to do better at getting something in everyday instead of a couple times a week.  Yesterday morning was a pretty short running interval workout.  Warmup 3 min, 30 seconds running, 30 seconds jogging/walking (for 20 min) and 5 min cooldown.   I was running in my neighborhood and went a little longer for a total of 2.6 miles. 

I did most of the strength workout while I watch TV last night.  First day was only with body weight and it was hard enough.  I couldn't do all the pushups.  Tonight calls for adding a light weight.  Some of the arm moves will be tough for me even with a light weight.  Not sure if I will be able to do the ones later in the week with a heavier weight. 

Today's cardio is 45 min of any moderate exercise I want so I jumped on my bike.  Rode a couple interchange hills and the Wavco hill once for a total of 12.0 miles - a little longer than 45 min because I am so slow, but pretty easy riding so it balances out.  Rolled when I got home.

Swimming = 10.25 mi
Biking = 1140.5 miles
Running = 198.1 miles