Impulse Buy

I just got back from a lunch-break walk across the street to Sportsman's and Ski Haus for a new pair of goggles.

Damn store WOULD have to put all the cute women's clothing right as you walk in the door.

So, I took a little stroll through to see if there were any nice looking t-shirts that I could get to wear for my new job. I found a few to try on, and while I was in the dressing room, a slightly large gal about my age was trying on a dress. It was just a little too tight in a few places, and really didn't look very good on her. Oh, how disappointing that is. I TOTALLY know the feeling.

I found a plain taupe tee that will look nice with a pair of nice jeans or chinos, and decided to get it. Then as I was putting back the other shirt I'd tried on, I spotted the same dress the aforementioned girl had been modeling. There was just one in a cool rusty brown color (not the banana color the girl was trying on or the of the one shown here... the photo just shows the style). Oooh, that's nice, I thought, checking the tag to see if what size it was.

Medium. Hmmm. I wonder...

So I headed back to the dressing room. I slipped it on and...

Oh my gosh. It fit. In fact, it fit great. It looked great. It felt great.

The sales gal actually called over to another co-worker, "hey, come look at this dress. It looks great!" "Finally," the other one said, "several people have tried that on and it just didn't look good on them, but that looks perfect on you!"

Yeah, they were right. This dress was made for me. So, I now own it.

I tried to justify the expenditure... well, I DO have a wedding to go to in a few weeks. I don't NEED a new dress for it, but this one would be really appropriate to wear there, and fun to wear something new. Plus, I could wear this for my new job.

But the real kicker was: I just walked in, tried on a Size Medium dress, and it fit perfectly. No gut popping out. AND it shows off my shoulders and upper back, which are becoming more and more toned and fit looking.

See, Self, the hard work of keeping food journals, skipping "extras," and working out a little extra every day DOES pay off :)

Me & McDreamy

No, not him!

My new bike. I call it McDreamy. For the Dreamsicle color (orange and cream), and for the Dreamy feeling I have when riding it :)

We had a nice afternoon yesterday, just the two of us. We started out at Salvation Army and rode up Airport Road to Foy's Lake, an eight mile stretch in which you gain about 530 ft elevation-- not a whole lot, in the grand scheme of things, but it makes for a steady climb almost the whole way up.

We stopped at Foy's Lake to take a potty break, then continued our upward motion, up a 1.3 mile stretch in which we gained another 220 ft, taking us to the top of Lone Pine State Park (observation: when you're riding and you turn into a neighborhood with any of the following words in the title, "Lone Pine," "Eagle" anything, whatever "Ridge," or something "Heights," go ahead and shift down to Granny Gear and get ready to burn!)

We enjoyed the scenic vista for just a moment, then took off for a fun downhill ride. Fun for McDreamy, that is. Perhaps a little scary for me! Over the next 2.5 miles we lost all 750 ft of elevation we'd gained. Whee! Good things those brakes work well! Then a short, fast 3 miles took us back to the start.

It was a nice ride on a gorgeous not-too-hot afternoon, under bright blue skies with white fluffly clouds.

And today I'm sore. My glutes are feeling all that climbing. Not bad-- just a little extra sensation that says "you did something yesterday." Myback, on the other hand, is really feeling it.

You see, I did a lot of practicing yesterday of riding in a more aerodynamic position. My friend Regina mentioned to me a few weeks ago that when cycling, you're really using your core a lot. Huh? I thought you just sat on the seat and let your legs do all the work. Apparently not. I stumbled across this article that talks not only about bike positioning, but also your body positioning while riding.

So apparently, to get more aero, you should tip forward from the hips, keep the back flat, and keep the head and chest up, and enjoy the feel of wind whoosing OVER you instead of INTO you.

As I rode yesterday, I experimented with this new idea of positioning. My muscle memory harkened back to yoga class that morning where we'd worked on the same tipping-from-the-hips-with-back-straight in Padangusthasana and Parsvottanasana. It definitely does take a lot of core strength to hold that position, especially while riding. So yeah, my middle back is a bit sore today from the ride. Cool. I love being sore in unexpected places-- it's a good way to find areas that need more work!

McDreamy and I have one more appointment tomorrow morning for a Brick workout, then it's time for him to go in to the shop for his One Month Check-up :) And then just a few more weeks til we Tear. It. Up. on those hills at Whitefish in a new & improved riding position!

My B.F.A. (body fat analysis OR big fun afternoon)

Nothing like getting a body fat analysis to make you want to do a tempo run!

That's right, yesterday I had an appointment with a trainer at my gym to get a body fat analysis done. If you've never had one, I'll tell you, it's a delightful experience. They take measurements with calipers from three points on your body: the flab on the back of your arm, the flab on your belly mid-way between your hip bone and belly button, and the flab on the front of your thigh. The person measuring you has to squeeze up as much fat as they can without grabbing muscle, then measure the width. Then you add all those numbers together and use a chart that has age and the fat number to figure out your percentage of body fat.

