Bike Holiday Report

We had a great time on our bike holiday.  We checked in early at our hotel, stowed our goodies in the fridge and then drove out to the W&OD trail's starting point in Purcellville, VA.  We found the trail-side car park with no problem (thanks little Garmie) and parked at mile 45.  We started biking about 3 pm.  DH had estimated that our hotel was near mile marker 30 so we had plenty of time.  The weather was gorgeous--about 80 degrees.  Because we got a jump on the weekend (DH took Friday off), we had the trail mostly to ourselves.

Most of the time, DH was ahead of me.  He's much faster and likes to sprint.  I go along and enjoy and he circles back to make contact every five minutes or so.  However far I go, he goes twice as far!  That's okay.  I take pictures and like to enjoy the scenery and my thoughts.  Same as running--I almost prefer by myself.  In this, picture, though, DH is behind me.  I took the picture over my shoulder.

 We saw some beautiful scenery on our ride.  Purcellville is out in the country, almost to the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.  We had a nice downhill for about the first 10 miles.  There were nice long stretches where I put my bike in the highest gear and enjoyed the breeze.  I like the picture of the yellow flowers (ragweed, I think).  I like to think I was flying by so fast that the flowers are in a blur.  I also like the thistle flowers--reminds me of Wales, one of my favorite places to visit. I took that picture at a water stop.

We also saw lots of horses (lots of "horse country" in Virginia), some palatial "chateaux" dotting the rolling hillsides, and lots of cows.

The Washington and Old Dominion is a fantastic trail.  Paved the entire way, a minimum of road crossings, fairly flat  (I LOVE flat), and well signed.  Every cross street was signed, available water is signed, and there are lots of interesting information markers about the local history and the interesting flora and fauna one might encounter.   DH's estimate of the distance for the first day was short by about 7 or 8 miles, so we had a good 23 miles.  Oh and DH turned back about 18 miles in and went back ( UP that hill I enjoyed going down the first 10 miles) and got the car.  I got first chance at the shower and fancied up for our dinner out.  We went to Outback and eschewed the mega-point cheesefries and blooming onion kind of options for a nice 6 oz steak , a salad, and a sweet potato.  We stopped at a Safeway and picked up individual Baskin Robbins ice creams for a dessert splurge.  Yeah, we painted the town red! :-)

We ended up doing exactly half of the trail the first day.  We were going to do an equal distance on Saturday but were rained out by un-predicted severe thunder storms that flew through the area in the morning.  We had coffee (skinny latte for me) at a local Starbucks and enjoyed reading the newspaper in a leisurely fashion, hoping to outlast the storm, but that was not to be.          

 We came home and I was able to wave my magic wand and come up with this yummy salad for lunch.  In WW all the greens and fruit are pretty much point free.  This one just cost us 3 points for the chicken, 2 points for the olive oil in the vinaigrette, 1 points for the toasted pine nuts, and 2 points for a bit of chopped avocado. 

I'm still feeling quite strong about staying OP.  Five days, is that a streak yet??  I'm tracking my WW points  (love the iPad!) and trying out lots of new recipes.  If you have an iPad or iPhone, be sure and download the WW Kitchen Helper App.  Great recipes and a wonderful search ingredients and they find a recipe feature.  Also will transfer the points to your tracker with the click of a button.

Hope you are having a great weekend, too.  It's not over yet!  

Getting a Jump on the Weekend

DH took the day off and we're busy doing some errands and packing because we're going on a Bike Holiday today!  Last fall Sharon (Gains and Losses) and I biked the W&PD trail from Leesburg to Alexandria (34 miles!).

W & OD Bike Trail

DH was sidelined by a broken wrist, but was our support-team for the ride.  He has wanted to do this trail ever since he had to listen to us enthusing over the great biking surface, the beautiful country scenery, the trail-side BBQ place, and the beautiful towns we went through.  Well, today (and tomorrow) he gets his turn.  We're going to HQ in a hotel along the way and drive to the trail head, in Purcerville, VA.  We're going to bike over two days (I'm not up to doing the whole thing in one fell swoop).  Tonight we're going to have a 'date-night' with dinner and a movie (The Help).

