Whole30: Week One Round-Up (And Other Stuff)

Today is officially day seven of my Whole30... the first week is over! Before I get into that, let me get into the sugar binge I had right before I started Whole30 that left me feeling horribly sick for the first few days. -__-

It was fun though. 

First, I had a work trip to NYC, where I ate everything. There are many things I dislike about the city-- the hoards of people, the urine-ish smell that seeps from the pavement when it's hot, the people asking me if I want to go to the top of the Empire State Building or ride a double decker bus every time I walk by. But I LURVE the food in the city. Anywhere, any type of food, any time. I even found a place to eat Filipino food! I was too full to eat there, but next time. Oh, next time, New York. You and I and a fork and spoon and my soft pants.

Over Labor Day weekend, my friend and I had a Pinterest win with these extremely unhealthy treats. 

 

It worked out. I felt guilty for making something healthy so incredibly unhealthy, especially after reading It Starts with Food. However, I was in Last Hurrah Mode, which is the worst attitude to have before starting a diet making a lifestyle change. I'm not gonna lie, it was super fun to make and eat. 

When we got home, I officially started Whole30. Before I started... I don't know, being lazy... I used to cook so much. This is forcing me to get back to those habits. I even made homemade mayo (which made me question every other mayo I've ever eaten because it was delicious) and chicken stock and stored it in jars because I scared myself reading about why you shouldn't store food in plastic containers. 

It's so simple, but I still felt fancy. 

 For my first week, I decided to take Melissa Joulwan's suggestion and do most of my cooking for the week on Sunday (in my case I did it on Tuesday, but whatevs). I used to do this when I was teaching because I was always really tired after school. Then I stopped because I got lazy (see the trend here?). I made chicken in the crockpot, used the bones and make stock, roasted a pan of sweet potatoes, and made bison chili. I made big batches so I could just grab and go all week. 

It worked out pretty well, except for the meat. I ate so much meat last week. 

 I'm okay with meat, but I'm not a person who eats meat every day. I'd much rather have beans or quinoa, or something else with protein like nonfat Greek yogurt. Beans and quinoa will be the first food items to be reintroduced into my rotation when this is all over. 

The good thing about the meat for Whole30 is that you need to look for meat from animals who have been humanely raised and not fed a bunch of junk. More on that here. 

Here is how Whole30 predicts your first week will go and they were on point with most of it:

On day one, I was feeling really great. We were in the car traveling and I even avoided road food and ate turkey and an avocado for lunch. I was missing a veggie, but I made it work. When we got home, I went grocery shopping and I got pissed off. Every. Thing. Has. Sugar. What is normally a forty minute shopping trip turned into two hours. Not cool. I'll write about my prep for this undertaking (and the DENT it left in my bank account) in another post because it deserves its own post. 

At the start of day two, I felt pretty good. I even ordered an extremely healthy lunch when I was out for work. Then, the headache started. 

Worst. Feeling. Ever. 

It was behind my eyes and on top of my head. It spread to my neck. It lasted for three days. I also experienced pretty horrible sleepless night on day two and three. I got about three hours each night and spent most of my night googling "Whole30 can't sleep" on my phone. I thought I was coming down with something-- I had the body aches. Turns out, it was probably just me detoxing from the sugar I so readily and easily consume each day. My body's reaction to no sugar kind of scared me. I'm glad I'm doing this. 

On days four and five, you're supposed to be so irritable that no one wants to be around you. Besides losing my temper at the dog and snapping at the Hubs for a few trivial things, I was all good. 

Days six and seven find you feeling extremely tired according to the timeline. I wasn't any more tired than I usually am, although today (day seven) I could have taken a nap. In fact, it's 9:30pm and I'm exhausted. 

So yeah, not a lot of positives yet because my body is like, "What the eff are you doing to me?" except that my sleep for the last two days has been FREAKIN' AMAZING. 

I ended my first Whole30 week with an awesome event in our community called Pedal to Your Mat, where I rode eleven miles on my bike and ended up at my mat for an hour of yoga. They even had food I could eat at this event!

 

I'm trying to find some way to treat ma' self as I near the end of each week of this Whole30 challenge that is not food related (the food at the end of this event was a bonus!) or crazy expensive.

Doing something healthy and physical after a rough first week of Whole30 seemed like a great reward! Yoga under a blue sky with live music. YAAS! 

Week Two is starting tomorrow... I hope this lasts! 

Freaking Out and a Training Update

Empire Records is one of my adolescent self's favorite movies and over the last few weeks, I've been finding myself constantly making comparisons to Liv Tyler's character-- not the losing my virginity to Rex Manning part-- but the using every hour of every day to do something part... minus the speed. If I don't clear some space for myself, I'm going to FREAK OUT:

Oh man, that is some A+ acting... fer reals.

