Failure is NOT an option

I talked in my last post that I wasn't going to allow excuses in my life and that I had a plan to make sure that my snafu or not riding in the morning didn't mean that I forwent my planned ride.  I put my plan into motion.  I contacted my walking partner and asked her if we could delay our walk until 7:30.  That gave me a half hour to close up work, get home, change, grab my bike, my shoes for walking and get to the battlefield.  I would ride for an hour and then walk with Sherry after my ride.  It worked like a charm!

I got an hour bike ride in and I walked and got my chit chat session in.  It was all in all a good evening!

Soooooo I'm going to get the white elephant out in the open.  I bought my new bike and was so excited.  I knew it would be an adjustment but didn't expect too much difficulty.  Seriously, I ride my trek quite a bit...I rode it on Monday for 20 miles....it shouldn't be too difficult to ride a road bike.....right?   I however quickly figured out that my new bike threw me into a world of hurt.  Yes.  It's a painful experience.   It HURTS!

Lets start at the bottom. 

*My toes go numb when I ride.  I can't really say that it's anything to do with my new bike.  My toes go numb on my Trek too....so I'm not too concerned about that.

* My left foot HURTS.  I don't know if we attached the clip into the shoe a bit off or something (I'm going to have my brother look at it).  I know that I've had some pain in this foot for more than a year, so it could just be a combination of that issue and a different use of the foot.  I ignore this pain. 

* Hills.  I typically ride the canal on my Trek (or a rail trail).  It's relatively flat.   Hills make the thighs SING and burn!!!!   Not too concerned, this is just a problem that will happen and will ease up as I build up the different muscle set that is conducive to hilly bike ridng.

* Back.  Yeah, I'm more hunched over when I ride my lite speed.  My back feels it.  It gets stiff and achy.  Once again this will ease up as I get used to riding a road bike.

*My arms and upper body get SOOOO tired and achy as my hands and arms support my upper body on the bike.  I ache.   Once again.....just building up the body, muscles and getting adjusted.   It's all good.

So yeah, I'm in a world of hurt with this.  But I will NOT fail.  I will NOT let the bike beat me!   I know it's just a thing of DOING it on a regular basis.  I just need to remember that it WILL get easier!

SOooo on the bike tonight I was riding along and hurting.  I carried on a two sided conversation in my head. 

MaryFran:  I want to quit!!!!
Voice: Why?
MaryFran:  It hurts!
Voice:  Are you dying?
MaryFran:  No
Voice:  Then keep going.  Suck it up buttercup.

And I did.  I kept going and I didn't die. 

I'm planning on going riding with Todd on Saturday (weather permitting and he doesnt back out).  I've suggested the Washington and Old Dominion Rail Trail.  I've told him that I plan on taking my lite speed and riding that.  I've already informed Todd that I will probably be snivelling and cryng by the time we are done! (ok, maybe not quite that bad)

I will conquer this.  Failure is NOT an option.  I will get to the point that I can ride with my brother and not hold him back (too much at least).  I will conquer this and knock these bucket list bike rides off my list.  I will WIN!

Hot Dog!

I was so happy with my weight the last few days (because it was looking like I was going to hit my 30 pounds gone this year mark...because I was there, just waiting for the official weigh day) and then this morning I stepped on the scales and voila, I was right back up 2 pounds.  What the haymarket?????  Seriously?  I am trying to shrug it off.  I KNOW I woke up once or twice in the middle of the night thirsty and was too darn comfy to get up and get a drink.  Waking up thirsty is not a good sign, so hopefully it really is just water retention.  (and yes, when I wake up thirsty my weight is usually up...but not two stinkin' pounds!)  Oh  well....shrugging it off.  I'm healthier than I have been in a while.  I'm happier and more active than I have been in a while.  (Yes, for some reason drowning my sorrows in exercise really is working....the issues are there and  they still depress the living snot out of me...but I just ignore them and go for a run...or go for a ride...or go to zumba.  No worries then...all I can think of then is pushing myself just a little harder).   I saw a negative on the scale today and I'm in no danger of quitting, but there were times in the past that I would have quit just because it hurts and doesn't make sense.  No more....I'm still truckin' onward!