Yesterday, day two of my line-in-the-sand fall campaign, went super well.  Got many errands done, ate and tracked every BLT (bite, lick, and taste), got in a nice visit with my BFF (hi, Marilyn!),  and did my weight routine at the gym.   Oh, and at lunch (at Coastal Flats, a very nice seafood restaurant) I scored big-time.  I had their Yucatan Shrimp Cocktail and a green salad for lunch.  The YSC is fabulous and BFF and I often wonder exactly what they use in the sauce.  I asked our waitress if she had the nutritional info for it and she did me one better.  She came back with a list of the ingredients.  Not the proportions, but I can guess.  I feel a Yucatan Shrimp Cocktail coming up on the menu at our house, soon.   Ingredients:  Shrimp, mango, avocado, jicama, radish, lime juice, ketchup(!), celery seed, tomato,  tobasco,  cracked black pepper, onion, cilantro and, the surprise ingredient, orange soda.  The sauce is made with the soda, ketchup, and lime juice--I'm guessing it's about 1 T or less apiece of these ingredients, not a diet-buster.  My best calculations puts this at 5 WW points plus.  Not bad!

My aunt, my mother's sister visited for a week at the end of August.  She's loads of fun! She turned 88 while she was here. One of the things we did together (besides puzzles, mending, shopping, watching movies, and talking) was to look through three huge plastic bins of "stuff" I have from my parents' attic.  I chose these because they were labelled "Lattin"--my mother and aunt's maiden name.  We had a ball.  Found lots of fun pictures (including one of my grandparents on their wedding day) and she recalled and told me lots of fun family stories.  One of the upshots of this was that she paid for me to sign up on ancestry.com so we could pursue a couple of questions we came up with.   Here's  one of the fun pictures we found-- my maternal grandparents.  On their wedding day.  They were married at city hall in Paris.  He was an officer in WWI and was shot in fighting along the Marne.  While he was hospitalized, he met a charming young French nurse.  They were married a few months later.  She was 19. The year was 1919.

Have a great day!

Looking Back

Today, during a nice bike ride with DH, I realized that one of my favorite Christmas gifts that he gave me last year was the bike helmet mirror.  Not the most pricey gift, but one that I use and appreciate every time I see it.   The little mirror allows me to look back and see what's behind me.  It helps keep me safe. We don't ride on high traffic roads much, but even on low traffic roads, it's very nice to be able to check out what's coming up.

I've mentioned before that I keep a daily log/journal of this weight loss journey.  I've kept it off and on for several years and pretty faithfully for over two years.  I don't write a lot, (especially since I've started blogging) but I do record my morning weight every day and usually my blood pressure and what exercise I've done.  I also note my "official" weight from my WW weigh in.  I take my scale along when we travel so that I can keep up.  Looking over the past several months, I've re-gained weight.  I've gotten through some difficult times and have finally gotten myself back in the swing of weight loss.   I noticed, looking over my journal, that I'd become careless in keeping track and had entire weeks that were blank during that period.  My journal is a tool that helps me.  I need to use it and I will.  I think I'll also re-read my blog posts to rev my enthusiasm and to re-learn some of the things that helped me lose last year.

The poison ivy is losing the battle; the swelling is all gone, the itchiness is gone, and even the redness is almost gone.  This megadose of prednisone is doing the trick.  Did you know that weight gain is one of the side effects of prednisone?  And you don't lose it automatically when the medicine stops.  It makes you retain water,  depletes your potassium levels, and causes an increase in appetite.  I read about it and discovered that if I strictly limit my salt, eat a banana a day, and watch my intake I can overcome that tendency toward weight gain.  Today is the last day of the prednisone dosage and I think I've won!

My favorite biking partner

What are your most helpful tools for following your plans to achieve your health and fitness goals?

Have a great weekend

Travel Notes: Vol II

What a great day!  I slept so well last night; I didn't wake up even once between when I went to bed and about 7:30 in the morning when the sun woke me up (believe me that's very rare!).  We slept with the bedroom door open and enjoyed the sounds of the ocean all through the night. Oatmeal this morning and then I went out for a run on the beach.  It felt great (especially the homeward leg when the wind was at my back).  Here's a picture I took on my way out.

Oh, this is not me.  This is the cute little guy who was my running partner this morning.

