naughty habits

So TOM is creeping up. I'm tired, slightly cranky, and hungry. I haven't worked out since my ride on sunday, I've eaten like junk the past 2 days, and I'm sure I've gained back what I lost last week.  Yesterday was a long day, I had a work training for my per diem job after my full time job, and I came home starving & exhausted. After bachelor pad, I slept through my workout this morning, and avoided one tonight.

When your feeling bored & blue what do you do to pick it up?

Plus side, I found the wetsuit rentals! They are $30 for the weekend from a running shop in town. I'll probably call this weekend to book one for myself for the race weekend, maybe try a practice swim in it the day before.  I also finished reading Slow Fat Triathlete: Live Your Athletic Dreams in the Body You Have Now . Fabulous book, I think it has helped me prepare mentally a lot and get together a good checklist. I even started checking out tri coaching and clubs as a result. I think I'll see how I like the race first, then go from there!

I also figured out the screen shot! (thanks guys) heres my recap of last week:

This week, I'll be honest, I haven't really tracked. I won't have a tracker shot for this coming week. WI is Thursday and I don't think it will be pretty. happy thoughts and encouragements welcome!

Blog Award!

Thanks so much to Amanda at  AJ's WLJ for this award!

Here are the 3 rules:


1. Post who gave this to you

2. State 10 things you like

3. Give this award to 10 other bloggers and notify them with a comment

1. Running (now biking/swimming/tri too!)
2. Reality TV shows (biggest loser, AMNTM, Bachelor, hells kitchen, wipeout...)
3. Sunshine & palm trees
4. Vacations & traveling
5. Cooking
6. Watching the RedSox
7. John Mayer
8. Wine
9.  Celebrity Gossip
10. my wonderful (most days) boyfriend/fiance or whatever...


I'm giving this to:
1. Amy @ Brand New Hoosier
2. Heather @ Body Mind & Soul
3. Heather @ Trials & Tribulations
4. Lisa @ Lisa vs. her inner fat girl
5.  twentysomething girl @ twenty something transitions
6. Chunky Dunker @ Chunky Dunkin
7. IrongirlJo @ Iron Girl Jo's journey to 30 & 140.6
8.  Mandy @ Manderz Journey
9. Lauren @ Journey of Life, Love & Happiness
10. Jennifer @ Jennifer's Health & Fitness Blog

Please check out these blogs I know you'll enjoy & follow if interested! I know I love to see when new people are following my blog, so help all these ladies have a pick me up to their day & get some good reading for yourself at the same time!

empty promises

I promised I would keep track this weekend, however that all fell by the wayside from friday until today. Friday morning I got my swim in as planned. Raced to the bike shop after work for a bike fit & to get my new pedals put on. I also bought a super cute pair of pink & black gloves. total damage = $200.11, better than I thought it would be. We went out friday night with friends for dinner and drinks which was fun, didn't go overboard there. Saturday, I went to work & got home a little later than expected. I didn't have much of a lunch, then came home and nibbled, nibbled, nibbled. Instead of going for a run, I ate & then took a nap. A much needed nap after the lack of sleep the night before, but a carb induced one. Kevin and I made kashi pizza for dinner & watched the Sox game and headed up to bed early, we were so tired!

Today we decided to go to 6 flags. Before we left we went for a 15 mile ride this morning with my new shoes! They were fabulous & I managed to maintain composure & avoid falling (although there were many close calls).  Our friend Barbara still works at 6 flags, so we were able to get free tickets for us and another couple we're friends with. Amazing how different it is to go back to the park as a guest after working there for 5 years. We spent most our time in the waterpark, which is definitely like home. We went on the lazy river, tornado & typhoon, and saw the few people we know left working there. After that we went to the dry park & by then I was starving since I hadn't eaten since breakfast (stupid i know, but blame the boy!), we went on blizzard river and i watched them go on cyclone, I was about ready to pass out, definately time for food. We said goodbye to our friends who had to leave, then I housed down a (grilled)chicken burger and fries. YUCK! I felt so gross & full, but I was soooo happy to have something in me! Kevin went on a couple more rides before we headed home.

