Vacation & Weigh-In

Hello!  Last week, I had a glorious week of vacation on a lake.  There was sunshine, beer, fishing, wine tastings, kayaking, campfires, Bloody Marys, afternoon naps, lots of reading, and tons of relaxation.  It was absolute perfection, and just what I needed!

Here are a few pictures from vacation.

The start of vacation, sampling ALL of the beer at the Grumpy Troll.
I've already had all of these before...I just really like GT beer!

One of the MANY fish my stepdad caught right off the dock.

Bitchin picture of the lake that I took.
No filter.  For serious.

Yummy kabobs that Nick and I made for my parents while on vacation.

Our vacation pets :) Buffy & Lola

Momma & I enjoying a nice cold one while at the lake.
We took this picture, and sent it to Nick while he was at work :)

Kayaking for the first time.
I need to work on upper body strength!

Campfires at the lake.

Many Bloody Marys and lots of other alcohol were consumed during vacation...

This is what I've been up to since being home.

Beer tasting at the New Glarus Brewery.
We only live about 7 miles from NG, and it's my hometown
 so we've been here many, many times.

Botham Winery for wine tasting with Elly.

New Glarus Brewery

Now that I am back to reality, I am trying to get back into a routine.  As you can see from my pictures, a lot of alcohol has been consumed lately.  Guess what that means?  This girl hasn't been working out and is super puffy, bloated, and tubby.  

Sunday, I finally faced the music and stepped on the scale, it was scary.

179.9

Luckily, a tiny bit of that weight was shed by drinking lots of water to flush my system, and cleaning up my diet.  For my official Wednesday Weigh-In I am at

177.2

Better, but still not good.

Time to start over, again.

Those are some pretty simple words, and a basic concept, but damn, I suck at it!

No more quitting!

A miracle occurred, and I actually got up early enough to go for a run this morning!  I only went 1.5 miles, but it was still tough because I'm SO out of shape!  The only way I am going to get back in shape is if I keep pushing myself and doing things that are tough.

I will not quit.

I will not start over.

Je suis prest: I am ready.

(Clan Fraser motto...Outlander, anybody?

Accountability & Goals

I am sneaking a quick break at work to get in a blog post.  Our office and my textbook room are stuffed to the gills with boxes of books, clothing, and supplies that need to be unpacked, priced, and put on shelves. 

 Only having three people to do all of this work makes taking breaks a rare luxury at the moment.  I am working solo on the textbooks, which I prefer.  I have a specific order to my textbook room, and I get a little crazy when others come in an don't follow my rules....

Anywho....I've been sucking at this whole being healthy thing.  Surprise, surprise.

I tend to follow a pattern where I totally kick ass for a month or two, and then I fall of the face of the Earth and turn into a big fatty for a month or two.  I keep saying "this" time is going to be different, but alas, it never is.

That being said, I want THIS time to be different!  What I need is an accountability buddy.  I have reached out to friends and family members, but they never follow through because they are not on the same journey, nor even a similar one (damn skinny friends!), that I am.  

Many of you though, that read this blog, are on a similar journey.  Would any of you like to be accountability buddies?  

I don't have all of my thoughts gathered on what I would like out of an accountability buddy, but emailing one another and working out a plan would be a great start.  Some of my thoughts are if we have similar work schedules, we could plan to workout around the same time and email, or text, one another when we have finished our respective workouts.  If we don't hear from each other, we would coax one another to get our bums movin'!  We could share meal plans.  We could have friendly competitions.  Etc.  The possibilities are endless!

So, if anyone is looking for an accountability buddy, send me an email! 

loeffelholz34@gmail.com

If I hear from more than one of you, that's great!  We could pair off, or just have a group of buddies.

Besides seeking help with accountability, I also have a few goals for this week.  Some are fitness related, and some are just things I need to get done.  I've been a real slug lately in every area of my life.  Oops.

Log 25 miles.

Bathe the dogs. 

Restart & complete Week 1 of 21 Day Fix.