A nice lady took my picture.

DH snapped this good one of Jay and me when we all went out for a long walk after I got back from my run.

So I ran a little over 3 miles.  It's different running on the beach, I tried to stay on the "hard" sand near the water, but it's not the same as running on my normal trail.  I plan to run every morning that we're here--watch my little Nike+ girl icon and just see if I don't!

When we got back, DH went and picked up his father. They took his bike to the shop to get a new tube and then got back here.  I fixed a nice bean soup, popcorn, and orange wedges for lunch and then we went on a bike ride.  The gimp (DH, with his half-arm cast), the octogenarian (my 88 yr old FIL) and me!  Here are some pix from that ride.

FIL & DH

DH & me

FIL, looking pretty good, no? (he refused to wear a helmet)

Self portrait, while riding (nice quiet street).

We had roasted rosemary pork tenderloin, baked acorn squash & broccoli for dinner tonight and DH bought some WW latte bars for our dessert.

Tomorrow we'll do our long ride (28 miles) in the afternoon.  I want to run again in the morning.  This week will NOT be a "phone it in" exercise week!

Be good!  

Chilly Ride

Today was a good day.  We took my 93 year old dad to church--the first time he'd been since mid-summer.  My visit with him on Friday was great.  He was in good spirits and his memory was more focussed than it's been in months.  He asked when he was going to church, so darling DH picked him up this morning and gave him door-to-door service.  Here's a picture a friend snapped on our way in.  Our church is the chapel at Fort Belvoir (an Army post nearby) and we were celebrating Veteran's Day with great patriotic music and special recognition of our soldiers, past and present.  Dad enjoyed it.  He was done when it was over, though and we nixed our plan to take him out to lunch afterward.  DH stopped by McDonald's on his way back and I'm sure Dad enjoyed his Big Mac--I'm sure the assisted living facility where he lives doesn't "do" Big Macs.

DH and I had a lovely bike ride this afternoon.  It was his "trial run," the first time he's been biking since he broke his wrist a few weeks ago.  He's now in a half-cast (his new cast stops below the elbow) and did quite well.  We biked for about 50 minutes.  It was 52 degrees when we started and got down to 48 by the time we finished.  Rather chilly.  The weather underground forecast for our time in Wilmington this week shows highs in the 70s.  I've scoped out a nice 28 mile ride along the river which is supposed to be flat, low traffic, and quite scenic.  It sounds great.

The time change has gotten me today.  It was getting dark when we got back from our ride, so I just naturally started dinner.  We're finished now--dinner was ready at about 5:30!  I'll have to pay more attention to the clock and less to the degree of light outside.

Have a great day!

Paradigm Shift

I subscribe to WikiHow on my igoogle home page.  It  has interesting, useful,  or totally off-the-wall articles on how to do things.  Like How to Change a Tire on your Bike.  Most useful!  Or,  How to Cut out Perfect Paper Snowflakes. Interesting.  Or, from last week, How to Winterize a Livestock Barn.  Hmmm.

Today's article caught me by surprise:  How to get Lots of Candy on Halloween  I guess there was a time when I'd have been very interested in doing this, but this evening when I saw it, my reaction was totally different. I don't want to have anything to do with Halloween candy and I certainly don't want or need to know how to get "lots" of it.

I avoid Halloween candy.  I've learned (the hard way) not to buy it until the afternoon of October 31st.  I've given our son Jay the job (privilege?) of opening the bags of candy and doling it out to the little ones who knock on the door.

Jay is a super-hero where candy is concerned, he doesn't like candy and doesn't eat it.  I was there at his birth and know he must have at least half of my genes. Why is it that he has always had such a healthy attitude toward and it took his mom 50-some years to get that smart??

Don't get me wrong.  I'm not a saint about candy. There are certain kinds that are still very tempting to me. I literally avoid the candy aisle in the grocery store and avert my eyes from the candy displays at the checkout.  I will buy Halloween candy that doesn't tempt me.  I've been known to buy just mini boxes of raisins and might go that route again this year. Besides Jay, I have another ally in avoiding the pitfalls of Halloween candy. DH, as you may know, is a lifetime member of WW and has been at or below his goal weight for more than two years. He doesn't want to take "leftovers" from Halloween night to his work and I certainly don't want them here. We jointly dump the leftover candy in the trash as soon as we decide to turn off the porch lights.