Needless to say I am tired!  I have a bike and strength workout planned for the morning, work all day, then a training session for my per diem job after that. I won't make it home until probably 8:30, and then hopefully I can stay awake through the Bachelor pad. Wild weekend without counting any points, I need to get back to it tomorrow!

Take that, online tracker!

Today is Thursday, WI day. I am happy to report I am down 2 pounds to 186.5! I did as I pledged to do and tracked every bite, and even though I was not as diligent with my workouts as I would have liked, I was still able to come out on top after 2 parties & a weekend without much sleep. I reallllly want to post a copy of my tracker, but for some reason my Mac does not want to help me with that endeavor. If I figure it out, well I guess I'll post it then!

I've really learned this week about how important journaling is. Many times when we're busy, or embarrassed by the amount of points we must have consumed, or just too darn lazy, or some other lame excuse we ease up on tracking. We just say "Oh I didn't have that much," and go about our daily business.   The bad news is, that every little time adds up, and sooner or later we're a few weeks out wondering why we haven't lost any weight since we've been so good, or worked out so hard! In reality we've probably been slacking nutrition wise, but don't have the evidence written down to support it. This week I learned a few things:

• The after dinner points add up quick! (and you usually don't have many left from the day) Typically I would come home from work and after dinner maybe have a glass of wine and a snack like popcorn, gorgonzola or popchips. I learned to go easy on the after dinner snacks.
• The activity points help a ton. Not only do I feel so much better when I work out (and of course get ready for my big race), but I'm burning off maybe some of those extra points I had at some point throughout the day.
• Count the little points during the day. I always have a handful of chocolate goldfish at some point throughout the day that my coworkers and I share. my serving is about 1.5 points or 4.5 a week at least (more on a stressful day).
• Tracking helps you prioritize your splurges. I went to party on saturday & knew I didn't want to spend TONS of points on Sangria. I brought a cooler bag with my MDG64 inside (1 point a bottle), and was able to enjoy 7 throughout the course of the party and enjoy a little dessert instead.

Now, I won't say I'm a tracking pro, or it's made me into a perfect weight watcher. I am definitely more self aware. Like self aware that I overindulged a little today on over a cup of low fat cookie dough frozen yogurt and red wine. Those kinds of days happen, but I am learning to track and move on. What have you guys learned from tracking? Do you feel more in control and have better losses? I hope that I can keep it up again this week!

My favorite running shoe ever!

I did a 55 min bike-run brick this morning & managed to do my run at 5.5mph (I have been at 5.0 since surgery). I did have to take a couple walking rest breaks, but it felt good to get back to my old speed! Tomorrow is supposed to be a rest day, but I'm going to hit the gym for a 20 min swim in the morning since I won't be able to fit it in saturday after work. It is supposed to be a beautiful weekend so my goal is to do my outdoor run on saturday and a ride with my new bike shoes on sunday. I may have to change my bike route though to exclude the long downward hill with a stop sign directly at the bottom so I can avoid falling off when I most likely fail to get my shoes out of the clipless pedals. Tomorrow is bike fit day! I'm excited to get the pedals put on & get my bike adjusted so my back stops killing me when I ride. I also got a beautiful new pair of Asic GT-2150s. My favorite shoe ever if you recall. I ordered another pair after hating the Brooks shoes that I tried. I also happened to be slightly drunk when I placed my order, so they came with 2 new sports bras I've been wanting, but my willpower had been preventing until then. My credit card isn't too happy (especially with the new cycling purchases), but no big deal, I guess thats why I'm working this weekend!

So off I go to work towards another successful week of tracking, training, and having fun!

3rd times a charm!