Lucky for me, they were training a new trainer at the gym yesterday, and asked if I'd mind letting them train her on me. Sure, why not. I was the first one she'd ever measured. So she would take a pinch and get a measurement, then the teacher would grab some more and get a higher number. Then the first gal would have to come back and try again. Then after doing all the measurements, they decided to run through it again.

So here I am standing in a room with two ladies pinching and grabbing as much flab as they can off my arm, stomach, and thigh. Lovely. What a great body-image builder. NOT!

When they finally were satisfied with their numbers, they ran the calculations and determined that I have about 29.7% body fat. Holy crap!!! You mean nearly a third of ME is fat?!?! Yikes.

So after that experience, plus after having sat at my desk working on a very mundate, rote report all day yesterday, I was ready to RUN. I had an easy 30 min run scheduled, with a tempo run scheduled in for this morning. But I couldn't wait. I felt The need. for speed.

It was all I could do to keep it slow and easy for my one-mile warmup. Then I hit the watch and started running laps around the track (yeah, I opted for the A/C of the indoor track rather than the 80 degree sun outside... I'm not THAT tough!). Twenty minutes of lap after lap at 1:09. It was terrific. Just what I needed. I did a great job of keeping my pace steady (I only varied between 1:08 and 1:10 per lap). When after the first mile or so I started getting tired, I thought of how fortunate I was to be here on the track rather than at my desk working on that report some more. And I thought about how in a few more minutes I'd be out of easy-to-reach energy, and my body would have to start digging into some of those fat reserves to keep me going. That was all the motivation I needed to bust out another mile. It was the perfect tempo run-- comfortably hard, but I could have kept going at that pace for a good while longer if I'd needed to.

It was the first tempo run I've done in probably two months or more. While I focused a lot on my running this spring, especially working on speed in preparation for the Run for the Trees 5k, I've since shifted my focus away from speed, exchanging it for distance work in prep for the Missoula 1/2 Marathon. And becuase I've been so slap-happy for cycling since getting my new bike, and since swimming is so much nicer to do in the heat than running is, I just really haven't spent much time or focus on running in a while now.

So yesterday's tempo run was actually refreshing. It felt good to go fast. It felt good to push myself on the track. It felt good to know that I haven't really lost anything-- I still comfortably ran at the same T-pace I was running back in the spring. In short, Walker can still Run!

After being pretty disappointed with my run at the end of my first triathlon, I'm determined to have a better run at Whitefish in a few weeks. Yesterday was a good confidence booster. Yes, it will be hard. But yes, I can have a stronger run this next time around. Because, heck, I have enough stored energy to call upon when things get tough, right?!

So after finishing the tempo portion and then jogging slowly for several minutes to cool down, I ran a few strides, then went to a Power Pump strength training class, then headed home for a super great supper. I had a big spinach salad with thinly sliced cucumbers, chicken breast, green pepper slices, and strawberries. Then I made a dressing with 1/4 cup plain fat-free yogurt, 2 strawberries, 1 Tbs lemon juice, and salt and pepper. I blended it in my blender, then poured it over the salad. Yum! Add in a few crackers, and it made for a fully filling dinner that was chock-full of protein and vitamins, and satisfied my sweet tooth, as well. All for about 400 calories, and hardly any of those were from fat.

Okay, so back to talking about the fat. What does that body fat analysis mean in terms of my goals? Well, being the math geek that I am, I did some calculations. Right now at 136 lbs and 30% body fat, I'm packing around 40 lbs of fat and 96 lbs of lean body mass (muscle, guts, bones, etc). So assuming that I'd like to keep all that muscle, bone, and whatnot, but just lose some fat, what weight might I shoot for to get to a certain percentage?

Well, to get to 25% body fat, I'd need to lose 8 more pounds, making me 128 lb. At 120 lb I'd have 20% body fat. According to this chart from the American Council on Exercise, at 120 lb I'd finally be considered an Athlete! :) But, hey, I don't really need to be an athlete. I'd settle for "Fitness," or a 24% or less (meaning 127 lbs or less). So, I think that's a pretty reasonable goal to shoot for in the next six months-- to get down to 127. That's just nine pounds from here. Oh, but those are going to be some tough pounds to shed.

In an effort to jump-start my downward trajectory, I've issued a self-imposed injunction against the following items for at least the next 4 days:

Chocolate, Cookies, Pizza, Beer, and Tortilla Chips

In reviewing my food journal over the last month, those are the 5 biggest offenders. They're the foods that give me the toughest time with portion control and can quickly wreck an otherwise good day of eating. With all, I have a hard time just having a little bit. So for the next few days, I'm going to have none, and really focus on getting a few solid days of negative calories. On Monday evening, though, I'll have to make an exception for beer, as folks from work are planning to take me out. So that'll be a good reward for 4 days of abstinence (and luckily will be a Monday night, and I'll have to drive home, so portion control goals will be easier to attain).