Get a packing list for vacation ready.

I leave for a week long Northwoods vacation this Saturday, woohoo!

Clean the refrigerator.

27

I apologize for the lack of posting lately, but it's crazy busy time at work so I haven't had my usual time to write for my blog.

Today is my 27th birthday!

To celebrate, I have decided to share 27 random facts about myself.

Enjoy.

1.  I have lived in Wisconsin all my life thus far, and probably will continue living here for the remainder of my life.

2.  I LOVE cheese.

3.  I am afraid of mice.  Like, jump on a chair and scream afraid.

4.  I am also not a fan of frogs or toad. I cannot touch them.  Just thinking about touching them makes my heart race.

5.  My all-time favorite beer is At Water Vanilla Java Porter.  It is divine!

6.  I randomly count things in Spanish.  For example, when I am filling up my water bottle at the bubbler, I count how long it takes in Spanish.  Or, I count the brick in the hallway from the bathroom to my office, in Spanish.

7.  Ich kann ein bisschen Deutsch sprechen.  (I can speak a little bit of German)

8.  I have been dating Nick for 2 years and 8 months.

9.  We had only been dating for 7 months when we bought a house together...sometimes you just know when it's right :)

10.  I have two biological older brothers, two older step-brothers, a younger step-brother, and a younger step-sister.

11.  My due date was actually June 20th...my poor mother!

12.  I have two dogs.  An 11 year old fox terrier named, Molly, and an almost 2 year old Boston Terrier named, Skittles.

13.  Blue is my favorite color.

14.  I really, really, really like ketchup with my eggs.

15.  I have a bachelor's degree in Broad Field Social Studies...yeah...

16.  I work at the college I graduated from with said degree.

17.  Through my work now, I am pursing a Spanish degree, for free!

18.  I can read, write, and listen to Spanish fairly well, but I suck at speaking it because I get really nervous about making mistakes.    

19.  My favorite dessert is cheesecake.

20.  I studied aboard in Italy for a semester in college.  It. Was. Ah-may-zing.

21.  I have also traveled to Germany, France, Belgium, Spain, and the Netherlands.

22.  I am a book nerd.  I always carry a book in my purse and read a little bit every single day.

23.  My favorite book genre is Fantasy.  I love wizards and shit like that.

24.  My mother named me after her favorite character on the Guiding Light, but she spelled it the "normal" way instead of Ashlee.

25.  When I was younger, I tried to convince my mom to change my name to Amanda. 

26.  I have had the same BFF since 7th grade.  She lives out in NJ, and we are only able to see each other 2 or 3 times a year.  When we do see each other though, it's as if absolutely nothing has changed between us :)

27.  I highly dislike cats. 

That was a lot of fun!  It was tough to only pick 27 things!  

Weigh-In Wednesday

 Happy Weigh-In Wednesday!

Another disappointing weigh-in, but at least I lost a little!  Last week was 172.4 so I'm looking at a .2 loss. 

Even though the scale may not be moving too much, I am just feeling healthier.  Some clothes are fitting a bit better and I am seeing more definition and less rolls :)  I still hope to get out of the 170's by the end of June!  

Last night, I took my new running kicks out for 3 mile run.  The shoes felt amazing, but the heat and humidity, not so much...   81 with 70% humidity, ick.  I was an extremely sweaty betty and breathing heavy the entire time.

I felt like I was going at a snail's pace so I was pleasantly surprised by my time.  I thought for sure I was going to have 11:XX mile times.  

Tonight, 3 of my gals pals and I are having a girl's night and are going to a Mallard's baseball game.  The Mallard's are Madison's minor league team.  My friend, Heidi, whose wedding I will in in October, has lost 20 pounds since the last time (April) I saw her!  I CANNOT wait to see how fabulous she looks!  

Our area has been having some crazy storms the past two days...we actually just came out of tornado warning.  Hopefully the weather doesn't ruin our plans tonight!

