Tag Archives: cycling

How do you know you have really changed?

Posted on by Renée
9

It’s great to have the revelation that you have changed.

I mean we all talk about “lifestyle change” yadda yadda yadda – we KNOW that we have to change so much about ourselves and we THINK we have… until we lose the weight and gain it back again for whatever reason. OR we don’t gain it back but the emotional part of the journey is just starting (I know. I said that word “journey”. I hate it but what else can I say?). The emotional part is probably the hardest part. In fact, it IS the hardest. Anyone can lose weight. To keep it off is a totally different beast all together.

I’m one of those statistics. I lost weight. I gained it back. I lost it again. I gained it back. I’m pretty sure anyone reading this right now knows this scenario very well or at least knows someone who has been there too. We all think that we are not going to be one of “those people” who gain it back. Then we are. That feels like crap. We know it’s happening but we don’t know how to stop it, even though we knew for sure, before it was happening, that we wouldn’t ever let that happen to us. We would overcome. We would beat the odds.

You know what? It’s totally ok if you don’t beat the odds. The odds are an incredible crap shoot that only a small percentage of people are able to achieve. If you have setbacks that’s ok. Seriously, who lives in a bubble where they aren’t affected by things in their life that could trigger old behaviours? Some of us are behaving in these not-so-helpful ways for 30 or 40 or more years. You don’t just suddenly NOT want to binge eat when you are stressed or lonely or angry or tired, just because you don’t want to be one of the statistics. The mind is so much more powerful that we imagine and if this is the way we are wired (incorrectly or not) you have to change that too and that doesn’t happen overnight.

So what exactly am I getting at?

Well. The first weekend of November hubs took me away for the weekend, actually to celebrate my birthday (that was in September). We didn’t go far away, in fact, we just went to Otterlo, a small villiage on the edge of the Hoge Veluwe, which is the largest national park here in the Netherlands. So he “took me away” but this place is just about 20KM from home:

We stayed a spa-boutique hotel, about 500 metres from the entrance to the park, which was absolutely brilliant. We were planning on spending time in the park for sure during the weekend. The best part of it all? At the park there are free bicycles in several areas of the park. You just pick one and you can cycle all over the park, to the museums, or just ride around enjoying the scenery.

White Bicycles at De Hoge Veluwe National Park

The first evening we arrived, we checked in, dropped our stuff and went down to the common area/ restaurant to partake in a glass of wine before dinner. Afterwards we had a quick look around the facilities and knew for sure we would be using the pool in the morning and hubs’ had already made an appointment for me to have a massage as well for Saturday. We walked through the village a bit and decided to have dinner at a place that didn’t look like it was about to be shut down (small village, few places to go, some with zero customers…). Imagine my delight that the menu was FILLED with local/bio choices AND had gluten free dishes as well! AWESOME.

We were both pretty exhausted so were back in our room enjoying another glass of wine before passing out somewhere around 11pm (I know, we’re getting old). We got up the next morning and immediately went to have breakfast so that we could enjoy some swimming before we headed out to the park. I loved the pool and we had it all to ourselves! We talked about how much we loved swimming, we talked about this summer at my dad’s, we talked about how we wanted to more of this together and with the kids. It was extremely uplifting.

In fact it was this swimming morning that made me decide to do that 1.5KM open swim at the Festival of Sport next year in Cornwall… but more on that later…

After swimming we got ourselves together and went to the Kröller-Müller Museum, inside the park. This museum houses one of, if not THE largest, personal collection of original art works by the likes of van Gogh, Mondriaan, Monet, Picasso, etc. Pretty incredible. And outside they have a sculpture “garden”. Kind of surreal to be in a place that has these amazing original works of art. Like just to stand in front of an original Renoir is kind of cool, right? Definitely worth the visit.

After several hours we went back to the hotel as it was time for my massage. O. M. G. Yeah I needed that.

We decided afterwards that we were going to rent bicycles to ride out to Ede for dinner. The plan was to go to Steakhouse Amadeus – this is a sort of “American” style steak house and very, VERY popular with the locals. The ride was about 8KM, wouldn’t take too long. The hotel had bicycles we could rent for just €6 a piece but since we were only using them for a few hours, they only charged us for one! BONUS!! Biking out there was kind of scary though – being out in the middle of nowhere between villages means it’s just extremely dark out. We made it in one piece though and certainly had worked up an appetite!! Coming back didn’t seem as bad or to take as long but by the time we were back we were just ready to hit the sack!

