Race for Victory 2010

At the start - 2010

What can I say except smiles all around.  I was looking forward to the race this year.  It is definitely one of my favourites.  It definitely was not as chilly as last year (see below) but the surprise in store for us was going to be the wind and boy did she blow.  I kept telling myself that it was good Argus training.  There were times it felt as if I was going to be blown off my bike but I held on tight - really tight.  LOL

Remember : At the start 2009

 

Crossing over the start line 2010

  Up until around the 40km mark I was having my best race ever.  My pace was good and best of all I was feeling great.  Ready to conquer the cycling world - the races ahead of me were not going to be that bad.  Then the wind let herself be really known and the worst was it was a headwind.  My word!!  The legs just don't get a break - you have to pedal your heart out if on a downward slope.  Ugghhh!!  Thankfully I'd done the route last year and smelt the finish line and just pushed myself.  I was not letting myself down.  For the first time in a long time I nearly burst into tears crossing over the finish line.  I was just grateful to be finished.  But now the thoughts in my head were not good and all of a sudden I wasn't feeling so confident about the 2 big races ahead of me.  The Jacaranda Satellite Classic is next weekend - 97km's.  I'm still wondering what I was thinking when I hit the enter key.



Thanking the heavens above!  The finish line 2010

 

Legs are tired!!

 We waited for my friend Sandi to come in and then went off to find Harry.  Harry wanted to watch the prize giving and all I wanted to do was head to the car. 

I look forward to doing this one again next year.  Guaranteed I'll be lighter even at goal if I play my cards right.  :-)  Heck, I might be brave and do the slighly longer one.

I finished in 2hrs44 - an improvement on last year.  Last year was 3hrs26

Dome 2 Dome or was that Silverstar Casino 2 Silverstar Casino

Guess who joined me!!

Last Sunday was my first cycle race for the Spring/Summer season.  I opted to do the 40 km.

This was the profile - you guessed it - OUCH!!

The night before the race we went out for our youngest's 6th birthday - a nice Italian restuarant which meant I could carbo-load and not do my diet too much damage.  The kids then went off with my BIL to spend the night with their cousins.  Hubby made an impromptu decision and decided to join me on the race.  Some adjustments on my mountain bike and a spare entry that a friend had, and he was all set to go.  And GO he did!!  He eventually calmed down and slowed down to a pace I could handle.  Relief!! 

I enjoyed this one, well, except for the end bit.  When I do it again I hope it will be a me at goal weight.  My weight is really slowing me down on the hills **sad face**

We finished the race in just over 3 hrs - around 03:08:something.  That hill at the end there killed us.  We walked, chatted and begged for mercy but we got up it.

We made it!!

Fortunately, one of cycling shirts fitted hubby.  Don't worry - one day they won't. hehehehehe  I'll be in skinnier ones.

I tried a new low GI drink on this ride, 32 GI and was very impressed with it.  It cut down on how many gels I needed to take in.  On a ride like this it would have been up to 3 gels - making the calorie intake a lot more than it was.  I also packed a healthy picnic for afterwards - NO greasy boerewors rolls or hamburgers.  **huge grin**

The next race is on the 19th.  I did this one last year so I am looking forward to comparing.  It is the Meals on Wheels race.  Fun times.

Back soon.....

96 Days to go - WCS

Previous weigh-in :  88.4 Kilograms
This weeks weigh-in :  88 kilograms
Loss :  0.4 kilograms

We have tickets....I swore blind that we would not be going to watch any of the games.  The fact that this family has no interest in soccer at all was a BIG part of the decision.  BUT - WCS fever is catching on ......well.... with most of the family members - hubby is still not keen at all.  I managed to get us tickets to the USA vs. Algeria game taking place at Loftus (not one of the new stadiums).   I think the atmosphere/vibe is going to be amazing although I am dreading the vuvuzelas - might need ear plugs for those.  LOL  They caused some controversy during the Confederations Cup that took place here not to long ago. 

Hubby managed to get me an official team shirt for SA - he opted to get a size smaller.  Sometimes I think he has more faith in me than I do.  So the above pic is the 'before' pic - we'll see what happens weight wise in about 3 months.  So many things are happening in 3 months time....

*  The FIFA World Cup Soccer
*  The Kremetart 175km Stage Race
*  Our Belly Dancing annual get together (July) - not only do I have to learn some dance routines but I need to fit into a costume that I'm HAPPY with - otherwise this bod will not be on any stage dancing.

The scale is still moving downwards although slooooooooowly!!!!  I know, I know - be happy - RIGHT!!  Can you see some impatience on my part creeping in.....

Have a super weekend........

Mich

It's official

I now weigh less than 90 kilograms (198.4 pounds).

