The Dress Rehearsal

6am ready to go!

Well this morning was the Iron Girl "Dress Rehearsal" its an opportunity to try on the event "for size" so to speak. I am glad I went! WOW! Is all I can say. IRON GIRLS GO HARD! There were some newbies and some Vets you could tell they had last year's swim caps on. But because I had to go to work I only planned to do the .684 miles swim others did the run afterwards and/or the bike. The oldest person was 8-0 freaking years old!!! 80! last year at 799 she did the course in 2 hours and 34 minutes!?!?! How?!?! Imma have to trip her if I can catch her! lol

The event was supposed to start at 6am & me being "Due Diligence" got there at 4:45am! Better early than late and I wanted a good parking space so I could get out! Needless to say I was the FIRST participant there! I met the organizer of the event and boy did he remember me! More on that later. lol Well it was pitch black outside but since I am a morning person I was ok with that. In fact I went to bed early and was up by 3:30am and forced myself to rest but just got up and headed out. I wasn't nervous maybe anxious because I was like where the hell are the rest of the Iron Girls?!?! Eventually they started to trickle in and I went to meet the group at the Team in Training table. I got my suit and I had my fingers crossed it fit since I have gained like 20 (or more...more....) pounds since I handed in my form.

I decided not to wear their suit and kept on my bathing suit then EVERYONE who SAID they were going to do the same thing slowly started putting on their TnT suit!!! Only 1 girl didn't and I guess that was because she did not reach within $200 of her minimum.

By the way a note on my friends...YALL ROCK...like really R-O-C-K!!!! I went from like $300 like 2 weeks ago to... as of 5 minutes ago... $1,210.00!!! Only $90 away from my minimum!!! Really less than that because I have some cash and 2 checks still to be added! That's amazing! I thank you all for your support!!!

A word on Team in Training... from my site MY TEAM IN TRAINING PAGE CLICK HERE Most of you know from my TnT site I had a 2 part-er reason for doing the event and one of those reasons was my Linesister (meaning she is my sorority sister and we came in together at the same time) Jacintha (I asked if it was cool to use her name she said yeah) She just beat cancer's ass after a few month of chemo and I felt this was a great cause to support in her honor. There were several times during that more than half a freaking mile swim I had to tell myself Jacintha beat cancer surely you can swim a little bit further! I did the Avon breast cancer walk in memory of 2 family members that died from breast cancer and that felt good but this feels good in a different way. Like she kicked cancer's ass I mean WOW!
So I kept kicking the only down side to that is I got a lil choked up thinking about someone her age having to battle cancer... but TnT helps to keep you grounded on why you are doing this and why you are pushing yourself to the max for a good reason a real reason.

I was the last one in the water for TnT by the way because the organizer stopped me to tell the crowd I was the first one there and talk about being in the spot light yall know I dont mind but I pretended to be coy! I betta be in the website!!! lol a/w he was funny nice guy! They have people that are swim buddies to keep you company and others in canons to help cheer you on and make sure you don't drift too far off the path. One thing I can say it took me 50 minutes I was shooting for 45 minutes and I didn't stop. Plenty of people took rest breaks on the cannons you just kinda hang on. So I am proud I got in done going slow and steady! Race day we only get 1 hour so I need some more water time and to lose some damn weight!!! To make sure I am in, in under 1 hour!

Well I made it to work and even got a parking space. :-) Good karma! This weekend I am working out with Charles my personal trainer doing running and biking around the mall and Sunday I will ride the Iron Girl course I hear its hill-y! Well 17.5 miles 7am on a Sunday sounds likes a good way to start the day!

I'll check back soon! Thanks again for all your support!!!

c~

My blog within a blog

I have a friend who did a great blog while training for her first marathon with team in Training. I initially had plans to do the same then the idea of keeping up with 2 blogs was a bit daunting. Then of course the fact that last Saturday was the first time I went to a training session factored into the equation as well :-)

I met with my personal trainer in Monday and had a good workout he is actually training hard for the Iron man in September! We are going to mix up the workout this weekend to include some biking and running/jogging. Apparently 4 times around the mall is 1 mile. I have 17 miles to bike... Yeah...I know. I finally did some laps 30 to be exact less than 1/2 a mile I think that 38 laps = 1/2 a mile. My shoulder is a little sore but no worries. My biggest boost right now is I went from less than 30% of my fundraising goal to 82% in about a week!!! My friends and family are amazing! I have less than $250 to reach my goal so if you wanna help out a good cause a mere $10.00 please CLICK HERE !!! THANKS TO ALL MY SUPPORTERS!!! YOU ROCK!