My new cycling shoes finally! Mens 42 lol

Good news! I got my camera in the mail today, and my cycling shoes yesterday. Was all set to bring my new shoes to spin class tuesday night, but the guy at the bike shop said that the spin bikes would wear down my shoes & I could slip on the road and hurt myself. Yikes, I'm glad I told him about my intentions! I scheduled a bike fitting on friday afternoon and I'll buy by pedals and whatnot then, maybe some gloves too since my hands tend to ache when I ride. Still haven't figured out anything on the wetsuit situation, but some helpful girls (thanks Lindsey & Jamie!) told me I should look into renting. I've googled with no luck, I'll have to ask around or see if I can borrow from someone I know. They posted a little information today on the course & packet pick up expo on the website today. They're having a couple different little seminars I think I'll make sure to attend since I want to learn everything I can!

Oh that tuesday evening spinning class? I didn't make it there, my foot has been getting really tired lately and I don't want to overdo it & have the surgeon yell at me when I go to see him in October. I did get in my scheduled run in the morning, and went tonight to do some strength training. I did miss my scheduled swim, and I haven't been lately, but I feel like swimming is my strongest event at the moment.

Tomorrow is WI and I'm thinking it will be a success, cross your fingers with me! One things I do miss a lot about meetings is the weekly topic and sharing between members. I always loved how the leader would come up with something for us to think about, discuss, learn about that made us grow on our weight loss journey. Doing the plan with online e-tools only I do miss a lot of the support I had at meetings. I'm glad to have the lovely ladies on the WW boards, my blog followers, and other blogs to follow to help keep me motivated and on track. I think what I would like to start doing is on thursdays (my WI day), talk about a WW related topic and hope to get some response from all you readers, almost like a mini meeting. Good idea? bad? Whatever you think, I appreciate that you all are joining me in my journey and would love for you to share my blog with people you know to help me stay accountable and on track. Thanks!!

happy monday!

Sooooo I slept in. Exhausted. well, at least sleep deprived after the weekend. A couple parties/late nights left me way low on my sleep bank. Totally skipped my morning workout, and didn't go tonight since I was checking out the cycling shoes at the bike shop & making dinner with my roomie. The shoes? Well for some reason they thought I was a size 39 euro. If I had realized they were talking in euro sizes, I could have told them I wear a 42 (my Dansko's are 42). I tried a couple men's shoes, but then while the guy was in the back, I tried on some women's 41 on the display shelf. The 41s were a little short, but width wise ok. He didn't have any women's ones there in 42, but is having a couple sent over from the Hadley store in women's & men's. I went home to google the women's shoes I liked, and found them in a fabulous black/pink! Im wondering if they could order these for me if I don't like the ones they find me. I looked a lot online, and it seems that Specialized doesn't allow shipping to unauthorized (read retailers) addresses. wish me luck tomorrow!

We made fish tacos for dinner tonight, I drank a few too many skinny girl margaritas (only 200 calories for 1/2 the bottle!), and had a little frozen yogurt. YUM! tomorrow is an AM run & PM spinning. Hopefully I make it to everything!

Let's ride it!

I think they may look like this

Today I had scheduled my rest day. However, tomorrow looks like rain as a possibility so I Kevin & I went out today for a long ride. Almost 14 miles in a little over a hour, which isn't bad, but I didn't feel like I pedaled my hardest. Sure we hit some tough hills and thought I would die at points, but Kevin wasn't really pushing himself on the flat stretches and he was in front. Sometimes I couldn't keep up with him, and sometimes I wanted to scream at him to pick up the pace. On the way home we stopped at the bike shop to look at clipless pedals & shoes. I really wanted to try some on after worrying about the width being ok with my feet. The bike guys agreed a Men's fit would be best, but the smallest they had was too big. They found a pair at the Hadley store and are having someone run them down to the East Longmeadow one early in the week so I can try them on. One of the things they told me about the Specialized brand is that the arch support is specifically designed to provide extra support (which I need!), and helps to keep knees in line with ankles to align the legs for a more effective push with cycling. I looked up more info when I go home, take a look at :   Specialized cycling shoe review.

Something else I've been thinking about lately is a wetsuit. My race is in September, the 26th to be exact. In New England it could be snowing or a heat wave. I am going crazy with all these price tags adding up in my head for what I've spent so far. $100 on race registration, $100 on my tri-outfit, possible around $350 for clipless pedals, shoes & a bike fit, well ok I guess thats it so far. I kind of want to make sure I like triathlons before investing in a wetsuit, but at the same time I think I am already loving it, hoping for more in the future & am scared the water will be freezing. Any ideas?

