Each Other 25 Bibliophile Week 1

 Another Farmgirl Sisterhood badge I was excited to work on is Bibliophile.  

Week 1:  

• Cleaned up my goodreads profile.  Now my currently reading accurately reflects what I'm reading.  Like this blog, I consider goodreads my external hard-drive.  More than once I have stumbled across I thorough review that I posted there on a book I was contemplating adding to my To Be Read pile.  
• Finished MaryJane's Ideabook, Cookbook and Lifebook.  In the process, I restarted my countertop sprouts project and tried dehydrating some raspberries while contemplating how to rivet suspenders onto my Levi's and adding a Duluth gardening/foraging vest to my wishlist.  Love this and could see myself returning to it for several seasons to soak up a few extra tips whenever I'm craving something coffee-table big, bold, and glossy.
• Picked up Glamping from the library as an inter-library hold.  Wow, I had been dreaming about Tumbleweed Tiny Homes but maybe a wall tent or vintage trailer is a more affordable getaway vehicle.        
• Ordered some titles on AbeBooks to support other badges if there wasn't a title available at my library to put a hold on through interlibrary loan.  Have you all discovered Abe?  I stumbled upon them researching the inventory of rare book sellers in places we were visiting since old books/maps are a favorite souvenir.  Their contemporary stuff usually warranted a cross-check with Amazon, but lately, unless it is a new release, abe almost always haswhat I'm looking for in great shape (i.e. hardcover with dust jacket) for less than a new AMZ paperback.   

Make it Easy: Let's Get Physical Week 1

I joined the Farmgirl Sisterhood!  One of the first badges I am working toward is the Make it Easy Section.  #7 Let's Get Physical.  My Expert Level challenge will be to participate in the Salem Oregon Half Ironman on July 20th, roughly 9 months away.  

Exercise:  I've connected with my former triathlon trainer who has build a workout plan for me.  My aim is to make at least 85% of the workouts prescribed.  I am 8/8 so far.  The highlight was a 40 mile ride in Palm Desert that MacGyver (hubby) joined as our support vehicle and the first time I have clipped shoes into bike pedals in 7 years.  We did a cooper's test running to baseline my vo2 max which depending on the calculator was somewhere in the high 30's while my Garmin is estimating at 48 and 46 cycling.  We used the new smart bike trainer and Zwift membership to do a bike power benchmark at 109 watts.  

Weight:  I'm in a healthy range but am creeping toward new heights and thinking my metabolism isn't as forgiving as it once was.  I've subscribed to go in for a quarterly Dexa scan to more precisely corroborate what I'm seeing on the scale at weekly weigh ins.  Last quarter, I focused on eating lots more plant-based protein (100+ g/day on workout days) to see if I could build muscle mass.  I did, 1.1 pounds, but also put on 1.7 pounds of fat...  

Diet:  ...So now I'm pumping the breaks on things I consider Processed Protein (bars, powders) when I don't feel hungry.  My mind seems to obsess and undermine restrictive food rules, so this week I focused on just seeing how many different plants I could eat (not counting carby grains).  Total was 45 and a great incentive for eating through freezer burning and produce languishing on the countertop.