Ok so buzz of 'Team Cylia' is in the works for people who want to come out and show their love and support and pink & green signs as I make my way through my first Triathlon on Sunday August 22nd! I will try to coordinate something with my friend Devron who goes to support his boss when I firm up those details I'll send it out! Thanks for all the people near & far who asked about it! I'll appreciate it!! :-)

Truth time-I am not so much scared as I am concerned that I am too clam considering the task -to recap that a .62 MILE swim in open water/ 17.5 mile Bike/ 3.4 mile run) ahead of me. I'll go with the saying God protects fools & babies and maybe I am a fool or maybe as a child I wore my Wonder woman underwear too much and it has me fooled but again my goal is JUST TO (ALL TOGETHER NOW) finish.. OH AND NOT BE LAST! Btw why don't they make cartoon underwear for women? Or the days of the week ones?! Those were the best! Its the simple things that bring me joy!

Latersssss!

My First Time!

The Hill! Notice ALL the sweat on my Under Armor shirt....lol

Get yo' mind out the gutter! :0) Today was my first workout with the Team in Training folks! And what a workout it was! I am spent! It only 30 days away so I am glad I went! By the way there's still time to support my goal for cancer research! Please click here! I am only asking for $10 http://pages.teamintraining.org/md/irongcol10/cloweo

We worked out outside at 8am running up hills and down hills in her driveway and then doing planks and and all kinds of boot camp stuff that's good for the soul :-) then we did some yoga!

Below are some pictures from the road! This is in Ellicot City and it felt like I was on a back road in Trinidad or Jamaica lol

After the workout we had a nice breakfast eggs with basil, feta, and tomatoes! De-lish!!! And some fruit! It was a great day!

Procrastinators Unite.....TOMORROW~!

33 DAYS AWAY!!!

Procrastinators Unite! Tomorrow! :-) YEAHHHH that's my mantra (stolen from Soror Christine's facebook page) Yikes 33 days until the Iron Girl and I have done ZERO practice! ZERO! I AM BEHIND IN MY FUNDRASING GOAL AND I SENT OUT THE WORD THIS MORNING AND ALREADY RAISED AN ADDITIONAL $100!! YEAHHH GOOD PEOPLE I KNOW, HELPING OUT A GOOD CAUSE!!! Please visit my page ~~~> MY PAGE and donate just $10 (more if ya wanna) but just $10.00 a person goes a long way! THANKSSSS!!





OK getting real with yall in 2006 I did the Baltimore half marathon (13.1 MILES) without training. Not smart but you know what I finished! That was my goal. I just wanted to finish ok that's not true I just wanted to finish and not be the last person to finish! lol It was so funny when I checked the results it said I was 2nd to last! And I was like say what?!?! I beat a 90 year old man lol I was hot because I knew I passed plenty of people along the way so eventually they updated the website and it turned out I was second to last in before they stopped collecting the tracking device the others had to mail theirs in. :-) *ego in tact*





This time I need to do something more! At least last time I was in the gym pretty regularly and so I was somewhat fit even though I was still over weight. This time I am maybe 40-50 pounds less than I was in '06 because I lost about 45 pounds and I WAS on a roll but I been slacking lately! All this travel and fun and eating! I am out the workout loop. Well I got a few emails from the Team in Training folks and I am going to get it in gear! I had a girls weekend planned and I had to cancel that because of work issues and I'd have to drive about 150 miles each way alone to get there vs. car pooling and I am too beat down from all the traveling I been doing to drive myself 300 miles in a weekend!





But in the end maybe that was for the best because right afterwards I got an email from the Team in Training people Saturday morning we are doing a Boot camp, Sunday evening its an open water swim :-/ , next week a run/swim and then I have a "dress rehearsal" where we get to do the whole course if we want to. I will maybe swim and bike later for the 3 miles. So in gear! Thanks so much!!

What getting back on track looks like III

Well as promised I am doing another entry on food stuff. People seemed to really like the last entry so I am at it again. This morning before work I went to the supermarket and got a few things to 1. Save money (post Boule funds are low 2. To watch my calories. Hereeee we go!

Prepacked Chef salad on sale for $1.98

270 calories/ 20 fat grams/ 10 carbs/ 2 fiber = 7 points

280 calories/ 20 fat/ 15 carb/ 3 fiber/ 10 protein = 7 points]

*Quick review this was tasty. I need more meat however and you'll see the pics below. Most of the fat comes from the dressing or sauce which was damn good. There are some spicy tortilla chip in there as well and they were very good. All in all a great meal for 2 bucks. If I put this together in the cafeteria I am sure I would have paid twice that!


This is the package in its original state lol

All together. The protein was sorely lacking but my guess is their goal was to provide something less than 300 calories for marketing purposes.

My final product. I added 3 oz of chicken.

I got these for $2.99 pain grilled and the southwest one below. I put it in the microwave for 30 seconds it was very good and added the right amount to beef up my salad.

