Weigh-in Wednesday: I need to try harder

I've taken a couple weeks off from posting weigh-ins because I knew they'd be ugly. Guess I was right.

Starting Weight (11-28-12): 153.6

Last week: 143.2 (actually on 5/22/13)

This week: 144.2

Change: up 1.0

Total change: down 9.4

This shit has to stop. I need to cool it on the beer and junk-ish food.  Eat more salads.  Add in more 2-a-day workouts. The first one starts now. Bike this morning and lift this afternoon. I'm getting really sick of that 2nd number being a 4.  Yes, my clothes are fitting better but I still don't think someone as tiny as me should weigh 140-something.  If you look at the charts, I should probably weigh about 115 or 120, but I know that isn't realistic.  I guess I need to work much, much harder if I want to be back in the 130s by my birthday.

Tri Training Tuesday: week 2

I think I'm starting to get into the swing of training again - but I'm paying for going a bit overboard.  Mostly a number of muscle groups are a little pissed for jumping back in too quickly and still not being fully recovered.  It'll get better though.  Here's how the week looked:

Monday 6/3: SWIM 1000 yds in 27 min and NROLFW workout A1
Tuesday 6/4: RUN 4 miles in about 40 min - my Garmin wigged out so I'm not really sure what I did, only that this run was HARD.
Wednesday 6/5: Happy National Running Day! RUN 2 miles in 21:17 (my first "double" of relay training), BIKE (upright at gym) 6 miles in 17:22.  NROLFW workout B1
Thursday 6/6: nothing - so sore that I could barely move.
Friday 6/7: BIKE 11.7 miles in 51:44 then a short .6 mile run off the bike in 5:57
Saturday 6/8: RUN 6.2 miles in 1:03:36 (10:15 pace).  Finally feel like I'm getting my legs back!
Sunday 6/9: nothing

My hamstrings are still complaining a little but I'm starting to feel much better.  I had the most amazing run yesterday, too - can't wait to tell you all about it!

How's your training going?  Do you plan races in the summer or is this your "off" season?

Fitness Friday: SORE!!! #NROLFW

source

I'm not sure I agree with the "happy pain" part, but the sore muscles I definitely have.  This week I started the New Rules of Lifting for Women workouts again.  I've only done the first two, and combined with a hard run on Tuesday night and then essentially running a double by running again Wednesday morning, I've pretty much destroyed my legs.  I'll be the first to admit I haven't stretched or foam rolled nearly enough, because frankly, IT HURTS LIKE A MOFO!

I'm not sure if I just overdid it or if I'm really that out of shape.  I didn't even start my weights back where I left off a year ago but backed them down a bit.  Who knows.  In any case, I'll try to update on my progress from time to time.  I have a google doc that I've created to keep track, plus I'm using the jefit app at the gym as I work out. My only complaint about the app is it doesn't really work for the alternating sets, but I'm figuring it out.

Here's my first week's log:

Anyone else out there ever done the New Rules workouts?

Thankful Thursday: Hard Lessons

In last Monday's random musings post, I alluded to the fact that I was almost the victim of a Craigslist auto scam well, I fell for it so I guess I was a victim only I was saved by my BIL before I lost any money.  I debated whether to write about it but the comments from a few of you said if I help just one person avoid getting scammed, then it would be worth talking about.

So here it goes....

We are in the market for a decent used car for the twins to share when one or both of them get their drivers licenses this summer.  I've been looking at Craigslist and my BIL (who is a gear head by nature) has been on the hunt as well.  Friday night I saw a posting for a '99 Passat Turbo that was in the price range.  The posting was very vague and asked for an email response.  This isn't that unusual though so I sent an email asking about mileage, if it was an automatic, stuff like that.  I got a reply almost immediately:

"Hello,

 

   The car is still for sale if you want to buy it. My name is Tracy Roberson and I am the legal owner of the 1999 Volkswagen Passat Turbo Automatic. I would like to tell you that the car is in perfect condition, never wrecked, clean and clear title with only 155,000 miles. This car is in excellent running condition with no issue. I have all the documents, manuals, service records and I decided to sell it for $1,600 , shipping included. The buyer will receive it with all papers and receipts that he needs to register it so if you buy it you don't have to worry about the paperwork. Also you will have 5 days to test and inspect the car once is delivered at your address.

