I use a healthy living site to help me keep track of my exercise and food consumed. It has really opened my eyes to what I am putting into my mouth. Yes, I still eat things that are "not good" for me, but I now do in way better moderation! In doing this, I also have a better idea of when I need to consume more calories because of the exercise I've been doing. It's amazing how many calories one can burn on a bike ride or a run. I ruined one HRM while swimming so now I just use their calorie estimator for my swim workouts. I'm guessing they are pretty close.
Anyway...I started in Jan 2008 and was 175lbs and am now at 160lbs. It's amazing how 15lbs can make a difference. Last summer I actually got down to 155, but with medical issues I had a relapse and gained, so now it's a quest to get down to 150lbs and keep it off, while keeping my body well fed for training! It's a great site and when I need extra motivation I just visit one of the "teams" I am on, or post a blog and get all kinds of encouragement and words of wisdom from people all over the US and Canada!
This year I bought the day to day calendar. Here are a couple of my favorite items from the last month, some are no-brainers, but it's always nice to have a refresher:
1~Make yourself a priority. Are you always doing for others but neglecting yourself? Your goals are important and you deserve to take time for yourself each day to achieve them. give yourself the attention and love that you need!
2~Drive away from the drive-thru. When you're at the bank, pharmacy, or fast food joint, park and run inside to complete your errands. You'll get a fitness boost (and save gas too).
3~Swap whole for white - grains that is. White flour, bread, rice, and pasta are highly processed and low in nutrients. Whole grain varieties are packed with nutrients, fiber and filling power.
4~Know your "red flag" menu words. Avoid restaurant items described as: battered, bottomless, breaded, buttery, cheesy, country, creamy, crispy, fried, giant, loaded, smothered, and stuffed. These are signs of a diet disaster!
5~Fill up on fiber. Found in fruits, veggies, whole grains, beans and nuts, fiber will keep you fuller longer and reduce your risk of a variety of diseases. Gradually increase your daily intake to 25-35 grams for best results.
6~Don't expect perfection. You will mess up, make mistakes, and forget along the way. The key is persistence and a willingness to learn from your mistakes. Focus on what you have done right instead of what's going wrong.
7~Spread the Spark to others by living as an example. Use positive peer pressure by practicing healthy habits in front of others, and they'll be more likely to do the same!
I have posted my race goals to the right....time to eat even better and track my fitness to get me more motivated!
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Trying a different type of training.
I know it has been awhile since I have posted never fear I am still training. However the past 10 days I have done a different type of training. Landscaping. I decided last fall that I needed to do something with the decorative grasses in the backyard, they were huge. So The Thursday before Easter, I took off work to start digging them up. They were brutal. I think each of the grasses weighed at least 50 lbs. Did I mention that they were huge grasses. About 6 feet tall and 42 inches round.
Grass chunks. This pic shows only 2 1/2 of the original 12 chunks. I broke each chunk into 1/4's. So each of these chunks produces 4 little starter grasses.
There were 12 of those, then 5 smaller grasses. I didnt start out with the intention of digging them all up however once I got going I kept digging. Bill came out to help, he dug I pulled. Finally all were out of the ground and lined up along my neighbors garage. At that time I decided to move the weeping pussy willow tree. I didn't like where it was...can you see what is happening here.. it is like the snowball rolling down the hill effect, it just keeps getting bigger and bigger...
Here is a before picture it is actually a couple of years old however it give you an idea of how close the grasses were.
Another before pic. The big grasses are the ones that have a tan color to them, they take longer to get going in the spring.
So once again Bill dug and I pulled. Quickly moving it to it's new spot. The guy at Earl May said I can move it but do it now and do it quick. I think this was because it was already starting to bloom.
So now I have an empty landscape bed and another 1/2 empty. After some looking and thinking it was decided to make one bed for the tall grasses and the 1/2 bed for other stuff. I should back up a little. I needed to move the grasses because they were so big they were covering up my pussy willow and weeping cherry trees. The trees were fighting for the sun.
After Picture, this shows the pussy willow and cherry trees. I also moved a bench down.
Each of the big grasses could be split in 1/4's so that would be 12 x 4 = 48 plant able chunks...I used 6 of the 48 split chunks.
After Pic, These 6 grass are all that I kept from the original 48 split out chunks.
The rest I gave away. I took the little grasses, split them moved them up along the house.
Before
After
I took a couple of little fire bushes that were in front of the house and moved them down by the pussy willow tree. Then bought a Whipcord bush. That was the only plant bought for this project. This was all done on Thursday and Friday.
