Post Challenge Check In

Hey Jeni! 

I am having some serious bike envy reading your last post. Please send me all details about this lovely bike ASAP! I am still in the process of seeing where I want to go with a commuter bike. 

It's funny you ask about goals and goal setting. My challenge ended on April 5th with some pretty solid results. I decided to go a little extra with my fitness goals, but I really felt like I needed some downtime. 

I had been focused on my diet for three months (with a healthy serving of chocoIate, gelato and mallo cups everyday), but I needed some donuts, Moe's queso and a little time for reflection on my achievements. I tested the waters, I ate a lot of the foods that I cut I out for the purposes of limiting inflammation in my body and I pretty much gained a lot of inflammation weight back! I wasn't surprised. I also had some pretty poor sleeping habits. All and all, I think I convinced myself to jump back on the wagon :-) I felt so much better without nuts, beans, corn and dried fruits. In the end it's about what works for me and how I feel. I realized I feel so much better without the foods that are not friendly to my system. I went light on exercise for a few reasons (a little bit of overachievement on the bike last weekend) but I seem back on track. I still feel my progress, but I want to take that the next step further! 

So where am I at with goals? Here they are:

1. Century bike ride

2. Consecutive days of longer rides on the bike (at least 30 miles)

3. Continue toning specific areas of my body

4. Challenge myself to a bit of abdominal definition (can't be bad for summer right?!)

5. Sleep hygiene

6. Food hygiene (ie. focus on fun, new, fresh recipes that enrich my body without inflammation) 

What are your goals? Anything specific? How will you plan to incorporate the bike into these goals? 

Xoxo

Jenne

A New Bike = New Goals

Jenne!

  I know you will understand my excitement when I share with you what getting a good bike means.  My birthday gift, as I have said was a new bike- I didn't get it on my birthday, Everett wanted to do extensive research and have me try a bunch of bikes before we made the final choice.  I finally got my bike yesterday.  It is so superior to anything I have ever ridden.  Everett and I have a list of fitness goals for this summer and several of them revolve around cycling- several types of cycling.  We want bikes that will allow us to go on extensive pack trips, participate in road races and commute to the farmers market.  This bike will allow me all of these pleasures!!  I have typically avoided cross training during my race training, because I didn't have access to much, but now all I want to do is cross train!  

  Every Spring I like to make a fitness goal list for the coming months.  Now that I have my new bike I feel so inspired and eager to be active.  Do you ever write a fitness goal list?  What is on the horizon for you??

hope you had a fantastic weekend!!

xo jeni

Progress is a Great Reward

Jenne,

  What great progress you made in your challenge!  You set a goal and you reached it- that is so impressive!  I love goals.  I find they keep me focused and motivated.  I also love reaching goals.  I ran my 3rd half marathon on Sunday and I loved it.  It was such a different experience than my other races. At the end of my first two I was depleted and begged for the finish line.  This time around, perhaps because I had several more long runs in my training or maybe my dietary changes, it felt different.  I felt strong the entire race and I didn't need to distract myself from pain or discomfort.  Talk about progress.  I ran this race with my friend Melissa, it was her first race ever.  I registered to run this race WITH her which meant I let her choose our pace, we ran at a pace of 9 minutes and 35 seconds per mile, which is somewhere around a minute faster per mile than my last time around.  I also finished feeling as though I could have kept going, I could have sprinted.  It was such a show of progress that I felt elated all afternoon.  I registered for another half next month where I plan to run sub 2 hrs- which is a pace of 9 minutes and 8 seconds per mile- which I now know I can obtain with ease!  I plan to spend the next 5 weeks with varied training, adding sprinting and weight training, to really give myself some reserve power.
  As for your ride- I am so impressed by your strength and progress.  Now that you crushed the first part of 2014 with weight loss what is your next goal?  Do you have a goal time for your tour de cure ride?   Everett got me a bike for my birthday (yes, back in January) that arrives tomorrow, finally!  For months we have talked about our hope to start a weekly tradition of riding to a little breakfast spot we like called Murray's in Tivoli every Sunday morning.  I think we get to start this week!!  I can't wait.

Congrats on your hard work and results!

You amaze me friend!

xo
Jeni

The Big Reveal

Jeni,

On 1/4/14, I joined a 90 day transformation challenge at my gym.

Here is day one:

The challenge, as documented, had its ups and downs, but in the end I learned a lot about myself.

I met some inspiring people throughout the challenge and learned how others can help keep you motivated and bring you back when you are in the clouds or down in the dumps. 