110 calories/ 2.5 fat/ o fiber / 20 grams protein = 2 points for 3 oz about 1/2 the bag needless to say the bag is less than half way full anyhow. This was a great grab and go item.

I am trying to low carb it without really telling myself I am doing low carb because as soon as I say I am on Atkins or South Beach every piece of bread is calling my name! It is crazy just the idea that I am going to restrict myself sends me into a hizzy fit for carbs so I am not low carbing it just getting a few non carb snacks like cheese.

This 2% cheese is only 2 points per slice. Cool. Used it this morning with my egg whites and turkey bacon.

This other brand was on sale and its "snack size" so I got some!

Now check it out 90 cals/5 fat/0- 2 points but there's an extra 30 calories & 1 gram of fat in here!

Lesson not all snacks or points are created the same! Even though they are both 2 points calorie wise the second option is higher and I need to be mindful of that!

Lastly, Fiber One had a yogurt its very good at least this peach flavor is! 50 calories/ o fat/ 5 fiber/ 3 protein = 0 points! Two however would be 1 point! Nothing is ever really 0 points maybe only water lol

Ok that's my new stuff! Let me know what you think!

St. Louis debriefing

Boule Gala

Well back from St. Louis! It was a great adventure! As you know I set some goals and thankfully some I met, some I didn't attempt and others almost met. (1) In terms of water I did well I didn't bring or buy a water bottle but I reused water bottles I purchased so I always had some. (2) We were centrally located but the heat index was between 100-110 degrees must days so I used the shuttle bus. There was a lot of indoor walking (3) Moderation...not so much didn't do a lot of sharing lol (4) Cutting back- Didn't work food is a slippery slope! (5) I did bring breakfast most mornings my Weight Watcher bars and other snacks. (6) My goal was to work out 3 days out of 5 at least 35 minutes I did 2 days (45 minutes & 60 minutes) (7) Stretching? Totally forgot about this lol (8) Small salads- didn't happen! The bad thing was other did order salad and I turned my nose up! Ok well 1 time I did at the airport on the way there I went with a Soror I just met and we went to Chili's and ordered what we thought was a good option grilled chicken sandwich she opted for the salad and I followed suit. I called my sister to get the points value b/c I wanted to track and it was 20 freaking points!!!! It has a wake up call! (9) Meditate- well we do a meditation every morning during the conference (10) Have fun & laugh-Yup got that in!

I skipped WW and the gym :-( I was tiredddddd! I guess jet lag or Boule lag can be blamed! I am still tired in fact. But its okay. I still feel great when i look at my pictures from this year vs. prior years but I was not amused that my suits were tighttttt and in fact one really didn't fit. I wore my body sharper like everyday to keep it together. That was a wake up call because I aint got no more big clothing!

I am about to gear up for my triathlon and get into the gym and get ready I have about a month. My goal is to finish lol

On the road again!

Well busy bee is at it again! My sorority's conference is next week and it is in St. Louis, Mo. never been so I am happy to go! Plus the first AKA Attorney officially take the reigns as the new president and I am excited about that! Some other things to be excited about are seeing some good Soror friends and seeing the new administration's vision for our sisterhood. Down side is I am struggling to get back on track...struggling I say! I am still sore from Monday's workout with my trainer and I haven't been back to the gym yet. Mister & I are spending some quality time since he is on vacation and I was away part of last week and I'll be away all of this week. That kinda sucks but both plans were well in the works before we met so what can we do. We went to the Reginald F. Lewis museum last night they have a discounted admissions rate of $5 after 5 pm on Thursdays. They have an interesting exhibit called from Beyond Swastika and Jim Crow which explores the relationship between refugee Jewish-German scholars and Historically Black Colleges & Universities. Under Nazi Germany all Jewish government workers were terminated that included professors at universities in Germany. Some fled to the United States and found teaching homes with HBCUs. Its an amazing story and it was wonderful to see the impact on many prominent African American scholars who benefited from these Jewish professors who could easily relate to their plight under Jim Crow.

Well while I soaked in all that knowledge I ask partook of the Cafe at the RFL museum let me just say hummm humm humm good. I been dying for some friend chicken since we visited Mother's in New Orleans and so I opted for that. The chef is a master ok! He made me...yeah made me *pinky swear* try his corn bread *fainting* so good! I also got a sample of his mac and cheese and collard greens!!! This man is a chef not a cook that's for sure! Mister was not pleased with the Chef lol he thought he was flirting with food lol wellll I did tell Chef I'd be back! Mister asked if i would leave him for a man that could cook he better start getting lessons from his Mom lol I told Mister not to worry I aint trying to gain 100 pounds back so its ok that he can't cook as long as his Momma does we straight! :-)

Anyyyhoooooo on the upside we took the steps up to the exhibit. That's a big deal because there are a lot of darn steps and last time I don't think I could have walked up the steps without huffing and puffing. Small NSV (non scale victories).

