It's never too late to try again

Remember DietBet? Yeah, that bet that I was feeling so confident about... confidence lasted for about two weeks, as I managed to lose 3lb pretty quickly, but then it went onto plateauing and that was the end of it. The bet called for a 4.5lb loss. So close, yet so far! I thought about not eating for a day, then sweating for 2h on the bike, then stepping on the scale, but I knew that was cheating, because I would have put everything back on the next day. Plus, knowing myself, it wasn't even guaranteed to work. So I took my 3lb loss and made peace with myself and my wallet. It's still a good start. Now, I am still 5lb over my last year's lowest, so I'd love to go back there, and lose some more, ideally to get down to 125lb before Ironman Muskoka in September. That's 10lb in total. That's a lot by my body's metabolism and my cranky thyroid. And let's face it, living with two kids and a husband with a sweet tooth (I still love you!), doesn't make it easier.

So, looking back, the DietBet challenge coincided with me starting a new training plan that calls for up to 12h of workouts weekly. Despite doing all the workouts and more, my weight loss has pretty much stopped, so I decided to crank it up a notch. Without going back to obsessing about tracking down calories as in the good old days when I was weighing 50lb more, I have set myself new rules for the month of April, thanks to an initiative of one of my friends on Facebook: eating "clean" for the month of April, whatever "clean" means to you. Since I am not a vegetarian, vegan, paleo, pescaterian or smoothie junkie, I will be continuing to eat close to my regular diet, but remove all "sweets and treats", as a general rule. I never really binged on those anyway, but they more or less contribute to my sugar addiction and I feel like a prisoner. I need to free my body and mind from the idea that I need those to live happy.

I found this graph that represents very well what sugar does to your system (food for thought):

Now, let's not get ahead of ourselves, I will never be able to remove all sugars, neither I should, after all, I am an athlete in training, but if I can minimize their intake to the absolute necessary, or eat only what I make at home with my own ingredients, it would be a great start. Here are my rules for the month of April. I've listed them on Facebook as well, but the more visible they are, the more accountable I feel. So, thank you in advance for the motivation that I get from you reading this commitment.

THE RULES:
-No desserts or treats of the sweet kind (cakes, ice cream, chocolate, candy, pastries, halva).
-No junk food (pizza, hamburgers, fries, hot dogs, chips)
-No pop (stopped drinking pop 3 years ago and haven't had a single one since). Irrelevant, but I thought I'd mention it, just because I'm damn proud.
-Red meat no more than once a week.
-Fish at least once a week.
-As little as possible white bread, pasta or rice, ideally no more than twice a week.
-At least 2 fruits a day
-At least 2 veggies/greens a day
-No more than 1 coffee a day (with raw sugar)
-Takeout or restaurant food no more than once a week, within the same set of rules.

EXCEPTIONS:
-Gatorade no more than once a week, use Metagenics Endure instead when needed.
-Homemade energy bars, when needed.
-Energy gel, Gu Chomps or Clif Shot Blocks when needed (I don't have any long race, so I should be ok for April)
-Protein bars (Honey Stinger), when needed.
-Dried fruit in moderation (apricots, raisins, figs, cherries, cranberries, prunes)
-Homemade banana bread, no more than once a week.
-Homemade french crepes, no more than once a week.
-Tea with honey
-Honey or organic jam for toast

That's about it. Limit the bad stuff, while increasing the good stuff. I generally have a "clean" diet since I had my gallbladder removed anyway, but I know that some details count. Being able to resist temptations is really what I am trying to achieve this month, and if weight loss or additional health benefits come with it, then I'll take them, it can only be for the better! I can do this!

The Virtual Half Goofy Challenge Report

Hello Internet. Meet Cori. She is seriously kick-ass. She works, writes and raises two beautiful twin girls, and did I mention that she runs marathons, half marathons and 5Ks all in a weekend's breath too? Yep, she does. Just a few weeks ago she traveled to Disney World and ran the famous Goofy (and some more - that's a lot of km, believe me) with Team in Training. Are you inspired yet? You should read her posts here, here and here. Respect.