The next morning we got up and had a nice breakfast again and it had stopped raining so the plan was to go into the park again and take advantage of the bikes. We spent quite a bit of time just riding around the park, had cake and coffee during a little break and then went to the Museonder – literally a museum under the ground that gives an insight into what exactly goes on underneath our feet and all of the history behind the nature that we can not see. Very cool stuff.


At some point it was just time to go so we headed back to the hotel, packed the car and decided to have one last stop for something to eat before we went home. I didn’t want it to end. Hubs didn’t want it to end, but unfortunately it had to end.

The thing I reflect about this weekend is the change I have made in my life physically. What I mean is, I remember many weekends that we would go away that would be all about a bit of sightseeing and a whole lot of eating and drinking (alcohol). I’m not a teetotaler by any means, but the amount of alcohol I drink now is more about quality than quantity. There are no more hangovers or missing breakfasts so that we would have to go out for some kind of greasy (yet delicious) fry up. The fact that we woke up to eat sensibly and then go for a swim???? Wow. The fact that we rode bikes to go have dinner in a neighboring town? Incredible. This is where you know you’ve changed. Does it guarantee you that you won’t got back to old behaviours? I don’t know. I personally don’t think there is a guarantee. I think life has to be about making conscious decisions ALL The time, even when those decisions AREN’T the best you’ve ever made.

When I gained weight (all of it and then some) a few years ago after maintaining a 27KG / 62lb weight loss for just over 3 years I was not making a conscious choice. I was in a horrible state of mind and my circumstances were pretty bad (for me – I’m sure others have gone through worse hardships) – the only way I knew how to cope was to medicate with food and drink (and cigarettes).

I feel like, even though I still am not exactly where I want to be weight wise, it’s ok. It’s ok because I know that I have actually changed. I know that when I do reach for chocolates out of stress it is a conscious decision, I KNOW exactly why I’m doing it, it is not without thought. Some days are better than others. Those better days sometimes morph into weeks or months and I don’t revert back to those old patterns. I’m human though and there will be setbacks.

Can I honestly say I will “never go back” to that old life again? I would like to say that and mean it, however, I would rather at this point just DO IT every day and let my actions make that statement for me.

September: That’s a Wrap!

Posted on by Renée
10

79.2 KG

That’s what the scale told me this morning.

My first thought was to curse at it or throw it out the window but it only took a couple of seconds to come back to reality. You see, I did this, not the scale, and I wouldn’t throw myself out the window now would I?

We all know how mental September has been. I’ve made a point to tell everyone I know. It was an absolute blast – from my birthday to meeting new friends local and abroad, to a 10K in my home town to biking in England (and having a kind of scary accident ) to Fitbloggin.

Food has not been entirely off the rails but I reckon I’ve had more beer this past month than in several months prior. More beer = more wheat, right? And for someone who claims they are off wheat, well, it’s a little hypocritical.

So this little number on the scale, it’s 2.2 KG higher than the lowest number I saw in September and dangerously close to that 80KG mark that I really despise. This means it’s time to refocus and have some goals:

1) I will not only log into MyFitnessPal every day, I will actually log the food I eat as well.
2) if I am out, for whatever reason, and I am unable to log electronically, I will do it the old fashioned way and the enter when I have a chance (I am volunteering at the Amsterdam marathon this month and will be away from the computer at that time)
3) the whole month of October I will be beer-free
4) I will go to the gym twice a week. No excuses.
5) I will run minimum twice a week.
6) I will continue to not eat the chocolates from work, the entire month of October. (not cutting out chocolate in general, just not mindlessly stress-eating from the candy jar.

I would like to see that 77 again this month, though I’ve trained myself to not weigh very often, and I don’t want to start that jumping on the scale 12 times a day habit again. Goal would then be to weigh-in on November 1st with this result.

Did you have a crazy month? Are you ready to crack down again? What are your goals for October?