Saturday I am going to WW and then to the gym to do at least 2 hours and the laundry and then pack. My quest today was to find an article about how to get it right when you are on vacation...I usually workout at least 1 day and that's about the best I can do. This time I really want to set some goals and follow a plan and stick to it. The thing is when you are away NOTHING is under your control in terms of eating because you are always eating out. I need to make myself make better choices. Found this article Top 10 Tips Top Stay Fit on Vacation

Tip **************My Goal

1. Drink Water 1. Bring a water bottle

2. Stay Central 2. I am not sure how to do this but I will walk when I can

3. Moderation 3. Share deserts, skip appetizers, check, check

4. Cut back 4. I wants my likka I'll cut back as much as I can....

5. Bring breakfast 5. Good idea I will pack some oatmeal, bars, and fruit!

6. Take a dip 6. The hotel has a pool I may use it but the point is to exercise and I will 3 out of 5 days will be my goal for at least 35 minutes.

7. Stretch 7. I can do a 10 minute stretch each day no problem

8. Get some green in 8. I will order small salads to stay the meal off with!

9. Breathe Mediate 9. This is a working vacation so I will make sure I give myself time to do this!

10. Have fun laughing burns calories! 10. Nuff said!

Ok gang I'll try and check in and will let you know how it goes! Any extra tips please feel free to share!!

Socarobics vs. Zumba!!! Its On!

Ok well here's the deal there will be a workout dance off on Saturday, July 17 2010 from 10am to 11:30 @ Chizel It Fitness center! I talk about Zumba and Socarobics all the time and people always say "Oh sounds like fun!" "Oh I gotta try that" well here is your chance!!! Its $10 if you are not a member and it will be well worth it! Join us~!

http://www.chizelit.com/ Check the gym website for location information! Hope you can make it!!!

Who you with??? I got soca! :-)

NOLA...

Buffet at Court of Two Sisters

Well I am back from the Essence Music festival in New Orleans, Louisiana! It was an interesting trip to say the least lots of celebs and photo ops and food. But to be honest that was a once in a lifetime trip for me. Between the heat, humidity, the smells, the number of people, and the food I think a trip will suffice. I have a goal of visiting all 50 States by the time I am 50. So I am going to try and not double dip...

I did workout one day and it was a good workout 70 minutes on the elliptical and 30 minutes of weight lifting. The other day my workout was derailed by my roommate's asthma attack that resulted in an ambulance ride to the Tulane ER. All is well but that was a little scary 35 years and I've never been in an ambulance! But she is fine and was fine that day and evening.

Aside from that there was a lot of walking. I don't know how those chicks wore 5 inch heels it just aint worth it! For real...a/w I had an appointment with my personal trainer on Tuesday and I "forgot" well he didn't when I got to the gym it was on. I guess since I told him I gained 19 pounds back since April he hasn't seen me all that much but boy did I pay for it and you know what? I took it and liked it and didn't complain not one iota.

It was a hard workout a lot of work on the step he put as many as 6 risers on each side and I had to step up and down sometimes with weights.... There were no breaks I had to say ughhh I need water...and then I'd get right back on it. In looking at the pics from NOLA I can see the difference. Yeah the stuff still fits but not like before lol and to be real based on the food and likka I had some things I brought right before the trip didn't fit! No lie! I said something to my co-worker who went about being bloated from PMS and she was like well some of my stuff aint fitting right either we have been eating you know lol

Heffa lol but she was jusrt being honest.

Ahhh well it is really hard to eat right when you are away especially when the place is known for certain things that are not healthy. You feel like you got to try it! I'll do another entry of the food and drink madness at a later date.

Speaking of date....lol.... dating Mister is still going well. But it is really hard to live my kind of life and date and lose weight and exercise... all can be full time jobs in and of them selves! Like he's on vacay I just got back in town so of course we want to see each other. I made time for that and for the gym but then I also had a meeting and I had to miss it because I just cant do everything especially in 100 degree weather. Tonight he wants to go to the movies and I said yes but in reality I need to be at the gym and after the gym I'll be tired because I have to get up at 5am to get ready for work...what to do? what to do...I still don't know the answer to that. Food wise I am trying to get back on track its a challenge though because food is good and points are low! Yesterday I bought a rotisserie chicken for us to have for dinner with some mixed greens and fresh corn on the cob and red potatoes. A healthier alternative to eating out and that went well. I packed some up for lunch today and I bought some snacks like WW cakes and jello pudding because I've been craving chocolate and so I avoid the 7 point M&Ms I have have the jello instead. Small changes...big results...I am going to my WW meeting Saturday and taking Mister with me then off to the gym.

That's all for now!