better late than never

So I started this post several weeks ago, got interrupted and then really got interrupted- by company, holidays, school vacation, my birthday (such a fun party- should have been there), and New Years.  But here I am now- back again and here's the post, only a few weeks later......



A few weeks ago I spoke with someone about working with a nutritionist.  Two of the things he told me he was  doing was taking fish oil supplements and drinking more water.  I can go without the fish oil- but you look at any health and fitness article about diet and at the top of the list is to drink more water.  It's as basic as you get.

Well (said the little voice in my head) I can do that.  I have done that in the past, and it would be an easy thing to get back to.  Not exactly.  Really?  Drinking water- how hard can it be, right?  Looking back at the last few weeks, I don't think I've increased my water intake  for more than three days in a row.  Pathetic.

So this may seem like a trivial challenge, but I can certainly increase my water intake.  So I'll be drinking at least 3 water bottles/day (my water bottles are about 20 ounces) aside from what I'm drinking during exercise.  Exercise.... now that's a whole other topic.......

Highs and Lows

I had a couple highs and a definite low in my training/workouts recently.

Let's get the worst over with-  I haven't been able to get out on my bike in weeks between family, work, weather, etc.  So my mom offered to watch the kids so I could go out on some trails the Saturday before Thanksgiving.  I had been on these trails before, but my mom suggested some loops she had done that were new for me.  First loop- no problem.  Second loop- disaster.  I found myself getting off and walking through sections that I could have ridden two months ago.  And to make matters worse, I assumed my mother had been able to ride through more of the trail than I did.  Hard to take when I think my mom's better at mountain biking than I am.  Needless to say there was swearing and tears in the middle of the woods and when I got back, I let my mom know exactly what I thought of her trail- "That sucked!".  Ahem....I did eventually calm down and it turns out she walked much of the second loop that I was frustrated with.  But trust me- definitely a low.

And now on a more positive note-  Our family did a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving and since my kids and husband were together and with friends, I was able to run on my own.  Without training for the race and considering I started on very cold legs, I was very pleased with my 8:22 pace.  Secondly, I've been loving a bootcamp class 1x/week this fall.  You know the class is tough when there's more boys than girls taking it.  This last week the instructor told us to pick up some 8 or 10-pound weights.  Typically, girls picked up 8 and boys picked up 10. The instructor singled me out and told me to get the 10-pounds- yeehaw!  As she led us through some fantastic one-leg deadlifts, some of the very-fit-looking boys fatigued before me.  So pumped!  :)

So there's room for improvement on the mountain bike- no doubt.

But I'm faster and stronger- in fact, to tell you the truth- I am very strong.  And I am pretty proud of that.