I foolishly realized after I paid my $20 to sign up for the SIDs 5 miler, that I am going the Sox game that day & it is a day game. At least the money is going toward a good cause. I know I'll definately do the Manchester 5 mile Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving again, but I would like to find an October race or 2 to keep my motivation going.

Last night I did pretty well nutrition wise. My friend Maureen & I stopped at the package store to pick up drinks to share (Twisted tea of the light variety), and went to a party for a little while. I had a little bit of a veggie dip & some pretzels, a few cheese and crackers, 2 chicken wings, some squash, potatoes, and one tiny little dessert. This I counted all as my dinner, and I guestimated it to be around 13 points (+9 for the twisted teas). Kevin convinced me to go out with him, his friend and my brother to a bar. I only had 1 glass of wine and we played some pool. I realized I was starving because I hadn't eaten too much for dinner, but didn't cave to eat anything. I crawled into bed, then slept until I was so hungry my stomach woke me up. I made breakfast sandwiches with maple apple turkey sausage, eggs/egg whites on whole wheat organic english muffins. Soooo yummy. I was still legitimately hungry after. Not just that I was in the mood to eat, but my stomach was still growling. I had 2 small bowls of Kashi heart to heart with skim milk (probably just should have had 1). I wasn't too hungry for lunch so I just had a snack. Tonight is a BIG party at my friend Debbie's dubbed the HOT meat party. I'm going to bring some of my MGD 64 i think and keep my eating light as I can. I know she's having chicken on the grill and making corn on the cob, ill try to stay low key for the rest. Wish me luck!

WI day

Yesterday was my official WI day. I lost .5 down to 188.5. Slightly disappointing, but I knew I hadn't really been putting in the effort. True to my word, I tracked all my points yesterday & got an awesome bike-run brick in. This morning I woke up & was feeling skinny so I stepped on the scale again 187.5, down a pound. At least I'm moving in the right direction. This morning I went for my longest post run surgery, 4.35 miles. Felt good to complete it, but man I'm tired now! work today, then heading out for a little after work, before Kevin comes over. I haven't seen him much this week, and we were up late talking about everything with our relationship last night. A few tears, a little yelling, overall not bad. He is just kind of driving me nuts. Off to work I go!

3rd days a charm!

Today is the 3rd consecutive day that I've made it to the gym and completed all my scheduled workouts! I have not wimped out, tired out, or slept in! hooray for me! This morning I went for an early 5:30am lap swim and did 25 min. I managed to get through my triathlon distance in 7 minutes today! For some reason my strokes were feeling very smooth & rhythmic, now I just need to keep it up. Went upstairs in the gym after to do my weight lifting circuit (mostly abs & arms). I've felt great all day & I'm really looking forward to my bike-run brick tomorrow.

I've been looking into clipless pedals and shoes for my bike after taking to some of the ladies on the WW boards last night. Jamie gave me a great site to look at, but I am nervous about the shoes being wide enough for me, especially after my foot surgery. I am still debating the clips or the clipless pedals. I am worried about the cost, so I probably should just go with clips for now.

I've decided to sign up for a 5mile road race on October 3rd in Springfield to benefit SIDS (SIDS race for life ). A friend from high school sent me the link on facebook and it will be good incentive to get my running up. Of course it is the weekend after my triathlon, but I'm sure I can handle it with some walking mixed in.

It's amazing that when I'm focused, I'm really focused. When I am spot on with my exercising, my nutrition follows. The past 3 days, my food choices have been great. A few allotted splurges here and there, but nothing over the top, no binges, no crazy eating, no junk. I can't say if I've been within my points, but that's because I have not been tracking (whoops)! I am committing to tracking the entire week (which starts tomorrow), and I will post the screen shot of my etools with the summary if I can figure out how haha (or maybe someone can reply with instructions for me). I've seen a couple ladies do it on their blog and I think it's awesome. So that is my major goal for the week.