Overall, our team lost over 75 pounds and achieved one of the highest weight losses of all teams. One of our team members even won second place for her category (Go Mary Jane!). 

So where did I end up? Well, in a pretty good place! I lost 11.2 pounds, totaling to an 8% change in my body weight. I also lost 2 inches off my waist. 

At the beginning of the challenge I took a photo. I wasn't sure what I would do with the photo. At the end of the challenge, I took another photo. Below share with you these photos... 

It wasn't until I saw them just now, side by side, that I saw the true transformation that took place. 

Jenne

Progress

Jeni, 

Question for you... What is you definition of progress and how do you recognize it? 

Today I recognized progress and thought hard about what it means to me.

I had two interesting bike rides this weekend. One short and mostly flat ride and another long ride with some more hills. Overall I'd say I rode about 45-50 miles this weekend. 

A picture of my ride group:

This makes me feel joyous. What makes me feel even better is the changes I saw while riding. I rode faster and with more energy. I took some risks on the bike to see what would happy. My thoughts moved to the progress I want to make this season. 

Risk #1: Starting the season riding two days in a row

Risk #2: Additional miles to my longer ride by biking to the ride itself instead of driving. 

I feel like both "risks" show my increase in confidence from last season to this season. To me, increased confidence on the bike is definitely progress. 

Overall, this weekend was an A+ in my book. Don't these types of weekends make you feel great?!

How was your weekend? Have you noted any progress? 

Jenne 

An important first...

Hey Jeni, 

Glad that you are working on your diet... I have been blowing mine off for a week, I need to get back to my veggies. Tonight I wanted frosting, at least I made it homemade right? 

But more importantly... I have an important photo to show you...

Is this the biggest fake out or whatever? Sorry, I couldn't resist. This post will not be about my before and after photos :-)

Today was my first bike ride of the season! It was so exciting.  I did about 15 miles and kept up a pretty solid pace between 16-17 miles per hour. I was quite impresses with myself. Last season (my first) I was excited when I was over 12 miles an hour.  I have a lot of work to do to prepare for my upcoming Tour de Cure ride (http://main.diabetes.org/goto/jennro) on June 8th but I am up to the challenge! 

I am also considering commuting to work this season. I found a real sharp internal hub 8 speed bike, I am hesitant because I want to be sure that I am willing to commit to commuting. Right now my commute is about 2 miles total. It is not a big deal. I do not want to get into the habit of saying, "I'll ride my bike to work tomorrow" and never commute. I love the bike I found, but I need to ensure I am ready! Did you ever find a bike? 

As for the before and after, I am preparing that post and hope it will be up for you very soon. 

Please keep me posted on your running progress. 

Xoxo

Jenne

Sugar Free and Happy

JENNE!

  I can't believe so much time has gone by since I have been able to really check in with you.  I am so excited for you and your final weigh in.  The Winter is such a hard time, for so many reason and much like Bears, I sometimes wish I could just sleep my way through it.  I know, that you have been working hard and getting closer and closer to your fitness challenge goal.  Just imagine the results you will have once you can head outside and on your bike!!  If it hasn't yet, I'm sure the sun will head to Rochester soon!  As far as Spring in Germantown, it has arrived- just yesterday.  It is 55* today and sunny and I can not wait to get home and go for a run!  I haven't been able to run for a week.  The last few days of our trip were so hectic and we spent a lot of time in the car.  My last run was in Arcata, CA (the picture above).  It was so beautiful there and so warm.  

  In diet news: I have been put on a non-yeast, non-sugar, non-gluten, non-processed food diet.  I was really sick the last week of our trip and it is a Candida issue.  That's the yeast that's naturally found in your body.  Sometimes it can take over and it is really bad.  5 years ago I was put on the same diet for a year and a half and I felt great... until recently.  Now it's back and worse than ever... the Dr warned that if a person has repeated issues with Candida overgrowth, it can be warning signs of adult on-set diabetes.  WHOA.  I cried!  Not only am I seriously and admittedly addicted to sugar, I could be giving myself diabetes.  WHAT IS MY PROBLEM!?!?  well the last 4 days I have been so good!  Eating so clean and so wisely.  I have taken the time to make all of my meals and to really acknowledge what it is my body needs.  With only 2 days sugar free, the rash on my face went away (it's been there for months).  I guess all of this is just my body telling me to straighten up!  

 How have you been doing with your chips and queso addiction?  Will you have before and after photos??  I'd love to see them!!

Looking forward to your updates!

all the best,

Jeni