My butt on TV News!

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Thanks to Abby, I declare the winter season closed!

For the record, it has been a good, good year… for those who like snow!
From January to March I went:
Snow shoeing : 15 times
Cross country skiing : 16 times
Downhill skiing : 4 times

It means I was moving my butt every 2 days and half, and I am quite proud of myself given I was so tired! Talking about my butt, you can see it in action in the video below.

By sheer accident, someone sent me a link about a documentary on our area, and in which we could see persons we know... By "people we know", I didn't expect to see this "face" of myself...

You can see me snow shoeing at 0:33 here:
videos.tf1.fr/jt-13h/des-bisons-dans
-le-jura-7866940.html
or here www.wat.tv/video/bisons-dans-jura-5t
tpv_2eyxv_.html
(I hope the video doesn't have weird area restrictions)

I am on the right, and my aunt is on the left.

The video was aired on National TV News that means the journalist speaks French—just look at the images.

The documentary is quite nice, minus two clichés (cheese and coffee!), and minus the woman voice, she seems unnatural and sounds like an idiot speaking to kids—it seems to be the norm now for documentaries.

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Beauty comes from within!

Monday, February 18, 2013

Don’t worry, I am not going to talk about my guts here. Well, sort of... actually.
Rest assured, I didn’t feel a thing during all the exams, and I **just ** have a gastritis. Feel really relieved!

When I was in the recovery room, one of the anesthetic-nurses asked me if I was working out regularly. I said yes since December again. She said she could see it on the heart monitor. To quote her : "You have an athletic and healthy heart."

On the outside, I’ve been flirting again with the overweight boundary line; in the inside, I have a great healthy Me. Beauty does come from within!

Anyhow, more than never, I am going to set my heart on this healthy journey.

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Five-finger exercise for cross-country skiing

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Saturday was a blue bird day so I decided to go cross-country skiing, and I tried another loop.
The day before, it had been snowing all day, I got lost and ended doing a longest loop that expected, let alone a last 1,5 km mogul slope that was not meant for cross-country skiers. As I managed it, I guess I felt sort of over-confident.

Since I resumed my journey last December after being sick in 2012, I’ve been picking very small goals to avoid being disappointed and to try to build momentum. I don’t know if it was the sun, the other skiers I crossed and quickly chatted with, my boldness,… but at the crossroad, I had two options: following the blue loop with 6,5 km left (out of 12km)… or the red loop with 8,7 km left (out of 14 km).
The reasonable Me first went with the blue, but after a few meters the unreasonable Me decided to turn back and climbed the dreaded ascent of the red loop.
After all, it was only 2 extra kilometers. I was not tired, the first part was very flat, and my yesterday’s exploit under heavy snow gave me wings.

I remembered that I did this loop ages ago. I already did it. There was no reason why I couldn’t do it again now, at my own pace.
While climbing this never-ending slope, I smiled and breathed quietly. I was not out of breath like I used to be when smoking. I fell once in this steeply banked, climbing turn, and had hard time to stand up straight as quickly as possible as I didn’t want a skier to bump into me on his/her way down.

Then I tackled a series of uphills and downhills. The first downhill slope was steep and quite long, a skier who just made its way up gave me some advice and support. I fell twice and kept going, I was not tired. I enjoyed the landscape while trying to keep a regular pace not to exhaust myself.

The declivities, I could manage, the downhill slopes were, however, hard on me as I ended several times in the powder snow, and was beginning to be wet.
I met other skiers who helped me move forward, and I supported others too. After finishing the series of tiring slopes, a long flat road was ahead of me as well as a cold wind came up, and I was a bit worried about the time since I have no frontal lamp.

My wet gloves began to freeze as my fingers. All I could do was moving, and keeping on cx skiing as fast as I can, ready to dip further in my resources to get through this ordeal.
These last 2,8 km have been the longest of my life. I couldn’t see the end of this loop. I was not even frightened by downhill slopes, and tackled them as fast as I could… while freezing. I remained calm, gave me a lot of pep talks.

I knew I was close to the end of the loop, and suddenly I saw a new big slope that had the best of my motivation. Yet, I decided to give my all to climb it, and at the top of it, I was so exhausted that I made a terrible mistake. I sat in the snow to eat a cereal energy bar, at this point I could have eaten it up with the paper since I couldn’t even move my fingers. I was so hungry that I literally devoured it as if I hadn’t eaten for days. I managed to open my bottle of water, but was totally unable to close it, and put it back in my backpack, the rest of it run in it… and on my back.
I tried to call my husband to let him know where I was, but my mobile was on emergency services only.

There were only 200 meters or so left to the end of the track as far as I could remember. I mustered up all my courage to get back up on my skis, but felt dizzy, and so cold; my hands couldn’t move. I was afraid of collapsing so close to the end, and that no one will see me.
When I saw the last sign, I was in pretty bad shape, but so glad I made it.