Whipcord bush..turns gold in the fall and winter
Saturday I started putting the rocks around the landscaping clocks. Did I mention that I had dug up all of the landscaping blocks and raised them. They were to low and once raised I noticed that I needed more rocks. The rock went round the house by the grasses that I had just planted and around the fire pit.
So we had 4 tons of rocks delivered. So with wheel barrel in hand I trucked over to the rock pile and proceeded to haul rocks. I did that for about 2 hours till my back started to hurt. So I switched to spreading mulch. In the beds that I had just redone.
On Easter Sunday I figured I needed to get a bike ride in so i rode my bike to Pella, then to the damn because we were having Easter at my aunts. Of course I fought what felt like 25mph winds all the way down. I about gave Bill a call a couple of times, but since I am very stubborn I kept going.
Monday I took the day off, Tuesday I hauled rocks after work, Wed, Thurs and Friday I hauled rocks. I finally hauled that last of the rocks Friday night. I celebrated by drinking 1\2 a bottle of wine. So today Sat the 18th I was going to go for a nice ride and run. I woke up "lame" I had strained a muscle in my left leg throwing rocks. So today was basically a light duty day.
I am anxious for everything to start growing and flowering. I am thinking it is going to look great. I will post more pics once things start to grow.
How does this all pertain to training....It is much more physical than biking, swimming and running. Hauling rocks, toting grasses etc is great training. I am ready to get back to my tri schedule it is way easier than this.
Until next time..PEACE
Grass chunks. This pic shows only 2 1/2 of the original 12 chunks. I broke each chunk into 1/4's. So each of these chunks produces 4 little starter grasses.
There were 12 of those, then 5 smaller grasses. I didnt start out with the intention of digging them all up however once I got going I kept digging. Bill came out to help, he dug I pulled. Finally all were out of the ground and lined up along my neighbors garage. At that time I decided to move the weeping pussy willow tree. I didn't like where it was...can you see what is happening here.. it is like the snowball rolling down the hill effect, it just keeps getting bigger and bigger...
Here is a before picture it is actually a couple of years old however it give you an idea of how close the grasses were.
Another before pic. The big grasses are the ones that have a tan color to them, they take longer to get going in the spring.
So once again Bill dug and I pulled. Quickly moving it to it's new spot. The guy at Earl May said I can move it but do it now and do it quick. I think this was because it was already starting to bloom.
So now I have an empty landscape bed and another 1/2 empty. After some looking and thinking it was decided to make one bed for the tall grasses and the 1/2 bed for other stuff. I should back up a little. I needed to move the grasses because they were so big they were covering up my pussy willow and weeping cherry trees. The trees were fighting for the sun.
After Picture, this shows the pussy willow and cherry trees. I also moved a bench down.
Each of the big grasses could be split in 1/4's so that would be 12 x 4 = 48 plant able chunks...I used 6 of the 48 split chunks.
After Pic, These 6 grass are all that I kept from the original 48 split out chunks.
The rest I gave away. I took the little grasses, split them moved them up along the house.
Before
After
I took a couple of little fire bushes that were in front of the house and moved them down by the pussy willow tree. Then bought a Whipcord bush. That was the only plant bought for this project. This was all done on Thursday and Friday.
Whipcord bush..turns gold in the fall and winter
Saturday I started putting the rocks around the landscaping clocks. Did I mention that I had dug up all of the landscaping blocks and raised them. They were to low and once raised I noticed that I needed more rocks. The rock went round the house by the grasses that I had just planted and around the fire pit.
So we had 4 tons of rocks delivered. So with wheel barrel in hand I trucked over to the rock pile and proceeded to haul rocks. I did that for about 2 hours till my back started to hurt. So I switched to spreading mulch. In the beds that I had just redone.
On Easter Sunday I figured I needed to get a bike ride in so i rode my bike to Pella, then to the damn because we were having Easter at my aunts. Of course I fought what felt like 25mph winds all the way down. I about gave Bill a call a couple of times, but since I am very stubborn I kept going.
Monday I took the day off, Tuesday I hauled rocks after work, Wed, Thurs and Friday I hauled rocks. I finally hauled that last of the rocks Friday night. I celebrated by drinking 1\2 a bottle of wine. So today Sat the 18th I was going to go for a nice ride and run. I woke up "lame" I had strained a muscle in my left leg throwing rocks. So today was basically a light duty day.
I am anxious for everything to start growing and flowering. I am thinking it is going to look great. I will post more pics once things start to grow.
How does this all pertain to training....It is much more physical than biking, swimming and running. Hauling rocks, toting grasses etc is great training. I am ready to get back to my tri schedule it is way easier than this.
Until next time..PEACE
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