Skinny chicks and a rooster November challenge (closed)

Didn't do much today... kinda gave in to the day and figured that I go back to diligint, vigilant tomorrow! I am excited too... because I am going back to my triathalon training in the morning! So, I will be jumping in the darn cold pool. BUT I love swimming and haven't done that for a long time. I know that it's gonna take me some time to get it all done - but I will be back to the Sprint Triathalon distances at the gym... 1/2 mile swim, 12.4 miles biking, 3.2 miles running - or in my case elliptical jog. My HRM will hate me because it keeps saying my goal needs to be NO ZONE 3... and I will definately be in Zone 3. I don't know what my best time is - but I am gonna look at what it takes me tomorrow. I do it a bit out of order because I like to end the swim with a warm shower... and I hate the bike. BUT - I am gonna do it again tomorrow. Figure that I can start looking at times and working it down from there. I do know that my "transition" time is slow and I am OK with that... because, again, I am absolutely going to get 'er done tomorrow!

Have a great evening and mornin'... I'll be back in here to brag myself up a bit!

Penny
-- Congrats on cycling up the hill.. Nothing feels quite as good as not falling *kitten* over teakettle down it and instead safely making it up over the top. Trust me, done both in my life. Good job!

Scott
-- I am a confirmed edamame junkie. But! When I first tried it, I thought it was disgusting. So some notes. WARM is better than cold. Cold is like. Ugh I don't know. SO microwave those bad boys till one of the pods pops and spits a bean, then you know they're ready Two, salt makes it go down suck the salt off the outside, then split the pod open and eat the beans out inside. No, you don't eat the outside skin (just in case you were.) I did that No wonder I thought they were nasty! And last resort, if you really can't get into 'em. Try shaking a few drop of soy or teriyaki sauce over the beans the flavor will help. Enjoy!


So I've been doing and not writing myself. Actually I'm amazed at how much or rather how little extra energy I have now that I'm seriously tackling the triathalon training. On M/W/F it seems like I get up at the crack of dawn, exercise til noonish or later depending on when I get over to the center, and before I know it, it's time for bed because my body is out of go juice. And that's eating the increased calories as well. Giggiggiggig *poof* Today I'm just sitting here, actually happy it's cold and wet and yicky out because then I have an *excuse* or two to not go do anything. I think I am dreading week two. I think I have flipped my lid.

So training days start with 1/2 mile swim, then last week I did 4 miles on the bike, and a 1 mile walk/wind sprint, and then a round of arm exercises on the weight machines plus 200 crunches with 50lbs of weight. Takes about 3.5 hours to get it all in. Including shower and two changes of clothes

This week I hope to up the ante so to speak to 1/2 mile swim, 8 miles on the bike, 2 miles on walk/wind sprint, and the round of arm exercises/crunches. Without it taking too much more time. I know that it will take at least 40-45 minutes on the bike at my current cadence of 5-6 min miles with a 1 min rest for 'coasting' time like RL. I also know that I have to get the walk time down from the current pace to a much faster pace with adding the 2nd mile in, so same time more or less 30 mins hopefully for the 2 miles. Hopefully. We'll see how it goes.

Ankle starts to get a little wonky sometimes on the walk/run about .75 miles in, which makes me just stamp it a little harder and 'shake it off' or power through the pain. (I know I am a psycho). So far that system is working. I don't know how it's going to do for the increase in distance. I suspect it won't appreciate the extra load.

Staci (I know non-heated lakes will suck And yeah the floating reading days are over for me as well. My *kitten* is now more leaden than I would like to admit.

I did manage a best so far last week. My swim time I cut down to 34 minutes with the 8 layers of suits on. So I am hopefull that when I swim on the straight stretch with no turns and one thin suit *chatters* with ample motivation of move faster in the cold water or die, that I'll swim even harder and faster Which I believe to be the case. When I dropped in on Friday, the water was MF cold. I asked if they forgot to pay the heating bill, and they said it was very windy they couldn't keep it covered last night, so all the heat was out. So I got my first real *taste* of swimming in 50F weather and cold water. Yay. Oh that was fun.

