What's Your Most Recent NSV

Yesterday I binged. I pinpointed why (TOM and night shift - I'm always ravenous when I work nights especially if I stay up the day after to get back on schedule) and today I'm back on track! I'm meeting with a trainer at Planet Fitness to design a workout plan. The weight is coming off soooo slow, and I continually struggle with staying under calories, but then I remind myself that I was almost 50 pounds heavier this time last year.

I think we're all so hard on ourselves because the progress isn't fast but IT IS PROGRESS! Every time within a day when we make a better choice we are making progress.

Not only was Mother Nature feeling vindictive towards me today but my bike was annoyed with me as well And I had a few issues with other road users who, quite frankly, should all have their licences revoked.

Beautiful day again today - we'd been for a walk earlier and it had alternated between warm and chilly but I wasn't worried about that - so the ride started out really well. Then the "breeze" (read: gusty wind) started. Oh yes, been here before, here we go again . . . . the ride started to be a bit more challenging.

And then even more so . . . made it up one steep hill that then dips down slightly before heading upwards again at a steeper gradient (whilst dodging parked cars and mad road users who don't understand the basic rules about who has right of way). Just heading up the second gradient when I hear a chain-jangling noise, my legs start rotating very fast indeed but I'm going nowhere. The chain has come off. This happens occasionally and is a right pain. Find somewhere safe to fix the bike. Strip everything off the bike that might get damaged, grab my rubber gloves, heave the bike upside down and fit the chain back on. Flip the bike back over and dang me if the chain doesn't just fall off again Heave the bike over again, rinse and repeat. This time the chain stays on.

I am now looking at the steep gradient, thinking, am I actually going to be able to do a hill start? There are people looking at me. So, do I make a fool of myself? Or take the easy way out and walk the bike up the hill? Decide to make a fool of myself (but who cares anyway? If they get a laugh out of me then so be it, it made their day a little better) but manage to pull away and get up the hill. Turn off that section of the hill into a blasted headwind so that made the rest of the hill hard work. It also made going down the next section harder as well. I mean, who pedals downhill??

I carried on, down the hill before turning off to attempt the hill from hell part I. Doing okay, managed to get partway up the hill in a higher gear than usual, feeling pleased with myself as I'm managing this despite the wind, I look up the hill and see a double-decker bus heading right for me. This section of road is very narrow, there is no way that the bus and I are going to pass each other and the way this guy to hurtling down the hill is pretty scary. I decide to stand my ground as it's my right of way, and keep going. Just when I'm on the verge of bottling it, the driver slams on his brakes, veers away from me and runs his bus along the bank. All I can hear are trees hitting the bus. Goodness knows what his passengers thought - mind you it was a school bus so maybe the kids thought it was fun. I'd have liked to hear his explanation for that one - "well, boss, I refused to give way to a cyclist who was going up the hill I was going down, even though it was her right of way". Hmm, disciplinary for him perhaps.

Continue up HFH Part I and then tackle Part II. The wind isn't such a problem at the moment as I'm protected by trees. Get to the top of the hill and the crosswind attacks. More fun. But I carry on, leaning into the wind just to keep upright. Round I go again, and again, so three times up the HFH. Just because. Then I get to the end of the road at the top, turn around and head for home, looking forward to going back down the hill. The wind has really picked up now so that's going to spoil my fun

About halfway down this hill there is a crossroad. This road isn't well used but I'm always wary about cars shooting out of the junctions. Today there was a car sat waiting at the junction, not moving and I'm muttering "stay where you are, DO NOT pull out in front of me" as by now I'm doing about 28 mph. So the idiot sees me, thinks "Bike, don't want to me stuck behind THAT" and pulls out in front of me. He then goes on to demonstrate his close and protective relationship with his brake pedal. I do get annoyed by these people. If they have to hug and massage their brake pedal to that extent then they should have to retake their driving tests. The road was clear - nothing in front on either side of the road, no pedestrians, no parked cars, dogs, sheep, mountains, or other obstructions. No reason to even think about braking. But he did. So I then had to yank on my brakes.

Then back into a headwind. For miles. Hard work - I had to go up a "gentle" slope (a bridge over a dual carriageway) in bottom gear of the middle range - I can usually manage this easily in the top range. It was a s-l-o-w ride home.

But, I had moments of being able to admire the hedgerows which brightened things up a bit. It's the little things that bring joy . . .




But despite the challenges, I still managed 23.6 miles. Also went for a 7.7 mile walk with the children. I'm trying to build up to 12 miles - that's the distance between our house and the next nearest town - the children are resisting, despite promising to bring them back on the bus. They just need a little more persuading They'll come round to my way of thinking. Eventually! They have no choice . . .

I bumped up my weights to 35 lb Hammer Curls. And my second NSV, 35 lb is almost too light now! LOL
I remember first starting out when 10 was heavy. Who'd a thought I could do a 20 lb Shoulder Press, and 35 lb Hammer Curls. I can even do a 35 lb with both hands via my Tris.

So today I woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep so instead of staying cosy under the covers and possibly reading at 5:15am I got up and went for a run, a RUN!!

I went for a hike yesterday across really rough terrain. I had forhotten my hiking poles so had to be very careful of my footing, but I made it through fine. At keast I did until I got to the parking area, tripped on my own feet and went diwn, skinning my knee, wrist and elbo. Nothing serious, but I thought it would be a good idea to wear a wrist brace gor a day or two. I pulled out my old large size brace only to find it was way too large. I never would have thought that I had lost enough to need a smaller wrist brace!
The bad news is that with a sore knee and wrist, I won't be able to go to my pilates class or swim for a few days.

Woke up, thought, 'meh, shall probably only swim 1km today, not feeling it'

got in pool, swam 2km. had 20 mins to go before I had to get out. Despite morons in the pool (seriously, do NOT push off again when I have been at your feet for half a length - courtesy people!?) I did another 0.5km.

100 laps done - justified the bacon brekkie this morning! woohoo!

This is definitely one of those days when it's good to think about NSVs. I don't have much left to lose, but today I feel ... bummed. For a couple days now, I feel like I look like someone took a bicycle pump to my belly. I don't feel bad, and my belt even went down a notch, but I am like, "C'mon already, body!" Maybe I'm getting ready for a whoosh. Maybe my hips etc are shrinking and my belly is staying the same ... Whatever, I'm just ready to snap my fingers and have 10ish lbs disappear. (Wouldn't that be nice!)

So the NSVs, once on Monday and once yesterday I was talking about something weighing 95 lbs, and on both occasions different people joked that that's about as much as I weigh. It isn't actually, but it's sort of close. I guess I'm already pretty little -- even with this maddening pot-bellied toddler thing going on that's bothering me but no one else seems to notice.

OK, whine over and back in the game ... Good luck today, everyone!

My jumper that I've wore since November to cover me just hangs off my shoulders now. Three jackets in my wardrobe I haven't had on fit me and I can sit down in them

My belt now has to go halfway round my waist to be tight enough.

I walked 2.5 miles on my lunch break, at 3.4 mph. That's a decent pace for me walking up and down hills.