But seriously, I have been way too busy for the last two weeks. My expectation of what my summer was going to be compared to what it is is making me feel really overwhelmed. I just finished my eighth year of working in schools and teaching and I want to write down the lessons that took me six years to really learn so that I don't forget as I delve deeper into my summer work:

1. My family comes before my career.

2. My physical and mental health come before my career.

3. No teacher should strive to be a martyr.

Easy, right? 

Bwahahaha

Anyway, onto tri training and my week of workouts...

Going back to clean eating was fairly easy and it made me feel awesome. I slipped a little lot yesterday when we had people over, but it was to be expected and I'm not beating myself up over it. Plus, I rode 36 miles on my bike (more on that in a minute) so I didn't feel too bad about eating like crap. Back to it this week!

Training this week was a bit brutal on my body. I'm left with these questions:

When will the day come when I am no longer sore? 

What am I doing wrong? 

Is my body just not meant to be athletic? 

Should I stretch for longer than 15 minutes after my workouts? 

Kind of negative, I know, but GEEZ. I think I've been sore since January. 

The Plan

Monday: 23 swim

Tuesday: 46 bike

Wednesday: 31 swim, 62 bike

Thursday: 31 run

Friday: 39 swim

Saturday: 5K and 36 mile bike to South Haven

Sunday: Off! 

The Real Deal

Monday: 60 swim

Tuesday: 90 bike and yoga

Wednesday: 31 swim

Thursday: 60 bike, 35 run

Friday: Off (my low back was KILLING me from my run)

Saturday: No 5k due to the killer low back, 36 mile bike ride adventure to South Haven

Sunday: Off

Conclusions:

I need to run more and stretch for longer afterwards.

Yoga is key

The better I eat, the more energy I have

Now, I'd like to expand on what I meant when I called yesterday's bike ride a "36 mile bike ride adventure."

I wanted to ride to South Haven to celebrate being what we like to call "Dirty Thirty." Here is the conversation I had with the park volunteer before we set out on the bike trail that gets people from Kalamazoo to South Haven:

Volunteer: Where are you riding?

Me: To South Haven

Volunteer: Didn't you read the signs? There are about 100 trees down between here and there.

Me: Well, we're gonna try it anyway.

And try it we did. It was truly a Dirty Thirty celebration. 

The volunteer was wrong. There were 185 downed trees. And we traversed the wilderness to make it work. What is usually a two to two and a half hour ride became a four hour riding and hiking adventure:

I'm fairly certain this ride did not help my low back issues... however, it was so fun that I threw caution to the wind. 

Getting our bikes through became a crazy obstacle course.

At one point we hit the road because the trees were too much. I may have turned to drink.

Then we were back to the trees!

We lost our man Joe when the derailleur was ripped off of his bike (the Hubs picked him up), Alyssa and I probably have poison ivy, Miche became a professional weight lifter to get her bike over branches, and DWebb lost a spoke and got stabbed by a branch, but it was all in good fun. I have really good friends, and despite the crazy overwhelming busy schedule, I got to spend a lot of time with them yesterday. :)

This week's the training schedule looks like this:

Monday- 23 swim, 43 bike

Tuesday- 23 run

Wednesday- 2k Open Water Swim (ooooo, my first open water swim competition!!!!) I'm nervous!!!!

Thursday- 62 bike, 31 run

Friday- Off

Saturday-39 swim, 77 bike

Sunday- 31 run

30b430 Goal #21 and #24: The Summer of Social Justice

Last year, I declared the summer of 2012 "The Summer of Jen." It was a good summer full of triathlons, swimming, going up north, moving into my new classroom, and tackling my goal list. I loved it and I could have done it again this summer, but I feel like something has been missing from my life this school year and I need to work on figuring it out.

I'm no depressed cat, but still!!!

Goal #21 from my 30b430 list was to get chosen for one more summer fellowship in another country where I am able to work with youth. I revised this goal a little when I couldn't find fellowships where I was able to travel and work with youth. I was tempted to apply for a fellowship in South Africa where I would study apartheid or a fellowship in India where I would examine education, but I wasn't feeling it.

I'm making another sweeping declaration for the summer of 2013: This is the Summer of Social Justice. I heard that the Freedom School in my town was hiring Servant Leader Interns. If you don't know what the Children's Defense Fund Freedom Schools are, I encourage you to learn more here. I got the internship, so as I round out my eighth year of working in schools and my seventh year of teaching full time, I'm going a little crazy and teaching full time this summer as an intern. I'm probably the oldest intern they have, but this work is so energizing. I have a feeling that this is what I should be doing this summer.

