So I dropped another almost 2 pounds by Saturday morning. I went for a nice 3.6 mile run and then my weekend went to hell.  Food, Food, Food and no exercise means that my big drop was followed by the big gain.  I gained 2.2 pounds in two days.  Yikes!  And that included Saturday…where I did a 3.6 mile run. I over indulged this weekend and this morning I’m paying for it.

I also over indulged with my money...

So my mom, sister and Danielle and Bradley came up for the weekend. First stop was David’s Bridal to choose the bridesmaids’ dresses with all the bridesmaids, my mom, my sister, Danielle and Bradley’s mom, Dawn.  It was fun dress shopping after dropping 35 pounds. Hopefully I can keep the weight off. (I better, I ordered my dress!) And hopefully I can lose more.  They told me they can alter a dress up to 2 dress sizes. I highly doubt I’d get down to a size 12 by next March…especially after a weekend like this last one.  This is the winner. This is the actual color too.

After dress shopping we meet the guys (Bradley, his dad, brother and Eric) at Boston Market. It was delicious but I ate way too much! We shopped at REI where I bought a nice new jacket. I almost bought two because I couldn't decided which I liked better but thought I better not. I love the color. I can’t wait to wear it this weekend for the Get Lucky 7K ♣. It is perfect for St. Patty’s Day. :)

We went home finally after all that and some played cards and some of us went bike shopping. Now the bike shopping was mostly for Bradley. He wanted to get a nice new mountain bike since his was stolen. We went to Penn and Erik’s. I walked out of Erik’s with a new bike, Bradley did not. Dang it I hate when that happens.  So my new bike will be here in 3 weeks. I got aero bars on it so I will look like a serious triathlete. Eric will use my other road bike. Here is my new carbon road bike, Specialized Ruby Sport. I can’t wait to ride it (in about 3 months because the snow will never melt).

We got home in time to change clothes and go out to eat. I ate too much…again.

Wedding Flowers...

Sunday we talked about what flowers to have for the wedding. Danielle isn’t much into flowers so she really didn’t know what to do.  I had to go to Walmart to get some fabric and she found flowers she likes. With a March wedding the thinking was flowers would be outrageous and she didn’t really care about it anyways.  So we got some flowers, some satin and ribbon and we made the bouquets.  It was a very productive weekend. 

Oh by the way, Bradley also got his bike. He bought it last night. And I of course can’t go into a bike shop and not buy anything so I bought a new bike too…just kidding but I bought a bike rack. LOL! Bradley and Danielle spent last night at our house. We played along with two games of The Newlywed Game on TV. Eric and I smoked them! I know we have 10 years on them but they were really cocky!

Here are the splits from my 3.6 miler.  I got faster at the end because I was no longer running on icy sidewalks and just went to the dry road.

Training Recap

Miles ran in 2014:  113 miles (only 287 miles left to go)

Week 25 Mileage: Swim = .5 miles; Bike = 0 miles; Run = 11.75 miles; Total = 12.25 miles

Like I’ve said before, I do the big “no-no” and check my weight everyday but it has really helped me to analyze my weight loss. I tend to fluctuate every day by a few tenths of a pound and on a rare occasion (like today), I weighed exactly the same as the day before.  But every so often I have a big drop of 2 pounds or more.  If you look at me chart you will see it happens once every week or two. And then I stabilize for the most part and have the occasional swing, sometimes back up higher but always it comes back down.  I find these stats and charts interesting and it keeps me motivated.  Especially on those hard days where it seems like the weight won’t budge, I remind myself that eventually, if I keep up with my routine, I’ll have a big drop and I will feel awesome again.

Weight loss since January 2014

So I’m back on the wagon. I have had a good week.  I ran 5 miles between Monday and Tuesday (with relatively no pain!). I also played Volleyball on Tuesday night and I went swimming on Wednesday. A guy threw his kid on my back as I was finishing my last lap.  When I came up he said, “I’m sorry I thought you were done. “ I was sprinting on my last lap so how he didn’t see me coming is beyond me. I guess I must be a quiet, smooth swimmer. Yea right!

