Mid-first week observations:

-Holy cow, so much more energy with honeymilk pre and post workouts!  I accidentally got the regular, not the light, but I halved my breakfast to compensate.  Still felt WAY full.  This is amazing.  Workout fuel that isn’t breakfast – who knew?

-Stevia drops are THA BOMB. Four in my yogurt and two in my La Croix (it made SODA!!!) this morning and I have no use for honey anymore.

-Made my first protein smoothie ever on Saturday.  1 scoop whey protein (vanilla), 3/4 banana, 1 cup frozen cherries, 1 tbsp better ‘n pb (and ice and a little water).  It took me an HOUR to down my concoction and I was so friggin full.  These will probably make an appearance every once in a while.  I DID miss the mastication – so it won’t be every day, but it was a nice change.

-I like all my snacks, I’ve stuck to them for the most part (minus 5 chips one day, and a 1:30am drinking ramen slipup).  I miss pretzels, but being able to have string cheese, almonds, or jerky any time I want is pretty sweet.

-Interested in what will be on the lunch and dinner good list next week.  If it’s just protein and veggies, I’m going to cry.  I’ve been trying to think of carbs that are not grains and so far I’ve thought of potatoes, beans, and corn tortillas.  I can probably get down with more of that action.  We’ll see what happens.

-Not necessarily related to food, but I’m actually really enjoying the 7am wakeups.  Ok, not the actual wakeups (that sucks) but the rest of the day after.  It’s nice to get the workouts done in the morning, and the earlier, the cooler it is.  75 is much different than 82-85.  I’m going to try to go for the same schedule next week (Mon: 45 mins bike hills and crunchtime – this will be my only PM, Tues: 7 miles AM, Wed: 45 mins full body weights, 30 mins swim, Thurs: off, Fri: 45 mins of sprints at the track, and Sat: 30 mile bike ride).

Since I don’t have all that much to talk about right now, and this weekend was pretty much blissfully boring (read: relaxing), let me share some pictures of weekends past that I’ve been meaning to share.

Keep Austin Weird 5k (6/25):

Pretty sweet shirt… did the kids L trick, it’s a *wee* bit small.  Hoping it’s comfy soon.  Go go new nutrition plan!

We biked down (10 miles, added to the 10 miles that morning), and then walked around the festival.  This puppy was definitely weird and awesome!

This is about the weirdest we could get upon short notice.  And getting there in 95 degree weather on a bike.

Zliten is pretty weird to begin with, so he didn’t have far to go! 🙂

About half a mile in, there was a wine stop.  I got chardonnay.  It seemed to pair well with walking on a 95 and humid day better than red.

Then vodka and lemonade stop.  Who needs sport-aid type stuff?  There was also an ice cream stop, and a pizza stop, but they ran out of pizza by the time we got there.  Bummer!  We were pretty starving by then!

In just under 1 hour, we crossed the finish.  I think we jogged about .05 of a mile just to do it and then stopped.  SLOWEST 5k EVAR!!! 🙂  We then grabbed our bikes, left, tried to catch the bus (we do not yet have the proper night lights), bus didn’t come for over an hour, called a cab, bus FINALLY came but we were half a block down from the stop, cab never came, so we walked our bikes to a bar a few blocks away and grabbed dinner.  We finally ended up calling a friend who went to our house, grabbed our bike rack, drove down, got us and our bikes, and brought us home around 2am.  Sigh.  Transportation fail, but a fun adventure!  The only two bus fails we’ve had have both been at THAT corner, so I think next time we’ll just try to hop the bus elsewhere even if it’s a little further.  Or… just get the night lights.

The next day, after doing a small amount of work and recovering from a bit of a hangover, we headed to the Dell Diamond and took in a Round Rock Express game!  Here’s me sporting the hat we got for a dollar last year from spinning the wheel 0 prizes.  It was good fun, and lots of yummy munching on ballgame food (chili cheese fries and chicken strips were dinner, oops).  The Express won 14-2, so it was honestly kind of a boring game, but it was good times anyway.

Fast forward two weekends, and we went to see Judah Friedlander (from 30 Rock) at Cap City.  Man oh man, he was funny.  I had no idea what to expect, I figured self depricating geek humor, but no… just the opposite.  He is the World Champion (of what?  uh… of the World, hello…) and just played off the audience.  You ride a bicycle?  I rode one AROUND THE WORLD.  In 5 hours.  Yeah.  Good times!  Here is where he was knocking Zliten out.

He, however, did not beat me up.  Which was nice.

This week, Zliten worked a lot of hours.  The leezard missed him.  Here is some cuddle time!

And this is where I’ve been spending my Friday mornings.

That’s all.  I’ll check in later this week!