At the same moment, a skier came from another path, I told him that I was not feeling well and I needed help. He gave me his gloves, hugged me to shake me and warm me; I briefly collapsed, and thanked to him I was able to quickly come back to my senses. He constantly talked to me, and I was barely able to answer as my jaw was also shaking.
We had another 500 meters to the parking lot, he carried my skis, helped me with my car. I was not the only one freezing, my keyhole and windscreens (outside and inside the car) were also frozen. I left the engine run more than ten minutes, my fingers began to move again, and I gradually felt better, and able to drive me home safely.
I was so shaken by the whole thing that I didn’t even ask his name nor where he lives to send him something to thank him.

It took me more than 3 hours to do the 14km. I totally miscalculated my time, and left too late for this loop. It used to take me half the time to do this loop… but it was before, and in skating not classic skis! I still have trouble to adjust with the new Me: it is always not enough, or too much.
Because of this miscalculation and overestimation of my strength, I finished by the end of the afternoon when it was -14°c and windy. Thankfully, someone was there, and I was not shy to ask for help.
Today, my hands are still burning (it feels like I don’t have fingerprints anymore), and I slept with my polar gloves, and rested all day long.

Sadly, I couldn’t be at the departure of the Transjurassienne this morning. I was supposed to go there with my aunt to support my uncle who was taking part of it. The only possibility to be present at the starting line and at one food station is to go there with snow shoes from 7 am… and the weather was even cooler than Saturday. I had no other choice than to cancel, and to follow his progress on live on my computer.

My uncle finished his first Transjurasienne 76 km (free style: skating); his time: 6:40.27. That’s a 11,8 km/h! I am so proud of him!



5 lessons I’ve learnt:
* Always have a second pair of gloves in my backpack!
* I should learn to estimate my time… on my fingers…
* Next year, if I want to see the departure of the Transjurasienne, I need to rest the day before… like the champions!
* Small goals are fine! I need to stick to that plan!
* Never be ashamed to ask for help!

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Zucchini Challenge

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

I just lost my blog TWICE when adding the last picture for a Jack LaLanne challenge, created by Diane aka Lopeyp in the By The Numbers team.

It's an awesome challenge, and we could use some alternate members. *wink *wink*

www.sparkpeople.com/myspark/team_mes
sageboard_thread.asp?board=8110x26785x
43026697

(Seems like Spark doesn't support Chrome or vice versa)

So I am going to be fast (& furious?), and make it short this time as I need my sleep.

VELOUTÉ DE COURGETTES À LA CORIANDRE FRAÎCHE
(translation, please : Cream of Zucchinis with Fresh Coriander)



Ingredients for 2 :
500g of Zucchinis
2 medium potatoes
1 bunch of Fresh coriander
1 liter of water

Directions :

Peel the veggies, and cut them in chuncks.
Begin to cook the potatoes in the water during 10 min, then add the zucchinis, and cook until the veggies are no longer firm.
Add some coriander at the very end (no need to be cooked), and use your blender.
Taste and add more coriander if needed.

This ‘velouté’ can be eaten warm or cold.

And for dessert, nothing can beat organic strawberries from our garden.



Two pictures or two squares for Debbie who wants to see my garden.

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I am at GOAL!

Friday, November 26, 2010

Just a short blog to let you know what’s going on in my life.

I have been so busy recently that I could not stop by Spark. I knew that if I had begun to pop round my friends’ page, blogs, and teams, I would have spent at least a good one or two hour(s), and my work would have suffered from that. So I took the ultimate step: all alerts off.

My work load is better, or I sort have managed to cope with it, and the crazy hours: not easy when you live on Central European Time to work with a team based on Pacific Time, and to coordinate the work with teammates living on almost every possible time zone.
(I think I can apply for a speaking clock position if needed. Just ask me what time it is in Tokyo, Montreal, Brisbane, Bangkok, SF,... and I can answer you as quick as a flash.)

Although I haven’t had a single minute for myself, and for exercise, my diet has been stellar, and I am happy to report that I am at GOAL!!!! Yes, I am in maintenance mode. (See my last picture on my previous blog. This pair of pants is too loose for me now!!)

My weight has been fluctuated between 60 kg (132 lbs) and 59 kg (130 lbs) for a couple of weeks now.

How can I manage that without exercising for a month?
Monitoring what I eat, and increasing my protein intake, and no crazy snacking but regular and proper meals. And my chocolate addiction is history, I have substituted it with apples from the garden every time I have the munchies around 2 or 3 am CET (5 or 6 pm PT.)

Thanks to the help of By The Numbers, and Linda & Diane, I had noticed that my protein intake was a bit in the low range. I have discovered healthy snacks for vegans, less than 100 calories and very high in proteins (Space bar and Primal Strips for vegetarian or vegans or others who are looking for tasty low-calories snacks.)

I have also been drinking gallons of herbal teas (reducing drastically my coffee addiction) to be able to survive the long shifts, and the long nights.

I have also learnt something: I would never ever again make a statement on people who claim they have no time to exercise even 10 minutes. Believe me after working 12 or 15 hours, the last thing you want to do is exercising!

That said, it has not stopped snowing the whole night. The landscape is amazing, and I am so ready to put on my skis.
DH has cleared the snow off for the first time of the year. I have to find the time to go skiing… maybe while the people living on PT are sleeping! ;)

Hope you're all doing fine, and you're having a great Thanksgiving weekend!

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