A Look Back and a Look Forward

Posted on by Renée
3

Wow you guys, September is already here and I hardly even caught my breath from returning from my US holiday! It was a bit of a struggle to get in a groove again, plus I was a bit sick, plus very busy/stressed at work, but we made it! We are entering my favourite month of the year… why you ask? Because it’s my birthday month!

I honestly felt in the beginning of the month that I hadn’t done much, but look at this:

Looks fairly active, right?

In Numbers
Running 48KM
Cycling (commute or errands) 71.5KM
Cycling “sport” 102KM
Warmups/ stairs/ walking related to running 5.5KM

Not too shabby for someone who hadn’t quite found her rhythm again! In fact, in going over my numbers on endomondo as far as total KM’s go, this is the most active I’ve been since I’ve started using the program (which by the way, if you are on Endomondo, let me know! or better, add me!). Kind of amazing if I do say so myself.

Probably my favourite from this month was our two long cycle rides on our two hot Sundays we had here in the Netherlands. I love to go out and see somewhere I haven’t cycled before – I love being out in the fields and woods and seeing the animals and trees and heather and other wonderful stuff that is out there! I am a city girl but for those few hours away on a Sunday in the middle of nowhere… BLISS! Now that we have an awesome bike rack for the car we can go anywhere!

We have also started running in Sonsbeek park here in Arnhem – a great change of scenery and HILL TRAINING! Hubs and I have a standing appointment with each other on Tuesdays to run right after I arrive home at the train station; the park is just 500 metres from the station, so easy to just park and go.

This was from my first time running in my new kicks!

Did I mention I got these in Phoenix at the Runner’s Den? They came highly recommend and did NOT disappoint!

I also finally attempted to cook/bake again or at least start to put together a plan for new recipes that I AM going to try. I’ve started sharing that on the blog the last two Wednesdays and will continue to do that (just WAIT until you see next Wednesday’s Food Fest!!).

All in all a great month even though it was a tad bittersweet after spending three weeks home with my family and a bit just in Phoenix enjoying the sun and relaxation time.

But now we have SEPTEMBER! So much going on!

First of all, there’s my birthday. Now that doesn’t mean a huge event will be happening, but I like my birthday and am happy to have made it another year and hopefully with plenty of years tacked on from doing my best to live a healthy life.

I have the Arnhem Bridge to Bridge coming up:

I’m doing the 6EM (English Miles) which is almost 10K. Hubs is joining me and I also found out last week that a girl from my meetup club (the Arnhem Expats v2.0) is doing the 5K and it’s her very first race! I’m really excited for her and hopefully we can meet up next Saturday (the race is on Sunday) so I can show her where we start and how to fix her chip and talk to her about anything else she may be worried about. I remember my first race(a 12K!!); I was nervous and my running hero M was the one that totally prepped me and helped me believe that it was going to be GREAT and nothing to worry about. This girl actually sent me a mail a couple of weeks ago, telling me she was thinking of signing up, but was scared and I told her to go for it, that I would be there too. I ran into her last Saturday and she told me she signed up!

On Saturday the 15th of September I am participating in a 40KM Women’s Cycletta with my good friend E.

Not only do I get to go to Cornwall, somewhere I’ve been dying to go and never properly found the opportunity to do so, I get to participate in an amazing Festival of Sport with one of my long-time fitness friends! We actually “met” each other on a Yahoo Group when we started Weight Watchers back in September 1999 and have been friends ever since.

Here she is with my stepdaughter and her daughter in Gorinchem April 2011 (last time I saw her – she’s Dutch but lives in England)

and discussing world domination over beers and bitterballen:

*pretty sure there will be some beer consumption whilst I’m in Cornwall…

On the 19th of September I fly to Washington, DC, to catch a train to Baltimore, to go to…

OMG I am excited! And nervous! Hopefully I won’t throw up on some of my favourite bloggers because of nerves! If I do, I’m sorry, it’s probably at least “clean” puke!

I feel a bit nuts that I am flying to the US for this, but I decided already in January to go, I’ve found roommates (unfortunately my first roommate isn’t able to go now, but I still love her and will miss her there!) – one of them being the one and only Robby of Fat Girl vs. World – and I’ve bought my ticket, so I guess that means I’m REALLY going!