Ha! And now I don't even have to do a tempo run today-- I can go for an impromtu extra bike ride on McDreamy instead :) Life is good.

Buoyancy vs. Freedom

This morning I met my friend Patty out at Foy's Lake at 6am for a swim to the island and back. I noticed on the way there that the air temp was 57 degrees-- a few warmer than my first time swimming at the lake. Once I hopped in, though, I noticed what a difference a few months can make. The water was just plum pleasant. Not yucky I'm-going-to-catch-some-funky-disease-in-this-bathtub-water warm, but not holy-crap-I'm-nearly-hyperventilating cold, either.

I wore my wetsuit because I want to get more practice in it. I'll be doing the Whitefish triathlon in a few weeks, and wetsuits are legal for that race. I'm not sure what the temperature is in Whitefish Lake these days, but it's definitely a larger, deeper, cold river-fed lake, so most likely it's still a bit chilly. But I've seen kids out there swimming around for extended periods of time with nothing more than shorts or bikinis, so it can't be that bad, right?

So the big question is: should I wear my wetsuit for the Whitefish tri or not?

I've heard that wearing a wetsuit increases your buoyancy and thus helps your time, and so if it's legal to wear one, you should. But I'm having a hard time believing that my suit makes me faster. It always feels like I can't reach as far as when I swim in just a regular swimsuit. And it seems super slow if I try to sidestroke or breaststroke. And I feel so big and bubbly.

Which, I guess, is what the suit's supposed to do-- add a little extra layer so that you can trap a layer of water between you and the suit. Which in turn makes you more buoyant. Which in theory helps you stay higher in the water and thus be able to swim faster with the same amount of effort. But, oh, it just feels so odd.

Can the wetsuit really make a difference? Maybe for the pro's and top-of-the-pack age groupers-- those folks who have like 2% body fat and thus don't float worth a darn on their own. Those folks to whom a 20 second increase can make or break their results.

But what about for little ole me, who has plenty of "bouyancy" around the mid-section, and to whom 20 seconds doesn't mean much at all. I mean, heck, it takes at least 20 seconds to get the darn thing off once I get out of the water.

So is the wetsuit really worth it? Worth feeling weird to gain that much more speed? Or should I ditch the suit and go all natural (er, I mean, with just a swimsuit!)?

Being the good scientist that I am, I've designed an experiment. I'll mark out a 200 yd portion of lake shore and, after warming up a bit, swim it twice-- once with the wetsuit, once without. I'll record my times for each, then extrapolate to what my 880 (1/2 mile) time would be. It'll be interesting to see how much time difference the suit may or may not make. Once I see the results, I'll decide whether or not it's worth it to wear it.

Stay tuned...

Shrinking (a weight-loss status report)

Someone must've put ME in the dryer on High, because I've been the one getting smaller than my clothes here lately.

Yay!

Friday's weight was the lowest yet-- 136.2. And I'm feeling a difference around the mid-section, a little more firmness in the tummy area. Plus I've generally felt better and had better energy as a result of eating well. I get hungry a lot, sure, but I'm not deprived by any means!

Keeping the food journal is really helping me to track and be conscious of what I'm putting in to my body. Just like athletes need to keep training logs to help keep track of what they've done and be able to assess what works and what doesn't, I guess dieters need to keep a food log. It makes sense. It just takes a little more effort. Tend minutes a day, maybe. I've typically been writing in it twice a day-- in the morning I'll write down what I Plan to eat for the day, and in the evening I write what I Actually ate. Sometimes those match up fairly closely. Other times, things come up. Someone says let's go for a beer. Or I decide that I'd rather have a tuna melt for dinner than a bowl of soup. Or I goof and eat a whole chocolate bar at 10:00 in the morning (ugh!) In any case, writing down the plan for the day lets me know how much latitude I have to make choices throughout the day.

I've been using FitDay to calculate my calories eaten as well as calories burned. I've been aiming to eat about 1500-1600 calories a day. My basal metabolic rate (what I'd burn if I just stayed in bed all day) is about 1400 calories. Add in a few hundred for daily movement (walking around the house and office, washing dishes, etc), and we're up to 1600. So with no exercise, 1600 calories/day would mean I'd break even. Add in exercise, and I can burn anywhere from 300-700 extra calories in an average day of workouts, and a few more on weekends when I do longer runs (yes, running burns the most calories of any of the triathlon activities).

I've been shooting to have a negative calorie deficit at least 4-5 days a week, of 300-500 calories a day. Then 1-2 days a week I'm okay to break even (on lighter workout days, or on days when I'm extra hungry, or if I opt for beers or chocolate). It's been working pretty well, I think, though there have also been some days when I've gone over. But on average I'm burning more than I'm taking in, because shrinkage is happening.

I have a long ways to go, but it's nice to see, at the halfway point to my goal, that I'm progressing along nicely.