Bike Love, Fabulousness, and Little Steps

Last week was pretty fabulous.  The rain decided to be a little less of a pest than expected.  I got to play outside a lot, and I was limited by the fact that I was tuckered out from playing, not the weather or schedule conflicts or whatevs.  I liked it.

Monday and Tuesday were about errands and cleaning up and family visits.  We tried to get to the gym to do weights, we even hit the parking lot, but it was COMPLETELY full and we had other things to do and we were hungry so we just left.  It still feels a little weird to be fine with no planned exercise for 3 days in a row, but I got in my 10k steps every day, so it was fine.

It looks better cropped, I promise. 🙂

Wednesday, we hit the gym for weights and then went to paddleboard and took pictures and hey, lookie, new blog header!  I actually figured out how to make a pretty quick turn, we’ll see if I actually remember how to do that next time.

Thursday, we went for an hour bike ride.  After work.  In traffic.  Around our extended hood, so quite a few stops and starts.  I rocked it like a badass and felt fairly confident doing the clippy thing.  I still have to concentrate on it, but once I learned the motion I’m supposed to do, it just makes sense, and feels so right.  Super nice way to wind down the day.

Happy helmet selfie.  Helmet-fie?

Friday, I wanted to paddle again, but our BSS team had an open water swim at the same lake.  I figured if we were going to be there anyway, we might as well join in.  I used my sleeveless wetsuit for the second time and swam two laps (1500m) in an unimpressive 32-and change minutes, but it felt nice to swim.  Then, we followed up with weights.  It’s nice to lift heavy things again.  I always forget this.

Saturday, we went to go play at Lake Pflugerville again.  It was getting hot, so we ran first.  The run is just not my happy place right now.  Zliten and I set out to do a one loop easy jaunt around the lake, and he took off like a rocket and then gave me THE LOOK like… why so slow?  I was like… nope, not having it, and just ran around the lake the opposite way, enjoying my nice, leisurely 11:50/mile pace.  I’m pretty sure I could be doing better if I was taking a little bit better care of my body, so I’ve got some goals for next week.

Then we got on the bike and apparently the BIKE is my favorite right now, which is just bizarre, but I’ll take it.  We had a gorgeous 10 mile bike ride through Pflugerville in the sunshine.  Considering I have a lot of cycling to do in the next year to get to Ironman, it’s a really good thing.  Yay bikes!

Happy place.

Sunday, we were both beat from lots of playing outside, and we expected rain, so we had planned a couch day.  However, the weather gave us a break and after looking out the windows at gorgeous weather for a good portion of the day, we decided to venture out and take two long walks and go fishing at the pond near our house.  In 30 minutes, we had a few nibbles, but the only thing I caught was the tree a few times while I was practicing casting my line.

This coming week is about taking some more little steps.

Hydration

I’m getting really lax on my water intake since it’s just pleasant outside and not hot, and I’m not really exerting myself.  Let’s just say my digestive system is definitely feeling it, not to mention energy levels, run performance, etc.  I don’t *really* care about the latter right now, but it’s never a bad idea to drink the proper amount of water.  So, one of my goals this week is to drink 4 – 20 oz bottles of plain or lemon water (non-sweetened) water per day.

Nutrition

On this calorie reduction thing, my commitment at first was simply to eat the proper amount of calories, without care to food quality.  It sounds counter-intuitive, but it’s really helped knowing I could eat whatever the fuck I wanted as long as the bank balance stayed even.  However, it’s lead to these thoughts:

• But fruit has so many caaaaaalories, I could have a vodka drink instead!
• I just ate my food and I’m not super hungry.  Instead of a bunch of filling veggies, I’d rather have a small piece of chocolate instead for the calories I have left.

Which, honestly, is fine.  I was getting used to the lower calorie intake and I probably needed reassurance that I wouldn’t have to completely give up those things to do it.  Now that I’m pretty used to this, and I actually have a *few* more calories to play with because I’m more active.  I want to bring the good stuff back into my life.  My goal each day is to eat the recommended 5 servings of veggies and fruits per day.  To do this, I’m going to have 1 piece of fruit with breakfast, aim for 3 of those veggie servings over lunch and dinner, and allow myself a snack (how novel!) of a fruit or veggie.  This should also help with my hydration (see #1).

This is both a decadent meal and totally appropriate after playing at the lake all morning.  Veggies and beans and lean protein balanced with OM NOM NOM baguette with butter on the side.

Supplements

I generally take the stance that if I’m eating healthy, I’m probably getting all the vitamins and minerals I need.  However, right now, with my lower intake and a little less focus on quality, I’m pretty sure I could use some help.  To this end, I’ll be taking a multi-vitamin, a B-12, and a vitamin D.  I’m taking these specific ones because they’re what I have around the house that I used to take.

Followthrough

Largely unrelated to healthiness, my last main goal of the week is to finish the great surface clean out of 2016 in the bedroom.  We don’t have all that much left but it needs to happen.  We were going to do it on Sunday, but Zliten made a staunch protest of more chores, to which I conceded.  We watched TV and took walks and went fishing instead.  It was nice, but I have a half done vanity area, a giant trash bag in the middle of the floor, and a pile of shit needing to be sorted that have been in the bedroom stressing me out for a week.  Needs. to. happen. this. week.

Everyone in the casa is excited about bikes lately!

Other things on the to do list:

• Weights twice this week
• Lots of playing outside when we can.  Lake. Bike.  Maybe even a run if I can drag myself out there (not likely).
• Gaming Thursday.  Not eating like an asshole during it (or at all, but specifically during it).
• Going to play frisbee golf on Saturday morning and then visiting with the fam in the afternoon.  Taking a break from the Saturday morning triathleting we’ve been doing.  I want it to stay fun, not something we do because it’s habit.
• Volunteering at the Rookie Tri on Sunday.  It’s so weird to be in such a different place than I was a year ago, but it will be fun to help out and cheer on friends.

Do you take vitamins or supplements?