I’ll be back in the Netherlands on the 24th and then one of my good friends and her husband will be here from the 24th to the 29th. Oh and did I mention I work in finance and it’s year-end? Yeah. That last week will be a rough one for sure.

So. Hmmm. Wonder when I’m going to find time for the gym and running? Luckily no races in October, but can’t say that for November, December or January…

How was your August? What was your favourite part?
What do you have planned for September?

Extremely Hot and Incredibly Sticky

Posted on by Renée
2

That is what the weather has been like here lately.

Don’t get me wrong, I just came back from Phoenix and Albuquerque… it’s HOT. Here it’s humid. That means stickiness.

I love it when it’s sunny and warm and I deal with the humidity the best I can. After all, we don’t have consistent summers here, you have to take the good with the bad. Today we were waiting to break the all-time high record of 38 that happened in something like 2004. I don’t reckon that happened and to be honest I haven’t checked the latest temperatures as I’m writing this.

It’s been hot and sticky all week and moreover last week was almost the same (we’ve just progressed to hotter and stickier). I was ill my first couple of weeks being back in the Netherlands, last week it was Hubs’ turn to be sick. That meant that I rode my bike again to the station and home this week a few times, since I didn’t want to take the bus (it was dry and warm, why not bike? :) ). But look at this – it’s a lot of biking lately!

Especially if you consider that my main sport is running:

Anyway, the biking thing… so not only did I do my train station commute, last Sunday we did around 47KM around the Achterhoek we also took advantage of the weather to cycle to my good friend M’s house for a BBQ yesterday and today we went out once again to the Hoge Veluwe, to get a few KM’s under our belts, nearly 55KM to be exact.

The BBQ yesterday was HOT HOT HOT and there were a few cocktails to be had. Eating didn’t go well, I would say mostly because there was zero appetite (but never fear I was able to get sausages in my belly – my favourite BBQ food -and a few other things :) ) drinking went too well and to be quite honest last night I wasn’t sure there would be a bike ride at all today. Luckily no real problems so we headed out just after 1pm to cycle to the Hoge Veluwe. I have mentioned it a few times now, but again, I would like to say, anyone who thinks the Netherlands is flat, I invite you to come to Gelderland, where there are plenty of hills!


We did stop around midway point for the obligatory witte bier and had a pancake (a dutch pancake and no not gluten-free, sometimes I have to make exceptions) with ice cream and warm cherries. You probably think “Beer and pancakes?” Yes, totally doable ;)

The nicest part of cycling around is seeing things you wouldn’t normally see, or finding a cute restaurant or bed & breakfast to put on the list to try “next time”. Plus it was pretty quiet out, so it’s just good old fashioned sunshine, fresh air, exercise and hanging with your best friend.

Back to running though –
I had one run this week. Just one. I meant to go to the gym at least once and run twice but it wasn’t meant to be this week. Hubs’ picked me up on Tuesday after work as I arrived at the train station and I ran home. I knew it would be about 5KM, but it was going to be hilly. I know the road well; it’s the same road we drive every day to and from the station. But I was determined to do it. As you (may or may not) know, I’m doing the Zevenheuvelenloop (7 Hills) in November and I’d like to be a tad bit prepared for it by doing some hill work. It was again, hot and sticky – and it was hard. I started off by running up and down the steps at the train station (not the main entrance) for 10 minutes, then I just went for it. I had already decided I was going to RUN the whole way no matter how slow. And I did :)

I would very much like to increase my running again over the next couple of weeks, because of course the Arnhem Bridge to Bridge is on the 9th of September! I will shoot for twice again and once to the gym, but I do secretly hope that it will cool down a bit. Or rather, that the humidity level will at least go down!

What did you do this week to be active? What have you got coming up? Do you like it hot or would you rather not sweat the second you step out of the door?

Leontien Ladies Ride Raalte

Posted on by Renée
1

Well I’ve got a lot of catching up to do! May and June have just been nuts, but I guess you guys wouldn’t expect anything less of me right?

After the glorious, warm, sun-filled weekend we had at the end of May, I would have thought that the first weekend in June would have shown us a nice time as well. Unfortunately it was not the case.