 

  I am in possession of this car from my father who unfortunately can't enjoy it anymore as he died. I moved back where I was born in Lincoln , Maine and now it will be shipped from here. Please get back for more photos and info if you are interested to buy it.

I have a contract with eBay so this deal must go through them.According with eBay you have 5 days from the time you receive the car to inspect it and decide if you want to keep it or not (but I am sure you will not be disappointed). The inspection period will be set to five days and I think is enough for you to make an opinion about the car. The inspection period will allow you to test drive and inspect the car for a period of time that we agree on (in our case 5 days). Typically, an inspection will give you a detailed report on the car's current condition. If you refuse it eBay will send you a full refund. I will get paid by eBay only after the inspection period is over.

 

If you have the money and want to buy it I only need your full name and address to move forward with the transaction.

 

I also want to inform you that I am entertaining another two offers for it at this moment so please let me know your decision as soon as possible to know what to do.

 

Sorry for the long email I have tried to explain the entire process.

 

Thank you,

Tracy Roberson"

I forwarded the email on to my BIL and emailed back a forth a few more times with "Tracy".  She/He sent a link to a photobucket acct with many more pictures of the car and I shared those with the kids.  They were obviously quite excited and this type of car was exactly what we were looking for.  I still hadn't heard back from my BIL but this sounded like a great deal so after discussing it with the husband, we decided to bite the bullet and agree to purchase the car.  I sent a final email to "Tracy" and went to bed.

I woke up in the middle of the night because my sleep is so very broken and turned on my phone. I saw this message from my BIL: 

"This is a scam.  It would cost $800 to ship that car from Maine.  EBay does not have a contract with anyone, nor does anyone pay EBay.  You pay the seller.  EBay then sends a bill to the SELLER.

Here’s the real listing for this car, by the real owner in Louisiana… (I removed the listing)

All this Craigslist SCAMMER did was steal the photos off of this legitimate EBay listing.   Note the Louisiana license plate on the EBay listing.  Notice that in the scammer’s photobucket account he has blurred the license plate.  (I removed the pictures as well)

Whatever you do, do not share any more information about yourself with this idiot!!!

Oh shit....I had given this asshole scammer my email, phone number and address.  I spent the rest of the night awake, feeling sick to my stomach. In the morning, my BIL sent me this email that described what I should've looked for in the posting on that car.  

If you re-read the opening email response, all the classic con-man techniques are there.

1)      They give their full name to build trust.

2)      There is a bit of a hard-luck story to further build some trust

3)      The deal is guaranteed by someone else you tend to trust (eBay)

4)      The deal is complicated. 

5)      And if you read carefully, the language they use is a little off. (i.e. written by a foreigner)

Needless to say, I really felt like a complete and total moron.  I fell for every one of that asshole's lines.  Even after I emailed the jerk back to say I had information that lead me to believe he was running a scam and I wasn't buying anything, I got a reply that said "I'm so glad you decided to buy  the car, you won't be disappointed, I'll have eBay send you an invoice." WTF???? Seriously??? 

My BIL called later to talk me off my ledge and it made me feel a little bit better, but the damage was already done.  In the course of 24 hours, I'd managed to let someone take advantage of me and cause me to lose all faith in society.  I hate that people are out there with their sole purpose in life to scam honest, hard working people out of their money and their ability to trust themselves.  Had I been searching Craigslist on the computer (rather than the mobile app on my phone) I would have seen this message - right on the front page when you search for cars and trucks:

Hopefully my naivete and stupidity will save someone else the embarrassment and potential loss of their cash. I'm so very thankful he was able to see through all this and save my ass before I sent the  f*ckwad my money. Needless to say, I'm being much more cautious now and shopping locally.  I send every link I find to my BIL and I know to approach them all with caution and skepticism.  It's just sad that I now feel like I can't trust anyone.  

Happy National Running Day! #runchat #nationalrunningday

Even though many of us celebrate the ability to run everyday, today is officially National Running Day.