I have also been thinking more about setting some more goals in stone for me to try & help me get more motivated to not indulge every time the opportunity presents itself, or I'm stressed or I just want to! So here is my revamped list for now:
185: shamrock pandora charm (to represent my st pattys 10k)
180: mani/pedi
175: blue pandora charm (to represent my hartford 1/2 marathon)
170: 2 new pairs of scrubs
20 workouts a month = new workout outfit

I'll have to think some more about the rest of my goals. My eventual goal weight is 150 (the top weight I can be by WW standards). I kind of want to rejoin meetings before I get to that point so I become lifetime for once. Is that weird? I want the privilege of going to meetings for free & saying I'm lifetime lol. 150 seems a far ways off (almost 40 pounds) so Ill focus on these first 20 to get started. Hopefully I can keep up this momentum I've had the past few days!

Double sessions

It has been my plan most weeks to make it for a run tuesday AM and to spinning class tuesday night. Today I actually made it, with my total calorie burn from exercise around 900! Starving when I got home, had to wait for dinner to heat up so I ate popchips <3 while I waited.

Just started reading Slow Fat Triathlete today, and I wanted to share a quote I thought was prefect. "People ask me all the time what the order of the events is. The most usual order is swim-bike-run. I haven't seen this in print anywhere, but it certainly makes sense for safety reasons. Better to be in the water when you're freshest and on your own two feet when you're most likely to collapse from exhaustion."  Hopefully I won't get to a collapsing point during my race, but I am thinking that the run is going to be my toughest part. My previously strongest sport! Tomorrow I have a swim & lifting scheduled, hopefully I can fit it all in the morning so I can have the night off and maybe read some more of the book.

Watching Wipeout (on ABC, hilarious!) and then off to bed!

Make the time

I think we all have those mornings when we hit the snooze, re-set the alarm to skip the gym, wish we didn't have to go to work. Sometimes mornings are soooo hard for me to get up & get to the gym. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE working out in the morning. Once I'm up. But getting there can be a challenge. I love feeling like I know my workout is done for the day, feeling healthy to start my day. I have a tough time actually dragging myself to the gym if I skip an AM workout. Today, I definately said "NO WAY" to my 5:07am alarm. However, I did make it to the gym tonight with my roomie! I did 15 min on the expresso bike & did my weight lifting for about 35 min, and boy did it feel good. My body was thanking me.

On the way home, we stopped at the store to pick up things for dinners. If I had a camera, I would have taken a picture because it was FABULOUS...
cod crusted with whole wheat panko breadcrumbs & baked
green beans with olive oil & garlic
diced potatoes roasted in the oven with a little olive oil & lipton onion soup mix

Tonight is Bachelor Pad night on the new TV. Bedtime & a 30 min run tomorrow. I'm hoping I can beat my awful run on saturday, although tomorrow will be an indoor run. Any ideas on getting my running endurance to improve? I've been doing a lot of intervals, and speed climbs. Not too many hills, which I do need to work on. Any suggestions would be much appreciated, thanks!

Tax Free Splurging!

Once a year, Massachusetts says "buh-bye" to state taxes to encourage everyone to go out & spend, spend spend. Last year, they nixed the idea. This year, it is back in full swing as I realized entering the wicked crowded Best Buy at the mall. I had bought a new digital camera online yesterday (tax free, score!), but I wasn't planning on buying anything else. Then I started thinking about how much I've been wanting a new TV for almost a year (since I moved in to my house). I asked Kevin to come with me to look, maybe buy a TV. I ended up coming home with this......

Panasonic - VIERA 42" Class / 1080p / 120Hz / LED-LCD HDTV w/ Apple iPod Dock

Alls I can say is wow, what a sweet TV. The picture is beautiful & big, it looks so nice. I am in loooooove. Then we stopped at the Liquor store for some tax free booze before heading home. Success!

Earlier in the day I did get a swim in, and was planning on a longer ride this afternoon. Unfortunately the ride got cancelled by a little rain, but mostly the TV shopping & dinner.  I spent over an hour doing yardwork, but my grass still looks horrible with weeds everywhere! oh well.

