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I've followed the first 2 weeks with Sasha , and after a binge-induced weight gain of 2 pounds at the very beginning, I got down to 159 for the end. So while I put those 2 pounds on, I managed to take them and another pound off. I also lost an inch or so on my waist and hips. Let's analyze. The workouts: I enjoyed the workouts, and found myself motived to keep going. I even managed to get a good workout in with a migraine, just fewer reps and moved slower. For this new set, I have 2 longer days and 2 shorter days. On the short days, like today, I can do a half hour of cardio before doing the workout. Today, I ran the 3 mile track with pup, then did a core workout in the grass. On the longer days, I'll warm up with some cardio and then try to get in beast mode. Friday went well, working on my upper body. I was nice and sore for my bike ride Saturday. I'm still putting long rides in on the weekend. Only 2 weeks until the Hotter'N Hell Hundred . I signed up fo...

I tracked 5 days of food for Sasha  and she came back the next day with a nutrition and fitness plan. I have a list of good foods and a list of suggestions for swaps and healthy cheats. She also included some herbs that can help migraine, so I picked those up and will be giving them a try. One helps calm you when you're anxious, the other works similar to aspirin (anti-inflammatory).  Now, Thursday and Friday didn't go so hot. I ate too much. Ugh.  Saturday was the Dehydrator bike ride in Duncan, OK. Jason did the full 80 miles. I, however, hadn't been on my bike in 2 weeks, and not much before that either, so I only did 25. I tried to push my speed a little and managed a 16mph average pace. That's good for me. I felt like I could have gone farther, but not 50 miles, which was my next step up on approved routes.  But I finished strong and felt good. J finished a little over 4 hours. I tracked all my nutrition that day and noticed that I was eating more t...

I'm a dork. I'm playing a little bit of catch-up here to get ready for a big news post. Before we left El Paso, I participated in the Bataan Memorial Death March, for the second time. I tackled the training much like my marathon training. I loaded up my small camel bak backpack and started walking. The first time I did the Bataan, I took forever and had horrid blisters. This time, I was wearing the same pair of shoes (broken in now) and had much better results. I came in at just under 8 hours, chip time (8.5 hours gun time). I only had a couple blisters, and the worst happened just in the last mile. I felt it, but could feel such fatigue in my legs that I didn't dare stop to bandage it. I am quite proud of myself this year. I felt much stronger and faster. I even ran a bit! Once you pass halfway, you start some downhill. It was easier on my legs to do a slow run on the downhill portions. Running and walking work the muscles differently, so running a bit made it easie...

My husband has become a much better blogger than me. This is a good thing, since he is making a move in his job that requires writing skills, so he’s getting his practice in. This afternoon I’m filling in at the Harvest Box pick-up location, which is the perfect time to force myself to get some writing done. I am behind. Waaaaaaaaaay behind. So in January, J and I went to the island of Maui, Hawaii. We had been to Hawaii 7 years ago with J’s family, staying on Oahu. This time was just us. We stayed in the little town of Lahaina at a gorgeous little B&B, the Garden GateBed & Breakfast . They served breakfasts of baked goods, fresh fruit, yogurt with local granola, coffee and POG (pineapple, orange, guava) juice. We knew it was time to go down to eat when IZ would play on the garden speakers. Yes, we ate in the garden. It is the Garden Gate B&B, after all. The resident pets greeted us most every time we came back to our room. the view We had a view of th...

The last few months of 2013 flew by. Holy crap. Next thing I new, it was Christmas, then the in-laws visited, and then it was New Year's. Now it's 2014. I did some resolutioning for the Jewish new year, and actually somewhat accomplished one. My brother and I are talking again. It's good to have him back. We keep in touch online quite well, and talk on the phone from time to time. However, I did make the mistake of taking my husband on the Tour of Homes here. It's where some senior Officers and NCOs decorate their homes and allow us to tour them. And we pay for it. Yeah. But we went, and we had fun, and J was inspired. Apparently, it's time for us to step it up a notch. So we are starting the process of cleaning out our house. We'll go through our home, a section at a time, and sort through everything we have. Clean out things we no longer need or want, reorganize what we keep. We want to minimize what is left out. That means making sure things have a pla...

