Today is my friday!

and.... 

I have a 5 day weekend! Love it!

What are my plans? Nothing specific. Pretty much gym time. Working out, and getting used to this new weight watchers plan. So far I think I like it. Definitely puts an emphasis on healthy, whole foods, which I had been trying to do anyways. I had a 1 pound loss this week, which was fabulous I thought after thanksgiving. Now, my plan is to really buckle down, learn the new program & kick into gear. The more weight I can lose, the less I have to carry through 13.1 in new orleans & disney.

My other plans include finishing my christmas shopping, wrapping & decorating. Still not sure of what to get everyone, so I'll need to do some browsing and figure it out. My mom had me order this beauty to arrive under the tree on christmas at her house...

Thats right, Kurt Kinetic Road Machine Indoor Trainer! So excited, and I know this will help me get some bike miles in over the winter. I really want to improve for tri season next year, and this will help me avoid biking at the gym and in the snow. Now... to get to the pool more often.

Today is mine & Kevin's 6 year anniversary. We're celebrating on sunday, since he has class tonight. I have a busy weekend ahead. Dinner with friends tomorrow, and a beer & wine tasting party on saturday night. Plus 2 road races! The Springfield Jolly Jaunt 10K is to benefit Massachusetts Special Olympics on saturday & the Hot Chocolate Run 5K is to benefit Safepass on sunday. I feel good that they are both to benefit charities, and it helps me get my miles in with my long run parter away. I'm secretly hoping to PR on at least the 5K.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for Inperspire towels HERE!

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Success!

I am excited about a few things right now........

First of all, guess what arrived in the mail yesterday

I'm anxiously awaiting the moment that I have time to tear it open properly & spend some time figuring out how it works!

Second, today is my weigh in day, and I jumped on the scale to a happy 178! Down 3 from last week and into the 170s. I am jump up & down kind of happy, but now I just need to keep things in check over this weekend.

My birthday is Monday, which means it's time to celebrate with everyone. Tonight I'm going out to dinner with work friends, friday night with Kevin, and luckily I was able to push back a trip to the casino to next weekend with my girlfriends, instead of this one.

My knee is feeling better, I haven'y done any sort of work out since my long run sunday. I've been icing and friction massaging. Tomorrow I think I will try a little cross training and see how it holds up.

Wish me luck!

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(Late) Weigh In!

Thursday is my usually weigh in day, and I did manage to weigh in, just not post about my fabulous success! I was surprised to see the scale at 181, a 2 pound loss, especially with my multiple Octoberfest sam adams & post Hartford party. This is even more exciting since I have now lost 10 pounds since recommitting to weight watchers & actually working at losing weight!

Yesterday I dragged my butt out of bed to the gym to get in Key run #2 for my first week of FIRST Half Marathon training. The plan called for 2 easy miles, 3 miles short tempo speed (5.5mph), 1 easy mile. I didn't sleep well the night before, and my energy was low. I was barely making it through the first 2 miles, and I realized I wouldn't have time to complete the plan & get home to shower & get ready for work. I decided to cut it to 1.5 easy, 3mile tempo, .5 easy. I'm pretty sure a tempo run means you go at one speed, but I needed a few walking breaks, I was tired! Plus, I'm pretty sure my sacrum & pelvis are out of alignment, and even though my coworker worked on me yesterday, I still don't think its right.

Today I rested & skipped the gym. My coworkers and I are going out to breakfast to celebrate my student's last day. She's done really well, and we'll miss her! Tomorrow I am working in the morning and then have my 8 mile running date with my friend Angie. Hopefully I can make it through without TOO much walking.

Good luck to everyone at their races this weekend!

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Halloween?

This week Kevin & I have been trying to decide on a halloween costume idea. We've come up with a few clever ideas in the past, pregnant Britney & K-fed, wonder woman & superman, 80s rocker & groupie, but this year we were stumped! My best ideas were John Mayer & Jennifer Anniston, Hugh Hefner & a playboy bunny, ghostbusters, or legends of the hidden temple. I was really pulling for John Mayer & Jen, but I got veto'd and it looks like we'll be ghostbusters this year. We decided to throw a halloween party at my house, I'm a little nervous that it will be lame since themed parties are usually not my thing. Any suggestions are much appreciated!!

I haven't gone for a run or to the gym since tuesday, I'm feeling better & I'm looking forward to trying out my Yurbuds that I won over at Forward Foot Strides. Not too crazy of a run, since I want to do well at my first 5K back at racing this saturday in Hartford. Kevin decided to sign up and I am totally excited & proud of him! Since online registration is closed, he's heading down tomorrow after work to register and pick up my race packet. Hopefully we have nice weather on saturday!

Today was my weigh in day & I am down to 183, which is -1.5 pounds! Very exciting, especially since I felt as thought I worked hard at staying in control at the Sox game. Now I need to keep at it, so I can kick these 180s goodbye!

Don't forget to enter my Bondi Band giveaway HERE until October 13th!

