Three Things Thursday (it's already THURSDAY??)

ONE-Dang germs!
Things have been a little wild around here. While I am now finally bouncing back from the critters that invaded my body for the last 3+ weeks, they are nesting in Lola now. A three year old with a temp, a terrible cough and a sore throat makes for many nights or horrible sleep, lots of crying and Mommy feeling totally helpless. 
As soon as she is better, we will have plenty more vlog posts for you and lots of advice to stay pretty!


TWO-Getting there!
I've been getting back to normal and Coach Awesome is kicking my workouts back up which makes this little gal one happy chica. I cannot tell you how useless I feel when I cannot complete a workout or my HR is beyond crazy for a little amount of effort. 
On the upside, I have had some solid workouts this week including several sessions in the pool where I felt (dare I say it) STRONG. I am feeling better and better!




THREE-I eat...a lot!
I have been spending more and more time focusing on nutrition and as I may have been hinting around to, more and more veggie based meals. I believe that food is such a personal thing and what works for one person may not work for the next. I don't care to put a label on my nutrition-I just want to find something that optimizes my own health and wellness, makes me feel good and tastes good.


That being said, I joined in on a challenge from a FitFluential buddy of mine, Tara. It's called the Fit Feb Challenge and I'll be journaling all my eats here--I'll create a new page for it on the tab above.








So just a quick post today to get everyone updated on the goings on here. I am so behind in blogs this week so I cannot wait to Saturday's three hour ride to read and catch up!! I feel so out of the loop!

THR33 Things Thursday

ONE: Feelin' Craptastic  

Since the weekend, I have been feeling a head cold creeping on...I would feel "kind of crappy" but it never really got worse. Yesterday, I was feeling quite fabulous, got out for a great run in some crazy winds. No biggie...then about 1:30pm yesterday I felt it attack. Literally attack me...and my entire head and neck.

My ears felt full. My throat was sore. My nose got all stuffed up. This incredible sinus headache took hold.

BAM!

Just like that...sick. I don't have time for sick.

I HAD to work last night and by the time my last appointment was there, I was feeling chills and my body was hurting. Went home and got right into bed. I was freezing!! 3 giant, thick, fuzzy blankets on me and I think I finally warmed up. I did not sleep well since my back and neck were just SORE. I could only breathe through my mouth so I kept waking up, drinking water. 

I have a TT swim on the plan today-just tried to get ready for it and when I felt dizzy just putting stuff into my swim bag, I decided maybe I should not be trying to swim--or drive with Lola in the car---for that matter. Looks like today is a rest day.
Sadly, I do not feel relief knowing today has been declared a rest day.
I feel like a failure. I have NO CONTROL of this and that is utterly frustrating to me.

Ok....totally done whining now.

TWO: VEGGIES

So, Coach Awesome totally sent a "warning" email regarding this recovery week-

You are extremely susceptible to illness this week. I just want to warn you, you will be on a tightrope so do all that you can to remain healthy and use hand sanitizer.  Extra rest, extra lemons, and extra kale are all extremely good ideas. 

(she's so freaking smart)

Now, I have been been doing lots of thinking the last couple weeks about food and nutrition. I am always a supporter of eating clean and have been considering adding more vegetable based meals to my current repitoire. I don't have any intention of going meatless but I don't see any harm in cutting back a bit on the meats and trying something "different". I am getting kind of bored eating the same things over and over-I love veggies, so why not, right? I even had a Meatless Monday this week. 

Seeing that I am making more veggie based meals and incorporating more spinach and kale into my everyday eats, Hubby expressed concern about me going VEGAN (not sure why he thinks this or why he'd care but....) I assured him that I do not have any intention of going vegan at this time however, expect to see even more veggies. He would be content if we only ever ate pork tenderloin and grilled potatoes. 

THR33: WIAW 

What I ate Wednesday (literally) in pictures:

Breakfast:

Old Fashioned Oats with blueberries, 2 egg whites and almond milk.
I topped the oats with a small drizzle of honey for a dash of sweetness. I used Wyman's of Maine frozen wild blueberries to make the oatmeal and added fresh blueberries.

We LOVE blueberries.

Post Run Snack:

Blueberry & Spinach smoothie

My GIANT sized bag of Wyman's Maine blueberries

fresh, organic baby spinach

Blueberries, Spinach, Almond milk, Greek yogurt and a small scoop of protein powder

Added a tablespoon of chia 

Afternoon Snack:

A cup of Earl Grey tea and fresh pineapple

More tea:

Coach's secret brew with the addition of green tea x 10

On the GO!
Off to work so I needed something easy and quick!

 A slice of whole wheat bread with Justin's almond butter, a giant jug of water and Coconut water

Eating while driving and yes, taking pictures.

DANGER!!!

By the time I was at work, I was feeling pretty awful. I had a big iced tea at work and refilled my water jug.