Today the scale showed a 1.8 kg (3.96 lbs) loss for the past week.  I now weigh 88.4 kg's (194.8 lbs).

I can only hope that I go from strength to strength. 

What I did differently this past week:

The good:

Ate according to plan 95% of the time.
Ate the best choices where possible according to the Weigh Less plan.
Did not eat carbs after 5pm (evening meals being mainly protein and vegetables/salads).

Homemade carrot muffin with cream cheese topping

The bad:

* Last Saturday I had a chocolate and a can of coke.

* Sunday I did not stick to plan because of a picnic but made better choices + I had a KFC Brownie Avalanche

* Wednesday after hearing about my friend's mom being murdered I had another chocolate and can of coke.

Tonight will be a carb meal due to the fact that I am racing tomorrow - but nothing too heavy as it is not a looooong race.  :-))

I've got some exciting news - will post ASAP!!

The battle of the 'bathroom scale' wars.......

Valentines Day 2010 - Picnic @ the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens

I've become obsessed with the bathroom scale and this is NOT good.  Not good for me or for anyone else.  Stepping on the scale a zillion times in a space of a few minutes is not going to change the number.  I promise you - I can attest to this fact.  Nor believing that you have magically grown wings to lift you a bit - is not going to happen.  How do I know this?  Because no matter how much I begged those wings to appear they did not!!

Not to long ago - a couple of weeks ago I did some something miraculous and lost 2 kg's (4.4 lbs if my calculations are correct) in one week.  There I was sky high - hey, do this every week and before I know it - poof - the weight will be gone.  Well, my body had other ideas - truly it did.  A slight gain followed, then teeny weeny losses and I just about lost it when I knew I had put my heart and soul into sticking to the plan and exercising to only have lost a solid *&%$# 200 grams.  My Spirit was broken....why, why, why???  That was it I was going to give up 'the habit' and throw that horrid piece of equipment in the bin - I was done with it.  BUT - I couldn't do it.  I'm way to attached to my bathroom scale, the gym scale and any other scale I can step my sticky paws onto.  Come Sunday - I'm feeling lighter.  Do I brave it?  I stare at the scale - wondering why the hell I'm doing this to myself and there it is :  I'd finally managed to drop below 90 kg's (198.41 pounds).  There is no accounting for what the body wants to do and WHEN it wants to do it - it just didn't want to do it on Weigh-IN DAY!!

From this week I've decided to cut out all carbs after 5pm (except on the day before a cycle race day). I am making more of an effort to be in bed by 20:30 - any later and I seem to fade quick the next day and it seems to have a snow ball effect.

This is a huge mile stone for me as I have not been under 90 kg's in the past 10 years.  I hope not to see the 90's at all ever again.

The next goal 85 kg's - I can do this!!

It's a constant battle....

Me :  May 2009

Me : December 2008

.......and I know it is not going as fast as I had hoped but I'm hanging in there.  Some days it feels like two steps forward then a step backwards but I'm in persevere mode.  Is there a difference - I can only hope so.  Since I started this journey somewhere in February I have only lost about 8 Kg's (17.6 Lbs) - there is a need to push this journey into overdrive.  I'll be honest the past few weekends have not been easy diet wise and I know I did not make the best choices but I chose to deal with the consequences and that was that in no way was the scale going to be kind to my misgivings.  I'm hoping the social calendar is returning to back to just hanging out home with the family.

This weekend we were able to upgrade Ant's Cellular phone which meant we were looking for the best deals possible.  We managed to get an upgrade with a Wii.  Yeah, you read right.  We got a Nintendo Wii and we have had fun since we connected it up.  We just have the Sports games but we all get involved and I'm not quite sure when we have laughed so much together as a family.  We got off our butts and had some fun.  I'll say this the boxing is a killer.  LOL   So I now have the EA Active Personal Trainer game calling my name (has anybody got it and what do you think??), I see that in October they are also releasing 'The Biggest Loser' game as well.  I seriousley hope we can get it in South Africa.  Wonder if the boys will let me have some play time.  LOL

I have this goal to do the 94.7 10km Moutain Bike race/challenge in November.  What is scary is last I dreamt that I had decided to do the big one.  The road race which is approximately 94.7 km's.  Not sure I'd ever be ready for that, who knows??  In my dream I wasn't quite prepared - well I was, the bike wasn't.  I had dodgy breaks - Ant hadn't adjusted them as promised the night before, I didn't have a puncture kit or pump in case of flats.......LOL  Just where was this dream going??  To top it all off I was in the last group to be set off on this race and getting to the halfway cut was going to be close time wise....OMG!!!  Why this dream.... ???

Have a super weekend everyone!!

Hugs

Michelle