Category: Life is good

Slimmed it down

I’d like to buy a GPS watch for biking and jogging. I think I had about ten different ones on my amazon wish list and always read the reviews and also googled a lot of reviews. You go nuts – it’s just like with little digital cameras, there are so many you go nuts reading all the reviews and deciding.

I slimmed my choice down to four, the Garmin Forerunner 210, 310XT, 410 and 610.

© Garmin Forerunner
© Garmin

So, today I went to a store named “Runners Point” to look at all those watches.

They didn’t have the 410, it sounded like the 610 was the newer version. I liked the 210 and 610 on my wrist, my favorit from the looks was the 210.

I decided I probably don’t need all the functions the 310XT has, also it’s huge, it’s like having a computer on your wrist (which, actually, I wouldn’t mind – I thought it was bigger when looking at it online but it did fit quite well).

So, I was looking at the 210 and 610. The watch should track my route, should tell me how fast I am, measure my heart rate and a thing which would be really nice – to measure the altitude difference. That the 610 can do, the 210 not.

So, sometime in the future I’m going to buy the Garmin Forerunner 610 with its touchscreen and hope I like it 🙂

Oh – my Hamartoma is gone!!! So so happy! The doctor just couldn’t find it. I stopped taking the Nuvaring in March which might be a reason for its disappearance but who knows…

[EDIT]Friday: Bought the Forerunner 610. We shall see 😀[/EDIT]

Back home

Back home from surfing in France. I’ll miss the beach and the Atlantic, I’m happy to be back home though as well and back with my family.
Somehow I always get the blues on vacation because I think I’ll miss something back home or that something has happened. Boo! Vacation is there to relax!

Surfing went well, again, my board was the prettiest on the whole beach 😉 It’s a pretty pink & white mini malibu from H.S.A.. This year we had quite a few days with no waves at all so we rented bikes on one day and a SUP the other day. Riding a SUP is ok, I can imagine it’s quite boring to do it NOT on the ocean but a lake.

I went “sea-shell-hunting” each morning and came back with a lot, but also with about 10kg of stones :). It’s like an addiction. I love finding sea shells (and pretty stones).

Bye bye beach, I can’t wait to find more sea-shells next year!
sea-shell

Food was great, we went out to eat three times, I had “moules” which are yum and a lot of wine. I also tried a lot of french pastries this year which are very yum!

Vacation ahead

schatzi_vacation
Oh yeah! I can’t wait to be at the beach, surf a few waves, have sunshine and warm weather. After all the rain and coldness here I’m really really looking forward to this vacation!

A few days ago I had my first strength measurement. I gained a few kilos of strenght almost at every machine

  1. row: May 11: 29,4kg – Jun 28: 29,4kg = +0 kg 🙁
  2. ab crunch: May 11: 22,7kg – Jun 28: 26,7kg = +4 kg
  3. leg curl: May 11: 21,1kg – Jun 28: 29,4kg = +8,3 kg
  4. chest press: May 11: 23,9kg – Jun 28: 27,3kg = +3,4 kg
  5. back extension: May 11: 31kg – Jun 28: 44,3kg = +13,3 kg
  6. leg extension: May 11: 22,9kg – Jun 28: 32,3kg = +9,4 kg
  7. lat pull: May 11: 26kg – Jun 28: 32,7kg = +6,7 kg
  8. glutaeus: May 11: 16,4kg – Jun 28: 29,1kg = +12,7 kg

How motivating is that to see how you gain muscle?! VERY! I’m kinda happy with my first milestone I set myself, of course my belly fat is still there but I’m pretty sure it will take me months to get rid of that (IF I get rid of it).
I did reach most of the goals I set though:
My goals for each week:

  • work out at least 3 times during the week check – mon/tue/thu are my work-out days
  • work out 1 or 2 times on the weekend check
  • cut down on sweets – not sure if I can check this 😉
  • on sundays, go to the gym in the morning before (the big) breakfast check – if I have nothing else planned
  • don’t pig out on weekends check
  • ride the bike to work as often as possible the days it didn’t rain and where it wasn’t freezing cold I took the bike
  • get informed about interval training and pre-/post-workout foods – need to check on the foods
  • in the strength circuit, increase weight every week or every two weeks increased
  • at the gym after a working day, try to lose all the calories I’ve eaten up until the workout – nope, not possible when I only do strength training

I might take my running shoes and thera-bands with on vacation, maybe.

Workout day – not in the gym

Today is one of the only sunny days in I don’t know how long, see here, so I decided not to go to the gym.
Instead, I went to work by bike which is 35km all together and go for a run, 5km.

  • bike ride: 35km, Calories lost: 750
  • jogging: 5km, with 15 minutes stretching, Calories lost: 410, average pulse: 155

schatzi_dinner2Dinner was pretty much the same like yesterday, only with cream cheese and beans.

I finally bought a second sports bra (the same I have, just in neon green – why are there no black or white bras?!?) and some short socks, three pairs, in black.

Bye Bye (much too) long hair!

I decided, that when my diagnosis of the clump in my breast is negative – meaning it’s a good clump and not cancer – I’ll get my hair cut and donate it to women who’ve been diagnosed with cancer.

I like having long hair – I’ve had it long for the last 4 years, but I’m sometimes also annoyed of it because it’s just much too long at times. Donating my hair seemed like a great idea and after I found out that there are a few organisations who take your cut-off hair and use it to make wigs I couldn’t wait to get my hair cut.

Hair Donation Before
Hair Donation – The before shot: the left image shows my daily hairstyle

So I did some research on where to donate and until yesterday I was sure to donate it to “Locks of Love“.
I actually wanted to donate to women my age who are diagnosed with cancer but didn’t find anything and L.o.L. seems like a nice organization. L.o.L. take donations for kids who mainly suffer from “Alopecia Areata” and not cancer, which I’d be ok with, seeing it’s terrible for kids to not have hair in any way.

I called my hairdresser on wednesday and my lovely stylist squeezed me in today at 3:30pm

Pantene Beautiful LengthsYesterday I did some more research and after reading a lot (also a NY Times article) and mainly after clicking following link: American Cancer Society I’ve decided to donate to “Pantene Beautiful Lengths” instead, although I was a bit sceptical at first to donate to such a known and big company – I never trust big companies ;).

But, there are a lot of points which made me feel very confident about Pantene:

  • the wigs go to the American Cancer Society
  • PBL supports women who have lost their hair through any types of cancer
  • The women get the wigs for free

Here’s the Pantene WP blog.

So, here’s my journey…
At the hairdresser:

Hair donation - before and after (ugh the natural wave)
Hair donation – before and after (ugh the natural wave – but also from the hair tie)

I washed my hair this morning at home so my stylist cut it dry. I told her the lenght I’d like to have my “new” hair (about 1-2cm beneath my collarbone) so she cut a little further down so that she has about 2cm left to style my hair. I feel so good now and I can’t wait to send it out to the States on monday 🙂

Hair Donation - before and after - the after shot - I need to wash my hair again tomorrow and dry it to get it nice and straight
Hair Donation – the after shot – I need to wash my hair again tomorrow and dry it to get it nice and straight

It’s amazing, I actually was worried to get 21cm and still keep the length I want, but a great 31cm (around 12 inches) long ponytail was cut , I never thought it would be so long. I’m very happy now 😀
Pantene Beautiful Lengths Logo

I’ve found following organisations to donate hair to: