New Breakfast Place!

I cycled 24 miles today with Gina and Bob. I wanted to explore a new route, and Gina knows one that goes by the Straw Bale Cafe. You'd never know it from the name, but it is in a building made of straw bales. They have a small section of the wall with a window so you can see how it's built.

It was really a fun ride, although it had gotten very hot at the end. Gina showed us a way around the steepest hill on Chesterfield Road, which is excellent information. And it's clear that many cyclers know the route because I saw many more cyclists following it than I ever see in that section of Chesterfield Road.

Here's the route:







Straw Bale Cafe is a good alternation to biking the Ashfield. Liz's knees have been getting sore, so we've been looking for routes with fewer long, steep hills. They have really good breakfasts (although no gluten-free pancakes) in a very congenial atmosphere.

I love that the whole route is alongside creeks and rivers. There are a lot more farms on this route, too, than on the roads I normally travel. I don't think of this area has having a lot of agriculture. I could see today that I just don't normally travel on the roads with concentrations of farms.

The nest sight I saw today was a stag standing still in the middle of a field. I felt like I was seeing Harry Potter's patronus. It made me realize how infrequently we see stags. I regularly see deer, but I think today was the first time I've seen a stag. Very cool!


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Weigh In

Well, I finally weighed in this morning. I nearly rationalized not doing it. I had a business meeting after my workout this morning and was running short of time. Also, Alexandra spent the night last night, and I didn't think I could do the weigh in without waking her up. But I decided it was time to face the facts. I know in the past that when I've gained a lot of weight, it's because I haven't been weighing myself.

My fervent hope was that I hadn't gained more than 5 pounds. My fear was that I had gained 10. Imagine my surprise and relief when I found I'd lost a pound! I am amazed because I felt like I gained a lot of weight and even though my clothes were fitting me differently. It's very inspiring to have lost weight. I also started tracking the food I'm eating again starting today. When I don't, it's just too easy to think, "Well, I haven't eaten that much, I can have some popcorn after dinner." That's much different from knowing I have 250 calories left and can eat 5 cups of popcorn (believe me, I eat much more than that when I don't know how many calories I've eaten). So my birthday and vacation are over-- time to refocus on getting into great shape.


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Back in the Saddle

I went for my first bike ride in two weeks tonight. I went with Mark from Fitness Together and two other people who work out there. It felt great to be biking again, although (1) I felt hugely fat (I need to weigh myself tomorrow, but I feel like I've gained a ton of weight and (2) I kept falling way behind the group on the uphills, of which there were many. That's hard for me. I worried the whole time that people were unhappy because they kept having to wait for me. I'll talk to Mark about it because I really like riding with the group, even if I end up doing a lot of the ride alone. I wouldn't want people to not come because of me.

Mark had a huge accident on his bike 2 weeks ago. His chain and pedals locked and he flew over the handle bars. He hit the pavement so hard his helmet broke. Luckily that was the only thing that broke. I've been tempted to ride a normal bike from time to time, like at the lake. Mark's accident is a good reminder of why I shouldn't. I hate to think of how many bones I would have broken if that happened to me.

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Gee But It's Great to Be Back Home

Wow, we had a great vacation! There were 60 members of my family there--60! Everyone was there except my sister Beth and her husband Tom and my niece Jessie's husband Jeremy. The weather was beautiful, the lake was a perfect temperature and everyone was in a great mood.

My mother didn't know who I was a number of times. The first time was on the Day we arrived. Liz and I had the task of taking my Mom to get a pedicure--her toe nails were so long, I was amazed she could put her shoes on. When we arrived at Wellstead, she was napping on the couch. When we woke her up, she had no idea who we were and sure wasn't going anywhere with us. I had to cancel the appointment and face the dismay of my sisters. Fortunately, I was able to make an appointment for later in the day, and by then she knew who I was and was happy to go, although at my sister's suggestion, I told her we were going to the foot doctor.

I thought it would be terrible when my Mom didn't know me, but it ended up being harder for her than for me. At one point, she asked if I was her great aunt Julie and when I told her I was her daughter, she was upset and apologized. I guess I'd had the image that when she didn't know me, she wouldn't know she didn't know me. It's much harder that she knows.

I ended up going to Dairy Queen 4 times. Four Blizzard's--yum!! I ate better than I usually do on vacation--small Blizzards instead of large, and no frozen Snicker bars. I don't know what my weight is yet--Dan pulled the carpet out of the tv room while we were gone and I couldn't find the Wii. Then Dan's parents and sister came to visit and his parents are staying in the tv room. So I won't know my weight until Thursday.

I'm really seeing how once I break a commitment, it's really hard to make it again. I really extended my birthday celebration longer than I really said I was going to, which made it easier to have the first ice cream at the lake, which made the next three even easier. Then when I got back, I decided it was fine to have a couple of beers with Dan and his family. Tonight we went to a Mexican restaurant and Dan and his father Tom were encouraging me to have a margarita, which was really tempting. So I know that not having alcohol today will help me not have alcohol or sugar tomorrow, etc., and that breaking down once most likely means breaking down many times.