I got up and made breakfast for us. I made breakfast pizza which is supper yummy.  It is a bit high in calories (300 calories  slice)  but I wasn't worried.  You see, I had looked at the weather and decided that I could get in a ride this morning before the weather went south again.

I laced up my biking shoes (oops ratcheted them up as they dont' have laces) carted my bike out the door and headed down the road.  My butt hit the saddle and I wanted to scream.  OUCH!  Apparently the nether regions had not yet had time to recover fully from my last ride.  I briefly thought about cutting my ride from 10 miles down to 5.  But that is SOOOOO cheating and I knew it would ultimately lead me to feeling as if I failed...and honestly, it would have been a failure.  I did 10 on my last ride, I can do 10 today!  I pushed on!  I did the same loop that I did my last ride.   After my last ride my brother asked me how may hills I had to walk.  I honestly answered with an indignanat "none!" (who does he think I am???  Ok, maybe he didn't get the memo that there is a new MaryFran in town!)   I do have to admit though that I stopped three times for a breather/drink.  Yes, I clipped out and feet were on the ground for a breather for no reason other than I wanted to stop. (there was probably two more times that I clipped out that ride due to traffic/stop signs).    I am proud to announce though that today the only time I clipped out of my pedals was when I was crossing a major road.  (the traffic was with me through the other stop signs and turns)   I thought it would be advantagous to clip out and wait until a lull in the traffic...silly me!.  Otherwise, I stopped for nothing.  I may have gone slow up the hills.  I may have crept (the refrain a turtle sludging through peanut butter comes to the forefront of my mind again.....) through some stretches.  But I did it.   The ride was still brutal.  My hands went a bit numb and my arms are just sore.  I'm just plain and simple am used to riding my Trek Nav and well this is different.  I'm trying to loosen up my arms because that helps them, but then my back tenses up.  I know it's just a thing of getting used to a road bike so I'm not too concerned.  Besides, I WILL conquer it!  :-) Anyway, I got home, took the obligatory picture for my blog and called the ride complete. I carted the bike inside.

   I had grand plans to head back out for a run....because well, maybe I'm a glutton for punishment....or maybe I'm just plain and simple nuts.  But after the planned 10 minute break my legs felt heavy and I felt as if there was no way I could even build up to a trot much less a run.    If I waited a bit longer I could probably do it, but I do have a job (drat) and that means I must have time to shower and eat lunch before arriving ready to work at noon.   I walk with Sherry tonight when I get off of work.  Maybe I can try to sneak in a quick jog after we walk.....or if it's stormy and we cancel I'll go to the gym and run on the treadmill (gah, I hate running on the treadmill).    Even if I don't get in my run tonight, i'm not worried.  My bike ride is sufficient exercise for the day...anything else is just for my own mental benefit.    My HR monitor shows that I earned 666 calories.  That's not too shabby if I do say so myself!  :-)  (and yes, for those of you who are curious...I ate TWO pieces of breakfast pizza this morning!!!!!  So I simply burned off my breakfast!)

Where does my title Hot Dog come into play?   Really it doesn't.  I just didn't know what to title this blog post...I was toying with "jingle bells' as a title!  Although there was a little yappy dog that chased me down Sharpsburg Pike on my bike today and it certainly thought it was a 'hot dog'. 

Disjointed Catch up

Really the things I have to say don't really flow into one easy blog post so I'm going to write random paragraphs.  Some may build upon each other, other will be totally random!

******I went to the gym yesterday morning.  I ran for 2 miles on the treadmill (25 minutes or thereabouts) then I moved to the exercise bike and biked for 25 minutes (10 plus miles) and then I worked on my upper body.  While I was doing the cardio I was pushing it and working it.  My heart rate was high in my zone and I felt GREAT!   Even when my heart rate is really high in my zone (both based on the generic age zone and the zone based upon my resting heart rate) I can still talk and converse like normal....which is the unofficial litmus test.  So I'm not worried about maxing myself out.  When I get to that point, I back off  :-)    I'm not in this to hurt myself or damage any components of my body!

