March Goals

Half of February went really well, and the other half not so much.  I really lost focus.  I started eating a lot of junk food and skipping workouts.  That resulted in me gaining back the two pounds I had lost the first two weeks of the month, leaving February as a zero pounds lost month. Whomp, whomp.

I did, however, stick with no caffeine.  It was really hard and I was tired ALL THE TIME! So, today, on March 1, I had a delicious cup of coffee and I am buzzed with energy!

I told my coffee how much I loved it and that I would never abandon it again.  

On the positive side, I am still down the 5 pounds from January and today is the start of a new month.  I love new beginnings!  It's a chance to start over from scratch.  So my monthly goals are not too different from usual.

1. Lose 4 pounds.
Hopefully I can bounce back from last month and learn from my mistakes.  Laziness got the better of me which resulted in bad food choices and little amounts of exercise. Bring on March! I'm bringing it in like a lion!

Rawr

2. No Soda, Only 1 Cup of Coffee Per Day
I had no problem not having soda, but no coffee really kicked my butt.  I never got over my constant fatigue no matter how much green tea I drank!  I can feel good about just one cup of coffee a day.

Coffee

3. SBR! 
I will start with the swimming and biking again.  I know I already said I would start it, but I haven't.  So, this time I mean it!  My goal is to swim twice a week, bike twice a week, and run 3-4 times a week with one of those runs being a long run.

Tri

4. Track all of my food!
This is something I really fell off of doing as well.  I was tracking my food using Weight Watchers Points Plus and having a lot of success.  I stopped and so did the weight loss.
I have also been getting my heart burn more frequently, resulting from binge eating of junk foods (also a reason I wasn't tracking).  I need to accept the fact that I am getting older and need to eat healthy so I don't have all these problems!  Diet directly effects every other aspect of my life!

I hope March is a great month for everyone!

What are your March goals?

Cup of Ambition

Yum

Who knew ambition came in a cup?  It's probably coffee...delicious, dark, smooth, steamy, hot, coffee.  Maybe you can tell that I have still not had any coffee.  It's been 25 long and sluggish days.  I keep waiting for my natural energy to come shining through.  I've come to the conclusion that I have none.  I'm still not sure it I'm going to continue on this road of no coffee after February.  I will see what March 1 brings.

On an actually ambitious note, I have started my triathlon training.  I finally went into the pool after over a  year.  It wasn't too bad.  I did an easy 800 yards.  My shoulders and upper back was a bit sore, but I expected that.  I can't wait to get back into the pool.  

My general plan is swim twice a week, bike twice a week, and follow Hal's half training plan.

Did you watch the Oscars last night?  

I really like Jennifer Lawrence's dress. 

Who was your best dressed?

Dancin' Like It's 1985

Started the day off at Zumba.  I Zumba at the beach for free all summer and love that there are no mirrors.  At the gym, not so much.  Here is an accurate picture of me.

Source

After the gym, Becky and I went to get coffee.  I got an iced Americano with pumpkin spice and a little soy milk.  It was very good.  I saw this coffee mug there which made me chuckle.

When I got home, I decided I better clean out my fridge since garbage day is tomorrow.  I threw away some old food and saw that I had some tomatoes, peppers, and mushrooms that I needed to use before they spoiled.  

I had a bunch of tomatoes that I decided to cook up into a sauce.  It came out pretty good, considering it was the first time I did it.

Homemade Tomato Sauce

5-6 Tomatoes, diced

1 Tbsp. EVOO

1 tsp. thyme

1 tsp. oregano

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 bay leaf

about 1-2c. water

Heat pan on medium, adding the EVOO.  Dump in all of the ingredients and raise heat to high.  Let them cook, stirring every 10 minutes until boiling.  Reduce heat to simmer.  The water in the tomatoes will cook out, but you will have to start adding water little by little to suit your preference of how thick you want it.  Cook for 45-60 minutes until desired thickness.