Ok, so it's been a month since I posted. It's been a busy month. J has been crazy with work. I have just been crazy, but that's nothing new. So, updates: Weight: sucks. I'm back up to 155. But I also haven't been tracking calories. I've adjusted myfitnesspal to 1500 calories. I will log calories burned as well and remember to maintain a deficit on days I workout. 1500 is my minimum for rest days. We'll see how that goes before talking to the girls at the Wellness Center about it. Fitness: Ran a half marathon yesterday in 2 hours 26 minutes. Not my greatest, not my slowest. I really felt like I could go faster for most of the race, but I was watching my heart rate and trying to not get it too high. J had the same issue with heart rate - going at the speed that felt right pushed the heart rate up "too high." Marathon training is going well. I had one week that set me back, thanks to a weather migraine and some super craziness with Rear D Lif...

I'm on Week 4 of my 18 week marathon plan. This time, like the last time I used a training program, I'm adapting it to fit my schedule. Last week, I woke up on Wednesday after not sleeping all that well and did NOT want to run. So I did yoga instead. I pushed my 4 mile run to Thursday and my second 3 miler to Friday. Over the weekend we went biking up in Cloudcroft, NM (which is a story all on it's own) and I did my 5 mile run. Yesterday, I took Remy to the dog park. That was about it. I hadn't slept well and was tired all day. But a decent sleep last night made it better and Rem and I had a great run this morning. I'm pushing my next 2 runs back a day each again this week, because tomorrow is a bike ride with the Brigade Commander. It's a fun group to ride with, and biking is great cross training. I think it's going well. We have a long weekend coming up, and I have a 9 mile run scheduled. I have to make J come with me, or he won't be up to the mar...

J and I did the Iron Soldier Sprint Tri again this year. You might remember that last year was our first ever tri . We missed out on the spring tri (and tons of ever things) because we made a trip to KS to visit J's family. No regrets, and hey, we ran a half marathon that weekend. So, Saturday, September 28, we got up early to make smoothies and load up. We had packed most everything the night before, so there wasn't much to get done in the morning. Which is good because I'm still not much of a morning person. We parked and headed to set up in the transition area. The tri was at the new aquatic center this year, so a different area for us. And it was cold. Like, I should have put on warm-up pants cold. We went back to the Jeep to eat our smoothies while the sun came up and started to warm things up. There were many more people doing the tri this year, so I was number 216. The pool didn't seem as bunched up as last year either, maybe some people learned their l...

Today was the Oryx Challenge. Yesterday was Yom Kippur. Today was also my first day back on birth control after the week off. I have learned to never have this combination again. J and I signed up for the Oryx a while back, knowing that it was the day after Yom Kippur. I didn't realize it would be the day after my girly week, but thought I would be fine. We rode 62 miles last week to prepare for it and my riding has greatly improved lately. Today sucked. I was doing OK for the first, oh, 20 miles or so. It's a very slow climb to the turn-around, and once we really started climbing, I bonked. I fell back behind the group and just kept pedaling away. By this time, J had fallen back with another rider from our group who was having some shoulder issues. Joe, the group leader, came back to pull me up the hill, but just keeping in his draft had me feeling like I was going to puke. I have never had that feeling on a bike ride before. I did not puke, but I did let him ...

I haven't blogged in 4 weeks. Oops. I had my follow-up with the new Doc today. Still loving her. The blood work she did was all satisfactory, so we're going to continue with the medicine she gave me last time and hope to see continued improvement. Because, yes, I did see improvement. I'm not napping as much. I'm not feeling constantly overwhelmed by little things. I think my road rage is even improving. A little. Maybe. However, she didn't like how often I was having head pain. So we've added a new drug, called Elavil. I'll take it at night since it should make me sleepy. Like I might not wake up to roll over at night, but just sleep through. So we'll follow up again in 3 months, which would be December. In other boring news, I have been cycling a lot more lately. I really love Honey and have fun riding her.  I actually did my longest ride on Sunday with J. We did a full 100 Kilometers (62 miles). Of course that had a stop halfway at the Bean in...

***warning to my friends with deployed husbands - I'm gonna get mushy about mine. I have been married for 8 years. Today is my 8 year anniversary. It's crazy. It doesn't feel like it's been that long. aw, so sweet So where were we 8 years ago? I was still at my insurance education editor job. J was a substitute teacher, and I don't remember if he was still at the gas station or not. I think I'd made him quit by then. That job made him angry. Anywho, we lived in a small 2 bedroom apartment. We somehow managed to pick what would be the hottest day of the year to get married on. Family and friends came to Kansas to celebrate with us. It was pretty damn cool. We were married July 23, then J left for Basic Training on August 19. I adopted Duke on August 24. That was the start of our family. Then I look at us now. I used to have plans to add some color accents to my simple wedding dress and wear it as a formal for military balls. NOPE! I lost weight a...