If I had my camera, I would have taken a picture of my dinner tonight. A Jillian recipe of shrimp with lemon, garlic & veggies, soooo good! Naughty me went to the ice cream store down the street after dinner (we walked at least?) and got a small dish of almond joy ice cream. Well worth it I think. Back on track with an AM workout for strength training and biking tomorrow!

Seabreeze & Stacys

Last night my roomie & I were planning on having a couple girlfriends over for dinner, drinks & games. We made a HUGE pitcher of Seabreeze cocktails (grapefruit juice, cranberry juice & vodka). While waiting for our friends to show up, my roomie & I got impatient (and hungry) and made Asiago cheese dip. I ate a million Stacy's pita chips & we had a big glass of our cocktail. When they finally showed up we had dinner, played Taboo & Balderdash. I stayed up till almost 1am... ::yawn::

Work this morning, then I decided that it was a beautiful day out, I would go for my scheduled run outdoors. I huffed & puffed my way through 35 minutes & 2.6 miles. I was sooooo slow I felt ridiculous, but I am proud that I went out there & did it! My plan was for a swim after that, but stupid "family swim" happens practically all day at the gym so I wasn't able to go.

Tonight we are grilling again. Kevin is coming over & we're making burgers (reg for him, veggie for me), garlic potatoes & corn on the cob. Then we are going to watch the red sox game & hang out. Nice & low key since I am tired & I have a long bike ride scheduled for tomorrow!

brick it!

Did another brick today! 36 min ride (7.32 mi) followed by 20 min hill run (1.6mi). Felt really good afterwards and thought a lot during my run how I really need to stay focused & work on my eating habits. My eating habits are what is causing me to not lose weight. Last night I made homemade BBQ chicken pizza, but ate 2 slices too many, then had a small ice cream cup (Edys half the fat!) and a glass of wine. The roomie & I went shopping for our girls night tomorrow we're hosting. the menu?

Grilled chicken kabobs
tomato, mozzarella & basil salad
fruit salad
an appetizer & dessert someone else is bringing
cocktails made with grapefruit juice, cranberry juice & vodka

I plan on staying on track by loading up on the "safe" items. the kabobs & fruit salad, having  a little of the tomato basil salad, and we'll see what the appy & dessert are. 1 cocktail probably, then switch to wine.

Kevin & I are going to Cirq jungle fantasies at Foxwoods casino tonight (reason why I'm not at work right now). We're going to have dinner there, so hopefully I can stay on track.  I did WI today, at 189, which is -1 for the week. Surprised since I didn't eat well, but it is probably since I wasn't downing cocktails like I was on vacation. I really need to focus, I need to lose a good 10# i think to look a little better in my TRI outfit & my new John Mayer shirt I bought at the concert. My new goal is to be down to at least 180 by race time. Tomorrow or saturday I am going to make a list of goals & rewards as inspired by a fellow blogger. Maybe that will help to keep me on track too. Off to the Casino!

When the going gets tough....

Wow, its been tougher than I thought to get back into the groove following my vacation. The lack of sleep I got over the weekend and all of last week has been making morning workouts practically nonexistent. Monday I completely skipped my workout, yesterday AM I make it for a quick run and was planning on hitting the gym for spinning class after work. But then at work, my roomate txtd me that she found out her on/off again boyfriend (who had just told her that he loved her so much and wanted them to work things out), was living with the other girl he always sees when they're broken up. So clearly my friend duties kicked in, since she was completely miserable. We got some take out for dinner (sushi for me, friendlys for her), watched the Hell's Kitchen season finale, then went to bed early. They were fighting via txt message for most of the night. It makes me so sad for her that he treats her like this (this is not the first time). So hopefully she will wise up and get rid of him.

Here it is 7am, I totally skipped my AM workout in favor of sleep. I think maybe ill try to drag the roomie to the gym with me after work, maybe it will help her feel a little better. Today was supposed to be a strength training/swimming day. I'll probably change it to bike & strength train to avoid having to change so I can move a little quicker. Tomorrow I have another Brick scheduled, which HAS to be done in the AM since Kevin & I are going to the casino to see Cirq Dreams thursday night.