I am also linking up with Fitness Blondie for the Hump Day Blog Hop so I can find some new awesome blogs to read!

"Let's Get Some Shoes" & Goals

Goals - Week of 6/9

Log 50 miles.

Nope. Only 20.49.  Not even close.

3 2x Days.

Close!  I did 2.

Run 4+ times.

Eeeh...only ran twice.

No cheating my meal plans!

Fail.  Huge fail.

This weekend got me, good.  I barely got any activity in, and ate everything and anything in sight, and drank a lot of beer. I definitely felt my bad choices on Monday!  I was super bloated, and just felt like a cow.

This is how last week went down for activity:

M - 3.10 mile walk, 2.07 mile run, 1.13 mile walk, Total Body Fix

T - Yoga Fix, Pilates Fix

W - 4.04 mile walk, Upper Fix, Cardio Fix

T - 1.03 mile walk

F - 2.07 mile run, .71 mile walk, 1.5 mile walk, 2.23 mile walk

S - 1.53 mile walk

S - 1.8 mile walk

I started the week strong, but then lost my momentum.  On a positive note, at least I did get some activity in everyday!

Goals - Week of 6/16
Log 50 miles.
This is my 4th straight week of having this as a goal.  I WILL accomplish it this week!

Run 4 times.

Start Round 2 of 21 Day Fix
Yesterday marked the end of round 1. I try to get a post about my results out this week.

Clean and organize foyer closet.
I need to put this one out there because it's driving me crazy! Hopefully by writing it down, I will actually get it done!

On an entirely different note, I finally when to a running store to get fitted for shoes!  After getting my feet measured, walking around a lot and having the sales person watch my every move, she brought out 3 pairs for me to try on.  I do not have any issues with heel striking, my arches are normal, and I don't need any added support so all pairs were neutrals.

The first pair I tried were Brooks which I have never even tried on before.  While they were extremely comfortable, they just did not feel right.  The toe box felt much too wide.

The second pair I tried on were actually the pair I went with.  They are Asics Gel Cumulus 16s.  The fit is amazing and they are super comfy!  I like loud colors so the bright blue is perfect!  My last two pairs of running shoes were also Asics so I think I have officially become an Asics girls.

I just got them on Friday so I have yet to run in them, but I have gone on a couple walks to break them in.  I think it's going to be a match made in heaven!

The final pair the lady had brought out were Mizuno Wave Riders...not sure which number they're on now...and I knew right away I was not going to like them.  Wave Riders rub a lot on my little toes because they have a more narrow fit.  Since she brought them out though, and they were a new model, I figured I might as well try them out.  Sure enough, they rubbed me the wrong way...hahaha, I'm hilarious.

Link up with My No-Guilt Life and Run The Great Wide Somewhere if you wanna get in on the shoe talk action with the Tuesdays on the Run link-up!

Now that I got myself some solid new running shoes, I decided to get more serious about running to train for a race.  I am still not going to sign up for any races until I am able to run 5 miles comfortably, but I decided to set a lofty goal and start a marathon training schedule.  This means that yesterday was technically day 1 of marathon training...

Week 1 looks like this:
M: Cross Train
T: 3 miles
W: 3 miles
T: 3 miles
F: Rest
S: 6 miles
S: Cross Train

I am following Hal Higdon's Novice 1 Training plan.  Hitting 6 miles on Saturday already is a little terrifying.  I am going to do my best though and try to get through it.  If it ends up being too awful, I will reform my schedule to follow the Supreme Novice plan instead.

Switching plans will greatly affect my timeline, but it might be worth it.  If I stick to the Novice 1 plan which is 18 weeks long, I will be looking to run the Hunted Hustle Marathon on October 26, 2014.  If I end up swapping to Supreme Novice it is 30 weeks, and I will not be ready until the second week of January.  I live in Wisconsin...running a marathon in January does NOT sound appealing, late October is already pushing it....Perhaps I will look at out of state marathons if that is the route I need to take?

This is just a ridiculous little diddy in case you are unaware of my title reference...