Week 10 Back on track!

What a day!  I was fortunate enough to get my butt out of the house yesterday and today and get on my bike and ride!  What gorgeous weather we had here in the badger state.  I will admit today was a bit chilly but not enough for me to wear a jacket while riding.  Yesterday I was lying in bed thing, "I feel like a bike ride."  So I texted my friend Damara and asked if she was feeling it too.  She was!!!!  So I packed me up and she packed her kids up and we met for a last minute rendezvous in Reedsburg to do some of the 400 Trail.  It was a great day!  I had more stamina than a seven year-old.  Any parent knows they have a lot of energy!  We are cutting her a lot of slack because it was also her first ride of the season.  It made me feel good not to be the first one to peter out for once. We rode five miles in and five back.  Not bad for a fun-filled day.  We saw beautiful graceful cranes and one was even nesting.  The best part was when we were back to the vehicles just sitting around and Damara looks up and spots a big bald eagle circling above us.  It is amazing to think they can see mice from that far up.

Today we ditched the kids and headded out for our first time on the Glacial Drumlin Trail out of Cottage Grove.  I have to admit I have never realized that trail was there.  I even remember parking in that lot to go to the fireman's festival and had to drive past it to get to my friend Cathy's house.  Kind of feeling like an idiot for all the times I wanted to ride but was too lazy to head out to the west side of Madison or "up north."  It is just over 15 miles from my house so I think I will be headed there a lot more often.  Today we rode ten miles in and went through Deerfield and made it to London.  No we never did find the queen.  But they had the cleanest port-a-potties I have ever seen.  We even saw the company picking them up.  I sure hope they replace them.  It was a benefit that the 400 Trail and Elroy-Sparta Trail are lacking.  Maybe someday we will go all the way to Waukesha where the trail ends.  It sure was a scenic trail.  Saw more cranes, geese, a ton of butterflies and horse farms.  The last five miles back were the hardest.  I wanted to be done at about mile seventeen.  So I had to ask myself, "Do you want to be a quitter or a finisher?"  I decided to be a finisher because I doubt Damara would bring the car back to get me.  Really what choice did I have?

As far as my running goes, I haven't been doing it.  There I said it.  I plan on restarting tomorrow evening.  I would start tonight but I rode my bike twenty miles today!  Ten miles killed my right knee lastnight so I am waiting to see what tonight brings.  Fortunately, I awoke this morning with no pain.  I popped a couple ibuprofen before and after todays ride just in case.  So far so good.  Back to the running...I started this blog to hold myself accountable to myself.  I thought it would keep me on track if I had to admit to my family and friends when I was not keeping up with my goals.  It has helped because otherwise I probably would not have stuck with it this long or felt the need to get back on this horse.  So tomorrow without fail I will begin training for my half marathon...again.  I also have to train for my weekend overnight bike ride with Damara later this summer or early fall.  We want to do the whole Elroy-Sparta trail both ways.  It's about 32 miles in and another 32 back.  I am really looking forward to it.  We thought about camping but then decided on a hotel with a hot tub for overnight muscle recuperation.  If you would like more information regarding bicycle trails in Wisconsin please google Wisconsin State Parks or go to www.dnr.wi.gov/topic/parks/findapark.  They have a great interactive map of all the trails and state parks.  Clicking each one takes you to that parks/trail page where you can find directions, maps, what each offers, and even nearby restaurants and shopping.  I use this site all the time.

I am still on the paleo diet.  Mostly.  I tried eating chicken fried rice Saturday night.  Within a half hour I felt all bloated and basically yucky.  I had pasta at my Mom's Sunday and that fared a little better.  I think I will stick with lean proteins, vegetables and fruits for a little while longer.  I even subscribed to the blog paleotable.com for more recipes.  I like a lot of variety and this site even had a recipe for chocolate chip scones made with blanched almond flour.  So if anyone could direct where the easiest place to buy that is I would appreciate it.  Definitely not at Target and doubtful if Pick'n Save carries it.  Also tried my first coconut water today.  I paid three dollars for a carton of pineapple coconut water and it was gross.  I made myself drink it because I paid for it.  I will admit the taste did grow on me a little but not eneough to pay another three dollars.