******We don't have a lot of extra money, but I've been slowly saving my 'allowance' for ages.  I've been slowly watching my stash of money grow.  I also occasionally totally deplete that stash and have to start again.  The saving has been for a road bike.  I have had a Trek Nav and I have LOVED it.  It was just what I needed when I bought it.  It is still an awesome bike to ride on the canal.  It has been a reliable and wonderful bike.  But, I want to branch out and ride on the roads and while I can on my Trek, it just isn't as feasible.  I've in essence outgrown the Trek. (that said I'm NOT getting rid of my Trek!) So I saved.  Recently I started to watch for used bikes on Craigslist and other used outlets.   I didn't want to go bottom of the barrel with an entry level bike (I knew that I would quickly outgrow the bike..and the limitations of the bike).  But good road bikes are expensive!   I have contacted bike ad after bike ad.  I've either gotten there too late and the bike is gone already or the bike is built for a giant (ok ok ok, 60cm frames are not for giants...they are just too big for me!).  FINALLY on Monday I saw  bike on Craigslist that would work for me size wise!  It is a Lightspeed Vela.   Lightspeed is a high end bike manufacturer that for a while made some entry level bikes (retailing for about $1500-2000). It didn't last long becuase they were just not making a profit on the bike.  Anyway, I contacted her within an hour of her placing the ad.  It looked good.  I had my brother researching it.  I went and looked at the bike last night and it looked good  and I purchased it.  So I now have a road bike.  I have to either swap out the pedals or buy a pair of clip shoes so I can ride it.  I also have to figure out how the shifting mechanism works.  I rode the bike around the neighborhood and got it to shift once or twice but admittedly, I'm sure it is user error.  (My brother laughed when I told him over the phone my shifting issues and also agreed that it was most likely user error).  The bike took me to the limit of what I had saved.  I have 75 bucks (and that is only leaving 3 dollars in my savings account) left after buying the bike...and that will probably be sucked into the few things I need to actually ride the bike.   (I either need to swap to flat top pedals or buy clipped shoes and learn to actually use them)   I always hate hate hate depleting my savings. I hate parting with my moldy money, but oh well.....   I only hope that this purchase turns out to be money well spent!  Meaning that I love the bike and that I USE the bike a LOT!  (My brother thinks that since this is my first road bike and I have nothing to compare it with, that I will automatically love it.....he said it's like how we all remember our first car with love and fond memories!)

*****   Photoshoots of people..while not my favorite thing to do (I prefer architecture, nature, scenery, inanimate objects) helps build the savings account...so hopefully soon I can pick up  few small shoots!  I do have a wedding that I'm supposed to shoot in about a month...so whew I can start rebuilding the funds that I just depleted to buy my bike!  That and my 'allowance'. Allowance at age 40?  Yes, Todd and I each payday get a set amount of money to put into our pockets.  This is OUR money.  If we want to skip packing a lunch for work, we can use our allowance to eat out.  Or we can pack our lunch and save our money and use it for hobbies (Todd just purchased a bunch of stuff for his beermaking hobby AND a bunch of stuff for his painting hobby).   It's our money to do with what we want.  It keeps our random spending for our own purposes (hobbies and fun) in check.  NO, when we do something together like dinner out last night it comes from the 'general' fund.