On Sunday morning I was (or I should say “we” ) up bright and early drive to Raalte, which is in the province of Overijssel (I live in Gelderland), not too far from us, but I’d say about an hour. It was already raining and the forecast wasn’t really showing anything better. I really hate complaining about weather, because, yeah, what can you do about it, but I was not really looking foward to cycling in the rain for 4 hours. So I made a little plea to the Universe on Facebook to at least compromise with me and give me a couple of dry hours.

Once we arrived it seemed like rain was definitely going to be the weather du jour, so I sucked it up and made my way to pick up my starters pack and tee shirt. If there is something I DON’T like about these types of events, it’s the chaos of picking up your pack. I personally prefer to have everything sent to me so that I’m organised on the day. My experience is (and mind you, it’s only in the Netherlands really so tell me if yours is different in another country), people don’t queue well. Or rather, people don’t really queue at all. So there’s a lot of pushing and shoving and people tending to butt into the line when you’ve already been waiting for 15 minutes. So yeah, Leontien, take note and send us the packets like you did last year thankyouverymuch.

Once I was ready I wanted to head to my starting area, which was… where? Seemed like so few people in the area deemed as the “long ride” section that I went over to the “short ride” because it seemed more likely. Not the case at all! Quickly back through my section and I can hear the announcer talking about us starting like any minute so I just went up to the starting line to take off! It happened so fast that Hubs didn’t even have a chance to see me start (he was still walking towards the front).

What else can I tell you? It rained. And rained. I don’t think I really enjoyed it as much as I could have because to be honest I was just trying to get through it. The area is nice, went through lots of forests and farmlands and ended up break area just about at the time I thought I would be there. Next bit of fun was waiting in the queues for the toilets. In the rain. And of course the “free lunch” is sandwiches, which I no longer do, so I had my own stuff with me and continued on as soon as I could (there was an espresso bar there, but you had to pay for it and I had NO CASH with me. seriously? they could have let us cold ladies have a cup of coffee!! this saddened me greatly).

As if the universe decided we did in fact have enough, it stopped raining for the second part of the trip! Total time was just over 4 hours and it was 65KM and NOT 70 as expected.

I have to say I was glad to be finished with it. I could have just cancelled all together but I really hate signing up for something and then not following through. Once I finished, hubs found me pretty quickly and we then got ready for the next part of our day (I would have preferred it being laying on the couch) – the BBQ Birthday Party for my mother-in-law. Before we arrived I’d warmed up a bit, had some beverages and some chocolate (mmmmmmm… ) so I was ready for the party. Several bits of meat later and some nice conversation, I was well and truly ready to go home and SLEEP.

Would I do the Ladies Ride again? Yes. I think I’ll wait until the second one though in hopes that the weather will be nicer. Usually that is Rotterdam, so, fingers crossed I can rope in a few friends for that one next summer (hint: Tammy, Penny… ).

Glory Days

Posted on by Renée
16

The last few days have been A.MAY.ZING.

The weather has been insanely perfect. Finally we can shed our coats, sweaters and scarves and hey- even socks (yes I live for the first day of the year where I don’t have to wear socks!!!) and actually have some lovely spring weather. I am not one to complain usually about weather and I am not super affected if it is rainy or cold. I know that some people are affected so I do try very hard to not be too simplistic about it – I honestly think (for me) that how you feel has to really come from within and we can’t let the weather dictate “good” or “bad”. For some people this simply isn’t true, they can become very depressed if subjected to too many dark and dreary days. We do live in the Netherlands though and it does rain a lot here, we have to keep the sun shining from our hearts in that case, right?

But anyway…while I *think* I’m not affected I have to say the last couple of days I feel incredibly happy. Like the Bliss-type of happy. Why? Because the last two days I have been out in the sunshine, enjoying the fresh air and the gorgeous surroundings. Even just listening to the birds in the woods is like a symphony in my ears. Truly incredible. So maybe the weather really can do a lot for our mood?

Yesterday we went to my mother-in-law’s with the bike for the first time on our new bike rack for the car. I have the Leontien Ladies Ride coming up next weekend, so I wanted to get a good ride or two in, before doing 70KM in one go. So after a little visit (and some non-paleo ice cream…) with MIL, BIL and SIL, I headed out with my trusty map to go to Ede and then swing back around to Arnhem. Some of the route was twice the same, but most wasn’t. It was truly glorious.