Finished Sauce

I also decided to try and make a stuffed pepper soup.  I looked through my cookbooks and online for a recipe, but couldn't find anything.  I figured that I've made enough soups to throw something together.  

Stuffed Pepper  and Mushroom Soup

1 Tbsp. EVOO

1 onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, diced

2-3 green peppers, diced

1/4 c. Homemade Tomato Sauce

2 c. cooked brown rice

3 c. vegetable broth

2 c. mushrooms, diced

1 c. water

Heat a soup pot over medium heat.  Add 1 Tbsp. EVOO.

Chop an onion and garlic, add them to the pot and brown them. Then, add the diced up green peppers, the homemade tomato sauce, cooked brown rice, 3 cups of vegetable broth and 1 cup water.  Cook it on medium for half an hour. Add the mushrooms and then cook it another half an hour or until the peppers are softened.  

And, the big accomplishment of the day was that I finished the first pair of legwarmers!

Don't judge the colors too much since they are for an 80's costume.  They actually match the pants very well.

What are you going to be for Halloween?

Brewer's Mini Marathon

Last night when I got home from the housewarming party I went to, I decided it was time to get my things together for the half.  It didn't take too long.  I could not find the socks I wanted to wear for a few minutes. Why do I have so many socks??

I laid out my outfit.  Since rain was in the forecast, I thought my 'No Such Thing As a Rain Day'  shirt was a good idea.  I wore a long sleeve shirt over it with some capris.  I brought extra socks, sandals, and pants for after the race.  I did not anticipate how cold and windy it was going to be.  I was so glad I brought that long sleeve shirt.
I was in bed by 9:30pm, but didn't fall asleep until closer to 11pm.  I woke up at 2am when Kev got home.  I figured I would not be falling asleep again any time soon, so I just got up and started my coffee.  I was surprised by my pre-race jitters.  I was a little worried about finishing.  I have never done just a half marathon.  There has always been a marathon going on simultaneously, so I would have about 6 hours to finish. My training runs have also been really tough, probably more mentally then physically.  I just couldn't get my head in it.  I also skipped the last couple of weeks of short runs, which is not like me.  I think this worry kept me from getting a good night sleep.
When I got up, I had an apple and peanut butter with my coffee.  After my first cup of coffee I made sure to drink  water.  Then I made oatmeal with pb, almond milk, and a banana for the ride there.  I also brought a second cup of coffee.  I had never had oatmeal like that.  It was good, but it needed sugar or salt or something.  It was a bit bland.  Probably because my almond milk was unsweetened.

My friend picks me up about 5:10.  We took off and noticed how foggy it was. Then she asked me if that was just lightening.  I hadn't seen it, but then there it was.  Again and again.  I figured we had two hours until start time, so we would be fine.  We got to the stadium and immediately use the restrooms before they got too busy.  On the way back to the car we hear the announcer say they were opening the stadium up for us to stand in because of the rain that was coming.  We were going to wait in the car, but my friend thought it would be a good idea to go inside so we would know if there were delays or not.  She is the brains of the operation.  They finally announced that there was a delay until 7:15am.  We went and sat in the stadium to wait for any updates.

It was really cool to be in the stadium so close to the field.  The last bit of the race we got to run around the bases and see ourselves on the jumbo-tron.  It was neat.

The race finally started at 7:25am.  The course took us through Milwaukee.  It was a nice, easy course with really fun hills to run down.  There were roads and highways shut down for us to run on.  We ran by the Harley Davidson Museum and the Domes and past Miller Brewery.  There were a lot of people outside cheering us on and tons of volunteers at the water stops.  I definitely plan on doing this next year.  I have to PR, after all.
After I got home I hopped into the shower.  I was SO cold.  I just stood under the scalding water.  After that, I settled down on the couch with my kitty on my lap and we took a three hour nap.   It was nice!

Here's a picture of the nice finisher medal!
I ate pretty well today too.  I went over my cals a bit, but I think that is to be expected after burning so many calories during the race.  You can check out what I ate here My Spark Page.


What is the favorite race you have ever completed and why?