******  The bike I purchased last night was in Germantown...which is about an hour away from me.  So after work Todd and I took a little trip.  Of course we planned to go to dinner after looking at the bike. (oh heck, that was a trip for ME and my bike...should I have purchased dinner out of my allowance?  ha ha ha  No, it came from the general fund....we hadn't eaten out in about 2 weeks so we were good!)  We ended up at Red Robin.  I had eaten accordingly all day.  How does one eat accordingly all day?  Well, I filled up my lunchbox with low calories/low fat items.  I ate just as much as any other day and actually didn't even eat everything in my lunchbox because it was a LOT of food, I just planned my food wisely to give myself the maximum calories to spend at dinner.  I walked into the restaurant with about 700 of my daily calories left from my base calories.  I started looking.  My normal sandwich was 900 calories (or thereabouts.  YIKES!  I don't know if they just changed their menus to add the calories of if I had just never noticed...we hadn't been at Red Robin since before I started watching my weight again.    I looked for  lessor sandwich and thought about settling for something else to save a few calories.  I finally decided to get the sandwich that I wanted but to swap out the fries (and they do have pretty decent fries) for the fruit salad.  Nice trade and only put me at about 1000 calories for the meal (and that is only 300 calories over!!!)  Todd (Mr. Sabotage   ha ha ha) really wanted the pretzel bites.  So I agreed.   I counted my calories and entered them in.  I'm about 500 calories over for the day (putting me at 1800 calories for the day give or take).    I panicked for a moment or two there after we ordered.  But then I calmed myself down and reminded myself of two things.  The first thing?   I exercised HARD in the morning so even though I was eating more, I had at least burnt those calories already in the morning..plus some.  And no, I don't subscribe to that attitude with my exercise.  But on occasion it actually works!   The second thing?   Our bodies get in ruts with what we are eating.  Jillian Michael's first book (I think it's the first one) was a great read and she actually encouraged the readers to change up their calorie counts.  She recommends to have four or five consecutive low days and then pop it up and have a high caloric day thrown in there.  She advocated that it would keep your metabolism from getting into a 'rut.'    I know that when I was losing my weight the first time I would watch carefully EVERY MEAL of the week except one.  On weigh in nights at weight watchers, I would leave my weigh in and I would have a TOTAL splurge meal.  Comfort foods....pizza.....whatever I wanted.   I consistently lost weight too!  (and eventually you also find that your splurges are not the 3000 calorie splurges that you once had....like me...I am only 500 over for the whole stinkin' day...on a splurge day!)   It worked for me.  So I had to remind myself of that last night.    So I stepped on the scale this morning....the verdict??????????   I stayed EXACTLY the same!   224.6!   So I know to buckle down today.  NO splurges....clean eating...and all will be well. Oh and that maintain (and Sundays loss of 1 pound) comes along with the monthly ick!

***** I'm solidly into a woman's size 16.  I found the first time I lost weight that there is a huge break between woman's size 16 and regular size 16.  So 16 is the "feels like forever" size.  It's almost as if there is an extra size in there.  16a and 16b.  Regardless...I'm into 16 women's.....my size 18's are getting loose....the 20's are off my shelves and in a storage tote/bin.  Moving right along!

*****  It's Wednesday.  The work week will soon be officially half over!  Can't wait for the weekend!  Todd and I can hopefully get on our bikes or do something active on Friday afternoon when I get off at 2.  (he mentioned a game of tennis, I mentioned a bike ride on the canal).  I also will be having my brother look at my new baby...my road bike and I'll be getting geared up for that.  Lets see, I'll get a run or two in there.....and a walk with Sherry.  But in the meantime...it's Wednesday...so work all day....zumba tonight.   Maybe I can even squeeze in a yoga workout or maybe a step aerobics workout this morning before work (it makes me feel so much better to workout in the morning....revs me up and makes me feel alive for my day!   I better skedaddle!


 

BIke news

January 12, 2009 (134 of 365), originally uploaded by mfcstotler.

I love my Trek. It has been with me through thick and thin...through the loss of 100 plus pounds. And I do not plan on getting rid o my Trek. I'll be keeping that for riding on the canal. My trek is what is known as a comfort bike, so not really a mountain bike not really a....well not really anything else. I love it. But you sit more upright and it just isn't that efficient. So I do believe it's time to buy a road bike. I'm looking at the jamis Ventura Comp. I was looking at the sport, but I do believe I'm going to upgrade to the comp. We'll have to see.

Food thus far today is rolling. . I haven't eaten taht many points, but they were foods that really filled me up and satisfied me (taco soup...yummy! and only 1 point per 1 cup!). That helps the points along when you eat 2 cups of very fillling soup for 2 points!