This morning I woke up before my alarm and headed out for a 2 mile run, knowing many of my running friends were doing the same thing this morning. Today I ran a mile in honor of each of my kids but I also ran those 2 miles as part of my first official training run for the Fred Meijer White Pine Trail 200 Mile Relay!  In 12 hours, I managed 2 runs for a total of 6 miles - something a year ago I could not have done. This made for a happy Bari this morning.

Coming back from injury hasn't been easy and I'd be lying if I said I never had a run that still hurt in some way.  However, I'm reminded every day how fortunate I am to have the ability to run.  I feel pretty lucky to have connected with so many great friends through running as well.  It's pretty freaking awesome.  

I run...because I can.  How about you?

Tri Training Tuesday

Since it seemed to work out to post my half marathon training here, I figured I'd start posting my training for Tri Del Sol now that all those crazy halfs are done (at least for a little while).

I have to admit - trying to come up with a training plan for a triathlon that is only about 7 weeks away, plus incorporate the NROLFW strength workouts, train for the 200 mile relay and keep up my mileage for the half I have at the end of August has been a colossal PITA.  I learned last night that I don't like to follow swimming with any other workout (unless I'm outside and just going to do a swim/bike brick) because getting dressed for a workout after a swim is dumb.  Do any of you have any idea how hard it is to put on a sports bra when you're all wet? And yes, I tried to dry off first.  I've reworked the plan a little to avoid this scenario.  I'm trying to get in at least a couple bike rides, a couple swims, 2 strength workouts and 3 runs each week. It's a lot.  I haven't even begun to figure out 2-a-day runs for the relay and I'm trying not to stress that the run days just say "run" - there's no speed work, tempos, intervals, etc.



As for last week's workouts....they were pretty minimal.  I can't believe DailyMile called them "epic" or something ridiculous like that.

Monday 5/27: nothing
Tuesday 5/28: nothing
Wednesday 5/29: 15 min abs workout
Thursday 5/30: nothing
Friday 5/31: BIKE 1.5 miles - maiden voyage clipped in and I didn't fall down.
Saturday 6/1: RUN 3.1 miles in 31:08 (9:56 pace) - pretty good run considering I still felt very tight/sore in my achilles and calves from last Saturday's half and it was 80bazilionty degrees outside.  Later in the day BIKE 7.8 miles in 31:15 (15 mph ave) - great ride but I was disappointed I wasn't faster overall.
Sunday 6/2: nothing

The workout log will get better.  I hope.  I'm open to any suggestions in that training plan.  Just hit me up in the comments.

Monday Miscellany: good, bad and ugly

This weekend left me feeling like I need a weekend to get over my weekend.

First the good. We finally did something about the mess of Blu-ray movies that have been piled up next to the TV.

before - attractive, huh?

after - M still needs to do something about those CDs

I need to decide whether my OCD about the picture and cabinet not being centered is enough to drive me crazy. Either that or I move the cabinet over and we lose an outlet.

Now the bad (or good depending how you look at it).


My van hit a huge birthday last night. Yes...the OCD is strong. I had to drive a couple loops around my neighborhood so I wouldn't leave the house this morning, forget to look at the odometer and be pissed when I got to work and noticed it said 100002.  It's pretty crazy that we've been looking for a car for the kids to share and a few we've looked at have less miles than my car.  Hardly seems fair.

And now the ugly...I was *almost* the victim of a Craigslist vehicle scam but thankfully my BIL is much smarter than me and saved me $1600. All that really got hurt was my pride.  My kids were pretty disappointed, too, to find out the car we were buying for them really didn't exist.  Had this message been on the Craigslist app (it only shows up when searching via a web browser), I might not have ended up feeling so stupid after sending some asshole personal information about myself and getting excited about a vehicle that was just a stolen picture off of a real eBay listing.


I'm still trying to decide whether to write about what happened and share the emails/scam. Maybe an example of my stupidity could save someone else the embarrassment and potentially a lot of money. Needless to say, I lost quite a bit of trust in humanity this weekend. I think it's even affecting me physically because my neck has been all jammed up and I'm sleeping even worse than usual.  Huge lesson learned - just because you consider yourself to be a fairly intelligent, well-educated person doesn't mean you can't be fooled.

Thoughts? Do you want to read the emails and what my BIL taught me about scam artists? Have you ever been taken advantage of like this?

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