The summer is shaping up to be quite busy. I'm presenting on my master's thesis work with some of my favorite people at the Free Minds, Free People Conference in Chicago, working on turning my thesis into something more teachers can use, and I'm sending out inquiries about PhD programs (AKA Goal #24). I'm still on the fence about more graduate studies, especially after Sallie Mae got ahold of me a week after I finished my graduate degree:

I mean... I get it. I just don't want to get it. 

...but I'm thinking about it. 

So what's next? I don't know, but I don't think I'm ever going to settle down. 

1. Complete an indoor triathlon. 2/12/12

2. Complete an outdoor triathlon. 6/2/12

3. Swim across West Twin Lake and Rose Lake (or Pine Lake). 7/14/12 and 6/26/12 

4. Bike the Kal-Haven Trail.7/30/12

5. Play the piano in front of people.

6. Visit my family in the Philippines (or at least have tickets booked by my 30th birthday).

7. Have a conversation with a dear Senegalese friend in French or Wolof (preferably Wolof).

8. Visit my grandparents in California.

9. Pop a champagne cork with no fear.

10. Make leche flan (it's Filipino, it's amazing, and I'm makin' it).

11. Jar or can veggies, pickles, sauce... something.

12. Revised 5/1/12 because I remembered that I'm supposed to graduate in December and my Master's degree is really important to me!!! Get my Master's degree and submit some of my academic writing and then, maybe, you know... get it published.

13. Travel out of the country with Nate.

14. Pay off at least 50% of my remaining undergraduate credit card debt.

15. Sing karaoke by myself in Kalamazoo in front of all of my friends.

16. Eat clean for one month.

17. Pick berries and bake something with them. 8/24/12 

18. Write at least one chapter of the novel that I write in my mind while I'm walking the dogs.

19. Thank my mom for everything she's done for me.

20. Go further into the UP than the Mystery Spot tourist trap and jump into Lake Superior.

21. Get chosen for one more summer fellowship in another country where I am able to work with youth.

22. Go on a police ride along.

23. Get to 200 blog posts.

24. Revised 5/1/12 Make some decisions about my career and/or PhD prospects. Apply for PhD programs.

25. Attend roller derby training so I can learn the moves.

26. Learn how to flip turn when I'm swimming laps. 4/19/12

27. Take a real personal day. 6/8/12

28. Learn how to drive a stick.

29. Go horseback riding.8/8/12

30. Poach an egg perfectly.

Soaking Up Summer

It's the last week of The Summer of Jen and I'm trying to fit in as much as possible! This week I'm camping, sitting by campfires, lake swimming, eating lots of junk food, and going back up north to the cabin. I'm pretty much doing anything that has to do with being outside.

I feel this urgency to enjoy myself as much as possible. I'm starting a new job this school year, so my pre-school anxiety is above and beyond what it usually is. I'll write more about that next week when I start meetings at my new school.

If you've already started school again: Good luck!
If you are in your last dwindling days of summer fun before school starts: Enjoy yourself!
If you're workin' every day like everyone else: Kick some ass! :)

Have a great week everyone!

Whew.

I haven't felt like I've had much to write about lately, but the truth is I'm feeling like my summer is going by way to fast and I'm doing as much as I can to enjoy myself. No apologies here. Just lots of fun-having.

Here is mini-update on some upcoming posts :)
1. I completed two 30b430 goals! You'll have to wait and see which ones. I'm working on two more.
2. I missed my Wednesday music post this week, but I've got to tell you that I am obsessed with Garfunkel and Oates. I can't stop singing this song:

I keep screaming out the chorus when I'm bike riding. The looks I'm getting... let me tell you. Whew.

Inter-rockin Triathlon Race Report: Athena Winner!

BOOM!

 Yes readers and myself, that is three medals: A finisher medal (for being awesome), a third place in my age group medal, and a FIRST PLACE ATHENA MEDAL. YES! YES! YES!

It's a day later and I still feel like this dude...

...except slightly cuter. ;)

Before: Not as many nerves for my third tri. I was mostly pumped up for this race because I know I've been working hard and I was ready to show it. I set up my transition area with a five gallon bucket to sit on. I love the cheap bucket method! This whole triathlon thing is pretty expensive. Gotta cut corners when I can!

The Swim: I refused to panic before the swim like I did in my last tri. I stayed on the outside of the group (which was bigger than the last one) and even though my time wasn't as fast as I wanted it to be I finished strong. Now that I'm over my fear of getting kicked in the face I'm going to push it at my August tri. 

The Bike: I hadn't ridden my beautiful road bike for a week because we were at the lake and I didn't want to trash it on dirt roads so I was little nervous about the clip-in shoes and balance. Everything was great except for three things: My cheap bike seat hurt my lady parts, I still can't balance well enough to reach down and grab my water when I'm super thirsty, and my legs were super shaky when I finished the ride. The bike seat and legs were remedied today because I finally got my bike fitted for me. The balance is just going to take practice. I can't wait to ride my newly fitted bike!