Have a great week everyone!

contemplating starting a list of things i want to do when i reach my goal - on said list:

buy a pair of knee high boots (hell thigh high! just kidding, knee high)
wear horizontal stipes
cut my hair mid length (i use the length to hide my double chin in most photos)
overalls - even to wear around the house because overalls are not a fashion statement

Arrggghhh! So, my sore elbow that I have been baby-ing for 3 weeks is a serious case of tendonitis. I went and saw the doctor before work today. He said, ibuprofen (4 at a time) and don't use it. I said I had been taking it easy and he said "Don't use it or I will cast it" It seems it is a severe case. I was told no more Insanity (at least no more of the plank and push up parts- which are scattered throughout) no more of the arm machines at Curves for the next 2 weeks atleast. I will go back then and be re-evaluated. So, dammit!!! I wanted to lose 10 pounds by Christmas!! I am totally pissed. I wasn't even doing something fun when it happened. I was tossing firewood into a pile. Dammit, dammit, dammit!!! I guess, I am going to have to spend some time re-evaulating my plan for the rest of the month. Needless to say that means I will not be meeting my goal this month of following the Insanity plan. I will be back later to cath up on everyone's posts when I have come up with plan B and am not so annoyed with myself.

Scott
-- I am a confirmed edamame junkie. But! When I first tried it, I thought it was disgusting. So some notes. WARM is better than cold. Cold is like. Ugh I don't know. SO microwave those bad boys till one of the pods pops and spits a bean, then you know they're ready Two, salt makes it go down suck the salt off the outside, then split the pod open and eat the beans out inside. No, you don't eat the outside skin (just in case you were.) I did that No wonder I thought they were nasty! And last resort, if you really can't get into 'em. Try shaking a few drop of soy or teriyaki sauce over the beans the flavor will help. Enjoy!

Thanks for the insight! Though I probably attacked it the safe way. I bought the dry roasted edamame. Not much different than eating nuts. I tend to rack up a lot of sodium with other processed foods, so I'm going to stay away from any means that's going to make me want to add salt or soy sauce!! The taste is growing on me...I'll probably purchase it again. Thanks for the tip!

In answer to your question Scott. Yes, you can add lime and cilantro, and may I suggest some dried chili peppers when you're cooking it if you chop them up very fine before you cook it, they'll 'reconstitute' when you cook the quinoa, and make it spicy as well. Add the lime and cilantro at the end to perfume the end result. Basically making it 'spanish rice' or mexican rice.

Love the beagle btw, very cute
OH and a little salt goes a long way on the edamame if you're eating them raw/fresh. You can even treat it margarita style and just lick your hand, and put the salt there that way you get less. Of course I use kosher salt, which is far less sodium per salt oomph.

Stephy
-- I'll try

Staci
-- Do yourself a favor and go buy an arm sling at the drugstore and wear it for your arm. When he says 'don't use it' he means period. Not even to write out checks or wipe your *kitten* At least for the first week. Every bit you use it, will keep it being inflamed. XOXOXO I am so sorry. It's like my tibialis tendon why I had to wear the boot. Think of the sling as your boot. Trust me, you don't want a cast

Carla
-- Thanks. I just do what I want to do and hell and brimstone be damned if it gets in my way. Of course most of my life has been that way so this shouldn't come as a surprise for any new challenges Keep an eye out for the local bike shops and at your gym. Usually local 5k runs or cycle competitions get posted and you can always enter those! Also I'll post below the information about the Tri I was thinking of doing, they're having them all over the country.

Becks
-- So, guilty. I just have been pushing myself to do more more more. I know, I'm crazy. But I know that the sprint triathalon consists of the certain events and the time limits they have placed on them. So I set my training schedule up to accomodate their development into the timeframe that I have. (which btw is too ****ing short, and I don't think I'm doing the Dec one. I think I'm pushing off till April, for two reasons, but I'll tell ya more in a sec). I've added in the rounds of weight training specifically developing my latissimus dorsi, deltoids, trapezius, tricep, bicep, and all the underlying back muscles like the rhomboids, spine, thoracic, obliques, etc..

So I've been going hard at improving those muscles and giving definition. Oh it's working. I've sculpted my back like a ****ing errector set. It's freaky. If I dual arm 'flex' like you know arm muscle pose. And you look at my back it's ripped. I'll have to take a pic. Lower down I still have the god damn love handles, but from neck to mid back the fat is all gone. Really freaky. Anyway reason I'm doing it, is that I'll need the power to jam through the water fast and hard. WITHOUT using my legs. I mean. At all. Your quads are the biggest muscle group in your body. They eat oxygen for fun when you use them. If I kick, like more than feebly during the swim portion of the half mile, I'll burn up all my oxygen reserves for the other two legs of the race. Also, the other two portions rely almost COMPLETELY on my quads, hams, etc. So using them up in the swim, is well, suicidal. That means I literally will have to PULL myself through the water for half a mile using only my upper body strength. In 30 minutes or less. Today I started doing butterfly laps in the pool. God they suck. Literally you feel like the oxygen is just being ripped out of your lungs at first. By the 2nd 50 m it was the crushing burn in my back and arms. I thought I might explode. I then did another 20 free laps and then finished up with 2 more sets of 50 m butterfly. *kitten* kicking. Just draining. I have new respect for Michael Phelps that's for damn sure.

