A friendly little game

After a lovely 4th of July at the lake with friends and late night fireworks- we were wiped out on Sunday morning.  No one stirred from their beds until about 9am!  We spent the morning in our jammies, bowls of cereal in hand, glued to the TV.  First the tour, then center court, and finally that little white ball. 

All those incredible athletes inspired us to get off the couch (that- and the hot dogs, chips, and root beer floats we gorged on the day before).  We grabbed our racquets and headed out. 

 

 

 

 

 

(Laurel was the line judge)

I hope you had a relaxing holiday weekend. Summer is just wonderful isn't it?

Focus

My day-to-day activities have boiled down to just a few things:

Training- not as fun in the moment...but good to be getting stronger. I have a little more than a month to go and am now doing brick workouts (swimming and then hopping on my bike.  Or riding my bike and then running right afterward.)  Each workout takes about 1.5 hours.  Early morning is when it all happens.  There is something very natural about waking up early for me.

Reading- spending ALOT of time with Bella, Edward and Jacob. I'm devouring the final book now.  I have been surprisingly and embarrassingly emotional about it.  My family and friends absolutely love making fun of me over my obsession. I think that I'll stop making reference to it in every conversation.  I downloaded the soundtrack the other day.  This song helps me rock it out on the treadmill.

Eating.  All the exercise is making me hungry as a horse.  I haven't lost a single pound- perhaps the two are connected somehow? I don't know, what do you think?  Eating a lot and not losing weight? Isn't there some logical weight-loss explanation about calories in and calories out? I must've missed that somewhere along the way. Here are a few of the yummy things we've been eating.

 

Tilapia Puttanesca.  Okay, so my kids did not eat this one.  They made pb and honey sandwiches for themselves.  Apparently kalamata olives and capers are not their thing.

 

Four Bean Salad. Endamame might be my new favorite food.

 

Grilled Veggie Salad (from Feeding the Whole Family).  Basically you grill your favorite vegetables and some chicken- then coat them in this dressing:

4 T Olive Oil

3 T Rice Vinegar

2 T Brown Rice Syrup

1 T Dijon Mustard

2 T Poppy Seeds

1 t Dried Dill.

 Pile them onto a bed of lettuce and sprinkle with feta cheese.  Tasty.

 

Orange- Banana Popsicles.  I use this mold.  I love the shape that they turn out in- old fashioned or something.  The kids (and neighbor kids) love these! I pretty much make a new batch every other day.

Hope your days are slowing down too and that you are unloading all the "busy" stuff. Focus on your favorites.

Trying a Tri

 I am training for a triathlon. It is hard.

 

Swimming is the hardest. Monday, Wednesday, Friday- 16 laps.

 

I am not a natural.  If only I had gills, then I'd be fierce.

Next comes the bike. Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday 13 miles. My butt hurts pretty bad.  I'm am starting to think that would be sweet to compete with a big huge granny seat on my bike.

 

Running: Monday, Wednesday, Friday. 3 miles. I found an app for my phone that is helping me run at intervals. I am working up to running the whole thing.

I have been surprised/ashamed at how sedentary I have become.  Gristle burning and muscle building apparently doesn't just happen.  It takes effort.  And a lot of it. 

That is all.  I am tired.