As soon as I got home, I filled a bowl with some leftover Navajo Stew, some steamed broccoli and topped it with some avocado.

Did you enter my Tough Chik giveaway ??

Three Things Thursday

Thing One:

Perfect timing for Halloween.
Yesterday I got to welcome the Little Green Monster to my home

Say Hello to my little friend-the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine.

 I know we will be bonding a lot over the long fall, winter and spring days when the Maine weather is not kind enough to let me outside to ride.
I am super excited to welcome the Little Green Monster to the family-this is a nice little upgrade from me (my previous trainer was a magnetic)

The trainer came with a Kendra KK Trainer tire and a Spinervals DVD too so BONUS!!


As much as I am dreading taking my bike inside for the winter, I am actually a little exited to have this new trainer! I am getting the pain cave ready (as mentioned in THIS post) and I know those dreaded hours of intervals will be a lot more "fun" on the Kurt!! I am super excited to try out the Spinervals DVD too. 
Do you Spinerval? Which is your favorite??


I really want to try some from Sufferfest-
you gotta love a tagline like 
I will beat my ass today to kick yours tomorrow


Thing Two:
I finally did my first "official" CrossFit session today. I have had a lot of interest in CF but the closest facility is at least 40 mins away, making it difficult to fit into my day with Lola. Luckily for me, there is now a local option for me.
I have done may WOD's on my own but it was nice to get some specific feedback on form with some of the exercises.
Today's workout was a warm up of basic skill review for today's session 


Curtis P x 5 
clean
left lunge
right lunge
push press

the above complex is performed with out putting the bar down, the lunges are done with the bar in the racked position 

not me source

and then 

air squats x 20

AMRAP for 10 mins

Then we did 75 CrossFit sit ups (a tad different than traditional-feet together and in a "frog" position to keep the hips out of the mix to focus on using core)

I got in 10 full round and had 3 Curtis P's done when time was called. I went light with the weight today (35lbs) to be sure my form was on point. This is a little different than the traditional weight training I do so I really wanted to be sure I was using my hips to clean and keeping the elbows UP while lunging.

I loved it and can't wait for more. I think this is going to be something that is easy to incorporate into my regime.

Thing Three:

I'll leave you with some fun pictures of Lola in action

she's flexing-showing me her muscles

90% of the time this is her expression SMILES

she's a runner!!

the Mommy and her princess

doing Princess Ballet!

TTT

It's Thursday.
It's still raining.
It's been raining for over a week straight.
and I feel like napping.
Today is a "rest day" (with the exception of the 1 mile I will run for #runstreak")
Matter of fact, Lola and I were on our way to an epic adventure to Chuck E Cheese's when she conked out on the floor. sound asleep.
guess what? I am going to join her.
Let it rain.

1) So the whole nap thing? Yeah--last night I started feeling a bit of a sore throat coming on and woke up with more throat thickness and a touch of sinus congestion.
crap!!
I hate getting sick and so I think a nap is the best thing I can do right now. Along with drinking copious amounts of fluids and hot, spicy food! Bring on the green tea and jalapenos!!

2) I had my body fat measured yesterday via caliper by Lisa at work. So comparing that measurement to my fancy, schmancy Tanita BC-1000 scale and they were pretty dang close (15.7% via caliper and 17% via scale). I am really surprised that my body fat % was that low--I was expecting a higher number. I am not super pleased with the way the booty looks right now, (especially in that awesome video of me crossing the finish line of the Polarbear Tri two weekend ago-Thanks for that Joe!!) but apparently, it is not all fat. I guess having a size 22 ass at one time will leave things a little less "perky" back there. But Lisa did not seem surprised and said I was actually very lean and the "fat" that I showed her is "skin". Hmmmm. I still wanna drop another 10lbs....

So I started project Miss New Booty and with the help of Lisa, PT extraordinaire, we are gonna whip that booty into gravity defying bootyliciousness along with some more definition in my quads-

I have two friends joining me with their own little challenges too-

Dawn is doing the Jimmy Dean Sausage Challenge (she thinks she looks like a sausage in her tri kit) and Marc is doing Project Wetsuit-do I need to explain this one?? Yeah-he needs to fit in his wetsuit for this season. His first race is this Sunday...Good Luck Marc!

We will be checking in again on July 1st to see who dropped the most body fat.

3) Yesterday was  Ride of Silence day to to honor fallen cyclists--cyclists joined worldwide in a silent slow-paced ride in honor of those who have been injured or killed while cycling on public roadways.

The Ride of Silence...

Tonight we number many but ride as one

In honor of those not with us, friends, mothers, fathers, sisters, sons

With helmets on tight and heads down low,

We ride in silence, cautious and slow

The wheels start spinning in the lead pack

But tonight we ride and no one attacks

The dark sunglasses cover our tears

Remembering those we held so dear

Tonight's ride is to make others aware

The road is there for all to share

To those not with us or by our side,

May God be your partner on your final ride

- Mike Murgas