So for the other half. Bricks... (B)ike + (R)un + ick= Interval and hill training. Right now I"m working on cadence instead of speed. Which is why i'm using that god damn aweful cycle in the gym. Which kills my *kitten*. 25 minutes is all I can take then I have to walk around or go do the treadmill and then I'll have to come back I've decided. I just can't sit on that awful bike for more than 25 mins straight. Anyway right now I"m peddling about 6 min miles doing the cadence work, which means, using a lower gear (or in this case on my particular bike a resistance of 5) and spinning faster to get there at or around the same time as if you were using a higher gear and more power (draining energy out of your body faster). From what I understand. So you have to build up your endurance to pedal hellishly fast. (kinda like Stephy and her crazy *kitten* spinning classes). Then I walk down the room and hop on the treadmill and set it for a 3 mil/hr pace and walk as fast as I can. Doing wind sprints up to 3.5mph till I crank my HR up over the 145 80% mark, (which takes about a minute) then I walk it back down to 3mph and cool down. In the 30 mins you're allowed to use the treadmill continuous in the gym I do about 4 sprints. I could do more, but I try not to kill myself

So the ankle just crapped out on me today. I don't know why it did. But 5 minutes into the walk It sent a sharp pain right up my entire leg past my knee. I was like allllrighty guess we're done with the walking then. Biking ended up being okay, Except for the creeper that was dressed like a homeless person and kept staring at me. I had to go tell the office staff, they're like well, if he bothers you come let us know. (and I'm standing there thinking, isn't that what I'm doing?) Holy ****. Apparently he has a pass. Comes dressed in flannel shirt, jeans, hiking/work boots, and looks like he hasn't showered in weeks. *shudders* Stop STARING at me. Skeeving me out.

I was glad the Christian Academy football guy was in the gym today with me. He's too nice. I'm pretty sure with his help we could have taken care of skeevy man.

So anyway as promised here is the Triathalon info http://www.hitstriathlonseries.com
I was going to do the first one in December, but I think I'd rather do the one at Napa Valley. Then I can have my French Laundry dinner there in celebration afterwards

And besides I just booked the airfare, hotel, rental car, and pet lodging for Loki for the Christmas trip back to Ohio, Holy **** like 4K... *rolls eyes* so there goes the money we could have spent on the TRI... Oh well. Doesn't mean I'll stop training, Just means I've got more time to get better.

My family and I love quinoa- we make it with all kinds of things but have never made it with cinnamon and raisins for breakfast. Gonna have to try it though. Our most recent was with some ground chicken, garlic, oregano, rosemary, onions, feta cheese fresh basil and some fresh diced tomatos. My hubby and daughter stuffed some pitas with it and I made mine itno lettuce wraps.

So, I am feeling a little better today about the whole elbow thing. It still sucks but if not using it will make it heal faster then I won't freaking use it. I went to Curves last night and skipped all of the arm machines and just went around the circuit and extra time. I think I will use a sling and try going for an easy jog or maybe just a walk when I get home. I also pulled out my Wii last night and replaced the batteries in the balance board so I can use it. If all else fails I will just do the free step tonight while watching Biggest Loser on tv.

Hope everyone is having a great day and happy losing!

Steph- I got my 30% protein for yesterday and so far today I am at 9 waters and its not quite 3pm here on the west coast.

I got in 13 waters for yesterday and as long as I eat what I planned today I will be at almost 35% on my protein for today. I have been thinking about the new food for this weekend and I am not sure what I am going to try. I may wander around the grocery store on Friday and see what looks good. Part of my problem is that with all of my travelling before I got married I have eaten a lot of different foods. Some of them my hubby doesn't want to hear about (he isn' t picky but doesn't want to know what exactly he may be eating either.) LOL

lombrica - there are Cinnamon M&M's now????????? i am so going to gain so much weight in January when i come home to USA for 3 weeks CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They may be gone by then... I think that they are for the holiday season. And yeah, they have cinnamon and they are good! I have had a total of one serving - but my friend is gone as are the M&Ms. Though - there are about 10 different flavors these days. Between the M&Ms and the Hershey's Kisses... Most frustrating part is that I never really was that much of a candy person prior, but when I really focused on cutting out processed sugars if I give in just a little, I have to battle the cravings all over again! It wasn't worth it... but they were really good!