Today was equally incredible, but today I wasn’t alone. Hubs joined me for a planned 36KM ride from Putten to Hardewijk and back. Putten is about 60KM from us, but now that we have the bike rack, it’s a non-issue :) Hubs isn’t as up to speed on fitness as I am (LOL) so we didn’t want to go too far or for too long, just in case. But he did great! We went quite a bit slower than I normally go when I”m alone (my avg pace was 16.3KM/hr alone; today’s was 13.3), and we stopped quite a bit along the way just to enjoy everything around us. I was looking forward to an ICE COLD WHITE BEER (oh yes and oh no not paleo friendly), somewhere along the way after presumably working up a sweat and burning off some calories.

I should mention that I’m still not eating bread and trying as hard as possible to eat paleo where I can. So yesterday AND today I had chopped veggies with me, dried sausage (found some 97% gluten-free in the supermarket) and pickles (as shown above; great to replace electrolytes). Of course we also had plenty of water with us. Since I’m not super strict, you will “hear” me mention beer and other things that aren’t exactly paleo (hello ice cream!), but hey, I’m living life and enjoying everything, many things in moderation :)

So Putten to Hardewijk; I haven’t really been out in this area much, certainly not in Hardewijk and little did I really know there was a lake there! OH EM GEE, seriously the view did not get better! Along the way were farms, sheep, cute little cafes, and lots of forest. Once we hit Hardewijk we stopped to have our lunch, then moved out circling around back through the woods. At about 23KM or so, we stopped literally at this little hut where you could self-serve coffee, tea, cookies, soup and have a little break. You just leave your coins in the little container, totally based on trust. I love this concept SO much. Turns out they are scattered all over, and you can be sure we’ll be locating one of these little places again.

A few kilometers further, we found another little cafe in the woods and it was time for that lovely liquid of life and some bitterballen and to soak up just a few more rays of sunshine.

Sadly it was time to leave, since we didn’t want to be home later than 7pm, so we made our way back to Putten and after about 20 minutes underway we were back at our car.

The bike rack has already been a GREAT investment; I simply can’t WAIT to map out more routes for us to do!

I think after these two days of cycling, I’m definitely ready for the ladies ride next weekend!

********************

Do you love to cycle? how far do you go? Do you use any tools to help you find the best routes or do you just go out there and do it? What’s been one of your most favourite days cycling ever?

Crazy Week

Posted on by Renée
6

It was a crazy, crazy week last week.

Basically, on Monday morning, my husband was in a car accident. He’s fine. The other person is fine, but the car is just trashed. In fact that car no longer belongs to us.



Any accident is bound to ruin someone’s day/week/month/year/life, right? No one wants to be in one and no one wants that call… the one where they say “there’s been an accident” because you generally don’t hear the “but I’m fine” which is said afterwards, if you are lucky.

So we started the week with that stress. I went home immediately to be home when he arrived home. We went to the doctor and he was really, truly fine. We got up even earlier than normal on Tuesday and Wednesday because we had no car with which to commute. We got the call Wednesday that we would get “nothing” for the car; it was “his” fault because he hit the other lady from behind – even though she admitted she slammed on her brakes. To the insurance, it was his fault.

Poor fella’s birthday was on Thursday and he was not feeling much like celebrating. Luckily he was open to having a birthday present and a chocolate muffin from work ;) It was only Friday when we were feeling a bit more optimistic – and we went to celebrate with M in town, so there was wine, good food and laughs.

Saturday morning and no rest for the weary. Up and out the door to look at a “new” car about an hour’s drive away – it was basically the same car, newer and a wee bit of an update (a Peugeot 207 instead of a 206 and only 3 years old).

We had a really lovely day out, bought the car, had a lovely late lunch and headed back home eventually, in separate cars – I had a loan car from the Garage and he had the loan car from the insurance that had to be turned in on Monday. Then we got ready and drove again 120 KM to Haarlem where we celebrated our friends’ marriage that happened in December (my Running Hero and his partner). It was a late, late night, we were absolutely exhausted when we finally arrived home at 2:30am…

Sunday my main requirement was to sleep in – and that I did. 12 Noon and I finally woke up… no alarms, no cats, no light streaming in the bedroom window. Pure, unadulterated sleep.