It started with my lack of motivation to exercise. No excuses, I felt lazy. Then I get a text from my husband that he was hit by a car on his bike ride. He's OK, but a little beat up. He even finished the ride before coming home. I helped him clean up, bandage up, and get ready for work. I went to my Friday morning craft group to get something embroidered for a project I'm working on, and the embroidery machine somehow caught the threads it had already sewn. No going back. I might have to try appliqué, as much as I hate that stuff. I took J lunch. A high point. Remy got dropped at the groomers. Then, I sold my old Trek road bike, Rhoda. I didn't tell the new owner about her name, since he's a Master Sergeant in the Army. It didn't seem to fit him. But he's new at road biking, had a friend that's into it helping him pick the bike, and eager to ride. I think Rhoda is in good hands and will get the miles she deserves. Then I picked up Rem and he di...

I meant to write this a few days ago but kept getting distracted. I need an excuse to sit still for a bit, so here's my blog post. This past Sunday, J wanted to take me for a long bike ride. He was sure I could do it, but I was nervous. The plan was to head over to Johnny Lolita's , ride from there up to The Bean in Old Mesilla, then back. Of course, you don't stop at a coffee shop like The Bean without getting something, so we had coffees and scones. And you don't stop at Johnny Lolita's without something, either, so iced coffees completed the ride. So what? What's the big deal? It's 25 miles between coffee shops. TWENTY-FIVE MILES. TWICE. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I rode 50 miles. This is the longest bike ride I have ever done. And I wasn't completely destroyed at the end! Although my knees were sore later that day and the following day. Just means I gotta do this stuff more often. Especially if I want to do 60 miles in September. Mi...

When I get sick, I really get sick. Especially if it's anything to do with my sinuses. I thought I was getting a cold last week, but by Friday I was having a horrible cough, no voice, and gunk in my eye. I ended up going to the Quick Care Clinic on Saturday morning. That means it was bad. I don't like seeing doctors. The PA I saw was awesome. She listened to all my symptoms, listened to my breathing (and coughing), and it all was quick and painless. She said there weren't any signs of infection, i.e. sinus infection, but it was probably a viral upper respiratory infection. So I got a breathing treatment, then picked up an inhaler of the same stuff and some decongestant. And headed home. The inhaler made the cough worse at first, but it started get better rather quickly. The gunk was moving through and not making me lose my voice. By Sunday I felt good enough to take the dog for a walk. We even tried a very slow run for a block and a half, but that left me winded and ...

So, one thing we figured out on our vacation to Colorado is that I would fit better on a women's specific bike. We looked around a little while on vacation but didn't see anything for me. J is also looking for a new bike, but had something more specific in mind. I was just looking to see what was out there. Before we left on our trip, we had seen a nice looking Felt bike at one of our local bike shops. Once we got back from vacation, we headed back to that same shop, hoping to get more info on a bike for J. The bike I had seen before was still there. It wasn't like anything I could find online, even on the Felt website. So I asked about it. Turns out it's a 2011 model that just never sold. Felt doesn't even make the ZW6 anymore. World, meet Honey. Honey, meet the world. I've been on 3 rides on her, and so far, I'm in love. The seat is made to fit a woman's butt, and mine doesn't get as sore on rides. The handle bars are set for a more ...

Ok, almost caught up with all my blogging! Time to talk about our summer vacation. J and I spent a week and a half in Durango, CO and the surrounding area. We went there last summer and loved it, but really decided to go back this year when J signed up for the Death Ride Tour . We headed up to Durango on a Monday, checked in to hotel downtown, and headed out for dinner and a walk. Now, if you know either one of us, you know that we love Colorado. We both have family there and we plan to settle down there, someday. We don't know where yet, but somewhere in Colorado will be our home. So of course heading to the mountains around Durango was exciting for us. Also exciting was finally convincing my husband that our vacations don't have to be planned out to the last detail. Some of the details surrounding the Death Ride we couldn't plan, because we didn't know, but the rest of it I left pretty open, too. J needed to ride and acclimate, and I wanted to relax. We managed...