"I'd like to think the best of me, is still hiding up my sleeve" John Mayer, no such thing

p.s. I have a John Mayer obsession, he is my celebrity "free pass". Does anyone else have one of those?

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Where to go next?

Yesterday I had a great run. I ran at 5.8mph on the treadmill, which is faster than my speed pre-surgery. Maybe my bad foot was holding me back before? I was wicked tired this morning & skipped my morning scheduled brick, which means I DEFINITELY have to get up tomorrow no matter how tired I am. I did WI today, at 185 again, no change from last week. After the foodie weekend I had, I'm lucky. I need to work harder this week.

Heres this weeks journal, didn't track every day....

Tomorrow, I want to talk a little about what got me interested in running and triathlons, since people have asked me a bit of that lately. Also a little about the race (where it will be, the distances, etc).

Kevin and I talked about our next vacation this past weekend. We both love to travel, our favorite places so far being our most recent trip to Cancun, Mexico & our Royal Caribbean cruise we took almost 2 years ago. What tops our list?

1. Southern Cali - we have a friend in San Diego we'd love to visit
2. Mediterranean cruise - LOVE to go to greece, italy, spain, turkey!
3. Australia
4. Aruba - Hoping on this for the Honeymoon
5. Another cruise to anywhere
6. Florida is always a cheap option for us

Hopefully we can save up a little cash & book a trip somewhere for this winter. We usually try to go away once in winter or once in summer. Last winter we went to Disney with a large group of friends for marathon weekend, where he cheered us on to complete the half & we all cheered on our friend Ashley who did the full. I love getting out of new england!

Kevin is making dinner now, Teriyaki chicken burger from Stephanie Cooks (a different Stephanie, not me!) check them out HERE . off to eat, YUM!

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Thursday WI

Today is a good day. Not only because tomorrow is friday, but because I had an AWESOME unexpected loss this week. Do you recall my recap of poor eating & no WI last week? Well, I snuck a peek at the scale over the weekend or monday, and was horrified to see it back at 189. So imagine my surprise when I've only been back on track a few days, to see the scale today at 185! I tried it 3 times, because I didn't think it could be true! I have an idea for my meeting topic this week, but no time tonight, so I'll do it tomorrow!

Here is my tracker for the week...

I didn't track all my days (& I totally went overboard on some of them), but at least I got a few down!

Skipped the gym this morning (whoops!), but I will go tomorrow morning. Possibly a double session at night too. This weekend will be slightly tough with a possibility of hitting up Brewfest & a baby shower on sunday with endless mimosas & Belinis. I'm going to try to get a workout in after work saturday, and a ride in sunday morning.

I also encourage you all to run over & check out Forward Foot Strides for a new giveaway starting up over there!

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Take that, online tracker!

Today is Thursday, WI day. I am happy to report I am down 2 pounds to 186.5! I did as I pledged to do and tracked every bite, and even though I was not as diligent with my workouts as I would have liked, I was still able to come out on top after 2 parties & a weekend without much sleep. I reallllly want to post a copy of my tracker, but for some reason my Mac does not want to help me with that endeavor. If I figure it out, well I guess I'll post it then!

I've really learned this week about how important journaling is. Many times when we're busy, or embarrassed by the amount of points we must have consumed, or just too darn lazy, or some other lame excuse we ease up on tracking. We just say "Oh I didn't have that much," and go about our daily business.   The bad news is, that every little time adds up, and sooner or later we're a few weeks out wondering why we haven't lost any weight since we've been so good, or worked out so hard! In reality we've probably been slacking nutrition wise, but don't have the evidence written down to support it. This week I learned a few things:

• The after dinner points add up quick! (and you usually don't have many left from the day) Typically I would come home from work and after dinner maybe have a glass of wine and a snack like popcorn, gorgonzola or popchips. I learned to go easy on the after dinner snacks.
• The activity points help a ton. Not only do I feel so much better when I work out (and of course get ready for my big race), but I'm burning off maybe some of those extra points I had at some point throughout the day.
• Count the little points during the day. I always have a handful of chocolate goldfish at some point throughout the day that my coworkers and I share. my serving is about 1.5 points or 4.5 a week at least (more on a stressful day).
• Tracking helps you prioritize your splurges. I went to party on saturday & knew I didn't want to spend TONS of points on Sangria. I brought a cooler bag with my MDG64 inside (1 point a bottle), and was able to enjoy 7 throughout the course of the party and enjoy a little dessert instead.

Now, I won't say I'm a tracking pro, or it's made me into a perfect weight watcher. I am definitely more self aware. Like self aware that I overindulged a little today on over a cup of low fat cookie dough frozen yogurt and red wine. Those kinds of days happen, but I am learning to track and move on. What have you guys learned from tracking? Do you feel more in control and have better losses? I hope that I can keep it up again this week!

My favorite running shoe ever!