I did not have a lot of exercise last week, though I did go to my new gym on Wednesday – and tonight I have my Fit Test! I’m planning on running this week – had no chance last week and on Sunday when I wanted to run I realised all my clothes were in the wash! So I went for a 16KM bike ride instead. Just needed the fresh air and it was so beautiful outside I couldn’t resist!

Operation “Get Enough Sleep” wasn’t a full success yet so I’ll be continuing with this experiment. This week I’ve also pledged to myself to lay off the candy jar once and for all. It’s enough. I’m feeling the holiday and after-holiday pudge now. Time to get back in the groove for real!

Here I am

Posted on by Renée
4

I have four posts in my drafts for my blog, so at least there’s been an attempt to write. It’s been particularly mental the past month – September always is anyway at work (I work in finance, it’s year-end), and socially it was busy as well.

My birthday weekend was spent with my family – normally we end up not having the kids on my birthday so Hubs and I usually just spend it together, but somehow our schedule ended up that we were the four of us together! The kids are older now, but they always have been pretty easy going (I’m a very lucky stepmom if you ask me; the “normal” horror stories don’t apply to me or my kids, the ex, Hubs, etc.) and it’s quite pleasant going out with them. The Girl and I even did our nails the same and got glammed up and we all went out for Japanese! Yum!

The next weekend Hubs and I were off to Belfast. Every year we go away as my “gift” – remember last year we went to Rome? Neither one of us had ever been to Belfast and hubs had never even been to Ireland –it was a great deal for flight and hotel so we decided to go for it! Our friend M (you’ve seen/heard about her before) joined us as well which is always loads of fun. We did a lot of touristy stuff, hit quite a few pubs, had some good food and walked a LOT. The highlight was probably the Giant’s Causeway – in a word: Incredible!

After I returned, it was back to work and back to Hell Month. I found out that I’d been nominated to go to Berlin for a special event that was happening for my company the next week! I was over the moon! Not only is Berlin one of my favourite cities ever, it was a chance to be in an open forum and actually ask questions and even meet our CEO! But did I mention it was Hell Month? Yeah, the timing was awful, but HELL YEAH I was going!

Prior to that though… I had the Leontien Ladies Ride – 70KM for Stichting Pink Ribbon. I have to say I was not looking forward to it anymore. I was exhausted from work and didn’t feel like I’d really taken all of my opportunities to ride my bike and be fully prepared. Plus it was turning out that my family wasn’t going to be able to come with me – we’d originally thought we’d all go down the Saturday before, spend the day and stay over in a hotel, but it was just too expensive, plus we also thought, yeah, all day Saturday, then they’d have to hang out all day Sunday as well…I was going to have to get up pretty early on Sunday and get my bike on the train to Den Bosch on my own. I don’t mind doing stuff alone, but at this point I just wasn’t feeling it. Even that morning Hubs thought I may not make it – I was rushing, left late, then had to call him while I was on my way to the station because I couldn’t even remember if I locked our storage area or not (I was struggling getting everything in my bike bags, late, stressed). But I made it and after a rocky start (like, literally finding the start), I began my 70KM ride with thousands of other ladies. Admittedly, it was tough for me to be “stuck” behind so many people on the bike paths – I like to go at my own pace, but obviously, in this case I was only as fast as the slowest group in front of me! Eventually I made it to the lunch break stop (at Land van Ooit) to pick up my lunch packet and have a little bio-break. At this point we were at around 28KM. I probably was off my bike maybe 15 minutes when it looked like it was going to rain in the distance, so I layered up on clothes and decided to head off. This time I was wonderfully pretty much on my own! The day started off as a beautiful, kind of chilly late summer day but about halfway the heavens just opened up and dumped a mass amount of rain and hail the size of ping pong balls on us! I stopped before the hail to put my rain gear on, but after three minutes I had to just pull over and wait under a shop awning, it was too much.

Then it just stopped.

And the sun came out again!