So folks send me some encouragement to get my but moving.  Lord knows I need it right about now.  Hopefully the sunshine I absorbed the past two days will keep me moving too!  Also does anyone know of a great free graphics software I can upload my phots to so you can actually read the words of inspiration I am putting on them?  My daughter told me about Picnic but they were bought out by google so I have just been using my Microsoft Paint.  I would like something a little more versatile.

Week 9ish

Wow! I can't believe I missed two weeks of blogs. I had a nice vacation in the Promised Land. Florida aka my fountain of youth. I think the real youth potion is all that sunshine. I felt remarkably alive! Then I came home and all I wanted to do was curl up under blankets and sleep. It has been so cold here! I know I will eventually retire somewhere warm. At this point I think it would be prudent to start searching and researching other warm weather locales. I may have finally had my fill of Disneyworld. At least until they finish the new construction in Magic Kingdom. I would like to say that while on vacation I adhered to my exercise and diet strategies but I would be lying, again. The first few days of my vacation consisted of a walk, swimmming laps in the retirement village pool, and battling the surf at Caspersen Beach. I didn't eat a lot but I also didn't eat healthy. The second half of my vacation was spent at Disney and the only exercise was hours and hours of walking and standing in lines. The food was phenomenal, turkey legs, pineapple soft-serve, fish and chips, nachos, soft pretzels, chocolate croissants.....where was I? Remarkably, when I got home I had only gained two pounds. I didn't think that was too bad considering there was not a real workout in ten days.

Sadly I have not yet found my workout groove since I have been back. I think I need the sunshine. Or a drill sargeant. I need to get out of this funk. Getting back to healthy eating has not been a problem. In fact, I started the Paleo diet for fun. I even bought and read the book. Sounds logical enough. Kind of goes along with my idea of cutting out absorbent foods. Eat like a caveman. Cut out grains and dairy. I have been doing this since last Wednesday and I lost the two pounds I gained and lost another. That brings my grand total to six.

I have not weighed myself all weekend because my daughter and her boyfriend came home and we ate out twice. We had lunch Saturday at the Flat Top Grill at Hilldale. This place is great! I was able to eat there according to the caveman code and still be entirely satisfied. The food tastes great too! It is like a more casual Hu Hot but nicer than BD's Mongolian BBQ was. If anyone ever wants to go give me a call! Sunday we went to the Nitty Gritty. We were trying to show her boyfriend Jeff something that was truly Madison and we didn't have a lot of time before they had to head back to Minnesota. So I epic failed and ordered chicken strips with fries and gritty sauces. It was good. The down side was my youngest daughter and I succumbed to the stomach flu that has been making it's rounds. Nasty! That is why I have time to type this right now. While I was getting ready for my noon bodypump class, the school called. Ana has a stomach ache and mild fever. She threw up before I got to the school. At least the school nurse got to do cleanup this time. Sadly I am missing my workout and run. I might have to go down in the basement and figure out how to hook up the dvd player so I can do Jillian Michael's Thirty Day Shred instead. Jillian is not my favorite person but she gets the job done. The workout is only 22 minutes so there is another reason to like it. I always aim for Jillian's face during the punching session. Makes me feel better about her kicking my ass.

Well that is all I have for today. I am going to go figure out how to paleo my favorite beeftips with mushrooms recipe. I bought coconut milk to substitute for the heavy cream. That ma be the only change I really need to make. If you are curious about the paleo lifestyle try googling paleoeveryday or paleOMG blogs. They are the two I like best so far and have even made a couple of their recipes already. It is even pretty easy to look at recipes for meat and vegetables you already have and make minor changes to make the more caveman like. I am hoping to hit that ten pound mark by next Monday. Wish me luck!!!!