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Struggling

Hey--I found wireless! Quick entry cause I have to take my Mom for a walk. It is really hard not to eat eats and drink beer at the lake. Particularly because it can be very stressful hanging around with my Mom. I did cave on Monday--Liz and I took my Mom to Dairy Queen and I had a chocolate lover's Blizzard. It was fabulous! Amazingly delicious. So delicious I haven't been craving sweets since. But everyone walking around with beers in their hands--rough.

I was able to swim across the lake. I was worried that swimming would put tension on my spine and it would hurt, but it doesn't. Yay! It's not what you'd call strenuous exercise, at the speed at which we progress, but it is constant movement for nearly a mile, so that's good. It is very weird not to exercise at the lake. I'm used to doing 8-20 mile blades every day. The days are much longer without that component.


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Let the Games Begin!

I have a new friend, also named Julie, who is teaching me Spanish on Friday mornings. It's a slow process. She and I were talking yesterday and it turns out we have the following things in common: we weigh the same thing, want to lose weight, and are super-competitive. Put those 3 things together and you have a competition to lose weight. It's perfect timing for that and gives me another motivation to stick to my nutrition plan with the family trip to the lake and all its temptations starting the end of next week: Dairy Queens, frozen Snicker's Bars, and beer being the top 3.

I had a great ride today. It's amazing how quickly our new 16 mile route has become routine. It's such a great route because of all the hills, the beautiful scenery, and the lack of traffic. I'll take some pictures next time I'm out.



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So Tired

I was really exhausted today. I woke up feeling exhausted--never a good feeling, particularly with the amount of work I needed to get one today. I biked to work, intending on going on a long bike ride with Mark after work. But by 4:00, I felt like I was going to fall asleep at my desk. And like I was going to get sick if I didn't go home and rest. So that's what I id and I'm about to go to sleep.

The good thing about today is I'm feeling back in control with eating. That's a good feeling. Good night!


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Seriously Off-Track

Wow--I'm having trouble getting back on my health and fitness track. I came really close to rationalizing having a beer the other night, and have not been keeping track of my eating, despite my decision to resume doing so. That's mainly because of meals I've eaten outside the house--it's really hard to figure out the calories of foods at a restaurant or someone else's house. I know it would really help if 1. I exercised every day and 2. I only ate meals I prepared. But I didn't exercise today because I didn't get home until late last night after the fireworks and didn't get home until late today after a meeting in Boston. And I have to leave at 6am tomorrow for a meeting in NYC. I'm hoping I get home early enough to exercise tomorrow.

As the Beatles said, "Help! I need somebody! Help!" I know how quickly I can put back on all the weight I've worked so hard to take off in the last 6 months. Don't let me, gentle readers.


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Thar's Bears in Them Thar Woods

I did the 16 mile route yesterday that Liz and I did with Mark on Thursday. It's a great route-- much hillier than the 11 mile route that has been our basic route. Here is a map of the route:



It certainly looks like an innocent little rectangle, but it has 2 category 5 hills. MapMyRide uses the official cycling rating system for hills. Category 5 is the easiest of the rated hills, but the fact that the hills are rated speaks to their difficulty. One is .76 miles long and the other is .6 miles long. My speed going downhill was over 40 miles an hour on 3 different downhills.

I was pedaling up the .76 mile hill when a truck going the other way stopped alongside me. The driver told me that he had just passed a bear on the side of the road. I'm not afraid of bears--there's lots of them in Northampton and I know they aren't interested in messing with people, other than eating everything out of their bird feeders, so I said, "Cool--I'll get out my camera." That was clearly not the response he was looking for, so then I gave the more expected reassurance that I would watch out for the bear and thanks for warning me. But I did pull out my phone and put it in camera mode. Unfortunately, I was almost at the top of the hill and while I tried holding my phone while navigating the downhill, I realized that I would not be able to brake quickly if I needed to, so I put it away. I never did see the bear--bummer!

Liz and I are thinking about getting up a little earlier on week days and making the 16 mile route our daily route. That would be fun and would really increase our fitness. I was getting a little bored on our normal route.

Last night we went to Tanglewood to see Garrison Keilor. It was a great show. Before the radio program started, Garrison sang a number of songs while wandering through the audience. I got very close to him and shook his hand. Here he is:



We went with Bob and Diana, and because we all were doing things before we left, decided to pick up food for our picnic on the way. Mistake. The place we stopped at had pretty mediocre sandwiches and poor Liz got a little bit of chicken with some mustard and tomato stuffed into a small soup container. All in all very unsatisfying, so we got potato chips. And because I was in the exciting part of a new novel I made popcorn when we got home.

I had gotten to the point that I was no longer tracking everything I ate because I was in such a rhythm with my eating that I always stayed within my calories. Now, on days like yesterday, I'll think, well I had a long bike ride, so I can eat this, and this, and what the hell, this. I still don't have the weight off from last weekend--well, that's not quite accurate, I have taken off 2 pounds, put them back on, etc. etc. So I'm back to tracking everything I'm eating.


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