So you may remember that hubbs and I joined Cori in her brilliant fundraising challenge, that was to run a Half-Goofy, sometime between November and the end of January. The requirements were that we run a 10K and a half marathon over 2 consecutive days and send her the proof. Not only we'd help the cause, but we'd even receive a hand crafted medal made by Cori, a set of bibs and a training plan. How awesome was that!

The time went by fast, then Zin got injured and we had to postpone, postpone and postpone again... I even thought of doing the Half-Goofy by myself while we were vacationing at Disney World, but quickly realized that without the road closures of the real event, there was just no way (no sidewalks at the resort). Oh, and definitely no time.

Ohmigosh ohmigosh, it's almost Half-Goofy time!!

So better late than never, the last weekend of January, even though it was -15C outside, we put on our 12 layers and went out to have... fun (?). Just a week before, it had snowed for the first time this winter. And we hit record cold temperatures too (-26C mid-week). Needless to say, we were in for a treat, the Great Ass Freezing was in full effect with no signs of getting warmer. This was it. No other chances of running the Half Goofy.

Oh well, HTFU. Saturday, we warmed up with breakfast and a coffee and we hit the road. 10K, that wasn't going to be that bad we said. And indeed, it was a gorgeous day with bright blue sky (don't ever trust the bright blue sky in winter) and the hour went by in no time. We went on our favorite route to Heart Lake and back, nice and steady. Below are some pictures and the Runkeeper trace.

A Goofy Journey begins

Heart Lake Road

This is Countryside

Home stretch

The next day I got an invitation to run with a group of friends who were doing 16K with the Running Room downtown Brampton. Since a meetup was long overdue, we decided to join them and add a 5K loop at the end. It was a great decision because hubbs got the opportunity to run with other folks at a faster pace, while I got to catch up with my running buddy Orville, with whom I ran most of the 16K and talked about a year's worth of life and stuff. I also met Gary, another Runkeeper friend who kept me company for a little while, before joining the faster group as well. It was really treat to share this time with them.

We didn't even took our cameras out, it was too cold anyway and batteries needed to be spared. A run was being recorded with the phone, this was serious! I think I did the 16K in a bit less than 1h45, hubbs finished 8 minutes ahead of me. We quickly said goodbye to our friends and ran on... Went straight south on Main St to the Police Academy building (that's how I call it since I ran around it a few years ago when I was trying to become a cop), did the same loop around the building and back. We circled the Running Room plaza some more to make it 21.1K, then ... we were done!!! Wow, not even tired. Hahah. Yeah, right. We were tired of course, starving and thirsty. I only ate half a pouch of Honey Stinger chews (shared it with Orville) and half a bottle of water because for over 10K I wrestled with it, trying to suck the water out. It was frozen and of course it wasn't coming out. I ended up tucking the bottle inside my sweater for a while and eventually smartened up and completely removed the cap to drink. Too little, too late... but it got me through it.

The trace looks like a Christmas Tree - don't ask, I only followed the directions. The run was quite hilly too, but I didn't seem to notice - so much easier with company! We took the car and went straight back home where.... wait for it... we took an ICED BATH.

I added a few more layers on top and removed as many as I could on the bottom and after hopping in, I asked hubbs to take a picture of me before I turned blue. I have no idea how cold the water was, but the idea of adding ice cubes seemed totally superfluous. Instant freeze. Legs burned for about 5 minutes, then everything went numb and I started feeling pretty darn good. Call me a masochist, I know. The day went on with the weekend chores... groceries, cooking, folding laundry, all the good stuff outside of running and virtual racing.

And just like that, the Half Goofy was behind us. It was a great adventure and I am so happy and proud to have been part of Cori's virtual team. She had the best idea ever, but what would you expect, she's a smart cookie. Someone said COOKIE?! Nom nom nom.

Darn, I'm hungry. Thank you Cori for the medals and the cute little card and all the dedication that you put into this event. You are the best!