Last night was band so I didn’t get a work out in but I figure Thursday are a good off day anyways.  However, I vacuumed the steps and to me that is a workout!

I have found my first triathlon and Eric said he would even participate with me.  I’m so excited.  It is the Heart of the Lake (HOLT) on July 20th in Annandale, MN.  I think it is a perfect starter tri since it is mostly flat and the distances aren’t quite as long as a normal sprint triathlon.  The swim is ¼ mile, 9 mile bike ride and 2.5 mile run. Most tris have a bike ride of 12-17 miles and the run is almost always 3.1.

I had planned on doing the North Mankato tri in June but after driving the bike ride (MAJOR HILL!) and with this prolong winter (lake won’t be ice out until July 4th…LOL!), I don’t know if I’d get in the open water to practice the swim portion beforehand. I don’t want my first tri to be a bust and with that hill and limited time to train it could be a bust and I’d be discourage and never do one again.  I don’t want that to happen. I have bigger goals and I don’t want them crushed at the first tri. Well that is the plan.

Super fun weekend planned ahead…bridesmaid dress shopping!!!

Well I sort of fell of the wagon this weekend.  Did I really fall off? I feel like I have but after thinking about it I don’t know if I really did or not.  Confused?  So am I!

Friday I struggled through an almost 3 mile run.  My IT band was angry at me and I was angry at it. I limped across the “finish line” of 50 miles in February and stopped. I haven’t run since. I know I need to cut back on my running until this thing is healed. I came home and iced it and rolled on my foam roller and now it feels bruised. I will go running again this week but I’m not sure if it will be tonight or not.  I have taken 2 days off, I’m not sure if I need to take more or not. I guess we will see how I feel after work.

I really wanted to run Saturday but my leg said NO! I did the next best thing I went swimming laps. Oh the pool, how I have missed thee!  I swam for about 45 minutes.  I focused on my arms and freestyle swimming. I did a few laps of breast stroke but the kick really hurt my leg so I only did it every third lap.  It was crazy busy at the pool.  There were lots of little kids getting in my way. I guess this is a good way to train for 100s of other triathletes trying to swim in a pond together.

Also on Saturday I finished the laundry from last week. I’m telling you I struggle at laundry.  Finally, after months and months, I mated all the socks.  That was a huge accomplishment. After Eric got home from work, I told him I had to get out of the house and I need Don Pablo’s NOW! It had been a while since we ate at Don Pablo’s and for some reason I need it Saturday.  I gorged myself on chips and salsa and root beer. It was so delicious. It felt like I ate a ton but I only ate half of my quesadilla. When we got home I cracked open the Samoa cookies too. It was a bad night. I paid for it Sunday…gained a pound.  But with all that food and sodium, I’m not surprised.

Yesterday was a low key day but I ate a lot.  Heck, I ate over 1/3 of a Tombstone pizza and the rest of my quesadilla!  And on top of all that food, I did zero exercise. I basically sat on the couch all day watching TV and eating.  We briefly went out but it wasn’t for very long and as soon as we got home I was back on the couch. It is no wonder I gained again this morning.

But I’ll get back on track.  I have no worries. I figure you have to have a weekend like this every once in a while to kick start the old metabolism…right?

Training Recap

Miles ran in 2014:  101.2 miles (only 298.8 miles left to go)

Week 22 Mileage: Swim = .5 miles; Bike = 0 miles; Run = 12 miles; Total = 12.5 miles

Runs: 18
Miles: 52.80
Races: 1 (2.9 miles) (Frosty Foot 2.9M - 36:50)
Outdoors: 7 (20.1 miles)
Indoors: 11 (32.7 miles)
Longest: 4 miles
Average Pace: 13:31

February was just as brutal as Janaury with another Polar Vortex going through the area. Most of the runs were inside but I managed to get outside for a freezing 5K in Mankato. It was "warm" a couple days but looking back it was still only 20 degrees. I guess I got used to the cold weather! There were a couple 30 degree days there too. Overall it was a good month with lots of runs. My IT band became inflamed again so I did less miles per run.