So I took off my rain gear, re-packed it in the bike bag and headed off again. For about 20KM I was blissfully alone, cycling through such a gorgeous area of Brabant, up until the point where the “short-route” ladies met up with our route, then I had to slow down again. My family was following me on my GPS, but unfortunately it wasn’t correct so when I crossed over the finish they thought I still had 7KM to go. No one was there to meet me :( I felt bad that they made the trip down on their own to see me and then ended up not anywhere near the finish when I came over.

Sidenote – I bought cycling shoes. I have to say I was not convinced (but spend the cash anyway) but actually found they made a huge difference on the bike! Usually I just wear my mary janes but they do slip on the pedals and I didn’t even think about whether my feet were sturdy or not. Cycling shoes really keep your feet stable and don’t slip for the most part, so I’m really glad I invested in them! (Side to the sidenote: I most certainly wasn’t the only one in a skirt, but I did wear bike shorts and tights underneath – for this distance I do find bike shorts a complete necessity)

Anyway. All in all it was nice. The family and I had something to eat and drink and then Hubs took the kids back to their mum’s…. it was time for me to get back to Arnhem with my bike on the train. I did a total of about 80KM with the round trip cycling to and from the train stations – the most KM I”ve done in one day to date! I would definitely like to up this mileage, I just don’t know when – I may need to get some better biking clothes.

Next Posts Berlin, Work Event, Social Weekend, Arnhem Food Fair and then I might even talk about what’s going on in the weight and exercise areas…

Part II::What to do when you can’t do what you do

Posted on by Renée
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I went to the physio. I was definitely not happy with the outcome. In fact I went home and I broke down and sobbed on my husband’s shoulder. What the hell was I going to do now? What about my races? I had a race on the 3rd of July! What about the Dam to Dam??? The Seven Hills???? What was I going to do without my races? These are the things that keep my focus, the things I look forward to. Now I have nothing!

But that’s not the truth. I don’t have “nothing”. The physio says I can cycle, I can walk, I can go to the gym. I just can’t run. No heavy impact on the knees. That cycling I was doing since January and more seriously since May was about to begin again.

After the no-running news I just happened to get sick (and by the way, I never get sick, so I have no idea what happened, but I was out for the count). I spent the entire weekend in bed with fever, cough and a sinus-cavity that felt like it would explode at any moment.

On the Monday I stayed home from work as I wasn’t feeling 100% and at some point I got sick of lying in bed so I went to lie on the couch. I switched my television on and started flipping through the channels. I ended up on a Dutch cable channel where a documentary was showing about Leontien van Moorsel. I’d heard the name before and quickly googled her on the Blackberry; aha, of course, only one of the most amazing Dutch WOMEN cyclists ever. I watched the documentary and was amazed. She’s this incredibly talented cyclist who struggled with her weight – who became ill because of the obsession to lose the kilos to be more fit for cycling. And when she was well again she went on to win gold medals in the Olympics. Watching the footage, seeing how real she was, knowing about my own demons with weight and performance, I cried as I watched her. I cried as I saw her parents at the finish crying, hugging her, feeling so proud. I cried because I know there have been times where I felt I would do anything to lose weight, just so I could perform better.

I started to look further on the internet for Leontien. Wouldn’t you know it? She’s got her own website here in the Netherlands. And guess what else? She organizes Ladies Rides a few times a year. You know what else? There’s one in September, in Den Bosch – 70 KM. I can’t run but I can BIKE! I signed up immediately. In fact I think it’s the same weekend as the Dam to Dam. This gives me a goal again. A focus. Something to look forward to!

While I don’t think it will be a piece of cake, I also am really confident that it will go very well. I’m not a stranger to long bike rides, nor am I a stranger to hills (should there be any. I think there are but I’m not super knowledgeable about that area). I’ve done a few long bike rides recently:

Oss – Nijmegen (Hubs and I went to Oss in June to see our new kitten we are taking home in August)

The Loenermarkroute (this is fairly close to us, in the Veluwe Zoom)

To the German Border and loop back around

This Sunday we’ll ride to Nijmegen and back – that should be minimum 40KM

I’m glad to have something to strive towards – in the meantime I’ll go to the gym and the physio as well and hopefully after these 3 – 6 months I’ll be done with this knee problem for the most part for GOOD! I’m looking forward to running again, for sure, but I’m going to make the best of this time off!