Any tips on regaining focus and commitment after a vacation? My food choices haven't been the best. Better than while I was away, but I am starting to snack again at night. I used to drink green tea a lot after dinner and that seemed to help. Anyone else have any suggestions to curb snacking or cravings?

Off to work for me in a few. I have a student at work right now, which takes up a lot of my time, but so far she is doing well. She is answering all my questions correctly and did a nice job working with her patient yesterday. Hopefully that continues to go well. Off I go.....

Back in training mode!

I know today is not completely over, but I am very happy to say that I have been completly OP all day long! I tracked what I ate, and had healthy, nourishing, whole foods (mostly organic). I went shopping to stock back up since my fridge was pretty bare over vacation. Here is my grocery list of what I bought, feel free to suggest your favs or take note of something you might want to try!
organic baby spinach
grapes
plums
nectarines
blueberries
lemon
organic salsa
organic ketchup
organic boneless/skinless chicken breast
low carb, no HFCS tortillas
organic eggs
organic skim milk
organic shredded mozzarella cheese
stonyfield farms organic fat free yogurts
whole wheat boboli
98% fat free canned chicken breast

I couldn't find any Gouda cheese which I will use with the Boboli & canned chicken sometime this week to make BBQ chicken pizza, I have some organic BBQ sauce at home. I also bought things to make Jillian's almond crusted chicken, YUM! I had most of the ingredients already at home. This afternoon I went for a bike ride out to the local farm & took my backpack. I loaded it with 6 ears of corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers & squash. Not only did I get some fresh, delicious veggies, I got in an extra hard workout pulling it back too! I did about 10 miles total riding & this morning managed to get in 15 minutes of lap swimming too.

I got my TYR outfit in the mail the other day. Tried it on, and its cute, but it will look even cuter if I can lose 10 pounds or so haha. I'm started to get really pumped for this triathlon.

Last night was the John Mayer concert that I've looking forward to for forever! No-one else wanted to come, so just Kevin & I went. We bought Panera for lunch, some chips at the store (Stacy's cinnamen sugar & BBQ lays) & beer for the cooler (Samuel Adams Summer Ale). We tailgated for a few hours watching all the underage 16-18 year olds party it up in their tiny little skirts where you could practically see their vaginas and boys with tube socks up to mid calf. They all looked about my little sisters age, and Kevin and I had a ball making fun of them, watching a few get arrested, and enjoying our food & beer. Concert was AWESOME, Train opened for him and they were fabulous & of course my boyfriend John was amazing. Played a ton of my favorite songs, and Kevin and I hung out on the lawn enjoying a gorgeous night out. Probably in all I had 5 sam summers + 1 24oz blueberry beer inside, half my panera sandwich, the entire bag of Stacys, & a couple bites of Kevin's fried dough. Overall not too bad, but not too good (my reason for getting back on track today)

Im off to go make dinner & then get things in order so I can get to work early tomorrow since my student is starting & I've been away on vacation. wish me luck!

Vacation replay

We kicked off our vacation with a trip to Boston on saturday (last saturday) to  meet up with my college friend Lindsey & her husband to meet her 9 month old, and go to the Sox game. The Sox were playing the Tigers (They are from Detroit & BIG Tiger fans), we had lunch & drinks & watched an excellent game as the sox beat the Tigers! We didn't end up getting home until maybe 11:30pm, so we were not looking forward to our 2:30am wakeup on sunday.

Kevin & I at dinner before the game

Lindsey & I at the game

2:30am the alarm goes off, and I get up to shower and finish packing. The lack of sleep made me feel litterally sick to my stomach, I wished I hadn't gone to bed at home. To the airport, and on the plane we went. Got to Cancun without a hitch, and managed to get ourselves checked in and to the beach by 3pm. We upgraded to a royal service level (we already had all inclusive), which meant we had a private pool with bali beds & a lounge with round the clock snacks & drinks & nicer rooms. We got upgraded for free to a junior suite with a lagoon view.

