Tuesday - No Bike for Mr. Darcy, but a Lovely Ride for me!

Mr. Darcy is still without a bike.  Sunday we ended up having a play date with Holland and his sister Helena and his sweet parents.  It was a ton of fun!  The kids played in the splash pad until they got hungry for lunch and then we all ate lunch together.  The guest of honor - a local squirrel - was quite a hit with the kids.  They were both frightened and enamored with it  - all at the same time.  I wondered what Holland's parents thought of my lunch... the kids & Mr. Darcy had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and fruit, but I gave up peanut butter (and am in love with almond butter instead... but only in v. small quantities) and bread and am eating deli meat only on occasion with my paleo version of eating zone style.  So I had cheese - 3 oz. of it, cherries, and mixed greens.  The kids and Mr. Darcy drank juice and I drank water.  I've tried to get the kids and Mr. Darcy on to paleo and zone eating, and it works quite well at dinner and snacks (at least with the girls) but the other 2 main meals of the day I'm having difficulties.  But I will keep trying! 

Monday we woke up and headed to the zoo.  We got to see a giraffe up close and personal... she was trying to get people to feed her.  It was cool for the kids to get to see her (and I was pretty excited too) and we got to talk about her tongue being black, etc. We also saw baby marmosets, and a baby spider monkey.  Afterwards we tried to go to the bike shop, but it was closed.  So we headed home and took naps.  Then we tried to go to the pool but it rained the second we stepped out of the car.  So we watched "Anastasia" while Mr. Darcy went to the grocery.... and picked up a frushetta pizza and chocolate chip mint ice cream.

So dinner was not exactly paleo or zone.  But (and hopefully this isn't too much TMI) I can tell my body doesn't like the times that I don't eat on the paleo diet.  Let's just say my intestines are rejecting the non-paleo stuff.... as quickly as possible.  Which makes me wonder if I have some sort of wheat allergy that I wasn't aware of because I was eating whole grain stuff all the time.  My Mom is allergic to gluten and has a similar reaction as to what I'm having when she eats it.  She also blows up like a ballon if she eats it too often - bloating wise.  It's all a mystery, but I have to say that I don't really miss the wheat products.  I'm thrilled to eat my fruits and veggies!  I'm still getting used to the idea that 1 serving of veggies is WAY MORE than I thought it was before - like 2 entire pepppers and 3 cups of broccoli.  But, I eat a nice bit of fruit too, which is much smaller doses to get to carbs.   I think overall the paleo and zone this working.  I know it's only been 2 weeks, but I tried on a pair of pants this weekend that was super tight 2 weekends ago and now it's still a little tight but nothing like 2 weeks ago.  Plus, Mr. Darcy was sitting with me at the dinner table this weekend and told me that my arms look thinner to him... which of course may have something to do with the pushup challenge too.  And I feel good everyday.  So I am definitely going to continue eating my paleo zone version I've concocted.  I haven't stepped on a scale, but I don't really plan to either.

Last night before bed, I knew that I had to get on my bike today.  It was like my legs were itching for it.  I hadn't gotten my workouts from Coach at that point, so I decided I'd do 15-20 miles in the neighborhood since I don't like the idea of riding alone on the open/closed road.  I'll come around to it eventually, but right now I don't like the idea of it.  So this morning I dressed for a bike ride and saw right before I left that Coach had a 15 mile ride on tap for me for Friday.  I decided that I was doing the ride today.  My bike was calling me.  I've been on the trainer a bit, but not the road.  And you could tell - I had to pump up the air in my tires big time. Not to mention take the race sticker off of my helmet... which I may have ridden in without remembering it was there a previous time. It felt so great to be riding.  A little annoying with all the stop signs and yielding to traffic and such, which slowed me to 12 mph at times.  And really annoying on my last loop when this guy was literally following his daughter as she rode her bike... he was driving slower than I was pedaling and I really had to slow down.  Less than 10 mph on a flat.  And I couldn't go around him because cars kept going in the opposite direction.  If she's on a bike, you must trust her to ride to school, so why follow her part way?  But there were great stretches of the long roads and the short ones too where I just got into aero and went.  I didn't try to burn it up (especially since I have a 50 minute tempo run on tap for the morning), but on those nice stretches of car free riding, I was going anywhere from 16-17 mph, which is pretty much what I ride in races at this point (unless there are head winds and such then I do what I can!).  It was like heaven to have all that wind in my hair and sun beating down on me.  Sheer joy.

Tommorrow is a tempo run.  I can't say I like tempo runs other than I know that they are intended to make me faster and help me burn fat. So, I'll pretend to like them as much as my regular runs. : )  I expect to sweat alot tomorrow!

Tonight we're going to try to make it to the bike shop so Mr. Darcy can ride the Fuji. Thanks for all your comments about Saturday's bike post.  And while I'm not in the market for a new bike - I really love the one I have - I have to say it's really a lot of fun to look and help Mr. Darcy find the bike love of his life.  I just wish I could get him to stop thinking about money while doing it.  Sure, I don't want him to ride anything that's definitely not in the budget but $200 in either direction doesn't hurt.  I completely agree that FIT is your friend.  And I would love for Mr. Darcy to get in shape and to love cycling!  He doesn't like running, and swimming isn't his thing either.  So cycling is my last ditch effort at getting him into a cardio activity... plus it's one we can do with the girls.  Which by the way, the girls LOVED finding bikes at the shops that fit them.  All the shops had bikes with training wheels that fit the girls.  They really loved the Fuji one that was hot pink and had hot pink and purple streamers from the handle bars.  Oh yeah!  We're going to wait a bit on that one though... but I'm thinking Christmas. : )

I'm super excited about the girls' birthday.  Holland's Mom sent me an etsy link to a shop that makes personalized super hero capes and masks for kids.... http://www.etsy.com/listing/47927954/childrens-custom-superhero-kid-cape I may be spoiling my children for their birthday.  But I cannot resist these.  I'm getting one for Angelfish that is light pink with a heart shape in sparkle purple and her initial in sparkle white. (Her favorite colors are pink and purple.)  Ladybug's is going to be a light pink cape with a flower in hot pink sparkle with her initial in sparkle white.  And I'm getting them a super hero mask to go with it - hot pink for Ladybug and purple for Angelfish.  I'm super excited!  Mr. Darcy says he wants to buy them legos from him. So I'll probably get them a book each from me to keep up the tradition of a book on your birthday every year... or they'll get a book from both of us and I'll get them something super girly.  I haven't decided.

I wish I had had birthdays like this!