The Run: Since I didn't drink enough water on the bike, I chugged water during transition. I heard it sloshing throughout the whole 5k. It was kind of funny but it mostly felt gross. I ran in with this 58 year old BOSS LADY. Geez, can I please finish a tri in 1 hour 23 minutes when I'm 58? 

After (in pictures):

Who looks this happy after a triathlon? THIS GIRL!

These are the amazing ladies I tri with (minus one Sue). We all medaled! I mean, talk about badass.
They are SO INSPIRING and hanging out with them is super fun. We are talking about starting a ladies-only tri party workout group in West Michigan. Doing triathlons with strong women is so motivating. Takers?

Afterwards we floated in Sutton's Bay with beer and cocktails. Summer rocks!

The Numbers:

Place: 3rd out of 12 in my age group, 1st out of 7 in the Athena category

Swim (500 meters): 13:07

Transition 1: 2:10

Bike (20k, 12.5ish miles): 40:10

Transition 2: 1:40

Run (5k): 26:14

Special thanks to this song:

I listened to it before I put my phone away for the tri. It was like having Oprah give me a pep talk before I started. Fer reals. 

I don't think I can afford another tri this month, but we'll see! Now that I have a little mid-season triathlon hiatus due to lack of moola, I'm going to start attacking more summer goals on my 30b430 list. The Summer of Jen is definitely living up to its possibilities. 

Anyone else having an amazing summer? You should tell me about it because it makes me want to do more fun stuff!

Other 2012 Triathlon Reports!

6/24/2012: Tri Goddess Tri

6/2/2012: Double Time Triathlon

The Summer of George, er, Jen

Spring break was not as disappointing as I'd anticipated (due to Direct Air's idiocy) because I got to hang out with my hubs and my niece and nephew. They can brighten any cancelled trip to the beach. Now I'm back with my students and I feel quite rested.

My blurry lil' bestie. Love him and he makes me feel like I'm famous!

I found out that I didn't get the other summer fellowship I'd applied for. I could have been all depressed about it, but instead I signed up for two more outdoor triathlons. I'm not sure if I'll even like outdoor triathlons because I haven't even finished my first yet, but here is the schedule for the summer... so far!
June 1: The Double Time Triathlon in Three Rivers, Michigan
June 24: Tri Goddess Tri (all ladies!) in Ann Arbor, Michigan
July 7: Inter-Rockin Triathlon in Interlochen, Michigan

I was, also, maybe, sorta kinda of kicking around the idea of a 5k swim? Perhaps the Swim to the Moon open water swim on August 12 in Ann Arbor? I'm gettin' all crazy up in here!

AND I've got a great professional development opportunities for June and August... The Allied Media Conference in Detroit in June and a 10 day anti-racism/anti-bias workshop for teachers in August. This summer I am going to explore some future career/education possibilities so I keep myself fresh and I don't burn out. Did I mention that I'll be writing my master's thesis throughout my summer as well?

PLUS, the hubs and I were kicking around the idea of a trip to California to visit friends and see my grandparents. If that doesn't happen, we'll be spending a lot of time on the lake. In fact, I think I'm going to swim across it.

I've decided to declare this the Summer of Jen and it's going to be awesome.

It's like the Summer of George but with more hair! And estrogen! 

It's my last indoor triathlon of the season this Sunday and I might have a little surprise up my sleeve. A flip-turny surprise. Muahaha.

Happy Spring!

Today was 65 degrees and beautiful enough for a run outside. Global warming is really horrible, but geez, I love this weather.

It's exam week and I'm getting ready for the last trimester of the school year. I am excited for one last fresh start. There is something about new classes that always fills me with hope and dread. Hope because I get excited that the class will mesh and have  great chemistry together (and with me). Dread because I get anxious that the class will be full of haters who feed off of each other's negativity and make things so hard!

Speaking of the end of the school year, I submitted a last application for a summer fellowship last week. I got denied for India (I'm brushing myself off), but I'm not that upset. I've got a whole slew of things I'd like to do this summer, including:
-Working on The List
-Painting the outside of the house and maybe putting in a garden
-Doing outdoor triathlons (if I can make it through my first one)
-Playing outside
-Completing the Teacher as Writer Third Coast writing workshop at WMU
-Starting and finishing my capstone so I can get that master's degree
-Taking some road trips
-Camping, kayaking, and lake swimming
-Hanging with family (perhaps even going to San Francisco to see my family)

This weather gets me so pumped for summer. In anticipation of that, I've been listening to my favorite summer song, Lake Swimming by Laura Veirs:

I should probably do my grad school homework.