I did a 55 min bike-run brick this morning & managed to do my run at 5.5mph (I have been at 5.0 since surgery). I did have to take a couple walking rest breaks, but it felt good to get back to my old speed! Tomorrow is supposed to be a rest day, but I'm going to hit the gym for a 20 min swim in the morning since I won't be able to fit it in saturday after work. It is supposed to be a beautiful weekend so my goal is to do my outdoor run on saturday and a ride with my new bike shoes on sunday. I may have to change my bike route though to exclude the long downward hill with a stop sign directly at the bottom so I can avoid falling off when I most likely fail to get my shoes out of the clipless pedals. Tomorrow is bike fit day! I'm excited to get the pedals put on & get my bike adjusted so my back stops killing me when I ride. I also got a beautiful new pair of Asic GT-2150s. My favorite shoe ever if you recall. I ordered another pair after hating the Brooks shoes that I tried. I also happened to be slightly drunk when I placed my order, so they came with 2 new sports bras I've been wanting, but my willpower had been preventing until then. My credit card isn't too happy (especially with the new cycling purchases), but no big deal, I guess thats why I'm working this weekend!

So off I go to work towards another successful week of tracking, training, and having fun!

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WI day

Yesterday was my official WI day. I lost .5 down to 188.5. Slightly disappointing, but I knew I hadn't really been putting in the effort. True to my word, I tracked all my points yesterday & got an awesome bike-run brick in. This morning I woke up & was feeling skinny so I stepped on the scale again 187.5, down a pound. At least I'm moving in the right direction. This morning I went for my longest post run surgery, 4.35 miles. Felt good to complete it, but man I'm tired now! work today, then heading out for a little after work, before Kevin comes over. I haven't seen him much this week, and we were up late talking about everything with our relationship last night. A few tears, a little yelling, overall not bad. He is just kind of driving me nuts. Off to work I go!

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Good start to the day!

So thursday is WI day, which I have been slacking on (as you can see on the sidebar of this page). I have not been taking WW seriously, not staying on plan, eating things in quantities I know I shouldn't be. I expected WI today to be atrocious. 186.5. I was pleasantly surprised. Got my butt out of bed for the gym this morning, did 20 min of jogging & ditched the planned 20 min bike ride in favor of testing out my new strength training program. Felt good to lift actually, I haven't done it in a while. I think I need to add more leg exercises, any suggestions? Off to work I go feeling good & in control!

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WI this morning. 187.5 . Can't say I'm surprised. another pound gained. Was doing so well food wise until after dinner. Just couldn't stop eating. I don't understand why this happens. TOM is supposed to be coming,  yesterday, so I'm sure I'm a little extra bloated/hungry because of it. Didn't make it to the gym this AM, too exhausted since Kevin didn't get out of class and call until after 10pm. I'm really going to work hard at staying on track today with my food since I can't get any exercise in. wish me luck!

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My favorite running things!

Even though I can't run right now, I really wanted to share some of my favorite running things that I learned I cannot live without over the last few years...

Nike Women's tempo running shorts! I love them! I like to wear short shorts, and have my legs free when I run. The don't ride up or down while I'm running, the moisture wicking is great & theres even a little pouch inside for a house key if I'm just going out for a short run.

Body Glide. essential for preventing chafing & uncomfortable rubbing. I use it between my thighs, on the arches of my feet & toes to prevent blisters & on my arms if I'm wearing a tank top. 

This is my fuel for long runs. I tried the Gu, Clif Blocks, and even mini luna bars. These were definately the best thing for me. They are sweet, but the flavor is good. I like the texture, they are easier to chew than the gummies or blocks. I usually take a swig of water with them, and chew them pretty easily. I have a pretty sensitive stomach and they have NEVER upset it.






My favorite running shoe. I think I started using these before I even knew any better & loved them. Then a couple years ago I went to a shoe store to be fit & measured & analyzed. They told me what I already knew, these were a perfect shoe for me! I wear my own orthotics inside, but they are good, stable, supportive shoes. I don't know if I'd ever try anything else.





My other essentials are my running belt for long runs. I have a water bottle on it, and keep my beans, chapstick, & either a cell phone or camera depending on the race. Hope you guys enjoy checking out my favorite things!

I had my WI today and was down 3 pounds!! So excited, I am treating myself to a manicure today :) I also treated myself to a massage yesterday. I signed up for a monthly membership at the massage place so I got yesterdays for free & the membership gives you $20 each massage you get. I think that will be a nice monthly reward to give myself for working hard.

I've been in a much better mood the last 2 days since Kevin & I talked on tuesday. He said he wants to see me tonight after dinner, so I am looking forward to it. Today I need to go grocery shopping & start cleaning around the house to get things ready for the tomorrow night! I'm having a JAFRA party. skincare stuff that I love, and hand/foot treatment stuff. should be a fun girls night! off to do stuff I go!

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My Starting Pictures....

well technically not starting, since I have been on this jouney for a long time & those pictures are worse. I took these in my living room, and although I don't think the angle is that flattering, and I don't think I look as bad as the first picture looks.... here they are. I promise they will get better with time!

current weight as of last thurs AM WI: 189.5

uggghh YUCK! I said it! Now I need to take it off so I don't have so much weight on my feet when I start running again!

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