One thing I definitely don't need to know:  How to Get Lots of Halloween Candy!

What's your take on Halloween Candy?

Biker Girls, Hot 100 Update

About to take off after a nice OP breakfast at our B&B with a nice send off from DH,
our one armed support team.

Wait!  I could be drafting behind Sharon if I hurry.

Evidence that we started before the 34 mile marker on the trail.

Carolina Brothers BBQ stop at the 6 mile point, too bad it was only 10:30 am!

Self portrait.  Still smiling.

Sharon and DH enjoying a lunch break at a trail side Whole Foods.

DH,  our super-duper one armed Support Team.

Trail's end, 34.5 miles later.  Tired but HAPPY and feeling very accomplished.

We had a great time.  No flats, no unintended pizza stops, no weirdos on the trail,  and only one snake.  We're definitely going to do this again--and we're hoping the fellas get to come with us next time.  My caloriecount.com site tells me I burned 1768 calories on our ride!   

It's time for the Hot 100 Update!


My goals:

1. Reach my goal weight by Jan 1st by following the WW CORE plan, weigh & record my weight each morning, attend weekly WW meetings.
2. Exercise at least 6 out of 7 days with varied exercise including at least 2 strength workouts and 3 cardio workouts each week averaging 60 minutes per session.
3. Keep my house and my body chocolate free.  This includes dark chocolate, chocolate chips, chocolate candy bars and any baked goods that have chocolate in them.

How I did this week:

1. I did not go to my WW meeting (I was out of town on a bike holiday).  My daily morning weights indicate that I am losing, slowly, but regularly.  I will definitely weigh in next week.  I ate OP all week.
2. Nailed this one.  Praise Moves, Hiking, Running, Biking, Strength Training at the Gym, more Hiking, LOTS more Biking.  Averaged more than 120 minutes per day!!!
3. Sharon says I didn't and she was keeping track!  YAY for me.

I'm feeling good about things, EXCEPT I really want to hunker down and get my weight moving down a little faster.  I'm looking forward to a good WI next week.

All for now.  

What's Happening

Another fly by sort of post.  Sorry.

Thanks for all your good wishes to DH.  He's off refereeing 2 soccer games this afternoon.  Both bones in his right forearm are broken at the wrist and he's sporting a molded splint thing, and his fingers are swollen and he can't do any fine motor tasks (I had to pull up his referee socks and tie his shoes as well as retie the bandaging on his splint for him).  Typical guy--he still wants to referee because he said he would, and he likes doing it,  and because his leg's not broken [YET!].

In the hubbub of the emergency room, closing on two houses and the rest of life during the past couple days, DH forget to remind me that he had invited a nice young couple he knows from doing pro bono legal work to dinner last night.  Thank goodness they called in mid-afternoon to get directions.  Lots of scurrying around picking up toys, a last minute grocery trip and a very contrite DH, but I managed to get a pretty decent dinner on the table by the time they arrived.  We had grilled salmon with apricot glaze, whole wheat couscous with dried apricots, mint, and toasted almonds, and peas.  For dessert, I removed WW frozen yogurt strawberry bars from their popsicle sticks and topped them with fresh cut strawberries and a dollop of ff cool whip.  We had a fun evening, and  I even got in a kettle bell session in the afternoon in lieu of the nice long bike ride I was planning.

Anyway.  I'm off in a bit to meet one of you guys for coffee!  You know who you are, but we'll tell the rest of you about it tonight.  I'm going to put my camera in the car right after I type this sentence so I don't forget it.  'Til tonight!

Fly By

This is going to be short.  DH broke his wrist today (while playing volleyball) and I've been playing nurse, chauffeur and jill-of-all trades around here.  Fortunately, I managed to get in a nice run, my Praise Moves, and a hair appointment before I got his phone message.  It's almost 8, we just got back from the hospital and dinner is just about ready.

He's feeling okay, but you know fellas--they like to be taken care of when things are hurting.

I hope to tuck him in with some tylenol/codeine and get back here to catch up on your doings later. :-)

Take care,