We had drinks by the beach & pool, then Kevin convinced me to go to the gym. I'm pretty sure I was slightly drunk, I still felt sick from lack of sleep, but I managed 30 min on the recumbant bike. That first night we had dinner at a sushi place, and went to bed early, since we were so tired from lack of sleep the night before. We signed up for an excursion the next day so we had to be up early to meet our ride.

What an exhausting excursion we picked! It had a little bit of everything in it, so we felt like we got a great deal for the money. We had a group of 12 with us, and a tour guide who brought us into the Mayan cities. We went hiking through the jungle, kayaking, zip lining, repelling, swimming in a cenote, had lunch in the mayan village, then went to COBA and climbed the tallest Mayan pyrimid. Exhausting & tiring, I called that the workout for the day!

Climbing down into the Cenote

Getting into my zip line gear

After we climbed to the top of COBA

Look what we climbed!

That night we went for a fabulous dinner at one of the fancy reservations only restaurants at the hotel, then had some drinks at the lounge bar where there was some live music playing. The next day was a lazy one. We spent the whole day rotating between the beach, our bali bed, the lounge chairs in the sun & the pool. We drank malibu bay breezes, margaritas, mojitos & many other cocktails. The cabana girl waitress just kept coming & delivering drinks, we ordered and ate lunch in our bali bed (ceviche, YUM!),more drinks & sun, then went inside to get ready for dinner. We ate at the buffet for dinner, then a walk on the beach, where an unfortunate wave got my camera ruined (although its soaking in rice right now), before heading inside.

Kevin & I at our fancy dinner

Our Bali bed:)

Enjoying the sunset on our balcony

The next morning I started off the day with a fabulous run, 25 minutes straight between 5.0 & 5.5 speeds. Then we got swimsuits on & went kayaking in the lagoon for about 15-20 minutes before heading back over to the pool for drinks, drinks, more drinks, lunch, drinks. We ended up missing our dinner reservation because Kevin was taking a nap (a few too many tequila shots) and ordered room service & started packing for our trip home. The next day we were able to get 3 hours in at the beach & pool before we had to shower and check out to start the journey home.

Kayaking!

The travel home was a disaster. I'll try not to make it too long. Pretty much we got switched to layover in Detroit instead of Atlanta, then our flight was delayed 2 1/2 hours so we had some food & drink at Bubba Gump Shrimp. We finally took off, then got rerouted midair to Atlanta instead of Detroit. We were scrambling to try & make the last flight out to Hartford (home) which luckily had been delayed giving us more time. Kevin had bought a bottle of duty free tequila that no one told us we had to check for the second leg of our flight, so we had to check my carryon (with my running shoes, makeup, toiletries, some clothes).  Our flight left finally at 11pm, got to Hartford at 1:15am, with our baggage no where to be seen. Long story short because of bad communication with Delta, our luggage ended up in detroit, then we had to make 2 trips back to the airport yesterday to get it all. So needless to say I got NO workout in. Ate like junk yesterday too.

Today I did weigh myself at 190. I went to the gym and did my first bike-run brick. I did 8.04 miles in 36 min on the bike, then 1.23 miles in 15 min running. Felt good to get back into it. Today is the John Mayer concert that I'm wicked excited for! I'm ready to get on track with my training and my eating & be serious about this weight loss journey!

I'm back!

I promise to detail my exciting & fabulous vacation along with pictures, but right now I am headed back to the airport for the second time today since leaving there at 1:30am this morning. Horrible travel day home, delayed & rerouted flights meant our luggage went to Detroit when we did not, then horrible customer service reps who couldn't communicate about my baggage location told me all my bags were at the airport, when in reality only 2 were. They were supposed to deliver my last bag this afternoon/evening & it never came. Apparently it's at the airport. Kevin & I are leaving in a few to pick it up. My running shoes, makeup, and basically all my important stuff are in this last bag, so clearly I didnt get my workout in I should have today. I'll explain more later, for now I am MAD!